5th Global Information Village Plaza – MySpace, OurSpace: Social networking in the international arena

Abstract

The discussion will focus on social networking websites, a part of the "Web 2.0" phenomenon which may be generally defined as personal webpages generated through a social networking service such as MySpace. The Plaza will look specifically at social networking services from different countries and how their characteristics and use change according to the country or culture in which they are situated. For example, in different cultures these services may be more or less representative of a personal voice, may encourage or discourage commenting on and discussing a thought, and may encourage or discourage networking with strangers.This topic relates specifically to the theme of this year's Annual Meeting -Social Computing and Information Science -in that social networking websites and services are and will continue to become a major vehicle for information sharing between people. Such sharing of information is informed by social and cultural worldviews, thus the characteristics and uses of information (and the social networking services conveying that information) are of interest to LIS professionals in that they serve socioculturally diverse groups of patrons who maintain different instruments for receiving information. This year's Global Information Village Plaza will continue to use the SIG-III blog to facilitate discussion on the Plaza topic. This online interactive forum will be reachable by any professional, thereby allowing ASIS&T to expand its circle of interaction and offering the information professional community around the globe who will be unable to attend the 2007 Annual Meeting an opportunity to contribute their thoughts on social networking in the international arena.SIG-III will partner with SIG-BWP to present this interactive discussion.