OK, actually I’m mostly curious about your thoughts, ’cause I haven’t sorted mine out yet.
This post is a result of the social network stuff Brian Mathews has been working on (honest, this will be the last time I mention him today, unless he does something else interesting ;-). When I first saw Brian’s post about lurking and participating as a librarian in places where students hang out online (MySpace, Live Journal, Facebook, where ever), my gut reaction was that it was somehow an invasion of privacy, and from a couple of the comments Brian got on his orignal post I’m not the only one. But before posting my summary I emailed Brian and his response made sense to me; that the students he’d contacted actually seemed to appreciate the contact, and that these were completely open and accessible sites.
Add to that the quotes I grabbed from Marshall Keys’ keynote that “Young folks today (13 – 25?) have no expectation of privacy because they do not believe that it exists in an electronic environment. “If I view it or send it, they will see it, and I don’t care.” and perhaps more telling, the note I paraphrased that “Privacy is unimportant – community is important. This was a strong theme of his keynote, and later he pointed out that libraries seem to care more about our patrons privacy than our patrons do, and this may actually hinder our ability to deliver some of the services our patrons would like to see!“ (I’ve just emailed Marshall to see if I can track down the sources on those ideas).
When Marshall said that I remembered thinking how much I agreed that even if we wanted to, there’s no way our OPAC would allow us to provide some Amazon-like interesting information (recommendations based on previous circulation, for instance) to our patrons, and the PATRIOT Act is a whole ‘nother issue altogether (one that even has a major impact on us up here in Canada – think of where we buy our systems from!).
But what if it’s true that our patrons don’t care at all about their privacy as long as they get cool and useful services? Is the fact that the institution (PL or University) is legally bound by privacy legislation going to forever hinder our ability to compete with the social networks? Does that mean librarians are forced to resort to the guerrilla warfare that Brian suggests if we want to participate even in the smallest of ways? Do our students even want us there?
Maybe it’s all true – maybe offering IM and SMS reference service is the first baby step to understanding how important it is to meet the students on their turf. I haven’t payed any attention at all to the gaming in libraries posts, but that would be part of it too. The idea of sticking our content in to their course shells is also a continuation of this idea.
I think I’m coming around to the conclusion that if that’s where the students are, and if we want to provide them with the best service, we should be there too. At least until the students tell us to leave them alone, and I haven’t heard of that happening yet. Have you? What are your thoughts on this, please?
Technorati Tags: privacy, libraries, social_networks, students, turf
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13 Responses to “Thoughts on privacy and libraries and social networks”
This is something I plan to expand on in a post I will write as soon as I have some free time (which feels like never at the moment), but I think there is a big difference between “being where our patrons are” and “being USEFUL to our patrons where they are.” I think some of the libraries in MySpace and Facebook have put a profile up, but they have not tried to make it useful to their patrons at all. Just putting up a profile does not make the library seem cool, nor does it make the library more visible. Other libraries have made their Facebook or MySpace site an extension of the library Web site with links to the catalog, chat reference pages, research guides, calendar of events, etc. This is useful because the students can use the profile as a portal to research resources and assistance. Just like we have portals for distance learners, we can have portals for MySpace-ers and Facebook-ers. Still other libraries have used their profile to get feedback from their students. One library in Vermont uses the Facebook “wall” as a space for their students to request materials for the library to purchase. And they REALLY use it! 🙂
So I think we could design library profiles in MySpace and Facebook to be a library portal or to share info and get feedback from students, but I do not think that there is anything inherently “cool” or useful about having a profile on these sites. It’s what you do with it that matters. And many libraries aren’t really doing anything with their profiles.
And as to the privacy thing, I do agree that young people seem to have a lesser expectation of privacy (and are a heck of a lot more exhibition-istic than people were when I was in h.s. and college). Just the same, I don’t know how comfortable they’d feel if they knew their parents or teachers were looking at their profiles/blogs, so it’s hard to say whether they don’t have an expectation of privacy or that they have more of an expectation of privacy in spite of the fact that anyone can look at their profiles/blogs. I would feel weird about posting something on a student’s blog. It’s one thing to have our own little space on their turf that they can ignore or engage with; it’s another to go into their own personal space that they may only want to share with their friends (even if it is totally public). But maybe if we’re offering them valuable help…
It’s a tough one.
My personal take on it is that it’s public information, so any expectation of privacy is incorrect or misplaced anyway. That’s not to say that all MySpacers are fully aware of what they’re doing, though.
