I liked this weeks articles, and they were on a topic I'm interested in so that was even better. I particularly liked how it wasn't just a bunch of articles on tagging or folksonomy in general, rather articles on different aspects of folksonomy and what it can be used for (i.e. library instruction, academic library, etc.) I did think the articles were pretty basic though, almost bordering on to basic. The chosen articles could have used bit more depth but it was good that they were on things relating to libraries though.
1.) Allan, "Using a Wiki"
This article was about how libraries can use a wiki to make library instruction better for sharing information, facilitating collaboration in the creation of resources, and efficiently dividing up work loads among different librarians. A wiki is kind of like a word document where you can edit text and attach files.
This article focuses mainly on how wikis can be used to help in library instruction, whether from the library itself or in a particular class with the help of a professor. Library instruction wikis have to main uses, sharing of knowledge and ability and to cooperate in creating resources. Wikis are extremely easy to use and free to create. Once you create one you can invite other users to participate in it and they can change the wiki. Wikis are beginning to catch on in many different workplaces.
This was an interesting article, yet somewhat basic. I also think that there are many more useful way to use a wiki than in library instruction, yet it would be helpful in this also.
2.)Arch, "Creating the Academic Library Folksonomy"
This article is about social tagging and the advantages to it in libraries. Social tagging is a new phenomenon which allows people to create tags for websites and store them online. This could be very useful to libraries. It could help them better help their users in their research goals and needs. The article then gives some examples of sites that use tagging like delicious.
I had a fairly big problem with this article, especially since it was written in 2007 (fairly recently). The article makes it seem like the only thing tagging is good for is a glorified bookmarking system. It talks about how you can save and tag a website and then retrieve it later on a different computer, much like just bookmarking it to a server so it can be found on other computers. Social tagging compatibilities go way beyond this; this is only a small part of the advantages of being able to tag things. Tagging allows things to be stored and organized in ways the physical world was never able to. With tagging you can organize a book under a lot of different categories instead of it having to be on a specific spot on a shelf. The article touched on the advantages of tagging but was way to narrow and did not begin to show the scope of what is possible with tagging.
3.)Wales "How a ragtag band created Wikipedia"
This was an interesting video, much like the Google one we watched earlier in the semester, as it explained how Wikipedia was formed, its goals, and what it currently is working on. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia written by thousands of volunteers. The goal of the organization is to provide access to as much information as possible to as many people as possible.
The one thing I liked most about the video is that it addressed the main issues/controversies/myths people have about Wikipedia. The main issue being that many people believe that because anybody can contribute and change a Wikipedia article that it is not reliable, especially because people can edit articles anonymously. The creator says that this is not as big of a problem as people think. The software Wikipedia uses is open ended where everything is left up to volunteers, because of this people police themselves and other users, instead of just creating false articles. Wikipedia maintains a neutral point of view, and again because many people may be working on the same article this is not as hard to do as people may think (even with political issues they can maintain a neutral point of view). The one thing I thought was very interesting is what the creator called the "Google Test" meaning that if the topic of an article does not show up in a google search then it is probably not worthwhile enough to have an encyclopedia article about.
Overall, I liked this video, especially because it gave me some background on a website that I use almost daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment