# 23 !!

This is me after the 9 weeks...


Mei Lan 09050804
Originally uploaded by bearlycivilian

Alright, I admit I did take longer than the 9 weeks... but hey, it's done!

I know I'm supposed to post something a bit more lengthy about this Web 2.0 experience - but it's lovely and sunny outside, so I will come back another time and do that.

# 22: Project Gutenberg: on eBooks (aka the end is in sight...)

Project Gutenberg is an interesting concept... I guess a lot of it is about preservation. What was surprising is that it didn't take as long as I thought it would to download a book. (Thank you broadband!) Another interesting thing I found was that someone has adapted Darwin's "Origin of species" as a decorative wall hanging! It looks pretty cool as a piece of artwork.
Then we have other sites like Amazon where you get to buy eBooks.

I still would much rather buy an actual book than an eBook, I feel that eBooks are just not "real" enough for me.


En route to work - 1
Originally uploaded by [Andreas]

Every morning on my way to work I cycle through the Englischer Garten, a public park north of Munich's city centre. At seven o'clock in the morning there is still a tranquil and quiet atmosphere before the city wakes up completely. Now that the days are becoming shorter, it is also the places where I witness the sunset; and there are already traces of autumn with the ground fog floating over the streams and some of the lawns. It is such a beautiful moment that I decided to take my camera with me and leave the house early to take a few photos of this picturesque place.

This photo shows a view from the Monopteros, a small round temple-like architectural folly, toward Munich's city centre with its skyline of church towers.

# 21: Podcasts

For this exercise, I searched Podcast.com for book reviews.

"Book Recommendations, Blog and Podcast: Books on the Nightstand" sounded interesting and I duely added it to my bloglines feeds. Here's little bit about this podcast that I've copied and pasted...

"Conversations about books and reading, for anyone who loves to read or hang out in a bookstore. We're two publishing industry professionals who love to talk about the books that we love, no matter who publishes them..."

Now then, as for creating a podcast of my own... I think I'll pass on that.

#20: YouTube

While I have watched YouTube videos before, this is the first time I've posted it anywhere. It wasn't hard to do, although I only found out later that you have to customize before you get the full code for embedding (thanks to the Help button).

Run Germ Run by Noraset Rerkkachornkiat


I chose this because I like animations, and this is one of the ones that I like. (Although it reminds me that I ought to visit a dentist sometime soon-ish...)
Application of YouTube in a library setting? We could do a clip of a quick tour of each branch I suppose... and... a clip to show patrons how to reserve a computer?

3 more things to go now!

#19: Web 2.0 Tools

Browsed through the Shortlist of the Web 2.0 Awards...

I'm interested in food, so here's two that I visited:
CocktailBuilder looks like a cool site - you could search for recipes on there using what you have on hand, there were also useful options like a folder for the drinks you like.
Urbanspoon is a restaurant finder with ratings and user reviews for major cities, mostly in America unfortunately.

Omnidrive - basically an online drive which "allows you to aggregate not only all your desktop files, but all your files and data from different web applications", keywords being Access, Integrate, Share & Publish

Lots of tools on the shortlist in various categories, this is something I would definitely have a look at later, just to see what's out there.



Shadows on the Leaf
Originally uploaded by Dragan*

#18: Zoho and online productivity tools

Zoho and GoogleDocs seem pretty much the same. One thing I didn't know about was the option of giving presentations over the net (live) - how cool is that? I think these online productivity tools would be really helpful for people working on projects as a group, so I guess in a way it's promoting collaboration.



newyorking (XIX)
Originally uploaded by ickbins
Taken @ the Museum of Modern Art (NYC)

P.S. on Social Networking

Finally visited Hennepin County Library on Facebook - nothing extraordinary, just the usual really.
Again, I could only say that it's nice in a way that libraries are having a presence in this arena and is accessible.

Week 7 (#17): Social Networking

Okay so Bebo, MySpace and FaceBook have all been blocked by the council, meaning I would have to join in the after-school rush to get onto a Learn.net computer...



(Originally uploaded by tamelyn )
squeakums is unhappy and I'm not impressed...

(some time later)
The Bebo page set up by someone at Auckland City Libraries (here) looks kinda cool. I could see how social network services could be a tool for YA librarians to stay connected to our YA patrons. Come to think about it, accounts for the "All Stars" and "Tusitara Club" on one of those social network services could be set up too, or a wiki could be used in running those groups in the future, maybe?

