#15 Video

Here is the most upfront Web2.0 summary for all

Librarian 2.0 manifesto
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=5ff637e7984152a3531d

#14 Web 2.0 Awards

The sites above from the Web 2.0 Awards winners. have appeal and use or are just interesting. The only thing we haven't followed up on are the Socializing sites of - facebook, myspace & secondlife - maybe next time.

#Searchengines - zuulu is a nice alternative when you feel like rebelling against google - compare results from a number of searches.

#Searchengines - video searching tool - certainly the way to keep tabs on news, television programs and much more

#Maps - google maps - known and used but who can go past it

#Wiki - wetpaint - looks colourful and bright as an alternative to the more traditional wikis - with a text based presentation - worth a try as an alternative

#Lists & polls - statsaholic is fun to compare website traffic - who is more popular - nicely graphed

#Upcoming - more social about town - worth looking at to promote own SLV events to a new user audience as it leads with the local stuff

#Events - confabb is worth considering as a replacement for conference directories in the reference collection - needs further evaluation.

#Not new but a great one stop search site for out-of-print books, rare or otherwise. Good for reference questions. Nice to see it included in the list.

#13 Anything techy

Too much to focus on already from Federated Searching for SLV sites to the next version of ebook readers "Kindle" from Amazon, to a demo by Autonomy on searching video and providing on the fly transcription and face recognition to allow pinpointing the context of speeches. All scary stuff.

The trick is to see ways of using the things you see and to have the time to explore and apply.

Nothing earthshattering or profound.

#12 Wordprocessing: Google docs vs Zoho Writer

Test in Zoho Writer

I am being lazy about this one, but do enough word processing not to want to compose prose for the hell of it. But on the positive side I can see major advantages in this for public and self.

Not sure why but works better in Firefox, and extraordinarily slow to load document in Internet Explorer, so slow in fact that had to abandon on 3 occasions (not sure why).

Discovery Resources:
Web-based productivity applications: I like the idea of having access to word processing on the internet, especially as able to connect when on desk and outside the firewall and have now wordprocessing or spreadsheets available.

Discovery Exercise:
I have a free account in Zoho for Wiki, now also in Zoho Writer and spreadsheets.

Feature	Google Docs	Zoho	MS word
fonts & editing	easy - what I am use to, has the feel of an email page & set up	all the features I want - clear and simple	Home base
saving	versions saved as well and discard versions when ready - has the advantage of saving to the internet rather than to pc/usb	all options: word, text, html,pdf - saving to pc or usb	know filing system, normally only current version saved
Ability to move content	can email, use anywhere, export to pdf or alternate version, can post to blog & web	can post to blog	Must use on staff pcs not available on desk, need to copy and paste to move to email or bl

Optional:
This posted to blog from Zoho’s "publish" options (and send via google docs as well to compare formating)

Same document in Google Docs

Spreadsheets are excellent and will test further and will test Google at a later stage, but Zoho spreadsheets work well and both should be tested to see if we can put a staff version of the roster on the internet for desk access outside the firewall.

#12A Google Docs Test to blog

Test in Google Docs

I am being lazy about this one, but do enough word processing not to want to compose prose for the hell of it.

But on the positive side I can see major advantages in this for public and self.

Discovery Resources:

web-based productivity applications

Discovery Exercise:

I have a Zoho account (now also Zoho writer) and I have a google account - now likely to loose the world moving between virtual spaces and different identities.

Feature	Google Docs	Zoho	MS word
fonts & editing	easy - what I am use to	all the features I want - clear and simple	Home
Saving	versions saved as well, and discard versions when ready - has the advantage of saving to the internet rather than to pc/usb	all options: word, text, html,pdf - saving to pc or usb	know filing system, normally only current version saved
Ability to move content	can email, use anywhere, export to pdf or alternate version,can post to blog & web - at present this looks easier than Zoho to blog	can post to blog - in theory, though may be a trick as not being done willingly	Must use on staff pcs, not available on desk, need to copy and paste to move to email

Optional:
Will follow up on spreadsheets and see what sized documents can be move - this looks very promising for Rosters to be held on the desk.

