Possible Failures for User Generated Systems

Its always interesting to speculate on what the reasons for why something does not work. I remember when we were trying to generate a blog at the library for interoffice use. After about three months the blog stopped being used by anyone in branch and was never heard from again. I have talked to a few people about the reasons for this after the fact. Most of them discuss the fact that it was not being used by anyone else and saw no reason why they should get on it anymore to check on it. Furthermore, we already had an email account to connect with people at the branch. Why should we have to use anything else?

All of the various reasons made sense, but I think the reasons go deeper than that. Part of the problem is that there was one person spearheading the effort, and she had mental and emotional turmoil going on after starting it about three months. She did not have the time or energy to use it. There was no second person responsible for maintaining the blog. As it was no one else's responsibility, it fell to neglect. And no one else took it up to keep it going. By the time the person in charge had righted the ship, she had other things on her mind and did not take it up again.

So when considering the reasons why something that would be user generated would fail, there are the obvious reasons, and then there are the reasons that you have to dig a little deeper to find. The most obvious reason for something user generated not working is a lack of user support. As with anything you have to be able to get multiple people involved in the process. It cannot be left up to one person or its not really a community effort to develop a platform. And actively involved does not mean to simply get on the site and see what other people have done. These people have to publish to the site and be come involved as part of the process.

While participation is an obvious reason for something not working there are many other possible reasons for failure. Aside from participation, language is often a barrier to a community working together for something. Everyone has to be able to have the same way of saying things. Something may have local appeal but not have an appeal nationally because the way people communicate change from society to society. Also, the platform that people have to comment on something can make something not work long term. There has to be a way to get feedback about what is being written and said. Also, someone who is overzealous in editing what is allowed on a site can make a collaborative effort fail. If someone deletes everything that is being written, than people will stop being interested in participating of the writing or commenting on the site.

Whatever the possible reasons there maybe, one thing I have found universally is that someone needs to be flexible in what they are creating in order for it to work. If someone is too rigid in what they want or expect, people will be turned off the the item and the process. Flexibility is a virtue that is vastly underrated.

Excercise 5 or The Tagging Process

To be perfectly honest, before working on this assignment I did not do a whole lot when it came to delicious. All that I did with delicious is find some web page that discussed what someone had to say about the topic and then add it to my list of topics. I was not sure of the long term value of bookmarking these pages. After working with all of the capabilities of delicious it has transformed my view of the nature of the social networking bookmarks and why it can be useful.

The usefulness of the bookmarking comes in where it comes to the connections with other people. I can see what everyone else is thinking when they are talking about another topic online. If I tag something tagged, I will know how many other people used that word tagged to tag something. I can also find the websites that those other people find interesting, or I can find the websites that they find interesting about the use of the word tagged. The searches can be endless. And you kind of get to know someone else's thought process as a result.

Despite the usefulness of such a tool, I do have to also say that there are some limitations to the whole idea. While I can find what other sites there are on the word tagged, or what someone else may be thinking about when they think the word tagged, I have learned through this and through Cataloging that coming up with a consistent term is the only way of being able to find anything when you are classifying. For example, I may look up tagging and thing that I am going to find all of the instances where someone is noting a word in a social tagging site. However, I know that others have used the term to mean someone who spray paints their insignia on a freeway or cable car or other item to denote that they have been there. I may look up tagging but its only as useful as however many others have the same idea about what the word tagged means. This does not even include what other English speaking countries may mean when they tag one word that has multiple meanings in the two different countries.

Tagging, I have discovered, can be a beautiful thing. Tagging has its limits.

What I actually learned this week about collaborative efforts...

When I began this week I was already familiar with some of the collaborative software that was already out there. I had already used Yahoo groups and Google Docs to be able to actively edit papers for different classes. I have used both Meebo and Skype with communicating with different people in the past and so was familiar with their software. I knew that all of these forums could be used to communicate effectively with one person, or with many people at the same time.

