While technology is often cited as a barrier to real human connection, it also unites people in a way that’s changing communities and individual lives, as well as how we do business. And it’s happening all over the country.
Here are 2 heartwarming stories of communities coming together to help out struggling small businesses using social crowdfunding.
via Social Web for Good: Crowdfunding Better Communities | Mashable.
A startup called Zola Books has paired with the popular novelist Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife, to try to save brick-and-mortar shops.
Read: Can E-Books Save The Neighborhood Bookstore? | Co.Labs ⚙ code + community.
Innovation is a term with baggage. To some it is a nebulous concept thrown around to little effect. To others, it is a daunting task reserved for a few visionaries. In this presentation Lankes will talk about how innovation is the job of every librarian. Lankes will also talk about how innovation must be matched to a mission of learning and constant community improvement.
Should libraries and librarians use Tumblr? Is it wise to wade into this alluring sea of wacky photos, pop-culture commentary, and gifs—snippets of moving images—in order to virtually chat about best book lists, library events, title recommendations, and our favorite quotes?
Yes, and here’s why. The key to a useful social network is to strategically use communication tools, understand each network’s reach, and guarantee ease of use for all involved. Tumblr can be a successful way to connect to new and diverse audiences, provided you understand who you’ll be attracting to your site and how to use Tumblr to your advantage.
The post includes 8 tips for successful tumbling.
See the full story: Power Tumbl’ng: Why Tumblr Is a Great Way to Reach Teen Patrons | The Digital Shift.
via ▶ Drone’s eye view of Burning Man 2013 – YouTube.
You may also like: What is Burning Man? | Burning Man
Tumblr has launched the Reblog Book Club, its first official book club. The series opens with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, “a coming-of-age story about fanfiction, family, and first love.”
If you want to join the book club conversation, you can post to your Tumblr with the #reblogbookclub tag or you can follow this link to post on the official Tumblr page.
Three years ago, I wrote here that “libraries are so valuable that they attract voracious new competition with every technological advance” (see “Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition,” LJ 8/10, p. 22–23). At the time, I was thinking about Google, Apple, Amazon, and Wikipedia as the gluttonous innovators aiming to be hired for the jobs that libraries had been doing. I imagined Facebook and Twitter to be the sort of competitors most likely to be attracted by the flame of library value. But it’s the new guys that surprise you. To review the last three years of change in the library world, I’d like to focus on some of the start-ups that have newly occupied digital niches in the reading ecosystem. It’s these competitors that libraries will need to understand and integrate with to remain relevant.
The full story: Start-Ups Take Library Jobs | Reinventing Libraries | Library Journal.
The article reviews competitors GoodReads, Wattpad, Readmill, SIPX and Zola Books.
Checking in at Little Free Library’s Facebook page is always fun, but a post yesterday was so mesmerizing that even the LFL folks couldn’t resist exclaiming: “Is this the most amazing, stupendously clever, epic, mechanically excellent (?!) and stunningly cool Little Free Library ever? It’s a kinetic sculpture! A neighborhood art piece! Destined for the Museum of Modern Art? The Walker? The Guggenheim? Have you ever seen anything this fab?”
infophile 