Latest News from Francie Helm

The Phenomenon Called Facebook

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EDT

When data were collected for this study, membership was restricted to people with a specific host institution email address, further tying offline networks to online membership. In this sense, the original incarnation of Facebook was similar to the wired Toronto neighborhood studied by Hampton and Wellman (e.g., Hampton, 2002; Hampton & Wellman, 2003), who suggest that information technology may enhance place-based community and facilitate the generation of social capital.1 Previous research suggests that Facebook users engage in "searching" for people with whom they have an offline connection more than they "browse" for complete strangers to meet (Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield, 2006).”

The Smell of Newsprint a Soon to Be Anachronism

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:30:00 EDT

Will reading from ink on paper bring the same odd glances that those who still type (if any) on a typewriter now receive? There is something mystical about the experience of settling in with a newspaper. A park bench, a library couch, a kitchen table is transformed into a sacred place when holding the golden pages of stories. There is a thrill to seeing the rolled up print on the doorstep or a flat version on a bookstore shelf. My fear is that my sacred simple pleasure of reading a newspaper in print will be replaced by digital devices. Is this nightmare keeping you up at night too?

Digital Libraries: History Meets Technological Change

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:45:00 EDT

As someone who worked for a historical society during the time of its initial transition into digital formatting, I have first-hand knowledge of the complexities involved. When this major change first began, we were in a small building where almost all of our records were cataloged and accessioned in the old fashioned way. That meant card catalog indices housed in wooden cases with drawers full of hard copy records. It seems hard to imagine that little over a decade ago we were working in such a, retrospectively speaking, primitive environment.