Wow – I can’t believe that I have reached task #23.
My internet connection has been playing up for the last week or so – so it has taken me awhile to be able to log on to my Blog to paste this last entry.
The course has been lots of fun – I would have liked to have more time to play around with the discovery exercises but unfortunately time did not permit – we have been low on staff. The other challenge we had at Vision Australia was more of a battle with Technology – our IT infrastructure doesn’t allow for Podcasts and has sometimes made some of the websites in accessible – (oh well we still managed to complete the tasks to the best our our abilities.)
I particularly enjoyed using YouTube, playing around with some of the graphics (Cube Generator) & photo packages. The take-aways were that I can make my blogs or websites a bit more interesting by using graphics etc – rather than just text only
Monday, November 12, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
#22 Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight")
This exercise was interesting as I work for the Vision Australia Library – we deal with non print materials – the formats that we mostly lend are Audio Books & Braille titles.
I had a bit of a play around with some of the sites
– in particular the Gutenberg Project.
It seemed to have quite a few books available for free. There were quite a few languages available. Some of the catalogue records may be useful if you are cataloguing at any stage.
The main downside that I noticed was that the titles were quite old – ones that are no longer under copyright. I tend to read more modern titles so there weren’t any that really caught my eye. But for anyone that is interested in the “Classics” they would have a field day.
I had a bit of a play around with some of the sites
– in particular the Gutenberg Project.
It seemed to have quite a few books available for free. There were quite a few languages available. Some of the catalogue records may be useful if you are cataloguing at any stage.
The main downside that I noticed was that the titles were quite old – ones that are no longer under copyright. I tend to read more modern titles so there weren’t any that really caught my eye. But for anyone that is interested in the “Classics” they would have a field day.
#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts - First Attempt
I had a few problems getting on to some of these websites & then trying to play any Podcasts was impossible -- our internet has been on a go slow & has really been doing some "weird things" so I will leave this exercise for the moment. I will try my luck with #22 and then go back to #21 another day
Sunday, November 4, 2007
#20 You too can YouTube
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-jbya4kxC6E
This exercise was loads of fun, it was really addictive.
Once I had the Flash Reader and all of the software uploaded I was able to play the video clips with out any real hitch.
I was a bit apprehensive with playing some of the video clips – particularly at work as I wasn’t always sure of what footage they might contain.
I chose the clip listed above as I really like Kermit the Frog as a child – I really like him singing in this film clip.
The YouTube site was very user friendly and easy to use.
I think this site might be useful as you can research footage from films or characters. Some of the videos were quite educational.
The Library could use a feature like this to have a video to help clients orientate themselves around the library. Instructions/tutorials could be loaded instructing clients how to use the catalog.
This exercise was loads of fun, it was really addictive.
Once I had the Flash Reader and all of the software uploaded I was able to play the video clips with out any real hitch.
I was a bit apprehensive with playing some of the video clips – particularly at work as I wasn’t always sure of what footage they might contain.
I chose the clip listed above as I really like Kermit the Frog as a child – I really like him singing in this film clip.
The YouTube site was very user friendly and easy to use.
I think this site might be useful as you can research footage from films or characters. Some of the videos were quite educational.
The Library could use a feature like this to have a video to help clients orientate themselves around the library. Instructions/tutorials could be loaded instructing clients how to use the catalog.
#18 & #19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools
The links to both Activies #18 & #19 were the same so I have posted my results below.
http://www.oodle.com/
I had a good poke around this website which is a Makes many Classifieds available.
The website is well and set out and very user friendly. It covers Car & Vehicles, Real Estate, Property for Rent, Jobs, Personals, Tickets, Pets – it is very comprehensive. You can search by Keyword and also narrow it down by location. The major drawback is that it is very US & UK centric, no Australian Content.
The other nice features that I noticed were
Scams: How to avoid scams – what to do and what not to do. Common Scams.
Donations.
Link to International Student Exchange Program – Charities & Volunteer Opportunities.
The site would be quite interesting for Library Patrons in US/UK. It saves purchasing publications such as “The Trading Post “ It is very up to date.
Certainly working for a Non for Profit Organization here at Vision Australia it was certainly nice to see the Charities Option. If libraries are looking for volunteers to help with Home Services it would be a good place to advertise.
Even though the site didn’t have Australian content I had a lot of fun playing around with it.
http://www.oodle.com/
I had a good poke around this website which is a Makes many Classifieds available.
The website is well and set out and very user friendly. It covers Car & Vehicles, Real Estate, Property for Rent, Jobs, Personals, Tickets, Pets – it is very comprehensive. You can search by Keyword and also narrow it down by location. The major drawback is that it is very US & UK centric, no Australian Content.
