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.