Exercise: Investigative Exercise 8 - Current Awareness Post

Exercise:

Investigative Exercise 8  - Current Awareness Post 

I watched both of the suggested Youtube videos and found them great food for thought.

I was particularly fascinated by the first one, "Eli Pariser- Beware online "filter bubbles".

I think most of us are regularly surprised by the presumptuous fashion in which our computers behave whilst we use our search engines. I remember receiving advertising prompts from on-line accommodation companies for destinations I had previously booked to go to, for years after I had returned from those same places. 

Eli Pariser is similarly alarmed about how many search engine companies are tailoring 

individual search results via invisible algorithmic editing.

He spoke and showed examples of how two friends of his, had both "googled" the word,

"Egypt" and received vastly different results. 

He warned that "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" may "limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook."

He quoted that Google used 57 different signals from each individual, to determine what search results it would tailor for them. Some of these signals included the type of computer you used, the browser chosen, and the location you were in.

Eli is concerned that "the internet is showing us what it thinks we need to see, and not necessarily what we need to see".

He recognises a major shift in how information is flowing online nowadays. He sees "a struggle developing between our future aspirational selves and our more impulsive present selves". 

Eli made a final plea to those in charge of these massive internet companies to allow individuals more of a say and some control in determining what gets through our filters,

because "we really need the internet to be that thing that we all dreamed of it being. We need it to connect us all together, we need it to introduce us to new ideas and new people and different perspectives, and not leave us isolated in a web of one"!!!

Really interesting and incisive talk which gets all of us thinking!!

Investigative Exercise 5 Social Networking.

Investigative Exercise 5 Social Networking

Firstly by utilizing social media, particularly sites like Facebook, libraries are able to free up some of the limited space they have on their own websites. 

In order to attract new clients, especially from among the younger generations, it is integral that modern libraries communicate to them in formats they understand and utilize on a daily basis. 

Without new members libraries cannot continue to sustain themselves.

Nowadays in the U.S. most libraries have an affiliation with Facebook and many other social media sites, particularly those aligned with or located in collegiate regions. Social media is a wonderful tool for helping to create a sense of community among students, a recent survey conducted by the Public Library Association of America found that approximately 96% of tertiary level students use Facebook. This same organisation has  public forums  on its' Facebook page.

Libraries can use social networking sites to publicize library events such as gaming nights, special events such as book launches, or to alert users to additions to collections, along with providing links to articles of interest, videos, or even web content that might prove relevant or helpful to patrons.

Social media can also play an important role in fostering relationships with the community by allowing patrons to ask questions or provide feedback about library services, along with providing information pertaining to co-operative events held in conjunction with the community itself.

Libraries are now able to provide a conduit for community information, and thereby increase their relevance and connection with society in general. This is why libraries using sites such as Facebook are advantageously placed to appeal to a far broader demographic, than those libraries who do not.

Nowadays, rather than relying on Facebook to be a static, information-only portal, successful libraries use it to hook people in, engaging with them on a more personal level. For a library, their Facebook page must be all about good communication.

My local library in Hurstville, which is affiliated with Hurstville Museum and Gallery, is a great example of how they are using Facebook, as well as other social media sites, to help publicise and promote a whole range of exhibitions, resources, public events and programmes that not only benefit the entire community, but also attract a host of prospective new members who otherwise may never have even known of these public utilities, let alone visit them. 

                                                                

Hurstville LMG Facebook link