#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning ...

Learning 2.0 has been a wonderful and enlightening experience. I have learned so much along the way. Looking at my first ever blog entry, it is hard to believe how overwhelmed I felt about the "new world" of Web 2.0!

The best thing about these new discoveries, is how intuitive so many things are. The technology is now being developed with the user in mind - KISS! This can, of course, come at the cost of functionality, but as we move toward Web 3.0 and beyond, I believe things will only get better.

If you have been reading my blog, you may have noticed a theme - nervousness about the continuity and security of free internet-based applications. I still feel this nervousness. Imagine loosing all of your Delicious bookmarks, or your catalogue on Library Thing if the backers decided to call it a day? However, I've decided that life is not without its risks, and you can always rebuild!

Is this really the end, or just the beginning? Bring it on!

#22 Audiobooks

The World EBook fair site is no longer free. The website states that the next open access fair will be available from 4 July - 4 August 2010. I may have to revisit then! It now costs US$8.95 per year to join the World Public Library, where around 750,000 eBooks are available to download.

In the meantime, I have had a look around the World Public Library site. There are many public domain works available in pdf, as well as in MP3. The audio books mainly seem to be divided into chapters. I assume that this is because they are quite large files.

Subscription services offered by the World Public Library and NetLibrary are especially useful for Libraries to set up for their clients. I had a quick look at my local public library, but alas, no such service is offered.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

Podcasts are a great way to impart information. Listening to a voice with inflections can help the brain process information quicker and more easily. It can also make the intake more interesting. For this exercise I looked at Podcastalley.com. I didn't like it. The search feature is much too basic, the list of results is difficult to read, and there is a lot of dated material (not that older material doesn't have its merits). And the advertising was way over the top. Unfortunately Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts seem to have gone the way of the dinosaurs, so I also looked at Podcast.com. I found this site much easier on the eye, and found it yielded much better results with a search. I came across an interesting podcast - the LexisNexis Government Info Pro Podcast.

#20 You too can YouTube

I've been a fan of YouTube for a long time now (along with a great majority of the online world). I use it for entertainment, information, reminiscing, and to settle arguments! I love the way you can browse around using the Related Videos feature. I have been stuck at my computer into the wee hours of the night more than once by browsing around. The suggested searches as you begin typing into the search box is another favourite feature. Both of these features could be used in all kinds of applications within libraries. Anything to make things easier and more intuitive!

Unfortunately, it seems that the "Embeddable Player" link is no longer available. But I did want to share my favourite YouTube clip - Medieval Helpdesk. It is Norwegian, but has English subtitles. Enjoy!

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

For this discovery exercise, I looked at My Heritage, a family tree building site. It is very easy to navigate and use. I was able to establish a basic family tree in a matter of minutes. Another feature is the ancestors search, which searches across many different genealogy databases at once. This feature took quite a while, so I will come back to it at another time.

Although I can't see this site being of any great benefit in a special library, public libraries could, of course, promote it to users. Just a bit of fun!

# 18 Web-based Apps

So this is Zoho Writer. It looks very similar to Word. I can change the font, the colour, the size - exactly the same as in Word.I can bold, italicize, and underline.

I can indent a line.

It all feels very comfortable and familiar. I love the idea of being able to access documents regardless of which computer I happen to be at. Yet again though, my inner pessimist is nagging at me about continuity and security. I wonder if this is a concern shared by others, or if I just have to shake off this feeling and go with it?

Being able to export a document to pdf is great! And I am now going to try to send it to my blog - wish me luck!

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

Hmm... Not sure what I have done wrong, but I can't add content to the Learning 2.0 Wiki Sandbox. I've created an account, confirmed it with the link in an email, but I still can't edit! Very curious, I'll have to come back to this another time.

#16 So what's in a wiki?

