Exercise 23

Just the start .........

I am not saying goodbye to Learning 2.0, but as many other people have quoted 'this is just the beginning'. My eyes have been opened to what is out in the internet, the technology is incredible, the knowledge that can be gained is enormous and the hours of pleasure from the fun sites is just limitless.

I still do not know how many people will come into a library and ask us questions on these topics, but I feel that it has given me more areas of knowledge to understand and help. It has given me the confidence to now delve into the internet and investigate, play and learn.

It took me a long time to initially understand what was required in Learning 2.0 as I thought that the instructions were all over the place. But my first big step took me about three weeks - to set up your own blog and the first posting. Once I achieved that I found the whole process much easier and was able to keep up weekly, bearing in mind that I had dial-up at home, where 90% of the work was done.

As you can see from my blog, I really enjoy photography and find that very easy. Have a great digitial SLR which produces fantastic photos and enjoy gardening, embroidery and live music. Now this comes very naturally to me. Flickr, Flickr Fun, On-line image generator and Librarything were easy, interesting and fun.

Therefore, to me, Technorati was my least liked exercise. In fact, I nearly stopped blogging there as I had difficulty understanding how to place it on my blog. I have to thank all the blogs that I read that helped me over this stage.

Some of the information and knowledge gained from these exercises could be applied to the library and I could see courses being taught through blogs, YouTube, etc. Life in the future is going to be so very different from what it is like now. The differences between twenty years ago in a library and today is enormous. We are asked different information questions, borrowers use our internet site for the catalogue and on-line resources, renew their books, discover our current events and read the library blog. I was very disappointed that there was not more Australian content, especially LibraryThing.

What will be next in technology?

I have really enjoyed Learning 2.0. I really love having ADSL2+. When is the next course?

Exercise 22

eBooks

I have finally got ADSL2+ at home and do you realise the difference it makes! I can now fly along with searching on the internet and discovering the joys of Youtube, eBooks, etc. At work, our workroom PCs are so very very slow, that it was difficult, and at home, had dial-up. So I feel that I have had to work twice as hard as most people!

I looked and listened to books at the World eBook (Gutenberg's Audio eBook Collection) and Historical Childrens eBookseMovie site. With eBooks, you actually download a chapter at a time and it is very similar to using a CD audio book. Having a MP3 player would be great as you could take it anywhere with you.

Found a sight about free eBooks which has many classics of literature in twenty five categories, including adventure, crime mystery, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, thrillers, martial arts, spy stories, historical and humour. Also a few non-fiction items. All have MP3 files. However, only files playing at 8Kb/sec are free. I listened to part of Romeo and Juliet by Charles and Mary Lamb which is the famous Shakespearian play retold for children. It lasts for 45 minutes and I found the quality of the sound was excellent.

http:// www.audiobooksforfree.com

Exercise 21

Podcasts

This is a very time consuming exercise as well. I spent quite a bit of time before I posted my thoughts to the blog today. I viewed and listened to YouTubes and Podcasts. So many very interesting and educational podcasts and some that I would never want to hear again. Most podcasts are fantastic and what a great idea! When I am unable to view the day's news on the ABC or SBS, I know that I can find a podcast or two on their websites.

Also, podcasts would be wonderful idea for future training at the library. I know that the universities now offer to their students the ability to listen and watch podcasts, etc, instead of attending lectures.

Anyway, I have always wanted to visit the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne, but spent some time instead listening to the podcast and really enjoyed it.

http://www.rbgcranbourne.com.au/feeds/australiangardenaudioguide.mp3

Exercise 20

You Tube

What a time consuming exercise! I could have wasted so much more time, but realise that I must continue. Which was my favourite You Tube. Had so many, but if you watched everything you wanted, I wouldn't have even posted this blog. Really enjoyed 'The two talking cats'. I was able to relate to these little kittens, communicating and touching - two good traits for good friendships.



But, couldn't resist finding the song my blog is named after, Sunday Song, Fire and Rain by James Taylor. Enjoy as much as I did on that Sunday, eight weeks ago. It was rainy and I was looking out of my front window and the song Fire and Rain came into my head and that just gave me the initial inspiration to start Learning 2.0. Mind you, I have many friends and hadn't recently lost a friend. And I hope that Selby will not suffer fires this summer.