I couldn't be bothered with setting up new accounts for Bebo, MySpace and Facebook... so I had a quick look from the outside, and they were pretty much the same. I do have a FaceBook account though, I finally signed up to that under "peer pressure" at the beginning of this year. It's a convenient and somewhat fun way to keep in touch with people travelling or overseas and for sharing photos, but that's about it. Of course there are plenty of applications up there such as online games, quizzes and the like, but I really don't have the time for that. Correction, I'd much rather using the time I have doing something else! Oh, and I suppose it is one way of meeting new people as well.

I shall comment on Hennepin County Library's page on Facebook later.

#16: On Library 2.0

I feel that Storey's article Where will the next generation Web take libraries sums up what Web 2.0 are for libraries pretty well - "...principles of simplicity, rich interactivity, user participation, collective intelligence, self-service, novel and remixed content..."

I could see how library and info services are evolving already from the traditional sort where it simply houses collections, to using web 2.0 technology like RSS. I guess it'll be a very interesting time ahead, with lots of challenges and adaptations.

I do wonder though, how we and our communities would cope with the changes... Some of the articles spoke of "providing services and content in the user's preferred environment, i.e. the web" and having a presence in the virtual world (SecondLife, Web 3.0, Library 3D and even Library 4.0). But what about patrons who don't have access to the net at home? I guess it's up to us to make sure that we are accessible to everyone.

#15: More Technorati

A keyword search in the blog directory returned 1200+ results.
A keyword search in blog posts returned 750+ results.
A keyword search in tags returned 40-odd results.

Are the results different? Yes.

Lesson learned for this exercise: tagging is supposed to be good, as it helps narrow down the search if you tag your posts.

Quick look through the popular section, no surprises there - lists of "top" blogs / searches / news / movies / videos etc.

I'm going to have to fore go the optional bits this time - the tagging of my posts, "claiming" my blog (images of feminists and activists float in my head now) and creating a watch list.

I will have time one day...

#14: Del.icio.us

150 cupcakes Originally uploaded by hello naomi on Flickr

I tried to look at the three links in the Discovery Resources, but they made very little sense to me. (Which I thought was odd, since one of the links was titled "Us.ef.ul: A beginner's guide to Del.icio.us"... am I missing something here??)

In the end I decided to go to the actual Del.icio.us site and had a look at About & Learn - and these made waaay more sense! Also had a quick look at the Help page, which has FAQs and a good explanation and tips on tags.

I think I'm now prepared to set up my own Del.icio.us account. By the way, why is Delicious "Del.icio.us"? It's a pain to type :(

Wait a minute... what's "folksonomies"??
I think I've done what I'm supposed to do for this bit, but I haven't come across that term, except in this week's heading. Maybe it's in that optional bit about creating a network badge.

#13 Notes on playing in the Sandbox

Adding entries to the PBWiki that was already set up was easy, it's pretty much just like doing a post.

I haven't tried to set up a whole new PBWiki (and I'm secretly relieved that I'm not being asked to do that).

Tried to look at the PBWiki Tour, but it took ages to load... I guess it'll be something I'll have to come back to.

#12: Wikis

I see some institutes and organisations has used wikis as an alternative to websites. I wonder what the impact of those decisions are. I can understand how wikis would be the "in" thing to set up and run, if you are interacting with a large number of tech-savvy people, but how do you deal with the issues like privacy and ensuring that the info in your wiki is kept accurate - does that mean someone will have to monitor it constantly? Having said that, I could see how wikis are a great tool for a community, acting as a forum, as seen in Library Success.

Application of wikis in the library setting? Umm..... what come to mind is a "book club" , like Book Lovers Wiki. I think it would be something many patrons would be interested and get involved in. Just thinking about heritage stuff, maybe there could be a "genealogy club", or "local-history club" set up using wikis? hmm....

#11: If you're sleepy and you know it touch your nose...

If you're sleepy and you know it touch your nose...
Originally uploaded by :. G l o r i a .:

That is another picture from Flickr... I might be posting random pics from Flickr in all of my future posts! I love browsing thrrough "interestingness", and Flickr is probably something I would come back to long after the whole Web 2.0 exercise is over.

Now for some thoughts, in no particular order..

I'm glad that I was made to explore Web 2.0, it means that I got to learn and do stuff that I never would have done otherwise.

