There’s a lot of discussion regarding MySpace & Facebook in the past few days.
One (very interesting!) issue is should libraries be in these environments? Collib-L has been batting the issue around. Some follow the L2 argument that we should be accessible to the patrons where they are. Some say this is a social space, and some liken it to a librarian handing out business cards at a bar (though, if the bar were having a quiz night, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad
All good points regarding libraries’ memberships in online social communities. But what about librarians and library workers? I’ve joined Facebook as library staff for my institution. I didn’t put up any pop-culture information about my self, but did put up information about how to get to my department, where the student employee wiki is, etc. I have a few friends from WFU, which is fun. It may be less weird to students for me to be on there, looking young enough to be an undergrad myself. But I like the idea of being reachable in a different way for those who choose Facebook over phones, email, and instant messaging.
I’ve also heard of a philosophy professor carrying on discussions in Facebook, much the way some use Blackboard. I’d like to know where this is happening & if it is successful.
Yesterday I posted about Pulse. What if we decide that it’s inappropriate for libraries/librarians to be on Facebook. Is it okay to use data gathered from the site in programming? I think that it might be an entertaining and harmless way to show students that anyone can find out about them from their accounts. It could be an excellent “teachable moment” to explain soft privacy and deciding what to actually put out there. These lessons (I believe) can be incuded under the broad umbrella of information literacy and can extend well into real life. Some police have used MySpace to track down Graffiti Artists. People have lost jobs over social network profiles.
As people get more used to the read/write web, it will become even more important to include training about soft privacy in information literacy education. I think information literacy will expand to include not only doing good research & thinking critically, but also understanding the information context within which you participate (as in yes, someone will look you up and might see your profile) as well as how to prioritize incoming information (including how to choose how much to read and what to participate in).
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