Exploration 9 The End (Or Is It Just the Beginning?)

Exploration 9 is an overview/wrap up of the entire Web 2.0 assignment. I enjoyed looking at the award winners for web 2.0 and might do additional exploring on my own. This assignment was valuable because it forced me to explore new technology. I knew what Twittering was before it became the rage. I also recently referred many patrons over to google docs. Finally, i was glad that I learned how to set up a blog and have even shown patrons.

Exploration 8

I worked through the social bookmarking sites. I could see there value for our patrons as well as staff.

Patrons are always on different computers, so they would find it useful in the deicious type site where they can save their bookmarks. Staff would also find it useful to save "favorites" on one computer and have it available on others. Would also be helpful to info staff where we have many different computers in use bu the bookmarks would be usefult ot everyone.

Exploration 7: Wonder of Wikis

From my LATI days and from basic library work, I have experience using wikis. I like them because you can keep a running dialogue from lots of people that you can see on the same page. Great for commenting and see how others comment.

In reviewing the Best Practices Wiki, I could see how nice something that like that would be. A place to share your knowledge. My only concern with that type of Wiki is that the information could get overwhelming with everyone wanting to share.

LATI

I finished LATI. Now I can get back to the task at hand with my Web 2.0. I had to go back and catch up on the effort, not remembering where I last left off.

I added books today to My Shelfari page and posted it to the blog. I think I am getting the hang of this blog thing. But reality,. who really wants to read this? Hopefully, you are out enjoying the beautiful day and not chained to a computer.

Section 6 OFFICE TOOLS

I love the office tools. I wonder why more folks do not know about these types of programs. I thought they were all pay type programs. I can't say how many times people have come in without a disk or money to buy a disk. This is an important tool for me to use.

I tried both google docs and zoho. I am more comfortable with google because it is more familiar to me. However, they both seem pretty easy to use. Good way to back up important work.

Twitter Twit Twit

October 10:

o.k. I am twittering. I understand the concept but I don;t like that you have to have people to twitter to. It could be great for an instant message system. I think I need to still play with this one some more.

Shelfari

In Exploration 5, I decided to try out Shelfari. It seemed to be more user friendly and I heard in from my fellow LATIers that it was a favorite. It seemed pretty straight forward and then I added it to my blog. I even managed to tag a few of my books and mark them as favorites.

I have never kept track of my reading in written form before, so I might actually try this out. Normally, I believe that reading is for fun and when you track it and keep a log, then you are making it work. However, so many people I have met in this job, keep some sort of log, so I will try.

In the library, it could be used to track what we are all reading and make recommendations. Possible for storytime type activities or book club recommendations.

System wide, it could be used for patrons to see what we like to read. Our staff recommends hear at the library was very popular and I was amazed to see how many times I had to choose more books for the display. That also proved to be a situation where a list of books that I have read would have come in handy as I scoured the stacks looking for books to put on the diplay.

RSS Feeds

Today, with the help of a nearby staff member, I finally figured out how to add an RSS feed onto my blog. The instructions in Module 4 were not very clear as to what results were expected. I knew what an RSS feed was, I opened an account in bloglines, but it seemed like an extra step to have to go to the bloglines page to read the feeds.

I went to eHow and learned how to modify my blog to capture an RSS feed.

Hhmm. Maybe I missed a key point to it all.

Flikr Away

Venturing on in my exploration of Web 2.0, my next stop was Flickr. Having heard so much about the photo website, I was excited to actually have work time to experiment. I can't wait to actually try and upload photos, which of course are all at home in my computer and not here at the office.

Oh well, homework for me tonight.

How can Flikr be used in the job? Good question...

1. A place where HQ can look to see the crowds (and enthusiasm) generated by programming.

2. Bring a book to life in some type of online book review. (Not pictures of a book, but perhaps images that relate to the book)

3. Showcase staff in community/schools outreach.

Time to go and serve others.....................

A New World

This is my very first blog entry. Hope it works........