How to Teach the Publicabout Social Software

Instructor:

Beth Gallawayinformationgoddess29@gmail.com

An Infopeople WorkshopSummer 2007

This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople Project

Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered around the state and are open registration on a first-come, first-served basis.

For a complete list of workshops, and for other information about the project, go to the Infopeople website at infopeople.org.

Introductions

• Name

• Library

• Position

• What is your favorite social software?

Workshop Overview

• Working with Adult Learners

• Teaching Social Software

• Teaching Bookmarking & Tagging

• Teaching RSS, Blogs, & Wikis

• Teaching Social Networking Applications

Using Bookmarks in Class• Go to: bookmarks.infopeople.org

• Look for the class bookmark file: teachsocialsoftware_bkmk

• Click on it so it shows on the screen

• Add to Favorites

• Add to your del.icio.us account

Working with Adult Learners

• Need to know why– immediate value

• Experiential learning– real life tasks instead of memorization– use analogies

• Problem-solving approach– allow discovery through

• questions• exercises

For Everything You Teach • Why?

– create a reason

• What?– give them the facts

• How?– let them try it

• What if?– let them think how they would use it– let them teach it to others

When Teaching…• During a demonstration

– explain what is happening– point to things on screen

• Make mistakes– experts have problems, too

• Ask questions to:– verify knowledge– get them thinking

Teaching Tips

• Watch for “yes” or “no” questions– What questions do you have?”

NOT

– “Do you have any questions?”

• Wait 5-10 seconds

• Reply unconditionally

• Repeat the question for the groups

More Teaching Tips

• Put your hands behind your back

• Have extra exercises to give to fast studies

• Recognize simple things can be a challenge

• Create excellent handouts

Teaching Tips: Previous Sessions

• Be patient!• Repeat yourself• Say things in several different ways

Practice Teaching1. Find a partner

2. Teach them how to do a simple task:

• Find and bookmark your library's website and add to favorites or to your del.icio.us account

Things to Watch:

• Eye contact• Explained jargon• Clarity of explanation• Hands on • Checked for understanding

Question for the Group

• What is social software?

ajax.phpmagazine.net/2006/02/great_collection_of_web_20_log.html

Social Software Is...

Any website where you create a username, password, and profile

Sites that allow you to contribute by uploading or posting your own content for rating review and remixing

Benefits of Social Software

• No one knows everything but everyone knows something

• Creates connections between people

Question for the Group

• Are there special issues about teaching social software that we need to address? (as opposed to using the Internet or using productivity software)

Social Software Assumptions

• Everything is meant to be shared(“public” is the default)

• Everything is meant to be critiqued(commenting “ON” is the default)

• Everything is meant to be remixed(Creative Commons is the default)

When Choosing Usernames, DO Use…

• Something original and creative

• A nickname

• A favorite character's name

• A name that references a band, animal, food, hobby...

When Choosing Usernames,DON’T use

• Your real first or last name Your age Your phone number Your zip code or location A suggestive name or word Pornographic or obscene words Derogatory terms

Can't Get Your Username?

• Try adding a double letter to the beginning (i.e., Hhermione)

• Add the current year or the year you graduate at the end (i.e. Hermione2007)

• Separate words with an underscore (i.e., Hermione_Granger)

• Change the spelling or spell in LEET (i.e., H3rm10n3)

Password Tips

• Choose passwords that are:– At least 6 to 8 characters – Combinations of letters and numbers– Personally meaningful for easy

remembering– Not obvious to the rest of the world

• Use a password generator for help• Write the password down and store in

a safe place

del.icio.us• del.icio.us is a bookmark utility

that is accessible from anywhere

• del.icio.us has social features such as sharing and tagging

Questions for the Group

• What might the public want to do with del.icio.us?

• How might you describe del.icio.us, in a sentence or two?

