Nombre Sept

I had not heard of meebo before this project, but appreciate any tool that brings together different types of chat clients in one area. I can see this being used in a library setting being used because if we were doing chat reference, we would expect many different types of chat clients being used by our patrons. Forcing patrons to only use one type of chat just doesn't seem right. I signed up for an account and started chatting with a friend in South America on AOL and another friend who was using yahoo chat. Nice.
I have heard of twitter before, but hadn't really used it much. I do have some friends who use twitter, so I signed up and started following them. I guess I could see some library uses for this, including indicating times when we are not busy, or as a reminder for people about programs, or if we get a bunch of new books in. But I think at this time, it would reach only a small audience. It seems that more of my friends use facebook, but I do like that you can send your tweets to facebook and have it automatically update. That way you aren't having to update different applications. Thinking about these 2.0 applications and having the NBA player get in trouble this week for tweeting during halftime is interesting. When is it ok to check in with 2.0? When isn't it? Does ubiquitous computing interfere with life or enhance it? The one thing I like about twitter is that you can follow news items, and other public figures without them having to add you.

Nombre Six

Communication tools is the topic for number 6. So I am just going to go through the list starting with email. I love love love email for both professional and personal purposes. I use folders and have started using follow up flags in Outlook to help me go through things, especially those that need immediate attention. When I am at my desk, I almost always have Outlook open, and see email messages come in. I think that I need to start closing Outlook during times when I need to work on a big project, or something that needs more brain power. I am easily distracted, and this was one of the suggestions in the article (sort of). We do use AskUs in AS to respond to email reference questions. I think that we may be using email more now to communicate with patrons now that we have an easy to use scanner at the reference desk. Being able to email a recipe, article, car wiring diagram or similar to a patron at home is a great use of this type of communication for a library.
Instant Messaging...Again, I have used IM for personal purposes and love the instant-ness of it. It is more casual than email, but quicker and easier for conversation like communication to take place. The article about IM mentioned a lot of use for homework purposes, and I know some libraries who do IM, that is the case. But the article was also written in 2005, so I am wondering how mobile wireless web capable devices will change this type of reference now and in the future. Would you just google with your iphone, or would you rather im with a librarian? FWIW, I chatted with comcast at some point for a patron and found it somewhat frustrating, but Elizabeth said that it was automated, so that may have been part of it. AFN.
Text Messages...hmmmm, I think I like the idea of text messages better than IM. The article talks about converting to email, to allow easy response from the library side. That would be easy. Texting often assumes that you will get a quick response, that that isn't always the case. From a practical perspective, I would that that you would have to publicize the hours that someone could respond to a text question. I wonder as phones become more web capable that IM or even email would just be used in the future. But my phone isn't web capable and I would like the option to send a text question, especially just for a phone number so I wouldn't have to call directory assistance!
Webconferencing...I looked at the schedules for the upcoming webconferences and wasn't able to attend any recently and the OPAL ones seemed the most interesting were spaced out by several weeks. I have attended webinars in the past and sort of feel about them as I do most lectures or conferences. It isn't the technology that turns me off, but the presenter's ability to use whatever technology (or lack of technology, say in a large lecture hall) to the advantage. Not seeing the speaker leaves out visual cues, so a really articulate speaker is essential in a webinar. Live webinars have the added bonus of two way communication, so the speaker can take live questions and answer, but I am also interested in video how-tos.
Google Groups. I looked at both of the google groups linked, and while both sounded interesting, seemed to be pretty much out of date. I think that this would be a great resource to use for a committee at MCPL. Having the options for discussions, pages and files is a nice way to group all the information together. We have used wikis to some degree for this, but this way seems a little easier. I have found in using wikis in groups is that wikis are sort of hard to format and not everyone feels comfortable using it as it isn't really that intuitive. But uploading files to share and discussions seem a little easier. This would work also with committees who work on different networks but need to share documents. I share documents sometimes with a group at MCPL in our shared drive, but if I were working with someone at IU, this wouldn't be possible.
Summary. I think that for the most part, librarians are pretty good at communication tools, but there are new ways that we need to make sure we aren't getting behind. Chatting seems easier in that you can clarify what someone is asking in real time (did you mean this?) where even over email, that doesn't work as well.