Twitter and the Victorian Bushfires

I read an article today on how Twitter helped with getting information out about the recent Victorian bushfires. As usual, there were pros and cons associated with this new method of information delivery.

The pros concentrated on the speed at which information was spread versus industrial-age media… “Fast and flexible, Twitter spread information through people’s overlapping social circles…”. Another pro was the use of fairly reliable sources such as @cfa_updates, @sbsnews and ABC’s @774melbourne.

The cons concentrated on the darker side of information overload as the rising death toll was reported at 20…25…30…35 as well as the links to every new photo and every new report in all its horrendous details. The overloading of websites such as CFA ended up with the authors pleading with people to stop visiting their website unless they were in genuine need. On the other hand, the lack of Twitter updates from @KevinRuddPM was disappointing but one also needs to remember that there are only 1 in 5000 people currently using Twitter.

Food for thought for us as Technovisionaires isn’t it!

To view the full article click on the following link http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20090211-Twitter-enabling-the-new-global-rubberneckers.html

Can you visit your library online?

The previous post on the 2.0 Masterclass reminded me of one of the blogs that I subscribe to, that of David Lee King. Now here is a man that has pondered over just how much people can do when visiting a libraries virtual location, and seeks to emulate the environment that can be experienced at any libraries physical location. you can read about his musings here and an interview here.

At his own library he has come up with the digital branch, its like any other in a library system, yet this one is purely online. have a look at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. He has also written a book on designing the digital experience, which I sure would be well worth a read.

I wonder when we will be adding a new branch to our system...

Keith.

Learning 2.0 Masterclass

Innovation
Originally uploaded by Vermin Inc

The first day of Masterclass Learning 2.0 with Helene Blowers, has been an informative and interesting day. I have spoken to people in the group from public, TAFE, specialist and academic libraries. From this group discussion has ensured including our experiences and ideas for where to head for the future.

I have learnt about changing my thinking and changing the thinking of library staff and the organisation. We need to look at the idea that the web presence of the library is not another branch of the library but an extension of the library that the customers use. We need to assess what our community is? Community is not just the people that walk through our front doors, it is not just the people who live in our shire it is also the community that we grow through our web presence.

Library 2.0 is the way of the future but the way of future does not have to dictate that we implement every technology out there. Change is good but change for change sake is not part of the plan. We need to make changes that will empower the customers experience but still have a purpose for the change in the library as well.

We need to explore how we communicate with customers and what we communicate with the customers. We don't know exactly what customers wants and needs from a library service why not ask them? Why not put out there what we are working on and investigating and ask for comments? Why not harness the information that customers can provide and use it to our advantage?

Tools are available that we should be looking at to examine what people are saying about us on the internet. This could be used to show the organisation what customers think of our service, what they saying about our service or what they want to change about our service.