• What three things might you focus on in a class on how to use del.icio.us?

del.icio.us: Three Things to Teach

• How to import bookmarks• How to add a new bookmark• How to organize bookmarks

Handout Tips

• Readable font

• 50% white space

• Consistent look

• Consistent language

• Correct spelling & mechanics

• Number actions in a sequence

• Branded

Word-processing Tips

• Content first

• Highlight to select, then add features

• Use numbers for actions in a sequence

• Use bullets if order is unimportant

What is a Tag?

• A tag is a relevant keyword with personal meaning to the user, to define or describe a link, photo, article, or other item.

“Web 2.0.” Kosmar. kosmar.de/archives/2005/11/11/the-huge-cloud-lens-bubble-map-web20/ © 2005 Markus Angermeier. Used with permission.

Tag Cloud

Google Image Labeler

• Go to: images.google.com/imagelabeler/• Apply as many labels to the image in

front of you as you can think of• Repeat for each new image• At the end of two minutes, review your

labels (and your partner's)• Try again!

Flickr• Flickr is a photo-sharing application for

posting images publicly or privately

• Flickr has multiple post options, security levels, and copyright permissions

Questions for the Group

• What might the public want to do with Flickr?

• How might you describe Flickr, in a sentence or two?

• What three things might you focus on in a class on how to use Flickr?

Flickr: Three Things to Teach

• Uploading photos• Tagging photos• Creating a set of photos

Library Thing• Library Thing is an online catalog for

your personal library of books created by importing records from other book databases.

• Library Thing hosts ratings, reviews and forums.

Questions for the Group

• What might the public want to do with LibraryThing?

• How might you describe LibraryThing, in a sentence or two?

• What three things might you focus on in a class on how to use LibraryThing?

LibraryThing: Three Things to Teach

• How to add a title• How to tag• How to subscribe to a feed

What is RSS?

• RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Syndication)

• It's a way to subscribe to notifications about updated content.

• RSS feeds are read through a feed reader.

Bloglines

• Bloglines is a web-based multimedia feed reader that stores subscriptions to blogs for easy access from anywhere

• Bloglines can host your blog

Questions for the Group

• What might the public want to do with Bloglines?

• How might you describe Bloglines, in a sentence or two?

• What three things might you focus on in a class on how to use Bloglines?

Bloglines: Three Things to Teach

• How to add a blog• How to search for blogs• How to organize your blogs

PbWiki• Peanut Butter Wiki is a hosting site for

creating web pages that can be edited in real time with a very simple editing tool.

Questions for the Group

• What might the public want to do with PbWiki?

• How might you describe PbWiki, in a sentence or two?

• What three things might you focus on in a class on how to use PbWiki?

PbWiki: Three Things to Teach

• How to edit a page• How to add a new page• How to see when changes were

made

Exercise #4RSS Reader Showdown

www.problogger.net/archives/category/rss/page/3/

What Are Social Networking Applications?• A social networking application is a

social software website where the primary focus is connecting with other people.

XKCD. imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities.png © 2007 Randall Munroe. Used with permission.

Map of Online Communities

LinkedIn

• Linked in is a business networking website, to make connections for career-related, professional purposes.

Questions for the Group

• What might the public want to do with LinkedIn?

• How might you describe LinkedIn, in a sentence or two?

• What three things might you focus on in a class on how to use LinkedIn?

LinkedIn: Three Things to Teach

• How to add a contact• How to search for a job• How to find a classmate

Eons

• Eons is a social networking website for the boomer generation

Questions for the Group

• What might the public want to do with Eons?

• How might you describe Eons, in a sentence or two?

• What three things might you focus on in a class on how to use Eons?

Eons: Three Things to Teach

• How to find an obituary• How to create a Lifemap• How to join a group

How will you use

what you did today?

Evaluations

Thank you for attending!

Please complete an evaluation at:

infopeople.org/workshop/wseval.html

Contact Beth:

• informationgoddess29 on most social software networks

• informationgoddess29@gmail.com