HNFE 3224: UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INFORMATION

Rebecca Miller

millerrk@vt.edu OR hnfelibrarian@vt.edu

540-231-9669

CLASS OVERVIEW

Brief demonstration of resources Define and discuss “social information” Online identity management Blogging Blogging with the HNFE Librarian (extra

credit assignment!) Identification of relevant library resources Discussion of APA citations and style guide Evaluating web resources (discussion &

activity) Evaluating blogs More Web 2.0 productivity tools (if time

permits)

RESOURCES FOR THIS COURSE

I’ve created several resources specifically for this course:

HNFE 3224 Library Course Guide Social Media for Nutrition and Food ePortfolio

Basic information and resources about social media tools (books, journal articles, etc.)

Additionally, this is available on Slideshare : http://www.slideshare.net/millerrk

SOCIAL INFORMATION Information is no longer housed in just books

or journals Web 2.0 = user generated content Information can be communicated by Twitter,

Facebook, blogs, YouTube…and it’s all easily searchable by Google

SOCIAL INFORMATION PROS & CONS

Pros: You can communicate with all sorts of people, in

all sorts of locations It’s easy to publish and create information Your digital actions can define your professional

reputation and image! Cons:

You can communicate with all sorts of people, in all sorts of locations

It’s easy to publish and create information Your digital actions can define your professional

reputation and image!

CONSUMING SOCIAL INFORMATION

You are already a “social information consumer” Do you have a social networking page? Do you ever read comments at the end of news

stories? What websites do you regularly visit? Do you read blogs and receive regular updates?

How do you think you’re a social information consumer?

How do you determine what information is good information, when anyone can post or edit information? (We’ll talk about this more later)

CREATING SOCIAL INFORMATION

Most likely, you’re also already a creator of social information: Do you post updates on a social networking or

blogging site? Do you ever write comments on news stories? Do you develop or update web pages? Have you been quoted in a news story

You’ve already put a lot of information “out there.” The question is, what message are you sending?

ONLINE IDENTITY MANAGEMENT

Less about “don’t put up drunk pictures” (this is obvious)

More about personal branding: Who are you, professionally

(and personally)? What message would you like

to communicate? Who would you like to communicate it to?

MISSIONS

HNFE’s Mission Statement:Our mission is to discover, translate, and disseminate health-related advances in

nutrition, food, and exercise sciences.

Your Mission Statement:Getting a job? Networking with colleagues?

Becoming well-known in your field of research?

Can you combine all these through social information channels? Yes.

ONLINE IDENTITY TOOLKIT

Personal web space ePortfolios Personal website

Social networking sites Facebook LinkedIn

Creative outlets Video/picture sites Presentation sites

Blogging/Microblogging Twitter Personal/professional blogs

BLOGGING

Blogging can showcase: Your communication skills Your creativity Your passion and dedication Your ability to network The message(s) that you want to send to your

audience

What sorts of blogs do you follow?Why? And how…?

NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH

I blog: http://hnfelibrarian.blogspot.com Communicate library, technology, and research

messages to HNFE faculty, staff, and students Explore library issues that may be relevant to

HNFE and other colleagues in the library field Allows me to digest complex ideas related to

research and library science, and offer my own opinions in a public arena

I’m offering you the opportunity to participate in this!

http://www.eatright.org/nnm/

STATISTICS & ANALYTICS

Google Analytics provides free analysis of blog traffic:

LIBRARY RESOURCES FOR HNFE 3224

Health-related PubMed Government websites

Culture & religion information Databases Encyclopedias Addison (catalog) Government websites

Citation help APA Style Guide Bibliographic managers

APA CITATION STYLE

http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/citation/apa.html

Trouble areas: Deciding what resource format you’re looking

at/for Web resources Government resources Others?

My favorite online guide: http

://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

NAME THAT SOURCE!

Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES

Recent research (from Project Information Literacy) indicates that most students engage in a critical evaluation of resources found on the web, but rarely (fewer than 50% of students surveyed) ask instructors or librarians for help because:None of the old-timers—the professors—can really give us much advice on sorting through and evaluating resources. I think we’re kind of one of the first generations to have too much information, as opposed to too little. We’ve never had instruction really on navigating the Internet and picking out good resources. We’ve been kind of tossed into this and we’ve just learned through experience we have to go on a Web site and just raid it for information. So I would say that despite all that’s out there, it certainly is harder to find the right source and evaluate whether it’s good, or not, because there’s so much—you only have a little bit of time to spedn on each source you find [Engineering student from study]

RECENT EXAMPLE

Earlier this month, reports about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus surfaced

MEDIA ADVISORY!

From: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/01/prweb5010934.htm

EFFECTIVE SEARCHING & EVALUATING

Using Google, and Google Scholar, efficiently Demonstration View next slide for screenshot of this

Critically thinking about the resources that you find there. Activity:

In groups of 3 or 4, come up with a list of evaluation criteria that you usually use when you look for resources on the Internet.

We will report back and discuss in five minutes:

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/online-countdown/

GOOGLE ADVANCED SEARCH

WEBSITE & WEB 2.0 EVALUATION CHECKLIST: HTTP://WWW.LIB.VT.EDU/INSTRUCT/EVALUATE/

Authority Is the page signed? What are the author(s)’ qualifications? Is there contact information?

Coverage Is the information relevant? How in-depth is the material?

Objectivity Is there any bias? Are there advertisements on the page?

Accuracy Is the information reliable? Is there an editor? Is the page free of silly spelling/grammatical mistakes?

Currency Is the page dated? Are the links current? Is the design current, or outdated?

LET’S EXAMINE SOME BLOGS…

http://thepaleodiet.blogspot.com/

http://nutritionnibbles.blogspot.com/

http://www.foodinsight.org/blog.aspx

WEB 2.0 PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Organization Tools Evernote Zoho Notebook

Scheduling Tools Research Paper Scheduler Remember the Milk

Collaboration Tools Tinychat Meebo Rooms

Bibliographic Managers EndNote Zotero

BLOG WITH ME!

Extra credit: up to 20 points Due February 28 Will be posted on Notes from Newman blog,

which will appear on the National Nutrition Month blog roll for eatright.org—an opportunity for national exposure

Think about this as an opportunity for promoting your message AND promoting yourself, as an emerging professional

Questions or comments?

Thank you!

Contact me if you have any lingering questions:

Rebecca Miller

hnfelibrarian@vt.edu

5004 Newman Library

540-231-9669

Office Hours:

Atrium, Wallace Hall

Tuesdays, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Wednesdays, 9:00-10:30 a.m.

http://hnfelibrarian.blogspot.com