WEEK 12 SOCIAL NETWORKING - AND NOW THE END IS NEAR

Had a look at social networks Facebook, Bebo etc. For anyone under the age of 25 these are such a normal means of communication. While they are an easy and great way of staying in touch with numerous friends and colleagues I've recently read that perspective employers and even tertiary institutions now look at these social networks to assess or determine whether a potential candidate is suitable as it gives an insight into the "real person". They check out the likes, dislikes, habits etc. embarrassing photos (as the Australian Olympic swimming team now knows) that's kind of scary. I still think they have a lot of merit.



I like the fact the British Library is on Facebook. It appears to personalise it and I think is a really good way reaching a generation who for whom perhaps the library holds no great significance. It has photographs, videos etc.I can't believe we have reached the end of this particular journey or is it just the beginning of a commitment to lifelong learning. I have been introduced to so many new web applications the mind boggles, the mind also boggles at the speed at which new applications are coming online. Such clever people out there. I do feel a sense of accomplishment at have survived my 'test pilot' experience without a parachute and I hope to venture further into the great World Wide Web.

Week 11 ONLINE APPLICATIONS AND TOOLS

I am running late with my Learning 2.0 program, that will teach me to take holidays in a place where I could not access a PC (yes such places do still exist).



Have been looking at Zamar and converted an existing file to PDF which again was relatively easy. I have to admit that looking at Slideshare I am amazed at the number and variety of web applications that exist to make life easier. From a work perspective the ones that appeal to me most are Doodle to arrange meetings (I think this is what Ellen & Mylee used to co-ordinate the time for our last meeting to assess Learning 2.0 ?) what a good way of getting people to RSVP to a meeting and to nominate the times most suitable for them, in a large organisation and across departments this would save a lot of phoning and emailing to co-ordinate meeting times.



I also like Jott which allows for someone to send a voice message via cell phone and then have it transcribed to text or email & sent to a nominated recipient. I think anyone who travels for work would find this a godsend and just for fun I like the idea of Picnik a web based photo editing site.





I started a document last week in Googledocs which I hope I can retrieve and finalise send on to slnsw2.0@gmail.com

WEEK 9 MASHUPS

Not really sure if this picture is a mashup or not. I used
big huge labs to turn a Christmas photo into a jigsaw which was relatively easy and fun to do.

Being as technically inept as I am I chose a simple exercise but I imagine mashups are something that you could play around with quite a bit. Perhaps as I develop a little more expertise and confidence with the technology I may become a little more adventurous.

WEEK 10 PODCASTS

This is one of the few components in learning 2.0 that I had actually heard of previously even thought I had never accessed a podcast (but I have now been converted).





I listened and watched a number of the British Library pod casts which I found really interesting. What a way of opening up your collections to a much larger audience and possibly a world audience. I particularly liked Michelle Browns a former BL curator walking us through the pages (literally and figuratively) of the Holkhem Bible. I thought this could be a really good way of getting people who are experts in their field to speak about and explain particular items held in our collections. We can all appreciate the rare and unique items held but we probably only appreciate them from an aesthetic point of view however having someone provide an explanation or a journey through the item and provide a historical context would be so much more valuable. By combining an audio journey (pod cast) with a visual image provides a unique aspect on any given item in our collection.





In many ways access to the library is limited to the people of Sydney or people visiting Sydney, pod casts of talks on particular items held in the collections, pod casts of talks & events held in the library where appropriate) would once again open the library to a much wider audience both in New South Wales and beyond.

WEEK 8 ANSWER BOARDS

I thought this was intersting and had some merit. I didn't initially understand the terminology Slamming the Boards which appears to be an American expression as are many of the examples in the tutorial. The concept appears to be based on a co-operative of libarians answering questions in order to raise the profile of libraries. On our own SLNSW Ask a Librarian the concept would appear to be similar if not as universal. We offer an interactive online service with librarians answering questions in real time. So I guess the point of difference is that Answer Boards are trying to be more procative rather than reactive which can only be commended ?

