Thing #43: Libraries and Hyperlocal Information

While one of the great things about the Web is its ability to connect people across great distances, it is also useful for bringing together people in the same local community. The recent trend of hyperlocal (meaning extremely local, or relating to a very specific location) journalism highlights the fact that people want to be able to go online and find information about their own community. As this article explains, in a time when some newspapers are in decline, hyperlocal web sites have emerged as a new way for people to receive news and information.

Hyperlocal sites take a few different approaches. Some sites hire authors and editors to generate content, which they may supplement with feeds from local news sources. Others rely entirely on aggregated news from other sources. Some choose to focus on a few locations, while others aggregate content for almost any location and allow users to search for a location that interests them.

What does this mean for libraries? This blog post by Emily Clasper, a librarian in New York, outlines some of the reasons she believes hyperlocal news should be important to libraries. As she points out, libraries are a traditional source of information about a community. These web sites could be competition for libraries, but they could also be an opportunity.
Here are some more details about particular hyperlocal news sites:

Patch
On Patch’s home page, you can see that the states that it serves are still quite limited. Patch hires writers and editors to create content relevant to each local community. In addition to reading news stories, visitors to the site can find local events, browse a directory of local businesses, and ask questions about local topics in the Q & A section (users must create an account to use this section.)

EveryBlock
EveryBlock is similar to Patch in that it only focuses on certain locations. EveryBlock focuses on larger cities, and then allows users to find information by searching by zip code, neighborhood, or street. You can even narrow your search down to a particular block - this site truly illustrates the meaning of hyperlocal! The information on EveryBlock is aggregated from a number of sources. In contrast to Patch, which focuses mostly on news stories, EveryBlock provides information like crime reports, real estate listings, and restaurant reviews, all provided by outside sources.

Outside.in
Outside.in does not create original content, but aggregates news stories from local sources. You can search for a particular city and find the latest headlines. The variety of content is not as great as that found on Patch or EveryBlock, but it does have the advantage of providing a place to find content about many different communities, rather than a select few. Each state has a page with links to various cities, which makes it convenient to find Nebraska headlines, for example.

Placeblogger
Placeblogger is a little different from the sites listed above. Instead of hiring authors to write content, or aggregating news feeds, Placeblogger focuses on compiling information from blogs about a particular location. Content is collected by users adding blogs to the site, so it is only as good as the blogs provided. Not all cities have a lot of content. (For example, Omaha has one blog listed, and Lincoln has five. However, Chicago has quite a few.) Placeblogger also has a social networking aspect. Users are encouraged to create profiles and track the places they’ve lived and visited.

Assignment:

1. Read the article and blog post mentioned above.

2. Explore at least two of the hyperlocal sites from the list above. (They don’t all have Nebraska information, but you should still be able to pick a community and get an idea of the types of information provided.)

3. Write a blog post recounting your experience with the sites. Do they have any features that particularly interested you? Do you think these sites serve a useful purpose? If you lived in a community served by these sites, would you use any of them as sources of information?

What is your opinion on libraries and hyperlocal information? Should libraries partner with hyperlocal services? In communities without a Patch or EveryBlock web site, should libraries fill this role and promote hyperlocal information on their web sites? (Or are they already doing so?)

Thing #42: Pimp Your Twitter

Twitter was Thing #13 in our previous Nebraska Learns 2.0 program, back in November 2008.  It's been a couple of years, and Twitter has evolved since then, so we figured it might be a good time to revisit Twitter.

Some of you may have never used Twitter before, some of you did the original Thing for Twitter, and some of you may be using Twitter on a regular basis. No problem! We have options for all levels of Twitter users.

So, for this month's Thing, you have 3 choices. You can do the Beginner activity, the More Than a Beginner activity, or you can do both!

First, for those of you totally new to Twitter, watch this short video to learn how to get started:



Twitter allows users to post 140 character updates, answering the question: “What's happening?”. These posts are shared via the web to either the world or to the users’ friends.

Users can access Twitter messages - called tweets - on the Web, thru an RSS feed, via text on their cell phones or with any number of third part apps. Accessing a Twitter account, one might find an update on a users' day, a direct message to another Twitter user, a link to something the user wants to share with their friends, or a bit of wit and wisdom.

Libraries are using Twitter as well as a means to update content on the Web or for alert services.

Check out some of these articles to learn more about how you can use Twitter, both personally and for your library:

How to Use Twitter

Twitter for Beginners: 5 Steps for Better Tweeting

How to Twitter - Wall Street Journal

Twitter for Libraries (and Librarians)

How Your Library May Not Be Using Twitter But Should

Beginner Assignment:

1. Visit Twitter and sign up for a free account. Try a few tweets.

See how other libraries are using Twitter:

Libraries Using Twitter - from Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

Follow one of us - Allana, Christa, Michael, or Susan.

Or follow one of the Nebraska Library Commission's Twitter accounts: NLC News, NLC Tech, or NLC Reference.

2. Search Twitter for mentions of your library, school or anything that interests you to explore how people use this tool. What conversations did you find?

3. Blog about the experience. Did you like micro-blogging? How could libraries use Twitter? How could you use Twitter?
 
There are Many Apps for Twitter

The Twitter web page is where you start using Twitter. But as you use it more, you may discover that the web page is a bit lacking. Maybe there are some features you wish it had. Did you know that you can post pictures via Twitter? And that you can track your account statistics? What if, like we do at the Library Commission, you have multiple Twitter accounts to update? There are services that can do all of these things, and more.

To help users interact with their Twitter account(s), many third party apps and web sites have cropped up. Take a look at these articles about sites and applications that can make Twitter more useful to you and your library:

Top 20 Sites to Improve Your Twitter Experience

5 Terrific Twitter Research Tools

11 Free Services for Scheduling Social Media Updates

25 Twitter Apps to Manage Multiple Accounts

More Than a Beginner Assignment:

1. Try out 1 or 2 of the sites or apps listed in the articles above.

2. Share your impressions of the sites or apps you tested. Write a blog post about what you thought was good or bad about the apps. Did you find them useful? Would you have liked them to do something more or less? Do you think you'll continue using them? How could libraries use them?

Thing #41: There's No Excuse Not To Learn! (or "How To" 2.0)

Lifelong learning is often discussed in the context of professional development, but most of us have things we want to learn for purposes of personal development as well.

Sometimes we need to learn something new out of necessity. Perhaps you’re a first-time home-owner who suddenly needs a crash course in basic home repairs. Or maybe a diabetes diagnosis requires you to learn a whole new way of cooking. Other times we want to learn something just for fun—like knitting, cake decorating, or Chinese!

In the past, if we didn’t want to enroll in a formal class we could usually go to a bookstore or library and find instructional books or tapes designed to help us learn desired skills. Self-instruction books and DVDs are still widely available in bookstores and libraries, but in recent years the variety and quality of free online instructional resources has skyrocketed. And I can think of a number of instances in which I—or someone I know—relied primarily on a free online resource to learn something new.

