Social networking and information policy

Social networking and information policy

Social media/networking policies for organisations

 

Based on the above advice regarding the development of social media policies in organisations, identify 5 key points which you would use to advise a Social Media Policy Working Party regarding the development of a policy for organisation with regard to either (a) clients or customers’ use of social media while using your computers/network access or your organisation’s social networking sites, or (b) employees use of Web 2.0 tools and spaces for work and personal use while using your organisations’ computers/network and time.

Post a 350 word summary of your advise to your learning journal.

 

 

First and foremost, I would recommend that the Social Media Policy Working Party discusses whether they want their policy to be rigid or flexible. In their “Social Media Policies & Museums” blog post, ‘Jenny’ notes that “…by the time a policy or manual was organized, there’s a pretty good chance that the certain components (like a ‘how to guide’) would already be obsolete. In other words, the web changes so much that consistent updating might become a daunting task.” (2009). The working party may wish to consider this, and draft a policy that is adaptable and flexible in it’s use.

 

When advising the working party on their policy, I would recommend they focus on Fair Use and Copyright concerns. Both library staff and users should be made aware that they are obligated to follow Copyright legislation, particularly when they are using the library’s internet connection, library-related social media accounts, or library computers.

 

Any policy regarding staff use of social media accounts should demonstrate that the library trusts it‘s staff to make sensible decisions online. Lauby (2009) suggests that social media policies need to “focus on the things that employees can rather than what they can’t do.”

 

The working party may wish to consider whether their policy extends to the restriction of library staff accounts, and whether any guidelines extend to staff member’s personal social media accounts. For example, will staff need to seek permission before creating a social media account that links them by name to the library or organisation? Given the fact that things posted online can be seen as a representation of the library, will there be restrictions on what staff can say about the workplace when using their personal accounts?

 

I would suggest that the policy does make clear the importance of maintaining privacy. Information about users, or sensitive information about the organisation, should never be disseminated over social media without permission. Similarly, staff using library-related social media accounts must be careful not to intrude on patron’s virtual ‘space’.

 

 

Social networking and information policy

Social networking and information policy

What policy issues have resulted from social networking?

Based on your interests and/or workplace context, readtwo (2) of the above readings to inform your understanding of one or more of the following areas of policy concern:

• Intellectual property, copyright and emergence of the Creative Commons
  
• Privacy, disclosure of personal information and online safety using SNSs
• Information access for all, adequate bandwidth/wireless/mobile connectivity and the ‘digital divide’
• Regulating the Internet in libraries, organisations and in the home
• Information and digital literacies, and recent emergence of transliteracy
• Acceptable use/online behaviour/social networking policies

and reflect on your new learning about these issues (in terms of your work as an information professional) in a 350 word post in your learning journal.

I chose to read Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. As indicated by the title, this paper discusses participatory culture, in which people collaborate and share ideas together.  The paper focused strongly on the implications of participatory culture for children’s information literacy needs. Children are now creating their own media through appropriation: “taking culture apart and putting it back together”.

The report notes that digital literacy has now joined traditional aural and visual literacy in importance. It is no longer sufficient for students to be traditionally literate: To fully participate in today’s society, they must also be digitally literate (This concept is referred to as “21st century literacy”). Digital literacy is not seen as an educational skill alone, but also as an important social skill.

One of the core “participatory media” competencies addressed by the report is the ability to use judgement when considering information found online. Whereas once librarians were the “gatekeepers” of knowledge for students, there is now online access to vast amounts of information. Participatory culture has led to the success of “wikis”, where users collaborate to gather information together. Students need to learn to critically evaluate the information they find.

The second item that I read, Cyber Crime 2.0 versus the Twittering classes, discussed some of the hazards that can be faced online, particularly when one is unable to evaluate online materials. This report notes that many users feel an “implicit trust” in large social networking web sites (such as Facebook and Twitter) which can make those users vulnerable to cyber crimes such as identity theft, or the spread of harmful programs (“malware”).

Large social websites are desirable for cyber crime, because of the larger number of potential targets. Although cyber security experts may be able to alter software to block or prevent malware, computer users themselves will always be vulnerable. Perpetrators of cyber crime are using more complex methods, such as “social engineering” techniques: These techniques can distribute malware by convincing users to click on a specific link, or to download files.

Unless users have the digital skills and confidence to evaluate web sites, to determine their authenticity, they will continue to be vulnerable to social engineering techniques used to compromise their online security.

References:

James, M. L. Cyber crime 2.0 versus the Twittering classes. Parliament of Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliamentary Library Information, analysis and advice for the Parliament. Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Section, 24 February 2010 (2009-10). Retrieved from http://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/library/pubs/bn/sci/cybercrime.pdf

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Available http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

First entry – Social Networking

Welcome to the first post in my INF206 blog.

Social networking is a way for other humans to connect with each other, to maintain existing relationships and to build new ones. Recently the phrase has taken on a more specific meaning, referring in particular to web sites that allow people to perform this type of social interaction online.

Social networking web sites, such as Facebook, allow users to publish their own thoughts and photographs and view those of people within their network – These people can consists of friends, colleagues, family or people who share common interests.

The social networking tools that I use personally are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

During INF206, I hope to learn more about these and similar types of technology. I expect to learn how these technologies can be used in a library or information agency setting, and ways of gauging which tool might be best for a particular information agency.

– Belinda Bowditch