Social bookmarking

I love the idea of accessing my bookmarks from anywhere.  Of course, I dread the task of converting my bookmarks to tags; it will be a lot of work.  I haven’t had the time to explore all the options, but based on those “optional readings” that I did read, I would like to know more about Connotea and CiteULike because I think they might solve some problems for some of my clientele.  And it doesn’t hurt if the librarian comes up with the solution for thier information management problems.  I talked to our hospital informationist about the value of adding wiki software to our intranet for interdisciplinary groups to work together and publish their work for the rest of the hospital (but not necessarily for the rest of the planet).  We could start with the Health Literacy Work Group (where I have already established a private, user-only wetpaint wiki) and the Ethics Committee, but there are some patient and child advocacy councils, QI and EBM and CPG teams, and others that could work in the wiki environment.  Now I need time (there is never enough) to think through the possiblities of the tagging and all the places I could use it.  This is a challenge for essentially one and two-person libraries, which can be easily overwhelmed by events at any time.  I long for the days when I had such a thing as “office hours” and limited hours on the reference desk.  All these new tools and all the infomation they manage seem overwhelming, but also exciting!

Social Networking

I am not excited about the social networking sites, but I have discovered that a number of my workplace colleagues are members of Linked In.  I considered the idea that our pediatric consumer health library might have a MySpace page to attract teens, but quickly realized our Legal Affairs department would never allow it.  Our Teen Transitions team is starting a web site to encourage our chronically ill teens to learn how to transition to adult care and adult life, and the Legal department was very concerned that we might include teen chat or unmoderated communications of any kind.  Violations of privacy, good taste, etc. was considered inevitable with teens involved, and the hospital would not want its name and logo associated with that.

I am reminded of my sister when she was in high school.  She spent long hours talking to strangers on the CB radio.  It seemed a collosal waste of time to me then, and most of what was said on the airwaves was boring and worthless.   Much of the MySpace and FaceBook traffic seems equally purposeless.  Linked In, on the other hand, seemed almost too purposeful, with members on the make.  I was approached quickly by a couple of people who want me in their virtual rolodex. 

 My hospital’s network blocks MySpace and FaceBook so employees won’t waste time on them.  Some of our patients don’t appreciate that, because they are very dependent on their MySpace page for social connections.  We encourage the use of CarePages instead.