Despite this familiarity with the process of everything, I did come to a realization about the failures of communicating tools like this when given short notice about who you have to work with. Elluminate is great, if you have the time to set up a meeting in advance. If you have little time to work, it becomes next to impossible to accomplish. Also, I learned that collaborative efforts are difficult when one is trying to put together some amount of personal reflection on a particular item. If I am going to discuss what I learned this week, it is hard for someone to come along side to what I have written and piece together a group reflection about what I learned. I suppose we could have pieced one together about what we learned.

What I am excited about with all of these tools is the ability to find some tool that can be used in an effective way to develop a group project and presentation. I want to let nothing get in the way of imagination and innovation to develop something that will stand out. I hearken back to my first time working with Power Point, almost 13 years ago now. I remember what little I could accomplish and how much more I can accomplish using Power Point today. I hope that my experiences from the past and working with a partner will sharpen my skills and make my projects more streamlined this time.

Wikis and other things left unsaid

It was an interesting week perusing through Wikis and other various social bookmarking tools. What I found in Wikis included a cornucopia of information on various related topics. What I learned was that Wiki's have several interesting functions. Yes their primary function is to have groups communicating to inform others. But I now see the possibilities of Wikis as so much more. There was the library Wiki who decided to let the patrons get involved in the goal process of the library, allowing them to post concerns about the library and what they want to have changed in the process. While merely a list of stated desires of the library, it becomes almost a community bonding experience as I may agree that the children's library does not have enough windows in it, or that the reference department may want to include more books on a particular topic. I can see that I may not be alone in my view of the library, and know that the library is aware of my concerns.
Along with developing goals and running lists, Wikis can be a travel guide of sorts. The community of Rochester has links on the wiki about what to do in Rochester. It might not be an up to date guide, and certainly wouldn't use it for long term relevance, but it can give one an idea of what the people of the community consider interesting and valuable. And should I ever visit Rochester, I can have a place to start.
Then there are the Library Conference Wikis that become historical documents unto themselves. They have program listings and conference committees and all various forms of documents and things of interest about the conference. Once encapsulated together in this Wiki format they become a historical record of the time, the conference, and what was being said about the library at that point.
Ironically, I think I got caught up in the Wiki as place for debate the easiest. Maybe its because perversely some part of me likes to argue and wants to see discussion about a topic, not just postings edited by some vague and nefarious governing board. But I found historical documents and commentary about a debate in Davis over whether to uphold or reject a proposed boycott of goods and services of Israel. Whatever my position on such an event in a Coop far removed from me may be, it was interesting to not only see the historical documents (boycott proposal, boards rejection), but to see the arguments about the proposal rationally considered, and also a form of historical document as well. With all of these various ways that a Wiki can be used, I certainly have a greater appreciation for the Wiki format, outside of using it as a quick reference tool.

Marketing Critique

The Cerritos Library is nestled in the small community of just over 50,000 in Cerritos, tied to the greater Los Angeles area, on the South Eastern edge of Los Angeles County. It is attached to City Hall and the police station as far as access to the library goes. As you walk up to the library it is situated next to a fountain containing Coy Fish, and another fountain that is set to a timer with dolphin statues neatly nestled around it. This library stands as one of the more beautiful libraries in the area, costing just under 40 million dollars for the cost of the building, it stands as a work of art in the community. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerritos_Millennium_Library ) Their children's section has a story time room, an arts and crafts room as well as the general book room which has to scale mock space shuttle as well as dinosaur. Besides these wonders they have a giant aquarium that they have a diver go into once a week to clean out the tank. The library itself is divided into different themed sections ranging from modern art to rustic with lots of cherry wood furniture and a fireplace with chairs surrounding it. Alongside its general library duties the community has considered it a kind of resource center, with a large community room that they have on the third floor, and a few different high tech computer labs available for teaching classes out of. Both of those are income generators for the library, as well as the hefty fee for any non-resident to the community who wishes to use their services. Given the obvious planning and foresight that was considered when developing the building and the surrounding area for the Cerritos library, it is a wonder that so little consideration has gone into the marketing and placing of its items on the web.

