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=Welcome to my Online Learning Journal= a) Social networking is the online interaction between people using various web tools. Participants may interact for social, information or professional reasons, forming groups of mutual interests. These groups may be open to all, open to some, or private. Participants in social networking share information and opinions and decide if they will publish to all or some. b) I have been using facebook for a number of years, initially to stay in contact with my daughters when they have left home to study, and with a friend overseas, but now I also stay in contact with local friends. I joined twitter this year to follow people for professional reasons. I was surprised to find how much I have learned from tweets and associated links. I had joined Second Life as I was interested in introducing gaming afternoons in my school library but was unable to use it with our school network, so I haven’t really done anything with it. c) I hope to learn about what is available ‘out there’ and continue to expand my network for access to professional information. I would like to see our pupils more engaged with the school library through my learning and I would hope to become more comfortable with using social networking sites and tools.

On Second Life Its now past midnight on the night of my Second Life tutorial. I can't sleep because I just keep thinking about all of the possibilities for the use of SL in education. Fortunately I can see past my own limitations with moving my avatar around, mainly because my daughter was able to help me. It made me realise that these controls are part of the digital natives world and I need to get a handle on them to be able to get the most out of SL. I watched the NBCS YouTube videos on their uses for SC a couple of days ago and I vacillate between thinking of all the fantastic potential and being terrified of not being able to keep up with this technology. Probably just the fear of the unknown. As a logicalthinker I like to have everything laid out in front of me in a convenient sequential order using manuals where possible. However not everyone thinks like me and I realise that creative thinkers think like a wiki nodes app with little branches going everywhere. And this is the nature of SN ideas are put out there and sometimes You miss what's going on but sooner or later the good ideas will get re posted or retweeted or put up on delicious. So you pick them up as they fly past you somewhere in the Ethernet. Cant wait to get the links for some educational sims to check them out. I know that my school cannot run SL but it would be cool to have an SL resource centre presence that the students could visit from home.

Arizona State University (ASU) libraries have adopted Web 2.0 tools effectively to enhance and maximize the delivery of information and services to its clients. In the library miniclip “The social connection”, the library asks clients to engage in conversation with the aim of both making clients aware of new resources and services, and, gaining ideas and feedback to aid planning for client’s needs. This involves both conversation and collaboration. The ASU libraries support collaboration on assignment creation through the miniclips: “Library one search” and “Meet your subject librarian”. They encourage clients to collaborate with library staff to seek materials for assignments. The miniclip “Tunes for finals” encourages content creation through developing playlists and collaboration to get students through exams. They have created their own content through the production of videos, facebook pages and twitter. Through these tools the ASU library is able to be part of the creative process and communicate with clients. On facebook clients are encouraged to ‘like’ or comment on posts and in twitter they are asked to tweet @ASULibraries. The miniclip “Fun things at the libraries” develops community and conversation through the encouragement of leisure pursuits and café culture among clients. Together they all develop a sense of community among the ASU staff and clients. Web 2.0 tools have played a major role in achieving the 4Cs of social media at ASU libraries. Clients, who would mostly be digital natives and already immersed in social media, due to the usual age of university students, cannot help but be immersed in information regarding the services and resources available as the information is available on such a variety of platforms.
 * Module 3 OLJ Task 1**
 * Library minute videos**

1. Plan (Shelton Waggener) Planning is particularly appropriate at MDCC as the library has recently gone through major restructuring, emerging as a technology and resource centre and with all new staff: A Technology and learning Coordinator who is also the Resource Centre Manager, The Curriculum Resources Assistant (librarian), and a Computer Technician. Our planning is based on the premise that the future of learning is heavily, but not exclusively, technology based. So we must decide which existing practices we will retain or modify and what we will introduce to achieve the new focus. For example we would like to provide more access to digital information and we need to retain the teaching of information skills so that students can access all types of information as needed. We no longer subscribe to paper copies of materials where digital are available. The future use of the space at the MDCC resource centre is currently being planned. As the school moves to every student having their own digital device(laptop or tablet), planning must consider whether the computer labs in the resource centre will be retained, and if not what will this space be used for: small group areas, private study, cosy reading? How do other schools configure their spaces?
 * Module 3 OLJ Task 2**
 * Five pieces of advice to help embrace Library 2.0 ethos at Mater Dei Catholic College**

