#23 THE END!

Learning about 2.0 through the 23 things programme has been a very interesting (though often frustrating) experience and I have discovered and explored things I wuould never have known about without the programme. I feel a bit more confident about the Web now and how to do things, like exporting pictures from Flickr, and it has made me want to learn more so I will go back to some of the exercises that I enjoyed (Generator)and play some more. I also want to find out more about the things that didn't work as I wanted or expected and see if I can learn how to get it right.
Thank you for the opportunity to learn more about this stuff and for the patience you have shown and help you have given to us all as we have struggled through.

Social networking

Social networking for libraries on MySpace, Bebo or Facebook seems to be a good way to reach the (mostly) young people using these sites. They are supposedly used mainly by the 16 - 25 year age group, who are notoriously poor face to face communicators, so this format is ideally suited for anonymous comments and requests.
Some of the sites I visited were not very imaginative (Albany County Public Library) while others (Brooklyn College Library and London, Ontario) were more attractive and lively with music, videos and other links. The sites need to be VERY current and interactive to keep up with the techy users.

Get social

Bebo: The Bebo spots by Auckland and Rotorua Libraries was an interesting way to reach young Bebo devotees with the library message.

MySpace: Another social networking tool with an amazing collection of videos both amateur and professional including Tve series episodes from BBC and ABC.

Facebook: I use Facebook mainly to access photos posted by my stepson in Guatemala - I wish I was clever enough to share them because they are fantastic.
I did it with help from Rose.

eBooks

I looked at Project Gutenberg for Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice - there were 4 entries on offer, available in various formats including HTML, plain text and Adobe PDF.
Amazon Kindle books had 75 results available for purchase from as little as 25c but that one had a very bad review!
I can't get enthusiastic about eBooks even if the format is small however, I can see that people might use them while commuting by bus or train, but then you can always read a REAL book.

Podcasts

I looked at iTunes which was loaded on our desktop but I had never used. I listened to Alan Alda talking about his book 'Things I overheard while talking to myself'. There are a lot of these author talks and book reviews which would be interesting to explore further. Then I looked around Podnova and added an RSS feed of Saturday Night Jam, a regular session by a group called Fuze. It appeared to load sucessfully but didn't come up on my list on Bloglines. Anyway the music was good.
I tried again today and with a bit of fiddling, the feed worked and I was able to play the music.

YouTube

This is the trailer for Local hero, a movie I loved when it came out in (I can't believe it) 1983. The music is great too.

Exploring 2.0

Still on the travel theme, I chose Boo.com to explore. I looked at Budapest and there was plenty of information for trip planning and learning about the city's attractions and history. The Ibis in Pest has the same room design as the Ibis in Wellington. This is a comprehensive site that would prove very useful and I'm sure I will go back to it again.

Zoho writer

Well, after much huffing and puffing and seeming to get nowhere, I managed to import some images (not quite the way I wanted them but I won't get picky about it) to my text. Publishing to my Blog was the easy bit. There are obviously lots of useful applications within Zoho for those who want to do clever things with their writing.

Travel wish list

Travel

 

It seem to be all about travel at the moment and all the possibilities to be explored. Where to go and what to do? So many places and so little time/money!

Cruising, walking, trains, cities or countryside - or of course a wonderful combination of them all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rollyo

I have created an account on Rollyo - very quick and easy to do, and made a searchroll called Travel http://rollyo.com/mollyw64/travel/
from some of my bookmarked sites. This now gives access to more information from those and other sites should I ever decide to plan a wonderful trip by freighter, train, etc.

LibraryThing

I created a record in LibraryThing, made a list of a few books and manipulated them into some order then tried to create a link to my blog but it wouldn't work - something to do with HTML. Can anyone help with that? The same process worked with my word cloud from Generator.
This is a really good way of keeping track of reading lists and seeing what others are reading that is similar and could be of interest. That is only part of LibraryThing but all I will do for now.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mollyw64

Generator

I played around with word clouds on Generator - this could provide hours of fun and useful stuff for publishing too. I also created a new English town in Buckinghamshire - do I now have to go over and populate it? That was only two of the many possibilities on that site but I ran out of time to play with more.

