Activity 17: Nings

Like lots of new technological terms, I had come across the term Ning but had no idea what it was before I completed this activity. Here's what I know now. A Ning is a site that combines elements of blogs, wikis and forums. It is a social networking site for an online community. Ning used to offer a free service, but now it is fee based (which upset some users). I explored the 'Mosman Reader' Ning which contained lots of content and seemed to be an active community. For myself, the 'Library 2.0' Ning was very interesting, expecially the 'New Librarian Experience' group, and the 'Public Libraries 2.0' group. I also found the 'NSW Public Library's' group (run by Ellen) and tried to join, but haven't had an email reply yet. Ning claims to be 'the worlds largest platform for creating social websites'. Phil Bradley's weblog lists some alternatives that are free; www.zimbio.com and www.socialgo.com. Ning is a really effective online community building tool. I also think in a public library setting, those participating in an online Ning community could also meet physically. So I see it could be a way to build an online community that would spill over into the physical environment of the library too.