2. Work to meet changing user needs. (Meredith Farkas) Farkas (2007) reminds us that we are no longer the only providers of information and reading for leisure. We need to market ourselves where our clients are. At MDCC as we move towards students having their own devices they are physically visiting the resource centre less. We need to let them know what we can provide for them using web 2.0 tools as these tools are what they are now using on their devices. Maintaining the resource centre website, wikis, wallwisher and twitter as well as investigating other means of marketing.

3. Be aware of emerging technologies and trends.(Farkas) As technology in learning is our focus at the MDCC resource centre it is extremely important that we constantly monitor emerging technologies and trends. Keeping up is already part of our job descriptions but it is important that we remember that.

4. L ook outside the library world for applications, opportunities, inspiration.(Farkas) To maintain our focus we need to look for applications, opportunities and inspiration from other types of libraries, museums, businesses and non profit organisations. This is similar to point 4 in that it is important that we keep up with what is happening outside our institution.

5. Create partnerships. (Farkas) We are already part of the partnerships between other schools in our diocese and departmental schools as well as the local public library. It is important we maintain these partnerships and be open to other partnerships as they arise, in order to keep up with emerging trends and events.

The Wagga City Library(WCL) website ([] )will be evaluated using the following set of criteria taken mainly from Mathews (2009) and one from McBurnie (2007). I would include more attractive elements in the teens and children’s sections and also links to blogs for games for youth as well. Overall, this is a well constructed and user friendly site.
 * Module 3 OLJ task 3**
 * Evaluation of a library website.**
 * 1) Promotion
 * 2) Segmentation
 * 3) Visual cues
 * 4) Search boxes
 * 5) Mobile friendly pages
 * 6) Feedback
 * 7) Redundancy
 * 8) An easy way to ask for help.
 * 9) Use of social networking.
 * Promotion**: The WCL site promotes its activities effectively with attractive rotating pictures and a small byte of information followed by a link to further information. It also uses facebook and twitter for promotion.
 * Segmentation**: While the site is segmented for different age groups there is no apparent change in the way material is presented. The section for school aged children has two colourful photos, however this is all. There are none of Lazarus’ (2009) ideas for creating an appealing child friendly space.
 * Visual cues**: These are used well in a number of sections such as the online resources, book lovers and library events pages. Where symbols are used they are readily identifiable.
 * Search boxes**: A search box is embedded in the title banner at the top of every page visited.
 * Mobile friendly pages**: I tried out the site on an iphone and found it quite friendly given the size of a phone. Where pages needed to be expanded it was simple to navigate.
 * Feedback**: The WCL site does have an area to contact them by email and a Frequently Asked Questions area. However there is nowhere for clients to give suggestions, nor are they encouraged to do so.
 * Redundancy**: There are a number of places where clients can obtain the same information. For example the Encyclopedia Britannica can be accessed from at least five pages.
 * An easy way to ask for help**: This is not easy. In the banner at the top is a ‘contact us’ link, however this linked to the Wagga City Council. There is another link further down the page under ’what do you want to do?’ called ‘ask a librarian’.
 * Use of social networking**: There are many opportunities for clients to use social networking on the WCL site. Facebook, twitter, blogs and wikis are all on offer.

