32 Flavors and Then Some

One of the perks of the LIS field is opportunities to play with tech toys and gadgets and write it off as work (or school, since I’m still in school).  In this post I will review three of my recent and interesting tech discoveries – the QR Code and two social networking sites, Foursquare and Ning.

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Joe Murphy, a science librarian at Yale and premier researcher into mobile technologies and library applications of same, introduced me to the QR Code when he shared his own.  The QR Code, or Quick Response code (Wikipedia entry), is a two-dimensional bar code created back in 1994 by Denso Wave.  The code can be read by mobile phone cameras, possibly with a third-party application.

With the help of an iPhone app called Quick Mark (if you want to do it online, the ZXSing project has a great web app), I was able to generate a QR Code based on vCard information in my address book:

Hold your smartphone up to the code (iPhone users can use Quick Mark, Pre users can try BeeTag, other smartphones should have similar apps; kindly comment with suggestions), and once the camera reads it, you should see  my contact info in a format that can be imported to your phone in a quicker and easier way than straight typing (and hopefully with less error)!

This can come in handy at conferences or other professional events if you run out of business cards, or can be part of your business card (Joe told us he has his QR code on his business card and stickers with same for name badges).  No worries about lost business cards or forgotten names; the information is right at your fingertips.  Libraries can also use the code for quick and easy transfer of library contact information or other news or information; the Half Hollow Hills library in Dix Hills, New York includes a QR code at the end of their newsletter (PDF) (though when scanned it really did not seem to produce anything of substance).

There are limitations.  Many QR code generators, while flexible in output format (plain text, vCard, etc.) have simple and limited data fields.  Several in the discussion wanted to have multiple URL fields for our blogs, Twitter pages, Facebook pages, etc. but no one could find a generator with this flexibility.  Attempts at using vCard information that can be customized for multiple fields, or using straight text did not work either. (In fact, the straight text did not format well to the vCard style, difficult as this is a popular address file format.) Those with any sort of tremor or unsteady hands might not be able to properly aim the camera at the code, thus not capturing the information or capturing incorrect information.   And why have the QR code when you can just Bump your smartphone and transfer a wide variety of info (contact, friends list, photos, etc.)?

The rise of the affordable, easy to use smartphone might lead to a rise in the QR technology.  With adaptations to increase flexibility, and less sensitive readers that account for shaky hands, the QR code possibilities are endless.

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After seeing several Twitter friends posting “I’m at (insert location here) followed by a 4sq.com website, I became intrigued with the world of Foursquare, a location based social networking site (Wikipedia entry, New York Times article).  Users “check in” with their mobile phone (either through text or the Foursquare app) to update their location to their Foursquare friends (further customization allows for posts on Facebook and Twitter). It’s also a game – users obtain points and awards for visiting different locations repeatedly (you can become “mayor” of your office or local deli!).  The site appears to have taken off late last year after the location model allowed you to check in anywhere, not just 100 specific metro areas.

What benefits can libraries and other businesses have with Foursquare? One word: marketing.  With the tips feature, you can add information about promotions, deals, etc. at your library or business right  from the website or smartphone app that will appear when users check-in.

But this check-in process that might prove the downfall of Foursquare.  Since I would check in from New Jersey, I was consistently adding locations, requiring me to go back and forth between Safari and Foursquare (very cumbersome).  After a while, it became a pain in the butt to even check in on Foursquare.  It would have been easier if you could check in via the web (a la Brightkite) but it’s not all that simple (s you can only add a place via the website if you search it to add a tip first.  Roundabout and cumbersome.)  The app was slow to load on my iPhone, especially during check-in.

My mom aptly pointed out that this also raises a privacy issue – do I really want the world to know where I am at all times? (This is proof that sometimes, your mom is right.  No, she did not pay me to say that.)

