One of my Facebook Friends is Jim Milles of the SUNY Buffalo law school. This week, he's attending a conference on computer-assisted legal instruction. Jim is using Twitter during the conference sessions, so I'm receiving a steady stream of interesting observations and ideas.

Here's an example:

"#calicon08: FSU survey: 82% of students use Facebook at least once a week: only 8% had used Second Life at all."

It's really great for me to have Jim "gleaning" for me. Yay, Twitter! Go, Jim!

Let's have a look at this little nugget.

I assume he's talking about law students at Florida State University. So, the survey subjects are mostly in their early- to mid-twenties, and they fall into a small slice of the population of the "real world." But, Florida State's law librarians now have some important data that will help them decide where to locate their online presence.

Remember how fast IM melted away when teens started texting instead? Has anyone in Idaho done a quick-and-dirty--or elegant--survey recently? If you have, please share!

I'm already sitting here trying to figure out how to get a quick survey incorporated into this year's UI law school orientation week ...

I just learned that there are at least two academic libraries that have set up their library guides and catalog search engines as Facebook apps. One of them is a Voyager library--UCLA. The other library uses Innovative Interfaces--Ryerson University.

It makes sense for libraries to be out there in the parts of cyberspace where our students spend their time. And it's not hard to do, technically. But, will anyone USE these apps? Stay tuned ...

See for yourself, at:

UCLA Library has a Voyager catalog search app in Facebook

http://apps.facebook.com/uclacatalog/

Ryerson University's library guide can be found at:
http://www.ryerson.ca/library/iii/facebook.html

The SPLAT del.icio.us account is up and running. I started our "cloud" with some of my favorites and some of the web sites we discussed on May 2.

As SPLAT members discover and share handy sites, we can use del.icio.us to remember all of those URLs.

Please join in and tag your favorites to add to our collective cloud!

A college student friend just told me about an experience he had using SPOKEO. He heard about this social software aggregator application in a university English class. The professor explained that employers sometimes use SPOKEO to learn more about job applicants.

Well, my friend went to the SPOKEO website and registered himself and his his email contacts. Somehow, through SPOKEO, he learned that I had recently uploaded photos to FLICKR, and that my daughter had recently uploaded photos in MySpace. He was also able to look at titles that my
daughter and one of his professors had in their amazon.com lists.

Fools rush in, right? So, I registered and found pretty much the same kinds of things. Some of them were entertaining—musical choices in Pandora--but some were … embarrassing. I’m not sure that I want to know that one of my friends has considered ordering adult diapers by mail!

The Wikipedia article on SPOKEO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokeo) describes it as a timesaver when keeping track of what your friends are doing in an assortment
of social websites. Amazon.com isn’t listed in their list of sites, but the content is undeniably there.

So, until we know more, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU “WISH” FOR!

I think I found this on clipmarks ... surely it's Fair Use to paste-post in this fashion! I'll have a printed-out copy of the report at the SPLAT meeting on Friday for "show and tell."

16 January 2008

• All age groups revealed to share so-called 'Google Generation'
  traits
• New study argues that libraries will have to adapt to the
  digital mindset
• Young people seemingly lacking in information skills; strong
  message to the government and society at large

A new study overturns the common assumption that the 'Google
Generation' – youngsters born or brought up in the Internet age
– is the most web-literate. The first ever virtual longitudinal
study carried out by the CIBER research team at University College
London claims that, although young people demonstrate an apparent
ease and familiarity with computers, they rely heavily on search
engines, view rather than read and do not possess the critical and
analytical skills to assess the information that they find on the
web.

The report Information Behaviour
of the Researcher of the Future (PDF format; 1.67MB) also shows
that research-behaviour traits that are commonly associated with
younger users – impatience in search and navigation, and zero tolerance
for any delay in satisfying their information needs – are now becoming
the norm for all age-groups, from younger pupils and undergraduates
through to professors.

Commissioned by the British Library and JISC (Joint Information
Systems Committee), the study calls for libraries to respond urgently
to the changing needs of researchers and other users. Going virtual
is critical and learning what researchers want and need crucial
if libraries are not to become obsolete, it warns. "Libraries in
general are not keeping up with the demands of students and researchers
for services that are integrated and consistent with their wider
internet experience", says Dr Ian Rowlands, the lead author of the
report.