Web 2.0:

A Hands-On Introductionfor Library Staff

Instructor:

Michele MizejewskiElectronic Services Librarian

Redwood City Librarymmizejewski@redwoodcity.org

An Infopeople Workshop

This Workshop 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.

Agenda:

1. What is Web 2.0? 2. Blogs 3. RSS feeds4. Social bookmarking and tagging5. Wikis 6. Selling social software at your library

Packet and Links

Bookmark the class wiki:web2workshop.pbwiki.com/

Review packet contents

Introductions

Your name? Where do you work? Position?

What is Web 2.0?

Term coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 "2.0" borrowed from the convention of

software versioning Participation, creation, and commenting = The

Read/Write Web Community building Wisdom of crowds Perpetual beta and continuous improvement

What is Library 2.0?

Term coined by Michael Casey, 2005 Approach to library service that is increasingly

interactive, collaborative, and driven by user needs and expectations

Constantly reexamining and improving services and policies

Employ more user-friendly systems Controversial

Blogging

What is a blog? Web log Easy to edit website

Features: Dated entries with newest at top Keywords or descriptive “tags” RSS feeds offered Archive of past postings

Example: RCPL Staff Picks

Blogging Considerations

What is the purpose? How often to update? Allow commenting? Need to moderate?

Blogging Software

Types: Hosted Run on your server Some free, some cost money

Today we are working with the free, hosted version of Wordpress

Advantages: Blogs

Easy to add content (post) Great for disseminating news or other

frequently-updated information Allows interactive commenting Free software options available

Brainstorm: Blogging (5 min)

Create a new post in your blog titled “Blogging Brainstorm”

Brainstorm some ideas on how you might use blogs to improve service at your library

RSS Feeds

What is RSS? Really Simple Syndication “A web feed is a data format used for serving

users frequently-updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it.” --Wikipedia

What is RSS?

XML web feed

RSS Atom

Icons

News Sites and Blogs

Let’s look at a few examples . . .

How Do I Read Feeds?

Three types of feed readers or aggregators:

Web-based - Typically must be online to log in to account, but can read your content from any computer.

Desktop Clients - Download application to your computer. Can only read your content there.

Integrated - Browsers, web portals, etc. are beginning to make it easy to read feeds without a separate application.

Bloglines Demonstration

Basic features:

Feeds column Feed title and description Posting title and summary with link to click

through to source site

Uses in Libraries

News and events promotion New materials or staff picks Integrate resources into courseware New materials The information goes to the user, not the

other way around

Library RSS Examples

Let’s look at some examples…

Finding Feeds

Sites you already read regularly Blogrolls or “word-of-mouth” Specialized search engines Subscription databases and journals

Specialized Blog/Feed Search

Bloglines search tab Google Blog Search Libworm

Adding Feeds to Your Site

Use blogging software and link to the blogAdd a relevant feed from another siteUse various tools to generate or mix existing

feeds Feed shake Feed2JS

Code your own -- not for beginners

Advantages of Feeds

Efficiency: monitor many sites in much shorter time

Privacy: no email address required to subscribe to a feed

No spam: only content you request Easy to cancel: simply select a feed and

unsubscribe

Brainstorm: Feeds (5 min)

Create a new post in your blog called “Feeds Brainstorm”

Note some ideas on how feeds could improve service at your library, directly or indirectly

Social Bookmarking and Tagging

What is social bookmarking? Web-based bookmarks/favorites Public and searchable Wisdom of communities

What is tagging? User-assigned descriptive keywords Folksonomy

Image credit

Bookmarking and Tagging Tools

Options: General Scholarly Specific subject matter

Photos Video Books

del.icio.us Demonstration

Your bookmarks Posting/bookmarking an item Tags and cloud Network Subscriptions RSS feeds Searching

Library Examples

Let’s look at some examples…

Advantages: Social Bookmarking and Tagging

Web-based Searchable Folksonomy Resource discovery tool Expert discovery tool

Brainstorm: Social Bookmarking and Tagging (5 min)

Create a new post in your blog called “Social Bookmarking and Tagging Brainstorm”

Note some ideas on how you might use bookmarking and/or tagging at your library

Wikis

What is a Wiki? Collaborative, easy-to-edit website Wiki = quick (in Hawaiian) Anyone with access to the site can add to or edit the

content

Wikipedia is most well-known example

Wiki Features

Discussion area for each page Ability to revert to older version Collaborative editing Can be used as a knowledgebase

When Not to Use a Wiki

When complete control is important When dealing with sensitive information When ownership of content must be clear

Note: Wikis can be used by a select community rather than being completely open, but there is still a collaborative aspect

Wiki Examples

Let’s look at some examples…

Blogs vs. Wikis

1. Posts displayed

chronologically

2. The poster = author

3. Only author can edit

Others may comment

4. Posts are finite

5. Best for sharing

info/starting a dialogue

1. Information architecture varies

2. Authorship is collaborative

3. Anyone can edit the content

4. Always a work in progress

5. Best for collaborative work or as a repository for information

Wiki Software

Types: Hosted Run on your server

See handout Today we’ll be working with the free,

hosted version of pbwiki

PBwiki Demonstration

Add a new page Edit content Leave a comment Share this wiki Promote this wiki Settings

Wiki Tips: Getting Started

Start with a basic organizational scheme to prevent chaos

Add some content to the major categories before going live

Include documentation explaining what a wiki is and the purpose of yours

Advantages: Wikis

Web-based Searchable Easy to use Collaborative and flexible Free and open-source software options

Brainstorm: Wikis

Create a new post in your blog called “Wiki Brainstorm”

Note some ideas on how you might incorporate wikis at your library

Group Discussion

Do you anticipate any difficulty selling your colleagues on the idea of adding some Web 2.0 tools at your workplace?

What obstacles might you encounter and how can you work around them?

Selling Social Software

Avoid technolust Tie to mission statement Have a plan Involve staff in planning Involve IT in planning

Implementing Social Software

Offer training in various forms Show enthusiasm Have patience Persevere

Summary

This workshop has been an introduction to implementing Web 2.0 technologies in libraries: Blogs RSS feeds Social bookmarking Tagging Wikis

Continued exploration and practice are necessary!