Will Prezi replace PowerPoint

Prezi is another fun web 2.0 application that can be used for school projects, art projects, marketing presentations or just for fun. It offers an innovative way to present a project. It delivers fun, active, colorful presentations. It is a great tool for a person with imagination, looking for something different non-linear. For the individual with a sense of creativity and enjoys exploring new ways of getting the message across Prezi is for you.

The difference between Prezi and PowerPoint is that it is non-linear while PowerPoint has more of the traditional presentation applications that we are used to seeing especially in the business world.  

At first I was quite impressed by the brightness and smooth look of Prezi. The platform offers a very different angle at looking at a presentation definitely different from the linear series of slides that one can create with PowerPoint. I loved how you can zoom in and out of your frame set, rotate each frame or create a flow diagram of your topic and include the content as you are editing.  

I spend most of one day putting my Prezi presentation together at first I did not know how to go about using Prezi but I followed each of the instructional tabs and started to explore its use. I played with Prezi like putting together a puzzle with each of the pieces that I selected I discovered how I can manipulate its use and make it more interesting. I played with background colors offered and loved how it made the presentation looked different. I selected the spring color schemed of colors  available because it looked like the look that it gave of coloring with crayons or markers and I wanted the presentation to be more appealing to the eye and hoped to attract a younger audience.  I think that with time Prezi will grow on me, but I think that its use will be more towards fun presentations to do for youth programs or even for marketing a school or a library program.

As functionality goes I think I will continue to stick to using PowerPoint. PowerPoint is very functional and simple and the data can be inputted quickly and effectively. It is part of the Microsoft packages so you can save the presentation in your computer or a flash drive. This is something that I found to be important. While with Prezi, as far as I can see you have to log on from the Internet to be able to open your presentation and I am not sure of how safe or protected is your presentation on Prezi. I understand that because Prezi basic is a free application it is free for the public to see.  Using Prezi may be a fun tool to explore and play around but in my opinion is not a tool that I would use for a serious professional presentation.

PowerPoint offer versatility, a high degree of customization tools and features that makes it possible for the user to keep its format consistent and organized in each of the slides. The animation, video links and many of the inserts available are easily accessible. Prezi offers animation,  youtube uploads or other downloads function and like PowerPoint it offers clipboard, charts and many other features but it is not easy to tweak the presentation to suit any need or occasion like PowerPoint.

Maybe it has to do with the basic access application that is free to the public and it does not offer as many options for creating a more formal kind of presentation without losing is luster.  I think it offers enough options for a nice presentation.  I will continue to play with Prezi and hope to discover more uses; I may or may not incorporate the Prezi to future presentations. In the meantime, I will continue to be faithful to PowerPoint until I find that Prezi or other presentation platforms out there are capable of meeting my presentation needs.

Facebook as a Social Media Hotspot for Libraries

It seems that social media is here to stay from Twitter to Facebook social media tools have found their way into the library environment. More libraries throughout the nation are successfully using some form of social media tool to make a difference in their marketing strategies by connecting, contributing and collaborating in social network.  Social media provide libraries the opportunity to communicate with their users through a variety of tools such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter. 

 ComScore, Inc. a leader in measuring the digital world released a report in December 2011 “It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to Knows About Social Networking and Where it’s Headed. According to the report Social networking is the most popular online activities worldwide. 82% of the world internet population age 15 and older accessed the Internet from a home or work computer, representing 1.2 billion users around the globe. That is an important fact that cannot be overlooked. It’s not only a younger generation of people that are using social networking anymore. Social networking is seen not only as a way to continue a conversation, it provides news, promotes businesses, serves as a community, is informative and is a way to connect with people that you otherwise would never meet or places you never been too.

According to ComScore, Inc.  report in “October of 2011 Facebook had reached more than half (55 percent) of the world’s global audience and accounted for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online around the world and 3 in every four social networking minutes.” If Facebook can gather 

these many users, then why not use Facebook as an avenue for reaching library users. In my opinion Facebook is one of many social networks that can successfully promote advocacy and generate community awareness about library services and programs.  It could be a wonderful tool if use properly to start and continue a conversation about books; encourages conversation and comments that can lead to quality reference services, and improving patron services. There are many libraries out there that are taking advantage of social media. Such is the case of the New York Library. The New York Library is doing wonderful things through Facebook. The New York Public Library Facebook to be engaging they update post every day and I have seen them provide post every hour. The Facebook page is attractive to the vision, is informative with news of what events are taking place at the library. It serves as a marketing tool. In their webpage they promote books, music and events. There is a section for recommendations and allows for others to make post or announcements about the library. I really enjoyed browsing thru their Facebook page. 

