The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
Tumblr can be a successful way to connect to new and diverse audiences, provided you understand who you’ll be attracting to your site and how to use Tumblr to your advantage. Should libraries and librarians use Tumblr? Teen librarian Robin Brenner says yes, and explains why.
Ideas about social media, teens, and the future of libraries were shared in a dynamic online exchange sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and Connected Learning.
The idea of Snapchat is simple, delightfully so. Take an image or a video and send it to a friend. Ten seconds after the receiver opens the file, it self-destructs—or does it? The truth is “the Internet never forgets,” says INFOdocket’s Gary Price.
Children’s book author and former teacher Kate Messner has always had a passion for sharing books with kids, so when she recommended Hena Khan’s Golden Domes and Silver Lanternsto her Twitter followers for its portrayal of Islam, she did not expect the backlash she received. A few days after the original message, someone who does not follow her on Twitter replied with the below, continuing an intense multiday exchange with her about what he believes to be “the real Islam.”
Amazon’s recent acquisition of Goodreads will likely have a ripple effect on other social media sites targeted at book lovers, with LibraryThing and Bookish potentially drawing membership from any defectors unhappy with the sale. Meanwhile, many Kindle owners will be introduced to Goodreads for the first time, as the site’s social media functions are integrated with Kindle devices. “Goodreads was fully independent…. it made them the natural allies of people who wanted to avoid the consolidation of the industry, in particular publishers,” LibraryThing founder Tim Spalding told LJ.
As part the library’s efforts to raise awareness about poetry leading up to National Poetry Month in April, NYPL is encouraging aspiring poets to “follow @NYPL on Twitter, and submit three poetic Tweets in English as public posts on your Twitter stream between March 1 and 10, 2013.”
That’s the first thing you do when you finish reading a book? Pass it along to a friend? Return it to the library? Place it on the unruly pile of titles that you charitably call your “office”? Scores of dedicated readers log on to Goodreads and share their opinions with the world. Imagine Facebook and your [...]
According to Social Times, an online source for all things social media, Tumblr has eclipsed Facebook as the number-one platform of choice, with 61 percent of 13- through 18-year-olds using it, compared to just 55 percent using Facebook. What gives? Is Facebook really for old people?
Tumblr lets teens fine-tune their interests, and it’s highly customizable. Users can post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from their browsers, phones, desktops, or email accounts, making it accessible anytime, anywhere. More than [...]
Just as many high school teachers are becoming comfortable with incorporating smartphones and other digital devices into classrooms to aid with learning, a new study finds that a majority of high school students are already using cell phones in class—to text, to send emails, and to browse social media sites.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project, in collaboration with the Berkman Center at Harvard University, has recently released “Parents, Teens, and Online Privacy”. The report—the first in a Pew/Berkman Pew logoseries with a focus on youth privacy issues—combines a number of quotes taken from focus group interviews conducted by Berkman’s Youth and Media team with Pew data from a nationally representative phone survey of parents and their teens, with a focus on the use of social networking sites. The report is fully downloadable, and may be searched online as well.
’Tis the season for prizes, including the 2012 Edublog Awards. Announced yesterday, the winners and runners-up include “Best Individual Blog,” “Best Twitter Hashtag,” and “Best Individual Tweeter.” John Schumacher’s (aka Mr. Schu) Watch. Connect. Read (pictured) was runner-up in the “Best/library/librarian blog” category.
A recent report conducted by MMS Education reveals that librarians use social networking more than other educators.
When it comes to measuring the authority of an online source, there’s more than Klout, according to Joyce Valenza. In her latest post on her SLJ blog NeverEndingSearch, the teacher librarian examines some tools that researchers of all ages can use to assess social influence.
Former teacher and virtual event entrepreneur Jeremie Miller created the Teen Technology Project to marry his passion for technology, teens and social issues. After discovering his project through its Facebook page, I got in touch with Jeremie and asked him to tell me more about his hopes and aspirations for the project.
A report issued by The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop concluded that though children under 13 are involved in social media, there isn’t enough data on their social networking habits.
The developers behind the Book Genome Project and Booklamp.org have launched a Kickstarter campaign for “The Game of Books,” a new digital card and role-playing game designed to reward young adults for reading. Funding raised by the campaign would be used to design, produce, and distribute 4,000 Game of Books starter kits to U.S. libraries. Founded in 2003, the Book Genome Project works with publishers to solve challenges in book discovery by using computer analysis of the language, theme, and characters in books.
Stephen King stunned students at the Sussex Regional High School (SRHS) in New Brunswick, Canada, by paying a surprise visit to the school library, a week and a half before Halloween. The famous horror writer discussed his own evolution as a writer, his writing habits, and shared tips with the students for how to improve their writing.
Where are libraries heading in the future? English teachers, librarians, and other educators voiced their opinions on issues ranging from technology to budget concerns in a Twitter chat hosted by Pam Moran and Ira Socol, “unkeynote” speakers at SLJ’s upcoming Leadership Summit.
To expand how learners think about writing, national literacy and educational groups are asking teachers, librarians, writers, children and creators of all kinds to share what they write on Twitter on Friday, October 19, using the hashtag #whatiwrite.
Is the Dewey Decimal System making it too difficult for young users to find what they’re looking for? At a virtual Twitter gathering Thursday October 11, librarians from the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, who have re-organized their library with a new system that they call Metis, responded to questions about Dewey’s flaws, its relevance in today’s world, and the best ways to encourage library usage among patrons.