I must say that I'm most impressed with those who managed to have completed the whole nine weeks, and those who have managed to stay at least a week ahead.... where do you find the time?! I think I'll have to resort to doing this out of work time.

#10: Flickr fun: Posterboy

This is a poster I created using the flickr site: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/
(you could click on the picture to enlarge it for a better look)

I tried to have a look through the three links that allow you to create something new using the Flickr images, and here are some thoughts:

Flickr Color Pickr - where you could do a search of Flickr images that matches the colour you pick. This could be handy is you're creating a photo mosaic (the only application for this that I could think of at the moment).

Montagr - this took ages to load, so I gave up and decided to leave this for when I have more time.

Tagnautica - this is most definitely my favourite out of the three, I love how layout and design. This is a tool that let you search for Flickr images by theme/subject.

#9: Flickr: Easter Bunny or Guinea pig ?

Easter Bunny or Guinea pig ?
Originally uploaded by dora_marie

There was another photo I saw of a bunny selling carrot juice when I was browsing, but I couldn't find it just now, so this will have to do.

Flickr is definitely a place where I could spend a lot of time at, browsing through the "interstingness" part, where they say you could "Explore the gorgeousity by choosing a point in time..."

#8: Roll on Rollyo

Yet another account to create?!

(sigh....)

I've set up my own search roll and added it to my blog (see left), but havn't done that many search using it. Well okay, I only did one search - Yann Martel's "self", but the results looked pretty interesting (read good).

So far this looks to be a nifty search tool, if you are looking for something specific and have some idea of where you might look. It's kind of like a "Limit" button. Just one thing though, I think it would be better if it gives the user the option of searching in more than one site/source.

Oh! i just saw something called "the RollBar Bookmarklet". Apparently it "lets you search whatever site you're on, or use any of your Searchrolls from anywhere.... and create new ones on the fly. You can take it with you... " Sounds interesting, yet another search tool. I'll have a go at that later then.

#7: LibraryThing

LibraryThing is a pretty cool place to visit. It's the equivalent of the Visual Bookshelf application on Facebook really, but better organised.

There were forums and different groups that you could join, including a group of Librarians who LibraryThing. I browsed through their forum, and there were some very entertaining posts for "Funny Requests from patrons". Under the Tools tab, you have these other options of what to do on/with LibraryThing, including how to make a photomosaic or a poster of all the book covers in your catelogue. (Which I thought was pretty cool, might do that later)

I don't have as much time these days to read as I would like, so my collection would be growing at a very slow rate. (Not to mention remembering the titles I've read, I have a terrible memory.)

As for how LibraryThing could be applied at Manukau Libraries... hmm... maybe somehow incoporate some of its features into My Info? Anyway, I think I would keep LibraryThing after the nine weeks' up.

Here's the link to my collection, at its infancy:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jctaco

#6: Image generator

Here's my first attempt, pretty basic really. Hope to have more time in the near future to play around with image generators!

PS on RSS

This RSS week really was very confusing, especially since the pics in the instruction/tutorial doesn't match!

#5: More on RSS

Okey-dok, here's the link to my blogline:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/jctaco

I've had a brief look on all the three RSS/blog search sites, and I find Topix and Technorati the easier of the three to use in terms of navigation. I found Syndic8 to be less user-friendly, probably because I'm not terch-savvy and have no idea what things like "pings" are. Maybe one day Syndic8 will make more sense to me once I've found what all this is about!

#4: RSS

I was lost and confused...
Swimming in a sea of acronyms, promises of making it all so much easier.
So i bravely set forth to investigate.
Several pop-ups and many many windows later, I finally discovered the magic of RSS feed!

It is good to finally know what those bright orange RSS buttons are for, and that there is an alternative to marking pages as My Favourites and hopping from one page to the next. Oh and that when people talk about "feeds", they don't mean the edible kind.

So all that's left for me to do now is to take a deep breath and dive into all the interesting snippets.

So many options, so little time

Well, setting up a new blog was easy. The hard part was looking at all different options for settings and deciding what to do! and one could most definitely spend LOTS of time playing with and tweaking the pages.

Week 1: In hindsight...

In hindsight the name of this blog is a wee bit misleading, as Taco won't actually be involved in this, I guess he'll simply be a spectator to the explorations and experiments in the coming weeks.
I must admit that I'm not the most technology-savvy person around, so this will definitely be an interesting experience!