Blogs: it's not so much a change in technology as a change in thinking
Submitted by jillmarkgraf on Fri, 2007-02-16 19:57.
I've been giving a lot of thought this week to the blogging boom, quite honestly wondering, "what's the big deal?" Libraries have been putting up information on webpages, and elsewhere, for a long time. We've been getting feedback through email and other avenues for a long time. Yes, blogs offer a pretty easy way to do all that, but aren't we all a little too ga-ga over this blog-ability? As I've worked through the readings, the webcasts and the screencasts this week, I kept thinking, "Yeah, it's kinda cool... but what am I missing that makes blogging SO cool?"
Here's a thought came to me. Maybe more than anything else blogs have changed the way we think about communicating with our patrons. When I look back on years of working on library websites, I am flooded with memories of committee meetings where we spend untold hours choosing individual words, placement of words, images, buttons, colors, sizes, etc., to have everything just so. Blogs free us up a little bit to be more, well, real. The blogosphere seems just a little bit looser, a little more relaxed, a little less perfect, more natural, more conversational, more spontaneous. And maybe that in itself makes us a little more inviting, responsive, interesting and human. Maybe that's the big deal. (The word "ga-ga" never would have made it past the web committee).
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Well, there's a reason we
Well, there's a reason we called it "Five Weeks to a Social Library" and not "Five Weeks to a Blogging Library." Blogs aren't for everybody or every library. I think next week's content will show you some of the hidden power behind blogs, though; we haven't hit everything that one can do with a blog by any means.
Your insight regarding demeanor is absolutely 100% right-on, though; the loosening of stuffy communication standards has been a theme since blogging began. I think it was Michelle who mentioned The Cluetrain Manifesto, which exists in print form as well as partly online and is worth taking a look at. Whether you buy it all or not -- and I admit I find some of it rather facile -- it's hard not to see some of their insights in action.
<<The blogosphere seems just
<<The blogosphere seems just a little bit looser, a little more relaxed, a little less perfect, more natural, more conversational, more spontaneous. And maybe that in itself makes us a little more inviting, responsive, interesting and human. Maybe that's the big deal. (The word "ga-ga" never would have made it past the web committee).>>
Jill, you got it exactly. It makes every person able to share their experiences and have their experiences MATTER. Dorothea is right, blogs are not right for everyone, but they are one of the ways we can inspire trust and devotion in our users, with our human faces.
I can relate being on
I can relate being on multiple web committees and day after day really stressing about the right words to use, colors etc - all to attract/invite our "users" into our website. But you're right the blog allows the web creator(s) to ease up, relax and not just worry about the terms or colors that will attract people to "use" the site but really focus on encouraging communication through the software. It is like now the technology being used is more so the lauching pad to project great ideas between each other creating a dynamic link between the library and it's users.
I find using a blog easier
I find using a blog easier for me to use because I have control over when it is posted. Our library's web page is rather static. The person in charge of updating it does it once a month or so. If you want anything added before then it is hard. Have a blog that is hotlinked to the web page makes at least my part of the web page dynamic. (I have not done this yet, but that is my plan with this class. lol)