-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Maps-L is on Facebook
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:12:24 -0500
From: Nat Case <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]>

If I may offer a little perspective from another set of map-related sites:

The forum CartoTalk (http://www.cartotalk.com) has become a major nexus
for cartographers to talk about their work, and to socialize. NACIS now
sponsors/hosts CartoTalk, and NACIS also has a Facebook presence, which
largely consists of crosspostings of links of various kinds. I go on and
off of CartoTalk, but regard it, rather than Facebook, as a serious
source of timely professional chatter. On the other hand, I am friends
(both Facebook and otherwise) with a number of NACites and CartoTalkers,
and Facebook, like the social gatherings at the NACIS conference, is
much more of a fun, casual, who-cares-if-I-missed-that-content sort of
thing.

What's interesting to me is how quickly CartoTalk supplanted earlier
email lists like Map-Mac. You still see traffic on Carto-Soc, but less
than there used to be. Would it be worth considering MAPS-L going from
an email list to a forum format, especially seeing how often lengthy
threads tend to develop here (witness this one)? IMHO, the forum format
works better for threaded discussions, as you can go back and read
through the whole thing (and not end up quoting the entire previous
discussion in the body of the message...)

For what it's worth, I would suggest is that MAPS-L itself not be what
you call the site on Facebook, but maybe that's what the map librarians
call yourselves in general. Whatever you do, I urge you all not to
stress about it. It's another source of chatter and contact. Really
important notices will still be on MAPS-L, I would hope. Personally, I
find the Facebook difference to be cultural as much as anything—it's a
matter of how "out there" you feel comfortable with. Personally, I like
being at a big gathering of people I like this way even more than in
real life. But maybe I'm weird.

And I'm not a map librarian, so please don't count this as a vote.

Thanks
Nat Case
Hedberg Maps
http://www.hedbergmaps.com