Es tut mir leid - Kurzer Schreiben!
This weeks readings focus on three issues:
Do community contributions to social networks self-regulate to follow standards of quality?
How much regulation is needed to ensure quality and how do social networks encourage it?
How do libraries fit into this picture?
The idea of a social networking community (SNC) coming together to create something has been philosophically linked to the opensource software movement. Duguid rightly points out the flaws of this linkage, and highlights the need for some kind of quality and control to be imposed over the product of the SNC. Hayworththwaite (?) analyses how this quality regulation can be achieved through either a lightweight or heavyweight scheme. Geisler and Burns found that in a lightweight scheme (Youtube’s tagging system) a huge diversity of tags were created by the SNC. Lerman’s study showed that poor regulation of a SNC can lead to the tyranny of the minority, suggesting that in the case of at least some SNC a greater degree of regulation may be needed in order to assure some kind of democracy. Leibenluft again returns us to the issue of quality by highlighting the success and failure of Yahoo! Answers. This SNC succeeds in that the questions asked here would be difficult to efficiently research in a web browser or at a library. However, their failure is that many of the answers are incorrect or misleading, and this poor standard of quality is a serious issue for this site. By comparison, SNC’s such as Wikipedia, which have a stronger regulatory system, have higher quality information, but cover less material. At the core of this issue is the concern about accurate information on the one hand, and the need of SNC members to interact with information. SNC members are not content to passively learn, they want to actively engage with information to create knowledge. This desire is easily harnessed and can generate significant content, but some authority needs to regulate the enterprise. Traditionally, libraries have stepped into the role of an information authority. What is the place of libraries within this model, and how can they engage SNC members?
Gazan and Dempsey both get at the place of the library within this scheme. Gazan argues that digital libraries need to regard their users as both “information consumers” and “information generators.” Dempsey recognizes that libraries can play a critical role within the digital information age, but is at a loss as to where to position these institutions so that they can have maximum impact.
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I've actually had experience with Yahoo!answers. I proffered an answer to a question once and it was rated the best answer. I thought to myself, "They've gotta be kidding! Who is going to believe this?" I only answered because it was connected to a sweepstakes prize (you can see what I'm motivated by). I've never been back since. Poor Wikipedia gets such a bad rap, but I find myself using it often as a jumping off point. It is interesting to consider the place of libraries with regards to the internet and social spaces. Although libraries have traditionally been quiet and not typically social, I think that these things should change to fit in with the new global, informative systems that are becoming so prevalent. As a newbie to the LIS program, I'm not sure how this will be accomplished, but I can't wait to give it a try. I would love to change the image of the librarian behind a desk.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia does get a bad rap. I think it is a great place to start when you need general information, especially on popular culture. However, I wouldn't use Wikipedia for serious research. I agree with your statement that "SNC members are not content to passively learn, they want to actively engage with information to create knowledge." As with most social networks, it is important to have some interaction or participation with the information, being a part of the process is as important as the information itself. I also agree with Stacy that libraries need to keep up with new technology and changing needs of patrons. For academic libraries this would include providing spaces where students can interact with each other, and partnering with other student services providers, especially IT.
ReplyDeleteThe degree that library users are information generators depends on the users. I think if the user can provide their own qualification, then their answers/contributions are more reliable. For example, I'd ask people who are moms for mommy specific information. However, I'd open the discussion to teens and mommies if the question is about parenting because I think getting information from both sides is important.
ReplyDeleteLibraries can participate in SNCs by providing its users a means to connect with one another or to resources that are useful for their users' information needs.
I get the impression that you don't entirely approve of community contributions to social networks, and would rather there be a strong regulatory body (I could be completely wrong). You also seem to like the idea of the library as the information authority (I could be wrong again). But where would it fit? If libraries are to move forward, technologically speaking, it doesn't need to "fit" into the old model, but rather should replace it. Having a bigger online presence with more collaboration is a start, but I also realize that users must still be able to maintain some sort of trust. As junie would use Wikipedia as a jumping point rather than serious research, a new library model has to be both a jumping off point AND support serious research.
ReplyDeleteI feel very skeptical as I continue reading about online library systems, but there is always hope in everyone's posts :) Connecting people to each other via library SNC's (?) would be a nice method. I use CiteULike to manage my references/citations, and the site has a field that shows other people that share a citation that I use. It also provides a little bit of information, i.e. summaries, that could be made publicly available. I think the site is certainly moving library sciences in the right direction.
I agree with you that compared to Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers has low quality of information because of many duplicates. I found many users ask the same question without searching it first. However, unlike Yahoo! Answers, Answerbag has a function to eliminate duplicates which makes the quality higher. I still think Wikipedia also has wrong information since not every sentence is required to have evidences to prove the information is true.
ReplyDelete