I love wikis. But then, as a librarian whose job it is to understand concepts such as authority, I know to take them with a grain of salt. Yes, the content in a wiki can be subjective. But so can the content in a newspaper, journal, website etc...
I remember a skit on a comedy TV show from many years ago, which demonstrated the differences in reporting between Channel Nine news, ABC news and Channel 31 news. The subject was a police raid on a marijuana crop. The Channel Nine newsreader praised the brave and heroic police for saving the community from the scourge of drugs. The ABC newsreader reported on a raid on a "community farmer". The Channel 31 newsreader berated "The Man" for keeping the working man down. Everything is subjective. At least with wikis, we are prepared for it.
And look at the benefits. You no longer need to be a published academic to share knowledge in your area of choice. As a community, big or small, we are sharing our information, our knowledge, and our wisdom. How can that be bad?

#15 On Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

When I was studying Librarianship back in 1996, the buzz was all about the Internet, and its potential to make Libraries, and Librarians, redundant. At the time I thought it was all a storm in a teacup. The Internet would simply change the way we Librarians did our work - even make our work more valuable. I believe the same of Web 2.0 - and beyond. The world is changing, just as it always has (even though the change does seem to be becoming more rapid). We need to change with it. We can change with it. We are changing with it.

Rick Anderson's article "Away from the icebergs" makes a good point. We need to loosen our grip on certain "truths". In addition to the three icebergs he discusses, there are others that could be added. Our love for, and reliance on, a controlled vocabulary for instance. I find this one particulary hard to let go of. I was initially appalled at the thought of users being able to tag pages with whichever term they chose! But then I realised that, although it wouldn't result in a beautifully indexed world, a lot of people would still be able to find a lot of information. Perfect - no. Acceptable - yes!

#14 Technorati

Browsing around Technorati today. Did a search for Pontipines - nothing! Not sure I'm too upset about that.

A search of the terms Learning 2.0 and Australia led me to an interesting article that asserts it is Gen X not Gen Y which is leading the charge in bringing collaborative technology into the workplace. Something to think about... Have a look at it here: http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2009/09/forget-gen-y-gen-x-is-making-r.php.

A search of the blogoshere for eLibrary and tax was disapointing - only two relevant entries! One from one of our very own LIS bloggers, and another from eGov AU. A search of tags found nothing about our eLibrary. Let's get blogging!

#13 Del.icio.us

Have spent a while exploring Del.icio.us today. This is a wonderful tool with great potential for making web-life easier. My one concern, which I'm sure is shared by many, is the potential to lose all that wonderful organisation if it all goes "belly up"! This could be my own pessimism speaking, but relying on a website to organise so much of our important information is a bit like putting all our eggs in the one proverbial basket. However, having said that, I have set up an account and played around with it a little. I bookmarked and tagged a number of Web 2.0 sites and experimented with renaming tags (web20 to web 2.0). I also created an RSS feed into bloglines to see how that would go.

#12 Rollyo

I have been exploring Rollyo and have found it very interesting. It seems such a simple idea. Of course I've used Google to search specific sites before, but need to enter them in each time, so I can really see a great use for Rollyo. I've set up a very "vanilla" Australian News searchroll http://rollyo.com/pontipines/australian_news/. Just the basics, but I can come back to it at another time.
I like the tag at the end of the Learning 2.0 entry on Rollyo. "Rollyo - You just never know when this little tool might come in handy". So true! I'm thinking of getting a trampoline for the kids for Christmas - might set up a searchroll for ebay, trading post etc... so I can quickly check them for tramps!

#11 Library Thing

Library Thing is great. I think I will be checking here regularly for member reviews etc... before any more purchases! One criticism - it took me a while to work out that I had to edit the books to include a review (or review when adding the book). I love being able to see other members with similar libraries to my own.

#10 Image Generators

I've had lots of fun playing around with various image generators. This one is from http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp?tid=Newspaper+Headline. I used the Auto Posting tool to add the image to my blog.
There are a lot of fun image generators out there. I discovered my husband and my celebrity couple name is jojoe thanks to http://www.namemasher.com/. And thans to the good folk at http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/10619 I, strangely, found that my Harry Potter name is Harry Potter - I still don't fully understand that one!
I could go on for hours, but will force myself to stop here. Cheers, until next time.