Thing 23 - The End

Well, I've done it - I've finished this learning experience. Thanks to all those who contributed knowledge about Web 2.0 tools to the Canberra Learning 2.0 Blog.
It has been really interesting to finally find out what all the fuss is about and to use the tools and think about how they can be applied in a library setting. I particularly liked the Generators and Flickr Mashups - I can see a big use for those in producing displays. Del.icio.us and Wikis will be useful to share knowledge for both staff and customers but the thing I liked best and use the most at the moment are RSS feeds.
The only negative has been the time needed to explore some of the Things. But the positives of understanding the terminology and their application far outweighs this, I would definitely do another discovery program like this if it was offered. Thanks everyone.

Thing 22 - audiobooks

What a wonderfully eclectic bunch of titles. Everybody should be able to find something to read or listen to from this selection. eAudio and eBooks are such useful things for those who like to do something else while they listen to a story or want to read it from their computer when it is convenient. This is a Web 2.o tool that can be used pretty easily by lots of people and is good PR for any library that offers it.

Things 20 & 21 - YouTube & Podcasts

YouTube - well what can one say about this Web 2.0 tool. I'm afraid that it doesn't really appeal to me although I did laugh at the lady dropping the cake when someone emailed it to me. But I can't really be bothered to sort through thousands (millions?) of junky clips just to find the useful jewel. I haven't put a YouTube video on this blog because we are no longer able to access them at work - they are too space hungry - and I for one don't mind at all.
The above sentiments are pretty much the same for podcasts. I know that there are jewels out there but it takes time to find them. I found the podcast directories very confusing and hard to navigate. And when it comes to podcasts of presentations that I know will be interesting I'd much prefer to read them, particularly if they are quite long. I'm not sure I understand why you would want to have them as an RSS feed, they don't seem to be an ongoing sort of thing but appear for a very short time on a particular topic. Anyway not my favourite Tools.

Thing 19 - Web 2.0 Awards

I've found an interesting site that may be helpful both professionally and personally. I was very impressed with all the award winning sites there are but I only had a look at a few of them and found an absolute gem. http://www.lulu.com/ This was an award winner in the 'Books' category. You can do so much on it - simple to complicated. Sure it costs money to publish but think how much fun it would be to be your own publisher. Just the site to recommend to those keen library users who are members of writing groups.

Thing 18 - Zoho Writer

This is an experiment with Zoho Writer - what is it good for, can I actually add a comment but how will I read it? Try click. Yes!

Will the formatting transfer to other applications, like my blog? What if I change the font and colour and size? (There isn't a lot of choice of fonts) How to I get it over there? And really when it comes down to it how much different is it to Word and copying and pasting. Actually I'm not sure you can do that with a blog. I'll find out.

This is a test to see if I can cut and past from Word to my blog. I will change the font and the colour and the size and see if the formatting comes too– that is if it comes at all.

OK - that was interesting. Most of the formatting stayed with the Zoho test - the comment didn't come. The words came over from Word but none of the formatting.

Even more interesting and somewhat annoying is the fact that in my edit screen for the blog I can see the formatting from Zoho but when it is posted most of if changes. In edit I can see that the word 'size' is much bigger than the surrounding words, but when I publish it it is the same. Seems to defeat the purpose somewhat of having applications that "talk" to each other when the message gets garbled.

Thing 17 - add a wiki entry

This is proving an interesting exercise. I tried to follow the instructions 'click on edit at top of page' followed by 'add url with square brackets' however....edit was at the bottom of the page and the link wouldn't add when it had square brackets but seemed fine when I took away the brackets and just did a copy and paste of my blog url. I haven't signed out and in a again to check but it looks ok. Its a bit disconcerting to have pages and pages of people's favourite things but with no indication if they were added last week or last year. You can see when the page was edited but no info on individual additions. Well, I've checked - it's working.

Thing 16 - Wikis

I like the idea of Wikis - they seem to be a cross between a website/intranet and a blog. The ACT Public Library Blog doesn't allow comments to be added to it but if the library had a wiki that was restricted to library members it would allow customers to add feedback and contribute to booklists, favourite reads, reviews etc. Having a staff wiki would also provide a flexible way of gathering and disseminating information on such things as recommended websites, favourite books etc. Bull Run Library Wiki http://bullrunlibrary.pbwiki.com/ seems set up for customers more than staff, whereas the ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki is for a specific group http://meredith.wolfwater.com/ala2006/index.php?title=Main_Page