Exercise 19

Web 2.0 Tools

Have had a fairly good look at a few of these tools and thought that I would like to try a 'book' tool. Have already looked at LibraryThing and that site didn't have very much Australian content. Thought that I would try Reader2, but that also didn't have Australian content. I am now over books and decided to have a little fun (and don't forget, I am in the older group of the work force and do not feel inclined to go to Face Book or such like)!!!!!!

Anyway, looked at the Fun Stuff and didn't find anything I wanted to try, so looked under the Games title and found Guess-the-google, the image guesing game. And yes, this is my sort of game! If you have ever had to search for an image on a certain topic on Google Image, you are aware of what images are displayed for a certain keyword. This game deals in completely opposite way. Twenty images are displayed and you have to guess the keyword. Well, did I have fun. While I was playing this game, another person with the same name was playing and in the end, I think we were trying to see who could get the highest points.

In each game, you have 10 individual subgames and for each correct guess, you receive 20 points. You have twenty seconds for each subgame. If you guess the correct keyword quickly, you achieve bonus points which are the number of seconds left. My highest score was 347 but some dude named Derrick got 379 (he must be an over-achiever!).

However, the disappointing part of the entire game was that if you guessed incorrectly, it would only tell you the first letter of the correct keyword and you really didn't get time to find out the correct answer. But I will go back and have more fun on Guess-the-google.

I must now continue with the other exercises so that I can finish Learning 2.0.

Exercise 18

I was really happy with my posting for Zoho Writer until I discovered that my smiley faces didn't come into the blog correctly. So disappointed. Anyway, haven't time to stop and look at this problem. Will continue with the rest of the exercises and retry later.

Exercise 18

Online productivity

I have signed up for Zoho Writer and hope to post this straight to my blog.

I mainly use Microsoft Word & Publisher for my day to day work and personal life. Last night I was at a Corel Down Under meeting and someone was discussing whether I should try 'Ventura"' which is a Corel software. I was saying I had some difficulty with my latest Dibble and Hoe Cottage Gardeners Inc. newsletter, which I have used Microsfot Publisher. I have been using Publisher for about six years and think I know a fair bit about how to use it. I thought that I had completed the 20 pages and saved it correctly. Then I printed it to CutePDF Writer to form a PDF file to email to the members. After I emailed the newsletter, had a member email me back to say that the PDF was unreadable. When I went back and looked at the PDF newsletter, in fact, it hadn't been written correctly for some reason. This other lady said the Publisher is very unreliable and Ventura is better. Well, I will have to have a look at Ventura and I am sure that there are many programs for publishing newsletters.

Hence, after that long explaination, I am ready to try Zoho Writer, even though I now have to stop and think, instead of just typing automatically like I do with Word and Publisher. . Now I have learnt how to change colours. Pretty, colourful, and easy.

♥ Just inserting a symbol because I can!.

Now to try to get this onto my blog

Exercise 17

PBwiki

Have just finished placing four favourite website and blogs onto PBwiki Learning 2.0. Thanks to The Sandbox, this was quite easy. When I have more time, I will try for a free PBwiki sidebar.

Now to think about what to have for dinner tonight before attending DACS (Danish and Australian Cultural Society).

Exercise 16

Wikis

"A Wiki allows a group of people to collaboratively develop a website with no knowledge of HTML or other markup languages. Anyone can add to or edit content." In a library situation, a Wiki could be used for meetings (agendas, minutes, etc), conference training, presentation medium and many other ways. "You are only limited by your imagination." I feel that my imagination is running out of ideas as there are so many younger computer savvy people out there to do the thinking.

However, one of the popular Wikis that I have used for years is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In the library, we have been told that we can use it to find the basics, but always must go to an authorised site for information. When you discover that anyone can post or edit, you can understand why this is standard. However, I must say that not any one person can be an expert in all areas. There are people out there who study or enjoy a certain subject and become experts in their field. They might not want to publish a book or paper about the subject, but are very happy to place the information on a Wiki.

