[Web4lib] Call for Participants: Five Weeks to a Social Library

[Meredith Farkas]

We are pleased to present Five Weeks to a Social Library (
http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/), the first free, grassroots,
completely online course devoted to teaching librarians about social
software and how to use it in their libraries. The course was developed to
provide a free, comprehensive, and social online learning opportunity for
librarians who do not otherwise have access to conferences or continuing
education and who would benefit greatly from learning about social software.
The course will be taught using a variety of social software tools so that
the participants acquire experience using the tools while they are taking
part in the class. The course will make use of synchronous online
communication, with one or two weekly Webcasts and many IM or Skype chat
sessions made available to students each week. By the end of the course,
each student will develop a proposal for implementing a specific social
software tool in their library.

Five Weeks to a Social Library will take place between February 12 and March
17, 2007 and will be limited to forty participants. However, course content
will be freely viewable to interested parties and all live Webcasts will be
archived for later viewing.

We are currently accepting applications for participants in the course. The
application process is designed to ensure that the course will benefit those
librarians who have the most to gain from learning about social software and
who would not otherwise have access to conferences or continuing education.
If you are interested in learning how to use and implement social software
tools at your library, please consider applying for the course. The course
will cover the following topics:

   * Blogs
   * RSS
   * Wikis
   * Social Networking Software and SecondLife
   * Flickr
   * Social Bookmarking Software
   * Selling Social Software @ Your Library

If you are interested in becoming a participant in the course, please visit
the Application for Participants
http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/application.

For a preliminary listing of some of the social software experts who will be
presenting during the course, please visit the Preliminary Program
http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/prelimprogram.

For more about the organizers of the course, please visit the About Us page
http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/aboutus.

-- 
Meredith Gorran Farkas
http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/