Social Networking is Problematic

I found an article by Molly Wood. Molly Wood is a section editor at CNET.com, a technology-centered media Web site. I found it by using EBSCO Opposing viewpoints,.
Ms. Wood has a few things to say about social networking problems she perceives. the main thrust of her article focuses on her "Five Horsemen" or the five main problems she has with social networking sites.

1. There's nothing to do there

As Business 2.0 points out, a simple destination site won't cut it. My big beef with Friendster was always, "Well, what would I do there?" Visiting most social networking sites is akin to getting invited to a party where all the cool kids are going, then showing up and finding out there's no food, no drinks, no band, no games, no pool, nothing. Just a bunch of painful small talk and leering grins. The people-watching can hold your interest for only so long.

2. It takes too much time

Yes, I know I can choose where to devote my time, but Orkut, Friendster, and even LinkedIn (which I do find more useful than the purely social sites) are interesting but less information rich than news sites, blogs, Google news, or any of the other sites I could visit on the Web. It's interesting, for example, to blog about the experiences I had on a given day, but its tedious to make sure my personal stats, favorite books, and current reading list are up-to-date. One of the reasons I think personal blogs win out over social networking is that they're inherently more personal, more inwardly focused, and a better chance to show more than a snapshot of yourself.

3. Traffic alone isn't enough

The reality of the new Web is that traffic alone just doesn't cut it. You can get all the visitors you want to your site, but you can't just blanket the thing with ads and hope to survive. Advertisers today are a more sophisticated bunch, and they're looking to send targeted, rich-content messages. That means that reliance on a generalized supply of banner ads is not a sustainable model, because no matter how much data you collect about your audience, if the audience isn't specific, the ads can't be, either. Witness MySpace's projected $20 million in ad sales. According to Business 2.0, it's working because MySpace attracts primarily what it refers to as "16- to 34-year-old hipsters." The Web is becoming an elitist sort of space. If social networking sites are a way to bring the masses together, advertisers are begging for a way to prune those masses into smaller, easier targets.

4. Strangers kind of suck (or, put nicely, the social hierarchy is really not that attractive)

Speaking of elitism, getting to know people is, frankly, a less attractive proposal than it first seems. Sure, business networking is valuable, and it's great to have a lot of resources who might know someone who can help you with ... something. But that argument gets a little thin when you're suddenly bombarded with date offers or all-too-frequent postings about the unsavory or just plain uninteresting habits of the strangers you suddenly know. Moreover, social networking sites pretty quickly and inevitably degenerate into cliques. That's normal, it happens on the blogosphere, and it's not really even that deplorable. It's just kind of tiresome on a daily basis. If you restrict your friends list to only the people you already know, well, then the boredom sets in. Why would you read their profiles over and over when you can just IM [instant message] them, e-mail them, or meet at the baseball game?

5. We already have the Internet

The only lasting argument about social networking that's ever made sense is that these networks are a valuable resource if you're adrift in the sea of online information. You can, in just a few hops, get to someone who knows someone or knows something that you need to know. That may be a valuable proposal in the business world, which gives a site like LinkedIn a better chance of survival than Friendster. But the argument's a little thin in a world where search is the king of the hill. If I need information online, I can find it. And I can probably find it faster using Google than I can by e-mailing one friend who'll e-mail another who'll e-mail another while my deadline slips away. Sure, it's helpful—once in a while. But once I have all these folks in my address book, I won't be much help in terms of ad impressions.

While this class extols all of the social networking tools, I thought it would be healthy to remember that many things on the wonderful web can be dangerous or just downright useless.

Read, Read, Read

Why Read to Your Kids? Here are 12 Important Reasons
"The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children," a Commission on Reading report found.
In fact, reading is so important that a non-profit group called Read Aloud America is traveling to different schools to promote literacy, encourage a love of reading in adults and children, and increase children's prospects for success in school and life.