Yes, there is a place for Wikis in my world.

Exercise 15

Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Wikipedia defines Library 2.0 "as a term coined in 2005, is the library's response to the challenge of Google, and an attempt to meet the changing needs and wants of the users, using web 2.0 technology. Some of the aspects of Library 2.0 include, commenting, tagging, bookmarking, discussions, using social software, plug-ins, and widgets. Inspired by web 2.0, it is an attempt to make the library a more user driven institution."

Sometimes I feel that I should have been born 50 years ago when the librarian knew every book in the library, knew everyone that came in and she/he knew your likes and dislikes and could satisfy your need to find a great book to read. It was a true community library where if your needed any information, it could be acquired. By information, I am mainly talking about knowledge of local history and people, buildings and important geographic sites.

Walking into the library when I was young, was being greeted by a librarian with her fingers to her lips, such as, Nancy Pearl's action figurine which I was given for Christmas last year! When I took my twins to a library many years ago, there was one library officer who scared both the girls and myself, as she just looked at us and made us feel like we were making too much noise. Now, we welcome the young children, toddlers and babies. We encourage the young mothers to attend storytimes and free school holiday and after-school activities.

However, I have found in the last 16 years, that the school children are no longer coming into the library for information. Most families have broadband internet access in their homes, and many have a PC in their bedrooms. If they need information, they are able to use our library websites, google and many other searching tools. These school children keep up with the "latest trends in technology" so much faster than I am able to. Our management tries to keep their staff up-to-date with some of the technology, but it is absolutely impossible for every staff member to know and be interested in these new forms of information. I would love to, but it is impossible for me to unless I spent at least 30 hours a week or more looking and "playing" with these new resources.

What will it be like in 10 year time or 20 years time in a library? Will there be any printed books? Do we need them? Or do we just use the internet, ipods, mp3s and e-books.

What about people who are slightly older than me! They have difficulties now when we change our book stock for one shelf to another. We are trying the idea of genres in our non-fiction area and it is very interesting to see the reaction of some of our borrowers. Sometimes, I feel management are trying to compete with large bookshops, such as Boarders, but we are not a retail shop. But how do we encourage people to use our libraries. We need the staff to embrace these new technologies and be able to have the time to show people how to use them.

For me, how could I cuddle up in bed with a mp3! When you finally become tired, your eyes slowly close and the book thuds down on your face to remind you to place your old wrinkled bookmark in place and you slowly close that old friend of yours for another day. I might just have to dream about the "good old days"

Exercise 14

Technorati :

There isn't much I would like to say about Technorati but I nearly gave up with the Learning 2.0 because of it. Took me a long time to work around the site and then I was so very happy to go on holidays as I knew I could not look at Learning 2.0. Sad isn't it!

I thought about putting a Technorati widget on my blog to say that I have been there, done that and never want to think about it again, but decided that it can now be deleted from my bookmarks.

Onto the next exercise. Sigh!

Exercise 13

my del.icio.us

I have decided that I am very tired! And I have a headache! My del.icio.us has taken me TWO weeks! First of all, we became very busy at work (and who isn't?). Next, because of using dial-up at home which is extemely slow, everything just takes longer. And lastly, I found that instructions were not easy to follow. Therefore I really relied on reading the space cadet beta and 23squared blogs to help me. So thank you.

I found it all very tedious as I had already put all my sites on rollyo and it was a very time consuming exercise to create del.icio.us. I know that it will be very beneficial to me because I will always have my favourite websites at hand. I, like many of my co-workers, haven't their own PCs at work. Therefore, it will make my life easier to have my del.icio.us on any PC whether at home or work. And I know that my employers know that I am a conscientious worker and would never look up any websites during work time unless it was for a borrower!

Now that I have finished this very small section, I will endeavour to proceed onto Technorati. I have already read quite a few blogs that say it is a waste of time so thought that I would post a few more photographs - this is what I enjoy! Tomorrow I am driving to Adelaide for a few days and hopefully will come back refreshed and vitalised to continue on with the blogging.