Social media in the digital age:an early discussion of its impact in libraries & archives

A 2 hr. workshop for students in LIBR500 at UBC’s iSchool

Dean Giustini, UBC librarian | dean.giustini@ubc.ca | LIBR 500 March 2015

“…social media is the social interaction among people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, pictures/videos in virtual communities and

networks… social media is also "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that

allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."[2]

[social media is also connected to] the emerging field of technoself studies…”~ Wikipedia entry “Social Media”

What is social media?

DISCUSS WITH ME:

What social media do you use?

Why? For what reasons?What does it mean “to be social” in the online sense???

1. Twitter

2. tumblr

3. Facebook

4. YouTube

5. Slideshare

6. Pinterest

6. Skype

7. Wikipedia

8. Instagram

9. Reddit

Ten (10) Popular Social Tools

10. Google?

BEING SOCIAL LINKS TO THE PAST

Standage says “today …we are endlessly connected: constantly tweeting, texting or e-mailing”. But S. says information has always been spread via intense social

networks. He cites letter-sharing in Cicero’s time as a foretelling of power (social/political) shifts in govt …and how religious tracts in 16th c. Germany

triggered the Reformation

Who is this guy?

“The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect – to help people work together – and not as a technical toy.” – Weaving the web, 1989

Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee (1955 – ) British engineer, computer scientist and professor is credited with inventing the WWW.

Currently, he is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an organization founded to create web standards and develop interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools)…

Who is this mobile user?

danah boyd, PhD • danah boyd (November 24th, 1977 — ) blogger, social media ethnographer and researcher, known for her insights into social networking practices of youth (particularly teenage girls).

• On her blog Apophenia boyd analyzes issues in our social media-saturated world has made her a go-to expert on social media & youth.

• boyd completed her PhD at the School of Information (iSchool), University of California, Berkeley, though doesn’t seem to identify as a librarian (some iSchool grads do).

• Her research examines social media, youth practices, tensions between the public and private self, social networking sites, and intersections between technologies and our society in the 21st century.

danah spent 7 years examining online teen cultures; she interviewed 166 teenagers hanging out “…in physical spaces like schools, parks & fast-food

restaurants… & observing teens through the traces they left online”.

Massive Open Online Courseshttp://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca/index.php/Massive_open_online_courses_%28MOOCs%29

What impact will they have on education?

How the Khan Academy changes the rules of education

Wired, 2011

Mass participation reveals unmet needs

I. THINK

What benefits are there to using social media? Write down one or two ideas (2-3 mins.)

II. PAIR Discuss your idea(s) for about 5-7 mins. with your neighbour

III. SHAREShare with class

Pros/cons of social media

Play & performance Appropriation Multi-tasking Distributed cognition Transmedia navigation

Jenkins Henry. Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: media education for the 21st century

What skills are needed to participate?

Is mobile important?what portable devices do you use?

in pursuit of library & archival objectives

LISTEN – PARTICIPATE – ENGAGE

…a model you can use to implement social media

start at “listen”

participate

& finally engage others

The benefits of the social web

• Encourage two-way interaction with user groups

• Share information, ideas & knowledge

• (Re)define libraries’ & archives; our mission & direction

• Embed information professionals where users are “living”

• ...Form communities (yes, even online)

• Stake our claim to being social

http://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca