#23 Reflections on Learning 2.0

To my surprise, I have enjoyed learning the 23 things. I visited sites and used tools that I would have probably never discovered left to my own devices. I don't think that I am alone in putting off such things until tomorrow...

I feel better about myself, knowing that I completed the journey (in spite of finding it hard to fit in the professional development during work time) and persevered with the technologies even when obstacles appeared in my way. When I hear the words blogs, wikis and tagging, I no longer have to berate myself for not exploring the new technologies.

Of the things that I discovered along the way, I think that I had the most fun with YouTube, Flickr and the image generators even those these tools are probably the least applicable to work in a government library.

As for suggestions for improving the Learning 2.0 course, I have little to contribute. Recording my thoughts in the blog helped me to consolidate what I had learnt and achieved in these sessions. Adding the layer of instructions for ATO staff did get confusing sometimes but I figured that this added to the fun. At times, I realised that I hadn't followed the exercises to the letter because I had been distracted along the way but this added to the randomness of learning and I got to play a bit more with the different technologies.

Thanks for the learning experience.

Novice no more.

#22 WorldeBookFair

I've just got back from the fair and would have liked to listen to some old favourites like Rumpelstiltskin and The Emperor's New Clothes but time ticks on and I'm on a mission to complete the 23 things before I leave work for the week.

It's great that these books are available for free. I liked listening to stories when I was a kid but over the years have preferred to read them for myself.

I had a quick look at NetLibrary and observed that libraries can supplement their corporate library collections - the opportunities are endless. The more I see, the more I realise how pervasive the collaborative 2.0 technologies are.

One thing to go,
Novice

#21 Podcasts

I'd used Podcasts before (to listen to Helene Blowers for one) but hadn't actively sought out podcasts. The directories are great for finding podcasts on different topics. Unfortunately, Podcast.net required me to download software so I abandoned mission and used the Yahoo directory instead. I found the Econlib and Law Channel (ABC) podcasts and added the RSS URLs to my Bloglines account. At this stage, I don't have a need to create my own podcast but appreciate that I now know where to go in order to find out how to do this.

Almost at the finishing line,

Novice

#20 YouTube

I can see the attraction of YouTube - there are so many clips on there. I went in search of a British tv commercial for Shredded Wheat from the 1970s but didn't find the one that I was looking for (I still sing the jingle - well part of it - and wanted to know the next verse!). I did find two from the 80s that I hadn't seen because we'd immigrated to Australia by then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rMl53u1J70

My son is interested in space at the moment so I was pleased to find footage of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4t . I'll show it to him when I get home.

I also looked at tv shows from the 70s and clips of East London where I grew up. By then, I'd whiled away 30 mins in the blink of an eye so it was time to press on with my 23 things...

YouTube 4 me
Novice

#17 Wikis - sandpit

Well, I've added my blog to the Favourite Blogs of the PLCMC Learning 2.0 Wiki and I added a blurb to the Favourite Books page. It was all amazingly easy and totally painless. I'm starting to feel good about the Web 2.0 technologies - I've experienced a couple of problems along the way but I've used workarounds to surmount them.

Just a few more things to go...
Novice

#16 Playing with Wikis

Always on the lookout for good crime fiction/mysteries, I couldn't resist playing with the Book Lovers Wiki. I'll have to add this site to my favourites at home.

The Library Success Wiki is one that I'll bookmark for work - lots of practical tips for demonstrating ROI etc.

Until working through this session, I had read about Wikis and clicked on Wikipedia results in my Google searches but I'd never taken the time to visit other wikis so this has been a very good lesson for me.

Feeling better informed,

Novice

Thing 19 - Web 2.0 tools

I enjoyed looking at a number of the Web 2.0 technologies, starting with the event tools. Eventful (http://eventful.com) has a lot of potential but the content for Adelaide was rather light. There were no events listed in the category of family/kids (even though the school hols were jam packed with events and there are a number of winter programs for kids like the Something on Saturday program). Likewise, there were no events listed under movies, the arts, performing arts or religious events. Under Other, I found out that the Adelaide Pagan and Witches group is a very social bunch but that was about all! The site is very easy to use. Your current location is determined so that when you enter, the listings are displayed automatically for your city. However, it would have to be more widely used by organisers of events in order for it to become more reliable as a resource. I can see a library use for this tool. Public libraries conduct a number of school holiday activities and advertise in newspapers, library websites, etc. Eventful could provide another avenue for advertising their events. Similarly, library conferences, exhibitions, demonstrations could also be advertised using this tool.

This Web 2.0 session was more productive than the last.

Novice

Thing 18 - A trip to Zoho

I spent all of 20 minutes using Zoho but have spent the last hour trying to publish it to my blog and as much as it pains me, I will have to admit defeat! Zoho did not recognise my blog username and password. I tried adding the blog etc but all to no avail. I tried embedding the script of my published document but that didn't seem to work either so here's the url of my public document http://writer.zoho.com/public/ajkacz/new-to-zoho

Very frustrated Novice

PS I will not be recommending Zoho to my Mother!!

#15 Web 2.0 and the future of libraries

Rick Anderson's "Away from icebergs" was thought-provoking. While I agree that libraries need to embrace new technologies, be customer-focused and break down barriers between technology and customers, I do think that there is still a place for physical collections and physical spaces that we call libraries. People still need printed materials and they like to visit libraries. The challenge is in finding a balance and not leaning too heavily on either side of the equation.

