Friday, November 23, 2007

week 9 : podcasts, Video & ebooks

Well youtube what can i say it is a continuous source of amusement for me, i don't use it much but my friends are always finding new things to show me which leave me in stitches. Here is one of the ...cleaner amusements.



Ah podcasting, well i have an ipod and itunes but i really never used it. After uploading all my music i kind of just forgot about it. But as part of this web 2.0 i went back how and had a play around with itunes and its podcasting abilities, found alot more junk than i did useful information but as usually i went for entertainment and found some funny podcasts which i have added to my ipod . Also i went digging for my RSS feeds password and added the funny podcasts to my feeds. Lots of fun :)

EBOOKS. Lots of people seem to be interested in it but i cant quite grasp the idea of reading online. i hate it i really do, i just cant stand sitting at a desk and reading from a computer or even in bed with a laptop there is just somehting not right about it. But that said its a great source of information and it helps fill in some gaps when you cant find a book version of the merterial. But it is a last resort thing for me. As of now i havent found anything i would like to read, for the only thing i think i might be able to convince myself to read online is a 'how to do' book which i cant find in the library "the art of blacksmithing". In short its a great source but its one of those things im going to have to get used to first.

Thing 23:the end

Ah web 2.0 what can i say at first i was the first one at my library to start up but about the third to finish, i had a serious down spot there for several weeks around the RSS feeds. i just couldnt bring myself to spend more than 10 minutes looking into these things at work and outside of work it totally left my mind. But as you can see i got rolling again then i just couldnt stop, and actually found it easy and very interesting and dont understand why i had such a slow patch all those weeks. Im about to go do the survey now and im sure to give a great rating. Also that borat picture, lol well thought well thought. 'Very niiice.... i like'. :p

Mongoose out!

Week 8: Online Processing tools and web 2.0

Firstly does this mean we no longer have to buy Microsoft office for those who just do word processing seeming we have this great tool online? i like the idea already.

Well i found it straight for and simple to use none of this flashy extras that just leave you confused. I liked how you could add notes as well, and that you could do spreadsheets as well not just standard wordish documents. Also the ability to send and/or share a file was also very convenient and straight forward in its use.

Definitely could be of use to people.

Web 2.0

http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/#cat_46 If you remember from my last post about online storage sites to go with being able to save favourites, heh well here they are on the winners list, im going to be spending some time checking these out because i know there is a use for these. Made me a very happy camper ya.
I like the First place winner for general storage no fuss get the job done site. And the idea of the third place winner for more media orientated files.
This is so great!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Week7: wikis

Well i absolutely love wikipedia although you have to keep in mind that till only recently anyone could edit the information so you had to be careful what you believed to be true. But now they have implemented making accounts to edit it so should help limit the amount of 'vandalism' going on to wiki.

In short its full of interesting things that can immerse you for hours on end. TRY IT! I used it when trying to find publishing information for unheard of series and graphic novels for our collections.

Sandbox wiki

really enjoyed this it was fun.
For this task I added my blog to 'favourite blogs', put in my favourite movies (Gladiator and Shaun of the dead and hot fuzz)

Week 6:Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati

del.icio.us

Well i found these sites several months back when i was trying to find away for patrons to save there links. I made an account on this website but found that i really didn't like it, and use http://www.sitejot.com/ instead, its a heck of alot simpler, less intuitive but for those who just want something easy to use and set up i find it works better for the majority of patrons. Also i found several online storage sites to compensate for us not having any hard drives and all our computers being slave ones. But i haven't recommended this to anyone because I'm unsure how safe they are and saving information especially personal or business related information could be quite dangerous, but its an interesting idea to look into.

Technorati

Did the key search 'Learning 2.0' and yes doing it under blogs and tags came up with very different results, did not go through all of them but the first page of results didn't turn up our particular Learning 2.0.

