Welcome to LIBR 559M

I’m starting this blog for discussion of social media in a class I’m taking at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at UBC. I’ve been interested in social media for some time and I’m looking forward to sharing ideas with my colleagues in class and with others.

Aside from participating in some online communities over the last few years I got into reading some of the literature about social media and the changes in communication (and in our daily lives!) being brought about by the development of the internet.

I think to start off I’ll just share a few links I like:

Clay Shirky – File Sharing Goes Social

I’ve been an avid music collector for many years and I’ve been a staunch defender of P2P technology and its possibilities for greater sharing and understanding of music and other forms of art.

Clay Shirky – Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality

This article was interesting to me because it sheds light on the dynamics of online communities and outlines how participation on the web works.

Metafilter

A community blog that covers all sorts of subjects. This blog is a bit different because of its wide variety of contributors.

I’ll have this blog all set up in a bit. Stay tuned!