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?

Activity 16: What's in a wiki?

Wikipedia is what I know. Looking up the library wikis gave me a better understanding of how libraries can use this tool. Library managers get access to the latest info on issues (unattended children, RFID as privacy issue, library cards for people in transitional housing), join in on discussion & share experiences. Involve library patrons actively, e.g. in book reviews, local history, and tap in on their knowledge, rather than relying on staff only.

Activity 15: Library 2.0

One of the points made in the articles was that "the Web becomes the center of a new digital lifestyle that changes our culture and touches every aspect of our lives. The Web moves from simply being sites and search engines to a shared network space that drives work, research, education, entertainment and social activities—essentially everything people do. You and your mobile and nonmobile devices—PDA, MP3, laptop, cell phone, camera, PC, TV, etc.—are always online, connected to one another and to the Web. " And so we are encouraged to adopt web features in delivering our library service if we want to remain relevant today.

Activity 14: Technorati

I will useTechnorati for finding blogs on certain topics. Doing search on "Learning 2.0" in Posts, I got more matches than in Blogs. Recognised one of the blogs listed there as one created by someone from Greater Dandenong. Congratulations, Virgo Blue, on making it big!
WebMarshall warned me "Your attempt to access this site has been recorded" when I tried to access Technorati's Topic listing. Let me through the first search "Entertainment", then I clicked on the next one "Technology" and got the message "Blocked by the rule 'Block pornography'!!!!!!!!!!!

Activity 13: Social bookmarking with Delicious

With Delicious, you can bookmark specific web pages and add tags to categorize what you have bookmarked so you can easily retrieve the pages at a later time. It also allows you to share your bookmarks through tagging, hence the term "social bookmarking". This way, searching by tags shows results from other delicious accounts so you discover other websites of similar ilk.
I think it's more useful than Rollyo because it's more specific.

Activity 12: Rollyo

Rollyo is a great idea and I wished I had more time to explore. Did a quick searchroll and then couldn't find a way link to my blog except by copying and pasteing the url.
http://rollyo.com/imogenesword/ikebana/

Activity 11 LibraryThing

Great cataloguing tool using records already created by others and then adding tags (my own subject classifcations) which will allow me to retrieve my records easily.
Managed to get the link established with my blog but only 2 titles came up when I actually had 6 books catalogued. The 2 titles are the ones with covers.

Activity 10: Image generator

Found this very pretty one by Royal Delft which allowed me to become an instant china painter of a blue and white plate with border and field and text. Unfortunately I was unable to copy and paste the image to this blog so you have to explore for yourself via this link http://www.royaldelft.com/index.cfm?

Activity 9 Finding feeds

Explored search tools to help me find feeds:
Topix.net was great for news, especially on the old country (Singapore) which don't make the news here in Oz.
Feedster allowed me to cast the net wide for news, blogs & podcasts but it could be I was stuck in a loop. No matter what I "radiobuttoned" (all feeds/blogs/podcasts) I got the same matches.
Had trouble with Technorati. My search term "shiwan" and then "ikebana"resulted in Access blocked by the rule "Block pornography" !!!!!!
In comparison, Google Blog search was user friendly and gave me lots of interesting and useful feeds on ikebana.

Activity 8: RSS feeds

RSS feeds is a useful tool for getting updated information on topics that interest me in a succinct manner : http://www.bloglines.com/public/imogenesword

Activity 7 Posting a note about technology

Looking for the photo in flickr was fun. What I find confusing was having to open an account in yahoo and then in google when I thought I was all fixed by setting up the blog in the first instance! Debra helped by explaining that it's like signing in with different user ID and passwords.
The I found that there is a difference in Posting and Template.
Must remember to use Posting.
Debra's a great teacher - thank god for people like her!

Activity 6 mashups

My October calendar creation
Originally uploaded by imogenesword

Had to go into flickr to select a photo, save it on my pictures on h drive.
Then uploaded photo to fd's flckrtoys, filled up the calendar template, linked to flickr account, then selected Blog this.

Water drops in the sun light

It took a while to look for a photo which had an icon "blog this" on top of the photo so I could attach the photo to my blog. But here it is. Now how do I position this next to the photo?Can only move text to 3 possible positions. This looks best - can't quite put text to left of pictue. Could I have done it at the point of downloading the photo?

Water drops in the sun light
Originally uploaded by gfxmaster

Gungho blog

Crash through or burn! Figured this was the best way to do it rather than spend too much time thinking. Have already spent much much more than the 15 minutes recommended.
Easiest 7 1/2 habit: Create learning toolbox
Hardest: Have confidence
So creating this blog fast is a new habit for moi!