Examples:

• Last year, half-way through vacation at a lakeside cabin in Minnesota, I hit a knitting roadblock. I’d finished the “easy” part of my project and I now needed to perform a different and more complicated stitch. For the life of me I couldn’t follow the written instructions or decipher the diagrams in my book. If I couldn’t figure this out I was done with knitting for the remainder of the week. In desperation I took our laptop to the car and drove closer to the resort owners’ house in order to access the wireless signal they provided to guests. Once online I quickly located a short video clip of someone demonstrating how to perform the stitch. That made all the difference! I was able to return to the cabin and resume my project as though I’d never had a problem!

• On a recent trip to visit my friend Karen, she cooked us steak for dinner. I’ve known Karen since junior high and she’s never had the slightest interest in cooking. So where had she learned to cook steak? Some video she found on YouTube!

• My son has difficulty with handwriting, so several educational advisors have recommended he learn keyboarding as soon as possible. So how do people learn keyboarding these days? No longer do they sit in a classroom in front of a typewriter while a teacher rhythmically calls out letters. Now they use free, online typing tutorials like Dance Mat Typing or E-Learning for Kids Keyboarding Skills.

It’s certainly possible and often quite productive to search for exactly what you need, using your favorite search engine. For instance, click on the following links to see Google search results for the following:

• picking up stitches while knitting socks
• how to cook a steak video
• free keyboarding tutorials for children

However, it’s also fun to browse some of the numerous “how to” sites that have sprung up to host or serve as directories to free instructional videos on the web. And that’s what we’re going to do for Thing #41!

General Interest "How To" Sites

The first three sites I’d like to direct your attention to host instructional videos on such a wide range of topics that probably everyone can find something of personal interest or value. All can be used without registration, but signing up for free accounts gets you additional functionality. Take a look and see what you think!

• Graspr: The Instructional Video Network
• Instructables
• MonkeySee

School "How To" Sites

These next three sites are probably of greatest interest to students who need help with schoolwork—or the adults they ask to assist them. I know as the parent of an elementary student I sometimes have trouble helping my son with math not because I can’t do the problems, but because I wasn’t taught to solve them the same way he’s being taught.

In these instances I’ve found it useful to go online and search for lessons that present the material in the same way it’s being presented in his classroom. If I can find such lessons—and I almost always do on sites like those listed below—it gives me the background information I need to provide my son with the type of assistance he needs.

• WatchKnow - Thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Videos come from many sites include YouTube, eHow, National Geographic, TeacherTube, and more.

• TeacherTube – An educationally focused, safe venue for sharing instructional videos; designed for teachers, schools, and home learners.

• Khan Academy – Thousands of short videos created by Salman Khan to explain math concepts from simple to advanced. Useful to students of all levels. (Watch this 3-minute CNN clip to learn more.)

The instructional video sites I’ve highlighted above are only a sampling of what’s available. In fact, the “how to” video phenomenon is becoming so widespread that someone even created a Google Custom Search Engine to search across multiple instructional video sites. It is called the How Do I? Instructional Video Search. (Note to Michael: Try searching for “move a shed.”)

Assignment

1. Explore the "How To" sites referenced above. In your blog post identify and link to at least two lessons or tutorials that particularly interest you.
2. Describe your experience exploring the sites and explain what you like about the resources you chose to highlight.
3. Finally, spend some time reflecting on the advantages and/or disadvantages you think these online "how to" sites have over more traditional "how to" resources. How do the online resources compare to physical "how to" resources owned by your library? Are these sites competition for our collections or are they welcome supplements to them?

Postscript: On Friday, September 24, Google awarded Khan Academy two million dollars "to bolster its free online library of educational videos and translate core works into the world's most widely spoken languages." Khan Academy was one of five groups chosen to receive funds through Google's Project 10^100

And here's a final interesting anecdote: According to an article on the CNNMoney.com site, Khan Academy creator Salman Khan is supposedly Bill Gates' favorite teacher!

Time to move from Bloglines to Google Reader

It has just come to our attention that Bloglines will cease operation as of October 1, 2010. We realize that many Nebraska Learns 2.0 participants have active Bloglines accounts. Therefore we highly recommend that you move from Bloglines to Google Reader ASAP. Once you’ve signed up for a Google Reader account (which you already have if you have any other sort of Google account) you just need to export your content from Bloglines and then import it into Google Reader. (The links point to the relevant, simple, instructions.)

From the sound of it, if you don’t export your feeds from Bloglines by the deadline, you will loose all of your subscriptions so lease don’t delay.

Thing #40 Funky Photos

Wow! It's hard to believe we are up to Thing #40 already. Looking back over the topics we have covered, I realized a number of the sites we explored allow users to upload their own profile pictures and some, such as Facebook, Flickr and Blogger, even allow you to upload multiple photos. I thought this might be a good time to explore two online image editors to see how they can be used to make our images a bit more interesting.

Although there are a number of sites online that allow you to edit images, I’m going to focus on just two of them, Aviary and Pixlr. Both of these sites offer way too many options for us to cover in Thing #40, so we are going to skip right to the fun, creative stuff and use the filters and adjustment options these sites offer to create some unique photos. We will be able to make a photo look old, create an engraved effect, change the coloring, plus a ton more effects with just a few mouse clicks.

Before we start exploring the software, you might want to spend a few minutes thinking about your assignment. For this month’s assignment you will need use both Aviary and Pixlr to enhance at least one image and then include the manipulated images in your blog post. You can use the same image with both sites or a different image for each site. Don’t panic if you don’t have an image available to play with. I’ve put a few of my own photos online that you can use.

Here are a few basic things that apply to both sites.

• Both sites have an Undo option located under the Edit menu. I’m guessing you will be using the Undo option a lot, I know I do. Using the Undo option makes it easy to try something and then Undo it if it doesn’t look so good.
  


• As you work with different images you may notice that some images work better with one filter but not as well with another. The results really depend on the filter and the image.
  


• Most times you can apply more than one filter to an image.
  
• Both sites allow users to either enter the URL of an image or upload an image from your computer. If you are going to use one of my sample photos you can use either option.


• Go the album of sample photos.
  
• Click on the thumbnail of the image you’d like to use to enlarge the image.
  
• To download the image select the Download option and save it to your computer. Make sure you note where it’s saved.
  
• You can also just grab the URL of the image.
  
• In IE right click on the image and select properties. Select and copy the Address (URL) of the image.
  
• In Firefox right click on the image and select Copy Image Location

Pixlr - http://pixlr.com/

Let’s start by uploading a photo. Here are some suggestions of where to start. For the lesson you will need to spend some time playing with the different options. After you create an image you like, don’t forget to Save it.

• Want to see some examples of what you can do before you start? Check out some of the images I’ve altered. In the caption under each image I noted what filter I used to create that effect.
  
