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Social Software

Social Software Showcase 2008 – ALA

Not heading to Anaheim for ALA? That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on everything. LITA’s BIGWIG Social Software Showcase web page already has a number of videos and screencasts of presentations posted to it. There will also be some live webcasts and discussions during the conference. Check the Showcase page for times and details.

Among the many excellent presentations, Jason Griffey’s Video 2.0 and the New Media Revolution really caught my attention. In a delightful bit of recursiveness, Jason presents a video about new video tools that will make virtual participation in meetings, presentations and such much easier. In themselves, they’re very interesting, useful tools. But what happens to privacy when it becomes possible to broadcast anything, anytime, anywhere? How do we process the onslaught of media madness? Jason poses questions about what this media revolution will mean for society and what it means for libraries.

Note from the final section of the video:

We talk a lot in libraries about information literacy. We need to move beyond text. Text led the first media revolution. We need to prepare for the next revolution. You can use these tools to participate in the future of expression. If you don’t, your patrons certinaly will.

Think of how many schools, libraries and other learning organizations block internet video  altogether. Where will they be in this revolution?

Summer Reading Interest Group on ning.com

There’s a new Summer Reading community on ning.com. If you’re not familiar with ning.com, it’s a free service that hosts thousands of special interest groups where members share ideas through discussion forums, photos, videos, etc. There are already many popular library and education related groups on ning.com.

The purpose of the Summer Reading ning group is simply to share ideas for summer reading programs in libraries and connect librarians around the country and the world.

http://summerreading.ning.com/

If you’re not familiar with navigating around a ‘ning’ community, there is some help in the discussion forum when you login. Sign up and take it for a spin. Ideas & suggestions are most welcome. If you’re interested in helping to administer the group, please let me know.