The End at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a journey of discovery for me and an eye opener. I had heard about web 2.0 but didn't know much about it, doing the web 2.0 exercises enabled me to learn alot more about RSS feeds, image generators , flickr, wikis, Del.icio.us, Zoho Writer ( great for accessing your files from any computer), ebooks and podcasting. I must admit this was definitely a challenging but exciting adventure for me.

Week 9 : Podcasts, Video and Ebooks

Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos
I like YouTube because not only is the site very user friendly, it's attractive and anyone can upload and share their videos on the web. I did a search for library videos and came across a great video called "Your Public Library" by cclibrary. This video is great in explaining why we need public libraries. I loved the video's description of the library as an information mall, similar to a shopping mall where people come not to shop for things, but to shop for information. This video describes how libraries can help their communities through education and provide computer technology that may not be available at home.
Click on this link"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG6CtH3V8Us":Libraries can make videos similar to those on YouTube and put them on their library websites. Manukau Libraries can produce videos where customers are taken on a tour of the library, and the commentary on the video explains how to join the library, how to access the electronic resources of the library (e-resources), the computer technology available within the library and the programs that libraries have set up e.g. reading clubs.


I had a look at the Podcastalley.com and did a search for book reviews. I chose the podcast called Books on the Nightstand and added their RSS feeds to my bloglines account.This is definitely a tool that Manukau Libraries should include in it's Readers Advisory Service. By providing RSS feeds to podcasts like Books on the Nightstand customers are able to access book reviews 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any computer, ipod and cellphone as long as there is an internet connection, I like to think of this as "Book Reviews on the Run".

Ebooks :It is interesting to note that Project Gutenburg was one of the first producers of electronic books (ebooks), and can only offer text from books published before 1923, so you will definitely not have a problem finding classics written by authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to name a few. The only downfall with Project Gutenburg is that it cannot offer the lastest bestsellers or even up-to-date computer books, as these books are not in the public domain and are subject to copyright.

Finally a word about Kindle, this is a wireless electronic book reader. The great thing about the Kindle is that it can store up to 200 books, and these can include best sellers, and it takes less than a minute to download a book. However the downside is that you are charged for any content that you download, so downloading a bestseller could cost you $9.99, which I guess is cheaper than buying the bestseller.

Week 8 : Online applications and tools

Zoho Writer is a web-based word processing tool that has many advantages, the major one is it's free. Zoho Writer has the advantage of accessing files from any computer as long as we have access to the internet so we don't have to worry about dealing with defective floppy discs or using a flash drive. You can upload your existing documents/files and put them on the website, your documents are stored on a server on the internet which makes it accessible to all people you invite to edit this document. The good thing about Zoho Writer is people can work on this document simultaneously and create text collaboratively, you can track changes to this document and look at earlier versions of it.However the application is dependent on the internet and maybe a liability, because if one is dependent on the internet and the internet goes down then work can be seriously lost/delayed. So in this instance it may not totally replace the traditional word processor. Another plus is documents can be emailed on-masse or uploaded to the web or blogs. The major advantage of Zoho Writer is that any changes I make to a document will regularly save across the internet to Zoho Writer, if I am working offline my documents can be downloaded and stored on my laptop, I can then view and edit my documents offline. When I go back online my changes will automatically be saved to the server, and others can then see the changes I have made.
Labels: learning2.0, Manukau Libraries, training, web2.0, word processing tools, zoho, zoho writer

Week 7 Social networking

This week I looked at the Bebo page Auckland City Libraries (ACL) had set up and was amazed at how much homework help students do get from ACL. ACL offered homework help forums through to word cloud topic searches and RSS feeds. You can also request to become a friend of ACL. I esspecially loved their bunnyhero pets where you can adopt your own vitual pet, feed and play with it. I had great fun clicking on every single one and having a play with them all. My favourite was definitely bebo puppy, he barks, chases a ball and you can even feed him vitual dog biscuits and hear him munching on those biscuit Looking at the video called A Flip-book story which ACL had put on their bebo.The good thing about Myspace was you could take a tour round the site before signing up (a big plus as far as I was concerned). I found Myspace very user-friendly, and the layout of the site was very attractive. Inspired by the movie Mamma Mia I decided to look into the music of ABBA, so went to Myspace. I was able to watch video clips of the group ABBA performing songs like Mamma Mia, Waterloo and Money Money. Click on the link below to see the video of ABBA performing Mamma Mia.http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2688623.Facebook was a site I really didn't like because of the sign up first policy, you sign up before you even look at the site, who signs up to a site without knowing what the site looks like I certainly don't, a big minus as far as I'm concerned for Facebook. Visited Hennepin County Library page on Facebook and they definitely have a successful library profile, it provides their website address, catalogue search widget, a post wall for people to leave comments on and there was even a link to chat to a librarian ( I guess this is similar to Any Questions that Manukau Libraries have), generally a very attractive site with a great layout.

Labels: bebo, facebook, learning2.0, Manukau Libraries, myspace, social networking, web2.0

Week 6 :Technorati -popular blog, searches and tags

Tagging, folksonomies & social bookmarking in Del.icio.us

Took a look around Del.icio.us using the PLCMCL2 account and clicked on a bookmark that had been bookmarked by alot of other users, 3745 to be exact, the site is Us.ef.ul: A begginners guide to Del.icio.us, the most common tags for this site were del.icio.us, howto, tips, web2.0 and tutorial. I clicked onto other users that had bookmarked this site and had a look at what other sites they had bookmarked.

Week 4 Flicker

Is'nt it lovely!!!!!!!!!!!! just flowering outside my bedroom window
http://www.flickr.com/photos/george/23754/