# 23 Is this really the end?

Well like all journeys, this one finally comes to an end. However like most journeys I have learned a lot, become a different person, have new ideas, new goals and a cup full of inspiration to get me started! I think I have learned enough to know what these web 2.0 things are about, and perhaps enough to get me started but with still a lot of learning to go. I feel confident with the blogging now as it has been the step-by-step tool throughout the course and initially I felt that the blog would be the way to develop communication channels with our community. That was until I discovered the Wiki and now I am keen to develop perhaps two Wikis for our community - one for a community calendar for the locals and another about the library happenings etc. The course has been tricky in some parts but I think that the learning package was constructed very well and easy to follow in the main.
Finally I would like to say a big 'thank you' to the 2Ls (leslie and lorraine) for bringing the L2 program to Victorian libraries.
Hip, hip, hooray!

# 22 Audiobooks

There is great potential for libraries to tap into these services. I listened to the demo from Overdrive and can see how we could use this in our library service as a compliment to the Gulliver databases and Tumblebooks (ebooks for children) I'm sure that it would be cost effective and a great service to our patrons. Also - the items would never become damaged, lost or even overdue! Many of the books which I looked at came in various languages too.
This is definitely an area we should become involved with.

# 21 Podcasts

Well I think that this is the biggest waste of time I have ever come across! I hated the podcast searches because I couldn't really tell what the podcast would be like until I wasted more time listening to it!!!! Also you may want to know that I found this message:
Yahoo! apologizes deeply, but we will be closing down the Podcasts site on Oct. 31, 2007
Does it mean just for the day? or for good? (Might affect this program if its for good.)
Anyway I made a podcast myself using Audacity, but came unstuck when I tried to FTP it to Geocities. It was a bit more complicated than the instructions gave credit to.
I couldn't find a way to do it. I was trying to get it to work so I could put it in my blogline instead of one that I found that I liked because I didn't find anything that I really liked! I found them quite annoying actually. Anyway lots of time wasting but I finally got there!

Click Here for my Podcast

Putting my podcast here was a bit tricky because I had to type "Click here for my Podcast" before it would work and it took ages to figure that out, but it wasn't part of the requirements so of course the instruction wasn't included in the program.

# 20 YouTube

After playing around in YouTube I discovered that, whilst technology is making our world smaller, it is also making it much bigger. This stuff goes on forever! I did find a beautiful clip which I will place here.....(hopefully). It's worth watching, so click on the arrow to share the experience!

I think that YouTube is definitely for people who have lots of time to play. I can't really envisage a use for our library as the clips are usually fairly short and what could you convey that someone would find easily? However, I clicked on the 'Upload' button and found that it would be quite easy to do (if I had the equipment to take the video in the first place!)
ps. I loved "conan the librarian"!!

# 19 cruising around web 2.0 tools

Wow! I found a really cool game called GUESS-THE-GOOGLE which I really enjoyed playing and so I ended up getting a little off the point for some time. This is surely a good way to waste time!

http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google

After feeling a little guilty I thought I had better do something more worthwhile and so I played around in Google Doc to see how it compares with Zoho. I have to say I found Zoho more user friendly. I also noticed that Google actually has many applications similar to several of the ones we have been introduced to as part of this course.

docs.google.com

Create and collaborate on files of every kind. See who edited which documents and when.

As for usefulness in the library, well the games....no (but fun), docs.google.com.....maybe, but there are others on the list which would be relevant such as:

www.librarything.com as the most relevant

# 18 Zoho is amazing

Well I managed to create my document in Zoho, test out a few of the editing tools and publish it to my blog here. (Ooops, must have missed putting in the title somewhere! - so I went back into the document, found the place to put the title and reposted it!! How good is that!)

First piece

---

This looks interesting.  I think that Zoho  will give Microsoft Office something to think about.  You can type whatever you like and then edit it in the same way as a Word document. I would ^certainly _use it at home instead of Office if I hadn't bought Office already (updates haven't been significant in recent years anyway). 

 

---

You	can	insert
tables	just	like
in	Word	.

 

Also it has symbols ↑ and I think it is easier to use than Word too.

#17 I played in the sand!

Well not only did I play in the sand, I added my blog to the Australian list and added the following lines to the Favourite Restaurant. It was very easy. (By the way I didn't need to use the brackets to add my blog, in fact when I used the brackets it didn't work so I had to delete and redo)

The last restaurant I ate at was the Grand Ridge Brewery Restaurant at Mirboo North in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. If you haven't driven the Grand Ridge Rd yet, then do and the meals were fantastic. I highly recomment both the drive and the meal.

#16 What's in a wiki?

