Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn OH MY!!

So, this past week those of us taking the MLA Web 2.0 Ce class were asked to create accounts in various web 2.0 technologies and play around with them.

I already had a Facebook, MySPace and LinkedIn acccount but did take more time to explore them. I also created a Twitter account and have been spending more time on that than anything else. I even figured out how I could twitter via Meebo since I use Meebo for instant messaging.

It was so exciting to me I changed my FB status to tell the world and had one of the MLA Task Force members ask me ho to do it. It was a proud moment for me.

Our library has recently created an official FB page as well as a Flickr and YouTube account. All of these web 2.0ish collaborative tools will allow the rest of the world to see what we are doing and how we are trying to weave our way into the world of our users the best way we know how...by going to where they are. They say if you build it they will come...

If you have not tried out Facebook I recommend it over MySpace but that is my humble opinion. Have a gr8 weekend!!

~M

Free online training - Unified Health Communication 101: Addressing Health Literacy, Cultural Competency, and Limited English Proficiency

Thanks to Gail Kouame for posting this on the listserv. Thought it may be of interest to some.

~M
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The Human Resources and Services Administration is offering an online
training session that you can take any time, any place for free! You
can take the course at your own pace, but the web site states to expect

it to take about 5 hours total. Interested? Read on:

Unified Health Communication 101: Addressing Health Literacy, Cultural
Competency, and Limited English Proficiency is a free on-line learning

experience that will help you

* improve your patient communication skills

* increase your awareness and knowledge of the three main factors
that affect your communication with patients: health literacy, cultural

competency and low English proficiency

* implement patient-centered communication practices that
demonstrate cultural competency and appropriately address patients with

limited health literacy and low English proficiency

For more information, visit:

http://www.hrsa.gov/healthliteracy/training.htm

Blogs vs Wikis

OK, my next blog installation is to answer the following questions:

1)What is the difference between a blog and a wiki?
2)What things might be better suited for a blog and better suited for a wiki?

So a blog to me is a place wehre you can voice opinions, keep those who read your blog up to date on what you are doing whether it is p[ersonal or pfrofessional. Libraries use blogs for their news and events, I created my blog when I moved from Oregon to MD so my friends on the west coast could keep up with my goings on here on the east coast. Haven't been that good in keepin it up to date but it is there.

Wikis, are more of a collaborative tool. THe librarians and libraries in Oregon have something called NW Central whichs is a wiki for librarians to post information, class evetns and toher tools for other librarians to use and amend for themselves (http://www.nwcentral.org/)

Wikis can also be used when there are a few authors on apaper, presentation, class, etc. As Michelel mentioned in the introduction, trying to keep track fo the most recent document attachment from your e-mail can be a mess. A wiki allows the document(s) to be in one place and you know you are using the mose recently updated document when you find it. I have used google docs before and have submitted info to the NW Central Wiki but that is aboutit (at least for now it is).

I know that many sections of ALA are creating wikis to foster more collaboration as does MLA. So, off I am to find a wiki for me to submit information to.


~M

RSS Feeds

I was posed two questions for week one of my CE course. They are:

1) How do you think you could use RSS feeds at your library?
2) How do you think patrons could use RSS feeds?
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The first thing that comes to mind is using RSS feeds to receive content information being published on discipline specific topics. I know that I use RSS feeds to keep me in the know of what other medical librarians or doing, what they are finding and how other libraries are using such feeds.

A second way libraries can use RSS feeds is to inform their patrons of newly acquired items in their collections/catalogs. This way students can keep up to date on the newly published literate be it a book, journal of other type of resource. SO, a med student interested in OB/GYN can set up a RSS feed to inform them of any newly acquired items relating to OB/GYN at their library. This can also fall under the second question of how patrons can use RSS feeds.

Another way is to as mentioned in our exercise, is to use RSS feeds for Table of Content services offered via the publisher. As an outreach librarian there are a few journals being published that relate more heavily on what I do at my institution. SO, for me to make sure I at least see what is being published, I or my institution does not have to subscribe to these journals, if I do not see any articles of interest I can delete the post I received or I can request an ILL for the particular article I am interested in. This too can be a way patrons use RSS feeds.

Enough babbling for now, I may post more later but I think this will qualify as a long enough post for my credit this week.

~Meredith

Web 2.0 101: Introduction to Second Generation Web Tools

Hello all,

Over the next 8 weeks or so I will be blogging at least once a week to comlete an 8 hour Ce course on Web 2.0.

So, this is just a heads up that some of the information I will be posting here may be irrelevant to you but if you are interested in what I do or what my class is about feel free to read them.

Hope you are all doing well.

~Meredith