In this week’s module we were posed the following questions:
How would curriculum change if our priority approach was on critical, creative, and collaborative thinking?
What does the reality of the modern age of information– this age of Google –suggest that we “teach”?
Can we simply “update” things as we go, or is it time for rethinking of our collective practice?
I was forwarded this very provocative article from the Atlantic by my boss this week = “The deconstruction of the K-12 teacher” It ties in quite nicely with the theme of this module, but it also turns the questions on their heads...
Who is driving this bus? I get the feeling that many educators are feeling like passengers, some willingly paid for the ride, some were forced to embark, some think they’re the conductor or the ticket collector, But who has set the itinerary, and is there a driver or is it a unmanned ground or cloud vehicle?
What questions (or answers) have formed in your mind in relation to digital storytelling? How does social media fit into the mix for you? What are the most important connections to learning overall?
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I guess my prime question after watching these extracts of digital storytelling is: "how the heck do they do it?"
In some cases, like the twitterature it is obvious, But when I was watching "<a href="http://pinepoint.nfb.ca/#/pinepoint" target="_blank">Welcome to PinePoint"</a> (Shoebottom and Simons, 2011) I really wanted them to tell me how to put something like that together, because it's exactly the type of thing I'd like to do.
So I guess it's that feeling of seeing something within grasp and realising its potential but not being able to catch hold of it and do something meaningful with it!
For me social media would be what I'd use to strew my "digital crumbs" and to leave me digital clues, as well as to provide a way for the audience to interact with the story, I particularly liked the summary of Locke & Ettinghausen on the 6 points of how we tell new stories; 1. Hide stories in unexpected places 2. Give yourself ridiculous constraints 3. Experiment outside your comfort zones 4. Invent a character without a storyline 5. Give fans stuff to play with 6. Create stories that people can binge on whenever they want" (Fora.TV, 2009)
References:
Fora.TV. (2009, September 23). Once Upon These Times: New Stories for New Audiences [Video file]. Retrieved from http://fora.tv/2009/09/23/Once_Upon_These_Times_New_Stories_for_New_Audiences Shoebridge, P., & Simons, M. (2011). Welcome to PinePoint [Digital Novel]. Retrieved September 10, 2014, from http://pinepoint.nfb.ca/#/pinepoint
Consider applying market analysis to analyse your market's (client base) social technology behaviour.
Also view Bernoff's recent update on the statistics for their ladder 'The Global Social Takeover' (4 January, 2012)
Based on your understanding of your library or information agency's, and your exposure to concepts and strategies presented in this section of Module 4, outline (in 400 words) how you can apply these ideas to develop a draft marketing strategy for your organisation.
Brown (2009) itemised 7 points for an effective social media marketing strategy. These included:
written plan
how much time
friend / following policy
target market
budget
which products / services
which sites used
On the other hand, Harpointer (2012) and Freud (2010) point out the pitfalls involved in engaging in social media, including when companies fail to plan adequately and don't understand the terrain of social media, fail to see it as part of a longer term strategy, don't engage people in dialogue but instead use it as a sales pitch or follow the wrong people.
Freud (2010) provides some interesting examples in the video below, and Carroll (2010) tells the story of United Airlines and his guitar as an example in the power of social media. Bernoff (2012) has created a ladder categorising the differing (and overlapping) behaviours of social networkers.
What does this all mean for a library trying to to develop a marketing strategy? Considering the library where I work, there are three key groups of users. The teaching staff, the students and the parents. Our product offering, the way in which we'd like to engage each group and therefore our marketing to each is subtly different. Between the groups and within the groups there is also a difference in how social media is interpreted and used. Further, each group needs a different type of "coaching" in the use of the library.
Since the school has grown rapidly in the last few years (500 to 1500 pupils and 50-150 teachers in 3 years), not all teachers are aware of what the library can offer them. The one-on-one laptop program in the secondary school has enthusiastic supporters in the students and teachers, but meets with quite a bit of opposition and lack of understanding amongst the parent body.
