Thing #23: THE END! Reflections on Learning 2.0

I cannot believe I made it to the end! I must confess that there were a few times that I truly despaired of finishing this. I don't like to start things and not finish them, though, and so I persevered. I must say I'm pretty proud of myself! It was difficult to find the time to do this at work, and so I ended up completing much of it at home on my own time. I was very glad I could access it from home.

I found most of the exercises useful. It is good to learn new things. I don't think I have mastered the applications we learned about through the exercises, but I certainly at least got an introduction to some things I did not know much about. Just creating the blog was something I had never done before. Additionally, I found the explorations of wikis, YouTube, podcasts, audiobooks, GoogleDocs, and RSS to be helpful.

I would have liked to know the deadline from the outset. Somehow, I did not know there was a deadline, and then I freaked out when I realized I was only halfway done and had a short amount of time to finish. I found it difficult when I got stuck on something, and I did not really have anyone who was accessible to "unstick" me. Since I'm still pretty new here, I don't know the people too well who maybe could have helped me. This resulted in the project being shoved onto the back burner a couple of times.

I probably would participate in another such experience, because it is good to keep abreast of new things. However, I think it would be helpful if there were fewer, shorter exercises so that the end would be more easily in view. If more people were available to help when you get stuck, that would of course be great, too. If it could be available to staff from the outset on the city computers, that would help, too. I wasted a lot of time when I had to use library computers--because I never could find the time to go and use them, or I would get caught up in helping someone with something, or whatever.

Thing #22: Audiobooks

I am already somewhat familiar with the Greater Phoenix Digital Library. I have spent time reading their extensive tutorial for users. I have already checked out items myself and burned a few to CD. I have mixed feelings about it. I think it is potentially a great resource, but it is quite complex to use. I find it very difficult to help customers over the phone to figure out why a book didn't download completely, for example, or why they can't install the correct software. All sorts of things can and do go wrong during the process, and I find that I'm pretty hopeless in helping them over the phone--because they often cannot explain what they did and what is wrong.

I do not own an MP3 player, and I think downloading something to one's home computer to read or listen to is cumbersome and awkward. I would not want to sit here for hours to read or listen to a book! I love the fact that some books can be burned to CD. As I said above, I have done that, but the results were disappointing. I have a long commute, and I would love to listen to audiobooks while driving. I was very excited to burn my first CD audiobooks, but when I put them into my player, I discovered that their were NO tracks. In other words, I could not stop the CD and pick up where I left off the next time. I would have to begin the CD from the beginning each time, or else listen to the whole CD at one sitting! I think maybe these particular books were originally in an audiotape format, and therefore there were no divisions. So I discovered that burning to CD was going to be worthless for my purposes. I guess someone who had unlimited time could potentially sit and listen to one whole CD at one sitting, but I can't do that!

I will continue to explore and try to learn about this resource so that I can better help customers with it. There are plenty of wonderful offerings. One other thing I find kind of annoying about it, though, is that for many items, only one or two copies are available, and once they are checked out, you are out of luck for a full 21 days, even though the person probably downloaded or burned it immediately.

Thing #21: Podcasts

I explored Podcast Alley and a couple of other directories for this exercise. To be honest, I did not find them very easy to search. I noticed that many of the search results seemed quite irrelevant for the terms I entered. One is left to click through each result to read the little blurb of description. I added three podcasts to my Bloglines account: Book Bites for Kids (interviews with children's authors), MuggleCast (devoted to all things Harry Potter), and CraftLit: Podcast for Crafters Who Love Books. All of these seemed like appropriate candidates for library purposes. I could see that podcasts could add some interesting information to a library's website, if they were made available for the public there. I could see stories being read for kids via podcasts. That would be another great use for libraries.

Some notes about podcasts: I don't think too highly of them in general as information sources. I found through my exploration that unless one can be sure that the source is authoritative, one can be left listening to the ramblings and opinions of just about anybody who knows how to podcast and who wants to share those ramblings with the world. I found that to be true with MuggleCast and CraftLit, as well as others I sampled. It is for this reason that I doubt I will use podcasts for myself very much in the future. Besides, how many people have the time to listen to these extensive ramblings???? I am coming to the conclusion that there are a lot of folks out there with way too much time on their hands--this would include both the podcasters and their listeners--I guess you could call them the "podcastees." I also found it amazing that there are SO MANY podcasts and podcasters out there. I don't think I had any idea how many there were until I explored these directories.

http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs

Thing #20: YouTube

I love YouTube. I have found so many interesting things to watch--it's just a lot of fun. I have been using it for some time now. If you miss seeing something on TV that you wanted to catch, chances are you may find a bit of it on YouTube. Instead of just settling for a news sound byte, you can often see something in its entirety, like Barack Obama's most recent, riveting speech:



I think it would be great fun if libraries had YouTube videos on their websites. I saw one library site that did this. They had videos of storytellers that you could actually watch tell stories when viewing the OPAC. Short videos of programs and other events could be included to liven up the library's website and entice people to come to the library.

Thing #19: Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

I explored the book sites in this exercise. I was truly fascinated by Lulu. My goodness, they have made it easy to publish one's own book! I have always wanted to create a cookbook of my mother's recipes, and with this, I might actually be able to do it! It would be so amazing to create books of poetry, artwork, or children's picture books using this tool. From what I saw, the cost didn't seem too prohibitive. One can self-publish, buy, or sell from Lulu. Self-publishing is all laid out in an easy to follow format. I could imagine that libraries could publish award-winning teen or children's poetry and/or artwork and have it on display in the library to promote services to youth. I'm sure one could think of plenty of other uses. I also discovered Biblio, which is a site devoted to helping users find rare and out of print books. It isn't too different from Alibris or other such sites, though. I guess they claim they can get items from more sources, and they boast 50 million titles. That is nice, but I wasn't impressed with their prices. All in all, it was fun to look at some of these Web 2.0 tools and sites.

