Online Identities

For my avatar in Second Life, I tried to make it as close to me as possible. The way I present my self in person is closely linked with my identity, so I wanted to try to maintain that presentation online. I'm not that adept at manipulating the avatar, but I chose some normal clothes, jeans and a purple shirt, and a brown ponytail for my avatar. However, she is built like a Barbie doll, with long thick fabulous hair and ice blue eyes. This is not really reflective of my own appearance, which I feel a little weird about. I don't wear tight clothes, I don't wear contacts, I don't straighten my hair, because that's not how I see myself, which makes my avatar a little weird. I'm sure that if I worked harder, I could get her glasses and a different haircut, but the point still stands, there's only so much you can do. I guess the other option would be to go for a total fantasy, like make myself Han Solo or something. But frankly, I don't want people to think that I'm Han, I want them to think that I am a normal young woman. Interaction online can be difficult for me, because I don't know how other people feel about their representations. I'm fairly good at reading people in person, but this is almost impossible online. I don't usually interact online with people I don't know offline, so this is a fairly new area for me, and I am curious how my feelings will change as I do it more.

Second Life

So, I've been trying to start using Second Life. I would say I've mostly succeeded, except in that I kind of dislike it. It seems like a really lame game with all the fiddly controls but nothing to do. I managed to figure out how to move and change my clothes, even found myself a pair of jeans, which was a relief. However, I find the world fairly ugly to look at and difficult to figure out. It also makes me nervous to just have all kinds of people around who can see what I'm doing, like when I fall off the stairs because I can't work the controls yet. I also had someone run into me repeatedly and then told me not to walk away, when all I wanted to do was figure out how to work my inventory and controls. I had another person who I couldn't see give me a rose. This kind of interaction made me uncomfortable because I don't know how people are supposed to interact on Second Life. I know in real life this would not be okay, and I don't like that there isn't anyway for me to like, hide or whatever. I find the whole thing very weird. Maybe if I found more things to do, or went on trying to find people to talk to, it would be more fun. Who knows?

YouTube

YouTube is a fascinating resource. It, in my opinion, truly embodies the spirit of the internet. There is a huge volume of stuff out there, some of it incredibly interesting and useful but the majority very foolish. People can post tutorials, music, or news, but mostly use it to put up embarrassing videos of their friends or silly animals. Which, really, are entertaining if you have time to kill, but don't add much to the your intellectual growth.
Sometimes you can find really great things though. For example:

This video was posted by the Library of Congress from their collection of film. The title is "Babies rolling eggs", and the description under the video gives bibliographic record-style information about it, a description of what happens, the date, where it was filmed, subject headings, and name entries. It is a truly fascinating glimpse of life in 1902, where babies rolling eggs was a thing that happened, that I would probably have never been aware of otherwise. YouTube and the Library of Congress have teamed up to teach me about egg rolling.

Instant Messaging

There are a lot of good reasons for a library to use instant messaging. It's very popular, and with patrons expecting more services delivered to them more conveniently, chat reference seems like a very logical step to take. People can get help from librarians from home in a format they already use all the time and feel comfortable with.
It doesn't cost much to start offering chat reference services. Many open source programs are available and these are quite effective. Chat reference can be integrated with the other tasks performed at the reference desk depending on the workload at a particular library. While getting it set up technically and training the reference staff would take a certain amount of time, it isn't a huge investment.
Many programs are available that make things very easy for libraries. Meebo is one example of an IM program that works across different programs so that librarians could have all of their conversations in one place easily. The interface is very similar to other IM programs, so most librarians should find it familiar and intuitive to use.
Another nice feature of Meebo is that you can imbed chat boxes into your website, so people can contact you through the library homepage. They don't have to be on their home computer or add the library to their buddy list. They can just type in a question with no extra steps or trouble. The easier and more straightforward something is, the more likely it is that people will use it. To get reference services, people won't have to come into the library, or pick up their phone, or even send an email. They can IM their question and get a response almost instantaneously.
In today's information market, this is especially important for libraries. We are getting more competition from the private sector than ever before. Answer services online and via text message are getting more popular, and these are services librarians can provide for free! All we have to do is open ourselves up to the new climate and new technologies. If we want people to use our services, we have to make them easy and convenient and advertise them well. A chat reference service is a great addition to the library and a great way to modernize services at the same pace as our users are moving forward.

