Blogs

I use blogs quite a lot in my spare time. I have my own personal blog that I use mostly for rants that I'm not sure anyone would want to listen to in person! I also read a number of feminist/anti-oppression themed blogs, which I find is a really useful way of learning about different people's perspectives and experiences. In particular, the immediacy of comments threads makes reading a blog a very different experience from reading a book or journal. But it's also very different from an informal conversation face-to-face: people from all over the world who share similar interests can easily find each other on the internet and discuss issues they are interested in, and the topic - and style - of the discussion can be quite tightly defined by moderators, so that it doesn't get derailed in the way "real world" conversations might.

But in terms of libraries.... I know the SSL has an issue desk blog for day-to-day information that needs to be quickly accessible to all staff on the desk - mostly lost property, but it can be used for other things too. That's a really effective use of a blog for information sharing.

I think it's also a really good idea to use blogs for this project - as people are working on similar things at similar times they can share their experiences, and for people like me who are way behind - the information is all still there!