podcasting and citizen journalism
I haven’t yet jumped on the podcasting/vidblog bandwagon - originally I thought it was because I couldn’t see a clear or immediate application for online library services. But I just ran across the idea of placeblogging as a podcasted presentation - ‘here’s a topic I can get my head around’ I thought as I joyfully clicked through. My enthusiasm quickly faltered and then vanished as I pulled out a pen and paper to record my thoughts. To me, the joy of the social internet is freedom from pen, paper, and notetaking - it’s all already in print, I just have to refer to it. In short, this type of podcast did nothing for me… perhaps more of a casual topic or something narrative would turn me on more.
All, however, is not lost because in the doomed podcast, Lisa Williams introduces (to me, anyway) the idea of “placeblogging”. This is what we’ve been doing - it’s the bridge between the geographic community libraries traditionally serve and the remote, online community they might serve through social tools. Someone (feel free to raise your hand, you barbequeing fool) recently challenged me on the value of libraries blogging - I wish I’d had this term to pull out of my back pocket.
She’s been doing it for Watertown, MA, and Brian Sawyer does an excellent job with Westford, MA (Welcome, Bill). I’m devoted to the NH library blogs of Dover, Freedom, and Madison because they invite me and include me into a community that I can’t be part of otherwise.
UPDATE: Barbequeing fool = Tim, Tim Spaulding.
