I just finished doing a SirsiDynix Institute webcast presentation, titled Video on the Web: A Primer. Always a fun time - SDI does a great job with these webcast presentations.

I said I would link to some videos on my blog, so here goes:

My own videoblog, for starters: David Lee King’s Videoblog

Rocketboom

Arlington Heights Memorial Library:

• LibVlog - What’s Up May 5-25

Allen County Public Library:

• Zombie video
• iACPL 4.0

Orange County Public Library:

• Hip Music. Hip Library.

Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library:

• What if Barbie had a Book Group?
• World of Warcraft parody
• Book Teaser: The Eyre Affair

And finally, those Video Search Engines I mentioned:

• blinkx
• clipblast
• mefeedia
• Google Video Search

In a week or so, the webcast will be online - I’ll make sure to link to it here. enjoy!

Within 20 minutes, I had received over 23 answers! Look at the interesting variety of answers:

• amylibrarian - “keeping informed on technology and library issues”
• digitalsista - “twitter is a resource on news and local grassroots activities”
• pghgurl30 - “I like it cuz I can follow a variety of people easily, librarians, blogfriends”
• Jill_HW - “Twitter = Instant support, feedback, solutions, etc.”
• book_luvr - “I learn so much from all of you that I follow! I’m able to share with staff here.”
• kenleyneufeld - “I find Twitter useful for professional networking.”
  
• julian2 - “The conversation is very quick and enriched.”
• jessewilkins - “more specifically crowdsourcing of links to resources.”
• ehampton - “quick and easy networking!”
• strnglibrarian - “the networking! the instant news! the connection to the outside world (from anywhere). are the first things that come to mind”
• baldgeekinmd - “twitter can be quick and dirty, reach many easily and frustrating when it is not working right.”
• bschu1022 - “The networking! I can get an answer to a question (in seconds!) from colleagues around the world & not just by email or phone!”
• MyCreativeTeam - “twitter likes: follow/pitch journalists, query experts, gather blog fodder, promote blog via twitterfeed, quick friend contact”
• sarchet62 - “I’m following as many health care providers I can find on twitter and learning learning learning helps in my work!!” and “if all you did was follow news channels the tweets are worth it”
• bckhough - “Twitter made this year’s ALA my best ALA experience yet. It added an energy or connectedness that has been missing”
• NikkiPilkington - “Quick and easy way to get marketing messages out to interested people”
• coyenator - “connecting with people, cross-pollinating ideas, apps, experience, info, tools, innovations, and of course, opinions!”
• znstrk - “quick responses when you ask a question, and interesting tweets from others.”

Themes that stand out: crowdsourcing, news, networking, sharing ideas and messages, staying connected. This quick question turned into an amazing crowdsourced answer the question “why do you use Twitter?”

Do you have anything to add?

“We’re being asked to do all these new things, and we’re already extremely busy. What did you have to stop doing in order to start doing these new things?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer it (we moved on), so I thought I’d tackle it here.

A couple thoughts

Usually, the person asking the question (when I’ve heard it, anyway) comes from a more “traditional” branch of librarianship, and hasn’t really tried out “new” things like blogs or IM reference services. And they (like many of us) feel that what THEY do is extremely important stuff. So when they ask, they’re usually seeing all the daily work they do, how important and satisfying they find that work to be, and start thinking… “well, what does he (ie., the speaker) expect me to give up? It’s all important stuff, and I don’t have enough time in the day to add something else to my already busy daily schedule. What does he expect me to drop?”

I think they’re asking the wrong question.

Why? That question is focused on ME. What I’m doing. It’s focused on librarians and departments and “the way we’ve always done things.”

How about re-framing the question? Instead of focusing on the work we already do, why not focus on meeting the library’s priorities? What are the goals of the the library? The organizational priorities? Figure those goals out, then work to meet those goals.

Will your daily work change? Maybe. Will some things that you currently do not get done? Maybe - but that’s ok. Because you’ll be focused not on “doing stuff,” but on moving the organization forward.

So yes - the less important, non-prioritized stuff will either get done or get forgotten - and that’s ok. Because you have reframed your question.

How would YOU answer this question? I’d love to know!

Joseph Janes, presentation
Panelists: the “It’s All Good” bloggers: Crystie Hill, Alice Sneary, George Needham, and Eric Childress

First, Joseph Janes:

Showing pics of libraries - showed a pic of a reference desk from around 1906, and said we probably recognized it as a reference desk. That’s not good. We’d have a different viewpoint if we were doctors - we’d hope that a doctor would NOT want a current operating room to resemble one from 1906!

Then he said librarians have a strong sense of tradition - what should we keep, what should we get rid of?

information environment evolves

• as it always does
• technology
• competitive and volatile information marketplace (publisher and consumer)
• societal/demographic changes
• political, legal, cognitive domains

Highly dynamic environment!