One thing I did notice is lack of traffic from followers.  But the New York Public Library is not the only Facebook page that attracts a following. There is a Social Media for Libraries Facebook page that I discovered the other day and it seems to be a relatively new page, most of the post listed are about converging social media and libraries. The page seemed to have lifted off on a good start but it is now static and the last post listed on the page is from May 2, 2011. I wonder what could have happened. I can only imagine that the page was created by librarians for librarians and it lost down the road a following or simply was abandoned due to lack of support. Finally a last look at another libraries Facebook page, I decided for my own library Miami-Dade Public Library . Miami-Dade Public Library Facebook displays beautifully with colorful pictures of children. Its page displays events, announcements, many event pictures, news, recommendations and maps of its location. They do not seem to post daily but they seem to at least post weekly. They seemed to have a following but not a large one. I did not see a Calendar of events but they do make announcements of what is going on. Although is colorful and organized it does not provide a statistical snapshot of usage. Aside from activities it does not promote reading or a list of recommended books.  

I think that with so much going on at the library it is a shame to see that not as much as we would like is being done through Facebook. In Facebook, conversation is an important draw. It’s the primary activity of most Facebook users. If libraries want users to become advocates they are going to have to engage more in Facebook or any other social network in order to get people to become followers and share the library content and help spread its message.

Libraries Now Serving Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is seen as the next step in the evolution of the World Wide Web.  It is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the web. (Click, Petit)  This form of online activity is seen as creating online communities with all parties sharing ownership and participation.   Libraries are moving to benefit from these applications by enhancing their services to patrons and highlighting their importance as a community resource. One of the oldest Web 2.0 applications is Wikipedia.   This interactive application is considered by reference librarians as a general reference source due to its open acceptance of input by users.  It also highlights the clash between traditional reference sources and Web 2.0 sources allowing open access and input to users. 

Most Web 2.0 applications are linked to social networks.  Facebook and Twitters are important examples.   Social networks are based upon a software that facilitate people to connect, collaborate and form virtual communities via Internet (Aqil, Ahmad, Siddique)  Facebook and Twitter are used to highlight library services and create long term interactive relationships with patrons.  Facebook can provide interactive discussions on specialized programs and twitter can give quick notices and instructions on upcoming programs and new online products.  As an example, a specialized program, such as services to the homebound can have an associated Facebook page to assist with interaction with patrons.  However, a large portion of this group includes the elderly who may not have access to computers or be open to using them.  These applications also require extensive work by highly qualified and technologically savvy librarians.  Training, motivating and developing these librarians is an important challenge for library administrations (Aqil, Ahmad, Siddique).  Related is also the use of YouTube to share videos.  Libraries can use this application to provide educational and/or informational instructions.  This can be used to help patrons navigate new online databases or be part of programs they may not be able to attend.  Patrons can also provide their own recordings of library programs they enjoyed and interact with the library and other viewers by reviewing events (Kern, Stephens).         

Web Podcasting provides real time access to programs and instructions.   Participants can review and provide input or review the presentation.  Web Blogs are on-going active web pages that are related to a particular subject or position.  While the blogger writes and publishes an entry, reader’s contributions and participation can influence and control the direction of the blog.  Libraries are learning to use blogs to discuss new services, possible programs or library issues, such as new technology products and funding options.  Blogs can be critical in obtaining buy in from patrons to proposed service changes and funding challenges. 

All these applications are critical to maintaining a vibrant and active relationship with internal and external stakeholders.  The challenges to Library Administration lies with the development of a new skill set for librarians, especially those who have serve for a considerable number of years.  Development is costly and time consuming but is critical since moving to active online interaction with patrons is ultimately the new direction for libraries.  At the other extreme is to prevent being overwhelmed by the rapid and increasing scope of new technology or what some are calling Technolust.  Technolust is when the need to at the forefront of new technology clouds a person’s faculty to study changes in a logical and cost effective manner (Kern, Stephens) Through long term planning and scanning of internal and external factors are key to making sound operational decisions related to overall library services and not rely solely on technological advances to dictate the future of library services (Kern, Stephens). The future of the library’s technology may well be Web 3.0. However, libraries cannot place their future in technology alone but in encouraging completely new creative ways of educating people in the use of library services and changing the structure and overall library concept to increase the importance of libraries as a resource to its communities.  

 

References

Click, A., & Petit, J. (2010). Social networking and web

 2.0 in information literacy. The international

 information & library review, 42, 137-142.

 doi: doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2010.04.007

 

Kern, M. K., & Stephens, M. (2008). Taming technolust:

 Ten steps for planning in a 2.0 world. Reference &

 user services quarterly, 47(4), 314-317.

Aqil, M., Ahmad, P., & Siddique, M. A. (2011). Web 2.0

 and libraries: Facts or myths. Desidoc journal of

 library & information technology, 31(5), 395-400.