wet paint in my peanut butter

This is my beginner's comparison of two wiki services: WetPaint and PBWiki. For a professional comparison, try these tables (from wikimatrix).

From my project-minded point of view, both of these services work well enough: they can be set up and taken down within minutes and allow for ample customization to get the job done and they both are FREE (PB has for-pay versions). I've been using PBWiki more, so it's starting to take on that comforting aura of familiarity. I don't necessarily like its look or feel, but I'm learning where things are, and how add and edit elements. My WetPaint account has seen less use, and is still a little like a strange neighborhood. Its feel when editing is quite different (and the result not as slick as the WetPaint homepage), but I have to say that I've been especially impressed with the ease of adding widgets, namely videos (here's my sloppy test page). But, then PB has its "Plugins."

I'm not sold on either, but, as someone who had never edited a wiki before, I'm pleased with the ease of use that both offer, and their functional versatility. I would have been content to stick with PB, but I may have to go with WetPaint, if I had to choose just one. Tests are ongoing...

bookmarked by patrons

In relation to libraries, the first three chapters of Anderson’s The Long Tail (2006) help to set new technologies, and information overload, in their broader historical, and societal, context. If the long tail generally refers to the shift from a few hits to nearly infinite niches, what are the implications for libraries?

One immediate thought is that it might relate to collection development: don’t just focus on top sellers, go for variety. But, really, although I can’t comment on the library world as a whole, if I think of the libraries I am familiar with, they already have highly eclectic collections. And resource sharing (like interlibrary loan) opens up shelf space nearly infinitely. Through libraries with such collections and services, there are items in various formats for any niche available.

Another implication relates to how libraries position themselves in the Age of the Long Tail. How libraries fit in to the current economy is not easy to see, but it seems that, just as with new technologies, it would be fruitless, and even self-destructive, for a library to isolate itself, or to take a "nobly" defiant stance against change. One way to avoid this is for librarians to stay engaged and educated about what's new. With their finger on the pulse, info pros can be prepared to address niche interests as well as the communities arising around them, by providing items, services, spaces and training (including training in 2.0 technologies) to remain relevant, to stay within patrons' lists of bookmarks.
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Anderson, C. (2006). The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. New York: Hyperion.

Digg...

... is kind of like StumbleUpon, with a human algorithm. It’s an interesting way to explore the Web. Rather than trying to exhaustively search for interesting or useful fragments, the Digg community helps each other, like a team of amateur archaeologists, and the result is a more holistic snapshot of what’s out there. People tag ("digg") items and you, the user, determine what diggs to view and how, as well as what you want to add to the mix. As with any good 2.0 site, it has a "clique feature": it can be limited to hand-picked friends. But doesn't have to be.

The interface is simple and easy to navigate. Main categories of excavated diggs are: news, videos, images, and podcasts. There is also a sub-menu of categories (which themselves have subcategories) under each of these. There is a lot of ability to customize, particularly under a settings tab (customize > settings), which allows you to filter topics, to pinpoint what you want to be viewing. Just one other useful feature is the ability to RSS specific search terms. Digg could be used for serious research, as well as leisure or virtual socializing. There's a lot to the service, and a lot more to be found through it.

But here's my favorite bit: a set of experimental visualizations, showing the activity of the community. [WARNING: may distract from homework.]

"hello, my tags are _____."

Tagging would be a great way to supplement asynchronous introductions (which get old fairly quickly). It involves a more active form of personal expression, builds practical skills, is fun, and also sneakily creates a sense of camaraderie, since everyone is doing the same activity (in their own way), discovering overlaps, and contributing to a common result. It’s like a virtual show and tell that demonstrates how networks form, almost accidentally. Brown and Duguid would be proud.

One possible downside is that it could become more information than anyone cares to look through, but keeping it short and simple would obviate this.

It’s definitely worth a try.

the social life of learning

The perspective in Brown and Duguid’s (2002) “Learning – in Theory and Practice” can educate our approach to staff training and development in any library/info organization, I think largely by providing a clear-headed framework for relating to the individual people involved, within their specific social context.

Here are some of the ideas -- implied or stated -- that I think make up such a practical framework:

• Regardless of philosophical debates about epistemology, a useful working hypothesis is: (impersonal) information is not (personal) knowledge; and persons are socially embedded

• Bullet points or prescribed techniques are not as important as the people involved

• to know the people involved, it’s necessary to observe and listen: what’s their experience level, how long have they been there, what do they know that coworkers may not…

• Training staff – or even getting them to participate – is not that easy

• The “classroom” and “textbook” model is limited; real learning happens in situ

• Experiment

• Trying to force a plan won’t work as well as highlighting an actual need and then allowing and encouraging knowledge theft (the legal kind)
  

Social software fits nicely into such a socially-grounded model of learning, but it could be used to compliment (rather than replace) face-to-face cooperation.

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Brown, J., & Duguid, P. (2002). The Social Life of Information. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.