Only 8 things to go,

Novice

Technorati

I've just had a look at Technorati. I started out with using the Advanced Search form to search for blogs, tags and the blog directory, finding many more blogs that mentioned Learning 2.0 (4,025) than I did when I searched the directory (496) or tags (3). I was delighted by the creativity of people when they choose their blog names like the Chronicles of the (Almost) Bald Technology Trainer and Trek for Tech. I soon became sidetracked, exploring one blog after another. Looking at the Popular blogs, curiosity got the better of me and I sneaked a peak at the Harry Potter spoiler blogs(I'll forget who dies by the time I read #7 - I haven't finished #4 yet). One blog of interest is TechCrunch: www.techcrunch.com This blog is very informative. The most recent post talks about social networking software for bringing together information (bios, photos etc) about people - useful for organising school reunions, conferences etc. I subscribed to this one.

Almost finished Week 6,

Novice

Delicioso

Delicious would appear useful. I'm too pressed for time right now to set up my own Delicious account but I appreciate its purpose. I had a look at the sites that had been tagged and gleaned a feel for the kind of tags people assign to sites using this tool. I was sidetracked into looking at the Lifehack website - a website that has been tagged by many - and have discovered that I am guilty of all permutations of wrong thinking (actually I already knew that!).

I assigned some tags to my Search roll using Rollyo so I don't feel too guilty for cutting this learning lesson short.

Enjoying working through all the things - hope that I make it to 23!

Novice

LibraryThingy

While friends take delight in arranging their home libraries by author or genre, I must admit to being content with finding a space for my books on my very cramped bookcases!

This online tool would be very good for people with small collections. I had fun adding some mystery/thriller titles and reading the Amazon reviews - I'm definitely not alone in my love of a good yarn. It was so very easy.

Maybe I should go home and dust those bookshelves...

Novice

Rolling along

Today, I created a Rollyo search roll for kids parties in Australia. I followed the instructions to insert the search box into my blog but it doesn't seem to work - must have misunderstood!

Select...Aussie kids' partiesSearch The Web

I can see the value of this tool. It would be very useful for watching briefs etc. However, I needed more instructions to use it successfully.

A little frustrated,

Novice

GENERATing

I have just spent over an hour playing with the various Generator toys. I created my own Jackson Pollock artwork - it's no Blue Poles - more like multi-coloured inkspots and I generated my own C&W lyrics (I have a weakness for C&W) - to be sang with a Johnny Cash-style drawl:






I met her on the highway wrestlin' gators;
I can still recall that purple dress she wore;
She was drinkin' Dr. Pepper in her muu-muu,
and I knew it was a raven, nothing more;
My hamster thought I'd punch her out forever;
She said to me man wasn't meant to fly;
But who'd have thought she'd wind up on a surfboard;
But that's the way that pygmies say goodbye.




I created a librarian for the Simpsons but in trying to save her managed to lose her! I also played with the Dr Phil generator and managed to find a few homespun truths.







Here's a badge generated on the Official Badge Generator site:

...and lastly, I generated a research question with the Research Question Generator and came up with this topic: A high-level parallelizing compiler related to an optimized binary cache. I'm sure that we've all had topics that make as much sense as this one.

Still having fun,

Novice

RSSing

Until today, I knew about RSS feeds but hadn't gone out of my way to find or subscribe to any. I liked using Topix to find RSS feeds - probably because I'm used to searching by topic. I found a couple of Library-related (predictable, I know) feeds (e.g., Libraries News). I also found a site on a topic that I've been researching for a client.

I confess to getting confused using Technorati as I wasn't sure how to find the RSS feeds once I'd found some interesting blogs.

I've signed up with Bloglines but had to give my home email account address as the library standalone account had already been used and I wasn't sure whether we could use our desktop accounts.

I have a better appreciation of how RSS feeds work after the tutorials but will reserve judgment on just how useful I'll find them.

Still having fun,

Novice

Flickr Fun

I had a lot of fun looking at the photos on Flickr. After losing an hour, indulging my feelings of nostalgia by finding photos of my childhood haunts in East London, I dragged myself away to post this blog. This is clearly a wonderful resource for finding that elusive image. I found a photo of a house in the street that I lived in as a kid: Lavender Grove, Hackney, East London as well as one of the Broadway market where I used to stand horrified, but unable to move, when live eels were cut up for those with a taste for jellied eels and the like. And yes, it often looked this dreary!

I'll definitely return to this site to upload a photo or two.

One True Media is the Flickr third party site that I found most useful. My son will be 21 before I know it and if I start now, I could create a montage set to music that could be used to embarrass and entertain the guests at his birthday bash.

That's all for now,

Novice

Second time lucky

This is actually my second go at posting on a blog. I'm learning how to publish my posts by trial and error, mainly the latter!

Of the 7.5 habits, I'm already mastering no.3, viewing problems as challenges, but it's no 7.5, play, that most appeals to me as it suggests that it's okay to take risks and not to feel bad about making blunders. I'm looking forward to learning as I go with the 23 things and hope to look back and feel exhilarated by the journey.

Bye for now,

Complete Novice