digitalexperience

Here’s another post on new ways to think about technology and tools (see my last post for the first one).

Here’s a photo of a Smart Car. Do you think you could drive it? Yes? Cool. How about if something broke - could you fix it… or would you need to hire a mechanic? I know I couldn’t fix it - I’m pretty much at the mercy of the auto mechanic when it comes to doing practically anything under the hood of a car.

And you know what? that’s ok. I don’t have to understand the technology to use the technology.

It’s the same way with computers and the emerging social web, too. For example, in order to blog… you don’t have to know how to build a blog. You really only need some very basic typing skills. In fact, in some of my recent presentations, I’ll ask people if they they can type a Microsoft Word document and hit save - and of course, they all say “yes, I can do that.” Then I tell them they just admitted that they have the skills needed to blog. Then it gets really quiet…

Using most of this new-fangled social software is much like driving a car - you don’t have to understand the techie stuff in order to use it. You need other skillsets (like driving).

So - get out and drive!

I’ve seen this scene a lot at the airport lately - a person on a cell phone, Blackberry, or laptop, sometimes plugged into the wall… talking or typing away. And it’s made me realize there’s a shift going on here - but not the one you’re thinking of.

Tell me - what do you think this person is doing? Is he:

• chained to a device?
• using a gadget?
• doing email?

Or is this person:

• connecting with others?
• keeping up with friends?
• checking in with his kids?

(ok, ok, I know… we obviously don’t really know what he’s doing. But let me make my point anyway

See the shift? People used to think of computers and “gadgets” as primarily devices that you used - like using a typewriter. The activity was operating the machine.

But now, for some of us … when I turn on my computer, it’s more of a connector, like a telephone. With my laptop, I’m not “using the computer.” I’m writing. I’m editing video. I’m playing with photos. I’m writing music. I’m doing non-techie activities.

I don’t “use the phone” - I’m talking to someone. When I’m txting on my phone at the mall, I’m not “chained to my device” - I’m connecting with someone.

When I’m answering email, doing email” is not the activity - I’m answering questions, offering my input, or throwing out ideas to others. I am connecting with others.

See the shift? I’m not operating a machine anymore. I’m connecting with people. HUGE SHIFT!

Librarians - in order to connect with your younger and wired users, you need to adapt this same mind-set.

photo: http://flickr.com/photos/95911695@N00/2329436525/

I had a great time at last year’s South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference - there were some great presentations focused exclusively on the social web, and I brought some cool ideas back.

The one problem? I also had to do some “translation work,” as most sessions were led by corporate or start-up types, and the conversations usually drifted to monetization, ad networks, and selling products. So, I did what I usually do when I don’t like something but see the value of it - I submitted my own panel ideas!

And this is where YOU can help … because people have to VOTE on these panel ideas (very cool). GO VOTE FOR MY PANEL! Go here - http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ - set up an account, then find my two panel ideas. My two submissions are:

1. Experiencing Digital Community: Conversation Economy and Non-Profits
The conversation economy is all about experiencing real conversations in your organization’s digital space. This panel discusses online conversations in the digital spaces of non-profits. We’ll touch on: * Conversation as experience (conversation economy) * how to start conversations online * examples galore from non-profits, what works and what doesn’t

2. Non-Profit Rockstars: Using Video to Share Your Message
Video is a great way to share your organization’s message, start conversations, and move people to action. How do online videos fit into your non-profit’s digital space? This panel discusses ways to incorporate online, interactive video into your organization’s digital space.

To vote, simply click on the “Your Vote” star rating thing.

So - go vote (voting ends on August 29), and if you can (whether or not I get to speak) go to the conference. It’s a great one for anyone interested in new media and web 2.0.

Update: also check out the list of potential non-profit-related sessions that Beth Kanter (of Beth’s Blog) put together. Lots of good stuff this time around (hopefully!).

Many of us work on listening to our user communities. In the library world, we listen at the reference desk and the circ desk. We hear about the library when we’re at the grocery store (and get asked questions, too and at the local board meeting.

But how do you listen to your local digital community? How do you hear what your online customers are doing / saying / liking / or not liking about your library? Here are some possibilities, from the late 1990s - early 2000s. We’ll call these …

Traditional Listening Tools:

• email: providing an email link and/or an email address on each page of the site, usually in the footer
• An Ask Us page - can go to email, can also be the ask a librarian service point
• a digital comment box (this was fancy back then!)