Not only will reading to your child help him develop language and listening skills, and a sense of curiosity, but it will help to strengthen the bond you share as well.
Their Read Aloud Program (RAP) brings together kids and families at host schools to stimulate their interest in reading, decrease television viewing, increase family time spent in reading activities, and connect the values of good books to everyday life. Although the program is currently only offered in Hawaii, you can gain the same benefits from reading to your kids at home.
Here are 12 of the key reasons to start (or continue) reading aloud to your kids today.
1. Build a lifelong interest in reading. "Getting kids actively involved in the process of reading, and having them interact with adults, is key to a lifelong interest in reading," said BeAnn Younker, principal at Battle Ground Middle School in Indiana.
2. Children whose parents read to them tend to become better readers and perform better in school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
3. Reading to kids helps them with language and speech development.
4. It expands kids' vocabulary and teaches children how to pronounce new words.
5. Reading to toddlers prepares them for school, during which they will need to listen to what is being said to them (similar to what they do while being read to).
6. Reading to older kids helps them understand grammar and correct sentence structure.
7. Kids and parents can use reading time as bonding time. It's an excellent opportunity for one-on-one communication, and it gives kids the attention they crave.
8. Being read to builds children's attention spans and helps them hone their listening skills.
9. Curiosity, creativity and imagination are all developed while being read to.
10. Being read to helps kids learn how to express themselves clearly and confidently.
11. Kids learn appropriate behavior when they're read to, and are exposed to new situations, making them more prepared when they encounter these situations in real life.
12. When read to, children are able to experience the rhythm and melody of language even before they can understand the spoken or printed word.

I found this article and confirms the importance of reading to your kids, grandkids, students, etc. I love it! I am enclosing the link also. Have fun reading!

Textbooks

Teresa here is the picture.

Textbooks

This cartoon was in Saturday's paper. B.C. by Mastroianni and Hart . I found it to be a very interesting thought about the high cost of textbooks. If anybody can tell me how to actually put the cartoon itself in, I would appreciate it.
http://www.gocomics.com/features/11/feature_items/497895

Facebook and Twitter as Social Media Tools

Social media tools can be very helpful to students. Although Wikipedia is not to be taken as a full encyclopedia, its format can be used to help students share their ideas (1). In the first article, a second grade class used a wiki to share information they collected about U.S. national parks. This enables these second graders to learn to share information, correct each other's pages, and for the teacher to make corrections as well. Another way to share information more quickly is through a type of website like Twitter.
Twitter enables users to send updates in real time to whoever is following them or to whoever goes online to that page. Although Twitter and "tweets" are largely used to share updated information about what a person is doing, it can also be used for to let students know about a new article they can read and it encourages them to keep in touch with updated information. What is also nice about a website like Twitter is that a student can be anywhere, on a train, at home, in a library, or eating out, and receive updates about homework, new information for an upcoming project, or even the cancellation of an assignment.
With the sharing of information comes a new light in educating the youth of today. The more information they share, the more they learn and grow, they become more productive members of society. Using websites like wiki and twitter, students and even librarians can share and build on that shared information. One idea can spark another.

1. EBSCO HOST. Summers, Laura L. The Value of Social Software in School Library: Instruction, Communication, and Collaboration. March/April 2009.

Social media and the library

Social media such as youtube may become more and more prevalent in the future for library use. The library can set up a group you.tube account that will let patrons of all ages make comments about service, ask questions, and connect with other libraries in a more informal way. The library site can be used to post timely information about library events and will lend it self as a "cool" way to contact librarians by younger patrons.

Blogs, which are becoming very popular may be used for age groups and special interest groups to get questions answered, communicate with patrons of common interests, and generally encourage patron involvement in library activities. The blogs would lso come in handy to survey different groups about issues and plans involving the library itself. What if the blog had a question about the acquisition of different media for the collection? ask the bloggers which ones they think should be purchased and make some decisions based on the feedback.

Social Networks and their usefulness in a library

Social Networks and their usefulness in a library

Social networks allow users to browse, search, interact, collaborate with others users, and share comments and entries. To some people, this can be a fun and easy way to keep up with friends, track old friends, or to keep up with current events. For others, it can be viewed as a waste of time, very distracting, too new, or simply too overwhelming. Consequently, there has been some debate whether social networks can be beneficial in an educational setting and more specifically with library services.

I think two of the most popular social networks being used today are MySpace and You Tube. In doing my research, I found a lot of wonderful, useful, information being posted on MySpace regarding library services. MySpace even has a section dedicated to library teen services that feature profiles oriented specifically to teen patrons.

Within most of these profiles, there were several links to blogs that featured subjects such as favorite teen books, Aime meetings, Twilight reading parties, and links to libraries that were offering SAT practice tests for teenagers.

http://blog.myspace.com/lbplteens

I think this is a great resource for teens that may not know how to drive, have access to a car, or transportation, they can simply log on and get sorts of information from their local libraries. This would also be beneficial for students that are planning to attend out of state colleges. They can log on and research colleges via MySpace and get information as to how to apply for financial aid and get answers in real-time.