Learning2.0 SandBox wiki

SandBox wiki is a good fun tool for sharing information. I added a quotation to that thread and look forward to more 'favourites' appearing in the lists.

wikis

Wikis can be very useful for information but because anyone can post or edit an entry they cannot be treated as a primary source and their editorial content should be checked with other sites for validity.

I went into Albany County Library staff wiki (because of our own Albany) and found it very interesting to see everything from staff rosters to brainstorming sessions out there in the public domain. Some of the findings could be useful to other libraries facing the same issues.

Web2.0, Library 2.0

There are very interesting comments on the OCLC next Space Newsletter. I particularly liked Wendy Schultz saying that libraries are not just part of a community - they ARE a community. Some members of that community may, as quoted in another article, spend 40 hours a week using the Internet in varoious ways so libraries must be up to date with new technologies for these patrons and not appear 'stuffy'. These patrons need never enter a library building with requesting on line, Interloan, shared catalogues, Any Questions, pay online and home delivery of requested items.
However, we also need to remember that not all patrons have or want this type of access. For them a visit to the library and the personal help/advice/chat that they can have with a librarian is important.
We therefore need to be aware of the needs of ALL our patrons and be ready to offer them each the service that they require.

Technorati

I didn't find the format of Technorati very inviting, but with perserverance I looked into various things - travel, books etc.
Found a stunning slideshow of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony which I missed on Friday night/Saturday morning because i was too tired to stay up - now I really wish I had!
http://www.seanpercival.com/blog/2008/08/08/2008-olympics-opening-ceremony/

Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us would be a great way to spend a wet Sunday (I nearly did), drilling down into further and further links and tags. There is lots to discover out there and why reinvent the wheel if someone else has done searching in your chosen field but you can always add another spoke to the wheel with your own discoveries. I will try reorganising my long booklist of favourites and hopefully adding more.

RSS feeds

I have created a Bloglines account and added 2 feeds. The first time I tried I was locked out but the next time it worked well. I have added news feeds by putting in the site I wanted but would like some British book review sites if anyone knows a good one.

Technology triumphs

Technology is changing every day so keeping up with it can be a challenge for those of us not really that way inclined. This, of course, is what the 23 things programme is designed to help with. We think nothing of using TV, video (not really any more), DVD, cell phones, etc that have been around for years and we would feel lost without them now.

We use Skype to keep in touch with family overseas - seeing them (and their surroundings) is so much better than just hearing them on the phone or texting.

Facebook is great for keeping up with people overseas and being able to view postings of the latest photos from the trip to Guatemala!

Flickr is useful for photographers to display their work and have it critiqued by their peers. PSNZ is using Flickr as a medium to display the images in the National Exhibition this year.
http://www.photography.org.nz/natex_recent.htm

Flickr fun

I enjoyed finding images on Flickr and loaded some on my blog. Then I put some of my own on Flickr as a photostream and slideshow and had fun placing one image on a map.
I did not like the effects of Montagr but perhaps I just need to play with it a bit more.

Tour Auto 2007

My sons at 'work' last year.

tour auto 2007

Seacat - St Ives, Cornwall

Seacat - St Ives, Cornwall
Originally uploaded by VEB Zardoz the Gravyboat

There are lots of cats in Cornwall, outside soaking up the sunshine. They are very friendly too.

I found this whole exercise very frustrating indeed - tried every which way to do things and nothing worked, then when I gave up, the image came through. There are several others out there in the ether waiting to be retrieved.

Storm over Auckland

Storm over Auckland
Originally uploaded by kiwigran

photo of yesterday's storm by Lynne LClayton

Interests

Travel is the very best thing - seeing new places and exploring history, architecture and new beaches to walk on.

Cats are everywhere and I love them all.

Reading mostly fiction, female authors. Kerry Greenwood, Liz Byrski, Laurie Graham, Caro Fraser, Rachel Billington, Margaret Forster, Gil McNeil, Monica McInerny, Elizabeth Noble, Adele Geras. Mostly British but a surprising number of Australians.

Knitting simple designs with quick results. Reading about knitting too - fiction - Debbie Macomber's yarn shop series, Divas don't knit by Gil McNeil, Friday night knitting club by Kate Jacobs, Knitting circle by Ann Hood. I haven't read the knitting mystery series by Maggie Sefton. - has anyone else got any comments on them?