Week 12: Wrap up; social networks and catch up

Well this is the one area where in which i was more familiar with. I am addicted to social networking such as Messenger and Facebook. I'm on there alot to catch up with my friends and family. It is such a handy way and can be done in real time. I had heard of Second Life but i don't think i want to get addicted to that also!!! My husband is addicted to the online game World of Warcraft.

It was interesting to see that some libraries have promoted themselves through MySpace etc. I think this would appeal to the Young adult audience and may attract more interested members.

I feel there is alot of information to take in from the 2.0 training. Some areas i feel i will use more than others but is great to know what is available to use at home and in the workplace

Week 11: Online applications and tools

Well i was totally amazed by the amount of free applications we can make use of just from using the web!Google doc is great for sharing and collaborating information. I can see that it is something that libraries could really make use of. It is effective because you can invite certain people to edit, or just view information. I used it to make a slideshow of my family. I found it was easy enough to use.
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=ddjvfk9b_0cxq2jmgr


I also did look at Zoho. I logged in to create a planner. It had tools such as to do lists, appointments, reminders etc. Zoho did seem to offer a greater variety of programs.

Week 10: Mashups

I found this week to be very interesting. So many possibilites with Mashups. I had never really heard of them before. I had seen Google Maps but had not seen anything like Voicethread whereby it allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place. I really like the Big Huge Labs. It has so many things you can do on there such as making calendars, CD covers, Jigswaws etc.

I wasn't too sure how libraries would make use of mashups. There was one example where they had made use of google maps for showing where the public libraries are available. Perhaps libraries could use google maps to create a an interal map of where things are located within the library

Week 9: Podcasts

This week it was interesting to learn about Podcasts. They come in video or radio format. I checked out a range of prodcasts as suggested in the Training.

Firstly one i chose from British Library was a bit difficult to hear. So i think it needs to be more audible to be effective. The one from Denver Library had some children's stories that could be listened too. However i think most kids would benefit more having the book in front of them. Maybe it is good idea for sight impaired kids or children who can't read.
http://libvibe.blogspot.com/ Was interesting in that it had news articles about libraries ie crimes in libraries!http://www.abc.net.au/services/podcasting/ had a huge variety of podcasts to access.

I liked the idea of the http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/skip-the-tuition:-100-free-podcasts-from-the-best-colleges-in-the-world It offered a range of online courses!

Through viewing all of these various podcasts i got the idea that the concept could be handy for libraries. For example the library could offer podcasts that give tutorials on using the libraries, library services that are available as well as putting talks that have been held at the library on as well.

Week 8: Answer boards and social searching

I had been aware of some social searching such as Amazon and Yahoo answers. However, Slamming the Boards was new to me. It is designed to get reference librarians to provide answers on popular answer boards. I can see that this feature would be useful to our library. I'm sure customers would be also be keen to rate new books that come into the collection like in the Amazon website.

The modern Library

Week 7: del.icio.us & Library Thing

I found setting up a an account with del.icio.us was easy enough to do. It really helped having the notes that were prepared by Sharon Morris to follow though. I can see that it would be a concept the library could really make use of. I had a look at other libraries that had made use of them and they had created a whole range of subject headings that the public could easily access which linked them to great sites. Having the tags and been able to arrange them into groups is great.




I found Library Thing to be an easy to use tool for keeping all your books listed as a catalogue. It is also interesting to see how many book related groups are available as well as information on your particular book you may have listed.