Up until this session I was very keen to set up a Blog for my branch of the library service where I work. However, since reading about Wikis I now lean towards the Wiki - well more than just the one. I really dig the community information wiki which I think would be a natural one for the library to do - particularly in the area where I work as there is a 'village' feel about the area although it is in the suburbs of Melbourne. I also like the idea of a Wiki for the public to use as an interface between the library and the people - where discussions, questions, book reviews, comments, etc. would flow through an open channel of communication. I like that it can be at the branch level as opposed to the regional level which targets a much wider audience. I particularly liked reading 'Using Wikis to Create Online Communities' and also Peter Blake's paper 'Using a Wiki for InformationServices: Principles and Practicalities' which would help one to avoid the pitfalls. I hope that in the not too distant future I can be involved in making a Wiki or two for my branch (this 'non-artistic' topic is much more appealing to me than earlier topics!)

OOOps I missed #6

Well I discovered from checking my Particpants Tracking that I have left out Exercise # 6 so I have gone back to revisit that area. No wonder I have nothing in my blog about this section as I really found nothing which I would ever use. I did try to make a badge, but it didn't work for some reason so I gave up, disgusted. The only thing which I actually liked was the Flickr Color Pickr. This little gem lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color. You just click on a colour wheel and a series of photographs in the colour you chose appear on the screen. This would be a great tool for anyone who is right into publishing/graphic art/etc. However, I'm not.

#15 Discovery Exercise

On reading the articles, 'Away from Icebergs' and 'Into a new world of librarianship' I felt that while there are exciting times ahead for libraries, it is also important not to forget that we still need to provide services to those members of the community who are not into electronic communication. Therefore the bridge that we currently span between those who 'can/do' and those who 'cannot/don't' is going to become wider and wider. (We still have customers who cannot/will not learn to use a computer catalog to look up a book) As a librarian in a public library I think that we need to progress much faster to satisfy the needs of the technologically capable members of our community but at the same time keep (or better) our existing level of service for those who still come to us and therefore probably need us more.

Delicious and Technorati

I found the Delicious registration easy and fun. I'm not sure how useful it is to me as I tend to do my work at work and what I use on the Internet at home I do not use at work. However, I remember the last time that my computer was upgraded at work I lost all of my bookmarks so now I think I will use Delicious .... before the next pc roll-out!!
In Technorati I discovered that I could claim my blog and make it more accessible to others. I am not sure that this is a good thing considering the definite 'beginner' status of my blog but I wanted to go through the process and this is the only blog I have!

LibraryThing

Sudoku Generator

Trying another generator link, this time to Sudoku puzzles:
http://www.opensky.ca/~jdhildeb/software/sudokugen/
Enjoy!

Success!!

Well it does work! I am amazed. This was very easy and as I love puzzles I really enjoyed this exercise. I might just as well try something else as well!!

Generators

I found this really cool generator for sliding puzzles. I created a new puzzle using my Wilson's Prom photograph. If you like puzzles have a go at this one:
http://www.slidingpuzzle.com/puzzle.php?pid=55539&xtiles=4&ytiles=4&skip=1
I hope this works!

RSS feeds

This is getting a little interesting now. I can see why people who use the Internet a lot would want to use this type of facility. I don't really use the Internet in this way so I'm not really excited, but it is interesting......uhoh maybe I'm getting hooked.....better stop for a while.

My technology piece.

So we want something about technology do we? Well I don't mind using technology but I do need it to be useful. I want something back from the time I invest in it. Technology for the sake of technology is of no interest to me, I do not find it incredibly interesting, exciting or even wonderful. Take this blog for example. The ability to create a blog with such little instruction is pretty neat and I would be very excited about it if I could be sure that I can use the potential of the blog for some benefit to my life and/or work. I'm struggling to find something particularly wonderful about all this and then it happened!! I can copy and paste this piece into a work document to do the work count and -
Words 136
That's me ...... I'm done.

Wilson's Prom 1

Wilson's Prom 1, originally uploaded by libraryland.

Tree in a rock

Picture 035, originally uploaded by libraryland.

#5 flickr

I have learnt a bit about flickr and how to add my photos to flickr. Then I learnt how to send them to my blog. It takes a bit of time to navigate between activities but I reckon I have completed the exercise (even though it's not a very sophisticated result!)

Pink hyacinth

Picture 027, originally uploaded by libraryland.

One of my favourite wildflowers.

Picture 039

Picture 039, originally uploaded by libraryland.

Trying out some photos of mine from flickr

Blogger trash

I don't like reading blogs
I don't like writing blogs
Why am I doing this anyway?
I hope I shall see the light soon!
Is there a light?