The three OLJ tasks that I have concentrated on have been of particular interest to me as during 2011 I have been developing a website for the MDCC resource centre. I felt that the site I have developed so far was dull and did not have enough interactivity to attract and maintain the interest of the secondary students and staff. There were two wallwisher links and two youtube videos. This is not enough to retain the interests of teenagers who are already immersed in a lot of social networking media. Since completing the tasks I have gained a deeper understanding of what constitutes an effective website which embraces the ethos of library 2.0. I now realize my clients need to be more engaged in the site, not passive recipients of information. I have met the learning objectives of this subject with regard to the three OLJ tasks in the following ways: Social networking technologies are those which allow users to interact with others through the internet or mobile devices. Information is shared and can be built upon by others. Examples of these technologies are ASU libraries’ facebook psge and Wagga City Library (WCL) blogs and wikis. The basic principles of library 2.0 are collaboration, conversation, community, content creation and crowd sourcing. These principles have been put into practice by the ASU libraries and WCL so that their clients can participate with them in order to meet their information and cultural needs. Library 2.0 is ever evolving as it changes to meet clients changing needs and emerging technologies and trends. Farkas (2007), advises us to be constantly aware of changing user needs and emerging technology trends to respond to, and meet, changing user needs and to attract new users. There are a variety of social networking tools available. Blogs and wikis enable users to create and collaborate with medium to large pieces of information. The WCL ‘Book Club’ wikis and ‘Memories of Wagga Wagga’ blog are examples of these. Facebook pages offer a quickly evolving environment to share smaller chunks of information for users. Twitter allows even smaller snippets of information usually with links to access further information if required. Both ASU and WCL use these tools to meet client needs. Additionally, ASU uses video casts to supply information to users. These are effective means of communication as they include tone and atmosphere to make ASU a welcoming place and they are suitable for those users who prefer audiovisual communication. The WCL uses wikis to encourage participation by clients. Two of their wikis are ‘Baby Bounce’, an early literacy program, and ‘Wagga Book Buzz’, where users may read reviews from staff members and contribute their own. These are excellent technologies to support the needs of these groups as they allow users to interact, collaborate and create. As well as the five pieces of advice to help embrace library 2.0, I would like to include another piece relating to information policy. The management of the website should reflect the information policy of the institution. This is necessary as an effective library 2.0 site is not stagnant. There are many things to consider: How interactive and collaborative should the social networking aspects of the site be? Who is responsible for monitoring, and how often will posts be monitored? Should posts be held for approval before going out? Inappropriate material would need to beremoved as soon as possible if they automatically go out. If there is a delay between posts the natural flow of discussions will be impeded. Technical management which reflects information policy is crucial to the success of a website and therefore provision of services as social networking is by nature communication rich. If for example, the ‘Ask a librarian’ or facebook pages are not regularly monitored and maintained to respond to requests, continue conversations, disseminate information or remove inappropriate content, then clients may find some posts offensive, breach copyright, or be frustrated by delays in responses to requests for information, or to continue the flow of discussion or conversations. These issues must be dealt with and developed within the information policy to ensure success with library 2.0. When I began this subject I thought the only social networking tools I used were facebook and twitter and I did not use them often. However I had used QR codes and wikis, and was interested in virtual worlds and gaming. I have also created my own mashup. Now I see that these are also social networking tools. So perhaps I was already a social networker without realizing it. I am still having difficulty with setting up RSS feeds. Mastery of this particular tool is one of my aims in the very near future as the number of sites I wish to follow has increased dramatically because of this course. I also had a little difficulty using delicious but am not greatly worried as professionally I use diigo for bookmarking. I find bookmarking tools are very useful for maintaining professional reading. My own contributions to social networking for this subject have not been numerous. I am more voyeur than contributor, mainly because I am generally not confident enough to choose contributions that other people will value. However this is my first subject in the technology/information area since completing my Graduate Diploma TL in 1994. I am hoping to contribute more in the next two subjects I will be doing this year. Virtual worlds have played a major role in my development as a social networker. I now have a deeper understanding of the educational and social value of virtual worlds, and particularly Second Life. This world has a great deal of potential for collaboration, communication and creativity. However I still have trouble navigating in Second Life and I am comforted by Stuart’s (2010) confirmation that mastery of the complex skills for browsing in Second Life is one of its negative aspects. This doesn’t seem to be a problem for digital natives, so it wouldn’t stop me from using Second Life for educational programs. It does worry me that there are potential problems with cyber safety due to the openness of Second Life. It is a shame they did not keep the teen version. This subject has given me greater direction with developing the website for MDCC resource centre as mentioned in Part A, above. I am now confident that the website will be much more engaging for students and staff. I understand that users need to be attracted to the resource centre, enjoy and value their experience so that they will use the services again. It is my responsibility to ensure this happens, and to maintain the attraction through keeping myself informed of emerging trends and technologies. I need to be an advocate for social networking within my profession. Many educational authorities have blocked facebook, youtube and some virtual worlds from their networks. Social networking tools have a place in education and it becomes my responsibility to lead the school by embracing the library 2.0 ethos. Collaboration with teaching staff in using social networking tools to meet educational objectives would be a priority. Digital citizenship involving cyber bullying, digital etiquette, copyright, privacy and security will also need to be emphasised as the potential for problems when combining teenagers and social networking, is increased. As noted in James (2010) with the increase in social networking activity has been an increase in cyber crimes related to information posted on social networking sites.
 * A)** **Evidence of learning**
 * 1) **Demonstrate an understanding of social networking technologies.**
 * 1) **Demonstrate an understanding of concepts, theory and practice of library 2.0 and participatory library service.**
 * 1) **Critically examine the features and functionality of various social networking tools to meet the information needs of users.**
 * 1) **Evaluate social networking technologies and software to support informational and collaborative needs of workgroups, communities and organisations.**
 * 1) **Demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural, educational, ethical and technical management issues that exist in a social networking world, and how information policy is developed and implemented to support such issues.**
 * B)** **Reflective statement**

