#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...

Celebrate good times. Whoo hoo. Join the celebration!!!


WOW. I am extremely proud of myself for getting to the end of these exercises on time. My mind has been on overload the past few weeks, learning all of these new things and then attempting to execute them properly. It has certainly been a fascinating, and yes sometimes frustrating, journey and I am definitely going to be sticking to the path of lifelong learning.
I really enjoyed learning about Flickr, Del.icio.us, LibraryThing and YouTube and then there were the host of other Web 2.0 sites out there to be explored at a later date. What I am looking forward to after this is getting to properly look at all of the fantastic blogs out there from other Library 2.0 participants.
Thankyou for the opportunity to discover these 23 things. It has opened my eyes greatly.
BLOG YOU LATER!!!

#22 Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight")

I love listening to audiobooks in the car - they are especially useful on our many trips to Queensland visiting family. Being able to download titles onto an mp3 player sounds like something I would do (once I get an actual player.)
The ebooks we could download for free were classics and probably things I should read. The quality of the productions weren't the best, which may have put me off a little. I might listen to some of the children's titles with my youngest daughter.
Listening to the online demo of Overdrive, it was interesting to note that downloadable eAudiobooks were around 40% cheaper for libraries to purchase than those currently on CD. That and the fact they can't be overdue, lost or damaged makes them sound like they're the way to go.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I had trouble getting Podcast.net to work and so much preferred Podcastalley.com. Evenso, after getting the visual stimulation from YouTube, podcasting didn't seem quite so exciting. I searched the term library and had a look at Page Turners. While I enjoyed the book segments it provided, there was no information after October 2005.
A podcast that worked and that was current was SimonSays, a show which features interviews with bestselling and up and coming authors. I subscribed to this and when I went back into my Bloglines account found that I already had 2 other podcasting feeds listed. These were Childrensbookradio and Mugglecast: Harry Potter podcasting. (I was obviously excelling at this Web 2.0 stuff.)
I did like the fact that I could listen to a podcast in the background while working on other programs on my computer.

#20 You too can YouTube

I had a look at some of the featured videos on YouTube's homepage. I also checked out the Videos page which allowed you to browse them in a variety of ways - top rated, most linked, most responded etc. There was a Featured Videos by Category page, a Channels (YouTube members who upload videos) page and a Featured Community Selections page, where contests and campaigns are promoted. I found all of these helpful to the first-time YouTube user - the number and variety of videos out there is amazing.

I did a search under Library and found the "library dominoes" clip which is one of the examples on the #20 L2.0 page. Who doesn't enjoy watching the unstoppable domino forces at work.

The clip I've added is "Reading on a dream" a short and amusing library musical. Adding the video to my blog was very easy indeed.

In fact I had to go and show everyone at home my achievements.

The Windows Vista, Windows Live video shows just how useful a YouTube clip could be on a library's homepage. This Windows example demonstrates how much information a well produced educational video can get across to the viewer - making it both entertaining and informative. We could follow this example and describe all that the library has to offer - its services and collections, to the online user.

Another clip that was quite fun to watch was the St Joseph County Public Library's "Ray of Light" video that highlighted the people and their jobs in a day's work. In just over a year this clip has been viewed more than 38,000 times.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

Well at least now I have heard of a few of these Web 2.0 nominees and it is only logical that some of the ones we have been looking with 23 Things have been winners in their category.
I had a look at Games, simply because I don't play any, and had a look at Arcaplay (the winner.) I had no idea how to play the first game I chose (nothing I did worked) so I gave up on that. I did try it again later but it took forever to load. So I went onto Guess-the-Google. I fared much better with that, and in fact spent too long on it as I tried to better my scores.
I liked RealTravel where you could read the blogs of people who have "been there, done that" for any destination you wish to check out.
I also spent a bit of time looking at StumbleUpon. I just tried the online demo and it came up with all sorts of unusual photos, videos and sites. You just had to keep looking at "just one more". There was a great video using time-lapse photography at an American football game. It captured the stadium as it filled with fans, the game itself and then as the stadium emptied. What took 7 hours in real time was reduced to 2 minutes. A total of 1,194 images were taken, one every 20 seconds.

The collage of sites in the Web 2.0 Directory looks very impressive. There is so much playing to be done. There is even a MySpace for cats and dogs. Love it.

#18 Wed-based Apps

   
Hello there!  This is my post using ZOHO WRITER.  How cool is this?    Really  CL ! say.

