Multimedia Sharing Sites

According to Wikipedia, social media "is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. Social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content; it's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information."


In a list of "10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media," one of the ways mentioned is showcasing student and faculty work. This could easily be applied to a school setting (elementary, junior high, high school). The example posted on the site is that of two biology students rapping about regulating genes. This not only offers students the chance to apply what they know, but it also makes the learning fun, especially the fact that it can be shared easily with others (and will likely help the others in remembering the important information for exams).

Multimedia sharing sites could also easily be added to the library. Staff, patrons, and volunteers could create various multimedia files (eg. a video tour of the library, a song written by some children about their favorite books, etc) could all contribute to the file sharing site. It would be interesting to see the library set up its own file sharing site so that everyone could access the multimedia directly from the library's official website.

There is actually a helpful tutorial I found at Internet Tutorials that discusses the video, audio, and widgets that come along with multimedia on the Internet. Also discussed are the different multimedia types.

In terms of using multimedia sharing sites in schools, it is important that students acess sites that are appropriate for them. I found School WAX TV in my search for an appropriate site. This site offers resources to teachers, parents, and students as homework help or simply to enrich lessons. The website also claims that it can be used to research reports.

According to a Library Studies student enrolled in a Web 2.0 course, the two obstacles facing social media sharing in libraries are copyright and privacy. Because one cannot simply use images, media, or information without permission, this student suggests that librarians create their own media to use on a library website. This provides a way around using copyrighted materials. As for privacy, there is not much that one can do except be sure to get permission from anyone who may be starring in any social media or just avoid including anyone in the social media.

It seems to me that this sort of defeats the purpose of multimedia sharing sites. The librarians can create their own multimedia and offer it to the public but they can't in return use what others have created? I definitely agree that credit must be given when using other people's works, but doesn't sharing work both ways?

"Multimedia on the Internet." Internet Tutorials. 9 July 2009 http://www.internettutorials.net/multimedia.asp

Lavrusik, Vadim. "10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media." Mashable: The Social Media Guide. 15 July 2009. 22 July 2009 http://mashable.com/2009/07/15/social-media-public-affairs/



"Obstacles to Media Sharing in Libraries." Library 246-11. 18 July 2009. 25 July 2009
http://inforshaerpas.com/libr256-11/node/1103

"Social media." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 July 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media