Task 23-Summary

I have really enjoyed this challenge. The tasks have allowed me to explore blogging, wikis, feeds, and many other applications and technologies that I have wanted to become familiar with for some time now. I think the thing I am most impressed by is how easy it is to update online information. Also impressive is the "real time" aspect of Web 2.0; with the use of feeds, you have access to the most recent info from online resources. But what is most fun, I think, are the possibilities of collaboration. Shared applications of all types can be used by people from physical locations very distant from one another.

Although not every new bell or whistle out there will be appropriate or useful to libraries, there are some that will be. And, used properly, they will enhance the library experience for both patrons and library personnel.

Task 22-Teach The Technology

My coworker, Carla, and I teamed up on this task. She showed me podcast links and explained different things about podcasts to me. I showed her how to create a map in Google-My Maps, insert a photo on to the map, and share the map with others by inserting the proper link into your blog. When you create a new map, instructions for adding photos or videos, sharing your map, and other options, can be found by following the "Learn more" link. I have taken digital pictures of a few of our branches and the Headquarters. I started a Flickr group called "Orange County Public Library" and uploaded these photos on to the group. I then invited Carla to join the group so that she could make use of the photos. In Flickr, when you click on a photo, another page comes up where there are buttons that offer different options for working with the photo. I showed Carla how you can select an image of the proper size for your needs by clicking the "ALL SIZES" button. Once you have selected the image size of your choice, you simply follow the instructions under the "Adding Photos" section of the Google Maps User Guide (this is where the "Learn more" link takes you). I also shared the following link with Carla for custom resizing of photos. (Resized photos in Flickr are at preset sizes). I used the following application to resize my photos for the ZohoShow at the bottom of my blog.

http://www.photosize.com/

Task 21-Search Tools for Locating Podcasts

I got the following links from Squeaky's 2.0. Carla is very knowledgeable about podcasts. Be sure to read about these resources under #21 in her September archive.

http://www.pluggd.com/audio/
http://www.podcastalley.com/
http://www.podcastpeople.com/
http://www.podnova.com/

Here is my own addition to the trove. If you click on the podcast link at the bottom, a webpage with feeds of new podcasts comes up. You can subscribe to the Metacafe - New Videos feed to find out about new podcasts on this site.

http://www.metacafe.com/

Be sure to read the post on Blog City "Bounces & Rhyme: It's Reading Time!: A Vodcast Proposal" - Sept. 5, 2007 for how the Orange County Public Library is planning on using podcasts.

Task 20-YouTube & Other Video Sites

I just watched a couple of videos on autism and read the comments about the first one I watched. I am concerned that the information available on these videos does not have any sort of control over it, and may or may not be true. The comments were uncensored and were quite offensive at times. I watched a second video that flashes pictures of all sorts of individuals that it claims have been diagnosed with different degrees of autism. I then explored MySpaceTV, AOL Video, and Metacafe. They all seem to be similar. Metacafe seemed to accomodate the use of more tools than the others, having buttons for Facebook, Del.i.cious, Stumble, Netscape, and Reddit. There is also a button for digg it and for podcasts.

Despite my concern about the authenticity and accuracy of information of the videos on these sites, some of them are entertaining--like home movies. I also watched a movie trailer on MySpaceTV. These sites can be valuable for becoming aware and knowledgeable about new movies & music videos. It is also cool that you can stream video on to your website or blog. I just bought a new digital camera that can also shoot video clips. I'll be experimenting with these sites and how they might be useful for different programs.

Task 19-My Map and Google Maps

I just put a map up of Orange County Public Library Headquarters and added a picture. Just click on the icon to see it. Here is the link.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=103869863851412941263.000438d7fa22b487a1fca&ll=33.757742,-117.849998&spn=0.125592,0.2314&z=12&om=1

Task 18-Online Productivity

I just took a look at Google Docs & Spreadsheets and some of the applications at Zoho (mentioned in Stephanie's Blog). These applications look like a great way to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. I played with ZohoShow a little. This is a fun application that can be used to make slideshows promoting current programs. They can be embedded into blogs and websites.

Task 17-Our Web 2.0 Things Wiki

I added an entry under Blogs & Bloglines about blogging legalities and I included a link to a Blog that speaks to some of the legal issues bloggers must consider. I signed and date stamped it. See the addition signed by Kimba.

http://wiki.infopeople.org/index.php?title=Our_23_Things

Task 16-Learn About Wikis

I was especially interested in this exercise because I am not all that familiar with Wikis. I found this link to a resource from the University of Saskatchewan Library that has links to different library wikis.

http://library2.usask.ca/~fichter/wiki/

I took a look at each of the wikis in the first two sections of this web page. Wikis look like a great way for a library staff to collaborate in maintaining a website. They are also great places for knowledgeable individuals on a given subject to share links and resources they have discovered that might be of value to those with similar interests. I especially liked UBC HeathLib-Wiki - A Knowledge Base for Health Librarians (2007). It has a well organized table of contents making it easy to find your way around. I found WardsWiki (the Wiki that the link in the challenge eventually leads to) informative, but not easy to navigate. It seems navigating Wikis is usually facilitated by using searches--not the easiest way to find your way around, if you ask me. A lack of organization can make a Wiki quite convoluted.