BOING BOING was the most popular blog on technorati and yes this is surprising because all the top blogs where made up of blogs about interesting facts or technology i thought it would be about something shallow like Britney spears or other such celebrities, so was pleasantly surprised.

Perspectives

Well i read them and find that im stuck between agreeing and saying its bollocks, i will comment on the first one 'away from icebergs' . i agree with the comments about needing to keep up with the times and making libraries more accessible via web and good search engines. But as it is in my libraries, you need to know where the line is. Since i have started working here almost 2 years now not a single new book on actually learning has come in, Other than study guides and self help books the actually information for learning is dropping of at a alarming rate.No we do not need any more cook books or Flings with highlanders something real would be nice like how to fix a fence or build a go cart or home chemistry ANYTHING that teaches these skills that in my fathers time was common knowledge but todays generation barely know exists outside of a job in these trades, to much focus has been put on entertainment of late rather than having the library as a bases for Information in all its glorious forms. Ah yes the Internet is a great source and this is where web 2.0 starts being truly beneficial, for this information can be tracked down with skills with todays technology. But to many people don't have these skills or the will to learn all the ins and outs of the web and how to find what you need when the library cant help you.

Anyway before i get to much over the top. The web and how to use it is a must for libraries but thinking that its going to be a quick change is a mistake things like this is a change over generations and to abandon the old ways so completely will only leave serious information gaps like we have in our libraries to date.

Week 5: Playing around with image generators and things





Image Generators


So much fun. Had some trouble at first because they wont let you use BMP format and took me a while to figure out that was why it wasnt working, but once i did it with a JPG it was fine.

Library Thing

Well i had a play around with this and enjoyed it, have only added five books so far and already havn't been able to find about 6 more books i wanted to add which is very sad.

Anyway here is the link http://www.librarything.com/catalog/deathbypapercut

Rollyo

Well i just use google or have my sites saved in favourites, making my own search engine seems alittle redundant when you consider the time invested to make a search engine, i would just rather use a ready made one in most occasions although for library work making a engine that only searches books and such would be helpful but in every day life being that specific takes to much time to make one for every idea you may have. But here is my random rollyo search http://www.rollyo.com/search.html?q=mongoose&sid=329381 enjoy!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Week 4: RSS Feeds & Newsreaders

Well i have been attempting to find time to do this for weeks now. I keep making my account then getting distracted forgetting my Passwords etc and having to start all over again.

So forget it i have several Feeds floating around now and i can tell you about them without bothering to make a new one. I went with the CNN recommended feeds to keep thing simple and yes it was simple. Although none of the standard options gave me anything of interest for me.

One thing i did find that i liked though "now this might be basic but i wouldn't know because i don't get my news from Internet' was that the articles could have comments posted by people which was very interesting to see other peoples points of view and enjoyed adding my own views.

Now being able to add your own feeds though is very good indeed, of course i have grabbed up all the comedy strips first then News, not NZ though i can read the paper for that but other countries all there headliners, Scientific and technology articles, lastly Economy.

Once i remember to keep my passwords i think this would be very helpful indeed.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Week 3:Flickr

Alright well i haven't ever used flickr, so this should be interesting. Firstly lets talk about Technology.



SKYPE



I love this programme i use it at home all the time.

1. Its free to download

2. I use it mainly for talking to friends and such while I'm online instead of having to type chat in programs like MSN.

3. You can talk to people overseas as if you had called them on the phone but for FREE!

4. You can also use it to call lane line numbers (but at a charge)



It is a great program to use.


Now flickr, What a interesting site at first i was slightly overwhelmed with all the different things you can actually do its such an interactive website. I do believe i will create a flickr account and over the weeks add links and such to all the things i have figured out. Its going to be great Fun!

Mashups

Well there is more programmes here than you could poke a stick at. One of the my favourites so far is done by ED who happens to do alot of them , check out his link http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/

Lolcat generator i liked the most especially seeming i have a thing for cats with funny captions :p Now i can upload my own cats with there amusing antics!