• Under Adjustments – Select Curves. Under the Presets drop down there are great options such as Vintage The 60’s and Chrome for B&W.
  
• Also under Adjustments is Color Lookup. This option provides many fun ways to change the colors of your photo.
  
• Under Filter try Halftone, Engrave, and Find edges.
  
• If you are using a photo of a person make sure you try Filter – Glamour Glow. It will give that soft, fuzzy glamour feeling to your photo.

Save Your Images in Pixlr

1. After archiving your desired look select File.
2. Select Save
3. Enter the name of your image.
4. Make sure Save to my Computer is selected.
5. Click OK.
6. The Save As box will appear. You may need to add the file extension to the file name if it’s missing. For example if your image name is lama you need to actually type lama.jpg. It’s a good idea to make sure the image downloaded correctly before you close the image.

Aviary - http://aviary.com/

Aviary is a suite of tools. The two tools we will explore are the Image Editor Phoenix and the Effects Editor Peacock. Let’s start by uploading a photo into the Image Editor. Here are some suggestions of where to start. After you create an image you like, don’t forget to export it.

• Want to see some examples of what you can do before you start? Check out some of the images I’ve altered.
  
• Try some of the options available under the Filters options. Skip the Peacock option for now. (Don’t forget the Undo if you try something and don’t like it.)
  
• Ready for more? Now let’s select the Filter Layer in Peacock. This will open the Peacock tool. This one takes a couple of more steps to use.
  
• In the middle of the screen you should see two boxes connected by a line. One box will be labeled Resource and the other Canvas.
  
• Click on the Effects tab along the left side of the screen.
  
• Select an Effect you would like to try. Drag the box over between the Resource and Canvas boxes. As you do that you should see two orange lines appear connecting the box you are dragging to both the Resource and Canvas boxes. Let go of the mouse button. All of your boxes should now be connected.
  
• The image on the Canvas box should now be updated to show the filter you applied.
  
• Adventurous folks may want to play with some of the Properties options that are available for most of the Effects options. To see the options click on the Effects box and the Properties tab which should be available along the right side of the screen. Now start changing options. If that’s a bit overwhelming most filters have a Randomize option located at the bottom of the tab.
  
• If you don’t like the Effects box you selected, it can be removed by double clicking on the trashcan icon located on the box you’d like to remove.

Exporting Your Images in Aviary (There is an option to save the file, however I am just going to cover exporting your image to your computer.)

1. After archiving your desired look select File.
   
2. Select Export Image (In Peacock select Export Canvas as Bitmap.)
   
3. In the drop down menu select the file type. In most cases the JPG(*.jpg) option should work.
   
4. Click on generate image. (In Peacock select Export Image.)
   
5. After the image is generated click Download and save the image to your computer. (You may need to add the file extension to the file name if it’s missing.) It a good idea to make sure the image downloaded correctly before you close the image.

I hope you had fun creating some unique photos and I look forward to seeing them.

Assignment

1. Use both Aviary and Pixlr to enhance at least one image and then include the images or the links to your images in your blog post. You can use the same image with both sites or a different image for each site.
2. Blog about your experience. Here are some things to think about: What did you think about the sites? Did you prefer one over the other? What’s your favorite filter? Are you going to add any of the photos you manipulated to your web or social sites?
3. How else could you use these in your library? Would the teens in your library have fun creating funky images?

Thing #39: Managing Your Online Identity

C'mon, admit it: you've Googled yourself. And your ex-significant-other. And your best friend from high school. In fact, a study from the Pew Research Center suggests that seven out of ten online adults have searched online about other people. But what if it's not an old friend or flame searching for you, but instead a potential employer? (Did you know that one in five employers use social networks in the hiring process?) Or a professional contact? What do these people find when they search for you? What kind of image are you conveying of yourself on the internet?

If you are active in the online world, you have an online identity, whether you realize it or not. Take me, for instance. When you search for michael sauers on Google, the first page of results include hits from my blog TravelinLibrarian.info, along with my Twitter, blogger, and Flickr accounts. Head on over to pages two and three of the results and you start finding podcasts I’ve done and books I’ve written. Add some quotes and the state I live in to my name ("michael sauers" ne), and you get links to the Nebraska Library Commission, and Nebraska Libraries on the Web, my current project involving free Web sites for public libraries in Nebraska.

Taking Control of Your Online Identity

At this point, you probably have a pretty good idea of what I'm all about. I'm fairly happy with these results, but they could certainly be improved with a little effort on my part. So how can you take control of your online identity? The easiest way is to check your profiles on various social media sites (more details below). These seem to float to the top of search results frequently, so make sure they are updated and contain the information you want on public display. If you don't have a profile on any of these sites, consider creating one.

Here are some examples of sites you can use to build your online identity:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Google Profile
• Hi, I’m

Your profile on each of these sites is indexed by search engines (as long as you've set them to public in your privacy settings), making them a quick and easy way to get information about yourself out into the world.

Another approach to online identity management is to "claim" sites that are about you. ClaimID allows you to do just that. You can add a description of each site ("I designed this website for a work project") and categorize your sites. The advantage to using a site like ClaimID is that you can credit yourself with sites that may not have your name on them anywhere and therefore otherwise would not show up in a search for your name.

If you are ready for a real challenge, you can create your very own personal website. This takes more time and effort, but it is worth it to completely customize what information you present to the online world (and how it is presented).
Examples of sites creating your own free websites include:

• Blogger (We’ll assume you’ve already got an account here ;-)
• Wordpress.com
• Weebly
• Google Sites

Or, you can get your own webspace and domain through a provider such as Bluehost and set up your own site from scratch! You can do anything you'd like in this situation, ranging from simple HTML pages to installing your own content management system, such as Drupal or Wordpress.

Tracking Yourself Online

Once you've better established your online identity using the ideas above, how do you track what's being said about you? One way is to use an alert system, such as Google Alerts. You enter your keywords, and it will send you an email when a new search result matches your keywords. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of your alerts if you want to keep your inbox clutter-free.
Other examples of alert/tracking sites:

• Technorati (blog search engine)
• MonitorThis (creates RSS feeds for your search from 22 different search engines)

This Month’s Activity

1. Search for yourself in several search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. (Feel free to use others, too!) You all are librarians, so I don't have to remind you to use a variety of keyword combinations to see how the results vary. :)

2. Check out one or more of the suggested sites in the "Taking Control of Your Online Identity" section above for creating an online profile. (Or check out one we didn't list - and tell us about it, of course!) If you already have a profile at one or more of these sites, take a look at your profile and make sure it's conveying the information you want it to about you.

3. Blog about your experiences.

(This month’s Thing is adapted from “Managing Your Online Identity” by Jodie Gambill, as part of the Tenn-Share Learn & Discover program.)

Thing #38: Use Things to Market Your Library

You've been promoting your library's services for years. And you've been doing it in many ways - displays, posters, newspaper stories, radio ads, newsletters.

