Libraries and Technology: Impact of Social Networking Software and Search Engines on Librarianship

1. Libraries and Technology: Impact of Social Networking Software and Search Engines on Librarianship Darlene Fichter University of Saskatchewan November 15, 2006

2. About me • Interested in social software for a long time • Founder and President of our local Free-net in the mid-1990’s • Started using instant messaging in 1998 • Always thinking about how libraries can use new technologies to achieve our mission

3. Outline SocialSoftware Exploring Group Activity Zoom In LibraryOpportunities Over to You

4. Outline .

5. The eyes only see what the mind comprehends Confocal micrograph by Ludovic Collin

6. Prepare ourselves “Chance favours the prepared mind”. Louis Pasteur

7. What is social software? • Enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate … to form online communities • Software that supports group interaction WikipediaThe Group Its Own Worst Enemy by Clay Shirky

8. “Unsatisfying” definition • Doesn’t point to one class of software • Email • Can support social patterns but also can be a broadcast medium for spam • Blogs • Usually social but could have 200,000 readers turn off comments etc. that’s closer to broadcast mode • Facebook • 5 classmates leaving notes on the “wall” and messaging, then that’s social

9. Social web / Web 2.0 • Is a global distributed network that links people, organizations, and concepts • It’s about how people can interact to make something greater than the sum of the parts • “architecture of participation” Wikipedia

10. SocialSoftware Exploring

15. Flickr search

16. Social networking sites Slide: Tom Coates, Yahoo! Photo by maqroll

17. So … Social software/social web is as A) As clear as mud B) A bit fuzzy C) Sounds boring D) What’s the big deal E) Crystal clear

18. Seth Godin Web 1.0 “The first version of the Web was about using computers to assemble clues.” Web 2.0 “The second version of the Web is about enabling people to share meaning.”

19. By now … Next … Tim 0’Reilly – What is Web 2.0?http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

20. Theme songs ? I am a rock I am an island Photo: thoth92Some rights reserved.

21. Your space MySpace Theme song ? Together So happy together

22. Is social software a fad? • Watch what people do, not what they say Peter Drucker management visionary of the modern age

23. Blogs – just hype or ? http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2006/02/07/technorati_blogosphere_ballooning_12_million_posts_a_day/

24. Instant messaging • 42% of adults (53 million) in the U.S. use IM regularly • 24% of adults use IM more than email • IM is even more popular with teens and college age students • Pew Internet and American Life survey on Instant Messaging

25. Social software sites • has over 100 million video views a day • Partners with Warner music videos • Not only post, but “remix”

26. MySpace • 4th most popular English language site • 100,000,000th member signed up on August 9, 2006 (started in 2003) • 500,000 new members each week • 300 employees

27. Or ? "The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet." William Gibson

28. SocialSoftware Exploring Group Activity Characteristics

29. Characteristic #1 Consumer Participant

30. Web 1.0 - “Information Consumer” Dial up modems Email Message boards Images took forever to download Static Pages HTMLHOME PAGE

31. Web 2.0 - The web now“Information Participant” (cc) Photo by Stablio Ross

32. See my home page

33. Read / comment / post / digg / trackback … my blog Read / Write Web

34. Example: Harnessing participation • Bookstore • Analyzing transactions and contributions to improve discovery

35. Amazon & participation

36. Ask ourselves • Do library catalogs get better automatically the more people use them? • What about library web sites? • If not , why not? • What might that be like?

37. Characteristic #2 Experts and Amateurs "Professional" Amateurs

38. “Professional” amateurs "Passionate amateurs, empowered by technology and linked to one another, are reshaping business, politics, science, and culture.’’ Change Agents With The Balls: The Rise Of The Amateur Professionals, Prosumers, Pro-Amshttp://www.masternewmedia.org/2005/06/16/change_agents_with_the_balls.htm

39. Citizen journalism

41. Response: deny … embrace

42. Nothing to do with libraries? • Google Answers • Yahoo! Answers People & answers People &questions rise of “amateur” librarian/researcher

43. Photographer • Mark Harmel, a freelance photographer, $300 - $400 / stock photo • iStockphoto –$1 to $5 / photo • Technological advances broke down the barrier between professionals and amateurs

44. Traditional stock photo companies • At first, aligned against “micro players” • Then Getty, the largest stock photo company, purchased iStockphoto for $50 million “If someone’s going to cannibalize your business, better it be one of your other businesses,” says Getty CEO Jonathan Klein The Rise of Crowdsourcing  by Jeff Howe

45. Characteristic #3 Algorithmic Search Social Discovery

46. Search meets social

47. Search +Social = Social Discovery • Going beyond algorithms to meaning • No one best book/site/page on “astrophysics” For every reader, his or her book. For every book, its reader.

48. What “business” do search engines think they are in? • To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. • Mission statement Google • Is Google “social” or “algorithmic” or both? Google harnesses social patterns - PageRank

49. What “business” do search engines think they are in? FUSE To enable people to • Find, • Use, • Share, and • Expand all human knowledge. Vision statement for Yahoo Search

50. What “business” do the search engines think they are in? • Get answers, ask questions, find information • Yahoo Answers!