Social_networks

=LiveJournal= http://www.livejournal.com/

LiveJournal is an online journal site that allows users to post their personal journals in a blogger site style. When the user blogs his/her journal, they can set security levels to make their journal public or private. The site also allows users to "friend" other members of the site. The user can then use their "Friends" page to view all entries made by each of their friends. The user can also have the settings of their journals to allow friends to leave comments on their journals. The user can join various communities, which are group journals, that users of the same group to post entries.

This site can be used as an educational tool by having students create their own accounts and blog either random thoughts and experiences or specific assignments. The students can friend each other and create their own community. Once a part of the community, the students can work collaboratively on various class projects. The students can comment on each other's journals and learn how to work collaboratively.

Marco De Leon

TaDa List
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TaDa List is an online collaboration website that allows you to create and share to do lists. This online resource can be used to keep track of lists that need to be done to get ready for school, lesson supply lists, lesson ideas and goals for the year and to list more ideas that you want to explore. The lists can be private or they can be shared with others via email addresses. It is a free resource and very simple to set up an account.

More ways that this resource can be used is to have student groups create a list that can be shared when they are working on a research project together. They can brainstorm the list, and then they can add, edit or check off the items as they are completed. This can also be shared for reading groups and book studies to assign chapters or questions that need to be visited or answered. It can be used for any assignment where there are checkpoints to accomplish.

Lavina Padgett

Epsilen Environment
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Epsilen Environment is a social network for educators and students which is an integrated learning management system which incorporates eLearning, ePortfolios, and a Networking platform which is designed specifically for education. It allows education professionals to network with one another and to collaborate across the world. It acts as a collective repository for information including resources from //The New York Times.// The site allows students to collaborate with each other as well. All of this interaction takes place within the confines of a vetted environment. Epsilen places the social network directly in the hands of students and educators in a platform designed for students and educators.

In the school library setting, Epsilen may be used for everything from collaborative curriculum planning with classroom teachers to a virtual content repository. Librarians may discuss learning resources with other librarians which are part of the Epsilen network, as well as facilitate book discussion groups for students. Epsilen creates an environment which truly extends the learning center which we know as the library beyond the physical walls of the school building and facilitates the construction of a virtual creative commons area based upon social connections. The teaching, discussing, sharing of information, and learning which normally take place in the library are no longer confined to a physical space which allows for a more inclusive environment for the entire educational community surrounding a school.

Kara Leonard Hardin

Flickr
[|http://www.Flickr.com]

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Flickr is a photograph sharing website. In Flickr you can search for any type of photo from anywhere or upload your own photos and galleries. Flickr can be useful for presentations of any type. Photos often have a greater effect than text. It can also be used to upload photos of library events or advertisements for them. There are also Flickr mashups which enable you to put captions on pictures, spell with Flickr images, play Sudoku with them, and one with Flickr tools of all kinds. These can make a gallery or presentation much more engaging and fun.===== Roberta Diane Robinson

**Twitter**
http://www.twitter.com

Carin Galanter
 * Twitter is a social networking service which requires users to keep their "tweets" to 140 characters (slightly shorter than a standard text message).
 * This website is great for teachers and librarians because they can "tweet" reminders, contents, extra credit, etc. to the students. If a student has a question, they can reply quickly. Students can "follow" a teacher, the library, school, etc and have updates sent to their phone. One concern that some students have had is that teachers will follow the students and read their updates. But provided that this does not occur, many students have said that they would use Twitter to keep up to date on their classs.
 * The other great thing (at least in my district) is that while Facebook and Myspace are blocked, Twitter is not.
 * Twitter disseminates information quickly and efficiently, especially as many students already have a Twitter account.

Delicious.com
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Elizabeth Mikeska-Benfield
 * Delicious.com is a website that offers social bookmarking services. It is a place where people can tag websites they like and share them with others.
 * This website would be great for librarians or teachers to tag information that they think would be helpful or interesting to their students.
 * Teachers could use this site as a starting point for a research project. Students could share websites that were helpful for research.
 * It would also allow students to share information with each other or their teachers.

BubbleJoy
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Bubblejoy requires the use of webcam and microphone (a microphone that is in the computer is fine). Karen Burt
 * This website enables you to create a 1 minute video fast and easy.
 * This would be great for kids to do book talks on or make a video for an upcoming event in the library (author visit or a special checkout day).
 * When you have created your video you can review it and choose "Use It" or "Try Again" to record a new one.
 * When you are finished you can place the bubblejoy on your library Blog or do other creative and fun things with it!

Shelfari
[] Andrea Mikeska
 * Shelfari is a website that allows users to build virtual bookshelves of the titles they own or have read. Members can create groups that rate and discuss books, or other topics.
 * This would be a great tool to use in middle or high school libraries. Students can use this site to post comments or reviews of books they have read, and even make recommendations to friends on the site for what books to read. The virtual bookcases created on Shelfari can be imported to the library’s blog to show recommended reads.

[] The library used its facebook wall page for several purposes such as: book reviews, announcements- extended hours for heat relief efforts, author visits, quotes of the day or sharing recipes. Facebook offers many academic possibilities. Louise Shouse
 * Facebook**
 * Students could write book reviews and discover similar titles from others that they might enjoy reading.
 * It could be a link between home and school sharing specific information about projects, reference material, etc. and answering questions parents might have regarding the library.
 * It could be a forum for teachers and the librarian to communicate about needs, scheduling, research, searches, etc.

