Activity 23: The end/beginning

I still think I will not personally set up a blog for social networking. I prefer face to face contact or the phone or, horror of horrors, sending cards slow mail (my X'mas card list takes ages because I send a card with at least a bread and butter letter!)

I can see that Blogs are useful in library land, especially with all the trimmings that can come with it but remember how the "young" technology savy lambasted John Howard's blog? If we want to make a success of embracing blogs as a tool, we need to have dedicated staff, and resources.

I found it very frustrating that WebMarshall blocked a lot of activities, and when we were given a PC that circumvented WebMarshall, the connectivity wasn't the best.
I think too that telling learning 2.0 participants that 15 minutes a day is all that is required is misleading and isn't helpful in the learning process. It takes much much longer.

That said, I now have a better idea of terms that have become by-words e.g. podcast, rss, wiki, tagging etc. I have in fact printed hard copies of the 23 things to explore because they have excellent explanations, and I can refer to them again. And I am grateful for the chance to have some hands-on to put theory into practice.

Activity 22: Audiobooks on subscription

Excellent concept for libraries with limited floor space.
Imagine, no more counting and checking discs for talking book CDs, and having to buy a new set because one disc in the set of 6 has been damaged!
I also like the feature that for the library patron who has downloaded book on their mp3 player, the audio file is deleted after the loan period expires and there are no library fines to pay.

Activity 21 Podcasts

Explored Podcast.net
Searched Taiwan - found interesting personal diaries relating to Taiwan experiences but couldn't play some. Then searched library podcasts which was more fruitful and gave food for thought on application in libraries.
Podcasts of author talks & interviews & story time would greatly compliment library programs, as would publicity of library plans, training for library staff and end-users. It would have been great to have podcasts of different features of our new library system available at any time for staff to familiarise themselves with as well as provide convenient refresher training; right now, catching casual staff is a problem.

Activity 20: YouTube

Exploring YouTube was frustrating. I had to use a specially set up PC to circumvent blocks by WebMarshall. I tried viewing several videos on the web, the first had poor visuals - blurry images of the Miho Museum in Japan, though the background music was good. The images improved on subsequent videos but the audio was in fits and starts. Nearly 1 and a half hours later, I am no closer to finding a YouTube video which I want to share!

The theory is promising. Upload and share videos on an endless array of topics easily, embed clips into library blog sites.

Activity 19 : Discovering Web 2.0 tools

Tried something new, first music.
http://www.pandora/ - licensing constraints prevented access to listeners outside USA
http://www.last.fm/ - no opera, classical - nearest to my musical interests was female vocalists, where I found Ella Fitzgerald! Couldn't get far - Webmarshall block
Then tried philantrophy, http://www.care2.com/
Lots of links - latest news, green living tips, discussions lists.

Actiivity 18 : My Zoho experience

The page "Welcome to Zoho Writer" keeps popping up, even when I click on the New button! I want to get a blank sheet with a cursor so I can type my document in Zoho Writer.

Now the cursor come up, first on the centred Blue header, but finally on the top of the page, so I am typing this to see what happens next.

I want to change the font from the default (?) Verdana, but even though I select from the dropdown menu Book antiqua, it keeps on going back to the default.

Ahh, I must highlight first, then choose the font. Now what?

Explored the Emotions button. I think I have attached the symbols "Yell" for the first paragraph and "Undecided" for the second. They appeared, then disappeared, so are they there?

Also found it disconcerting that I am merrily typing away and sometimes I find the "Loading" message appear and then my typing is disembodied from where I was typing and it appears at the top of the page! Have noticed the cursor appears at the top of the page then, and I have to reposition the cursor where I want it to be.

Enough already, must post this to my blog.

Activity 17 : Adding an entry to Learning 2.0 sandbox wiki

This was fairly simple though I was a bit confused at first by where I was to add my blog address. I added it to the Australian blogs list but I noticed that under Victorian Learning 2.0 libraries there were some library services listed follwed by their staff blogs. Should CGDL have a separate listing too?