While the Selby selfie might never get quite
as many views as the one Ellen Degeneres
took at the Oscars, it was for a worthy cause.
NASA's Global Selfie project was designed to
encourage environmental awareness and rec-
ognize the agency's ongoing efforts to protect
our home planet.
After photos were submitted from around
the world, NASA created a "Global Selfie"
mosaic. That mosaic was built with more than
36,000 individual photographs drawn from
about 50,000 images tagged #GlobalSelfie and
posted on or close to Earth Day on several
social media sites.
Bates-Weir organized the Selby selfie after
seeing a post about NASA's Global Selfie proj-
ect on the agency's Twitter feed. "We took the
photo real fast so we could be done before
the library [opened]," she told The Sarasota
News Leader.
The project highlights how social media can
draw people together.
"The reason anybody is on social media is to
try to make a connection with other people,
and I thought, especially in the last month
or so, I've been trying to have the library's
Twitter account make more of a connection
than we have in the past," Bates-Weir added.
"I thought this is a great way to commem-
orate Earth Day and a neat way to make a
connection with staff and our patrons — and
the whole world, too."
The Selby Library staff portrait did garner
some local attention, as well, with 612 people
having seen the image on the county library
service's Facebook page.
Bates-Weir also encouraged staff members
at six other county libraries to snap and sub-
mit selfies. Those that participated were the
North Sarasota, Gulf Gate, Sarasota County
Historical Resource Center, Venice and Elsie
Quirk public libraries. %
NASA's 'global selfie' incorporated more than 36,000 images. Image courtesy of NASA
Sarasota News Leader May 30, 2014 Page 37
