What we learned about blogs is that they are an excellent tool for delivering bite-sized chunks of information, usually condensed down from other sources. At first, the most significant challenge we had regarding the technology was formatting our posts on Blogger. Mainly these issues were: changing fonts, appropriately sizing and spacing the text, and inserting pictures and videos. For one member of the group, commenting on other blogs proved a persistent issue, whereas this was not the case for the other. Occasionally, after selecting the “post” button in the comment section of another group’s post, the prepared comment would disappear and not post to the appropriate blog.
Blogs could be a very effective way of delivering the right kinds of information to the appropriate audiences, such as specialized knowledge and interesting factoids in specific fields, directed at people working professionally within those fields. However, blogging would not be ideal for spreading crucial information targeted at employees and patrons of the library. This is because a blog is not necessarily credible or easily accessible, and there are better ways to transmit that information. However, blogs are useful in that they allow individuals to provide their opinions and takes on such information.
Would this group use a blog to communicate with library users? Probably not for anything more than ‘fun’ information, such as announcing special events. Blogging could also be seen as an unprofessional way to communicate information regarding a public institution, and comment management could become an excessive burden on the librarian’s time. Users may also miss the blog, or believe it to be unofficial information. A chat feed on the website would serve just as well in the context of informing users. This group would also consider blogs an inappropriate forum for communicating with other professionals in a serious manner.
No comments:
Post a Comment