#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...?

Reflecting on my Learning 2.0 journey,I do believe I have achieved my goals which I set in Week 1, i.e. to discover as much as possible about Web 2.0 technologies freely available on the Internet; to prepare me for my role of supporting my library community in its use of the same tools; and increasing my confidence in approaching the technological demands of the future. I thought my main obstacle would be adjusting to learning in an online setting having previously been used to more formal styles of learning. However, Lynette & Leslie's tips for success, emails, blog comments and words of encouragement along with podcasts & YouTube videos made for a nurturing learning environment and helped me make the necessary mindset changes.
My favourite discoveries were podcasts, knowing that I can listen on the web or on my iPod; YouTube, even though I found the exercise one of the most dificult because I didn't realize that the embedded code was so long; and Library Thing which will enable me to catalogue my home library. In terms of useful library applications, I see a future for Wikis in so far as they will make us an online hub for our local community allowing users to create, edit and share information in a collaborative space. Just because I am now more aware of the role which Web 2.0 technologies can play in making libraries more user-centric, I don't intend ignoring the needs of a large proportion of our community who choose not to begin their own web journey.
One of the main unexpected outcomes of my Learning 2.0 experience was its addictiveness, once begun. Hopefully, that will carry me into the future...

Thanks to SLV and to Lynette Lewis and Leslie Sharples.

#22 Audiobooks (or "the end is in sight")

It is no surprise that downloadable eAudiobooks are becoming so popular in libraries. The main advantages to libraries are not having to worry about wear and tear on physical tape or disc components; the convenience to the MP3 owner/library user; and the flexibility offered by various subscription services such as Netlib and Overdrive. Netlib ofers access to more than 4,700 titles with new titles added every month.
World ebook fair site is a free downloadable eAudiobook site which allows users access to public domain literary works including classical poems, Shakespeare's sonnets and historical children's ebooks.
There is also an opportunity to volunteer to help produce ebooks by proof-reading one page a day.
Geelong Regional Library is currently considering the introduction of eAudiobooks as a means of expanding our services to meet the needs and interests of our changing communities.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts

I can only reiterate how helpful I have found Helen Blower's introductory podcasts for each of the learning criteria in Learning 2.0. Odeo, as a free hosting service, has become my best friend since embarking on this online learning experience. Although I already own an iPod, I hadn't made the connection between iTunes and podcasts, until now.
I also found the Yahoo tutorial very useful and am very excited to learn that next time I sync my iPod, my chosen podcats will be dowloaded automatically to my iPod for listening on the go. Imagine my horror to discover that Yahoo is closing down their podcast site on 31 October, 2007. I liked the fact that Yahoo has the most popular tags on their front page to make it easy to choose descriptors. However, I did find the main category search terms very broad so that when I chose arts I retrieved podcasts varying from martial arts to author talks. The majority of podcasts appeared to be American in origin.
A narrower search of authors and Melbourne was more effective in narrowing down the results to some gems including Alice Pung, Michael Panckridge and Tara Moss.
I was amused that using the acronym SLV instead of the complete descriptor State Library of Victoria gave 179 results, the first page of podcasts relating to the series Sex, lies and videos.
My favourite podcast was triple J's series: Triple j's Hack: literary love which is a podcast from State library of Victoria, at a literary event, in February, 2007. This event was attended by hundreds of people who participated in text appeal speed dating.
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/
I can see applications for podcasting within our library home page, for example, news broadcasts in various languages; author talks; book reviews; and conference proceedings.

#20 You too can YouTube

I am a becoming a huge fan of YouTube. For many of the required tasks within Learning 2.0, I have benefited from watching and listening to YouTube instructive videos. This suited my preference for learning via combined auidio and visual cues.
I especially like the TV promo features of YouTube and was very excited to discover promos and interviews for the new ABC series, The Librarians. I chose The Librarians Interview as an example of a very professional and extremely funny YouTube video. It has a five star rating and has already had 1,005 views.
Other features of the site which I liked, and which could also be applied to library websites, are: Your account; Favourites; Help Center; Copyright Notices; Privacy Policy.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

The winner of the Web 2.0 Award 2007 in the books category, lulu.com, is a very easy to navigate self-publishing online tool. It offers many useful features allowing creative types to publish words, art or music for either fun or profit, conecting with potential buyers in more than 80 countries as well as connecting with the "largest" online writing community. The site, which averages 500,000 visits per week offers a live help or chat centre. A click of the publishing tab, within a very easy to use menu, gives endless options for the individual creators, non-profit groups or businesses looking for innovative publishing solutions. A digital media service can help you publish your own video, ebook, CD or DVD, or prepare a multimedia presentation.
Kids Creations has all sorts of tools and programs to help young budding authors and illustrators to create their own stories, poems, cartoons etc.
I'm sure lulu.com would be a very useful tool for library staff to promote to their users, many of whom have already shared their creative dreams.

