Thing 8 - communication

1. Okay, I have been using AIM for years, litterally. First, I want to say that AIM does not require you to download anything, unlike what it says on the 23 Things @ NEFLIN blog. You can use AIM Express which lets you used AIM through just the internet, without downloading the AIM package. Now that I've gotten that off my chest.... You know how I have been bashing a lot of the Things, but I promised there would be some that I love? This is one of them. I used to love it more, but I really haven't been using it as much as I used to - I'm not really sure why, though. Anyway, it was pretty awesome back in high school and it's still great. I also like to use Facebook chat, which is relatively new, but it sometimes has glitches, so it can get annoying. I must admit, I have never used Ask A Librarian, but I think that it is a great tool.

2. Ahh, text messaging. I admitted to Heather that I don't text and she said that I'm probably the only person under 30 who doesn't. This is probably true. I like the idea of texting in its basic sense, like to text someone and ask if they want to get dinner later and not inturrupt them at that moment, but there a some kids like my brother who are just like constantly texting and I just don't get it. Seriously people text all through class, sometimes even just across the room (I'm not kidding). Okay, but anyway...I think that a cool way to use text messaging in libraries would be to have, say, teens sign up to receive texts (with the permission of their parents, of course, who are probably the ones paying the cell phone bill) about events that are happening later that day. This would probably really increase the attendance to young adult programming since a lot of people just forget about an event that they were meaning to go to. This is made easier by the ability to send mass texts and there are some websites that allow you to send a text message for free.

3. Web conferencing. I have taken a few classes online, but none of them have really used web conferencing-like tools. However, I know that there are some offered at UF that do (math classes and such). Also, I think that I end up taking some classes that would require web conferencing when I start grad school. A lot, if not all, of FSU's web-based library science classes (almost all of them are web-based, in fact) are structured so that all of the class meets online at a certain time (usually in the evening). These may or may not include video, but it would probably include an open chatroom for class discussion.

Challenges: Sooooo, I think the word "twitter" sounds dirty. I also think that it is mildly stalker-ly and probably gives one the opportunity to offer up more information than anyone would want to know (not like when you sign up it asks a lot of stuff, more like, I can't imagine anyone wanting to know what I do every moment of the day, so I'm not going to waste my time posting it). Also, Facebook offers a twitter-like thing in the form of one's status, which I sometimes use.