Bringing Community Online

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Bringing Community Online

• online community, storytelling,
• and user experience

Reforma National Conference III 2008 Bridging the
Gap Juntos _at_ the Border
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• Emily Inlow-Hood
• Communications Manager, WebJunction
• WebJunction is an online learning community for
  library staff.
• My Story
• Contributed to recommendations for Communities of
  Practice for PLA (ALA Emerging Leaders 2008)
• Curriculum and Community Developer for
  WebJunction Spanish Language Outreach Program
• Email me at inlowe_at_oclc.org

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Today Im talking about

• online community and the library,
• storytelling as a community builder, and
• designing for the optimal online community user
  experience

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Online Community and the Library
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(No Transcript)
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Online community is

• personal
• about connections
• multidirectional
• about support
• about sharing
• messy

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Where does the community fit into the online
library?

• Know your community
• What is your community already doing?
• What is the communitys capacity to be online?
• What is the library already doing that can be
  expanded online?

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Storytelling as a Community Builder
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What is a story?

• Narrative, spoken or written
• Has meaning
• Helps us figure out cause and effect
• Codifies a shared understanding
• Easy to understand
• Everyone has their own to share

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What does storytelling do?

• Passes along knowledge
• Builds trust
• Emotional connection
• Unlocks passion
• Builds self-esteem
• CONNECTS

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What is digital storytelling?

• A sneak peek into the soul.

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Storytelling and the online community

• Stories for connection
• Stories for change
• Teach storytelling to build information-age
  capacity

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Create blended community

• Blended combination of f2f and online
  experience
• Connect the people who come into the library to
  the library, and to each other, in the online
  space
• Help your community become web-ready

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Design Empowers Community
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What is online user experience?

• The overall experience, in general or
  specifics, a user has with an online product,
  service, or event. In the Usability field, this
  experience is usually defined in terms of
  ease-of-use. However, the experience encompasses
  more than merely function and flow, but the
  understanding compiled through all of the senses.

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What is experience design?

• An approach to creating successful experiences
  for people in any medium
• It values meaning and emotions and all the senses
• Its cross-cultural
• Its user-centered

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Factors to consider when designing for online
community experience

• Conversation
• Trust
• Time
• Learning

Cartoon by gapingvoid
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Design for Community

• Build your online spaces so people can share,
  tell, and preserve their stories
• Keep in mind the overall user experience
• Build in resources and time to do outreach and
  training

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Online Tools for Building Community

• Your library website and online library catalog
• Webcasts/webinars
• Online presentations, webinars, classes
• Digital stories
• Micro-blogging
• Maps and GPS
• Online tutorials
• Online calendars
• Discussion boards

• Online tutor and homework help
• Online stories linked to Storytimes (downloadable
  mp3, audio books, etc.)
• User-generated recommendations, ratings, and
  reviews (like Amazon)
• Content Management Systems that enable
  user-generated content-sharing
• Online groups and discussion lists
• Online social networks (facebook, twitter, etc.)
• Blogs with comments enabled

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Youre not alone

• There are communities of professionals out there
  to help you
• Connect to professional online communities
• WebJunction
• ALA
• Reforma
• IFLA
• SLA, etc.

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Thank you!

• More resources will be found here
• http//www.webjunction.org/conferences/articles/co
  ntent/12912047