#11A Flickr mashups & trading cards

Doubt Redmond Barry would approve

Trading cards, not sure of the value but as I say hours of fun for all.



Image generator The Generator Blog: Sudoku Generator.

#11 Fickr mashups

Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools, hours of fun for all, whether you are creative or not, doesn't matter someone more creative than you will have done the programming work and allows you to ride on their efforts to display your work or others work.

#10 Flickr

Tour of Flickr, interesting, exciting and boring images, should encourage to invest in a digital camera, probably has the opposite effect. It has already been captured already better than I can, why bother.

Interesting images to blog - and to put together with other new images

Exercise of add image to blog, the trick of the exercise is save image to pc/usb first and to remember where the image came from to acknowledge copyright

(Acknowledgement of Ask sign from dan in deutschland's photos onFlickr)

#9A LibraryThing

LibraryThing experiment http://www.librarything.com/tools

All very nice and I am sure something I could/should embrace, but this strikes me as being too organized for comfort.

LibraryThing blog http://www.librarything.com/blog/ has potential to keep up to date, but a bit like more of the same.

#9 Technorati (blog search tool)

The scary thing and the impressive thing about Technorati is to find your own blog posts listed on the site, it reminds you to beware of what you key - someone somewhere may trip over your comments.

As with all search engines this provides serious improvements over the finding of information by accident or what you remember. A good site, tagged into my del.icio.us account for future reference.

Claiming my blog on Technorati seems a bit self serving, but the whole blog thing seems a bit of an ego trip.

Watchlist option is a very promising item, which should be used with care. Find this useful.

Technorati tags trial:

SLV Learning2.0

#8 Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarks (Del.icio.us)

Almost mainstream technology now, library has been using this and similar earlier tools for some time in the library.

del.icio.us - have been using for some time - good toy as long as I remember to do my housekeeping regarding categories and tags

http://blog.delicious.com/ - has some advantages in keeping up to date with changes to site.

I probably have a better understanding of the method behind the tags and how to search delicious than I did before.

Uses for library:
Desk community websites (for AskNow & SLVChat)

#7 RSS Feeds

Search engines for RSS feeds makes sense and alows you to segment the information you are looking for.

Feedster - Off air when I tried to search - will try another day

Topix.net - (news and media outlet RSS feeds , not weblogs)
Cluttered front page but sound searching and worthwhile way to find this type of information

Google Blog search - (BETA mode) - I thought Google was about having permanent beta versions of everything. Good site and has the functionality to link everything together, which of course is the big downside of bringing the concept of "Big brother" is watching to mind as more reliance is placed in using Google tools.

Obvious answer to this is as with search engines, always use 2, reducndancy is the key to ensuring an unbiased answer.

Journal alerts - I have been using this for some time, but only as email alerts.
Use to the library:
We need a campaign to encourage staff to take up RSS or email alerts for full text journals and stop journals being routed to staff - free journals for public use and remind staff to encourage users to do the same.

#6 RSS

It could become addictive, more time focussed on the latest news than on work, like email it can becomes a distraction or the central focus of work. Essentially it is all about time management.

Uses in the library setting:

• For the public we would need to establish the infrastructure behind the RSS feed to put regular messages to the public pcs.
• For regular users and at home users we should be encouraging users to get RSS feeds for their favorite journals or regular search from databases and revisiting the "new books" discussion as a feed from the catalogue
• Wishlist item would include ability to RSS information on delivery of collection items to users, especially as txt to their mobile phones & laptops.

# 5 Wiki exercises

As part of this exercise I have added my blog to plmc wiki and added pages to the team wiki and will now look at ways of improving presentation and content to that site.