What does it mean to be in the library?

• physically, this is easy - you’re in the library when you cross the threshold and enter the building
• except… branches, bookmobiles (are you “in the library” in a bookmobile?)

Virtually

• follow the same line of reasoning
• in the library when they cross the digital threshold, hit the web site, search, ask chat reference Q, downloading an audiobook, etc.
• in the library anywhere, anytime, any way in which people interact with information organized, provided, supported by their own community via their library staff

by implication, the library

• is the place
• as well as the stuff
• and the support
• and the interaction
• and the values

all this implies:

an extended notion of library, librarianship, etc
there’s lots of potential with both ideas

somewhere and everywhere - you need a physical presence (you need the puppet closet) when you have physical objects, you need a physical place

but you have to be everywhere - be where your clients are when they want to use you

presences and identities are tied to environments - you can be in multiple presences at the same time. In each, you can have information needs.

be where they are

• wherever they are (physically and virtually)
• and whatever they want to do, or be
• we must be available, positioned, and ready to support, assist, etc - on their terms
• visible presences
• in all the various places they are
• not unlike building new branches or bookmobile routes

Plan services for these people in new digital communities!

We have to be better online

• we do a great job in person
• online, we have to be better
• customers get frustrated fast online - and will go away just as fast

basic human urges

• communicate, be heard
• to learn
• to organize, make sense of the world,
• search for and make meaning
• etc
• We help in those areas

How do we get there?
Move beyond the building

******************

Discussion Panel (interesting snippets):

what matters is why people use these tools - not how a library can use the tools

A priest - is ALWAYS a priest - at church, on the plane, at the cookout. In the same way, a librarian needs to be a librarian in all these emerging digital outposts.

What will make the difference is the experience around the stuff - not the stuff itself. If other places provide a better experience than the library, our customers will go there instead of the library.

We are doing the work right - but are we doing the right work?

@privacyala - taking twitter questions

Dan Roth, Wired senior writer

Little incentive for companies to care about privacy.

Yahoo toolbar - ask Google what they’re doing with the data they collect? No one knows what they’re doing with it

We should find out what those companies are doing with all that data was his general gist

Cory Doctorow

We can influence policy and licenses

architecture is politics - when we build social networks, we in effect build policies - and those affect people and future society

People who use social networks choose to divulge this info

There’s a difference between private, personal and secret - ex - we all do stuff that’s private but not a secret (go to the bathroom)

RFID - not a way to create policies and capacities for individuals to choose what gets shared via RFID and what’s not.

Beth Givens, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

aside - both Dan and Beth are commenting about privacy - while being photographed and videotaped (and most likely those are going on the web). Ironic?

Beth is talking about credit reports, medical records, etc - how those are online, how you can sue if this info is misused, etc.

Access, consent, accuracy, enforcement, usage limitation, etc…

“You should opt out” - how do you opt out? Her website has some ideas

Moderator questions:

Dan said “as we move away from a society with one mass culture…” - I don’t think we really ever had that! Colonial times - puritans, politics, farmers, city folk, etc… go through other times in US history and you’ll see the same. Just sayin…

But while doing that, I started noticing some similarities in twitter account pages, and thought I’d share those with you.

Twitter Best Practices:

1. Have a bio. When people see an interesting tweet, they might click through and want to read a bit about you - the first place they’ll look is your Twitter bio. Most bios provide a brief outline of who you are. For example, mine currently says “I write about, talk about, and work in libraries!” (yes, that’s a very boring bio - I should change it). “I write about, talk about, and work around libraries, social media, and digital communities. Also check out my videoblog: http://davidleeking.com/etc” (just changed it

Even better - include an invitation in your bio. Here are two examples:

• I’m a 35 year -old marketing professional who is learning about new media. Help me learn Twitter please! Follow me and I’ll follow you!
• New followers: please @ me to start or join a conversation.

2. Extra links in your bio. You can add links to pertinent sites and services in your bio. If the URL is long, make sure to shorten it with one of those tinyURL services. Otherwise, the link text will run into the background of the page… and make you look like you look bad.

3. Spell check your bio text. Misspellings look bad. Nuf said.

4. Use a good headshot for your picture/icon: Best practices for the little pic that accompanies your tweets - a headshot of you, smiling. Or maybe you being silly. If possible, show your personality.

Don’t frown - if you don’t look friendly (or you look scary), others might think twice about friending you. And on the web, thinking twice means you’ve lost them.

5. Add a background image. Any image. Silly. Professional. Ugly. The point here is that using the default Twitter background on your account makes you look like a newbie. And that’s bad, especially when it’s so easy to add an image.

Brownie points for using the image like these two tweeters. See what they’ve done? They smartly positioned an image version of a link list that appears in the far left portion of their twitter page. Nice way to share links and promote themselves!

