Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Reflection

Well, this is the end of 23 Things (for now).

Looking back, I have to say that my favourite parts were tools I was already using such as digital images and YouTube.

Least favourite was Technorati (see post).

I do have to say though that creating the blog was fun, and something that I hadn't really bothered with before. I partake in quite a number of blogs created by others, but the driving need to create my own was never really there. It'll be interesting to see if I can sustain the momentum and keep this going. I'll probably start a new one, if anything related to my popular culture interests. That seems to be what everyone else on the Internet is doing.  :-)

Not sure that this really affected my life-long learning at all, but then I was already using a number of the Web 2.0 tools that we covered.

Overall, an interesting experiment, and I would definitely recommend for others to do this program as well.

Mashups

For me a mashup will always be the fusing of two songs to form a new tune (vocal from one, instrumental from the other), usually with a punny title - eg. "Get Outta My Way" vs. "California Gurls" (sic) --> "Get Outta My California Gurl". I don't care what Wikipedia says...

But, having to look at the Web 2.0 angle, I can see where the name could be transferred to other media.

As for where the use of mashups would be applicable within a library setting, I think that online tutorials would probably be a good fit, encorporating a number of media.

I did see on MashedLibrary an odd suggestion that the bib records for library catalogue should perform more like twitter (with limited number of characters) and then link the other information from elsewhere [Idea #21]. I'm not sure that being so reliant on 3rd party data is such a good idea. Too many potential problems I think...

Podcasts

I used to religiously follow a couple of podcasts that I could download from some pop culture sites, but I missed a few eps and realised that I couldn't be bothered catching up. Sad really.

Anyway, on to this week's topic. I tried Podcast Alley, and found it to be pretty ok. I subscribed to B-Movie Cast which has podcasts for some old (classic?) B-Movies. To be honest, there wasn't much else that sparked my interest. I'm sure that if I had delved a bit deeper that I might have found a couple more.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

YouTube!



YouTube really has been a revolution for video content sharing, and it really is hard to think of how I ever got by without it. I remember setting the video to tape Rage on the ABC just to see the newest video clips. That seems so antiquated now. Go to YouTube, search, and viola, instant video. Much simpler! The above clip is the 1st trailer for the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs the World - I've just re-read the graphic novels, and the DVd comes out this month, so it seemed appropriate.

Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

I had a look at Craigslist, as I always hear about it on various American movies and TV. It seems to focus on local areas, which is a bonus, and has lots of forums, advertisements for jobs, sale items, etc. On first galnce it looks a little chaotic, but with some navigation I could see it being used as a tool within libraries for communication and other uses. There might, however, be better (and more secure) tools out there, with more specific requirements for libraries.

Google Docs

You'll find the document I created here. A bit of creative bankruptcy, but I needed to come up with something quickly...

The process of using Google Docs was actually quite interesting. While I had heard of the tool before, I hadn't actually used it, and can definitely see the value in documents stored online that multiple users can access, even allowing discoverability via Google. Nice.

UoN PBWiki

Couldn't access this to get it to work...

The idea of having a 'sandbox' to play in is a good idea, but potentailly dangerous for those that are easily distractable...

Wikis in the library


Ask me about Wikipedia
Originally uploaded by jonsson
Having worked with wikis as part of a CSU subject I can definitely vouch for their effectiveness when working in a team situation. All members of a team can contribute content, while providing a central access point for all team information. I can definitely see the value in organising wikis for the various teams here in the library.

Picture only slightly related - "Ask me about Wikipedia" - it just caught my eye...

On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0 ...

Some thoughts from the perspective pieces:

1)  'Into a new world of librarianship' - I actually laughed out loud when I read Librarian 2.0 controls technolust - "This librarian does not buy technology for the sake of technology" - um, you might not, but others sure do (or at least write journal articles about it). Many librarians seemingly look at how the newest tech toys can be utilised in libraries, just because it will make libraries 'hip' with Gen Y. And don't get me started on Second Life...

2)  'To better bibliographic services' - I quite liked the ideas expressed in the Package and push metadata section, about making resources more discoverable, and packaging / pushing library content to users via RSS feeds. After all, how will users know what services and content we offer if we get the information to them?

3)  'To more powerful ways to cooperate' - Just from personal experience, the "data is the new Intel inside" mantra from Build better data rings very true for me. The better quality your records, the more discoverable and tranferable they are.

Techno(crappy)rati

Well, a blog search that only searches registered tagged blogs. Mmmm. Tried a few searches, and zero results. Obviously the blogs I read haven't bothered tagging with Technorati. Not sure I see why this is worth me using then...

Also, "unavailable" links and not being able to find the tour easily make this low on my list of priorities with Web 2.0.

Delicious

http://www.delicious.com/mangaresearcher

Well, I went through the process of signing up for Delicious, and I have to say that I probably won't use it very often. I can see that it would be useful for people that might change computers often (or travel alot for work) to have an external back-up / list of their bookmarked sites. It's pretty easy to import existing bookmarks into other browsers, so I don't think that I'll really be rushing to take advantage of Delicious, especially as I keep a list of favourite sites on my USB stick anyway...

Libraries and Web 2.0

I can definitely see some advantages for libraries with using social networking technologies. While some tools already in use, such as library blogs probably aren't seeing as much interaction as they could, others such as online video have much greater potential. case in point, the Youtube video UoN has created for Chinese speakers on how to use the Print/Copy system. Great idea, well exceuted, and definitely useful. I'm not sure I see the point of a Facebook page for the library, as what is popular moves on rather quickly (MySpace anyone?), but there is definitely a place for user-driven content.