[] This site offers many examples of using social networking in school libraries. One idea was to have a student assume the ‘persona’ of a specific British poet and create a MySpace account as that poet. Other students could ask questions about his life and poems. The responses would require that the student stay in character, demonstrating a knowledge of the poet and his poetry. This idea could be incorporated into an elementary school library by having students create MySpace accounts as favorite characters from books they have read. They would stay in character as they answered questions from other students, teachers, or the librarian. Claire Sybrant
 * MySpace**

[] Lesley Norris
 * Library Thing**
 * This website is classified as the “world’s largest book club.” Librarians can stay on top of new books that are out that one may want to read. One can also find people that have comparable book selection as their own. One can also possible get free reviewer books from publishers.
 * One can also create a personalized catalog of books. I think this would be a great idea to do with your personal collection that you might loan out in your library. You could also encourage teachers to create their own catalog with their classroom collection.

**Glogster**
[|http://www.glogster.com] Kristin Thornton
 * This website can be used to create a "poster or webpage" (glog) containing multimedia elements such as: text, audio, video, images, drawings, and data.
 * Teachers can easily create a cool interactive platform for their school webpage, or use Glogster to create a poster of a recent classroom activity or event.
 * Students could create a mulitmedia glog for a project instead of the traditional paper poster.
 * There is also Glogster specifically for educators- Glogster EDU [] This can be accessed from the Glogster homepage as well. The basic teacher package is free, but you can also purchase an upgraded account with more features.

[] Becky Tasa
 * Survey Monkey**
 * Survey Monkey allows the user to create a surveyto be distributed electronically by email, website, Facebook, blog, banner ads,or Twitter.
 * With either a membership or basic plan librariescan use Survey Monkey to survey their patrons often with a higher rate ofresponses and better feedback than traditional paper surveys.
 * Surveys can be multiple choice, matrix choice,rating scale, text boxes, or demographics. All surveys can have specific perimetersset for answers such as required/optional answers and masks format answers.
 * Once the surveys have been collected theinformation can be analyzed and presented in a professional manner.
 * The information gain through Survey Monkey can be used to write grant proposals, add new or change exist programs in the library, and justify spending.

www.goodreads.com Kelly Russell
 * Good Reads**
 * Good Reads is a website that is all about books
 * Users can create their own reading lists as well as view what their friends are reading.
 * Users can join groups where they can discuss a specific books or a genre of books. There is also a book club that users can join.
 * Good Reads can be accessed through twitter, Facebook, and there is also an app for iPhone and iPad.
 * Users can swap books with other users. Books are posted by users who have finished them and would like to give them way. You simply request a book title you want, pay for shipping, and get a cheap read. You get a free book for every ten books that you ship.
 * This would be a great tool for librarians to use for online book groups.

=Digg= [] Cyndy Covens
 * Digg is a social news website.
 * Users submit and vote on the content using an account they create.
 * Content can include blogs, images, podcasts, videos and more.
 * Content can be customized by the user to meet needs and interests.
 * Submitted content with the most votes is placed on the front page.
 * Users can add friends.
 * Using Digg weeds out much of the content found using search engines such as Google.
 * At the time of my search, there were 3,466 results related to the topic of librarians. Topics included Reference Librarians, Librarian Resume and Dancing Librarians video.
 * Educators can start weaning students away from use of Google for research projects by having them use Digg to find their resources. Speech and debate coaches might especially find this a useful tool. If in compliance with the school district Acceptable Use Policy, students can create accounts, add each other as friends and conduct research on group projects under the watchful eye of their instructor.



**http://creativecommons.org/videos/**


 * Students can create, find, share, remix and build upon creative digital works from people all over the world, such as music, videos, and pictures, using free public licenses.
 * You select how much of your work you want to share, so you and others' may use each others' work without restrictions.
 * Educators can also build on lessons with other teachers near and far!
 * The librarian can set up accounts for each grade level in his/her campus, so that they may have the ability to collaborate on lesson plans and other creative works together.
 * For Free!

//-Monica Hernandez-Madrid//

**Tikatok**
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Tikatok is a website used for children to create story books. The students can write a story from their imagination or use a "story starter" from the site. Once they have written the story, the students can upload pictures: either pictures they have taken or pictures that they have drawn themselves. And finally, the teacher or the parents can order the book in either hard-back, soft-cover, or digital. One example of how a teacher used this in her classroom, was to have each student write the story of their life. The students were able to illustrate the book as they wished, and then the teacher uploaded the students picture for the front cover of the book,

Tikatok is a great way to get students to think creatively, input their ideas and illustrations into the computer, and then be able to take home a book to showcase their work. Tikatok is free to join, the only cost is the book. The digital books are very inexpensive and a great idea for elementary classrooms.

~Renee Cole

** Storybird ** []

Storybird is a website where stories may be written, illustrated, and shared online or in print. Users may create a story individually or collaboratively with others. Storybird provides a library of illustrations that may be used in the writer’s “book”. Storybird’s website has a section for teachers and librarians. They offer free class accounts that do not require student emails, have unlimited access, and the option to create assignments with due dates. A class library can also be built with students’ work. The ease of use of the site makes it accessible to a very wide range of students.

I think Storybird would be an excellent resource for students to create a piece of writing in a creative way that is not intimidating. A couple of ideas for use: A teacher could assign story topics on a particular genre or topic of study. A librarian could use Storybird to have students participate in a book-writing contest.

Lanye Pegues