Big Data: Bad science on steroids? – Health, Science-ish – Macleans.ca.
Big Data: Map
social media
Aaron Swartz and Too-Comfortable Research Libraries – Library Hat.
Some good questions from Bohyun Kim. Let’s answer them.
“Many academic libraries offer computers, which are necessary to access electronic resources of the library itself. But how many of academic libraries keep all the computers open for user without the user log-in? Often those library computers are locked up and require the username and password, which only those affiliated with the institution possess. The same often goes for many electronic resources. How many academic libraries allow the on-site access to electronic resources by walk-in users? How many academic libraries insist on the walk-in users’ access to those resources that they pay for in the license? Many academic libraries also participate in the Federal Depository Library program, which requires those libraries to provide free access to the government documents that they receive to the public. But how easy is it for the public to enter and access the free government information at those libraries?”
Are our academic and research libraries fulfilling their civic duty by providing access to information? Or are they too comfortable?
“Too-comfortable libraries do not ask themselves if they are serving the public good of providing access to information and knowledge for those who are in need but cannot afford it. Too comfortable libraries see their role as a mediator and broker in the transaction between the information seller and the information buyer. They may act as an efficient and successful mediator and broker. But I don’t believe that that is why libraries exist. Ultimately, libraries exist to foster the sharing and dissemination of knowledge more than anything, not to efficiently mediate information leasing. And this is the dangerous idea: You cannot put a price tag on knowledge; it belongs to the human race. Libraries used to be the institution that validates and confirms this idea. But will they continue to be so in the future? Will an academic library be able to remain as a sanctuary for all ideas and a place for sharing knowledge for people’s intellectual pursuits regardless of their institutional membership? Or will it be reduced to a branch of an institution that sells knowledge to its tuition-paying customers only? While public libraries are more strongly aligned with this mission of making information and knowledge freely and openly available to the public than academic libraries, they cannot be expected to cover the research needs of patrons as fully as academic libraries.”
Emphasis is mine.
I expect more from our libraries. Do you?
Watch “My 3 Cents on Cancer: Jack Andraka at TEDxSanJoseCAWomen” Video at TEDxTalks.
The possibilities of a connection culture are astounding. Nurturing ideas, saying yes, connecting with others…can save lives.
Jack Andraka from Crownsville, Maryland. Grand Prize Winner of the 2012 Intel Science Fair. Age: 15.
Just like real life.
Haters Gonna Hate. What’s a Woman to Do About It? – The Cut.
Please read this. It’s not just for and about female empowerment. It’s for those of us who take social justice work dearly and seriously.
Crossing paths with snarky, ignorance-laden, bigoted commentary, online and off, this late in the 2000s, still bothers me a great deal. Don’t get me wrong. I like a good, irreverent laugh as much as anyone. And I struggle daily with my own internal biases, blind spots, and prejudices. I think we all should take stock and do personal inventory at least once a week. But I still hear things that makes me want to say, “do you understand the words that are coming out of your mouth?” When that happens, the world becomes a smidge bleaker and colder.
I sometimes feel overcome by the hate. It saps me of my strength and will. Like, what’s the point? And the point is, I do what I do because it brings me to life. I keep doing what I do because I want to get better at what I do. Haters will hate no matter what. So let them. Take heart. You are not alone.
“That doesn’t mean I consider all of my critics to be haters. If I get negative feedback from people who are close to me, strangers who actually care about my work, or experts in the field, I listen. Those people push me to work harder, too. But nothing motivates me like haters. The hierarchy just helps me to compartmentalize them. It’s not that I stop caring altogether, it’s that I care much less about the least consequential among them.”
Friedman’s Hierarchy of Haters
The White-Savior Industrial Complex – Atlantic Mobile.
“[T]here is much more to doing good work than “making a difference.” There is the principle of first do no harm. There is the idea that those who are being helped ought to be consulted over the matters that concern them.”
An image I got from Library Facebook Images — the Dropbox space!
No offense to my wonderful librarian friends, professional colleagues, and APALA mates. I <3 you all very, very much. The thing is, the highlight of ALAMW13 for me was the program “Outreach 2.0: The Digital Revolution of Public Relations” with Ben Bizzle, Director of Technology at Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library, and David Lee King, Digital Services Director of Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.