Now, Web 2.0 has brought us even more tools to encourage people to use our libraries. But, working with these new tools can be different from working with the traditional tools that you have always used. No longer do you just push out the message you want and leave it at that. Today, with social media and networking, marketing and promotion has become a conversation, rather than a speech. Your users can, and will, respond to your outreach in ways you haven't encountered before. And that's something you need to be ready for.

A great introductory article to using these new Web 2.0 resources for marketing your library is Darlene Fichter's Seven Strategies for Marketing in a Web 2.0 World.

You can also find lots of information and resources on The M Word: Marketing tips and trends for libraries and non-profits. This blog is co-written by Nancy Dowd, Marketing Director for the New Jersey State Library, and Kathy Dempsey, Editor of Information Today's Marketing Library Services newsletter.

For this month's Thing, we'd like you to get creative with your marketing thinking and try something new. We'd like you to pick one of the services we've shown you in Nebraska Learns 2.0 that you haven't used before at your library. You can choose from our current program or our original program. Then, come up with an idea for how you could use that Web 2.0 service to promote one of your library programs or services.

Now, don't panic! You don't have to actually implement this plan. We just want you to think of a new way to promote your library, using one of the new tools we've shared with you. But who knows, you might actually end up with a great idea and want to try it out!

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some of the services you could use:

• Flickr
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Podcasting
• Screencasting
  

But, some of you may be wondering - what if we've already used one of these 2.0 services for marketing and promotion at our library? Well then, please share your story with us! We'd love to know:

• What was your strategy?
• Was it a success?
• Would you have done anything different?

Assignment

1. Read Seven Strategies for Marketing in a Web 2.0 World.
2. Pick a Web 2.0 service and come up with a new marketing idea. Or, share a Web 2.0 marketing plan that you've already used at your library.
   
3. Blog about your new marketing plan.
   

Some ideas for your blog post:

• How does marketing with Web 2.0 services compare with traditional marketing tools?
  
• Would a particular service work best for a particular library program?
• Can you think of a way to use multiple Web 2.0 services together to market a library program or service?

Nebraska Learns 2.0 Project Update

Please excuse this non-Thing post, but we just wanted to take a moment of your time to update you on some of what's been going on behind-the-scenes with Nebraska Learns 2.0.

First, we noticed a few months ago that participation was down. As a result we re-doubled our efforts in publicizing the program and since then have seen a significant rise in Thing completion and new participants. Whenever a new Thing goes live we're blogging it, tweeting it and Facebooking it. If you know of anywhere else we can let people know about the program, just leave a comment and we'll do what we can.

Second, as you may have noticed, we've started to re-visit some previously discussed topics such as Flickr. This was a response to the number of new participants who hadn't done any of the original 23 Things and due to the fact that some of these services have evolved since we originally posted them. Don't worry, not everything coming up in the future will be review-like in their nature. We've got plenty of new Things in the works.

Third, and lastly, we've been looking at the Participants list and have decided that it needs some weeding. We know that you're not required to do each and every Thing, but some folks signed up for the program, started their blogs, got them on the list, and then haven't done a single Thing yet. This isn't a judgment on your level of participation (we understand how things can fall by the wayside; see above), but we've decided to remove from the list anyone who hasn't logged a single completed Thing. What this ultimately accomplishes is that it gives a more accurate picture of the participants in this program. Looking at the list now makes it seem like not many people are active with the program and that's not what we'd like to portray.

So, if you're reading this and you have every intention to have this month's Thing be your first, no worries. We won't be weeding the list until after June is over. If you're thinking that July will be your first thing, just leave a comment with a link to your blog and we'll be sure to keep it on the list. If you've done any previous Thing, it's all good, your participant entry is safe with us.

If your blog is removed from the Participants list next month, but you decide to revisit Nebraska Learns 2.0 sometime in the future, just e-mail Jeannette to let her know, and your blog will be added back onto the Participants list.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or any other part of the program, leave a comment below and we'll get back to you ASAP.

Thanks for participating in Nebraska Learns 2.0!

Thing #37: Engaging Your Users with Polls and Surveys

Taking a cue from my colleague, Kathryn Brockmeier, who is offering a three-part online webinar series on conducting surveys, I thought it might be fun and useful to devote this month’s Thing to a review of some free web 2.0 tools that librarians can use to obtain feedback from their users.

As you’ve probably noticed, most discussions of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 place great emphasis on the user. The following passage, excerpted from the “Library 2.0” article in Wikipedia on May 19, 2010, is a good case in point:

“With Library 2.0, library services are frequently evaluated and updated to meet the changing needs of library users. Library 2.0 also calls for libraries to encourage user participation and feedback in the development and maintenance of library services. The active and empowered library user is a significant component of Library 2.0. With information and ideas flowing in both directions – from the library to the user and from the user to the library – library services have the ability to evolve and improve on a constant and rapid basis. The user is participant, co-creator, builder and consultant – whether the product is virtual or physical.”

There are many informal ways to solicit and encourage feedback from users, especially given the social nature of many of the online tools and services we use (e.g., blogs, Facebook, Twitter). However, there are also plenty of tools designed for the express purpose of conducting surveys and polls. These are the tools we are going explore this month.

Why Conduct a Survey or Poll?

Surveys and polls are great ways to get direct user feedback on a wide variety of topics. Obviously you can use them to find out which of your current services users value most and want more of! Or to solicit feedback on past programming and suggestions for future programming! Or to learn what folks think of your web site!

You can also take a more whimsical approach by asking fun questions for the sole purpose of engaging your users. For example, if a popular book is being made in to a movie, ask visitors to your web site to submit the names of actors and actresses they’d like to see play particular characters. Or ask them to vote on which book series they’d most like to see turned in to a television series. Then, be sure to display sample results!

Surveys vs. Polls

So what is the difference between a survey and a poll? While it’s true that both are used to collect feedback from multiple respondents, there are some definite differences. Most significantly, surveys typically include multiple questions and take a longer time to complete, whereas polls often consist of a single question which can be answered in a minimal amount of time, possibly with a single mouse click.

Tools to Explore

There are numerous online survey and polling tools available on the Internet, offering a wide range of functionality at a wide range of prices. For the purposes of this exercise I will be asking you to choose one of the following three products, each of which offers basic functionality at no cost, to explore in more depth:

• SurveyMonkey – SurveyMonkey offers a free Basic plan, a Pro plan for $19.95 per month, and an Unlimited plan for an annual cost of $200. For obvious reasons we will be looking at the free Basic plan. With this plan you can create as many surveys as you’d like, but you are limited to 10 questions and 100 responses per survey.
  
  Responses can be solicited via email, a web link, or a website popup invitation. To see an example of a website popup invitation, visit my “Popup Survey” blog post. (Note: Cookie settings on users’ browsers may prevent invitations from popping up. For this reason it is always a good idea to link to your survey from your post/page! If you read through my blog post you will find a link to my survey!)
  