I started my research into the building itself and visiting the library, seeing its marvelous structure and all of the programs they have for the community. I was then shocked when I began to research what was available about the Cerritos Library on the web. To begin my search I went to the webpage for the library. http://menu.ci.cerritos.ca.us/ ) (It was found easily enough by doing a Google Search of the library.) It immediately popped up. The general display of the website was pretty looking. It was filled with pictures of the building that would excite one about the general library. The links to the library were in a long column on the left hand side of the page. They tried to divide the links by the type of search what you were doing. The top part of the links had to do with library usage, checking out accounts and various things about the library itself as far as what was in the collection. They then would move down into programming in the library and what stuff they had going on including a calendar of events. When I got to the links about some of the pictures, however, I was disappointed to learn that some of the links had problems with them. I was unable to access some of the quicktime movies that would capture the look of the library. The comment section of the webpage was a minor disappointment in the fact that it had a place to comment but you could not read anyone else's comments about the library.

Following my exploration of the website I decided to research the presence of the library on MySpace and Facebook. While not all of the social networking sites, they are two of the most prominent on the net and I decided to look them up. I have profiles on both MySpace and Facebook and looked up the Cerritos Library on both of those sites, deciding to search for what they had on MySpace first. I began my search actually searching through Google and found one account that mentioned Cerritos but was unable to find anything that specifically had the Cerritos Library on it. I decided to then go onto MySpace through my own account and look up the Cerritos Library but was even more shocked when I got on there. There was a Cerritos Library MySpace page, but it was definitely not operated by anyone at the library as it had very little items listed on it and the one quote for the library mentioned them having a nice porn collection aside from their regular collection, which I suppose could be true but I doubt would be widely published on a social networking site. I would have thought maybe it was some other library except that they had a picture of the Cerritos Library on the front of the MySpace page. (http://www.myspace.com/2801355)

Despite my disappointment with what was on MySpace I hoped I would see something different when I opened up Facebook to look to see what was on this social networking site. I was pleased to find it looked like they had an operating Facebook account. And even if not run by a Cerritos Staff member it was at least run by someone who liked the library. They had a limited selection of pictures of the outside of the building. They also had a comments page but no one seemed to be commenting on it, either indicating the lack of interest of people in the library or a lack of desire of the Cerritos Staff to have people comment about their library. Given what they had on the website, I couldn't be sure of either. There was some commentary about a book in the library, but when I realized the person making the comment had the Cerritos Library building as their picture, I wondered more about whether it was a patron or staff run Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cerritos-CA/Cerritos-Library/246296406904?ref=search)

Following the social networking sites, I decided to research the blogs to see if I could find one that was run by the Cerritos Library. I checked www.blogspot.com to see if they had anything I could find on the Cerritos library, which I then ran through Google to inquire about blogs on the library. There was one blog that took in the ratings of the Cerritos Library, but nothing more. It seemed they had little interest in developing marketing outside of their own personal website, which would limit Cerritos to serving its own community and allow no outreach. I decided to read what was posted about the Library nonetheless as this place seemed to be the only place so far I had found commentary about the library. Most commented about the beauty of the library itself, and a wish that they had something like this when they were growing up. One comment said that it was a "fishbowl" making them feel like they were being observed constantly, rather than a place to work and research. What I found most instructive is that most of the comments were about the nature of the library itself, its structure, beauty, etc. There was very little to be found on the usefulness of the collection.

Given what little I found on any of the other major sites I was not surprised to find that Cerritos did not have a Twitter presence. (www.twitter.com) This would be something that would require a lot more effort than a blog and far more effort than would a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace. I was unable to find anything about the library on there. They seemed to want to do very little to engage the web in any meaningful way it would seem.

