Thursday, October 18, 2007

23- Finish Line, Reflection

All in all a good experience- interesting, helpful, enhanced, quicker, deeper ways to use web technology to do what one wants to do and see and think about and to share with others. My personal social software favorites are rss feeds (no more e-mail newsletters or trying to remember to look at a blog or website on a regular basis,) del.icio.us (easy access to my bookmarks from any tagged in a way that makes sense to me,) and LibraryThing for the fun of it (and to remember what I've read, and what's tagged "future.")
I need to continue to figure out what applies to my library and how we can configure it to help serve our patrons.

22- Teach someone

So I taught a loved one how to set up and use a del.icio.us account, rather than rss feeds which I had suggested. He really didn't need much instruction as a lot is self-explanatory, and understood the concept of tags placing a url in to different categories, so it was accessible from more than one "folder." I think he will probably import his bookmarks from work and home in to it. I also showed him the private/public aspect of it, and had forgotten the default was public public, unless you set it up to give the private choice. I did actually quickly show him rss feeds with bloglines and LibraryThing which he also seemed quite taken with. We also looked at the Los Gatos Library which has a LibraryThing account.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

21- Podcasts

Looks like Yahoo will no longer have a Podcast search, so must move on to other specialized search engines. Looks like the Podcast directory is still up and running as well as of course the itunes store, where one can download free podcasts of NPR material- the key is to get each episode within the week after it's up on the site, after that it's .99/cast of This American Life and the like. Look on wikipedia under podcast and you get a listing of many podcast directories.
I see that the ALA has a podcast of library news, and you can get an rss feed, when the new p-cast comes out. I don't see an easy way to download , but you could listen to it streaming directly from your computer.

Monday, October 15, 2007

20- YouTube and

Looked at youtube....again and some other video-sharing websites. For some reason, I just can't get that absorbed in it. Maybe because i don't do videos (nor do i take photos for the most part) myself, and although I watch tv and see films, i don't get that absorbed in television much of the time. I've used you tube for videos to add to presentations (just a clip of course), and can see the point of video and podcasting on a library's website, but don't exactly see where video-sharing would be used by public libraries. Putting a tour of the library on youtube, rather than the library's website, so that ....? I'm not sure. Maybe the question is, would patrons like to share their videos and add their user-generated content to the library's website? More questions then answers.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

19- Google Maps

As much as I like Google Maps, and I do, the whole "My Maps" thing is pretty non-intuitive. It was not obvious to me, how to dredge them back up after you had created and signed out and back in again, it was not obvious how to load a picture that could be accessed by your map. I also initially had trouble with the drawing tools, but that could just be me. After making a crudely drawn shape on top of a satellite map that included our library, I finally figured out how to upload a picture to Picasa and have it correctly link (just the picture not the album) to the shape on the match, I thought it was somehow saved. It seemed difficult to find again, and the map did not dispay at the level I though I had saved it at. Later when I went in again, it seemed to have totally disappeared, and when I attempted to create a new one, I couldn't get the picture (library layout) to appear.
So I gave up..... for now. I can see that it would be possibly handy to do quick maps with added features to add to direction pages, do maps of restaurants within walking distance of a library, etc.
The one thing this did remind me is that even for someone who likes new things, and generally embraces change if not wholeheartedly, at least without major resistance, if new and change can be a little frustrating for me, it could be worse for others.

Monday, October 8, 2007

18- On-Line Productivity

I could make lots of jokes here about the title, but I won't.
The deadline for finishing the challenge is looming!

I've used Google docs, as a crude way to do a webpage, before I found Google Pagecreator. No one ever worked with me, or edited it, so I can't attest to it's shared nature. I have looked at Google's spreadsheet tool, and like the idea of different people going into a workbook, and adding data. It would be an easier way to do A-V orders here; Excel (as far as I can tell, I am far from expert) doesn't really allow for collaboration, just additions. Both of these tools are useful if you don't have or don't care for Microsoft and other expensive software.

17- InfoPeople wiki

Very easy to edit, I added just a small comment on one of the pages. Being a-r, I would like to see it more structured, and less blog-like.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

16- Wikis

One of the librarians at MY library has created an often-asked questions reference wiki, as well as one for homework assignment. These have been for staff use only as the url was posted only on a staff intranet. However, when our "Useful Links" page dies, and our del.icio.us account takes its place, the wikis will be more accessible, although I am not sure how they are tagged.

Wikis seem anywhere from very easy to mildly complicated to create and edit. and of course each one you have to look at the sometimes unspoken protocol, when you are going to edit. Are things in alphabetical order, do you delete and then post updated content, or do you post underneath or?

In some ways wikis are/can be like the stenographer's book at the reference desk, where people use to write important things that they wanted all to see. Of course they can be much more, and some brave libraries probably allow their patrons/customers/clients/stakeholders to edit.

Friday, September 28, 2007

15- Web 2.0, Library 2.0

Wow, after a lot of doing, and some thinking, a lot of reading, digesting and thinking. And now blogging....
I think Walt Crawford raises some good points about what's hype and what's real, is Library 2.0 mainly about technology, is it really about what it's always been about for libraries, etc. But I don't like his tone....