  To get started with SurveyMonkey, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/ and click on “Sign Up FREE” under the “Get Started Today! Basic Plan” heading. At this point you can either create a free SurveyMonkey account, or sign in with a pre-existing Google Account.
  
  SurveyMonkey has created a series of tutorials to help you get started. If you decide to explore SurveyMonkey further, I recommend reviewing the following three tutorials:
  
  
  • How to create a survey
  • How to distribute your survey through collectors (web links, email invitations, and popup windows)
  • How to analyze survey responses (see specifically the “Viewing Survey Responses” section which covers the Basic account options of viewing the response summary, browsing responses, and showing replies to open-ended questions)
  
  When you review the various tutorials you will notice that skip logic (a process that directs respondents through different paths in the survey based on a response to a previous question) is not supported in the free Basic plan, nor are some of the more sophisticated reporting and analysis features. For a complete comparison of plan features, see the Detailed Features List.


• Twtpoll – With Twtpoll you can create an unlimited number of polls and collect an unlimited number of responses for free. You can share your polls via Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, or email or embed them on your blog/website. You must have a Twitter account to create polls, but your responders don’t need one to respond.
  
  To create a poll, go to http://twtpoll.com/ and click on the “Create a Poll” button. The simple poll-creation form asks you to input your Twitter name, select a question type (e.g., multiple choice), enter your question (140 character limit), list answer choices, and specify a closing date. You are also asked to choose whether to allow multiple votes per IP address. After completing the form click on the “Create a Poll” button :

After you click on “Create a Poll” you will be presented with a number of options for distributing your poll.

Take a look at my Twtpoll blog post to see an example of an embedded poll, displayed with real-time results. Twtpoll results are organized in nice, presentable ways: Pie charts, bar charts, or tables. All answers are recorded anonymously.

A Twtsurvey application is also available for a one-time cost of $49. This gets you unlimited surveys, questions, and responses forever. However, you can create one free survey (unlimited questions / 100 responses) before deciding on whether to pay.


• PollDaddy – The free version of PollDaddy allows you to create unlimited surveys, polls and ratings.
  
  
  • Surveys – With a free account you can ask up to 10 questions per survey and collect 100 survey responses per month across all of your surveys. Skip logic (or conditional branching/question forking as it is called in PollDaddy) can also be applied by free account holders. To see skip logic in action, take my sample survey several times. Be sure to answer the first question differently each time!
  
  
  • Polls – You can create as many polls as you’d like with your free account. Each poll consists of a single question, and a list of possible answers. You can limit poll takers to a single answer or allow them to select multiple answers. You can also give them the option of entering their own answers. Finally, you can choose whether or not to allow voters to see the poll results, and whether or not to allow them to easily share your poll via services like Facebook and Twitter, in order to drive more traffic to it.
    
    After creating a poll, you will be presented with multiple options for embedding or linking to it. The recommended method is to copy and paste JavaScript code into your website or blog. You can also copy a link to share via email, IM, or Twitter. Finally, if you plan on posting a variety of different polls to the same location over a period of time, consider embedding the code for a poll widget. Then, all you have to do when you want to change out your poll is log in to PollDaddy and assign a different poll to the widget. I used this method to post a poll to my blog.
  
  
  • Ratings – This feature is still in beta. It allows you to create a 5-star ratings widget or a thumbs up / thumbs down ratings widget that can be posted to your website or blog. Like this.

Assignment

1. If you haven’t already done so, complete the following polls and surveys:
   
   
   • Survey of Nebraska Learns 2.0 Participants (SurveyMonkey)
   • How likely are you to purchase an eBook reader… (Twtpoll)
   • PollDaddy Survey (with branching)
   • What book should I read next? (PollDaddy Poll)
     


2. Now, using one of the services listed in “Tools,” create your own survey or poll. This survey or poll can be designed to collect serious feedback from staff or patrons, or it can be silly and lighthearted, aimed at family, friends, or fellow Nebraska Learns 2.0 participants. Post this survey/poll to your blog using one of the options provided to you by the service you used. If you find you are struggling with this step, at least include your survey/poll URL in your blog post so readers can get to it.
   


3. Finally write about your experience taking and creating surveys/polls as part of this Thing. Was it easier or harder than you thought it would be? Do you think survey and polling tools like these would be useful to your library? If so, in what ways? If not, why not?

For Those Wanting More Information (Optional):

To learn more about the theory and practice of designing, administering, and analyzing surveys, be sure to check out Kathryn Brockmeier’s three-part online webinar series on conducting surveys:

• Conducting Surveys I: Introduction and Questionnaire Design (originally broadcast 5/12/2010; recording available)
• Conducting Surveys II: Data Collection (scheduled for 6/9/2010)
• Conducting Surveys III: Analyzing Data and Reporting Methods (scheduled for 7/14/2010)

Additional Reading

• Use Online Surveys to Get the Feedback You Need
• A Few Good Online Survey Tools for Your Nonprofit

Thing #36: Flickr Revisited

This month we are going to revisit Flickr. Don’t stop reading if you already have a Flickr account or did Thing #8 Discover Flickr back in 2008. We’re going to do things a bit differently this month and give you some options that will hopefully work not only for folks new to Flickr but also long time Flickr users. Before we go any further, if you don’t know what Flickr is step through the short What is Flickr? tour.

For Thing #36 participants have three options.

Option 1: Watch the hour long WebJunction recording of Library Images: Engage, Inspire and Tell your Story. "In this entertaining and heartwarming presentation you will learn how two librarians teamed up to advocate more effectively (and boldly) while staying true to the personality of the communities, the libraries and the staff they serve. You and your library really can market your services and engage more effectively, and images, video and authenticity can be a key! Learn how you too can use images and video creatively and effectively to inspire Libraryland, engage the communities you serve boost staff morale and get more enjoyment from your job."

Option 2: Set up a Flickr account and upload 5 pictures. If you already have a Flickr account but haven’t done much with it you may also choose this option.

Option 3: You can always do Option 1 and Option 2. :)



Option 1

On March 30th Jeff Dawson from the Lester Public Library in Two Rivers WI and Michael Porter from WebJunction did a great online presentation titled Library Images: Engage, Inspire and Tell your Story. This presentation is an hour long. If you don’t have a free hour block of time to watch the video you can watch it in sections by following the instructions I’ve included below.

Note: This presentation does have audio so you will need speakers or a headset.

1. The presentation is located at: http://www.webjunction.org/marketing/articles/content/94460985
2. There are a number of resources listed on the page related to the presentation. To view the presentation click on View full Archive. A new page will open.
3. Select Playback.
4. You may be taken to an Installing… window. Selecting the Install using Java option worked well for me.
5. This should open a new window for the presentation. NOTE: You will need to wait about 50 seconds before you will hear anything. There is a clock/counter in the bottom left corner of the window.
6. If you don’t have time to watch the complete presentation in one sitting you can watch parts but it will take a bit of patience and attention to elapsed time on your part.