Considering the millions of dollars poured into the building and the collection it would seem reasonable that they would want to have a positive word of mouth about the library and its resources. I was not going to give up. Despite their lack of presence on the web, I determined that the potential of the library could be met through a large change in policy. Beginning with a presence on MySpace and Facebook, the library should make an effort to engage their public through having a space dedicated to them. While it may be time consuming and they might not be able to update it as regularly as they should, it's better to have one's own presence on the web then allow someone to think that pornography would comprise a large part of the Cerritos collection. Secondarily I would open up their web page discussion board to allow patrons to discuss the library on the web in a productive manner. This may require someone to review what is being posted but I believe will benefit the library long term. Finally I would begin a blog, advertising the libraries coming events. Yes they do have something on the web page, but it is too hard to sift through as a patron, and patrons might not have the patience to do that. But devoting a blog to coming events of the library someone can easily peruse what coming events they might find of interest.

The question I had was whether Cerritos had the will to make those changes. I decided to do some further investigation into the library as a result. What I found lined up with their presence on the web. They charged exorbitantly to get a library card if you did live or work in their city. They changed their policies about getting a card. Cerritos used to have "sister cities," not belonging to the Los Angeles County system that they did not charge to get a card at their branch. They now charge. The Library considered belonging to the Santiago Library System which would put them in a relationship with libraries from the greater Southern California region. They decided it was not in their best interest. Finally, the library itself is not directed by someone who got a masters in Library Sciences, and the "Librarians," while having a masters degree, do not necessarily have one in Library Sciences. It would seem the library not only wishes to be solely dedicated to its little community, but they wish to remain outside the greater library community, with entirely different goals. It seems sad the promise of such a great building and large collection is under management who does not wish to provide this information to the world at large. Given the grandeur of the name, "Cerritos Millennium Library," the Wikipedia website displayed the promise of the library. Given the execution of that promise, it may as well be called the Cerritos book store and borrowing collective: "all outsider's keep off the grass."

Should Libraries be posting on Facebook/Myspace?

I would have to say that I believe that Libraries should be actively marketing themselves where people are. Today's society requires that you must market yourself if you want to be considered relevant. Once people stop thinking of you, you will rapidly no longer be an asset to your community. And if libraries stop becoming assets in their communities, libraries will die.

All of that being said, where and when you should find yourself on the internet is an interesting question. Primarily a library should have a website of its own. A website is the one place where a library can have total control over what it presents to the public. Through this control one may present one's self in the best light possible. You can control what users have access to, what a user sees, etc. With other sites, you are limited by whatever someone may allow you to post up. You have little control over what someone else may post about you. Libraries need to be cautious about things under which they have no control.

As to the larger question of whether a library should join MySpace or Facebook, the situation grows even slightly more complicated. I suppose you could use the scatter shot approach to marketing and allow yourself to be marketed whenever and wherever you chose. But this would spread yourself thin over too many platforms. MySpace and Facebook are barely the tip of the iceberg in social networking websites. There is bebo, Friendster, Hi5, and many many other sites with which to visit. A library could hardly be expected to keep up with all of them. But, MySpace and Facebook are among the more popular sites of the day.

My knee jerk reaction would be to say to keep yourself listed on both of them and try to keep up with both. Certainly in my time at the library the initial popular one of the two sites was MySpace. So many web pages from libraries popped up on MySpace. But in a few short years the big behemoth in social networking software is Facebook. And one would be justified in thinking that another one will pop up to overtake them both in the future. But I think to keep up with both of them would be foolhardy. What I would do is put myself on Facebook now, due to its current and seemingly burgeoning popularity. I would keep updates on that and allow users to post commentary about the place as well as keeping people updated on events that may be going on. I would then make sure there was a link from my web page to whatever social networking site was the most popular of the day. This would enable people to get a direct link from the website, which would be the most important thing as I stated earlier.

I just think that trying to keep up with everything would be a fools errand in the rapidly changing Internet. But being adaptable and learning what is most widely used and then maintaining a presence there would be a priority among any library that is going to last. Let's just hope that libraries find themselves outlasting any social networking site that may be the current "in thing."