I was first introduced to Social Software Tools in my third semester here at SJSU in the demanding hardcore course, LIBR 202. Although it was the most difficult core class of the mandatory trio, I was so fortunate enough to have the esteemed Professor Enid Irwin as my instructor. She made the intimidating subject matter of databases and information retrieval an exhausting but exhilarating journey and upon completing it, I had a greater sense of joy, relief and accomplishment than any other class! I worked in a dynamic group of five women (Team 52) to complete our group projects and today, we all still remain very close friends after survivng and thriving in Enid's class, which pushed us all beyond our comfort levels. Social software tools allowed my group to communicate and collaborate with twice weekly, 2-3-hour Live Elluminate sessions with a whiteboard and sharing documents via our desktops with each other to create two separate Database projects. One of my group members introduced us to Google Docs and we were able to plan, edit, coordinate, and schedule facilitated by Google's web-based site. I had the opportunity to contribute to my first group Wiki as we also created an informative resource guide of diverse Search Engines for our Midterm.
LIBR 210 Reference Information Service with Michelle Holschuh-Simmons further exposed me to using these social software tools in the reference world. In my Reference Observation Analysis paper, I participated in an Ask a Librarian Live! session to experience how effective and informative a live chat reference session actually was. Although I discovered in our 30-minute transcript, that I had not been engaged in any sort of reference interview or neutral questioning, I did find this virtual reference technology to be very user-friendly. Two class wikis were also created of both online and print versions of reference resources along with dictionaries and encyclopedias, which included brief annotations and question/answer samples for each source.
For my final Pathfinder assignment, I created an informative website
- global warming...a pathfinder for a general research guide.
Please click on the above link and check out my finished project built with Weebly to easily create an impressive professional website for free!
SJSU has even gotten me to jump on the Facebook bandwagon when I joined it from the MySJSU page for the simple idea of networking with other SLIS students. I didn't do anything with it for the first 4 months until my daughter and I returned from her graduation trip to France and she proceeded to download photos from our trip to her Profile page. I learned how easy, yet time-consuming this process was and decided to do the same. When I began to connect and reunite with long lost friends, classmates and distant family members, I admittedly became addicted. Facebook even provided me with a virtual social life, as I was so consumed with my coursework while working full-time, that it was all I ever had time for! When my daughter started college that Fall, I discovered that the majority of our communication was actually chatting live on fb, usually late at night when we were both up studying! My teenagers even influenced me to create a blog on tumblr after I started following their expressive, yet well-written blogs. My daughter spent last semester studying abroad in Paris and I kept up with her travels through her very enlightening and entertaining blog, Where is Pierre? Since she returned, she has also revamped her new food blog, Chantilly et Foie.
I took Simmons' 210 class with you and I remember your pathfinder. I love the color scheme (great for the topic and soothing on the eyes), simplicity of design, and focus on your audience in providing age-appropriate information and the right amount of it; enough to begin researching without being overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI am currently not a member of Facebook, but I like the idea of using it to keep up with my daughter when she goes off to college. Having kids has definitely forced me to at least become aware of social software tools, even though I sometimes have to be coerced into actually trying them out!
Hi Sandy! I also remember you from LIBR 210 and it's great to see you in this course too! Thank you for your kind feedback on my pathfinder! I really enjoyed that class and all of the interesting hands-on projects that we got to work on. Ironically, I do still keep in touch w/Prof. Simmons via Facebook!!
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids were younger and using MySpace, I didn't see the need to have my own profile. However, I did insist on having access to their MySpace so that I could monitor them for inappropriate content and cyber-stalkers!!
I am so intrigued with the concept of Second Life and can't wait to take Virtual Services. How is it going so far? My interpersonal communication course is a pilot for the new D2L interface and I am still learning to navigate it!!