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Youth, Web 2.0 and the library September 10, 2007

Posted by Malene Charlotte Larsen in Libraries, Talks, Web 2.0, Youngsters, Youth Culture.
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hoved.jpgThis Friday I am attending and speaking at an interesting conference called “Ung 2.0” (“Youth 2.0”) about youth, culture and the library. The conference aims at defining what preoccupies young people today and how the libraries can accommodate the youngsters in the future. I am giving a presentation on youth and virtual communities (social networking sites) based on my research. Read more about the conference here (only in Danish).

Also, I have been writing an article about “the digital library users of the future” for the Danish journal DF Revy. (I will remember to post a link when it comes out.)

Furthermore, I have been giving interviews on how libraries can seek inspiration in social networking sites. And I am speaking at another conference dealing with the very same subject at The Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen later this month.

It is nice to see that libraries are really embracing the world of Web 2.0, social software and new media and trying to design for a new generation of library users.

In the news – on young people and surveillance June 7, 2007

Posted by Malene Charlotte Larsen in Google, Media coverage, Surveillance, Web 2.0, Youngsters.
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Today my colleague Anders Albrechtslund and I hit the frontpage. The Danish newspaper Nyhedsavisen interviewed us about Google Maps Street View and how youngsters would relate to the surveillance. Read the article here.

Also, see my other press appearances here.

Fake your space with fake friends February 28, 2007

Posted by Malene Charlotte Larsen in Arto, Fakers, Friendship, MySpace, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Youth Culture.
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Last year I read a post on Michael Zimmer’s blog about a new social networking service called Fake Your Space that offers purchase of fake and hot friends for MySpace profiles in order to seem popular. Yesterday the Danish online magazine Computerworld.dk spotted the website and wrote an article about it. Today I was interviewed by the Danish radio P3 (P3 Nyheder) and the newspaper dato about what I think of the service and why friends are so important on social networking sites.fakeyourspace.com

First of all, I think that the profiles the site offers are so clearly fake and model like that other users would probably be sceptical of the users who have bought the fakers and listed them as friends. Also, other people’s friend lists are often used to find new friends. What happens when someone tries to add one of the fakers to their own profile? (more…)

Social Networking Fatigue February 20, 2007

Posted by Malene Charlotte Larsen in MySpace, Social Networking, Web 2.0.
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Day by day more and more social networking sites are emerging and it can be really difficult to keep up with them all, not least to keep your different profiles and networks up-to-date. Recently, I stumbled across the term “social networking fatigue” which signifies the:

Mental exhaustion and stress caused by creating and maintaining an excessive number of accounts on social networking sites.

Read more about that term here.

However, it seems that there is now a solution to that problem. Yesterday my colleague Thomas Ryberg told me about a new kind of social networking service, Explode, that makes it possible to connect to all your friends without signing up to the many different sites that they use. Thomas writes about the service:

I guess one could call it a meta-social networking site – as it is not as such a social networking site itself, but can aggregate your friends across different sites and have them displayed anywhere you want […] – no more see my Myspace contacts here, see my bloglogcommunity here, see my 100 other networks here …I think that’s quite clever…

Read more about this at Thomas’ blog and explore Explode here.