Social media is one of my favorite things to think about. Art, literature, journalism, relationships all combined in new technologies to give us the freedom to communicate things in ways that would never have been possible before these tools were available. (Not that there’s any thing wrong with good old fashioned books, periodicals, art pieces, or one-on-one conversation. There are just new choices of mixed media to add to the previous ways, and I think they’re fascinating!) My friend recently sent me the very thoughtful gift of a map of Malta to aid me in case I got the chance to participate in a grail quest. (Did I forget to mention before now that I am a big geek?) I could’ve called or emailed or written a thank you note or send a message on facebook or instant messaged him. Instead, I chose to draw him a picture of the grail and a thank you note on the Facebook application Grafiti. The ways that we can choose to connect to humans now are countless, and both in person and over a network, or even both. (My boyfriend and I often team up and play World of Warcraft on the internet while relaxing together in the same room.) My point in all of this being, that podcasting and videosharing are two new ways for us to connect with patrons that weren’t available to us before, and they’re a lot of fun!
I love listening to podcasts (and video blogs), especially to break up monotonous trips. In fact, podcasts are second only to audiobooks in my choice of listening, and I love music. It’s just I love new information (and fantasy novels) even more. My favorite podcasts include:
- Buzz Out Loud – Tech news from one smart and funny team at CNet
- GeekBrief – Happy, shiny tech news in video podcast form
- Brotherhood 2.0 – Videoblog of brothers John & Hank Green (a YA author and EcoTech blogger respectively), now also a social network for their followers, nerdfighers
- Pottercast – Harry Potter news and discussion from the crew at the Leaky Cauldron
I’ve heard several good library podcasts in the past, but none that entertained me enough to subscribe. I also hear most of that news in the form of blog posts before I listen. The analysis would probably be wonderfully informative for me, I just haven’t found the one that would keep my away on highway 45 yet.
I feel that videos are probably the way to go when it comes to libraries reaching out to patrons, because most of the zombies walking around with ear buds, are not working on the edification of their mind while doing so, but people are perfectly willing to watch a video that explains how to perform some research or technology-related task or watch a book talk on a book that they might wish to check out. Most other library related videos seem to fall flat. Library tours or videos that are supposed to be funny, don’t often seem to be a hit amongst patrons, but I’m eager to keep an eye out and see libraries surpsing me and innovating. I’ll be so proud the day a viral video comes from a library!
Hank Green performs a song for his Wednesday Challenge right before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
My favorite video about becoming a librarian:
Video I made this morning:
