Emily J. Hoch and Katherine E. Bergen - More than a bulletin board: Using Tumblr for online...
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Why Tumblr? • Tumblr is a dynamic social microblogging pla3orm that encourages conversa8on, collabora8on, and mul8media content. This variety of content makes Tumblr uniquely appealing to informa8on seekers of both sexes: For instance, Tumblr can facilitate conversa8on through the Q&A-style informa8on discovery oEen preferred by men, but also allows topical blogging, which oEen appeals more to female informa8on seekers. (Kim, 2015) Meanwhile, both sexes may enjoy humorous memes and images that lighten the tone of instruc8onal content and ease library anxiety. • Tumblr has a strong user base among teens and young adults, making it a familiar and comfortable environment for many college students and new academics. (Anderson, 2015) • Tumblr’s content is organized through a network of folksonomic hashtags, which connect interested users with content and communi8es and encourage interac8on among users. • Students who experience library anxiety or are uncertain of how to use the library’s resources may find asking ques8ons via a virtual service to be more comfortable and convenient. (Owens, 2013) Introduc2on ● Online spaces are “real” spaces, and libraries must create online communi8es to build on their rela8onship with patrons in order to succeed in an increasingly digital world. (Young and Rossman, 2015) ● Undergraduates already use social media for academic research (Creighton, et al., 2013), we must meet them where they are. ● Library anxiety is a significant concern among undergraduates and graduates who are oEen unaccustomed to using the library for research. (Mellon, 2015) ● Patrons, especially those who are new to using libraries, may be unfamiliar with library jargon, which could further induce library anxiety. (Owens, 2013) ● **For a full list of terms and their defini3ons as applied to this research, please see the handout** Ques2ons and Challenges ● There may be challenges around data collec8on, privacy, and confiden8ality on mul8ple levels: personal use and anonymity where data is hosted by a third party data marke8ng to adver8sing companies Tumblr and Yahoo’s history of privacy breaches ● How can we create a public online reference resource while adhering to RUSA guidelines around confiden8ality? Is there danger to crea8ng a public online reference resource by archiving individual anonymous requests for reference assistance in a public format? ● Because we are not 8ed to any one collec8on of resources, we must rely heavily on providing open-source materials and instruc8on for how to properly access material behind paywalls. University libraries who follow this model would be able to use their university’s resources to answer ques8ons, but the benefit to the Tumblr community at large would be hampered by lack of access to those non-public resources. More research should be done to determine how Tumblr might aid a specific university library in providing reference assistance to its targeted user group. More than a bulle2n board: Using Tumblr for online reference and user services in academic libraries Informa2on Seeking via Social Media ● Licle research has been done on academic informa8on seeking via social media. (Sin, 2016) ● Research shows that men and women favor different content types and methods for informa8on seeking via social media. Where men typically prefer wikis and social Q&As, women tend to lean towards microblogs and social network sites to find informa8on. (Kim, 2015) Emily J. Hoch and Katherine E. Bergen University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Building a Community • One of Tumblr’s biggest benefits is the use of folksonomic metadata to organize content and create communi8es about that content. Several of these communi8es are dedicated to educa8on, studying, and student learning. “Tumblarians” is an en8re community dedicated to libraries and librarians. Reference services could engage ac8vely with ready-made Tumblr communi8es that would be prime candidates for either using or encouraging the use of library reference services. • “Be interes2ng, be interested.” As Montana State University reports, its paramount for library social media accounts to be post informa8on that is both relevant to their community and responsive to their community’s concerns. (Young and Rossman, 2015) • Building a community also requires a “2.0” library experience that promotes conversa8on and interac8on between users instead of the one-sided presenta8on of informa8on. (Young and Rossman, 2015) Posts must include content diverse enough to engage all users, sa8sfy mul8ple informa8on-seeking styles, and emphasize the value of interac8on between the original poster, the library, and the online community. Social Media in the Library ● The majority of scholarly literature on social media use by academic ins8tu8ons has to do with: ○ how comfortable librarians are using it (Ahenkorah-Marfo and Akussa, 2014), ○ how best to use it for marke8ng outreach, (Boxen, 2008), ○ and how to measure its impact through Facebook likes or Twicer favorites. (Joe, 2015) ● Research has shown that the impact of a library’s social media presence, as measured by engagement and use of its services online and in person, is greatly improved by two-way engagement with users. ○ This requires not just the pos8ng of content online, but an informed and personal online connec8on between library workers and patrons. (Young and Rossman, 2015) ● This connec8on can take many forms, from Facebook conversa8ons (Stone, 2014) to Twicer reference assistance (Young, 2014). Findings have shown that students who are more engaged in social media are more engaged in their academics overall. (Creighton et al., 2013) ○ We propose that using a versa2le, media-rich program like Tumblr, with its built-in conversa2onal structure, to enrich online reference and user services is one important step academic libraries can take to ensure their relevance in an increasingly online world. What’s Next? • Con8nuing to build responsive content and raise awareness of our Tumblr as an effec8ve tool for informa8on discovery and learning assistance • Composing and administering a survey of the undergraduate student body at University of Illinois about informa8on-seeking styles, and how undergraduate students use social media to improve their informa8on finding in an academic context • Exploring ways to increase the effec8veness of two-way engagement between academic libraries and their users in online spaces Key Sources **For a full list of sources, please see the handout.** ● Kim, Kyung-Sun, and Sei-Ching Joanna Sin. “Use of Social Media in Different Contexts of Informa8on Seeking: Effects of Sex and Problemsolving Style.” Informa*on Research: An Interna*onal Electronic Journal 20, no. 1 (2015): 10. ● Mellon, Constance A. “Library Anxiety: A Grounded Theory and Its Development.” College & Research Libraries 76, no. 3 (March 15, 2015): 276-82. ● Young, Scoc W. H. and Doralyn Rossmann. “Building Library Community Through Social Media.” Informa*on Technology & Libraries 34, no. 1 (March 2015): 20–37.
