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

Wow! I finally got here at last. One of the main things I learnt here is to be aware of the technologies that can assist with library users accessing the library. The library is now not just a building with walls but an entity that pervades all areas globally.

Favourite discoveries, experiences
Favorite discoveries are del.icio.us and rollyo for searching and generating bookmarks. Setting up my blog was a lot of fun and I wished I had more time to experiment with it. Podcasts I am exploring more and plan to use them to enhance library service delivery. Getting familar with RSS feeds was also a useful exercise.

The unexpected was how far web based applications programs have come such as Zoho for generating blogs, database applications and many others that you can do on any PC anywhere.

Effect on lifelong learning goals
One of the main things I got out of this exercise is to keep learning, testing and using the new technologies which are continually changing. This is more than the beginning, it is a continuance of my life long learning experience. I will continue learning some of these web applications in more depth and apply them in my liaison work

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I have grown up with the beginnings of data communications and the age of the internet which is always changing. Links to web applications do keep on changing and this makes it hard to try to improve the structure this course anymore.

Finally, if there are any more discovery programs offerred in the future, I would probably do it.

Online Communities

I found joining to Facebook simple and easy to do. I have had an Edna account for many years and the 23Things has now made me use it again and realise how valuable it could be. This would be a good way for TAFE Librarians to communicate with each other, sharing ideas, professional development as well as files.

Podcasts

I've just discovered that Yahoo as a podcast finder will cease on the October 31st. It was fairly easy to use but because it is not continuing after the 31st October 2007.

The other podcast finders I used were podcastalley.com and Podcast.net. Podcastalley doesn't let you listen to a lot of clips to see how much you like them. It makes you subscribe using a podcast aggregator. Podcast.net I found two types of podcasts, one was an audio podcast and the other a combination of audio and video podcast. I added a RSS feed to my Blogline account from Podcast.net. Overall, I found a few good professional podcasts, but there are a lot more unprofessional ones.

Creating a podcast I decided to leave at the moment, because I am currently working on a podcast project for information literacy. Podcasts as far as the library is concerned could be applied to information literacy, staff and public communication, conferences, seminars, forums, library orientation material, training of staff, etc.

Daily Motion - Video Hosting Service

I looked at both YouTube and Daily Motion. I found lots of videos relating to technology and especially to astronomy that are exciting to watch.

I selected a video 'Extreme Star Clusters Come To Life'. This makes studying astronomy lots of fun and has applications for both libraries and education. You could tape Library events, information literacy or library guide tours so that users or other interested parties could view it at their leisure.

Extreme star cluster bursts into life
Uploaded by spacetelescope_org

Discovering Web 2.0 tools - Google Maps

Google Maps are very well designed, intuitive,interactive, and the good search capabilities. I found using it is good looking directions or maps of any location. It also provides aerial photos in impressive detail for many areas. Found it very applicable when planning trips and to organise locations for taking photos and videorecordings.

I found you can use Google Maps to:

• Search for locations and addresses
• Find businesses in your area
• Get directions and check live traffic
• Create and view personalized maps
• Mark your favorite places on my map
• Draw lines and shapes to highlight paths and areas
• Add your own text, photos, and videos
• Share your map with friends and family

This application would be useful Tourism and hospitality, Business and Multimedia couses.

Zoho Writer

Applications like Zoho Writer make my life a lot easier. Why use installed desktop applications like Microsoft Word when you can use free web based applications like Zoho Writer. Zoho writer gives me the ability and is realtivley easy to ceate and share my documents over the Internet and is not restricted by an individual computer or location. I can log on anywhere at anytime and I don't have to transport files work to home on a USB or disk.

Documents can be shared, published, emailed, exported, saved, print and develop using using Zoho Writer inbuilt script builder. The toolbar has everything to choose straightaway - emotions, table button, insert a site, and table button to assist me in document creation. saving and retrieving a document it is relatively easy. It makes publishing to my blog simple and quick. Documents can easily be converted to HTML and pdf is an added bonus.

Zoho has a lot of possibilities and looking at its other applications to compilment Zoho Writer makes sharing and sending information to people quick and easy.

I found using it here and posting to my a breeze. Good Bye Microsoft and now enter into the world of easy and quick web based applications like Zoho.

PBWiki & Sandbox Wiki

I set up an account with PBWiki and found it is very easy to share, edit and recover deletions. During the sandbox wiki activity, I found had deleted the entry as I was adding mine. However, I found it was very easy recover the deleted page and then add your favourite holiday location.