#18 Web-based applications

If only we had known to inform our Internet users of the availability of Zoho Writer so that they could create word processing documents on our library PCs which, up until now, have lacked the appropriate desktop applications.  I have had fun changing the skin of my Zoho Writer template to dark purple  and the time zone to GMT + 10.00 Canberra, Melborne, Sydney. I also checked out the FAQ to get some tips on posting my blog.  I'm sure there are heaps of other features still to be discovered.  I'll definitely be recommending this web-based wod-processing tool to library users, including family and friends.

#16 What's in a Wiki?

I must confess that this discovery exercise has provided me with my first Wiki experience. Once again, I have had to overcome my initial reaction to tools such as Wikis which, at first glance, seem so disorganised, subjective and uncontrolled and acknowledge that there is a place for Wikis in the library environment. Several of the library Wikis which demonstrated the innovative ways libraries are using Wikis included:
Library instruction Wiki which is a forum for sharing resources such as handouts, tutorials etc and includes templates for consistent formatting of potential resources for this site.
The Library Tehcnology Training Wiki contained some very useful documents, resources and instructions on how to make Wikis and online suveys.
Web-based library projects which could benefit from a collaborative approach include:
Subject Guides, Genre Lists, New Titles Lists and Book Reviews. All of the above need frequent updating and would benefit from tapping into the interests and passions of our users. Given that Wikis are quick to build and easy to edit, any new information can be quickly added to the collective knowledge base.
The idea of a community Wiki, making us an online hub or one-stop shop for our local community also has special appeal.
I found the Youtube video Wikis in plain English very easy to follow

#15 On Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Having just read 3 of the OCLC aricles on the topic of Web 2.0, and given that the branch library at which I work has just closed for a major redevelopment, I feel I have already reached a "...temporary place in time." We are being asked to embrace change as "...development cycle over the traditional notion of upgrades" and to rework library services "to meet the users in their space, as opposed to ours."

Rick Anderson's article Away from the "icebergs" certainly issues a challenge to "...throw our core principles and values overboard" as we "...row our library boat into the web 2.0 environment." He is advocating that libraries embrace major physical and mindset changes to make their services more user-centric. Hence, the icebergs we need to avoid are; relying on just in case print collections; relying on user education rather than easy to use programs with one-button commands; expecting our customers to come to us instead of integrating our library services in their preferred user environment, i.e. the Web.
Tom Storey asks us to consider how libraries will "...fit and thrive in the second coming of the web?" Since embarking on Learning 2.0, we have seen first-hand the "...simplicity, rich iteractivity, user intelligence, self-service, novel and remixed content" on offer via FlicKr, Blogger, Del.icio.us, YouTube etc. So, with apologies to my former lecturers and tutors in Library and Information Studies, we can't get hung up on libraries having to have authoritative control over catalogues. Our main aim should be to improve access for our users and if, for example, encouraging them to create tags on our catalogue achieves this then we should run with it.
I loved the quote from George Bishop: "Empowering the patrons will empower your library."

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

My discovery tour of Technorati, a leading search tool and authority for blogs, elicited mixed results. For some reason, the videocast wouldn't load so I had to rely on reading on-screen information and very impressive it is. The fact that the number of blogs doubles every 6 months leads me to ask how much of this increase is due to librarians furiously creating blogs to satisfy Learning 2.0 criteria? Although I feel I have already done my bit to expand the blogosphere, I'm not quite ready to have my blogs officially listed on Technorati.
I was impressed to read that the creators of Technorati have listened to feedback regarding their core service, taking steps to make it simpler and more intuitive for new users like me.
It was gratifying to see Library 2.0 up there with Jennifer Garner & BoingBoing, TreeHugger & other such ridiculously tagged blogs. My keyword Library 2.0 search in posts gave 4,971 results as compared with 458 blogs and 481 posts tagged by Library 2.0.

#13 Del.icio.us

At first I was sceptical of Del.icio.us because I feared that I was being asked to abandon Dewey altogether and replace it with the very unstructured and freeform tagging used by this site. After some exploration of the PLCMCL2 del.icio.us account, I appreciate just how useful the tag options are for acessing resources used throughout the course of Learning 2.0. I also like the idea of font size of tags within a tag cloud being a indicator of how popular a bookmark is. This makes it very visual and easy to understand.

Del.icio.us definitely has potential for library staff prividing advice to serious researchers. I have created an account for my husband so that he can access his bookmarks relevant to NASA and the space shuttle, no matter where he is.