• If you need to stop watching the presentation for a few minutes you can use the pause button located in the bottom left corner
• To completely stop watching and exit the presentation you will want to note the time displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen. The first number tells you how many minutes you’ve already watched. The second number is the total time of the presentation. You’ll want to note the first number.
• To resume playback go through steps 1-5 again. Now you will have to have a minute or two of patience as you wait for the presentation to load. The bar at the bottom of the screen shows the progress. If the bar is green that means you’ve moved past that point either by watching it or moving forward. If the bar is blue that means the presentation has loaded. If the bar is gray that means it’s not done loading yet. Next open the Table of Contents. It’s located under View – Table of Contents. Scroll down the list until you find a time that’s close to the time you stopped. Double click on it to jump to that location in the presentation. Jeff’s part ends and Michael’s starts right around the 17:28 time point. The Q & A part starts around 38:07. Don’t skip the Q & A portion. It contains good information.

Option 1 Assignment

Write a blog post about the presentation. Here are some questions to think about.

1. What do you think about Lester Public Library’s approach to taking pictures?
2. Is there currently anyone in your community who takes photos of library and community events and publicly shares them on Flickr?
3. Would this be good PR for your library?
4. Is this something your library could do?

Option 2

For option 2 participants will need to setup a Flickr account and upload 5 items or if you already have an account but haven’t been using it now’s your chance to starting using it again. For this exercise you can use either a personal Flickr account or your library’s account.

Setting up an Account

Flickr offers both a free and pro account. The free account should work just fine as you get started with Flickr. You can learn about the limits of the free account and upgrading to a Pro account options at: http://www.flickr.com/help/limits

In order to use Flickr you will need a Yahoo! account. If you already have a Yahoo! account you can sign in to Flickr. To create an account follow the Sign Up link and complete the form.

Below I’m going to cover a number of topics that I think you should be aware of but if you have additional questions or want to learn more I’d suggest starting with the Flickr’s FAQ page. For each of the topics below I’ve also included the URL to the appropriate FAQ page.

Your Profile (FAQ: http://www.flickr.com/help/profile)

Your Profile can be accessed by clicking on the down arrow next to the word You which is located on the top navigation menu. On the right hand side of your profile page will be links to Manage your profile. The most important thing to know about your profile is that you don’t need to set one up. Providing information in your profile is optional. You may also want to Edit your profile privacy options. I would also suggest that you go into the Your Account area and quickly look at the Privacy & Permissions settings.

Uploading Photos (FAQ: http://www.flickr.com/help/photos)

There are multiple different ways you can upload photos to Flicker. Today we will use the upload option available on the Flickr website. The upload page is available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/upload/ or there is a link to it under the You dropdown menu. Follow the steps on the page to upload an image. For the assignment you will need to upload 5 photos. In the future you may want to explore some of the upload tools available at: http://www.flickr.com/tools. Don't forget you can also upload videos that are up to 90 seconds in length.

Now that you have your Flickr account set up you can easily share your photos with other sites.

• Flickr Badge: http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne
• Twitter: http://www.flickr.com/help/sharing/#953361
• Your Blog: http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/
• Facebook: While logged on to your Flickr, click on Profile located in the upper right corner. Select the Wall tab if it's not already selected. Click on Options. It's located on the right side below the What's on your mind? box. The word Settings will now appear in the same spot. Click on it. Under Imported Stories: select Flickr and follow the directions.

Option 2 Assignment

1. Upload 5 photos to your Flickr account and provide the URL to your account.
2. If you're new to Flickr write a few sentences about your experience. If you already had a Flickr account write few sentences about why you haven't been using Flickr recently or how you intend to use it in the future.
3. In conclusion write a few sentences telling how Flickr could be used to promote your library.

Thing #35: Track your software usage with Wakoopa

Ever wonder how much you use a particular program? Does it seem like you spend all day on Word or Outlook? Or maybe you’ve got iTunes running in the background at all times. Not only is there a way to track all of the software you run, you can also track certain online applications such as Google Reader, GMail, and Hootsuite.

Let’s take it one step further. Would you be interested in knowing which programs and online services are most used on your public access computers? [Note: Before anyone freaks out on the potential privacy issues from this suggestions, I am well aware of them and what I’m suggesting will not track individual users, I promise.] Wouldn’t it be interesting to know if your patrons use GMail more than Yahoo! Mail and HotMail? Or maybe they’re using Excel all the time and not using Word much at all. Having this information available to you could influence such things as which software to purchase next or how to answer the “How do I get an e-mail address?” question.

The service that will allow you to get all this information is Wakoopa.

Note: Some of the screenshots in this lesson are more readable than others. To view the full-sized screenshot, just click on it.

Overview

Before we get into it too far, let’s take a look at my Wakoopa profile page:

Favorites:

These are the programs that' I’ve marked as my favorites and why I like them so much. In this case we’re talking about Chrome (browser), Live Mesh (cloud storage and file synchronizing), Backblack (online backup), and Boxee (media center).

Top 10 Software:

A listing of the ten programs I used the most in the past week, the past month, and the newest programs I’ve been using. This is a quick way to see how my usage has changed over time.

Messages:

Once you start using Wakoopa you’ll be able to connect with other users and send messages. At the moment I don’t have any incoming messages.

Level:

As you do different things in the system (use one program for a certain length of time or write a review for example) you’ll earn points. The more points you earn, the higher your level, and the more trusted others are likely to consider you.

About you:

Your bio, Web site, and other information you choose to make public about yourself.

Recently used:

The most recent software you’ve started up.

Awards:

Recent points you’ve earned.

Reviews:

Recent reviews you’ve written.

Contacts:

Links to your friends in the system.

Teams:

Links to any groups you belong to in the system.

Signing Up

So, let’s get you signed up. Head on over the the Wakoopa home page and click on “Sign up & start tracking!” Fill in a username, a password (twice), and your e-mail address. When done, click “Sign up”. (You may be asked to confirm your e-mail address. If so, that e-mail should arrive in your inbox shortly.) When you’re all done you’ll either already be logge in our you’ll need to head back to the home page to log in.

Once you’re up and running, click on the “Settings” link at the top of the page. There are a lot of options here but I’m just going to cover a few of the more important ones.

You should be on the General settings screen. Here you can upload an avatar (icon) for yourself, change your username and password, and fill in your profile information. Fill in as much profile information as you’re comfortable with. When it comes to the e-mail options, I highly suggest you sign up for the weekly updates as that makes it easier to track your usage by sending weekly reports to your inbox.

(Be sure to click Save at the bottom of the page to keep any changes you make.)

The other important settings screen in "Privacy”. Here you can decide whether to make your profile public, allow others to send you messages, and to set specific privacy settings on specific pieces of software.

