Twitter and Libraries

I already follow Alexander Turnbull and National Library on Twitter. They send out Tweets as teasers:– a recent tweet from National Library states:

Megaphones and midget cars. This looks serious http://bit.ly/4yTi6k

At the digital conference, they said they try not to make it sound too much like a marketing communication. They want to intrigue people and draw them in, and use bit.ly to truncate URLs.

AT's recent tweet was:

For starters : H1N1. Honey, what do you think of the Ebola ? http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/feature1p/index.html

Access Science retweeted LISNews tweet:

LISNews: Rise Of The Web Librarian: An Elegant DMOZ Solution http://lisnews.org/node/35091

I enjoyed that article, and like the title "Web Librarian".

Some of the tweets from others are boring though. And some tweets look more like personal communications than professional ones.

I think it would be great to start doing one for ours:– library events, new books, recommended books etc.

Come wiggle and sing, @ Wriggle and Rhyme http://bit.ly/8K5NLC

A separate Twitter account for Local History Online would be good too.

Can you tell us more about this photo? http://bit.ly/8Ihfv0

Searching Twitter

The basic search within Twitter is quite straight-forward. I used the words "digital" and "library" and got screens-full of tweets in reply.

I used Twoogle, to search Twitter and Google using the same words. Both returned comprehensive results, the top results of course being where the phrase digital library was together. I quite liked the split screen between results and being able to scroll separately.

I noticed though, that although the Tweets were often in English, the websites mentioned in them, might not have English content.

A popular trend listed on Twitter recently, has been Google Wave. Its a cross between email, chat and search engine, blogger, and social networking site.

Watch this video: http://wave.google.com/help/wave/using-wave.html



You can search Twitter from within Wave - and it will keep collecting new search results as they occur.

I can't wait to start "Wave"-ing

Introduction to Twitter

I am already a Twitterer and have been for quite some time. I go through spates of tweeting, followed by spates of quietness. I use Facebook everyday, so I have set up my Twitter account, so that if I tweet, it also updates my Facebook status at the same time.

If you decide to do this, from your Twitter account, go to the bottom of the page, and click on "Goodies", then select "Widgets", then select "Facebook", and "install Twitter in Facebook" it will ask you to log in to your Facebook account.

I find the 140 characters in Twitter, a bit limiting - so normally use Facebook to update my status. However, I like keeping up to date with people/organisations that I am "following" in Twitter.

I recently attended the National Digital Forum conference, and found it fun to participate with other attendees, by tweeting from my iPod Touch.

Anyone wanting to follow me in Twitter, can do so @sauvblancgirl .

I already follow NZHistory Online - and attended a presentation that they gave at the NDF conference. They use Twitter as a marketing tool, to draw attention to items of interest in their collection. As there is only 140 characters, the messages are short and of a teasing nature, and usually has a URL shortened by bit.ly that takes you to either a weblink or a photo.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a superb idea and could be of use/interest to my husband, so have got him on to this.

The Creative Commons licence on the Get With It programme is found here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/nz/

This basically means its free to SHARE (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to REMIX (to adapt the work); providing the following conditions are met:

Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes

On Flickr, I searched for an image of Waiake beach, which is my local beach. There are some stunning shots out there. I found this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29079014@N08/3407284049/).

The Creative Commons licence for this is the most restrictive of CC's six main licences that allows redistribution: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works (BY-NC-ND), which means:

It allows others to download works and share them with others as long as they mention the creator and link back, but they can’t change the work in any way or use it commercially. Its often called the "free advertising" licence.

Module 1 - Topic 2: Exercises - OpenID

It was interesting reading about OpenID. The article and the video were both easy to understand and very informative.

I kind of knew about OpenID, in that I have a Yahoo one and a GMail one that I use for different things. I find it useful, as I get fed up with having to create/remember different logins and passwords. They tie in with my disposable email accounts.

One of the ongoing issues for many people, I know, is that there are so many usernames, passwords, pin numbers etc that everyone has to remember.

I have a notebook at home, filled in, with different usernames, passwords, and email addresses for different websites. They all ask for different types of logins, so you often can't standardise anyway. And having a webmail account like GMail is handy, as if you change ISP you don't have to troll round all the websites you belong to, and update your email address.

However, I hadn't been deliberately using consciously on purpose - OpenID is something I found I had been using "accidentally".

I would never use OpenID for anything important. Just for non-critical online memberships. I don't trust anyone being in charge of my identity other than myself!

Online Privacy and Security

There seem to be millions of passwords and pin numbers you have to remember. Bank, email at home and work, network at home, network at work, video shop, library card etc, etc etc. And you are told to change them all frequently and not to write them down anywhere LOL!

The rules for password protection are sound. I've followed them for years. I have a generic password I use for everything that is of low importance. And secure passwords for high safety items like email accounts and banking etc.

I always use a mixture of upper, lowercase, and numerals.

However, that didn't prevent my GMail account from being hacked into from within webmail, and an email with a Korean website address was sent out in my name to everyone I had in my address book.

I am very careful where I use this GMail address too - its what we consider the family account. I have three other GMail addresses that I use, that I consider "disposable" addresses for when I don't want people to know who I am etc.

The best thing to do in circumstances like this, is to change your password and contact your ISP and your webmail provider.

My ISP reassured me that it didn't come from my computer - so that confirmed my home network firewall and security controls were working. They suggested that my password had been hacked - there is software that can do this, no password is 100% inviolate.

I've had no repeats since then. And will remember to change my password a wee bit more frequently than I used to.

I would be very hesitant to use a password generator. I don't like anyone else other than me knowing my passwords.

I am a heavy user of Facebook, and I think I don't think I get up to anything, that I wouldn't be happy to share with everyone. However, I am careful who I invite as friends, and I make best use of privacy controls as I can. Only my friends can see everything. I don't want everyone in the world having access to photos of my daughters or my nieces and nephews for that matter.

I think Facebook should make the controls easier to understand. It took me some time to get my head round all the different bits. A less technical person couldn't be blamed for being completely lost!