The other nice features that I noticed were
Scams: How to avoid scams – what to do and what not to do. Common Scams.
Donations.
Link to International Student Exchange Program – Charities & Volunteer Opportunities.
The site would be quite interesting for Library Patrons in US/UK. It saves purchasing publications such as “The Trading Post “ It is very up to date.
Certainly working for a Non for Profit Organization here at Vision Australia it was certainly nice to see the Charities Option. If libraries are looking for volunteers to help with Home Services it would be a good place to advertise.
Even though the site didn’t have Australian content I had a lot of fun playing around with it.
#17 Playing around with PBWiki
I have added my blog to the favourite Blogs page.
I also added an entry about Thailand to the Favourite Vacation Spots.
It all seemed to go quite smoothly and was fairly uneventful.
The only painful thing was that the wiki was locked as someone else was editing…. This seemed to take forever!! Had to leave it for the day and try again the next day ... first thing in the morning I was able to log on to the site and add my link
I also added an entry about Thailand to the Favourite Vacation Spots.
It all seemed to go quite smoothly and was fairly uneventful.
The only painful thing was that the wiki was locked as someone else was editing…. This seemed to take forever!! Had to leave it for the day and try again the next day ... first thing in the morning I was able to log on to the site and add my link
Thursday, November 1, 2007
# 16 So What is in a Wiki?
http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library
Book Lovers wiki was interesting. My Role here at Vision Australia involves a great deal of Readers’ Advisory so this site looks very useful.
http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Library Success: was also lots of fun to poke around and covered a great many “librarianship” type topics
In General
Wikis are useful for research but the crucial point is to remember that they are not “authoritive”. It is great that the information is available freely but one must be aware that that the information is not always the most accurate or reliable.
Within Libraries Wikis could be useful for project work. It allows Librarian to learn from other Librarians. Wikis help librarians stop reinventing the wheel – it provides an avenue to share effective tips and tricks. There is an opportunity to access resources developed fellow librarians.
Wikis can provide a space to work on projects, share ideas, or collaboratively create documents - whatever you need. Wikis are great for getting the whole group involved in the creative process without having to send files back and forth.
Book Lovers wiki was interesting. My Role here at Vision Australia involves a great deal of Readers’ Advisory so this site looks very useful.
http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
Library Success: was also lots of fun to poke around and covered a great many “librarianship” type topics
In General
Wikis are useful for research but the crucial point is to remember that they are not “authoritive”. It is great that the information is available freely but one must be aware that that the information is not always the most accurate or reliable.
Within Libraries Wikis could be useful for project work. It allows Librarian to learn from other Librarians. Wikis help librarians stop reinventing the wheel – it provides an avenue to share effective tips and tricks. There is an opportunity to access resources developed fellow librarians.
Wikis can provide a space to work on projects, share ideas, or collaboratively create documents - whatever you need. Wikis are great for getting the whole group involved in the creative process without having to send files back and forth.
#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0
Away from the “icebergs”
By Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
I particularly liked this article – it was written in an “easy to read style” – it didn’t use any complicated jargon – which is always a nice relief.
The article discussed how “difficult, expensive and slow” it is to deal with information when it is in Hardcopy Format. It really no longer makes good business sense to continue with a hard Copy Collection – Electronic Format is the best way to go. As a Web 2.0 development continues patrons expect materials to be accessible in Digital Formats.
Libraries/Librarians should now concentrate on eliminating the “barriers” that exist in accessing the digital information – assist with seaching interfaces and ensuring that the interfaces are easy to use. Patrons will therefore be able to concentrate more on reading the information rather than losing precious time trying to work how an interface works.
It must be recognised that “In the post-print era, libraries no longer have the monopoly power they had in the days before the Internet”. Information has become much more accessible to many since the Digitial Age has taken off.
By Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
I particularly liked this article – it was written in an “easy to read style” – it didn’t use any complicated jargon – which is always a nice relief.
The article discussed how “difficult, expensive and slow” it is to deal with information when it is in Hardcopy Format. It really no longer makes good business sense to continue with a hard Copy Collection – Electronic Format is the best way to go. As a Web 2.0 development continues patrons expect materials to be accessible in Digital Formats.
Libraries/Librarians should now concentrate on eliminating the “barriers” that exist in accessing the digital information – assist with seaching interfaces and ensuring that the interfaces are easy to use. Patrons will therefore be able to concentrate more on reading the information rather than losing precious time trying to work how an interface works.
It must be recognised that “In the post-print era, libraries no longer have the monopoly power they had in the days before the Internet”. Information has become much more accessible to many since the Digitial Age has taken off.
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