As an information professional it is important to continue the development of my skills and knowledge. The world of technology and social networking is changing rapidly. As I learn to understand and use the variety of tools available now I must keep in mind emerging trends and technologies. Collective intelligence, semantics, web 3.0 and greater will be common terminology soon. This rapid evolution does not appear to be slowing. O’Reilly and Battelle (2009) describe it as growing exponentially, and as such information professionals will need to be vigilant with keeping up or they, and their clients, will be left behind. Thus this becomes a major implication for my professional development.

**References**
Arizona State University libraries. Retrieved from []

Arizona State University Library, (2011, June 20). The Library minute: fun things at the libraries. [Video file] Video posted to []

Arizona State Library, (2011, Jan 28). The Library minute: library one search. [Video file] Video posted to []

Arizona State Library, (2010, March 31). The Library minute: meet your subject librarian. [Video file] Video posted to []

Arizona State Library, (2009, Dec 3). The Library minute: tunes for finals. [Video file] Video posted to []

Farkas, M. & Waggener, S. (2007, November 2).Building Academic Library 2.0. [Video file] Video posted to []

James, M. L. **Cyber crime 2.0** versus the Twittering classes. Parliament of Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliamentary Library Information, analysis and advice for the Parliament. Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Section, 24 February 2010 (2009-10). Retrieved from @http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/pubs/bn/sci/Cybercrime.pdf

Lazaris, L. (2009). Designing websites for kids: Trends and best practices, //Smashing Magazine//, (27 November). Retrieved from @http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/27/designing-websites-for-kids-trends-and-best-practices/

Mathews, B. (2009). Web design matters: Ten essentials for any library site. //Library Journal//, (15 February). Retrieved from @http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6634712.html?industryid=47126

McBurnie, J. (2007). Your online identity: Key to marketing and being found. //FUMSI//, (October). Retrieved from @http://web.fumsi.com/go/article/share/2510

O’Reilly, T. and Battelle, J. (2009).Web squared: Web 2.0 five years on. Retrieved from []

Stuart, D. (2010). Web 3.0 promises changes for libraries 2010. //Research Information//, (February/March) Retrieved from []

Wagga Wagga City Library. Retrieved from []