Thing #18: Google Doc Test Document

Pieta
von Rainer Maria Rilke

So seh ich, Jesus, deine Fuesse wieder,
die damals eines Juenglings Fuesse waren,
da ich sie bang entkleidete und wusch;
wie standen sie verwirrt in meinen Haaren
und wie ein weisses Wild im Dornenbusch.

So seh ich deine niegeliebten Glieder
zum ersten Mal in dieser Liebesnacht.
Wir legten uns noch nie zusammen nieder,
und nun wird nur bewundert und gewacht.

Doch siehe, deine Haende sind zerrissen--:
Geliebter, nicht von mir, von meinen Bissen.
Dein Herz steht offen, und man kann hinein:
Das haette duerfen nur mein Eingang sein.

Nun bist du muede, und dein mueder Mund
Hat keine Lust zu meinem wehen Munde--.
O Jesus, Jesus, wann war unsre Stunde?
Wie gehn wir beide wunderlich zugrund.

Thing #18: Web-Based Apps

I created a Google Docs account in this exercise. I also created a test document. I found this pretty easy to do. I am a bit familiar with Google Docs from "Today in the Call Center," which is now called "Today in the Library." This is a good way to disseminate information about certain topics so that everyone can see it simultaneously. It is useful that people can edit the documents to keep them current or make changes as needed.

Thing #17: PB Wiki

I added my blog to the Favorite Blog list, and I added input to the Favorite Books page. It wasn't very hard, except that it took me a while to find the password, because the tutorial stated that we should create a login account. Once I found the password, I was in. I don't really have much to say about this that I didn't already say in the previous blogpost.

http://splslearning.pbwiki.com/Favorite+Books

http://splslearning.pbwiki.com/Favorite+Blogs

Thing #16: Wikis

I like wikis a lot. Personally, I have been using Wikipedia for quite a while now--I find it to be a useful, informative source for a variety of topics, but especially those that are not current. It has rarely disappointed me. I am well aware that there are many (especially instructors of various sorts) who scoff at Wikipedia and will not allow students to use it, because they don't trust the accuracy of a wiki. Probably in large part to my education, I find that I have a sort of sixth sense about whether or not I can trust the accuracy of the information. I realize that not everyone has this ability, and therefore I guess wikis may not be reliable sources for all users. I believe that wikis have a lot of terrific applications for creating bodies of knowledge of various sorts. Even though one may add and subtract information from them, I truly think that the accurate information will outweigh the inaccurate in the end. Libraries could use wikis for various and sundry purposes, especially to disseminate book information and local library information to customers. The Bull Run library wiki is a good example. I also found the library practices wiki to be interesting, and it is certainly a good place for librarians to look when they are cruising for ideas for their own libraries.

Thing #15: On Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

The various articles on Library 2.0 have many common ideas. The authors point out that 2.0 technology is a way to continuously improve library services, and that acceptance of and openness to implementing these tools will be critical to the library's future success as an institution. I appreciate one author's point that libraries should not be obsessed with gathering technology just because it is something new (what he cleverly calls "technolust"), but they should always keep the user and the user's primary purposes in mind. I think this is a very good point. I believe that libraries will find several of these tools to be quite useful not only in providing access to information, but to promote library services to a younger crowd. A challenge for libraries will be in instructing older, less computer-literate customers in how they can use these kinds of tools.

Thing #14: Technorati

I explored Technorati as instructed, and I noted various results after different types of searches. I found it interesting to explore the popular blogs, videos, searches, and tags. It is particularly interesting to see the way some people occupy their time, as well as to see what is considered popular today. I think that Technorati is a good place to search for current library-related topics, since it seems that a number of librarians are into blogging about library stuff.

Thing #13: Tagging, Folksomonies, and Social Bookmarking in Del.icio.us

I explored the Del.icio.us site as instructed in this exercise after watching/listening to the tutorials. It occurs to me that there seem to be many people with a lot of time on their hands, for it would be very time-consuming to deal with so much information (no matter what anyone says to the contrary). How much information is too much information? This is a question that probably should be pondered by some folks. I suppose I could see using Del.icio.us as a way to access many bookmarked pages from wherever one is, but in my opinion, using it as a research tool would be something of a hit or miss kind of proposition.

Thing #12: Social Networking Sites

I made an account on Facebook using fictitious information. This allowed me to enter the site to explore it and search for people. I did manage to locate a couple of my co-workers who had completed this exercise. I do not feel comfortable in displaying personal information on the internet for the whole world to view. This is my issue with these sites in general. Obviously, younger people don't seem to realize the ramifications of doing this, which is why they are so popular with kids. Of course, these sites could be very valuable promotion tools for library programs--especially those geared toward young audiences. It would be a fabulous way for libraries to advertise programs for teens, in particular.

Thing #11: LibraryThing

I was vaguely acquainted with LibraryThing before, but I never had an account. This was quite an enjoyable task. I had to stop at listing twelve books, because I have hundreds of them at home, and I would be working on this for days and days. I can see how a booklover could really get into this site. I can also see that LibraryThing might be an interesting tool for librarians. Here is the link to the account I created:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/swissmiss8

Thing #10: Image Generators

I made this photo frame using loonapix.com, which is one of the image generator sites I was exploring for this exercise. I think it is pretty cool...