Another thought or two on instant messaging

... and maybe text messaging. Although they might not be synonymous.

So I had a few problems getting the widget to work. That lengthy list of comments on the week one page should have given me a clue. Anyway, I IM'd Stef about it. She IM'd back. Did you ever play IM tag? That can get annoying. Text/instant messaging may work better if you're using a cell-phone or Blackberry or some other personal device. A computer (desk-top for sure, laptop, maybe not as big a problem) doesn't have the portability. It does have the full-size keyboard though. So I think we're definitely losing some of the benefits of text/instant messaging when we're using desktops. One example that I read on a blog (can't remember where, don't know if I bookmarked it, don't want to check) was a library catalog that allowed patrons to text massage call numbers from their catalogs. No more scraps of paper and golf pencils. Neat! Right? But are scraps of paper and pencils really such a burden? A waste of resources maybe. But that can also be true of cell phones.

I really wonder if it's a generational thing. I watched the PBS special about wired kids called Growing up online (the entire broadcast is available online here with additional materials how cool is that!) and after hearing the follow-up story about one high-school student who joined the Coast Guard and had to give up most of his tech-communication tools during his first few weeks at the Coast Guard Academy. He seemed pretty relaxed about it, too. Like he was not really giving up all that much. And he sort of implied that he probably wouldn't be going back to it. At least not as heavily.

So I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, text/instant messaging isn't necessarily the essential form of communication for younger people. Maybe they just have more time to use it (they're not working fulltime or raising families), they don't have their own space (not everyone has their own computer in their bedroom, they're spending a lot of time in situations (classrooms) where talking on a cellphone is not an option, and the type of communication they're engaging in are not so serious that their lives will be seriously impacted if they miss (or misread) a text.

Sure, it's important to teens now. But life beyond high school will have different challenges. I think that text-messaging still needs to take a back-seat to other forms of communication. I did a little text-messaging today with a friend who was reading my blog (on work time) and wanted to chat a little bit (also on work time). And that was pretty fun. But we had to stop when someone walked into her office. So, we got to pretend we were young and carefree (alright, relatively speaking) and getting away with something in a situation where it really wasn't that big of a deal. It was quick and easy and bothered no one else. And, for me at least, that may be the only appeal of text/instant messaging.

Now if we can find a way to incorporate it into our workflow that actually improves our product output or provides greater efficiency, then I'll be ready to take another look at it. (I do like the idea of someone having the option of texting for help from the library catalog terminals.) But right now, I don't think IM and texting adds enough value to make it much more than an interesting distraction.

Not that distractions are bad. Depending on the distractions, of course. Your mileage may vary.

Your comments are welcome.

Instant Messaging

So, I'm a little late.

I finally got around to the first weeks assignment-- setting up an instant messaging account. Too many options to choose from! AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, and Google. Not to mention Meebo. So that slowed me down. Then trying to decide what ID to use and what password and didn't I used to have an account with these guys and what was that password?

Yada yada yada.

So, it's Sunday night, I've got it set up, and there's no one to talk to. I did send a message to Jean (or Stef or Beth) offline just to let someone know I've done something. So that part's done.

As far as using it in a library setting, it has potential. I read about David Lee King (or someone) using Meebo as a pop-up when someone is having problems using their library catalog and it sounded pretty cool. Then I thought about what it might be like to be on the receiving end when I'm looking up (oh, what's a common search term that's used in the catalog-- oh, how about fcuk?) So I type in my search term, don't get any hits, and all of a sudden a pop-up box appears on my screen asking WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Goodness.

Well, that might make me a little nervous. Sort of turn me off to the whole library-visiting experience. Younger users might take it in stride. Older users might freak out a little. Or be delighted. How do we know which type of patron we'd be messaging.

I can envision the patrons being the ones to initiate the contact. IM on their terms. Just a "Need help? Type here" box on the catalog page. That would be cool.

Yeah, it's probably still a good idea to do something with instant messaging. We've got off-desk reference personnel staffing phones/computers who could probably be available to IM patrons who are having trouble searching our catalog. But they (staffers) might find it easier to just walk out to the catalog terminals and talk to a patron. But what if the patron prefers IM rather than a human interaction? Lots of different patrons with lots of different needs/wants in their library experience.

I've thought how using it would help me in my work as a cataloger, but I not sure I feel the need for instant messaging. Email and the phone seem to work fine. Maybe others would like to have faster, more direct contact with me though. We've got forms for reporting problems with bib records that South Central libraries use to send email. I could see then using IMs instead-- especially if they can send them when I'm offline. But, again, this stuff isn't exactly time-sensitive so it might be easier to keep doing what we're doing with that. Email still works for a lot of the stuff we do.

Part of the reason I'm a little hesitant about using IM is I recently read one of Meredith Farkas' blogs about libraries attempting to add their presence to Facebook and Second Life and questioning whether we really understand the cultures into which we're trying to insinuate ourselves. And another point she had later made about doing assessments of what we've done and doing some thinking beforehand about how we're trying to serve our users, rather than jumping on trends that really don't lend themselves to the type of services our patrons want from their libraries.

So I think instant messaging might have a role to play in our library, but I'm not sure yet what that is.

Oh, check out my Meebo widget. I had to tweak the HTML to get it to fit in my column. That was fun. People can now Meebo me from my blog. But how many people visit my blog?

As always, your comments are welcome.