Thursday, March 27, 2008

Second Life

I didn't have a chance to get to Second Life before tonight, but had hoped to join the party! I'm patiently waiting for my confirmation email, but don't think it will get here in time. It would be fun to have a few more 2nd Life meetings in the coming months - that's another 2.0 thing I've been curious about but haven't had a chance (or reason) to do anything with. Penelope Perl (that's me!) is looking forward to exploring that new world.

Sorry I couldn't join you tonight (still no email!), and now it's time for the Celebrity Apprentice finale - have to see if Trace Adkins beats the annoying Brit! Hope a fun group showed up and you all had a great time.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Concluding Thoughts

The funny thing is I thought I'd already posted a concluding thoughts entry but obviously it ended up somewhere in Cyberspace (or I was just dreaming, which may be even more likely).

I thought this was a great way to try out new technologies that I wouldn't have otherwise taken the time to learn, and get more familiar with those I knew a little bit about. I knew there would be someone to help if I got really stuck or confused, which made it easier to jump in.

I liked the format of posted lessons so I knew what was coming and I could get to them on my own time. The fun thing was I discovered I already knew a little about a lot of these topics - I had no idea I was so up-to-date!

Count me in if more courses like this are offered - this is a great opportunity and I'd recommend it to everyone.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

WikiWiki!

Last year I watched a College of DuPage "webinar" (at least I think that's what it was) that introduced PBWiki. We started a staff wiki at our library to help keep everyone informed without having to post notices, send emails, etc. Each department has their own page, and we've linked lots of useful information (staff phones, committees, equipment troubleshooting tips to name a few). It's handy to be able to check on news when I'm on vacation or at home, too.

I really like the Wyoming Authors wiki and the Best Practices wiki - I see there is lots of useful information there (like gaming in the library!). There is always the risk of someone editing incorrectly or posting false information, but overall I think wikis are really handy.

Del.icio.us

I've heard about this site before but never did set up an account, and even now I'm not sure I'd really use it. I find all the tags and comments to be confusing and overwhelming, and not all that helpful. Possibly I would use it for my own bookmarks, but I've got Foxmarks installed so things automatically get synchronized between my PC and laptop. I do see how the Reference staff could use this to share favorite sites between all staff, especially for those who work at several different desks and computers in our library.

I did find some new and interesting sites: the Penguin books podcast and Juice, an open-source podcast receiver.

I think the Penguin book idea is great - libraries could create similar podcasts with staff discussing new titles (but there is that pesky staff time issue to deal with!) I think I'll subscribe to this - I do have an online book club subscription that arrives daily in my email, but that requires actually reading the chapter! It would be much more convenient to listen to a podcast. This isn't exactly the same: it's not just a chapter, there seems to be discussion too, and it's not daily (these do take time to produce!) but there is a lot of potential here.

I'm wishing I'd found the Juice site earlier, before I installed iTunes on my home computer, just because I like open-source as a matter of principle. I've gotten other software from SourceForge (they have a great PDF creator!).

Video on the Blog

This should get the Yarn Harlot video in here:

Thank you Michael for explaining the details (I didn't realize the "embed" function was in YouTube; I was looking in the blog posting). Learn something new all the time (which I guess is the whole point of this exercise!).

Saturday, March 8, 2008

You-Tube

I'm always amazed at the number of patrons viewing things in You-Tube as I walk by - it seems to be incredibly popular (although there certainly is a broad spectrum of content and quality!). The Library Dominoes was a great idea. Naturally I had to search my favorite knitter, The Yarn Harlot, and was amazed to watch her knitting without looking - I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do that.
(I haven't figured out how to get a video here - I can't find the Embeddable Player part on the Edit HTML tab, and inserting video wants me to browse to a file). I have seen (and used!) knitting videos demonstrating various stitches and techniques - I think that is a great use of this technology.

I've been trying to come up with practical uses for this on a library website. Certainly short videos of library programs could be posted. I'm not sure about instructional uses (How to turn off your cell phone as you enter the library? How to approach the reference desk with a question? How to use the self-check machine?). I think this is still in the entertainment stage...

Sunday, March 2, 2008

A Brand New Month

Wow - February really did go by fast! But since I was away for 2 weeks, and then had a great Offline weekend, no wonder!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've become a podcast fan - my favorites involve knitting (because it's so easy to knit while I listen - multi-tasking at its best) but I have also discovered some tech-related ones: the Mike Tech Show and the New York Times Tech Talk (since I'm already subscribed I'm not subscribing here).

I could see using something like this for patrons, describing the latest new books or upcoming programs at the library. It would take a little time to get good at creating these - I can tell the difference between the NYTimes (very professional) and one of the (unprofessional) knitting podcasts. And it would require dedicated staff to keep it current.

There is always the danger of using technology just because it's there, not because you really have a good use for it.