It may be the day or time but the main issue seems to be one of speed of internet access to open and change pages and content. Its preference for Firefox is also frustrating as you forget which browser works best for what

Changes to our website to make use of wikis
"Resource guides" rather than the more formal collage software management system which while very good is more appropriate for fixed information and does not encourage more staff to keep pages alive and uptodate.
Lifelong learning - how to notes for public paticipants - could be a good model for adding comments and encouraging self paced sessions when subject training not being held or for things like how to use the catalogue

Sites which we could use as models for providing subject guide information

Ohio University's Biz Wiz
http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/index.php/Main_Page

#4 Wikis

#4 Wikis: Major undertaking is the same as for any of these technologies, it is not the technology that is the issue but the effort and drive to create the content and use the information assembled.

As noted by most papers it relies on the community, rather than technology, to manage the data, Though wikis have the advantage that save copies of successive versions exist and changes are readily detected and work can be recovered.

Most of the format is pretty bland and requires planning to establish a workable structure, though there is a heavy search emphasis.

Uses include:
Subject guides
Annotating the catalog
Community wiki
Wikis for Librarians: Reference manuals, Training guides, work space for team projects

I Liked Blake's recommendations
"wiki is a simply-structured online database which stands or falls by the quality of its community. Wikis require careful planning and management in order to remain effective. In a wiki, expertise is not by default provided
Don't use a wiki :

• Just because they are fashionable
• For static information
• Where delays are okay

Wikis need

Community
Planning and management
Expertise (the Wiki does not of itself create it)
Wikis suit information which
needs continual/irregular updates and can be done by many users
doesn't need to be arranged in a strict order
requires community or consensus of opinion


Positive sites
SLVTraining Wiki
Good use of the technology, encourages staff use on desk where g: drive, etc not available

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page
Did their planning and created a sound way of delivering "resource guides" building in new books, information on databases and tips for searching plus external sites and how to search the library for information and keeping the "ask a librarian" link well to the fore - though pages tend to be a bit static and not encouraging any public participation - comments allowed, though most looks to be spam

http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
sound site to demonstrate how reference manuals can be maintained in this technology & hopefully what we can achieve with the new intranet software, which gave some excellent examples

Readings I enjoyed

• Library Technology Reports including:
  Tools from ''Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software" Revisited Sept/Oct 2007 p15-31 (Updating the Web2.0 report done in issue Jul/Aug 2006 (Both fulltext via A-Z)
• Using Wikis to Create Online Communities : Wikis open up new possibilities for collaboration between you and your patrons. Blogger and WJ guest editor Meredith Farkas tells why wikis should matter to you and your library. By Meredith Farkas http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=11264
• Lamb, Brian. "Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not." Educause Review. Sept/Oct 2004. http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp

Value of blogs

While I understand some feel the need to share their thoughts or even to make a mark somewhere to show their passing, I don't think that is in my line. However, I can see the value of blogging for the library to move us to a more social connection with our public.

If we have the courage, there is merit in using blogging for:

• "Suggestion/complaint" comments rather than maintaing a hidden paper trail which ends up in being a correspondence between the library and the individual - a more open viewable process would be better
• SLV21 and our public (or even an open letter from the State Librarian) would engage our public in what the library is doing for public before events hit them and opens the way for improved communication - this focus would involve the public in ways that technology can be used to help and gives the library feedback on developments and the way people use the library
• Internally it would be good to change the "Digital Digest" into a blog which shares the experiences of the technology and readings about new technology and encourages more discussion about new SLV21 developments
• Desk diary has the potential to share knowledge among desks and between shifts

But as with everything - all of these require ongoing commitment and seeable "me" type benefits.

On a personal level, this may help me practice "Writing for the web" techniques

Spider web [picture] by by Wille, Peter

Spider web [picture] by by Wille, Peter

To blog or not to blog

The trials of blogging and adding inconsequential thoughts to the internet has started.