I have added this photo from our last holiday.  I kept chasing these seagulls trying to get a good picture of them in flight - this was about the best I could do.  It symbolised to me the greater freedom an online word processor gives you.  Having access to documents from any computer without having to email them is a BIG PLUS.  You can even edit offline.

Adding this to my blog was very easy, especially with it remembering the password. You can go back and forth fixing things in Zoho, so the blog looks the way you want.

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

Adding my blog to the list of Favourite Blogs took a lot longer than I anticipated, hence the footsteps (me going over and over the same path in the sandbox, following the same instructions.)
I did get my blog to highlight but after saving it, it always went to an error page on my blogger account.
Giving up on that I then went to add to Favourite Vacation Spots and found Ajne already there. I waited a while and when the site said it had been 25 minutes, I stole back the editing rights. (Sorry Ajne!) It was easy to add my piece on Cape Jaffa, and even add a link that took you to information on the area.
I went back to again try to add my blog to Favourites and found Ajne there too. In the meantime my husband had pointed out that I had originally spelled my blog title wrong, so the http address wasn't the one I thought it was. After all these weeks of blogging I only now find my spelling mistake back from week 1. Obviously going into my blog through favourites or via Victorian Public Libraries Learning 2.0 gave me no need to ever have to spell my blogspot.com name before this.

#16 So what's in a wiki?

Just as the main benefit of wikis is that any and all users are able to include their ideas and input into the content of information provided, it is probably also its biggest downfall. How reliable is that information if everyone has the ability to add, edit or delete it? The example of how "Library Success: a Best Practices Wiki" addresses this problem is that e-mail confirmation is required before a person's account is created.

In checking out the SJCPL Subject Guides, I had a look at photography. You were not only given information on titles the library held, which then linked you to the catalogue, you were also given information on what magazine titles were held, what local exhibitions and events were on and also what photography classes were available. So much information in one spot. There was even a list of photography blogs that one could browse.
I liked the example of the conference wiki where lots of other community information was made available. Places of interest, places to eat, what weather to expect etc. is certainly useful knowledge for people not familiar with the "conference city." Libraries could have such a community page where everyone had input in telling what their town had to offer.
Wikis would also be very useful for any teams/committees within the Library. Everyone would be assured of having the most up-to-date info and the sending of endless emails would no longer be necessary.

#15 On Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Library 2.0 meant nothing to me until I started these exercises. It has even given me a greater understanding of my own children. (Millenials! Who knew?)
I'm afraid I have been guilty of being stuck in the bygone information age - a fact I didn't even realise. Of course I use Google and have looked at Wikipedia but I had never gone out of my way to embrace annything new that I didn't have to.
It is not that I rejected new technologies, I just didn't bother with them too much - it was something kids did. I certainly didn't register their significance in libraries today, but in looking at the bigger picture, of course you can see that the way people are interacting and getting information is undertaking a significant shift.
I guess the majority of the people I deal with are not that techno-savvy and it has been easier to concentrate on their needs rather than the needs of those who don't use the library, mainly because I didn't know how. The principles of discovery and life-long learning have certainly made an impact and I will continue on this path long after 23 things.
I can definitely see Library 2.0 concepts being incorporated into libraries of the future - how can they not? People don't need to physically be in the library building to access the information they require anymore and the interactive media that the Millenials (and others) use today will only increase. Ultimately, the goal of Library 2.0 is to "improve library services and reach more users without leaving any existing users behind."

#14 Exploring Technorati

Cat Picture: Don't Worry... I Fix What You Did To Your Computer
Found this under Facebook on Technorati.


I should be in my element here, being the blogger follower, but 50,000,000 of them... I really am a little fish in a huge ocean.
Typing in Learning 2.0 in the Technorati search bar gave me 1,539 results. I found 811 blogs and there were 129 posts that were tagged with this term.
It took me a while to download the Technorati Tour and when I did view this, I found that I had discovered most of the features myself. The popular page is a good way to get you started, just to see what sort of blogs are out there in the blogosphere.
I claimed my blog and added it to favourites, just to see how it all worked. I also added the following tags to this post.

Tags: technorati tagging learning 2.0

# 13 Del.icio.us

This is a great tool, especially for those of us who are casual and work in any number of branches. Before Del.icio.us you couldn't always have your "favourites" with you, but now VOILA, you can.