I see Library 2.0 as the technology of Web 2.0 applied to the (public) library setting to continue to serve patrons in to the future. It includes patron-generated content (rating of materials, tagging, blogging or at least commenting on library blogs, wikis) interacting with patrons using newer technology applications (IM reference, del.icio.us tagging vs/ in addition to Internet links, text message alerts, RSS feeds of library and more content) information/education/enrichment delivery via nta- e-video, downloadable audiobooks, etc.
Gaming at the library, why not, as long as I don't have to DDR myself or supervise it (hee, hee....)

Second Life I have trouble with, both literally, my computer is too old, or lost it's memory or something, never could get it to dowload correctly, of course my 24-year-old son ran in to the same problem with his less than a year-old laptop- and less literally- I don't know that our patrons really want to interact with us there, nor do I think that all teens really want their public library to friend them on myspace, especially when their public library is old enough to be their mother.

I certainly think that whatever Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 are exactly, it's very much worth looking at least 23 things that can possibly be implemented to benefit our patrons. And just because Library/Web 2.0 proponents sometimes contradict each other and even themselves, doesn't mean they're, in essence wrong, Walt....

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

14- Technorati

I can see using Technorati if you're just looking for blog posts, but regular search engines seem to come up with at least some blogs, and in general I'm usually doing a search that probably can work in a general search engine.

Monday, September 24, 2007

13- Del.icio.us

Hard to remember where the dot's go, but a great way of bookmarking. We are about to take down our "useful links" page, and instead provide the url of the Library Info staff del.icio.us account, so patrons can use our bookmarks. Debate on how to bundle the tags (dewey vs other,) or to bundle or not, continues.

Friday, September 21, 2007

12- Rollyo

Can't help but be amused by the name. but it's disappointing that the search is limited (without major tweaking I assume) to top level domains. This appears to preclude searching within a library's catalog or databases directly, only the homepage. It also precludes limiting searches to certain sections of newspapers (i.e. restaurant reviews.) it may still useful for librarians to construct rollyos for YA and kids classes where the teacher wants their internet searching limited.

Monday, September 17, 2007

11- LibraryThing

LibraryThing is easy to use even for Web 2.0 novices and applicable to libraries. I've read where a school library has put their books into LibraryThing so users can more easily find them, tag them, share them. For a public library, it would require a paid acount (limited to 200 books free) and a possibly labor-intensive export process?

Friday, September 14, 2007

10- image generators

The image generators I found are fun and easy to use. I think some of the graphics you can do them would look great on Library webpages or within Library blogs. They could also be used if one were teaching a "Pimp my myspace" type of class- of course that's another challenge....

9- Twitter

I used Twitter for a few days. It was more fun and useful to do it from a cellphone while waiting for a library-related meeting :) then to just say what I was doing at my desk at work. I did not get any great flashes of inspiration about how to use Twitter, but was woken up by the cat who lives his life in the pre-sunrise hours while I'm trying to sleep, and did see how my library could use a Flickr feed!

Monday, September 10, 2007

8- Library-related RSS feeds

I subscribe to at least 2 of the top 25 library-related blogs plus many more not on the list. It's the fastest way for me to keep up with whatever is new in the library world, and I fully read what I'm interested in, and scan the rest. Of course, sometimes someone will post something about a neat new toy and I'll doodle around with it for way too long.

7- Bloglines

I've been using Bloglines since taking the Infopeople Web 2.0 class, and love it. It seems much more manageable to read feeds as you have time and interest, rather than have piles of e-mail. And of course you can get feeds from sites, that are not set up for e-mail lists.

6- Rss feeds, Podcasts, and more, Oh My!

Our library is also offering Rss feeds of news sites we think are patrons are interested in, but not overtly of new content. I can see doing podcasts or videocasts of our storytime, which is extremely popular. I see the point about the Denver Public Library having great Web 2.0 resources, but it not being obvious from their homepage- but if you know you're looking for podcasts, it doesn't seem that diffricult to decide it's under downloads. On the other hand, if you don't know there are podcasts, it wouldn't be obvious from the homepage. Of course, you could say this about library cards also; if you are only vaguely aware of them, it might be hard to find that information from looking at many library's homepages. One way to make podcasts and the like more easily available, would be to not only offer them under a "download" or "e-resources" tab, but also tied to "kids' area" if they are of storytime, etc.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

5- Flickr Mashups

Some of the Flickr mashups look fun, but the ones where pictures scroll by and you have to tag them remind me of playing "Memory" games when my kids were young. They could always beat me, because I just couldn't remember where the two pigs or two flowers were located no matter how many times I turned them up! I would imagine I would fare about the same trying to quickly tag images. For our library, I like mashups of maps and content the best. I was originally thinking text being the content, but I can see combining it with Flickr.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

4- Flickritis

I think Flickr is great in that you can post pictures for all or some to share- and retrieve them by tags. I'm not as sure about the groups, unless you're really interested in one area, and want to retrieve all photos from those users and discuss with them. The Creative Commons licenses are great, so you know which photographs can be used in what way- I can see making use of this for work-related pictures that might be needed.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

1-3 Are 23 things anything like Bay to Breakers?

This is just the beginning, when will i hit the infamous Hayes hill (or whatever infamous hill it is) ?