One of my favorite sites is You Tube. You can find just about anything in You Tube in just about any subject imaginable. I found several great tutorials from "How to use the library," to "How to use Ebsco."

How to use the library:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSE6GMOFQ0u

Find articles in a library:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8elk

Magazines vs. Scholarly Journals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6

I think these are valuable tools for people who may be shy about asking questions on how to do a research paper, how to use the card catalog, or what the difference is between Google and ProQuest.

Even for those people who were once experts in library usage that have to return to school, they may not be familiar with the new technical aspects being used today. There may be that one person who has three college degrees from 1989, but now has no idea what Ebsco is and may be too embarrassed to ask for help. They can look up these tutorials in the privacy of their homes.

Librarians can also use these sites to create pages and inform patrons of coming events, services, post videos of popular events, or post how to tutorials. MySpace and You Tube can not only help promote library services, but patrons can also provide instant feedback to librarians. Since people are no longer communicating through traditional methods, social networks are a great platform for librarians to utilize and reach a larger market.

Unfortunately, not all libraries use social networks to promote their services. Many view social networking as too new or too trendy. Some libraries have even banned social networks such as MySpace and Face book (It is unknown if it's due to funds or library management).

As we have seen, social networks can be very beneficial and highly useful to promote education and in library services. There are several social networks currently being used today, and no doubt, there will be more emerging in the future. It will be up to each individual library to decide how to best implement the use of these tools. Social networks are here to stay and best of all, they are still FREE!

Social Networking FTW (for the win)...AKA Why Social Networking is Useful in Libraries!

It seems like everyone today is talking about social media. It seems like you can’t go 2 seconds listening to the radio without hearing about some new Tweet a star has made, someone’s Facebook page, or a blog that has great information on it. Social media, apparently, is here to stay! As a librarian, it’s necessary for me to keep up with the latest technological advances, since it will happen with or without me. If your library’s patron base has anything to do with young people, it is especially important to keep up, since the younger audience is more “plugged in” than any generation before!

YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) recently updated their Social Networking Toolkit, and it contains a lot of good information for libraries. Among other things, the Toolkit helps familiarize readers with the Web 2.0 terms, social media outlets, and provides tools to help libraries in getting started using social networking. According to the Toolkit, social networking technologies “…are an ideal environment for teens to share what they are learning or to build something together online.”

It seems to me that the most useful social networking tool would probably be the blog. Blogs can be used in a number of different ways, and the benefit is huge! For example, a school library could use a blog to keep students, faculty, and administration up-to-date on library events, new materials, and much more. It’s so easy to update a blog that it would take a very small amount of time for the librarian to dedicate, and could even save him/her some time by providing answers to questions that are frequently asked. However, I have to say that there is nothing sadder than a neglected blog. I’ve visited the El Cajon library web site for information while working on the flyers, and found their Teen Scene was woefully out of date, with the last update on February 2! Another slacker, the teen blog for the Columbus Metropolitan Library hadn’t been updated since last September. Even the teen area of the New York Public Library is not immune, with the header at the top still referring to 2009. You’ve got to dedicate the time to this people, or you just look lame!

The other useful social networking tool is probably Facebook or MySpace. My teenage daughter’s friends are all on Facebook, and they are “fans” of a lot of odd things. It seems like I get an update every few minutes on something new one of them has decided to follow (yes, I’m “friended” by my daughter’s friends!). So if they can be fans of “Join if you have a name that is always spelt wrong!” why not the library? All it would take is a post or 2 a day about something evenly mildly interesting to a teen, and they’d be hooked! Then you just have to maintain it and you’ve got a whole new inroad into teen patrons. Instant gratification for everyone! 

For more information on this fascinating topic, here are a couple of links to great resources for librarians looking to jump on the social networking bandwagon:

• Four Reasons Libraries Should be on Social Media

• 25 Useful Social Networking Tools for Librarians

Social Networks

I belong to both MySpace (http://myspace.com) and Facebook (http://facebook.com). My father is actually the one who invited me to Facebook. I don't remember who invited me to MySpace. I like them both, but I'm a little tired of being invited to do things on FarmVille! I don't play games on either site. I just like to see the pictures from people I care about, and keep updated on what's going on in their life.
When my son had his motorcycle accident last July, I was able to inform (almost) everyone at the same time, including pictures and video. My cousin has a running countdown of when her son will be returning from his Mormon mission.
The only person in my family who isn't linked is my mother. I was reminded of that when one of my sisters sent me a yelling (all caps) email, telling me to call Mom. I have been reconnected with people who found me on one or the other of the sites.
You can also join the pages of people or groups who share your interests. I am linked to various libraries and library groups, and the Escondido Humane Society. I also belong to various musicians and authors on MySpace.
I think social networks are a terrific innovation. Although, I haven't yet looked at Twitter.

