Dear All,
Thank you for replies to my recent posting about Facebook, asking if
people felt that there should be a HLG Facebook group.
Reaction was rather mixed.
Some people felt we ought to have a presence in Facebook, but others
felt it was not an appropriate place, being the sort of thing you would
use personally, but not professionally. Several reported that firewalls
prevent them from seeing the site at all, and one reported that they
cannot register for it as Facebook did not recognise their email host
address. There was also concern over privacy (or lack of it) or
personal information that you volunteer to Facebook, and about not being
able to remove your profile.
More than one person mentioned Eduspaces (http://eduspaces.net), a
social networking site aimed at academics. (The Guardian last week
also had an article about Nature Network (http://network.nature.com/) -
see http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,2116835,00.html)
Personally, I am not sure what these sites are useful for, but I am
finding out by giving them a go. I have joined Facebook, as have some
of my colleagues, so we can explore how it works and how it could be
useful. It may seem strange to ask a question like my original one
without having any clear idea of what a HLG Facebook group would do, but
these sort of sites seem like that, I think: it is only by trying them
out that we might get to know what they can be useful for.
Perhaps for now, there is no call for an HLG group, and if there was to
be such a group, it would have to be officially approved by HLG.
Meanwhile, perhaps those of who are experimenting with Facebook will
meet each other informally there!
Thanks again for the responses: there was some interesting discussion.
Best wishes,
Keith
Keith Nockels MA MCLIP
Information Librarian
Clinical Sciences Library
University of Leicester
PO Box 65
Leicester LE2 7LX
England - UK
Tel. +44 (0)116 252 3101
Email: [log in to unmask]
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