Social Networking

Facebook and social networking in general are a fascinating phenomenon. I confess that I don't entirely get it. I have a profile which I check rarely and update even less, and I didn't start using it at all until after I graduated from college, which, I know, is strange nowadays. Everyone's on it, which makes more people want to join. It is a great time-waster, and a great way to get attention, if that's your idea of a good time. I must say, a lot of stupidity also happens on Facebook, as demonstrated here (funny but quite rude for delicate sensibilities). On the positive side, it's also a good way to stay in touch with people with very little effort, as well as a good way to share pictures, links, and news with people you know.
As people use Facebook more, its other downsides are coming to light more, but by being aware of them, we can minimize them. Privacy concerns, have been an issue, so more people are taking precautions like setting profiles to be viewed only by friends or not including their last names, addresses, etc. Photos on Facebook have kept people from being hired based on what the candidate is doing in them, so now job-seekers are taking down problematic pictures, or at the very least untagging them before it becomes a problem. Moms and dads are starting to join Facebook as well, so things are a little more supervised.
The fact that everyone is using Facebook gives it a lot of potential. If you have an event or service at your library that you want people to hear about, get it on Facebook. Start spreading it around and people will see it. It seems like people are checking on their news feeds almost constantly, at home, in class, on their iPhones. If you can get someone to like your page, they'll check and see your updates. Facebook is especially popular (heavily used) among young people, which is an important group to reach out to.

Twitter

So, I have a Twitter account now. While I'm still pretty new to this, I think it's pretty cool. I found a bunch of library twitter accounts, like the New York Public Library and Publisher's Weekly, as well as some of my classmates. My timeline shows mostly links to articles and other content put out by libraries and museums, or other relevant materials. I also get alerts about programs and events. So none of it is very annoying. Publisher's Weekly does update quite often which I find a little irritating and will have to keep in mind if I am in charge of a public Twitter account.
It was pretty easy for me to get set up, because a few of my friends are on Twitter already and I had heard some of the lingo. I had also been warned to follow only accounts I'm really interested in because your timeline can get really out of hand really fast. So for me, I find Twitter a useful way to keep myself informed. I can get updates about events all in one place. I think that offering a Twitter allows patrons who are using this service a pretty easy way to find out what's going on at the library. If they're on Twitter, they'll see your update, they don't have to go out of their way to see if anything is going on.
It isn't that difficult, from what I've seen, to keep a Twitter account updated if you have content. People don't want to hear too much, so quick, informative tweets every few days are probably best. It is, in my opinion, another way to keep in communication with patrons, which is always a good thing. In this particular case, it is allows fairly painless for the library. Might as well, right?

Book Report!

The book that I read was  Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture, by Henry Jenkins. The author is a media studies expert from MIT, and is writing from the position of a fan who has made his profession studying pop culture and fandom.  One main point of this work is the way that the internet has created a new relationship to media, as well as new ways for people to form relationships to each other. The consumption of culture has become social in a different way, creating new communities and new communication across physical boundaries. Fans have found each other and formed networks within which they can circulate their reactions and interpretations, going beyond the passive consumption of media. This communication and connection is one of the main benefits of the internet for librarians and library patrons as well as for fans and enthusiasts. Connecting with and helping people who are physically distant from your library is, to my eyes, the most important development currently taking place. Users no longer have to come to the reference desk to get support, help, and advice. The more channels open to them, the more likely they are to get the information they need from the library, and the more likely they are to want to reach out and ask for the help they need. Another important point is the need to understand the ways young people in particular interact with technology. Jenkins argues that adults are suspicious of adolescents' use of the internet because they don't understand it. Teens have a greater mastery of this skill, so it should be suppressed in order for adults to maintain their control. This is something that librarians need to work against. We, as a profession, should try to understand these developments and use them to have positive outcomes for everyone involved. Since people want to use new technologies, librarians should help them to use them to the greatest effect. Teach people how to find the best online resources and how to evaluate the quality of information they are being exposed to and think critically about it. This can be a step towards our society trusting our teens online. We can't keep them off the internet, we can only teach them how to use it widely. Like Dr. Jenkins, I feel that these new developments, while they can seem overwhelming and intimidating, can be very exciting and useful. We just have to try to understand them for what they are and figure out how we can put them to best use.