Part 2 A : Evaluative Report -OLJ Experiences, Learning Objectives

1. The October OLJ entry entitled “Web 2.0: Trust, Copyright and Fair Use” provides evidence of my understanding of the range of issues that exist in a socially networked world. The creative experiences that are facilitated by Web 2.0 technology, places the onus on the user to take responsibility for citation, prevention of plagiarism, copyright and fair use of materials in a social network environment. The experience of creating a presentation on ‘Web Design Criteria for School library websites’ to share publicly was the motivation for me to become more immersed in the online environment and to explore social media tools, such as Flickr and Slideshare. In preparation for this task, I collated some quotes from the module readings on web design and usability, as well as some images, screenshots and a photo from Flickr. As I collected these resources for the content of my presentation, I became concerned about copyright. I wondered whether it was legally able to re-use them in a presentation that I intended to share publicly, as my creation. My OLJ reflections highlight my recognition of the need to locate official guidelines on copyright and fair use, for education purposes, and to check the source of each item for any restrictions.
Secondly, this experience demonstrates my ability to independently locate and, evaluate appropriate resources, environments and tools. I explored the websites of Google Docs Powerpoint, MS Office powerpoint, Flickr and Slideshare to compare their features and to decide which software was most suited to the task of creating a video presentation. I thought MS office was the best tool for this task. The features of Slideshare enabled me to publish a professional looking video for free and I could tag it for ‘education’, so I decided it was the best software for my target audience of professional colleagues. I reviewed the ‘terms of use’ in relation to copyright laws and fair use guidelines. Finally, I learned the correct way to cite online resources and images, in a video.


2. OLJ entry “Social Media Policy or AUP?” provides evidence of my understanding of information policy in a socially networked world.
Although social networking has opened up a world of opportunity for libraries, Krosky (2009) suggests that the social and extremely public nature of these services also brings potential hazards. As my OLJ indicates, library managers and school leaders may have concerns about inappropriate comments about the school, staff or other students being published on social networking tools that could have a negative impact on the school’s reputation. Secondly, schools need to exercise a duty of care for their staff and students, so they need to consider the personal impact that online bullying or criticism could have on individuals within their community. Krosky notes that “the distinction between personal and professional realms is fading, seemingly everyone has a Facebook or Twitter profile”. She contends that the creation of a social media policy is a useful way to set some ground rules for employees with regard to their online activities. As my OLJ entry indicates, the education departments of both NSW (DET) and Victoria (DEECD) have published policies which provide guidelines for the use of social networking tools by their employees, in all levels of education, this year.
I was able to collate a range of relevant resources for school libraries to consider, when creating a policy for employees / students’ use of social networking tools. These resources have been bookmarked in Delicious and collated in my stack entitled “Social Media or AUP?” for sharing with the ‘sissocialmedia’ group.
3. The October OLJ post entitled “ Flickr: A Comparative Study of Web 2.0 Library Spaces” provides evidence of my understanding of theory and practice of Library 2.0 and participatory library service. Tim O’Reilly’s meme map, 2005, and the writings of Miller, 2005, Casey & Savastinuk , 2006, emphasis the application of a web 2.0 tools in library portals should facilitate participatory services for the patrons. Stephen Abrams (2007) states that “ the emerging modern user needs the experience of the web, and not just content, to learn and succeed” He notes that Web 2.0 technology can shift the web experience to an academic learning and collaboration environment, rather than an information delivery portal. My reflections in this post, provide several examples how Flickr can be used to facilitate creative and collaborative projects and stimulate group discussions. Flickr provides examples of creative commons options for artistic works. This social media software can used to create an online identity for the library (Rancourt, 2009, Willis, 2010) on a school website and to engage teens with a visually appealing, call to action (Chapman, 2009). It could provide opportunities for teens to create and interact with other students and to share their own responses to literature or library events.