Ohio Teen Bloggers in a High School

A different Ohioan twist on blogging –  Middleton Bloggers.

First, what is it about Ohio? They seem to be very pro-active with connecting their youth and Web 2.0 technologies. I mean first the library in Worthington with a teen blog, and now a high school is giving out credit for seniors to blog about their last year in high school.

Is it madness? Have they taken leave of their senses in Ohio? Or are they exploring the ways they can engage their youth in the community through Web 2.0 projects?

This school is so excited about blogging that they have 6 teen bloggers who are getting credit for blogging about their senior year. In addition these seniors are learning the art of sharing information with their peers in a way that all parties involved benefit.

Maybe there is something in the water in Ohio but in my opinion it is a breath of fresh air.

Way to use blogging to unite, educate and build a body of knowledge Ohio, something we can all learn from.

Cheers!

Blogs as Educational and Information Tools

I know, I know, blogs are not new and many Information Professionals and Librarians already have blogs. But I am not talking, here, about creating a blog for personal and professional purposes. I am talking about using a blog as educational information tool.

Blogs are a Web 2.0 technology that allows for content be shared with readers. But more importantly, blogs are platforms that also allow space for readers to comment. This is the area I was thinking we could build from.

Libraries need to build connections with their community and they need to be seen as that “connection place” that promotes community. Communication builds connections and connections build communities. So I am talking about creating blogs with the purpose of building a community though two-way communication and with the purpose of creating connections between public libraries and their users.

One fantastic blog example of community building is the Worthingteens blog supported by the the Worthington Ohio Public Library. The teen librarians who created Worthingteens provide a space for community and a connection for Worthington’s teens.

Libraries need to hear from their users and users need to know what their 21^st century library has to offer. So why not use “social media” to be more social?  One more thought that comes to mind is a blog to promote readers’ advisory services to users and allow the users to share their opinions of the books. This could be a 21^st Century Library Book Discussion where patrons interested could share their thoughts and views of different books for all to read.

In a nutshell… Web 2.0 is about social networking, connecting and collaboration, right? By adding our information perspective, libraries can create meaningful blogs that are about social literacy, engaging users both locally and worldwide.

How do you use blogs as an educational information tool?

Thank you for reading,

Delaina