1. Web 2.0: A Hands-On Introduction for Library Staff Instructor: Michele Mizejewski Electronic Services Librarian Redwood City Library mmizejewski@redwoodcity.org An Infopeople Workshop

2. This Workshop Brought to You by the Infopeople Project Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered around the state and are open registration on a first- come, first-served basis. For a complete list of workshops, and for other information about the project, go to the Infopeople website at infopeople.org.

3. Agenda: 1. What is Web 2.0? 2. Blogs 3. RSS feeds 4. Social bookmarking and tagging 5. Wikis 6. Selling social software at your library

4. Packet and Links Bookmark the class wiki: web2workshop.pbwiki.com/ Review packet contents

5. Introductions Your name? Where do you work? Position?

6. What is Web 2.0? Term coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 "2.0" borrowed from the convention of software versioning Participation, creation, and commenting = The Read/Write Web Community building Wisdom of crowds Perpetual beta and continuous improvement

7. What is Library 2.0? Term coined by Michael Casey, 2005 Approach to library service that is increasingly interactive, collaborative, and driven by user needs and expectations Constantly reexamining and improving services and policies Employ more user-friendly systems Controversial

8. Blogging What is a blog?  Web log  Easy to edit website Features:  Dated entries with newest at top  Keywords or descriptive “tags”  RSS feeds offered  Archive of past postings Example: RCPL Staff Picks

9. Blogging Considerations What is the purpose? How often to update? Allow commenting? Need to moderate?

10. Blogging Software Types:  Hosted  Run on your server  Some free, some cost money Today we are working with the free, hosted version of Wordpress

11. Advantages: Blogs Easy to add content (post) Great for disseminating news or other frequently-updated information Allows interactive commenting Free software options available

12. Brainstorm: Blogging (5 min) Create a new post in your blog titled “Blogging Brainstorm” Brainstorm some ideas on how you might use blogs to improve service at your library

13. RSS Feeds What is RSS? Really Simple Syndication “A web feed is a data format used for serving users frequently-updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it.” --Wikipedia

14. What is RSS? XML web feed RSSAtom

15. Icons

16. News Sites and Blogs Let’s look at a few examples...

17. How Do I Read Feeds? Three types of feed readers or aggregators: Web-based - Typically must be online to log in to account, but can read your content from any computer. Desktop Clients - Download application to your computer. Can only read your content there. Integrated - Browsers, web portals, etc. are beginning to make it easy to read feeds without a separate application.

18. Bloglines Demonstration Basic features: Feeds column Feed title and description Posting title and summary with link to click through to source site

19. Uses in Libraries News and events promotion New materials or staff picks Integrate resources into courseware New materials The information goes to the user, not the other way around

20. Library RSS Examples Let’s look at some examples…

21. Finding Feeds Sites you already read regularly Blogrolls or “word-of-mouth” Specialized search engines Subscription databases and journals

22. Specialized Blog/Feed Search Bloglines search tab Google Blog Search Libworm

23. Adding Feeds to Your Site  Use blogging software and link to the blog  Add a relevant feed from another site  Use various tools to generate or mix existing feeds Feed shake Feed2JS  Code your own -- not for beginners

24. Advantages of Feeds Efficiency: monitor many sites in much shorter time Privacy: no email address required to subscribe to a feed No spam: only content you request Easy to cancel: simply select a feed and unsubscribe

25. Brainstorm: Feeds (5 min) Create a new post in your blog called “Feeds Brainstorm” Note some ideas on how feeds could improve service at your library, directly or indirectly

26. Social Bookmarking and Tagging What is social bookmarking?  Web-based bookmarks/favorites  Public and searchable  Wisdom of communities What is tagging?  User-assigned descriptive keywords  Folksonomy

27. Image credit

28. Bookmarking and Tagging Tools Options: General Scholarly Specific subject matter  Photos  Video  Books

29. del.icio.us Demonstration Your bookmarks Posting/bookmarking an item Tags and cloud Network Subscriptions RSS feeds Searching

30. Library Examples Let’s look at some examples…

31. Advantages: Social Bookmarking and Tagging Web-based Searchable Folksonomy Resource discovery tool Expert discovery tool

32. Brainstorm: Social Bookmarking and Tagging (5 min) Create a new post in your blog called “Social Bookmarking and Tagging Brainstorm” Note some ideas on how you might use bookmarking and/or tagging at your library

33. Wikis What is a Wiki?  Collaborative, easy-to-edit website  Wiki = quick (in Hawaiian)  Anyone with access to the site can add to or edit the content Wikipedia is most well-known example

34. Wiki Features Discussion area for each page Ability to revert to older version Collaborative editing Can be used as a knowledgebase

35. When Not to Use a Wiki When complete control is important When dealing with sensitive information When ownership of content must be clear Note: Wikis can be used by a select community rather than being completely open, but there is still a collaborative aspect

36. Wiki Examples Let’s look at some examples…

37. Blogs vs. Wikis 1. Posts displayed chronologically 2. The poster = author 3. Only author can edit Others may comment 4. Posts are finite 5. Best for sharing info/starting a dialogue 1.Information architecture varies 2.Authorship is collaborative 3.Anyone can edit the content 4.Always a work in progress 5.Best for collaborative work or as a repository for information

38. Wiki Software Types:  Hosted  Run on your server See handout Today we’ll be working with the free, hosted version of pbwiki

39. PBwiki Demonstration Add a new page Edit content Leave a comment Share this wiki Promote this wiki Settings

40. Wiki Tips: Getting Started Start with a basic organizational scheme to prevent chaos Add some content to the major categories before going live Include documentation explaining what a wiki is and the purpose of yours

41. Advantages: Wikis Web-based Searchable Easy to use Collaborative and flexible Free and open-source software options

42. Brainstorm: Wikis Create a new post in your blog called “Wiki Brainstorm” Note some ideas on how you might incorporate wikis at your library

43. Group Discussion Do you anticipate any difficulty selling your colleagues on the idea of adding some Web 2.0 tools at your workplace? What obstacles might you encounter and how can you work around them?

44. Selling Social Software Avoid technolust Tie to mission statement Have a plan Involve staff in planning Involve IT in planning

45. Implementing Social Software Offer training in various forms Show enthusiasm Have patience Persevere

46. Summary This workshop has been an introduction to implementing Web 2.0 technologies in libraries:  Blogs  RSS feeds  Social bookmarking  Tagging  Wikis Continued exploration and practice are necessary!