The social media tools at our disposal are:
Twitter, blog, website, school newsletter (ebrief) google+, google sites, pinterest, LibGuides.
Needs analysis:
Teachers: Libguides, book ordering, journals, teaching, coaching, use of technology and tools for self and in the classroom
Students: Books, libguides, journals, use of technology and tools, research skills
Parents: understanding learning and research process in digital age, books and resources, "on our side"
Who uses what?
Parents - predominently email & facebook - (we don't have a facebook presence) some linkedin, some twitter, pinterest
Students - moving away from facebook to snapchat and instagram, use a lot of skype chat, Teachers - most are very digitally literate - use most of the google tools, twitter, facebook, instagram, linkedin, pinterest etc.
We've started to put more information about the library in the school newsletter ebrief, and whenever we have something new, the librarian posts it on google+ to the teachers. I'd like to see the bulk of our marketing efforts geared towards the parent body this year.
Bernoff, J. (2012). The Global Social Takeover. Empowered. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2012/01/the-global-social-takeover.html
Brown, A. (2009). Developing an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy. Examiner.com. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://www.examiner.com/article/developing-an-effective-social-media-marketing-strategy
Carroll, D. (2010). Lessons from “United Breaks Guitars” [YouTube]. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hd8XI42i2M
Freud, A. (2010). Brand Success and Failures in Social Media [YouTube]. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G_CblR8jSQ
Harpointer, T. (2012). 10 Killer Social Media Pitfalls Businesses Must Avoid. AIS Media. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://www.aismedia.com/press/10-killer-social-media-pitfalls-businesses-must-avoid/
Siddiqui, A. (2013). SEO depends on Social Media and just what are Social Media Signals! AGUA Entrepreneurial Solutions. Retrieved January 19, 2014, from http://www.aguaesolutions.com/blog/seo-depends-on-social-media-and-just-what-are-social-media-signals/
I'm busy looking into various social media tools for International School Librarians for my next assignment. And at the same time, I'm trying to resolve for myself what works and what doesn't to manage my own ever-increasing flow of information. Over the next few posts I'll introduce each new tools I've found and give a link to what I've done with it.
I'll start with what I consider to be the most successful result - using paper.li to curate information flow from Twitter. Now I must admit, that prior to doing my research I was pretty agnostic about Twitter. I didn't really "get" it. I didn't want a constant flow of information and my weekly updates were exhausting to look through, even if it was only 140 characters a post. And, I think Brain Pickings tweets too much so I had a ton of stuff from them.
Then, I saw, according to the social savvy librarians in my survey, that Twitter was the highest ranked social media for professional use, and in the explanations, I was led to the hashtag #TLChat. But then when I went to Twitter, I couldn't find a way to follow #TLChat. So, Joyce Valenza to the rescue, as always. She had a blogpost on how to feed twitter tags into a curated newspaper using paper.li - it's already 2 years old, but it still works perfectly - just goes to show how badly I didn't get Twitter.
Anyway, it works a treat, and here is the newspaper I made combining the hashtags for #TLChat, #EdChat and some other bits and pieces. Now I need to make it all mobile and download onto my ipad.
It's terribly addictive, I've just spent an hour hopping from blog to blog to pinterest to facebook entry and back again. And added a couple of pretty good blogs to my blogfeed (The Daring Librarian, and DaveCaleb). It wasn't all for nothing. I had a good lesson on infographics from Library Grits, along with some concrete hints on how to get started and what to use. Katie, our school librarian, has put down the tricks and secrets of getting stuff out of the catalogue into social media in her The Librarian Edge blog and I found a good book to pin for getting adolescents to read (Book Love) and found a cute poster on the rights of readers for my daughter.
I also decided that anyone who hasn't posted for 2 years doesn't deserve to be in my feed, no matter if he's on the CSU recommended reading list or not ... 2 years is a century in social media. But on the other hand, here is a provocative new book (Writing on the Wall by Tom Standage) on the fact that social media has always been with us it just keeps changing clothes.