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Transcript of Emily J. Hoch and Katherine E. Bergen - More than a bulletin board: Using Tumblr for online...
WhyTumblr?
• Tumblrisadynamicsocialmicrobloggingpla3ormthatencouragesconversa8on,collabora8on,andmul8mediacontent.ThisvarietyofcontentmakesTumblruniquelyappealingtoinforma8onseekersofbothsexes:
Forinstance,Tumblrcanfacilitateconversa8onthroughtheQ&A-styleinforma8on
discoveryoEenpreferredbymen,butalsoallowstopicalblogging,whichoEenappealsmoretofemaleinforma8onseekers.
(Kim,2015)Meanwhile,bothsexesmayenjoyhumorousmemesandimagesthatlightenthetoneof
instruc8onalcontentandeaselibraryanxiety.
• Tumblrhasastronguserbaseamongteensandyoungadults,makingitafamiliarandcomfortableenvironmentformanycollegestudentsandnewacademics.(Anderson,2015)
• Tumblr’scontentisorganizedthroughanetworkoffolksonomichashtags,whichconnectinteresteduserswithcontentandcommuni8esandencourageinterac8onamongusers.
• Studentswhoexperiencelibraryanxietyorareuncertainofhowtousethelibrary’sresourcesmayfindaskingques8onsviaavirtualservicetobemorecomfortableandconvenient.(Owens,2013)
Introduc2on
● Onlinespacesare“real”spaces,andlibrariesmustcreateonlinecommuni8estobuildontheirrela8onshipwithpatronsinordertosucceedinanincreasinglydigitalworld.(YoungandRossman,2015)
● Undergraduatesalreadyusesocialmediaforacademicresearch(Creighton,etal.,2013),wemustmeetthemwheretheyare.
● LibraryanxietyisasignificantconcernamongundergraduatesandgraduateswhoareoEenunaccustomedtousingthelibraryforresearch.(Mellon,2015)
● Patrons,especiallythosewhoarenewtousinglibraries,maybeunfamiliarwithlibraryjargon,whichcouldfurtherinducelibraryanxiety.(Owens,2013)
● **Forafulllistoftermsandtheirdefini3onsasappliedtothisresearch,pleaseseethehandout**
Ques2onsandChallenges● Theremaybechallengesarounddatacollec8on,privacy,and
confiden8alityonmul8plelevels:personaluseandanonymitywheredataishostedbyathirdpartydatamarke8ngtoadver8singcompaniesTumblrandYahoo’shistoryofprivacybreaches
● HowcanwecreateapubliconlinereferenceresourcewhileadheringtoRUSAguidelinesaroundconfiden8ality?Istheredangertocrea8ngapubliconlinereferenceresourcebyarchivingindividualanonymousrequestsforreferenceassistanceinapublicformat?
● Becausewearenot8edtoanyonecollec8onofresources,wemust
relyheavilyonprovidingopen-sourcematerialsandinstruc8onforhowtoproperlyaccessmaterialbehindpaywalls.
Universitylibrarieswhofollowthismodelwouldbeabletousetheir
university’sresourcestoanswerques8ons,butthebenefittotheTumblrcommunityatlargewouldbehamperedbylackofaccesstothosenon-publicresources.MoreresearchshouldbedonetodeterminehowTumblrmightaidaspecificuniversitylibraryinprovidingreferenceassistancetoitstargetedusergroup.