In that program, Ben and David talked about creating a successful social media campaign, primarily with Facebook.
Ben presented first and provided the audience with a description of the current environment libraries–we all–are in: digital is where it’s at. Not just plain digital, mind you. Social digital. Digital marketing and outreach through social media must be done more because it is now the medium. Many people still use traditional media for information (print, radio, and broadcast television), but people’s expectations and the management of advertising have shifted significantly towards digital social media. The numbers say so. Ben created a Facebook presence for Jonesboro Public Library and saw success. This led him to ask if such success can be replicated, particularly the investment of $10 to promote the library page on Facebook. The case study he is currently conducting strongly suggests that, yes, success can indeed be replicated in the increase of fans/followers, likes, and comments. Participating libraries have seen the jump in their numbers (see presentation slides linked above). To help his fellow librarians, Ben created a Dropbox space filled with images useful for library digital outreach and marketing in the visually inclined world of Facebook and social media. (He’s so cool and awesome! And his name–Ben Bizzle–just screams social media!)
What’s not on the presentation slides is a single truism from Ben (maybe 3?) that has been burning brightly in my mind since ALAMW13:
Be the George Takei of your community. Make them laugh. Pull their heart strings.
I already lurk on ALATT (ALA Think Tank) on Facebook, travel around Facebook quite a bit (for professional and personal purposes), and sit at my university’s social media marketing strategies group. What other reason do I need to be convinced? Convincing, no, I don’t need that.
David presented next and he talked about Facebook best practices (that’s what I need!). He stressed the importance of goals and advocated for just 2: (1) make it on people’s timelines and (2) get people to see what you post. I thought these were more strategic approaches than goals, but I’m not complaining. Not at all! He then talked about having a team with a schedule, work distribution, and content and posting guidelines. (Funny, I was just working on these before I left for ALAMW13…) For content, David stressed the need for these to be 3 things: (1) compelling (targeted to library lovers, mixed with expert tips and suggestions for resources, and just being there for customers); (2) seasonable and timely (Facebook moves fast!); and (3) tells the library story. First we have to agree on what that story is, but that’s a post for a different day…
As for Facebook posting guidelines, David suggested:
(1) Be human! Type like you talk. Be conversational. Mix the real stuff with the funny stuff.
(2) Think business casual (not weekend-kicking-back-with-a-beer casual). There’s a line. Know where it is. Get as close to it as possible. But don’t cross it.
(3) Think short. Keep to Tweetable posts.
(4) Draw audience participation. Do calls to action. Ask a question. Fill-in-the-blank posts. Let them participate!
(5) Be visual! Post pictures and videos.
(6) Be consistent. (Ok. We’ll need to figure out the timing and content that’s compelling to our community first, then we can be consistent.)
Then there’s the question of what to measure. How do we know we are successful? Is it through demographic metrics that I know I’ll be able to get through Google Analytics and Facebook Insight?
ALAMW13 @ Seattle, WA
Demographic stats are nice and can definitely bolster my case that we need to do social media outreach (I’m currently executing a program that was born on Facebook, so… that right there says that Facebook’s an important space to be at). What I am after is engagement with my community.
Ben and David have backed me up. They stressed that social media gives us librarians a voice. (It also gives our libraries a voice.) Facebook is about conversation (that’s a form of engagement, yes?). It’s a broadcast medium. It’s a fast and easy way to distribute our library story to our patrons, funders, supporters, and detractors. It provides us with more opportunities, not less.
So, after my Seattle trip, I threw myself into my Facebook-conceived Valentine-y project (we’re doing Blind Date With a Book 2013 for the entire month of February! Our first! Woohoo!) and emailed Ben so I can get access to the Dropbox space he talked about. I now have it and am working to develop an approachable online persona for Armacost and a distributed team to carry out and maintain that persona. If you have suggestions for me, please let me know. What sorts of calls-to-action should I incorporate into my academic library’s Facebook persona?
Yes, please!
Is participation in social media work? — Public Libraries — Medium.
Yes. Yes, it is.
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