INF506 - Social Media For Information Professionals

Well I passed my previous subject (Yay!) and have now started subject number 5 of my Masters. It feels so good to have got this far. I am a bit behind in my studies due to a number of external factors but now I feel like I am getting back on track.

Assignment One for INF506 is an OLJ creation and first entry. For this subject I am using this blog as my "Online Learning Journal (OLJ)" in order to keep everything from my course together in one place. I have also used this blog as a type of OLJ for past subjects, so it makes sense for me to just keep going.

As part of our first OLJ entry we are asked to define "social networking" in our own words. To me, social networking is online interaction between members of a community who relate to each other through a common interest. It can be a network of friends or colleagues, depending what the common interest is. The network uses a website or other technology to communicate and share information. No doubt my view of social networking will develop over the course of the semester.

I currently use a range of social networking technologies/sites for personal, work and study use. As well as Interact (CSU's social networking site) these include:
•Facebook •Pinterest •Twitter •Youtube •Diigo •Delicious •Blogger •Flickr •Yahoo •Grooveshark •Spotify •ebay •etsy •ravelry.
No wonder I don't get much housework done inbetween working full-time, three teenage kids and studying!

So what do I hope to get from studying this subject? Obviously I want to learn how to harness these and other social media sites/technologies to improve the information services I will provide as a teacher-librarian. I am currently using some of these to keep up-to-date with what's happening in the information services sector but I think this course may help me fine-tune how I do this. I am hoping to learn through the experience of trying new types of social media (Second Life and Linked In), thereby expanding my social network. Finally, I hope to gain some more confidence in using social media professionally and personally. Although I have been using a range of social media for a number of years, I still get a bit nervous when trying new ones and sometimes it all feels a bit overwhelming. Perhaps doing this course will also help me to organise my own personal social network a bit more.