6. Say “Hi” to new followers. When someone follows you, reply back. That’s nice! Here’s one example: “you might be the first librarian I’ve met.  HI!”

Even better - one person direct messaged me with this message: “Welcome New Follower!! How goes it?  Have you tweeted anything that I should know about that I may have missed?” Wow - he’s asking you to introduce yourself in a very direct and helpful (to him) way. Nice.

7. Silly observations:

• Social media and community manager types tend to play guitar in a band and mention it in their profiles…
• they all subscribe to Chris Brogan’s twitter account.

8. Finally, don’t do this: I saw one twitter account (that I didn’t follow) with these characteristics:

• Bio said the person is a “key executive in digital media”
• No picture/icon was included
• No background image was used
• He’s not following anyone
• He has 7 followers
• He’s only written 5 updates

Notice the irony here? This person’s bio and his actual Twitter activity don’t match up. He doesn’t sound like a key executive in “digital media” He needs to take 5 minutes to add a pic, add a background, follow a few usual suspects in his field, and add a couple more tweets. This will make his account look “normal” - and he’ll look more knowledgeable to boot.

Update: after writing a whiz-bang twitter article, I completely fogot to add a link to my own twitter account (twitter.com/davidleeking)! Duh…

“In a two-minute YouTube video, [Miller] launched a campaign called “Ask George.” In this handheld video, Miller sat casually in his office chair and asked supporters to engage with him in a dialogue about the Iraq war. He invited participation via numerous avenues:

• Shoot a video of your question and upload it to YouTube, SplashCat, Blip.tv, or Google video. Tag the video with the phrase “askgeorge.”
• Post a question on your blog and tag it “askgeorge.”
• Join the “Ask George” group on Facebook and post your question there.
• E-mail a question to george.miller@mail.house.gov with the subject “Ask George.” “

Nice use of tagging, multimedia, and other emerging services and tools. So - my question to you: Would this work in other settings? Would this work in libraries? What questions could you ask? I can definitely see it working in a YA/Teen setting. How about in grown-up settings?

Here’s an idea - have the library director talk (for a minute or less) about his/her favorite book. Then do what Miller did - ask for tagged responses, and see what happens…

Beth’s answer: “Truth be told, people are going to complain, and complaints aren’t always based on the facts. But isn’t it better that you hear from your constituents so that you can (1) address their perceptions directly and (2) use their comments as an opportunity for free market research?”

My library’s digital branch allows commenting without up-front moderation. We think of it almost like a controlled room - we can listen to all the discussions, and we can correct them when needed. People WILL complain and get facts wrong. If you provide an easy-to-use discussion space on your organization’s blog, you have an opportunity to hold conversations with your customers - and you can correct them and explain what’s REALLY going on when needed. Much better to supply a controlled place to air complaints than to let them be aired elsewhere (like the local newspaper’s editorial section) where you DON’T have any say in the matter, or even in your response.

I’d also go a couple steps further than that, and subscribe to some ego feeds for your organization. I have set up Google Alerts, Technorati searches, and Summize searches for variations on my library’s name. They come to my Google Reader inbox, and I can scan through them and respond or pass the info along when needed. It takes next-to-no time to do, and it’s a way to digitally “meet” your customers in their favorite hangouts.

Real conversations. Real useful. And we can easily respond. This is a no-brainer!

• Friday, June 27 - OCLC Symposium: The Mashed-Up Library. I’m talking about mashing up websites, etc.
• Saturday, June 28 - LITA BIGWIG Social Software Showcase. The presentation is done (you can go listen now), but the discussion at the Showcase will be a blast - come join in the fun at my table or the others!
• Sunday, June 29 - Library 2.0 and Children’s Services

So feel free to come listen and say hi after - or just stop me in the hall and say hi! Either/both is cool.

So - I’ve created a screencast. Here’s what you  do - watch/listen to my presentation, and then you have a few different options:

• Come sit at my table during the actual Showcase, and we’ll chat! Show up on Saturday, June 28th at the ALA Annual Convention in the Marriott Anaheim Gold Key Rooms I-III from 1:30-3:30pm.
• Comment now on this blog post (comment box found below)!
• Comment on the Blip.tv version!
• Comment on the YouTube version!

Here’s my presentation:

Description: Engaging your library’s local community is NOT an easy task. Engaging your library’s local DIGITAL community is even harder. This presentation introduces the concept of the experience economy and mashes that up with digital community participation and engagement. What’s that get you? A headache! No, wait… that’s the wrong answer. It REALLY gets you … Community Experience, aka the Conversation Economy.

So watch/listen to my presentation (if the version above is too small for you, go here for a 640X480 version)… and then come experience the conversation economy in action at my table at BIGWIG’s Social Software Showcase! Hope to see you there!