Saying "I Do" to Facebook

Before I even begin ... can I just COMPS ARE TOMORROW?!?! Why do I feel like no one made a big deal out of them coming up, and yet our graduation status relies on them? And why am I not too worried? I know it's something we cannot really study for, but I feel like I should be more nervous or something. I'm more worried about getting all my work and projects done on time. Sigh. We shall see what happens tomorrow. Meanwhile, these caramel Cadbury eggs seem to be helping.

So, I went through all the articles we were supposed to read this week, today. I have actually done quite a bit with social media in libraries (mostly public) throughout my two years in the program, so I felt comfortable with most of the stuff on Facebook. The Terrible Two's article was enlightening because while I'm a Facebook aficionado, I had no idea what those terms meant (besides anyone's vague understanding of Web/Library 2.0), though I did recognize them from other discussions and classes. But gosh darn it, I could not remember what any of them meant. AJAX and API's threw me for a loop, but there examples were helpful, and while I understand what a Long Tail is, I don't know if I can articulate it clearly for someone else.

The article on Facebook in Health Libraries was the same information I had read about before (what it is being used for, etc.), but I was surprised that they found 54% of librarians said that FB was not a useful academic tool. That was new, and I tend to disagree. Just getting the word out and being involved in campus life through FB is a useful marketing tool!

The two most surprising things I saw (from the Facebook Friends article/study)

1. That people with more friends on FB have a greater trust for people in general. REALLY? That makes me think people aren't too bright. I have a lot of friends on FB, but that doesn't make me more trusting. Is it our nature? Or does it make them feel closer to those people because they see the ins and outs of their every day lives even if they haven't talked in 20 years? I almost trust people LESS because I see the ridiculousness of some of their every day lives on FB and wouldn't want to have to run into them in real life. Ugh. (Granted, I have defriended a lot of those, and if I don't know you personally (lovely people in this class excluded!), I don't accept friend requests from you. If I didn't talk to you 15 years ago in high school, I don't really care what you are doing now.

Phew. Sorry about that little rant. Sometimes it just comes out :o)

2. The average person on FB has 229 friends. Which, turns out, is pretty accurate in my case. I have a few more now that we have this class, but it seems that's a pretty close figure to where I was. Which makes me think - are there 229 people out there that I want looking at my pictures and my information? Is it people I love to death and I don't get to see all the time? I think it's time to go through my list and evaluate ... I'm curious who is on there!

Which brings us to the topic of privacy ...I think I would rather censor who I am friends with on FB than worry about all the different privacy settings. That also makes me censor what I put ON facebook to begin with. If I'm friends with my boss on Facebook, then no, there will be no drunken pictures posted (I'm not a big drinker, so I don't have any of those, but if I did ... well, you know). I also cannot be bothered with blocking friends from seeing a certain update, or only allowing a select list to see something I posted. If I had to block someone from seeing something then it probably means it would hurt them in some way, or make them angry, or ruin a surprise. So why would I even put it up there to begin with?

Your thoughts? Am I too cynical? I feel like people judge more on FB than they do on Twitter. I'm not sure why, but that 140 characters makes me feel more free than unlimited space and pictures on FB...

Spring ... A Time of New Beginnings!

So ... good news first! I got hired on full-time in the North Kingstown Library :o) Exciting ... I'm filling Maggie's shoes since she is filling Lexi's shoes ... Hope I make her proud! :o)

Bad news next ... I hate cataloging! I had heart palpitations reading the topic titles for this weeks articles, but I persevered and made it through! I think my overall reaction is that it is time the catalogs start to up the ante and are made more user friendly. Like Maggie already blogged about, the OPAC in RI is terrible and not flexible in any way.

I think the goal of the online catalogs now are to be more like search engines, which will also only be helpful if the catalogers "tag" the entries correctly when first setting up the items. It is easy to see how the concept of social tagging can influence an online catalog, and if they are treated similarly, then searching will probably be much easier for the user. Unfortunately, not many people know how to search "properly", therefore no matter what they are using (an OPAC, search engine, or basic info form) they use them the same way. This can make it difficult to use traditional searches because it just won't work.

I'm feeling a bit of relief that my next assignment in all my classes isn't due until April 1st, and even that is a short critique I'm working on with a partner. After that, all hell breaks loose. I think it is in my best interest to start the other projects now ... but where to find the time? I somehow went from being unemployed and being a 25 hour week intern (across 3 libraries) with classes, wedding planning and half-marathon training to working 50 hours a week with 4 classes, wedding planning, and half-marathon training. If my blogs start to sound garbled, my tweets non-existent and my Facebook status' erratic, please forgive me! I will be back to normal by the end of June. :oP

Update - Completed Book Review

So, my book review is complete. I will admit I'm a little nervous, as creativity for this type of thing is way out of my norm, but I think it came out pretty decent. I might need to see if I can find a way to add actual tags instead of descriptions, but I think what I need is there for the completed book review. I broke it down into the important sections of the book and reviewed it that way with (hopefully) catchy images for each section of the review.

