Socializing on the Internet is Not So Bad

According to a new study by the MacArthur Foundation, reported in The New York Times by Tamar Lewin, all those hours teenagers spend socializing on the Internet are not a bad thing.

It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, Living and Learning With New Media. “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page…”

“It certainly rings true that new media are inextricably woven into young people’s lives,” said Vicki Rideout, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and director of its program for the study of media and health...

“The concerns about predators and stranger danger have been overblown,” Ms. Ito said. “There’s been some confusion about what kids are actually doing online. Mostly, they’re socializing with their friends, people they’ve met at school or camp or sports.”

Text Messaging Outpaces Cell Phone Calls

According to Alex Mindlin, in the September 28 New York Times:

In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.

Nicholas Covey, director of insights for Nielsen Mobile, attributed the spike in messaging to the spread of QWERTY-style keypads, whose users send 54 percent more text messages than those with ordinary keypads. He also said that phone companies had encouraged users to text by offering large or unlimited text-messaging bundles.

Teenagers ages 13 to 17 are by far the most prolific texters, sending or receiving 1,742 messages a month, according to Nielsen Mobile. By contrast, 18-to-24-year-olds average 790 messages. A separate study of teenagers with cellphones by Harris Interactive found that 42 percent of them claim that they can write text messages while blindfolded.

Not only has text messaging replaced email, apparently it is replacing cell phone use.

More Computer Users are Using Social Sites; What Does this Mean for Libraries?

According to a recent study by Universal McCann, a media communications agency, half of U.S. adults use social media technologies, defined by the study as text messaging, blogging, and social networking.

Many bloggers have been critical of the study -- in particular the way it defines social media and counts its users. Nevertheless, it points to a real trend: Where a short time ago, such Web 2.0 technologies were used mostly by those under 18 years old, today, more and more adults are using such technologies for communication.

The impact on libraries? Here in Troy, the fact that increasing numbers of our users are experimenting with and growing more comfortable with new technologies means that we will use more of these ways to deliver information via our website. So, as Technology Librarian Lauren Henderson writes in this post, we will be incorporating blogging, text messaging, user comments, flickr, RSS, and other Web 2.0 technologies into our soon-to-be-revised site.

If you use social media and have ideas on how the Library could better employ these technologies, let us know.

For a copy of the McCann study, go to Media in Mind (80 page pdf).

And thanks to Stephen Ambram for calling our attention to this study, on his great blog, Stephen's Lighthouse. Stephen is the Vice President of Innovation for SIRSI/Dynix, a developer of library system software. His site is a must for any one who wants to keep up on new technologies and their use in libraries.

TPL Gets a New Website - Soon!

Over the last several months, the Library's Technology Department has been working away at a lofty but much-needed goal: Create a new website for the Troy Public Library.

But not just a new website -- a cleaner, more usable website. Our goal is to finally move to Web 2.0 with a dynamic site that promotes patron involvement and interaction.

The meetings, training, and research are finally starting to pay off. I am proud to say our new website is really starting to come together. We've decided to use Drupal, an open source content management software that allows us to create the best possible library website for our patrons. Though we are still adding content and working out the finer details of the theme (the look and feel of the site) we know it will feature the following applications:

• Patron interaction through comments -- You have thoughts, feelings and opinions, and we want you to voice them!
  
• Regularly updated content -- The major difference between our old "static" website and our new "dynamic" website will be the regular content updates. In the "old days," all website updates were sent to one staff member who acted as our "webmaster". Now all the staff will have the ability to easily add content -- be it promoting a new program, featuring a new database, or sharing pictures from a recent event.
  
• Easier searching - more convenient ways to search both our site and our catalog.
  

These are just some of the basics. We are also exploring several other new Web 2.0 technologies. For instance would our patrons use Virtual Reference Chat? Virtual Reference Chat would let you ask questions via instant messaging to a reference staff member. This would be done using software right on our home page,

Our website will continue grow to include new features over time. With the help of Cherry Hill consulting and our diligent Technology Department, we hope to have the new site up and running in the coming months.

Have thoughts or suggestions for the new website? Leave us a comment!