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I was looking for a definition on this term, "Augmented Reality," which came up in my searching yesterday, when I came across this Common Craft video explaining it. Some of this stuff just blows my mind!

This Newsletter has many relevant articles on the topic of innovation in education. "Technologies to Watch" and "Game-based Learning" were particularly interesting. "Augmented Reality" is another interesting not-so-futuristic technology that makes me think, "Jetsons here we come!"

Very recent Q&A with Sherry Turkle on "Alone Together" about our plugged in lives making people more lonely and distant. Interesting passage about teenage culture midway through

This really highlights one of the bad ways that technology impacts us; texting and checking Facebook are gaining precedence over socializing with people in the same room. It's depressing to think of how widespread it is.

I loved this article! I see customers at my work (a restaurant in a hotel) checking their phones all the time. One of my coworkers told me a few weeks ago that he was working when a big game was on tv. He was bartending and his bar was packed. Instead of having their eyes on the screen during the crucial moments of the game, many of his customers were sitting right in front of those tvs and ignoring them while their eyes and fingers stayed glued to their tiny phone screens, playing Angry Birds for all he knew. It was just odd, but sadly this way of life has been becoming more of the rule.

Hmmm...Interesting thought. With the popularity of twitter and facebook, perhaps this is a reality.

I studied mass communication in college and several of my classmates are now "Community Managers" at nonprofits, consulting firms and corporations alike. Essentially they are the social media marketers, but have roles that also include public relations and community building. I think considering our own MLIS program's recent (last year?) addition of a social media concentration, KeithK's comment on the blog entry comes to life: "There are several important concepts to consider in the participatory culture of social media that extend far beyond marketing. The potential for community engagement, for developing an active learning community through the use of social media is one good reason. Understanding the dynamics of social capital with respect to creating community is another. These are things that need to be analyzed through research and reflection, not just use." Social media as a source to recontextualize our information resources through collaboration, folksonomies and other community-building and -based activities is pretty exciting. I don't know that a social media librarian is specifically needed, but it is something that could be incorporated into an instructional or educational technology librarian's role in academia.

You know, our library has a Facebook account, but I don't think we ever really do anything with it. There's a lot of potential there, as this article points out.