I am now quite familiar with Facebook, bebo, myspace, Flickr and youtube etc - but yet to embrace "second life" - can't quite see the point - but am willing to have a look at it's possible uses.
Have thoroughly enjoyed this course - and will continue to follow the updates from the pln team. It's a great way of keeping in touch with what is happening on the web.
Spent some time checking out Google docs - quite easy to use and I can see it would have many useful applications.
My library has an arts & recreation centre attached to it - which runs holiday classes - it's always a problem getting tutors to send in their ideas for classes on time, along with the lists of supplies needed to be ordered (not to mention all the loose papers which can then go missing) - Google docs could be useful for collating ideas for these school holiday programs. A form could be created and all the tutors would have to do is fill it out and send it back by email. All the ideas could be collated in a spreadsheet - materials ordered, programs printed.
Discovered the site Mashupawards.com great collection of different mashups.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Answerboards - I have personally used answer boards when searching for advice on stain removal or car problems. Yahoo 7 answers seems to cover a vast range of quetions from the frivolous to the more serious. I'm not sure if we would have the time in our library to answering questions of such diverse range on a regular basis. It may be good to use as reference training, on an occassional basis.
I quite often listen to podcasts of the news, art programs, music and even a friends gaming groups podcast. It may be an option to attach podcasts of author talks to the library website.
Could be a useful tool for local history - recording peoples life recollections which could be accessed by others.
Monday, June 8, 2009
My local Council and library have recently used "Bang the table" to encourage feedback from the public and encourage a sharing of views on the library and other community matters. It is a great way of allowing people to offer their views (both good and bad ) in an anonymous forum.
Really like Librarything - will be a useful resource. Great way to record lists of books I've read check out reviews and recommended reading. Searching Technorati for "bookmobile" with a tag search produced considerably fewer results(43)than a keyword search (967). Tag search for nswpln2008 came up with 5 entries plus a link to all our photos.
Wikis - at first I wasn't sure about wikis. I had used wikipedia but had not really considered how wikis could be used in the workplace. I can now see how they would be really useful to store procedure manuals or to let others know what is happening in other departments - thus allowing a sharing of ideas and a greater awareness of what is happening around us. Working in a public library often means working different shifts - it can be quite difficult making sure information reaches everyone.
I liked the Booklovers wiki which would be a great link to the library website - people are always searching for something new to read - and could read reviews and add their own selections to the list.
Librarysearch - what a great resource, so many shared ideas.
The mint museum -
Contributing to a wiki was easier than I thought.
Youtube
Next step embedding videos from youtube - now that's a bit of fun. Once I worked out how to do it - it took a little while to appear, at first I thought it hadn't worked.
Enjoyed exploring various blogs - arts, news, library. I can see how it would be good to use a newsreader with a list of RSS feeds, I have found it would be best to be selective with as it can be so time consuming reading through them all.
I added a few news feeds an arts journal and a library blog.
Have used Bloglines before but this time used Google reader and found it easier to follow. I added a newsfeed to my blog without any problems.
what a magnificent building. I figured out how to upload pictures from flickr to my blog. I have also used flickr account to upload and share photos with overseas friends - alllowing access only to selected people - is proving to be very useful.
I have provided a link to this photo as I had trouble trying to upload directly from a webpage, adding photos from my computer was easy to do, however downloading from a webpage proved more difficult.
This links to a photo I found while searching on Flickr. I entered a search for "library" and was amazed at the number of photos that appeared, with a very wide interpretation of the word. This photo of the stairs in New York Public Library brought back the memory of my visit there a few years ago and the wonder I felt as I walked up that huge and magnificent staircase.
I first heard of learning 2 program when it was offered by State Library Victoria early last year - and so was excited to learn that NSW was also offering the program. As I work in NSW I transferred to this program and continued to learn (unfortunately forgot to register properly and so went unrecognized! Ah -read the fine print!) Not to worry I really need a refresher as there are aspects I have not really used much and so the memory fades.
Not being able to access the course at work at the library was a problem as all my course work had to be done on a shared computer at home.
I am so glad the program has continued as there is so much to digest and it is so good to have an awareness of what is available both to store and disseminate information. I have found the course both informative and easy to follow - the practical aspect helps reafirm knowledge learned and makes the course much more useful. One drawback though was the need to open so many accounts -gmail, yahoo, etc I was already with hotmail and had 2 work email addresses, so remembering accounts, passwords and urls was a bit of a nuisance - a handy reference notebook was set up quite early in the piece.
Prior to "Learning 2" I had used email and accessed podcasts, wikipedia & flickr, but lacked the ability to set up and manage my own accounts - however since starting the course I have set up a flickr account (tagging photos), regularly use skype, access and use blogs, have a facebook profile and am eager to explore the possibilities of these and other applications on the workfront.