Morethanabulle2nboard:UsingTumblrforonlinereferenceanduserservicesinacademiclibraries
Informa2onSeekingviaSocialMedia● Licleresearchhasbeendoneonacademicinforma8onseekingviasocial
media.(Sin,2016)● Researchshowsthatmenandwomenfavordifferentcontenttypesand
methodsforinforma8onseekingviasocialmedia.WherementypicallypreferwikisandsocialQ&As,womentendtoleantowardsmicroblogsandsocialnetworksitestofindinforma8on.(Kim,2015)
EmilyJ.HochandKatherineE.BergenUniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-Champaign,USA
BuildingaCommunity
• OneofTumblr’sbiggestbenefitsistheuseoffolksonomicmetadatatoorganizecontentandcreatecommuni8esaboutthatcontent.
Severalofthesecommuni8esarededicatedtoeduca8on,studying,and
studentlearning.“Tumblarians”isanen8recommunitydedicatedtolibrariesandlibrarians.
Referenceservicescouldengageac8velywithready-madeTumblrcommuni8es
thatwouldbeprimecandidatesforeitherusingorencouragingtheuseoflibraryreferenceservices.
• “Beinteres2ng,beinterested.”AsMontanaStateUniversityreports,its
paramountforlibrarysocialmediaaccountstobepostinforma8onthatisbothrelevanttotheircommunityandresponsivetotheircommunity’sconcerns.(YoungandRossman,2015)
• Buildingacommunityalsorequiresa“2.0”libraryexperiencethatpromotes
conversa8onandinterac8onbetweenusersinsteadoftheone-sidedpresenta8onofinforma8on.(YoungandRossman,2015)
Postsmustincludecontentdiverseenoughtoengageallusers,sa8sfymul8ple
informa8on-seekingstyles,andemphasizethevalueofinterac8onbetweentheoriginalposter,thelibrary,andtheonlinecommunity.
SocialMediaintheLibrary● Themajorityofscholarlyliteratureonsocialmediausebyacademic
ins8tu8onshastodowith:○ howcomfortablelibrariansareusingit(Ahenkorah-Marfoand
Akussa,2014),○ howbesttouseitformarke8ngoutreach,(Boxen,2008),○ andhowtomeasureitsimpactthroughFacebooklikesorTwicer
favorites.(Joe,2015)● Researchhasshownthattheimpactofalibrary’ssocialmedia
presence,asmeasuredbyengagementanduseofitsservicesonlineandinperson,isgreatlyimprovedbytwo-wayengagementwithusers.○ Thisrequiresnotjustthepos8ngofcontentonline,butan
informedandpersonalonlineconnec8onbetweenlibraryworkersandpatrons.(YoungandRossman,2015)
● Thisconnec8oncantakemanyforms,fromFacebookconversa8ons
(Stone,2014)toTwicerreferenceassistance(Young,2014).Findingshaveshownthatstudentswhoaremoreengagedinsocialmediaaremoreengagedintheiracademicsoverall.(Creightonetal.,2013)○ Weproposethatusingaversa2le,media-richprogramlike
Tumblr,withitsbuilt-inconversa2onalstructure,toenrichonlinereferenceanduserservicesisoneimportantstepacademiclibrariescantaketoensuretheirrelevanceinanincreasinglyonlineworld.
What’s Next?
• Con8nuingtobuildresponsivecontentandraiseawarenessofourTumblrasaneffec8vetoolforinforma8ondiscoveryandlearningassistance
• Composingandadministeringasurveyoftheundergraduatestudent
bodyatUniversityofIllinoisaboutinforma8on-seekingstyles,andhowundergraduatestudentsusesocialmediatoimprovetheirinforma8onfindinginanacademiccontext
• Exploringwaystoincreasetheeffec8venessoftwo-wayengagement
betweenacademiclibrariesandtheirusersinonlinespaces
KeySources**Forafulllistofsources,pleaseseethehandout.**
● Kim,Kyung-Sun,andSei-ChingJoannaSin.“UseofSocialMediainDifferentContextsof
Informa8onSeeking:EffectsofSexandProblemsolvingStyle.”Informa*onResearch:AnInterna*onalElectronicJournal20,no.1(2015):10.
● Mellon,ConstanceA.“LibraryAnxiety:AGroundedTheoryandItsDevelopment.”College
&ResearchLibraries76,no.3(March15,2015):276-82.● Young,ScocW.H.andDoralynRossmann.“BuildingLibraryCommunityThroughSocial
Media.”Informa*onTechnology&Libraries34,no.1(March2015):20–37.
