Digital Footprints

We have been talking for a while about the changing role that information professionals play - especially in the academic sector that Mark and I primarily support. One of the areas that we have been discussing at work is the issue of "digital footprints" - the trackable trail that one leaves behind when interacting with the internet. This has started to become more and more of an issue - primarily because entries and information (including photographs) is easily created and saved on social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.

There is a BBC news article here about one student's attempts to remove information that he feared could damage future job prospects. What role can the information professional play in this area? Is it leading by example? Is it including it as part of our teaching on how to use
these technologies responsibly? Hopefully we'll discuss this on Wednesday as part of our workshop at BOBCATSSS. The theme of the conference is "Access to Information for All" - but if the information is incorrect, and the people that have access to it are your future employers - is this always a good thing?

Teenage use of Web 2.0

Part of our presentation for BOBCATSSS uses this report from Pew. It examines the online behaviour of teenagers in the US and finds that a high percentage are engaged with web 2.o activities such as social networking. They are also creating and re-mixing content to a degree that we haven't seen before. Crucially for us as academic librarians, the age range indicated (12-17 year olds) will be our intake for the next few years.

I would argue that unless we adapt and adopt, we will be alienating them from the moment they encounter our services.