digital-discombobulations

#12 - Conclusions and review

2009-10-08T16:26:00.004+11:00

I think the format of this learning task has been a good way to tackle it. Many of the topics are tools I would probably never have looked into if I hadn't been gone through this programme. It has all turned out to be more "approachable" than I had expected ( so really no excuses for dithering through the first incarnation ).

I guess I would have to say I have mixed feelings about Web 2.0. There are certainly good things about it- and things I personally like such as Library Thing, Flickr and especially (cookery) blogs - but there seem to be other options that people and organisations take up on because they think they should, or because others are doing it, and I put Twitter in this category.
I guess I would say that I am not an " early uptaker" of any new technology either.
If we can get over the idea that we simply have to use something because "it is there" then we can pick up the best that Web 2.0 has to offer. I think librarians and libraries feel pressure to take up things because other libraries have but not all change is for the better.
Thanks Training Team for your help and guidance!

#11 - More Web 2.0 Applications & Library 2.0

2009-10-08T15:21:00.003+11:00

The Web 2.0 awards were awarded differently to what I was originally expecting. There are certainly things there that I am familiar with and we have practical uses for in the library, such as del.icio.us, wikis plus things such as Google Maps with obvious value when used on other sites. I imagine most of the sites are chosen because they do something new and do it in new ways but so much of this seems to me to be "style" over "substance". I guess what happens is that many of these fall by the wayside and the ones that actually do something useful in a better way develop and become mainstream tools. However, some are just new ways to choose to be bombarded with information - such as Twitter ( which could be useful I guess if you choose to follow someone/some group with something of value to say).
The "Flock" widget ( 2nd in it's category) for instance, if my understanding is correct, allows you to keep track of social activity on sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, and others in a sidebar that follows them no matter what site they're on. This sort of thing - as someone who uses none of these - just makes my head spin - - -

# 10 - Photos and Videos - Flickr and YouTube

2009-10-01T14:25:00.015+10:00

Crediting DavidGaleStudios' photostream on Flickr for this image of a variation on the standard Borg cube.

Playing around with the images on Flickr - a bit hard to drag yourself away once you start looking around in there. I did find however that not all images on Flickr were available to me to publish on my blog. Some of the images are by professional photographers and/or are gif files which I found I couldn't use. This applied to the first image I tried for which was of a Borg cube that someone had made from Lego - - -
My own public library, Eastern Regional Libraries, has used Flickr to allow users to see how the renovations of library branches are proceeding. I could imagine it also being used for various teaching aspects- because you can put what they call "Hot Spots" on images it means that you can put labels on scientific or other images.
I've also seen instances where it was used to display the entries in photography competitions which seemed a good way to make them accessible for everyone. A reasonably pleasant surprise for me was to find the the Encyclopedia of Life was using Flickr to run photographic competitions on various aspects of wildlife photography and I think that meant too that those images could potentially be used on that website eventually.

I then had a look at some of the suggested sites on "You Tube". I've never really looked at "You Tube" much before although I imagine many of the emails - containing short clips - that I have been sent at different times are picked up from this site. Although I get a little tired of many of our patrons spending untold hours on this site I can see how it can be easy to fall into the trap - -
Once I had looked at the suggested domino clip then there were links to all these other domino clips - - and then more links - -
In "ScienceHack" some of the filtering work ( most, and maybe all, the clips seem to come from "YouTube") has been done for you in terms of identifying real science clips. I had a bit of a look around "Robotics" and couldn't resist having a look at the "Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot".
In contrast, as least as far as I can tell, "TeacherTube" isn't mediated or controlled in any way. There probably is very worthwhile material there but you'll have to do the "separating the wheat from the chaff" as they say.

#9 - Tags, Del.ico.us and LibraryThing

2009-09-30T13:02:00.004+10:00

I have looked at the various sites suggested - although some I am already familiar with through working on AskNow and SLVChat. I do like the concept of all of these and how you can use them to tap the collective knowledge of others to help you identify new resources. My main "contact' with LibraryThing has been through the Boroondara Library catalogue and have often used it there to see what others who read like me are reading. I am pleasantly surprised by how often titles I have read, or are considering reading, appear as "recommendations" - which makes me keen to explore the others listed as well.
I had also noticed that some blogs I have looked at have a bookshelf (that looks like a bookshelf)on their page that shows the books they are reading/have read and that this was identified as being "courtesy" of Shelfari. ( I gather this might perhaps be a widget? ) I wasn't sure how this might compare to LibraryThing as they seem to be pretty similar. Not sure how this will all pan out eventually as it seems that Amazon has acquired Shelfari and also has a stake in LibraryThing. However Rob Lewis, writing on Techvibes, states that "Speculation about Amazon supporting one or the other or even merging the two services didn’t make sense as they serve different types of communities: Shelfari is focused on the casual reader that is interested in talking about what they're reading while LibraryThing is much more focused on serious bibliophiles that love cataloguing their personal libraries. Think “social reading” versus “social cataloguing”.