Jess has so kindly checked my previous link (in the blog post before this one) and it appears to be working fine, even if you don't have a Pinterest account. So exciting!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's reviews. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, the weather is supposed to be AMAZING next week!

Book Review ... Pining for Pinterest

So ... I am 3/4 of the way done with my book review. I have decided to make a "board" on Pinterest and use that as my basis of the review.

The concern I have come up with is that do you have to be on Pinterest to see someone's boards? Here is the link to my board (mind you, my book review is not yet complete!!), but I would appreciate it if someone who does NOT have pinterest takes a look just to see if they can see my board.

If you cannot, I have to figure out a way to do it all over again, I suppose. I hear there is some sort of waiting period to be able to join? Not sure how this all works ...

Check out my (unfinished as of 12:45pm on 3/16) board here!

Social Tagging - Somewhat Finally Understood

Ahhh ... so now I think I (kind of) get it. The concept of social tagging always seemed to have sort of eluded me, but with the example of Flickr explained in the article, I get it.

Pinterest is then a social tagging website, is it not? That's my conclusion after reading this week's assignments, and someone please tell me I'm right so I don't lose my mind. I love pinterest, and have actually used it for a multitude of things: craft time ideas for work, wedding ideas, motivational pics and sayings for running/losing weight, etc.I can only get on there once a week (on Fridays) but it works for me.

I'm still slogging through my book for the book review (Everything Bad is Good For You) and while it is very interesting, I am at my wits end trying to think of some creative way to do this book review. I'm hoping once I finish the book some idea will miraculously pop into my head.

Maybe I will do a socially tagged board. Hey, why not? I'll even add some pictures of cheeseburgers for my own rendition of the title :o)

Librarything, Citulike, & Shelfari

Soo ... trying to get a bit of jump on things this week. A whopping two days early, wow, go me! And on a Sunday night too boot!

I have previously checked out Librarything in the past, and while I liked the setup and get the gist, my heart lies with the shelfari. I love it - you are more than welcome to follow me there if you'd like - you can search now by Twitter accounts or Facebook (my Facebook, for those interested early, is Colleen Cote .. not sure if that will work, but hopefully you can find me!). I love how it is set up, and it is very aesthetically pleasing to me! I also like how they show all alternative cover titles (from old and new printings) so you can choose the exact one you are reading ... OCD I know, but right up my alley!

I have never used Citulike before, but I do enjoy I can sign up through Facebook (I love that option on many websites, makes my life easier!). I wish I could search for connections on there through Twitter, Facebook or email, but I can't and I don't know anyone else on there yet. It seems like a handy reference tool for articles of interest in many things (I chose Education because I wasn't sure what to classify as).

The "everyone's library" is a little insane to take a look at, and wow, do the subjects run the gamut! There are quite a few "library" journals available, and I'm excited to look through them a little more closely when time permits.

This seem like true academic scholarly articles (of course, I have not fully gone through the site in detail) but I'm curious about the reputation of the site? I'm embarrassed to say this is the first I think I've heard of it, though it seems I have seen links for it when doing research. If I understand this correctly, I think I can "bookmark" any article I am reading through one of the little links that show up (such as in Ebsco Host) on the right side of the screen (where you can click the cite button, or the print button, etc.) and it will automatically put it in my library, along with the citation (so awesome).

Am I interpreting this service correctly?

Blogs Wikis Twitter OH MY

So, I've been reading through some of the other blogs through my google reader feed, and keeping up on some of the conversations through Twitter, and shortly we will all start following each other on Facebook. I have to admit - for class purposes, it all gets confusing. I like the blog for responding to readings, but I think everything else is a little much to follow. I'm slowly sort of phasing out of Facebook (I use it now mostly for picture sharing) and I love my Twitter. I feel like the blog is sort of eh ... maybe if I had a specific thing I was blogging about (like a running blog, or cooking blog, etc.) but I feel like I'm sort of repeating a lot of the same stuff (or sharing the same stuff) through a bunch of different sites. I like using the social media for specific purposes more, such as my friends/followers on Twitter aren't the same people as Facebook, so I think that makes a difference since it's not the same information coming from or going to the same people all the time.

Am I making any sense? Maybe I just haven't gotten the hang of juggling it all yet, or prioritizing properly. I just know I love me some Twitter!