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...