# 8 - Exploring Podcasts

2009-09-30T10:59:00.005+10:00

I have never really even thought of exploring podcasts before as I don't own any sort of iPod or similar - and so read my book on the train. However, I have occasionally found things I am interested on the internet which only exist as a podcast without any transcript available and, of course, I also can't listen to the radio at all the times I might want to so to take away a podcast to listen to does have it's attractions. Mind you I've had someone listening to something on their headphones cross the road in front of my car oblivious to their surroundings or danger but that was probably (very) loud music.
I had a look at the ABC site and listened to the StarStuff podcast http://www.abc.net.au/science/starstuff/ of Tuesday 22nd September. I would see some appeal in being able to listen to programmes that interested me while I was doing the ironing or hanging out the washing or - as we used to be able to do - watering the garden.
As far as libraries are concerned I imagine there would be potential for use in library tours and in being available for patrons to access to guide them through such things as catalogue use etc.

#7 - Adding a journal RSS feed

2007-11-29T14:51:00.000+11:00

Happily I have managed to add a feed from a journal from ANZ Reference Centre plus one from an about.com guide which was very easy to set up and guided me nicely through the process. In the process I found out that Winona Ryder is going to play Spock's mother in the new Star Trek movie ( for the uninitiated Spock's mother was human, although I can't imagine she ever was into shoplifting ) - and now that I am set up for these feeds I will know lots more valuable snippets like this.

#6 -RSS feeds

2007-11-22T14:41:00.000+11:00

After having come across references to RSS feeds quite often and really having no clear idea of what they were, but having a vague idea that they kept you "up-to-date" with things, it has been good to learn a bit about them.
One of the misconceptions that I had was that it was a matter of having your own search terms and that you somehow received a notification ( email I thought ) when something new appeared with that term in it. Instead of that the RSS feeds are determined by the "producers" of the website on what sections should have a feed. eg something like new books received that month for a library feed.
Sometimes it can be surprising to see what feeds are and are not offered. For instance, SLV offers a number of feeds but I could pick up only one from the New York Public Library - a couple more if I narrowed it down to the Science Library.
I've subscribed to my 5 feeds - but I will explore all this a bit further when I have the time - -
right now I must try to catch up - - I'm behind schedule - - I've been travelling on impulse speed - - time for Warp factor 1 - -

# 5 - Managing to add something to a Wiki - or 2 Wikis

2007-11-22T14:26:00.001+11:00

I thought I had actually successfully posted something useful about electronic journals represented in SLV databases to a wiki - but then I couldn't find it - and thought that someone else had removed it - - for absolutely no good reason !
Turned out that I had actually added it to the Redmond Barry Team Wiki and it's still there safe and well - so I am pleased about that - reassured that I can actually do it.
As I am adding this I am also looking at RSS feeds and talking to Lynette about how they can be used. Further down the track I will see if I can set up feeds from the internal SLV wikis - as I've found out that all wikis and blogs should automatically have feeds as it is enabled by the software behind them.
I added my blog - not without one hiccup though - to the PB Sandbox Wiki and I think I might go back there and also have a look at the information that Rebekah has added to the favourite restaurant section.

# 4 -Wiki Wackys

2007-11-07T15:28:00.001+11:00

Here I am back again after a bit of a lull in my blogging - hope it will all come back to me. I've had a bit of a look at some different wikis - certainly seems that they can be useful in libraries and elsewhere. We all know to be a bit wary of Wikipedia but we also know that it is often a very good starting point for research on a subject.
Thought I'd have a look at the Star Trek entry on Wikipedia - no mention of William Shatner's muffins but I did find out lots of recent news that I wasn't aware of about new productions etc. Even some of the Star Trek items - which you would have thought would have been added to ad-infinitum - were still asking for citations to be added for some statements.
In addition, it isn't too likely that entries such as these are blatantly misrepresenting the facts.
However, and I can't begin to imagine the United Federation of Planets ( that's their flag at the top of this entry ) doing this, according to WikiScanner, it seems that a host of blue-chip companies have altered their entries on Wikipedia to cover up embarassing episodes in their history. WikiScanner can track the IP addresses of the machines that were used to make the changes to the online encyclopedia - see more

So wikis can be used for good -- or for evil - - -

2007-10-11T14:04:00.000+10:00

Lynette is helping me at the moment - I'm going to try adding a picture and a hypertext link -- here's a nice recipe to eat on a starship - -

My first foray - -

2007-10-05T12:37:00.000+10:00

My first post . What to say? My mind is blank - - Hope this actually appears - I'll write something more interesting next time.