I’m calling them “traditional listening tools” because there are many more interesting ways to listen now. Check these out …

Shiny New Listening Tools:

• Google Alerts - finds blog posts, newspaper articles, local media mentions, etc.
• Technorati alerts - finds blog posts about you
• Twitter searches (was Summize) - captures twitter conversations (more on Summize/twitter search in the next post)
• Youtube alerts - do a search, then subscribe to the corresponding RSS feed.
• Flickr alerts - subscribe to a tag related to your library
• Subscribe to local blogs and local twitter feeds. This captures conversation in your community, by your patrons.

When you listen using both the Traditional Listening Tools and the Shiny New Listening Tools, you hear very different things. Traditional Listening Tools pick up specific conversation that is purposefully directed at you - via email. Someone has a question or comment, and sends that comment to you.

Shiny New Listening Tools help you discover actual conversations taking place. Those conversations are not necessarily directed at you - but they can certainly be about you. Listening in on Twitter, for example, might find things like this: “The comics section at the Seattle Public Library is f**king STUNNING.” (actual tweet from today). And this type of tweet is a golden opportunity to START a conversation. Let’s pretend this comment happened at the reference desk for a sec - how would you reply? Possibly with something like: “gee, thanks.” That’s a polite response… some of us would probably go one further, and say something like this: “Cool - thanks! So… WHY do you like it? How could we improve it?” This type of response continues a conversation, and pulls out useful info in the process.

DO THAT SAME THING IN YOUR SHINY NEW DIGITAL SETTING.

Again, more on that in my next post… but you get the idea. When you’re eavesdropping on conversations, you have the opportunity to chime in - correct wrong info, add to conversations about the library, and generally help humanize your digital branch by “talking back.”

Wow David - That Sounds Time-Consuming!

Does all this listening take a long time? No - not really. The set-up (doing the searches and subscribing to the feeds) takes the longest amount of time. But once your feeds are set up, it really doesn’t take much time to quickly scan through the results, looking quickly for questions, praises, suggestions, and conversation.

Start participating with those customers using your digital branch. If you do this fully, your listening experience can be transformed from one of eavesdropping to what amounts to a shiny new service point for your library. One that’s called Community Manager in the corporate world.

Your customers are already talking - are you listening?

photo: http://flickr.com/photos/practicalowl/433659667/

I was just doing some blog reading, and that triggered some ideas that I want to do some more thinking about. And YOU get to come along for the ride!

Here’s what I was reading:

• the ReadWriteWeb’s Has the Web 2.0 Cycle Come to a Close? No post
• Sarah Houghton-Jan’s (the Librarian in Black) Ten Social Networking Tips for Libraries post

First off - I think I like the term “Social Web” better than “Web 2.0.” Why? Web 2.0 is a vague, muddied term. It mixes the social with the uber-geek-techie in ways that is sometimes confusing.

But the Social Web? To me, by the time social web components are being used, the techie part has already been accomplished. The blog is built, the coding has been done, and the framework has been tidied up. It’s all ready to go - it’s ready for people to start connecting with people.

And that’s something that libraries do well - the social. When we’re working the reference desk, answering questions… we’re doing the social. When we’re in a meeting, discussing our programs… we’re doing the social. Having a social focus is a HUGE component of what we do as libraries.

So anyway…  I read the ReadWriteWeb article (which doesn’t really deal with the Social Web in a big way - but they used the term, thus the trigger for me), and then I remembered Sarah’s post on social networking tips. Some of her points touch on the need to be real/human/transparent with our library communities, and provide tips on how to do that.

So - how are you “being social” online? How do you “do” digital community? There’s really no easy answer to that question … but a lot of people are focused on figuring it out, at least in the commercial online world! I think there are some posts there, too. What do you think? What’s the social web all about? How do you connect with patrons online? Why would you even want to do that?

Let’s discuss…

[photo by Max's Pixs']

I actually wrote a book! I can’t believe it… but I’m pretty psyched about it! Here’s the info for the book:

Designing the Digital Experience: How to Use Experience Design Tools and Techniques to Build Websites Customers Love
ISBN 978-0-910965-83-5/$24.95/208 pp
CyberAge Books/Information Today Inc.
Publication: October 2008 (that’s coming up soon!)

So - it’s coming out this fall, and it’s all about designing digital experiences (long-time readers will recognize that topic - it’s a common one for me, both on my blog and in my presentations). I’ll be posting more about the book as it gets closer to the release date. But for now, here’s a wordle teaser (click through to the larger version in my flickr account if interested)… a tag cloud version of the introduction to the book!