On a personal note was approached by a colleague this week who had located FLICKR and was keen to know how he could use it. We had a play around and while I am by no means technically advanced was able to help and answer some of his (basic) questions. Felt good.

Haven't yet tried a Mashup but will do (it can be my homework)

WEEK 7 MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

It's Friday afternoon I'm tired and I'm confused. I think all this "tagging" is getting to me and I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get outside to see the light again.

I've been looking at Del.ic.ious and LibraryThing. I really like LibraryThing and will probably set up an account to check out new or unknown titles in areas of interest (I don't think it will be "tagging"). For me the jury is still out on Del.ic.ious . I checked out Sutherland Library tag cloud (I always thought a cloud was something in the sky but obviously because I'm such a late learner the meaning of cloud has changed. Note to self check Wikipedia for most up to date meaning of cloud). I would have thought that a lot of the entries and links in Sutherland's tag cloud would have been covered elsewhere perhaps on their web. All of this makes me curious to know with so many new web based tools available

• How do institutions decide what to go with and/or what the content will be
• What's involved inkeeping all of this information relevant and up to date
• Are they maintained by one individual or department within an institution
• How do we determine which tools to use and which may become obsolete

WEEK 6 VIDEO, ONLINE, YOUTUBE

This exercise was fun and the first time I ventured into Youtube and Google video.
Once again it's so easy to be distracted when you see topics that interest you, I can see why people become addicted (and those lego men could keep me amused for hours).

I could see so many uses for this within the library. Some of my ideas are not very original but the use of Youtube for staff training I thought was pretty good. It's something that could also be used to show practical applications at work. Sometimes it's not always easy to absorb and remember everything taught in a training session and if a practical "show me how" Youtube video was available staff could continue to learn at their own pace or simply refresh themselves on a topic/skill that they may not use on a regular basis. It could also be used to show correct methodologies for OHS issues such as manual handling or perhaps an orientation tour around the library buildings for all new staff and volunteers would be a good use. (It could also be used as a means of attracting new volunteers). It could be used to introduce clients or special interest groups to the library. You could walk someone through say a family history research project. There are just so many applications. It's a technology that is easily accessible, and readily available on everyone's desktop.

I have been to lucky enough to attend a number of library events. The library hosts some really great speakers and if these sessions were taped and uploaded on to the library's web then it opens up the library to all NSW residents not just those close enough to Sydney to vistit the library. I think Mosman library have got it right taping their visiting speakers.

Given that this is such a historic week in Australia's history I decided to add (well I hope I will be able to add) a youtube video of Kevin Rudd's address to Parliament this week apologising to the Stolen Generation of Australian Aboriginals.

WEEK 5 WIKIS

The more I look into new technologies the more I realise I have so much to learn. I have enjoyed searching wikis and some of those I have looked at appear to have content similar to web pages or blogs with their main point of difference being the ability to edit the content. I checked out the Montana History wiki and SJCPL as well as some of the others. I clicked on edit facility in each of the wikis I checked (all in the name of research) and all with the exception of the Mint Museum required a password prior to editing so there is at last some content/editorial control. The Mint Museum did not appear to have any edit facility that I could see. Having a password prior to editing a wiki at least provides some control over the editing function.

I checked out the entry for State Library of New South Wales in Wikipedia the initial search provided 1721 hits ranging from most relevant to least. While the content on SLNSW was general covering a brief overview on the history of the library I was curious and amused to see a reference to Duran Duran having done the photoshoot for the cover of their Seven and the Ragged Tiger album (not something I knew abouth the library before today).

For comparative purposes I also checked out the Wikipedia entry for National Library of Australia and I noticed straight away that they had a dialog box with links to their collections, Pictures Australia, Libraries Australia and so on very clearly visible. While there are external links from the SLNSW entry in Wikipedia to the collections it is located at the bottom of the page and and as such is a little lost. Perhaps the links to our collections might be better off placed in a more visible position somewhere close to the beginning paragraphs, maybe before Duran Duran gets a look in. I get the impression that people searching on Wikipedia may be looking for information in a hurry and may never actually read to the end of the entry. It was interesting to note that National Library of Australia, State Library of Victoria and Library of Congress all appear to have used a similar template in Wikipedia.