Task 15-Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

My, what a huge subject. I just made some notes and I will comment on a few thoughts I had upon reading "Library 2.o and 'Library 2.o'," written by Walt Crawford in Cites & Insights.

http://citesandinsights.info/civ6i2.pdf

I found some of the comments by Michael Stephens interesting. I agreed with Crawford that taking advantage of the "hive mind" that the "2.o thing" seems to promote might lead to more group-think than recognition of individuality, which is one of the potential implications here. I do like the "folksonomy" concept, though. It seems to me that a lot can be learned from group-think when it comes to the naming and categorization of new ideas and terms.

I believe that the "permaconnected" referred to in the Talus section of the article still constitute a minority of the general populace (although an affluent one). The contingency of Library 2.0 promoters (especially as it pertains to making wide use of Web 2.0 applications) does not have the mandate to serve disadvantaged and under-served segments of the community that public libraries have. Many people don't have the money for new computer systems with the latest capabilities in their homes. I realize this can be used as an argument in favor of libraries providing access to Web 2.o to those who might not get to experience its capabilities any other way, but let's not kid ourselves that all of these capabilities are expected by, or even familiar to, everyone.

Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy the many new applications, and the interactivity of Web 2.0. And I think new technologies, and new ideas about the way libraries do business should be analyzed. If a technology or an idea is found to be desirable and feasible it should be implemented, applauded, and emulated. It is a good idea to do this not only to serve the library community better, but to maintain an awareness of the information service provision field in general. This will assure that we are able to address the question of the relevancy of libraries whenever it is posed. When I first got my job working in OCPL Library, some of my friends said things to me like: "Aren't a lot of libraries closing because we don't need them anymore because we have the Internet?" The perception that libraries may be replaced by the Internet (though perhaps not well thought out by those who have this perception) does exist--and we should not ignore this.

Just a note on Blog maintenance. I attended a webcast by David King - Digital Branch & Services Manager Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka, Kansas and Thad Hartman - Technical Services Supervisor Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka, Kansas the other day. During the webcast, it was mentioned that comments on Library Blogs need to be answered within a reasonable amount of time from when the comment is made. If comments are not responded to, the conversational nature desired from the Blog is lost. I know this impacts library personnel's time, and it is something that should be considered when implementing a Library Blog.

Task 14-Technorati

Exploring Technorati, I clicked on the tag "Web 2.0" and here is what I got:

http://technorati.com/tag/web+2.0

I followed this link to Craig Bellamy's blog: Social networking boom reaches the workplace

And here is his explanation of what he is doing...

"Hi, my name is Dr Craig Bellamy and I am an Australian in London and I work at King's College. My task is to build, maintain, and promote a resource within the Digital Humanities called ICT Guides...and it is my goal to join every online social networking thingee in the whole damn world!...PLEASE SEND ME YOUR LINKS... "

Look under Web 2.0 in his blog for more blogs about Web 2.0.

Task 13-Social Bookmarking and Del.icio.us

Yet another great social networking tool. I bookmarked the homepage of LibraryThing and found it has been saved by 12033 other people when I researched it on the Del.icio.us site. I bookmarked the Casa Romantica Reading Series (from the link under Links to Poetry Resources) and found no one had bookmarked it. Maybe someone will discover it if they look at my bookmarks. I bookmarked About.com : Poetry and found 9 other people who had marked it. I looked at the bookmarks of one of those people, clicking on the poetry tag, and followed one of the links to a page full of Library of Congress blogs; one of which was a blog about upcoming poetry events. I used the RSS feed to insert it under Poetry Events from Library of Congress.

I did experience the shortcomings user defined tags. I was looking at the bookmarks of another person who had tagged About.com : Poetry and found it difficult to locate other poetry tags in the cloud; tags are assembled without hierarchical structure. It helped a little to sort by alphabetical list--finding tags that started with the word "poetry,"--but that did not help me to find the tag "sound_poetry." I also got different bookmarks for "poetry_reading" and "poetry_readings." You can tell if you are using a tag that is not one likely to be used for your subject by the community if no one else has selected it (if your subject is not too specialized). I chose the tag "live_poetry" as a possibility for poetry readings and found no one else has used it. I'm going to delete it. The following article addresses the shortcomings of folksonomy. Even with its shortcomings, this system of classification offers some semantic intelligence in searching: something that search engines lack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy#Folksonomy_and_top-down_taxonomies

Task 12-Rollyo

I created my own search with Rollyo using the "Health" category of preselected sites. Searching the entire web for fibromyalgia gave me 7,690,000 hits. The search using the "Health" category only gave me 15 hits (pretty thin). I used the "Politics" source list (accessible from the link "need inspiration" when you are creating a new search) to pull up news and blog links for Hillary Clinton. What I like about this site was the table on the left that allows you to show only links from a given resource when you click on it. This is a useful filter once you learn how to use it.

