As Clay Shirky said in his 2008 keynote at Web 2.0 Expo, media is a triathalon: people like to consume, produce, and share it. Media that is targeted at you but doesn’t include you may not be worth watching. We might ask ourselves, in what ways are we engaging our audiences? How well do libraries help their customers to be a part of the picture?
Some ways that librarians can include others:
Make your website interactive with blogs, twitter, feeds from library-esq resources, etc. Some of the things we have tried may already be old school. What’s coming down the tube next? It’s pretty fun to at least watch and wonder.
Start projects that the public can have fun with.
Here’s one really fine example. The Bay Area libraries are having a Free 2 Succeed campaign. One library has a Free 2 Succeed job center and career information center. There’s a Free 2 (fill in the blank) decal that people can download from their website and stick on a t-shirt or whatever else. There’s a Free 2 contest where patrons can win prizes for telling what the library has done to make them free 2 move about the community. There’s a video on the Free 2 website that highlights people in the community and what they are free 2 do. Fun stuff.
Tools of engagement
As Clay Shirky said in his 2008 keynote at Web 2.0 Expo, media is a triathalon: people like to consume, produce, and share it. Media that is targeted at you but doesn’t include you may not be worth watching. We might ask ourselves, in what ways are we engaging our audiences? How well do libraries help their customers to be a part of the picture?
Some ways that librarians can include others:
Make your website interactive with blogs, twitter, feeds from library-esq resources, etc. Some of the things we have tried may already be old school. What’s coming down the tube next? It’s pretty fun to at least watch and wonder.
Start projects that the public can have fun with.