Week 10, Thing 24 – Summary

I can’t believe this is my last post already.  I am astounded at what I have learned during this journey into the world of Library 2.0.  I earned my button.  I found the program challenging without being overwhelming and I liked the balance of the more serious tools with the fun stuff like the Flickr mashups and the image generators.  I can see multiple applications for all of the tools and as a beta-tester, I’m looking forward to launching this with our staff so that we can discuss, brainstorm and collaborate and make use of all that we have learned. 

 I thought the format was perfect for this training and would eagerly participate again in a self-directed learning program.

Week 10, Thing 23 – NetLibrary

I have a NetLibrary account from way back.  The trick was remembering my login information but I accessed the archives of my mind and found it.  I have listened to few audiobooks in my life (I prefer my own pace of reading, rather than the pace of someone else reading) but I found a few mysteries in our NetLibrary collection that I will definitely check out.

Week 10, Thing 22 – Podcasts

I did this one from home because I have iTunes loaded on my computer.  I had only used it for loading my iPod and never checked the podcasts available (for free!).  Imagine my glee at finding New Yorker short stories – tons of them!  Another thing to keep me up far too late at night.  I also searched around for different podcasts in other areas, in particular Linwood Barclay.  I remember a picture of him when he was still with the Toronto Star podcasting from his home office with a towel over his head.  He was having difficulty blocking out background noise while recording.  His podcasts were rather entertaining.

I had never listened to library-related podcasts before but I found some of the discussions at Uncontrolled Vocabulary interesting and lively.  Unfortunately, they are no longer podcasting regularly but there is an archive of their previous podcasts and they cover a wide range of topics.

Week 10, Thing 21 – YouTube

Looking up favourite music artists is probably a mistake.  Every single artist makes you think of one more and then you swear, just one more song, and then you start looking for the videos from VH1’s special on one-hit wonders of the 80’s and before you know it, it is very, very late.  And rather distressing to discover that the very things that you thought were so cool were in reality so very, very lame.  Except for Billie Jean.  And maybe Take on Me, but that’s only because of the literal version that came out a while back.  You can find it here.  And a shout-out to Michelle’s husband, Gord, who shared Hannah Montana Cliff Notes.  And for you youngsters out there – a pre-CGI classic:   Hammy Hamster.  Didn’t they also send that poor thing down in a diving bell or submarine?

I thought the Calgary PL ad was very clever and I would love to do something along those lines.  We could find a whole new audience for our services.  It was funny that that video ended up sending me to a bunch of Monty Python videos.  I had way too much fun watching those.  And thanks for the Moxy Fruvous link.  I hadn’t heard that song in forever.

Week 9, Thing 20 – PBWiki

Much like the WPL Reference Wiki, the WPL Fun with 2.0 Wiki was very easy to navigate and edit.  I was even successful in attaching a link to the Favourite Video clips page.  And even more impressive (for me, anyway) was that I added a plug-in slide show of cat pictures.  (What is it with librarians & cats anyway?)

Week 9, Thing 19 – Learn about Wikis

I first encountered wikis as probably most people do with Wikipedia.  I am well aware of the problems associated with Wikipedia and didn’t find the NYT article surprising.  I would imagine that there a number of academic institutions that have instituted a similar ban.  I do use Wikipedia on occasion, particularly for pop culture information.  My first experience contributing to a wiki was the WPL Reference Department Wiki and the page set up for OLA reports.  It was extremely easy to use and I found it interesting to read through others’ experience, particularly for sessions I didn’t attend.  Until I watched the Common Craft video, I didn’t really think about how a wiki could be used to keep people from getting lost in email trails.  When I work with a graphic designer on the annual report or documents like the Strategic Plan, I would estimate that there are probably 35-40 emails that fly back and forth with information, edits, changes, confirmations, etc.  I think I might set up a wiki and see if we can streamline the process.

Week 7, Thing 17 – Library 2.0

Library 2.0 is often on my mind but particularly so with our recent discussions about the new website.  What fascinates me is the opportunity for participation and conversation.  Linking, tagging, commenting, blogging, real-time feedback – it is all so remarkable.  We have always thought of ourselves as open, transparent, client-driven organizations but I think Library 2.0 takes that to a whole new level when library users can actually craft and manipulate their own library experience and share it with others.

Week 7, Thing 16 – Technorati

Two words: S’More Popsicles. Oh yeah and Obama’s speech to American schoolchildren. Just two of the rising posts that caught my eye. I also noted that people on the internet really seem to like cute kitten videos. The tag clouds could keep you moving through pages all day and subsequently wondering, “How the heck did I end up here?” I have to confess that while I could see a number of applications for this site, it wasn’t one of my favourites and probably one I won’t use regularly.

Week 7, Thing 15 – Tagging & Delicious

The tutorial from Common Craft was excellent.  I was not able to install the buttons in the second step but I searched the help page and installed the bookmarklets instead.  Like other social networking tools, I found myself winding down very interesting paths by searching tags I have used and finding sites that were very similar and in some cases just plain weird.  The popular bookmarks feature can be very time-consuming (in a good way!).  I would have likely never stumbled upon the pictures of Neil Gaiman’s basement otherwise.   

I set up my own Delicious account and found that I was the first one to tag some of the sites.  What?  No other user has a need for the Canadian Copyright Act? 

 I think it would be terrific to have departmental accounts and we could eliminate bookmarks on the information desk computers.  Finding commonly accessed sites would be fast and efficient and would open a whole world of undiscovered links through the tags.  Library information work has always been a collaborative effort and this is a terrific tool for increasing collaboration.

Week 6, Thing 14 – Online Image Generators

The Twitter Status Generator was too much fun and made me laugh out loud on several occasions.  Carefully gloomy and staring at mail.  Grotesquely philanthropic and giddy about angels.  Loosely stupefied and praying for martinis.  Actually that last one was spookily prescient.  The Lego Character was nifty and will probably soon show up as my FB profile picture.  I couldn’t figure out how to save it but the creator has an FAQ that will lead you through the process.  Mini Lego Me: