Week 12

It has been very good experience doing Web 2.0 because in my case I doubt I would have used any of these tools and I have done the course at home. Working limited hours means I am not involved in much of the day-to-day work behind the scenes at the library, but as I have said earlier it is good to know about these tools when and if asked about them at the reference desk.
Having all these web based applications is very handy and as we are about to change our ISP all local email will come to an abrupt end on the 6th March so something to be said for web based. I do however have concerns about the speed and download available in many work situations. I did try to add to work on this course while on a night shift one evening but it became all too complicated with some computers accessing somethings and others not. Plus the speed was snails pace and I couldn't really afford the time.
These tools certainly are a way of promoting libraries with more and more people using the internet for information. Promotion is probably the main advantage of these services. Not sure where facebook comes into libraries as it seems to be used for such personal information, perhaps HR departments will be checking facebook!

Week 11 Google Docs

Hello to any one out there still blogging, I am just trying to finish this Web 2.0 course. I found the Google Docs feature relatively easy to use compared with some of the social networking tools we have looked at. There would be a use for it with libraries that have multiple branches, and I guess even the same doc within one library if it needed input from several people. I do wonder though if there is an automatic way of differentiating between the alterations that people are making so that the main author knows who has added what to the doc. It would be good if each email addressee that was invited to share actually appeared in a different colour/type of font.

Week 10 Mashups

This tool was great,it was easy to use. I made a basic Mashup of photos from my own computer. There are a lot more sophisticated ways to use it and some far more creative things to do. Apart from making publicity material for a library not sure about further uses but I think there would be many and only limited by imagination.
Since working with some of these tools I have been forced into actually looking at "code" that is used web for making pages. For this particular exercise the way I added my mashup included a direct link back to my flickr site as well as a link back to my photos. As I didn't want links that could identify me I was forced to go in and edit html script. This probably doesn't sound like a big deal but in my time in libraries I have stayed away from writing/publishing on the web. It is great that so many of these new communication tools are, compared to past years, based on my two favourite principles of WYSIWYG and KISS.

My creation

,
,.

Colourful photos taken by a friend on his travels in Africa.

Week 9 Podding

Well, I really enjoyed this one. Searching through Australian content because of the link given in Learning 2.0 and found very funny pod of Wendy Harmer and Angela Catterns. The previous exercises have involved searching through mainly American content which I did not find relevant. As has already been stated on Learning 2.0 blog this tool would be marvelous for local history departments of libraries.
Adding a link to the material I found was easy enough. I think I am starting to get the hang of this a little and find it is becoming more intuitive (although mashups still ahead).

Week 8 Answer Boards

At the risk of being a bit of a bah humbug sort, I consider the “slamming the boards” service open to abuse and frivolous use thereby making it rather useless for any serious purpose. A service relying on volunteers would be hard pressed to function I think given the burden of most librarian's work loads. However answer board sites could be ideal if they were kept free of frivolous questions and the questions could be answered within a given time frame.

Week 7 cont:-

LibraryThing is a very handy tool but could not spend long enough to find out functionality because it took me so long to add my library to my blog and even then I had to change the template because all my added gadgets were ending up at the bottom of my blog. Searching seemed to be extremely easy although no alternative spelling suggestions for incorrect search entries. It is really good experience to just persevere with these things as I am being forced out of my comfort zone on computers.