The Foursquare experiment was fun, but like my earlier foray into Brightkite, it wasn’t lasting.  The app is already off my iPhone; I won’t be updating anymore.  It will be a while before this kind of social networking catches on, if at all.  I can see a useful application of it at conferences (trying to find your friends or colleagues) but again, it requires user input, not insta-GPS location services. And are people going to have the patience?  Perhaps so, but more likely than not.  If the latter is phased in to either or both of these apps to make the user experience easier (note that this would also have to include privacy settings for those moments when you just feel like hiding), then location based social networking can open literal and figurative doors, and offer one more marketing and publicity tool for libraries.

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My instructional Technologies class this semester is hosting a collaborative space on Ning, an online social networking site that allows users to create their own social networks around an interest, group, or cause. (Wikipedia entry).  The interface is much like a hybrid of Facebook and MySpace – you can customize your page in your Ning network (like Myspace) and add blogs, create and join groups,  post links and videos, and have a profile (like Facebook).  Although Ning has been around since 2004, I only heard of it in 2007, when I tried joining a young librarians Ning and then lost interest.

This is an incomplete review – I expect to review and revisit this throughout the semester as our class works within the space.  Still, there’s some initial impressions based on my two weeks of being a part of my class Ning I wanted to share.

The library application of Ning? Like Foursquare, it’s all about the marketing, offering users in the Ning inside information on library products and services.

I like the idea of the social network centered around a group or cause.  Binghamton University librarian (and fellow Garden State native) Ed Corrado touches on a problem many bloggers (including this one) have – finding direction in a blog that covers multiple interests.  The Ning model offers selective publishing. If want to talk LIS, I can blog about it in my Library 2.0 or Geek Girl Nings.   If I want to talk crafting, I can do so in my American Craft Guide Nings, and no one is bored with sharing of dissimilar interests.  Of course, this requires effort, and sometimes it’s easier for me to just make one blog post and leave the desire to read up to the readers (all four of you .

It also became a pain in the but having to log in each time I found a Ning I wanted to join.  Where’s the universal login?

While on the subject of blogging, I did have to post a blog on our class Ning as part of an assignment.  The interface is similar to WordPress – you can hyperlink, make text bold, etc.  It was fun to actually see the HTML tags instead of visual text (like here on WordPress), which I thought would make it easier to copy and paste into WordPress.  It didn’t.  Something with the Ning and WordPress interfaces did not want to play nice with each other – even after copying and pasting my Ning blog text into my text editor, converting to pure plain text, and then re-copying and pasting into WordPress, I still had issues and had to finagle with the text to make it look the way I wanted to.

I like that you can post to Twitter from Ning, but the reverse is not true.  I wish such a feature was offered.  Universal status updates would also be useful, but this feature was discontinued in November 2009.

The largest drawback by far of Ning is the search feature: There isn’t one.  The basic search feature for Ning was disabled in November 2009 for reasons unknown.  If you want to search for a Ning, you’re given eight basic categories (music, sports, causes, networking, education, art, politics, entertainment) to start.  Click on one of the categories and you see eight networks related to that interests. It’s a good start, but limiting.  I was able to find a few class-related Nings in the education category, but when I wanted more, I was given the same Nings over and over.  Eventually I gave up and went to Google, which proved much more successful.

The rise of Facebook pages might prove the death of the Ning networks – similar application (social network around an interest or cause), selective membership (at least on the users’ end; choice of whether or not to join), interactivity (posting of messages, comments, links, etc.) but easier to find, access, join and use information.

There’s a reason that Ning hasn’t taken off as much as it should – its interface for membership is limiting – difficult search and join capabilities.  Once “behind the velvet rope,” the resources on first blush look easy to grasp and useful.  But you have to get behind that rope first and the service is not making it all that easy to the casual user.  I like the idea of membership control – brings people together with similar interests and keeps the riffraff away (helped when Ning removed networks with adult content in January 2009).  But Ning’s attempts at restriction to improve quality may be going too far…and driving users away.  It’s counter to the mission of a social network. If Ning wants to take off, a la Ravelry, there is a need to give up some control.