Alan Levine used a screenshot of a MySpace blog as part of a presentation – a screenshot of a public webpage, with a hyperlink to the blog – and the owner of the MySpace blog eventually realized that someone was linking to them. She was irate that someone had invaded her privacy. How DARE someone link to her MySpace blog! That’s PRIVATE!
Um, no. It isn’t. Unless you block access to something, if it’s online, it’s public.
Alan wrote up an apology/clarification on his blog:
http://cogdogblog.com/2006/03/21/trying-doing-the-right-thing/
oops – it was a Xanga blogger, not MySpace…
I saw that exchange on Alan’s blog, D’Arcy, and I remember thinking that I could see the logic in both sides, which is apparently why I’m still slightly conflicted on this issue. Maybe I’m also slightly schizophrenic having grown up in the US but now living in Canada, where privacy seems a more closely-held ideal, or maybe I’m imagining that!
I can’t seem to get a verification email from Facebook through our campus filters (I assume that’s where they’re going) so even if I wanted to I can’t yet explore that particular space :-/
Hi Paul
If there’s a will, there’s a way – we’ve managed to hack borrowing suggestions into our SirsiDynix HIP OPAC, e.g. http://library.hud.ac.uk/catlink/bib/365051/
Have you looked at any ways of anonymizing your circ data to get aggregated usage info?
Seems like a digital literacy issue rather than a privacy issue. That Xanga user simply didn’t know what the implications were of what she was doing. To me, it seems obvious that if you publish something to the web, it’s visible to others. She hadn’t made that connection, and got downright offended when she realized it. That’s an education issue. Of course, now she’s enabled the “private – members only” feature, so her blogging is safe behind a login so only her trusted friends can see it. Maybe that should be the default state for these types of blogging services…
I’ve been toying with MySpace, but it doesn’t even appear to have a “school” entry for “University of Calgary” – it has my jr. high and sr. high schools, but not the U of C. Facebook has at least 7 different groups (loosely) relating to ucalgary…
Wow Dave, you’ve done some neat work with your OPAC, and I’ll make sure our Manager of Integrated Systems sees this. Not only are the borrowing suggestions excellent, but of course one can’t help but notice the floorplan!
Off to check your blog to see how you’ve implemented these hacks…
I don’t know if we’ev tried anonymizing our data, but will run that by our guy too 🙂
I heard back from Marshall Keys about the source of the quotes I grabbed from his keynote speech, and he’s given me permission to post his response here:
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I am working to make the PPT available on the conference website, though a somewhat “sanitized” version with some copyrighted material removed. Should happen this week.
These quotes are from me directly. The lack of expectation of privacy is derived from informal interviews I have done over the past couple of years. The second example is a conclusion from my research in photo databases like Webshots and other blogs over the past five years. I could give countless examples of people posting stupid, revealing, or embarrassing pictures of their friends at parties, on vacation, etc on Webshots as a way of “showing friendship” or of being part of a circle of relationship.
Several things surprise me about these. First is that the vast majority of these photos are posted by young women. This should not surprise me because observationally at least, the vast majority of all photos posted on the web are posted by young women, but it does because of the content. The second is how many of these photos are the same poses and subjects, though from widely varying sources. There are themes in photo sets that appear over and over again. It is apparently common, for example, to take and post pictures of one’s girlfriends kissing each other, sitting on the toilet, joking around and squeezing each other’s breasts, etc. Possibly as a function of my fairly advanced age, I didn’t even know college girls did these kinds of things, and I am astonished that girls from all over the country post photos of it! Are they imitating pictures they themselves see? I don’t know. I’ll leave it to someone’s sociology thesis!
Another concept on the “privacy slide” was the idea of “bounded rationality”, a term from economics which describes the tendency of humans not to apply reason in areas of life where rational thinking should be applied. Do a Google search on “Facebook photos” to see some of the trouble students have — to their great surprise — gotten into because of pictures they have posted there. At the same time, there is a growing tendency (anecdotal only, I have seen it in picture captions but can’t cite specifice examples) for kids to be cynical about Facebook and joke about taking pictures for the sole purpose of attracting attention there. Mostly these “facebook poses” seem to be done when kids are messing around in groups and often feature “EMO” poses. Meaning? Indications of the future of Facebook? I don’t know. No prognostications!
Good hunting. A fascinating topic.