#12 Roll your own search engine with Rollyo

OK, so I have explored another online search tool which let me create my search roll for websites which I know and trust. I'm not sure that this will be a tool which I will use although I did discover the Public Domain eBooks Search Engine which was very useful for Out of Print books. Another tool which I enjoyed using was Free Photos Search Engine which gave me access to lots of Flickr photos tagged with libraries.

#11 Library Thing

I am so excited by Library Thing now that I am the proud ownwer of a custom-built bookshelf which has taken my husband a year to complete. (Last year's Christmas present - all good things come to those who wait, apparently!) I can't wait to create a library-quality Catalogue for my book collection.
I am not surprised that 24% of LT participants are librarians. I can see the usefulness of LT tags in our libraries, allowing theme-based browsing etc on our OPACS.
Initially, I had problems creating an account, encountering a message about being unable to set cookies because the system clock was wrong. For anyone else with the same problem, turning off the firewall did the trick.

xs.to - Hosting - lucy-linus-snoopy_www-txt2pic-com.jpg

#11 Playing around with image generators

xs.to - Hosting - lucy-linus-snoopy_www-txt2pic-com.jpg

Phew, I did it. Challenges, not obstacles! I'm sure it's meant to get easier not more difficult.

#9 Finding feeds

Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Possibly the most beautiful library of them all.)

I came across this picture on google blog search, one of the RSS search tools which we were encouraged to explore for this task. I was in awe as I scrolled through endless photos of libraries around the world, including our very own State Library of Victoria (one of the few libraries which actually had people using the library as opposed to checking out the library as a tourist is inclined to do.)http://www.curiousexpeditions.org/2007/09/a_librophiliacs_love_letter_1.html

I found the google blog search a very useful tool for finding RSS feeds.

Although I was already aware that our library databases had an alerts feature for journal subscriptions, I was unaware of the terminology RSS feed alerts. This may prove a very useful tool for some of our bibrary users engaged in serious research.

#8 Make life easy with RSS and Newsreader

For someone who has a very strong dislike of unsolicited advertising, RSS and Newsreader allow me access to information of my choosing without the advertising. Brilliant! I love to be in control, filtering out all the rubbish.
My favourite feeds include Read Alert ~ a blog from the State Library of Victoria about youth literature and Recent Australian Publications ~ derived from Australian national Bibliographic Database (ANBD).
The URL address to my public bloglines acount is provided below:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/Username

#7 Technology Blog

One of the links on FlicKr fun took me into a glossary of blogging terms which usues non-technical language to help the newbie blogger like me understand blargon ~ blogging terms.
Having always been interested in linguistics, I decided to post a linguablog ~ about linguistics ~ to help me clarify some of the new terminology I have encountered so far.

For example, if I were to digress and shout "Go Cats!" in support of Geelong's Grand Final campaign that would make me a kittyblogger.

Now that I have posted more than one blog ~ short form for weblog or online dated diary of musings on a specific topic, often in reverse chronological order, I am now a blogger ~ a person who blogs or a member of the blogosphere ~ internet blogging community. I'm also a photoblogger, having created a blog predominantly consisting of a photo. I still aspire to becoming a moblogger if I can manage to post a blog via my mobile phone.
I feel a touch of blogopathy, which means I don;t want to post anything else today!

#6 Flickr & Mashups

I have had fun exploring ShoZu, an online service for uploading photos from my camera phone to various destinations, such as FlicKr, BBC etc. (Not sure that the media will be interested in receiving any of my photos but still good to know that it is possible.)
Finally, after two attempts, I managed to activate ShoZu on my mobile phone and link it to Flickr & Email. Must remember my mantra - challenges not obstacles! :)

Feeling rather mashed up myself, I then explored Google maps, as an example of a mashup. If only I had completed this exercise before a trip to Melbourne last Saturday night which saw my husband and I driving to a restaurant in Sydney Road, from Geelong, via Fitzroy because someone, who does not qualify to be called Nav-man, was certain that it was off Brunswick Street. My sugestion that we should turn left into Royal Parade after taking the Zoo Road went unheard. Next trip, I'll be retrieving the detailed street information prior to hitting the big smoke.

The library bookshelf

Our first night in Rome, we stumbled upon a restaurant near Piazza Navona called "The Library". We were very impressed with the collection on display on the shelves and our request was met without reference to Dewey nor a LMS.

Library bag

Did anyone else read the article in yesterday's Sunday Age, about Sydney artist, Rebecca Whalen, who has been recycling old hardcover books into handbags "...for the literary-minded."
"I've always admired the beauty of designs on book covers. It seems such a waste that they get tucked away on dusty bookshelves," she is quoted as saying.
Her bags, which cost around $75.00, have been exhibited in galleries and bookstores and can be tailor-made to a book cover of your choice.

It occurred to me that owning such a bag might soften the blow for any library staff who feel their heart is being ripped out every time they delete a book from their library management system!

Email doublebookdesigns@gmail.com for details.