WEEK 4 RSS FEEDS

Providing links within my blog to a selection of RSS feeds proved a little more taxing than I thought (it's probably me). Setting up a Bloglines account was relatively simple even if I am getting a little confused with so many logins and passwords. I found the best way to add the RSS feeds to my blog was to copy and paste the URL. I have added links to the V&A blog as suggested, I have also added a link to my favourite LC blog which I am looking forward to reading, and I selected Casey-Cardinia Library blog to provide a view of what Australian public libraries are blogging about. I have also added the Powerhouse Museums Picture of the Day. This one was interesting. I was having difficulty adding this feed until I sought help from a fellow blogger (something I should have done sooner). We both accessed the Powerhouse Museum blog by clicking the link on Learning 2.0 but the display and options on each of our screens was different. Immediately appearing on her screen was the symbol to subscribe whereas the symbol did not appear when I clicked on the link so I finished up copying the URL. I am not sure why this is.

While looking for RSS feeds I found some interesting (and some "out there") blogs. I think one would have to be careful selecting feeds. For now I would like to stick to "institution blogs" if I could describe them as such as I feel they have a relevance to what we are doing. One thought I had for RSS feeds in relation to SLNSW was to create a library blog (similar to LC) which reflects what's going on in the library in a less formal way than perhaps a website would. The blog could reflect upcoming events, talks, exhibitions, new acquisitions etc. This could go hand in hand with our web or printed information sheets. As people turn more and more to the web it could provide them with automatic updates.

WEEK 3 FLICKR

I have been taking a look at flickr despite the fact that I still haven't fully mastered our latest digital camera. One of the things I noticed in flickr when searching for SLNSW images was the sequence in which the images appeared differed according to the tags or keywords used to search. It was fun searching for other images. Above are some of the images of SLNSW which I have also put on flickr.

Looking at the SLNSW images I think flickr will be a huge repository in the future. The images range from the very general to some very specific images. I think some of it's relevance will be in the future when it will provide a large scale social and pictorial commentary on not just the library but many other facets of life.

In it's current context flickr could also be used to acquire information historical and otherwise on pictorial and other items in our collection where current information could be sketchy.

WEEK 2 INTRODUCTION TO BLOGS

More than any of the others I really like the Library of Congress blog. Each time I check it out there is always something new that's worthy of investigation and that draws me in. It's style appears to be informal but also informative I come away having learnt something new each time (and probably wanting to spend longer than I should checking it out).





I do have one problem however, about two weeks ago I found a link on LC's blog to James Gurney the author of the popular Dinotopia books. I had wanted to include the link but have since been unable to find it again on the LC blog. I have tried searching the blog under his name but did not find any matches. Has anyone else had this problem ?





The gist of the story was that in return for speaking at LC James Gurney as a visiting author was offered the opportunity of viewing items in the collection that were of interest to him and he chose 19th century explorers journals. His excitment for the material was infectious and people responded to this by making suggestions of what they themselves would wish to view such as items on Egyptology, exotic animals etc. The impression I got is that people saw the library in a very different light.





I thought perhaps there was an opportunity here for our library to do something similar. To perhaps offer a peek at some of the items in our collection to people who either speak at the library or maybe people with a media profile who could then blog about a particular aspect of the collection that interested them. They would each have their own following maybe with differing demographics and this could offer a way of opening the collection to a wider audience.





James Gurney own website is located at http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2007/09/library-of-congress.html

WEEK 1 INTRODUCTION TO SLNSW LEARNING 2.0

I feel elated I have finally created

A BLOG
With a little hesitation and some trepidation
but it's appears to have worked out fine in the end.




I am a little late in creating my blog mainly because I found there was a lot of information to read and attempt to understand prior to starting the blog. However if I could offer one word of advice to any new bloggers that would be to get started. Once you set up a gmail account and then set up your blog (which in itself isn't as scary as it may appear) a lot of this information begins to make a lot more sense.