Task 11-LibraryThing

I can't say enough about LibraryThing. What a wonderful social networking tool for people who love to read! I have a special interest in poetry and I have always wanted to catalog my poetry books. Here, I can do that, along with allowing others to view the contents of my library. I just cataloged 14 of them in 5 minutes. It allows for a simple cataloging that is perfectly adequate for most personal collections, and you are able to use tags that make sense to you for classifying your books. I will see if it allows me to catalog poetry journals tomorrow.

I also joined the Poetry Fool Group. The discussion groups allow you to meet others with similar literary tastes and to discuss topics of interest. This is especially useful for poetry because it has a small, but extremely loyal following. It is a great way to be introduced to poets whose work you have yet to sample. I'm sure it is a great tool for other genres as well.

Task 10-Online Image Generators

I wasn't all that excited about the online image generators. I found most of them silly. I kind of liked this one, though. Here I am according to Sketch Generator.

Task 9-Twitter

I just checked out twitter for the first time. At first I didn't get it, but the article below helped me. How can libraries use it? Well...the technology does allow for quiet conversations... Interesting to see if it will be just another fad. I just added a link to by blog so you can see my most recent twitter updates. Update-I just thought of a way to use twitter in my daily work. When I am not at my desk (I might be working in another department, in a meeting, at lunch, etc.), I can update twitter leaving a message saying where I can be found, then refresh my Blog page. If anyone needs to know if I am at my desk, they can just look at my blog to know my whereabouts. Update-I just got my first follower. I don't know whether to block him or not... Update-I just figured out how to block a follower using "Help" on twitter. It was not hard at all. Update-I tried to follow someone who was following me. Too bad I don't know Italian...

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-07/st_thompson#

Task 8-Library Related Blogs

Well, I've gotten pretty good at getting blogs and news feeds on to my blog. I was able to add The Shifted Librarian, and both ArtsBeat and Paper Cuts from the New York Times to the feeds I put up yesterday (National Geographic: Television and Squeaky's 2.0). I tried to get Librarian.net but I got a message saying that I didn't have the software I needed. I wasn't able to figure it out, so I gave up on this one.

Task 7-RSS Feeds & Bloglines

I established my newsreader account on Bloglines and chose 11 newsfeeds that interest me. It took me a while to figure out how to get feeds from other sources to appear in my Blog. I finally did, though, and I added Yahoo! News: Top Stories, and Squeaky's 2.0. This is a great tool. I will be adding more in the future, and figuring out how to get alerts on the ones I like the best. Update-changed some feeds, added some others.

Task 6-Library Websites

I checked out the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County and I really liked the Programs/Events RSS Feeds page. It was great that it was organized by type of program/event and also by location. What a great way for a library system with many locations to keep everyone informed on what the library is doing system-wide. I love it that the Ann Arbor site is made using strictly Blog software. It seems that keeping the site updated would be made easier than updating a traditional website using this method. I'm not that familiar with Podcasts, so I didn't spend much time at the Denver site. It looks like a good idea, though. At the Seattle site, it seems they are keeping everyone in-the-know about upcoming events using RSS Feeds. I liked it that the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County actually explained what an RSS Feed is and how it works on the Programs/Events RSS Feed page. I didn't find this info anywhere on the Seattle site. Seattle did have a variety of foreign language pages on their site, though, and I thought this was cool.

Task 5-Flickr Mashups & Third Party Sites

I found some fun Flickr mashups and third party sites. I have included links to the ones I found useful under the heading "Find A Photo Search." I really like Color Fields Colr Flickr for finding an image that will look good with a color scheme online quickly. Flappr is very useful in finding specific images. I did a search for impressionist painting and the application took me right to what I was looking for. While I found Tagnautica visually appealing, the organization of the subject catagories is limiting. I first typed in Art, which produced many subcategories. Then I typed in paintings, which gave me more subcategories. Then I typed in impressionist and struck out! I used Spell with Flickr to make a fun graphic for a section I am planning which will contain links to poetry sites. I just discovered that the letters on Spell with Flickr are scalable if you select Rich Text in the text editor. (You have to use the HTML/Java option when you add a page element. By viewing Rich Text, you can change the size of the letters visually, without having to deal with altering the HTML code).

Task 4-Flickr

I just checked out Flickr and I thought it was great. I particularly like the "Make Stuff" option. My sister-in-law took a trip to Europe last summer and used an application similar to Flickr to let all of us back home see what they had seen that day. It was a little like sharing the trip with her.

Task 3-Register Blog

I have registered my BLOG with Infopeople, but I don't see it on the Infopeople 23 Things page yet.

Task 2-Blog Setup

Creating the BLOG was fun. I changed the colors and layout from the template I used and now some of my link colors are not the best (the ones associated with the video images). I see you can go in to the HTML code and fix them if you know where to look. The software is fun and easy to use. Even a white lion from Africa can do it.

Task 1-Hello there...

I'm getting ready to explore the Web 2.0 jungle. How exciting! I'll let you know what I find. :)