It was easy enough to check out PLCMCL2 and find out what people had bookmarked. By following various leads, you were able to be taken further and further away from your original spot, finding great things of interest along the way. You didn't have to remember how you got there - all you had to do was click on "save this" and add a few tags. When you need information on that topic again you'll have your list of tags to click on (especially necessary if your number of bookmarked items is huge) and all pertinent data will be there in front of you.
As a research tool, I can see Del.icio.us being quite useful as you are able to utilise what other people have already found. You may need to be careful however, as your research could go on and on and on as you follow links all over cyberspace.

I had to reread "Us.ef.ul : a beginner's guide to Del.icio.us" and "Several habits of wildly successful Del.icio.us users" a few times before I got it all. I did spend quite a bit of time trying to work out how to USE THE INBOX, which I think I succeeded at in the end (thanks to Google.) That is I added other users under "your network" and added tags under "subscriptions".
Lee LeFever's "Social bookmarking in plain English" on the other hand gave a succinct and interesting tutorial on the benefits of using Del.icio.us. He made this as entertaining as his introduction to Zombies!!

#12 Rollyo

It took me quite a while to digest and understand Rollyo. I tried checking out other peoples searchrolls, often without success. This occurred when the searchroll was labelled with the blog name, giving no hint as to the topics covered within. Once I got to some that specified the type of sites included however, it all made a lot more sense.
I can certainly see the value of having such personalised search engines for one's own use, whereby you can have a number of them to cater for each specific interest.
It pays to be EFFICIENT!! Giddyup!

#11 LibraryThing

LibraryThing was quite easy to use and it was interesting to see the popularity of the books you were adding to your own library. I can see that this would be very useful for a number of our patrons who often ask if we can tell them what they've previously read.
I have added a number of books to my library and have installed a search widget under "Browse here."

#10 Image generators

This would be me in the land of Harry Potter dolls. I would have a great deal of use for that wand - it would help me remember all passwords and all the blogging lessons previously accomplished.

Click on this icon to make your own doll.

There were so many generators to choose from - some quite rude and crude, but mostly they were a lot of fun. This is from Back to School Chalkboard Message generator which can be found at www.glassgiant.com

#8 & #9 rss feeds and bloglines

I have already spent too much time looking at the multitude of blogs and feeds out there just to see what is available to add to my bloglines account.
It's like a maze, never knowing what is around the next corner -
you find one interesting feed and look at the subscribers of that feed and then have a look at what other feeds they've subscribed to and so on. Pretty soon a lot of time has passed.
The beauty of bloglines is that after the initial outlay of time taken, to track down and subscribe to the feeds you want, time is ultimately saved.
My blogroll "What's happening?" is listed on the right.

#7 Technology

Where to start? Technology is all encompassing, it surrounds us everywhere. Children today take it all so for granted, everything they do today is so immediate and freely available. I'm still trying to get my head around a lot the things that they do - how do they know so much and when did THEY learn it.

Personally I love the camera, and now after learning about Flickr and all the artistic avenues one can go down, it becomes that much more exciting a field (and more time consuming.) I like the fact that you can make time stand still for that one brief moment, to be scrapbooked at a later date and have all those memories come flooding right back.
Cameras themselves have changed so much over the years. You take a photo of any little kid now, and straight away they ask to look at the picture - there's none of the waiting. It's all about instant gratification, with no having to wait HOWEVER LONG for the film to be finished or for it then to be taken to be developed.


Photography is also one thing that I have been able to teach the children and not the other way around - at least pre us getting a digital camera at any rate.





"A treasured memory."

Moon Over Highlands

Moon Over Highlands
Originally uploaded by ElliotSmith007

The moon has become synonymous with my Learning 2.0 adventure. It's amazing how quickly the time passes when you are just going to check out a few things on the internet.

Attempts at Flickr

Well I have spent so many more late nights checking out other people's very creative blogs and looking at flickr photo after flickr photo, that I have run out of steam to do my own creative? thing.





Luckily Webgurl has lots of information and links included in her blog. This has been sooo helpful to me as I keep losing my way through the maze of websites, images and addresses out there. Hers is a great example of how each weeks exercises are suppose to look. This in turn has made my understanding of them that much easier. Thanks Webgurl.

Here goes nothing

I feel I have become a paparazzo of the blog world - a blogger follower. After bleary eyed nights of reading lots and lots of other peoples blogs, I thought I'd better try it myself! And yay - by George I've done it.
It did feel a lot like learning to skip and watching that turning rope. Hands in the air, counting each beat, getting ready to go at any moment and then nothing. Going back and reading a few more blogs before starting over and counting down again.
But now I'm in there jumping.