Summary of Learning 2.0

This experience has been a little different to what I was expecting. Having never written a blog before I didn't really know what it would be like, although I guess with so many people out there writing blogs about anything and everything it couldn't be too hard! I think I could have gotten a lot more out of this experience if I'd had my own computer at home as I could have spent longer on each task. As it was I felt I had to hurry through it because I was going away on holidays and wanted to have it finished before I left. Some of my more favoured exercises were Flickr, online image generators and YouTube. Not sure how or when I'll use all this new knowledge in the future (only time will tell) but at least I'll know what people are talking about when I hear them mention wikis or podcasts and know that I too have created a blog.

Downloadable audio books

This exercise I enjoyed much better than the last!!! Whilst listening to a story is not how I usually like to "read" a book, I can see they would be really good if you were going travelling somewhere or you had to do a lot of driving everyday. There was mostly classics on the site I was looking at, so some more current titles would definately be good (however they may not continue to be free!)

Podcasts

http://www.podcast.net/play/2343/1

The podcast I've include here is not one which interested me that much, I just found it difficult to find one at all. Quite a few of them had nothing there when you clicked on them and most of the rest were not that exciting when you listened to them anyway. I found it very frustrating trying to find one I would want to listen to, I don't think podcasts are for me!!! We could probaby use them in the library to broadcast author talks or patrons doing book reviews.

Web 2.0 definitions

http://www.webopedia.com/Web_2_0/

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ4lhsbF-kg&feature=related

Looking through the videos on YouTube is usually quite fun. You always find some good and some bad ones. I thought I'd keep to the theme of travel with this as well, so I've chosen one from my favourite destination, Penang. I love to sit on the beach and watch people parasailing, but I've never been able to do it myself. We could include videos on the library website of various activities we've held and show people all the fun that they missed out on! Again I would need a lot more time to fully explore all the stuff I would like to on YouTube.

Web 2.0 awards

I found a great site for those that like to travel called "Real Travel". It would be really helpful for most people when they are researching holiday destinations and when you're ready to book your holiday. You could search for hotels, flights and tourist attractions and you can read the experiences of people who have already been there. You could spend hours searching this site and perhaps even save yourself some money by comparing prices of various hotels/flights.
Have a look for yourself.
http://realtravel.com/

Online productivity

I didn't even know these existed on the web, so this was totally something new. I guess they're not as advanced in content as the ones you have to pay for but for someone who doesn't use them all the time, they are good (and free). You can also access them from anywhere so you can utilize them even when you are not at your usual computer. They are also pretty simple to use and it doesn't take you long to get the hang of them after playing around with them for a short time.

Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki

I always think these things are going to be difficult when I start, but doing this was really easy. Adding my blog to the page was so simple, and adding an entry to the Learning 2.0 Sandbox wiki was so quick and easy to do. I can see why there are so many wikis on the web.

Web 2.0, Library 2.0

From reading these perspectives of Library 2.0 it shows just what this program is all about. Increasing your computer knowhow to keep up with what is happpening/changing in the community at large. Libraries really need to keep up with these changes and adapt their practices to them, so as to remain relevant in the years/decades to come and still have a place in the community. Electronic resources need to be utilized to the full so as we're not seen as old fashioned and out of touch. With the speed that technology is changing now it will be a real challenge to keep up to pace.

Wikis

Wikis have good and bad points, I'm always a bit wary of them. The fact that anyone anywhere can add information to them can cause problems. If you're looking for an answer to a specific question, it's usually best to search 3 (or more) different sites to see if you get the same answer!! However they can have their good points if you remember to take this into consideration. Libraries may have many uses for them. I think one where patrons could add reviews to titles they have borrowed (both good and bad) would be a good idea. Reading their varying opinions would be interesting. However the content would probaby have to be monitored somehow!!

Technorati

This is a great way for searching all the different blogs out there, for ones that are right for you. I like to look at travel blogs and finding heaps to look at was so simple. The 3 ways of searching bought up very different results. Keyword search bought up a lot of stuff but perhaps not as relevant to what I was looking for as searching for an entire blog. Where as searching the blog directory started very broad until you narrowed in on what you wanted. Also searching the related tags helped you find stuff that you didn't even know you were looking for when you started!! Looking at the popular blogs was interesting to see what other people have been looking at, but doing your own search brings you more stuff that is specific to what you want.

Del.icio.us

Being able to access the sites you have bookmarked from any computer is a good idea especially for those of us who don't have a home computer. Also good for people with similar interests or careers to see what other people are looking at on the web. Its good that its something that everyone can make use of and not just the person who bookmarked the sites.

Rollyo

This is a great idea for saving time with all the web addresses in my favourites folder. I alway go into the same 10 or so websites every week. However you would have to keep it up to date as new websites appear all the time and old ones disappear and it would not be giving you current up to date websites.

LibraryThing

Link to my LibraryThing catalog

This is a good site for getting recommendations for authors to try. You can see what other people are reading, who read the same authors as you. It's also interesting to see what books you have been reading which haven't even been added to the catalog yet! Also a good way of keeping track of your own home library collection.

online image generator

http://www.oreillymaker.com/
There were lots of great things to play around with (could have spent hours). This was one you could have a lot of fun with designing your own book cover. Good for would be authors and designers. You can see your finished product straight away as you type.

RSS feeds

This is great for time-saving. All those sites that you look at everyday, takes time especially if the Internet is running slow. This makes everything much faster and gives you what you want with less key strokes. You can get through a lot more in a shorter space of time.

Blog post

What interests me the most about technology at the moment is just how fast it changes and in some cases becomes obsolete. Something might be there one week and gone the next. The new HD DVD players are an example. They haven't been on the market for all that long and already they are obsolete. People who have purchased these are left with something that they can no longer really use. It pays to wait awhile before you purchase new technology to see if its got staying power!

Flickr fun

Link from flickr fun
Just had a play with flickr fun. I've only included this link because I though it look nice, no other reason. I liked Mappr too, I've seen something like that before on the Internet when I was searching for a holiday, now I know more about it. Color pickr was quite interesting, not sure what I would use it for, but it was fun playing around with it!

Flickr - Photo Sharing!

90s_0023 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
There are heaps of great photos to choose from. Could spend hours going through them all but time doesn't allow. I chose this one because it reminded me of so many beautiful sunsets I've seen whilst travelling. I'm sure the library could use this for many purposes, including keeping the public up to date on happenings in the library, through great photos taken at library events.

Blogging

Wow, a little bit daunting so far. Didn't know what to expect. However hasn't been too bad. All been pretty well explained. Never really had anything to do with blogs at all, so a totally new experience. Hopefully all will go as smoothly as this did. Anyway am looking forward to what's ahead.