My Second Life Cats

Courtesy of janhanford

Cats in Second Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-unHrPV6lc

Thank you and good bye!

The end of the adventure!!

I did look at a few of the social networking sites and I can see that libraries can use them to create communities of interest, with the added bonus of harvesting email addresses etc. And I think it would be a way of getting a bit more out there, with certain target audiences. It doesn't 'grab' me (and you won't find me in bebo, spacebook or skyblog) but wouldn't it be good if all the public libraries were friends of SLNSW!!

As for Second Life - the real is engaging enough, virtual still seems like playtime, but I'm open to suggestions. And come to think of it, keeping the genealogists in second life could be very helpful...

And I've enjoyed the program - thank you Ellen and Mylee. I wasn't a model student, I'm afraid. There were bursts and lulls, and there are still quite a lot of things I will go back and look at again when I want to apply them, or just to find out more. But I am better informed, I have looked at my preconceptions and jettisoned a few, and I've been challenged by some of the ideas and concepts.

As for my personal blogging future? May resurrect it again in my retirement...

Week 11

I have been having a little look at Google Docs and Zoho. I think I prefer Zoho - it is a little more 'intuitive' and I like their home page better (it's all in appearances, isn't it??)

Zamzar is a good site too.

I can see a lot of potential for document sharing amongst work teams separated by the eccentricities of our shared drives, and in a wider context, with other colleagues, elsewhere. It would also provide opportunities to work remotely on shared documents, presentations etc. And of course - SAVE SPACE.

I loved the tada list - my cup of tea!!

Podcasts

Apart from the name, I love podcasts! A great way to catch up on missed shows, presentations, lectures etc. Libraries could develop training and professional development programs for remote branches, record all their author talks etc. I think it is also a technology that is potentially quite diverting for kids and YAs too.

And then there's the whole audio book thing - the library in your handbook and on the bus...

Mashups - Week 9

I don't know about this one - not entirely convinced, But I've Warholised Perkins anyway.

In a public library setting, mashups could be used to create some quick and funky promotional material, posters etc highlighting items from the collections, users etc

Answer boards - Week 8

As you can see - LibraryThing now loaded - thank you Ellen! Now I shall have an important looking blog like others do...

I really like the Slamming the Boards idea - highlights what librarians do better than Google.

We could certainly showcase some of our unique resources using answer boards - 'fake' questions posed and answered eg Where can I see a convict's diary?

Tags and things - week 7

Back to it after a couple of weeks spent commenting on the public library blogs. I realised that in order to stay a step or two ahead I had better get back to my own learning.

The idea of 'team tagging' on projects is somethng I will investigate further. Haven't got around to playing with the test account yet - the perils of doing this at home... but I will.

I created a Librarything account - have added some books but can't work out how to add that to my blog. Obviously time to stop and go outside and play.

Videos

I can see an increasing use for videos in local history collections and for promoting services and activities. I would also like to see more use of them in relation to training and professional development. Such a cheap and easily accessible way of reaching staff and clients.

I was going to embed the video of Norah the piano playing cat, but decided against it in the interests on NOT furthering my already widespead reputation as a cat fanatic. When I've convinced my cats to play the trombone, then you'll get a video worth watching.

A rainbow of books

Now this is an inspiration to me!!! Must go home and tidy those book shelves...
(posted on Flickr by Melilotus)

Everyone wants to be a movie director

I like the idea of using YouTube to promote library events and services, but there is an awful lot of bad video out there. It's probably worthwhile getting the clips professionally produced as a way to stand out from the crowd. But having said that, there is an endearing quality to some of the hand made videos, like this one of Browser the Library Cat. Check out those teeth...

Wiki weekend

Definitely not as good as a wicked weekend, but what can you do? And it's raining so may as well be here catching up on my Learning 2.0 homework.

I still have serious doubts about the 'overuse' of certain wikis, especially Wikipedia - the lazy person's answer to everything, I fear. The concept of a specialist wiki, with an identifiable group of contributors is much more to my liking, and certainly has a place in the library, and the office. The best feature is the timeliness of getting information out and the collaborative approach to sharing it.

RSS

See - I told you I was ripping through this.

I have used Bloglines for a while. I like being able to go to one spot at one time and check my feeds. I have gone from having lots to only a very few now. They can generate a phenomenal amount of reading.

The Good Library Blog is one of my favourites (and it's nothing to do with Perkins, I swear).

Catching up

The road to hell...

But I am here again, catching up on Learning 2.0, mainly so I keep apace, if not ahead of, the public library staff in the program.

Created a Flickr account (more passwords and secret questions - if only I was putting anything out into cyberspace that anyone else would be remotely interested in!). But will not inflict my very poor photographic attempts on anyone.

Back to the program - I am very taken with the concept of creative commons. NTS - read more about it.

Now onwards to Week 4 and beyond...

Thoughts on photos

Flickr - what can I say? At least you can't misspell a photo (think I just misspelt 'misspell') but again it's a bit of a case of why bother? Does anyone out there really need to see my photos of the State Library, seriously art house though they are? And in any case, a moot point as the prospect of creating a Flickr account was all too much at the end of the week!

From the work viewpoint I can see the value of a collection of library photos provided they are good quality, usefully labelled, and frequently culled and updated.

The concept of 15 minutes a day is not quite working for me - too little time in one hit to do anything really, so I'm bundling my minutes into a once-weekly hour. Good in theory...

More blog reflections!

This is another Learning 2.0 blog for library staff, and I thought there were a few good ideas as to how libraries might use blogs, both from a work and customer-centric viewpoint. It's also a nice clear crisp looking blog itself, and I may keep a bit of an eye on it from time to time.

The temptation, I guess, is to subscribe to too many blogs and then be enticed into spending far more time reading and following links, than the contents merit. It's so much harder to speed read online than the mass of paper stuffed into the in-tray.

Anyway, back to OUR Learning 2.0 - am seriously behnd schedule...

Random rainy thoughts

Have spent a few pleasant moments looking at the Test Pilot blogs. Ahh, we're all frustrated writers, publishers, designers, diarists, aren't we? And dare I say it - slightly voyeuristic. But I fear the novelty will wear off quickly for me, even though it's very tempting to spend time rambling your way through other people's thought processes.

The blogs that I have subscribed to (and they are all work-related - what a very boring girl I am) have to give me information I can't or won't find elsewhere, with not too much text/comment and lots of links to the REAL point. I'm not much interested in a personal (or for that matter, professional) opinion from someone I don't know BUT I do want to keep in touch with what is happening in those areas of the profession in which I am interested.

Blogs that work for me? Museum/ gallery/library blogs that let me experience, remotely, the feel of the actual place; 'alert' type blogs that link me to relavant information sites; but I'm not too sure about those very text-heavy pages - are blogs the right medium? The spirit of Marshall McLuhan...

A pinch and a punch

February 1st - a good day to start something new. Though I suspect day 1 of my blog will be nowhere nearly as widely celebrated as Polar Bear Day (Feb 27th). And it's probably still January off in blogger.com land.

I have a lingering aversion to the concept of a personal blog - along the lines of is there really an audience out there for yet another blog, or is it simply a self indulgence? However, in the interests of Learning 2.0 here it is!

And thank you, Mylee and Ellen - for a short, sharp, easy to use, online training tool that should have us all techno savvy in no time (well, in 12 weeks anyway).