Social Networking

Let's face it, lots of people today feel more comfortable socialising on the internet rather than face to face. I think young people in particular would embrace the opportunity to connect with others through some sort of social network set up by the library and available on its web page. It would also be great for libraries in rural areas where people may be more isolated or may not be able to get to the library often.

Google Docs Rocks

Now this is one application I think is really useful. It makes sense to store one document on the internet rather than emailing numerous copies and trying to keep track of which version it is. It would be especially useful in the work place when compiling newsletters or when several people are working on the one document. I'm not quite sure how this differs from a wiki though where you can provide certain people with an invite key. Except maybe a wiki is more of a web page whilst google docs is just for documents?

Mashups

Is there no end to the toys you can play with - this is just another one which has its uses but I'm getting a bit tired of all the new tools- mashups are useful in livening up a web page or blog but I don't think I would use them in everyday applications. Ok maybe that's a bit harsh, I did enjoy Keir Clarke's starviewer. Here is a map of the places I've been to and I wish I could afford to go to more!

Places I've Been

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Podcasts etc

This was one of the few words I recognised in the intial survey for this course but I have to admit I didn't understand how useful podcasts could be until I explored a few! These would be good for staff training, guest authors, reading sections of favourite books or latest releases to get kids interested, the list goes on. I wish there were podcasts when I undertook distance education - it would be much better to listen or watch video rather than reading the texts!

LibraryThing

Well I finally got around to exploring LibraryThing and I'm glad I did - I think it's great to be able to catalogue a collection online, especially if you have lots of books like I do and can never remember if you have a particular book or not! I could also use it to keep track of who I've lent books to via the comments column. The social aspect of this site is great if you want to share resources and interests amongst library staff - it would be great to see what others are reading and what they think of books I've read or might want to read in the future. So here's the start to my catalogue.

Still Delicious

OK, so my first attempt to link to my delicous site ended up with the delicious bookmarks at the beginning of my blog. I can't even remember how I did this!! I think I just set up an RSS feed or something by using the gadgets supplied. I checked out delicious.com/help/linkrolls but couldn't access the code I was supposed to use - maybe it's my computer or something because I'm using Safari and don't have Firefox. I remember reading a posting by Atticus Mockingbird (great name) about highlighting the words and clicking "link" but I don't see anywhere to do this. This is frustrating GRRRRR!!!! Ok, I think maybe I am using a computer that is too old to have this link button and since it's a mac, I can't press cntrl+shift+a, so I'm trying to type in the text following the advice from blogger.com. Here is my delicious. I can't believe it worked!!! From frustration to elation in 5 seconds woohoooo!!!!!!!!!!

Delicious Bookmarks

Saving bookmarks to an easily accessible site is a great idea, especially for someone who has access to various computers and can never remember their favourite sites (like me!) If I can just keep track of all the different user names and passwords I've created during this web2.0 exploration I'll be fine (I did write it all down, but where is that piece of paper... just kidding). I think social bookmarking would be useful in the library to share resources instead of emailing individuals with useful sites. Now if I can just figure out how to add a link to my delicious account in this blog...

Youtube

Of course I had to add a star wars video to my blog. After looking around in youtube and google videos I can understand how this can be a real time waster! Some of the videos were great and I think it would be useful in the library to promote our services. We could embed videos on the library blog and how much better would it be to see a video of an author's visit on the website where we advertise visiting authors? You'd have to make sure you got the participant's permission though. I couldn't find anything I liked on youtube regarding libraries specifically and I must admit I found the searching a little frustrating because my computer was so slow uploading videos. Then when I watched them, some were ok but others were stop/start.

p.s. Still haven't received a wiki invite key for public libraries 2.0 wiki. Have emailed twice, am starting to feel left out....

Wonderous wikis

'Wiki' was one of the few terms I recognised in the intial survey for this course but I still didn't realise how much I had to learn about this great tool. I think it's a great idea for encouraging collaboration and I'm going to help my husband set up a wiki for his English class. Wikis are a great way for getting people with a common interest together, like the Wookieepedia - go Star Wars fans! Or wikis can provide links to cater for particular needs, like the SJCPL subject guides. I liked exporing the Possible Next Generation catalogues - in particular, the Lexington Public Library catalogue which produces a mind-map for each search term- something I'm trying to encourage in the library with school kids and assignments.

I want to check out the NSW Learning2.0 wiki but can't seem to get an invite key - I emailed but have no response yet. I hope it comes because I haven't finished playing around with this concept yet and want to keep exploring!

Not so simple RSS

I found playing around with RSS took a lot of time - I got lost in cyberspace for hours searching for websites worth subscribing to. I guess this would be useful if I already had favourite sites, but to be honest I'd rather read a book than surf the web (how boring!) So I persevered and found some interesting sites - a bit of news, library stuff, science breakthroughs, quotes of the day and of course, the powerhouse museum photo of the day. I tried to keep the feeds varied. At first, when I tried to set up the feeds I couldn't find many of the icons indicated in the introductory video, so I copied and pasted the url. Then I discovered I could set up the 'sub with bloglines' button on my bookmark toolbar and hey presto! it was so much easier. I was also a bit confused as to which email and password I had to type in. I'm beginning to get a collection of different accounts and passwords and it's getting a bit messy.
As far as usefulness goes, RSS is great for keeping up to date with your favourite sites and would be good for librarians to keep abreast of current trends, literature, new technology, educational changes etc... For myself, I'm ready to move on.

Camden Library

Camden Library 2, originally uploaded by libgirl2009.

I'm having fun exploring flickr and have discovered how to add notes. This is a picture of my library which has done a wonderful job of incorporating the old and the new - Camden is such a historical town, it would be a waste to knock down the old buildings to bring in the new. I uploaded some photos onto my flickr account but I'm not sure how to change the tags, I must keep trying...

The Pathway to Physics

The Pathway to Physics, originally uploaded by J-a-x.

I love this photo, similar to the ones you see with the repeating image in the mirror. What's the name for them? I'm sure they mentioned it in Physics 101 but it was all so long ago... I think I'll keep searching for similar photos.

What's the time?

I've just altered the time setting and this is to check it worked!

Baby Steps

Now that I'm on the road so to speak, I guess I'm progressing by baby steps. When I answered the initial survey on Web2.0 I was just a little apprehensive since I didn't recognise half of the terms and the rest of the ones that I had heard of, I'd never used anyway (such as blogs, podcasts etc.) At least I'm destined to learn a lot once I complete this course! A few people I've spoken to have started this but not finished, so I wonder how far I'll get...one step at a time.

Introduction

This is the first ever blog of my life. How exciting! It's like learning to drive all over again. Hope I don't crash.