Marshall
Hi Paul,
Since hearing Marshall’s talk at the Off-camp conference and reading the special section in the Economist focused on new media (blogs,wikis, podcasting) 4/22/06 vol 379 I have been thinking about this a lot. The tone of the Economist articles was about a massive societal shift happening and many people being unaware and asleep at the wheel. Today I read this piece from Wharton, the link coming from ALA online newsletter.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1463 , and it looks at MySpace and other social networking sites from the what the lens of current business models, current capitalist structure, i.e. is it a viable generator of profits over long term, or is it just a fad? I read it and kept thinking to myself “you’re missing the bigger point here.” I keep thinking about the millenials penchant for community, sharing, and the completely different take on privacy that Marshall talked about, and wonder what things will look like 20 years from now and potential implications on copyright law which has morphed into “the ownership society on steroids”. I saw a newstory online with a headline “Only 1 in 5 people upload photos from their cell phones” and the message they were pushing was that this indicated a failed product in the cell phone world. My immediate question was exactly who does the 1 in 5 people represent, because if its the millenials then this falls right into what Marshall and the Economist were hi-lighting and their mobile, handheld device world. So, again, possibly the cell-phone article was missing the more important point and people are asleep at the wheel regarding a larger societal shift. Anyway, broad points here, but I do think there is something to this idea of massive shift happening and many people being oblivious because they are looking at things from a traditional lens.
That was an interesting series in the Economist, Tina; believe it or not I read it on the plane on the way to OffCamp! Another commuting moment for me was 10 minutes ago as I came in to work listening to a piece from prx.org called Two Threats, by Michael Goldfarb. The second threat lambastes the idea of citizen journalism and really gave me pause for thought. I’m all for the idea of new media. At least I think I am. But maybe I’m not! The summary of that second piece:
3000 American journalists lost their jobs last year, and analysts say this year could see just as many reporter and editor positions disappear. Professional Journalism is being shut down … can citizen journalists fill the gap? Can they bring the necessary professional skills to newsgathering, or will the whole world of information turn into a giant Middle Eastern bazaar full of rumors and half-truths and outright lies? actual time 6:02
I believe you have to register with prx.org to be able to download or stream, but it’s an interesting listen.
Ok, so finally over this bird flu that’s stolen 10 days of my life.
Wow, Paul, social networks have become the “in” thing—which means it’s probably time for me to stop posting about them and move on to something else.
The big issue I have is the librarian mentality to formalize everything. To create a committee, to create guidelines and policies, to actually read the Terms of Service.
Seriously, social networks are all about organic growth and individual expression. It’s about reaching out to friends and strangers and making informal connections.
If librarians, or businesses go in with a “spammer” mentality of “hey you need my help—the library is cool, see we have a myspace account” then you’ll fail. Libraries are NOT cool. I mean, we think they are: we have sexy computer labs, and cafes, and DVDs, but so what?
So yes, I would not say that using Facebook or MySpace is a “waste of time” anymore than trying to provide library instruction sessions on using the catalog to freshmen composition students.
You have to approach it with sincerity. If you just go in trying to push your agenda and services, students could view it as intrusive. I only show up when there is a clear information need, like this one:
“I’m ready for school to be over, but that means working on my massive research paper. We had to turn in preliminary topic ideas/a short essay on preliminary research we’ve done. Mine was pretty much shit and I’ll probably have to rework a lot of my ideas, or choose a new topic altogether. It has the potential to be a lot of fun, (did I really just say that about a research paper?) if I do it correctly. I’ve been inside the library at Georgia Tech a total of 6 times in the three years I’ve been at Tech. That number is about to grow geometrically in the next few weeks methinks.”
I’m sure that eventually this student would come to the ref desk, probably close to the deadline—but by using my approach I was able to interact with the student and get him the info he needed. This also helps to spread the “value” of the librarian via a grassroots—since his roommate contacted me late with a similar need.
It’s sort of like if you get a flat tire and someone pulls over and offers to help—you’re there when it’s appropriate, when they need you.
That’s why I favor student blogs over student spaces, like myspace— on myspace you essentially setup a library front—sure, you’re a little closer to them, but it’s too passive. With the blogs I’m in the trenches with them.
Man, I can’t get the image of SuperLibrarian out of my head now, Brian, swooping in to help the student in distress! 😉 But all kidding aside, that’s actually an ok image for me. What I hear you saying is “live your life as an information professional (either only at work or even all the time) and just be that information professional wherever you happen to be.” If you want to explore social spaces, do so, and help out if and when you can.