Technology and Libraries

Technology is here to stay and it is a great tool to help libraries. In the past, people would go to the library and use the card catalog to find books and do research. With technology today, people can do research faster and get the most current information on the web. Libraries also use websites to get in touch with the public and let them know what the library has to offer.
From the comfort of your house, you can go to the San Diego County Library and look for a book, put it on hold, or request it to be sending to the library of your choice. All you need to have is a library card and an internet connection.
To see how easy it is I look up San Diego County Library and the Oceanside Library web page.
San Diego County Library has a colorful home page. A person can choose to go to the children’s page or the teen page.

In the kids page you will find events for children’s and story times, books, homework help, blogs and podcast for kids! For the young ones they have the tumble books and the world book for kids. The page is bright and colorful, perfect for kids.
Tumble books are easy to load and you can listen to the books and watch the movie. It is very well done, however it will never replace spending time on mama’s lap. On the children’s page, I click on The World Book Online. It has incredible colors for kids.

For the Teens, the Oceanside library offers all kinds of research resources, for example: biographies, Grolier on line, testing and education resources and online test and tutorials. All this services are great and the students can use them from home.

However, the San Diego Public Library also has an awesome page for the teens. It is just too impressive! It has the latest teen books; events for teens in all the branches, the homework database, the homework help in different subject. It also has the ask the librarian icon.

This is a wonderful tool to ask questions when you need answers and you are at home, helping your teenager with their report. It has the book reviews by teens and by the librarian, college and career things, and the fun part is you can click on homework help then you can click on art, and it takes you to different websites like the Getty museum.
The librarians at the SDCL are doing a great job on the website and I hope teens will get inspired about going to the library and check out books, and participate in the teen events.

presentation comments

I viewed Jennifer's and Teresa's presentations. I could not figure out how to make comments on the presentation so here are mine. Jennifer: you clearly know your way around JING! The presentation was okay by me. Teresa: Did you really need 19 slides? Other than that, no comments

Presentations

I sent everyone and Mrs. Morrow my presentation. I viewed Teresa's presentation, but could not edit for comments. If I am doing something wrong please advise! I set my presentation to
EDIT.

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman

I found this article, on amazon reviews. I like her advise on money. She is always right on the dot.
M K

How many people graduate from high school and even college within knowing the basics of financial literacy - deciphering credit ratings, maintaining and balancing a bank account, getting through college with a minimum of student debt, making the most of that first job and, eventually, buying a home and planning for retirement?
Orman strives to close this "financial illiteracy" gap by providing invaluable info for those just starting out. She includes
The info is not only cutting edge but many of the websites have NOT appeared in other books. One example of how new the info is: Orman notes the recent changes in credit rules noting that EVERYONE has access to a FREE credit report once a year.
Because she knows younger adults may be intimidated by a ton of financial info, Orman (wisely) delivers her advice in innovative, user-friendly ways. Each page is short, easy to read and yet chock full of info. In short, she doesn't waste words.
Each section is launched with a Lowdown on what will be covered in the chapter and there is a quick summary at the end with checklists to make sure readers know what they shouldn't have missed. A Glossary at the back of the book explains some of the more complex terms. Important website resources and key terms are boldfaced in green, a great asset when looking for important info.
Reading this book could help young people avoid many pitfalls, since Orman covers the basics such as:
* Understanding that all important credit rating and deciphering your FICO score

*Making a small paycheck stretch as far as possible while maximizing opportunites for career advancement.

* A special area on her website where buyers of the book can get UPDATES on info in the book and CONNECT with others on message boards, a great way to get info and share viewpoints (and Suze stops in regularly to answer a few select questions, giving readers an opportunity to have her answer YOUR questions)

* Current websites to get information quickly and fill in gaps. She even notes that readers can now get their FICO score FREE once a year, valuable information that is on the cutting edge of new legislation. This info alone could well be worth the price of the book.

* The rignt and wrong way to handle student debt

* How to start investing and the best funds for ROth IRAs and 401(k) accoutns.

* Buying a car, auto insurance and a home.

I consider this MUST reading for anyoone just starting an independent life and this will definitely be at the top of my gift list for any high school or college graduate. What better gift than to give someone the tools for an independent and financially secure future?
written by K Corn (amazon reviews)