Wikis

Wikis are is an excellent collaborative tool for sharing knowledge. The Wikis Web pages can be edited by anyone, or a restricted group of users. You do not need have any knowledge about html. Many wikis have additional features such as page version histories, and RSS feeds. Wikis are a good way of gathering facts and knowledge quickly to a large number of people.

I discovered that Wikis have a wide range of applications that libraries can use.

The following is a list of applications that Wikis that libraries could use:

• Collaborative spaces
• Professional development
• Internal communication
• Research guides
• Web content management
• Personal to-do lists
• Subject guides
• Reference resources
• Assignments
• Library instruction resources
• Conference planning
• Annotating the library catalogue
• Book reviews
• Library newsletters

Library 2.0 - What does it mean?

Library 2.0 gives the ability to apply new Web 2.0 technologies in a library to deliver services and improve access to library users. The Library is no longer a in-house collection of books, journals, and videos, but also, now provides digital collections external to the its environment. With the aid of social software tools such as:

• Weblogs (blogs)
• Podcasts
• RSS feeds
• Instant Messaging (IM)
• Wikis
• Technorati
• Flickr
• Tags

It can enhance the user experience and access to the library more than it ever did in the past. Libraries are there to help the user find and access information in a way that will enhance the user learning experience. Therefore, libraries need to place the emphasis on access and not purely on ownership. This can be achieved by ensuring systems and processes are user friendly.

Through the use of Web 2.0 technologies it can assist in streamline metadata creation and reducing duplication by collborating with the Open WorldCat Project. Provide better feedback and communication with its users.

Technorati

Technorati is a great place to post your own blog. You can search blogs by subject using Blog Directory.

You can do keyword searching in the inital search screen or go into the advanced search screen to do more advanced keyword searching, in Blog posts, in Tags and in the Blog Directory.

To use it best you need to think through your search strategy so you get the best results. Whilst saying that, you still have to browse through lots of results to obtain specific results. That I found to be a weakness of Technorati.

Adding a widget to your blog I thought was a rather cool feature. Also, using the API (Application Programming Interface) for Technorati can make some great mashups. You need the time and skills to do this.

Results varied between popular blog, searches and tags. The Popular page is interesting to find out the top favorite blogs, top searches and blogs.

PLCMCL2
TQLlearning2

Del.icio.us

The things I like and discover about del.icio.us are:

• Ability to group blogging listings into folders
• Access your favourites anywhere, anytime and on any computer
• Share your favourtes with friends and colleagues
• Find good material on a topic
• Convert existing subject guides e.g. civil engineering
• More timely and up to date
• Easy to use, organised and share
• Allows you to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorise your bookmarks
• Provides simple browsing
• Good for research and finding topical information
• Share reading lists

As a result, I have started to transfer all my bookmarks and all my faculty team subject sites to del.icio.us.

Rollyo

I tested out Rollyo with some specific sites that I need to consult on a regular basis. One was for the printing industry which I was able to retrieve specific current awareness information for our printing teachers.

Searching a few known resources can be rather limiting. It reduces one from searching the whole web.

I prefer a search engine such as Google for search results, than being restricted to a tool like Rollyo.

LibraryThing

LibraryThing makes cataloguing books a whole lot of fun. It is a goood way to catalogue your own book collection.

I like a few of its features such as showing book covers of the books you catalogue.

Finally, I added the LibraryThing widget, which I found very useful for searching for books

Image Generators

Had fun with Image Embellisher which can take photos and change them to many interesting shapes.


http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/imge/

Finding Feeds

A most enjoyable task, I found Technorati, Google Blog Search tools and Feedster were the easiest to use.

Technorati is very useful with good results. I did a search on "libraries" and this returned some worthwhile results.

Google Blog Search tools was relatively easy to use, and more so when you use the advanced searching features to obtain the best results. A search for information literacy was conducted on Google, Technorati and Feedster with Google Blog Search retrieving the best results.

RSS & RSS Feeds

RSS newsreaders such as Bloglines and Google Reader are useful for keeping up with your favorite websites and staying up to date. While I subscribe to both newsreaders, I found the Google Reader easy to add new feeds quickly.

This technology is useful as far as libraries are concerned in keeping up to date in specialised subject areas e.g. color management, new technologies etc.

To see items in my shared RSS feed, check the link below:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/paul65