What Would You Ask Bill Gates? (and Why Doesn't YOUR Library Website Look Like This?)

I just received an interesting email indicating that I could have the opportunity to ask a question to Bill Gates.

Well, there is a small catch (of course). I (and everyone else on the planet) can submit questions and the "best one" will be chosen and asked of Mr. Gates....

I have no idea what criteria will be used to determine "the best" question.... but I thought it might be an interesting chance to recommend a question.

Another interesting aspect of this that I didn't realize until I followed the link, is seeing what others are suggesting.... Some are serious, some are funny.

I thought it might be interesting if it happens that A LOT of LIBRARIANS suggest questions. (Who knows, maybe one will even be the "chosen" one.) I think it would be interesting if there were so many suggestions by librarians, on this otherwise non-library-related site, that the general public (or readership of this site) noticed. I wonder what they would think. I wonder what, if anything, would happen.

We out here in library-land have had our own "dealings with" Mr. Gates and we may have some specific questions we want to ask him.....

This is all taking place over on FastCompany.com - a magazine and site I really like. In fact, I have been thinking about doing a post about their site ever since I joined it because I think it is an interesting approach and one that libraries should consider.

It is a very "social" site, but it is a specific social site and not just a general social site for the sake of being a social site, such as facebook and/or MySpace*. What I mean by this is that you can sign-in and personalize your whole experience and use of this site. There are specific categories and interests (for this site they include "leadership", "management", "technology", etc. all related to business... but things that I am interested in nonetheless). When I log in this is what I see:


So I have my own area with any messages or other information I might want - and I have controls on the right to edit my profile, post, invite others, send a message, etc....

Some libraries ARE doing things like this on their website, or on another virtual presence, and I am certainly not the first or only to call for this. However, not enough are doing things like this. As I was signing up for my account on fastcompany.com I couldn't help but think about library websites as I went through all of my options and interests.... What topics am I interested in? Which newsletters and updates would I want to receive. What do I want my "homepage" to look like when I come here and sign-in... these would all be great features on a library website.

Look at this particular part of my page on fastcompany.com:

I know it might be small here, but in that red box I've drawn I have all these MY things, and they literally say they are MY things: MY contacts, MY bookmarks, MY feeds, MY settings, MY network, MY recommendations, etc.... this really makes this MY page to me, for me, when I come to this site.

It also makes it much more specific, interesting and useful to me. I have already narrowed-down what aspects of this page/company I am interested in... and it is all ready for me right on the front page FOR ME when I sign-in here.

Additionally, right above that are the general topic areas for fastcompany.com - Innovation, Technology, Leadership, etc.... all interesting and attractive (to me) to click on and go right to what might be of interest. I can also easily find people, groups, and blogs, of interest to me. This provides me a chance to create an even more specific, smaller, community within this community for me. I joined the Leadership group and the Technology group here, and even started my own, called Librarians just because I am like that! ;-) I like to put libraries and librarians in wherever 'technology' is. So far, no one has noticed it, but I wonder what might happen if they did. ("Librarians!? Technology and business?! Huh!?")

I also just happened to see my.barackobama.com . If you check out this site you can again see that this is the Barack Obama site for YOU. Here is what it can look like:



It can have everything for ME - My People, MY Network, My Blog, etc... I keep finding that sites like these provide people an opportunity to have a blog right within them - on this topic of interest to them. They don't need to go to any specific blogging site (like blogger or wordpress or whatever - not that there's anything wrong with them). These sites are providing them with blogging spots, on sites of their own interest, where others come who have the same interest, thus providing a built-in readership for their individual blog. I think a lot of people wonder who would read their blog and why. People hear about "blogs" all the time, but maybe they aren't ready to actually GO to a blogging site, sign-up and start blogging. But maybe on a site they like and use, with an easy way to blog right there, they might just do it. This is something libraries could provide...

Maybe these are not earth-shattering things, but it seems to me that I am seeing more and more websites like these. Library websites are already, for the most part, behind the times, and as more of these sites go to more and more personalized interfaces, we don't want to be another generation behind.

So, anyway, submit your potential question for Mr. Gates (by posting it in a comment on the post) and also take a little tour around FastCompany.com ... and my.barakobama.com, if you're so inclined.

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* Don't get me wrong, I (of course) think you can create for yourself and have a very personalized and meaningful experience on facebook..... but again, that happens when you create a "community" within a "community," which is what I feel happens within fastcompany.com