Web 2.0: What Rural Library Staff Need to Know

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Wikis . . .blogs . . .RSS feeds . . .MySpace. . .tagging. . .social software. These are hot Web 2.0 topics in the news and in conversations about library service and the web. Increasingly, library staff are expected to be conversant in these areas. Things have been evolving so quickly that it can be hard to get a foothold. If you haven’t had a chance to keep up or don’t know where to start, this course is for you. You will leave with an understanding of how these things work as well as some ideas about how they can be useful in your library.

Workshop Description: This all-day hands-on workshop will expose learners to the most popular tools and concepts associated with Web 2.0. Through individual and group exercises, attendees will experience the tools for themselves, and look at examples of how they are being used successfully in libraries. Attendees will leave with a solid grasp of the basics and a proposal for implementing a specific Web 2.0 service at their own library.

Pre-workshop assignment: assignment Prior to class you will receive a pre-workshop exercise that walks you through the steps of getting a Blogger account and a Bloglines account. You will bring the usernames and passwords to class. (If you already have accounts with Blogger and/or Bloglines please bring login information to the workshop.) Additionally, if you have accounts in any of the following, bring login information for these as well: Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace or LibraryThing.

Preliminary Course Outline

  • What is Web 2.0?
    • Ease of creating Web content
    • Why so much use of audio, sound and video all of the sudden
    • Privacy issues
  • What is Social Software?
    • Myspace and Facebook
  • Blogs and Wikis
    • What are they
    • How can they be used in a library context
  • YouTube, Flickr and RSS feeds
    • What are they
    • How are they being used in a library context
  • Avatars and Virtual Worlds
  • What Does This Mean to Rural Library Staff and Their Community?

Who Should Attend: Anyone from California’s rural library community with an interest in understanding Web 2.0 and how it is currently used and might be used in libraries in the future.

Prerequisites: You will need to have web access to at least one of your email accounts. This course requires that students be comfortable with basic computer skills, including using a mouse, navigating the web, and basic keyboarding. For help with these basic skills, we recommend the New Computer Users section of the Infopeople Resources Guides, at infopeople.org/resources.

Check-in: 8:30 to 9:00 AM Instruction: 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM

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Available for contracting: 
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