For example, you could decide that you don’t wish to make public how much you use World of Warcraft as it really isn’t anyone’s business that you have that particular addiction ;-)

Installing the tracking software

Once you have your profile set up you’ll need to install a small program on your computer to start tracking what software you use. Head on over to the Download screen to get the software. Wakoopa supports Windows, Mac, and Linux. You’ll be presented with the version appropriate for the computer you’re currently on. Download the program and install it. (I’ll continue the instruction on Windows but the steps are similar on Mac and Linux.)

Once installed an icon will appear in your system tray. As long as this is running your being tracked. You will need to tell this program your Wakoopa username and password so it connects your usage with your account. Through this program you can pause or stop tracking at any time.

What I find particularly intriguing, is that you can install this program on multiple computers and, as long as you provide the same account information on each one, all of the usage on all of the computers will be aggregated into your account.

For example, I have it installed on at least four different computers that I use regularly. Now I can tell what I’m using regardless of which computer I’m on. In your case, consider installing this on your public access computers and find out just which programs your patrons are actually using. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t track so specifically as to be a privacy concern in my opinion.)

You could also do this for your staff computers. However, if you’re going to do it for both staff and the public, you may want to create two different accounts as I’m sure that these two groups have significantly different usage patterns.

The other thing you’ll want to do at this point is to tell Wakoopa what kinds of items to track. Look to the top of any Wakoopa screen (while logged in) and to the right of the logo you’ll see (in my screenshots) “for Windows and Web”. Click on that. You’ll get a menu of items to track: Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, and Web. Check which ones you want tracked and click the Save button.

If you’re not clear on what “Web” means, it’s things like Google Docs, GMail, Twitter, and other online services. It’s not every Web site out there, just the “services”. I’ll admit that this is the one that makes some a little more nervous about Wakoopa. I understand your concerns and so do they, this is why you can easily decide not to have this information tracked.

Dashboard

Once the software is installed and tracking you may want to give it a good 24 hours before continuing. You can proceed now but there won’t be much for Wakoopa to report.

Your dashboard is similar to my public page that we looked at earlier. Here you’ll see notices from your contacts (you don’t have any yet), your top five software (searchable), software recommendations based on your usage and popularity in the system, and links to your neighbors (providing you gave some location information when you filled in your profile).

Here you can also find an RSS feed of the notices if you wish to subscribe to them via that method.

Reviews

Each program that has ever been tracked by a Wakoopa user has it’s own page containing information on its popularity, similar software, number of Wakoopa users, top users, new users, user reviews, problems, comments, source information, and details about how long you’ve been using it (assuming you are). I always like coming to these screens when considering installing new software on any of my computers. Several times I’ve decided to avoid a particular piece of software based on the overwhelming negative reviews from Wakoopa users. The screenshot to the right shows the page for Google Chrome.

Clicking on the Recommendations link will get you to a more detailed set of suggestions for you based on your usage. For example, Wakoopa thinks I should consider using LastPass (password keeping software), feedly (RSS reader), and Gowalla (location tracking). Though I will probably not switch to any of these programs I know that those recommendations are accurate based on my use of SplashID, Google Reader, and Foursquare respectively.

This is another page on which you can see recommended people you may wish to connect to based on your location and similar software use patterns.

Finally, head back on over to your profile page by clicking on your name and then click on the Reviews link. This will take you to the page of reviews that you’ve written. I’ll assume that you haven’t reviews any yet. (Don’t worry, that’s one of your assignments.) More importantly, you can bring up the reviews page of any other user. For example, mine is at http://wakoopa.com/msauers/reviews. If you’re interested in reading whatever reviews I write in the future you could bookmark this page, add me as a contact, or subscribe to my reviews via the RSS link in the upper-right of the page.

Reports

Ultimately, the reports I believe are the most powerful feature of Wakoopa. What’s the sense of tracking all this information if you can’t see the results?

To get to your main report head back to your page and click on Usage. Here you’ll see a complete report of every program and Web service that’s been tracked for your account ordered by the most used to the least used. This information is also divided into two categories: what you use actively, and what you run in the background.

For example, my current report states that I actively use Firefox the most often and so far have used it for a total of 1746 hours, 49 minutes, and 3 seconds. This is followed by Outlook (862+ hours), and Google Reader (264+ hours). If you know how I work in the office these are obvious as I pretty much have all three of them running on my desktop at all times while in the office.

In the background the top three are SnagIt (34263+ hours), Wakoopa Tracker (31692+ hours) and Windows Explorer (27146+ hours). These are programs, among others, that start whenever I start Windows and just sit in the background waiting to be used. When I do actually use them, that time is considered for the active column.

The other report I’ve encourage you to receive is the weekly e-mail report. This screenshot shows an example of one I’ve received.

In the e-mail report you’ll receive copies of that week’s alerts from your contacts, software recommendations, and your top ten for the past week, month, and newcomers. Basically, much of the information I’ve already shown you on the site, but in one hand weekly e-mail message.

Contacts

If you’ve used Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, or most any other social Web service, you’re already familiar with how friends/contacts work. Once you find someone you’re interested in connecting with just click the “Add username as your contact!” on their profile page. Now, whenever they do something in Wakoopa it will show up in your notices. That person will be notified that you’re now following them and they can decide if they wish to follow you back.

The list of people you follow and who follow you can be found by clicking the Contacts link on your profile page.

As with most other systems I tend to only follow people I know but there are always exceptions to that rule should I find them particularly interesting. (I promise to follow back anyone who follows me in April 2010, the initial month for this lesson. After that, just drop me a note in Wakoopa mentioning this and I’ll be sure to follow you back too.)

Teams

Teams in Wakoopa are like groups in Flickr. They allow a collection of like-minded individuals to connect their accounts and aggregate their data. For example, maybe you’re an avid promoter of open source software and want to know what others like you are using. Better yet, suppose your a librarian and want to know what software is in use by other librarians. Yes, there is a librarian team in Wakoopa.

Beyond aggregating data there is also a group messaging system. As you can see, there aren’t many members yet and we’re not all that talkative but maybe you could help us out with that.

Widgets

Lastly, if you’d like to let other non-Wakoopa members know what you’re doing you can use one of several different Wakoopa widgets.

One of them is a “badge” which you can customize and then embed into your Web site. This badge will constantly show either your most recent top ten programs, recently used software, newly used software or your Wakoopa level. (Mine would be Fanatic.)

If you’re a Facebook user you can also post this information to your Facebook account by following the directions for the Facebook widget.

Final Thoughts

I realize that since Wakoopa relies on installing a small program on your computer this lesson is a little different than ones we’ve done in the past. However, I know both that some of you are looking for a little more “techie” assignments, and that many librarians like to collect and review data.

I’ve been running Wakoopa for more than a year now and I' have learned things from the data it has collected for me. As a result I think that the data generated in a library setting, whether for staff or the public, could create some interesting results that the library could learn from.

Assignment

1. Sign up for a Wakoopa account and install the tracking software on at least one computer, if you can. (If you can install it on multiple staff or public computers all the better.)
   
2. Add me (msauers) as a contact.
   
3. Join the Librarians team.
   
4. Write a review for at least one piece of software or Web service that you use regularly.
   
5. Embed a Wakoopa widget into your blog in the sidebar of your blog or just in the post you write for this lesson. Whichever is easier for you. If you’re an avid Facebook user consider the Facebook integration option.
   
6. In your blog post share your Wakoopa username and give us your thoughts on the service. Topics could include: Did you find out anything surprising about your software usage? How about if you installed it for staff or patrons? Could you find this useful in the long run or does the whole idea just creep you out? Were there any features of Wakoopa that you found particularly interesting or useful or useless?

Thing #34: Is this Our Competition? Online Answer Sites

More and more people seem to turn to the Internet and anyone on the Web to answer their questions. Has this affected library reference service? Should we be worried? In this month's Thing, we ask you to take a look at some popular answer sites, consider some librarians' responses to the sites, and share your opinions.

You have read lots about the "future of reference" and "are libraries necessary" in the professional and popular press. With "everything on the Internet" and everyone considering themselves a Googling expert, do people need our help finding information? Wikipedia and other online reference sites make finding information easy from our easy chairs or desks. Add in online answer sites that allow you to post a question and anyone to offer an answer, and people willing to accept answers from anyone and their dog on the Internet, and we could begin to question our worth. In an era of wide acceptance of user-generated content and the "cult of the amateur," where do public, academic, special, and school librarians come in?

According to a report in Marketing Charts, the market share of US visits to Question and Answer websites for the week ended March 15 [2008] was 118% more than during the equivalent week in 2007 - and over the past two years US visits to the category have increased 889% (Feb. ‘08 vs. Feb. ‘06).

What is the appeal of an anonymous site that offers answers on everything from relationships & pets to parenting & shopping, along with books, cooking and travel and so on? You may read many of the questions and think, "Call your library!"--or Google it, at least. There are a lot of relationship questions --"Should I break up with him/her?" or "My parent is (fill in the dysfunction), what should I do?"--that may not be appropriate for the library as stated. One can see the appeal of anonymity--like telling your life story to a stranger on a plane.

But do you trust the answer? This is where information literacy comes in--can we identify the information we need to solve a problem/answer a question, can we find it, can we evaluate the information and the sources, and can we apply the information to the question or problem? And why do people trust some stranger's opinion or info rather than ask a trustworthy librarian who can back up the answer with reliable resources?

Maybe it's library policies that drive people to the answer sites. David Lee King has a post on his blog about libraries treating people using libraries' email and chat reference differently than in-person users. Be sure to read the comments, too.

Apparently people do trust the answers. From the abstract of Predictors of answer quality in online Q&A sites: "we investigate predictors of answer quality through a comparative, controlled field study of responses provided across several online Q&A sites. Along with several quantitative results concerning the effects of factors such as question topic and rhetorical strategy, we present two high-level messages. First, you get what you pay for in Q&A sites. Answer quality was typically higher in Google Answers (a fee-based site) than in the free sites we studied, and paying more money for an answer led to better outcomes. Second, we find that a Q&A site's community of users contributes to its success. Yahoo! Answers, a Q&A site where anybody can answer questions, outperformed sites that depend on specific individuals to answer questions, such as library reference services."

Librarians Respond

Slam the Boards is a group of librarians that is taking the bull by the horns. The 10th of each month is Slam the Boards Day. Librarians invade the various Web answer board sites such as Yahoo! Answers, Amazon’s Askville, The Wikipedia Reference Desk, and others—answering as many questions as they can using authoritative sources. The goal is to make sure readers know a librarian provided the answer and thereby raise awareness of library services.

Read more about it on WebJunction - Slam the Boards! Predatory Reference and the Online Answer Sites. Here is a discussion of the first effort by Jeffrey Pomerantz.

The Slam the Boards wiki, Answer Board Librarians, has lots of tips and tricks, suggested tag lines for your answer board response, and lists of "best answer" ratings earned by members.

Answer Sites

Questions are wide-ranging on these sites, including a lot of chat-type questions ("What comes to mind when I say 20/20?").

AskMetafilter (requires paid membership to post)

Part of Metafilter. "Metafilter is a weblog that anyone can contribute a link or a comment to. A typical weblog is one person posting their thoughts on the unique things they find on the web. This website exists to break down the barriers between people, to extend a weblog beyond just one person, and to foster discussion among its members."

ChaCha

A service for mobile devices. "Ask your question from your mobile phone. We'll instantly route it to the most knowledgeable person on that topic in our Guide community. Your answer is then returned to your phone as a text message within a few minutes."

Allexperts

"Allexperts, created in early 1998, was the very first large-scale question and answer service on the net! We have thousands of volunteers, including top lawyers, doctors, engineers, and scientists, waiting to answer your questions. All answers are free and most come within a day!"

WikiAnswers

"If you have a specific, unique, complex or more social question, and you are seeking a to-the-point answer, WikiAnswers is the place for your question. Anyone can ask, answer, edit or collaborate on answers in thousands of categories." Part of Answers.com.

Yahoo! Answers

"Yahoo! Answers is a place where people ask and answer questions on any topic." Earn points for answering, best answer, and choosing best answer to your questions.

Askville

Part of Amazon. "Askville is a place where you can share and discuss knowledge with other people by asking and answering questions on any topic." Has a complicated point system for good answers, experience, etc.

Answerbag

"Answerbag is a community where you can ask, answer and interact around questions and answers with thousands of other people throughout the world."

Mahalo Answers

"Mahalo Answers is a community of Internet researchers that was founded in December 2008. Users and the public can submit questions regarding any topic to our broad-based, informed community of users."

SnappyFingers

This is a search engine that searches FAQs across the Web.


ReadWriteWeb has a roundup of Q & A sites.

FeedMyApp lists Web 2.0 Answer Applications & Sites.

Assignment

1. Take a look at several of the answer sites. Keep in mind--it's the Internet and people often seem to ask questions about sex and other NSFW topics. Don't click on those questions or any other question/answer that could offend you
2. Explore the Slam the Boards wiki. Consider participating in the next event.
3. Create a blog post about what you discovered and what you think of these type of sites.

Some ideas for your blog post:

1. What is the appeal of an online answer site?
2. What kind of questions did you see at the sites you looked at?
3. Are these the kinds of questions that can--or even should--be directed to a library? Why/why not?
4. Do people use these sites because they don't know of other resources--like their library?
5. What do you think of the Slam the Boards events? Did you participate?
6. Did you answer any of the questions on a site? Which site? What type of question?

Challenge (optional)

Join Slam the Boards and try your hand at answering questions. Let us know how it went!

Credit: This Thing was based on the Minnesota Multitype Library Systems' More Things on a Stick program and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commerical-Share Alike license.