2.0 Wrap Up

This has been a whirlwind tour of lots and lots of tools and toys. Though I had heard of almost all of these tools, I had not taken the time to actually try a lot of them. Thanks for the opportunity!

I have found using my RSS reader (I prefer Google) to be the best way to keep current. If a hot topic keeps showing up across several library blogs, then I can do more research. Magazine articles are old by the time they're in print, but they are more in-depth. I was already being "fed" several blogs whose authors are on the cutting edge, and I have added a couple more.

The hardest part of using these tools is remembering all the darned passwords & logins!

So far, I think delicious & feed readers will be things I will use for work. I will use Google docs for personal stuff, but maybe work, too. When you're a remote, it's nice to have efficient ways to share documents.

One of the best by-products of this project is that I'm not afraid to get in and try these new things. If I don't get it (like sending virtual cupcakes on Facebook!), that's ok. If I can use it or see a library application, great. If not, no harm done.

I'm looking forward to the state-wide launch to see how librarians employ these tools for their libraries.

Wacky Wiki

I used wikis and created a wiki at my previous library. For various reasons, they met with limited success. The main reasons they weren't as successful as they could have been are 1) Some staff were not interested in learning/using it, and 2) it was one more site to go to, one more login to remember.

I think they can be very useful for collaboration or for documents such as manuals that need constant revision. Many of us are participating in Wynne's wiki to improve the State Library web page. It's a great way to put in your 2 cents and throw ideas around.

The example wikis I looked at were interesting, but did not seem to be very active. I did a google search and got the same result. Most of those wikis were internal. One was for enhancing communication within a library department. One idea was to create a wiki for trustee board minutes. I do not believe that ever came about, because I couldn't find a link to it from the Board's page. I could see Friends groups using wikis for their meeting info and to work on projects.

A couple of the examples were for the public. I especially liked the Stephens County wiki, which asked for historical information about the county. That is a good way to get community involvement for a worthwhile project. The centennial committee for my hometown could have benefitted by using a wiki!

Where does the public find these wikis? I went to the libraries' web site home pages and clicked around, but was unable to find a link from Bull Run's home page to the wiki. I couldn't find a link from the wiki to the home page, either. There was a link from Stephens County's wiki to its home page, but it wasn't very obvious. If your wiki is for the public, it has to be obvious or it won't be used--or useful.

Using a wiki for a particular project ought to cut down on meeting time. It allows participants to comment and edit as their time allows. And an edit doesn't wipe out what was there previously. Wikis are useful for helping organize projects, with a separate page for each aspect.

The SDLA wiki is an interesting way to put a conference program--always open to change until the last minute--together. Offering a wiki takes the burden off one person to make all the changes.

Room for error? Wikipedia's authority is constantly challenged. It seems, though, that the community regulates itself quite well and corrects whatever errors sneak in.

And because "wiki" sounds a little like "witch doctor," I'm including this for your pleasure:


Alvin And The Chipmunks - Witch Doctor via Noolmusic.com

Delicious!

As it's nearing lunch time, Delicious is an appropriate topic! I used delicious at my previous library as a way to collaborate with co-workers on projects that involved locating websites. It worked well for that and is a wonderful way to:
1) keep favorite websites in one place available from any computer
2) share favorite websites
3) grow your list of websites by seeing what sites others have tagged with the same or similar words/phrases.

I clicked on Everyone's Bookmarks for Flickr because there were a lot. Few labeled or made notes on the sites. Tags were similar, but it is interesting to notice how people think. Do they tag with "photo" or "photography"? In delicious, both work. I enjoyed seeing the non-English entries, too.

I also like how one tag leads to another, but as with many social networking tools, I could get lost in here, and delicious would be one more time-taker.

I created an account and found a web site to save. It's easy, even without the buttons. I like that they suggest tags.I like that I can share or not, though sharing is the point, isn't it? For the good of the whole, entering a description in the notes field is a nice thing to do.

In the sdlibrary account, I looked at Google Chrome, which I've been hearing about. Sounds great, although a lot of the tech talk is over my head.

Delicious will be a great resource for doing preliminary web searches for projects, as others have already done some of the work for us.

Delicious could be especially helpful for those of us who do site visits and trainings. If we want to show a certain website, it's easy to pull up from delicious.

I'd like to find time to move the sites I have bookmarked in my browser on my PC to delcious. It would save a lot of time later for finding the right site from any computer.

Hey, Lurkers, Come Out & Play!

Here's an invitation to read my latest post on my "real" blog: Read, Learn, and be Happy

Which fictional character would you vote for as President??????? Comment, comment! I dare ya!

MySpace, Facebook,& Social Networking

I've had a Facebook account since a much younger friend asked me to be her Facebook friend. I didn't realize when I replied affirmatively that I would have to create an account. It is bare bones with few friends (no comments, anyone), and I am not active on it unless I get a message from my younger friends who live on the site. For this assignment, I did invite a couple friends and updated some stuff.

The layout is not attractive, and I may be missing something, but I don't see how to change it.

I don't get the things like sheep, cupcakes, etc. that people can "give" to each other. A friend has tried to send me stuff like that, but since these items are not created by Facebook, you have to agree to all kinds of stuff before you can "receive it." I have not complied.

I like that there are settings for who can access your account. Still, I would not put myself out there in the way young people do. Who cares what my favorite anything is? When I write, I consider the audience, and I will tell some people things that I would not tell other people. So to have a generic site where you spill your guts is not for me. I guess my mom's saying, "Fools' names & fools' faces are often found in public places" rings in my ears!

I can see libraries using the site as a way to introduce themselves to the Facebook/MySpace set. (But do they really search for libraries?) A social network presence could be a good way to promote teen activities, especially.

In theory, I like the idea of social networking as explained in the Common Craft video. Social networking sites connect us to people we know and people they know, making larger and larger networks. In reality, I'm not going to ask strangers (friends of friends) to be my friends because they aren't, well...friends. The young people I know have scads of friends on their accounts, but I am not going to invite a bunch of 20-somethings to be my friend. (Though I do have friends who are 20-somethings.)

I do enjoy a different kind of social networking site, Shelfari, where you can post the books you've read, invite friends and follow their lists, and discuss books. I get good reading recommendations this way, and it helps me keep track of what I've read. Still, I'd rather read or write than update Shelfari.

Another site people have recommended to me is Jacketflap, but I haven't taken time to look into it much. It is another bookish social networking site.

Social networking is a phenomenon that's here to stay. How will it change as time goes by?

Google Docs Rocks!

I did look at the other applications on the list, just to be fair, but since I already have a Google account, Google Docs was my preference to begin with. Then I got in there and started mucking around! Wow! I like:
* the wide variety of editable templates
* how easy it is to use!!!
* that it includes documents, forms, spreadsheets, and presentations
* how easy it is to use!!!
* that you can set (and unset) who has access to your documents
* how easy it is to use!!!
* its versatility--it offers many options for format, style, font, etc.
* how easy it is to use!!!
* it doesn't take up my own computer memory

How will I use it in my personal life?
My mind is spinning with ideas: household budget spreadsheet for my husband & me (yeah, as if); use with editors and critique group members for writing; create, save, and share presentations, and post any of these to my blog. That's just off the top of my head.

How will I use it for work?
We "remotes" may find this to be an efficient way to communicate, develop & share forms and presentations, create and share plans, etc. What do you think?

How can libraries use this?
Internally for sharing all kinds of documents, spreadsheets, & presentations. It may be a place to post training materials. It would be a great tool for documents requiring input or editing, such as a strategic plan or a statistics spreadsheet. Externally, I see lots of potential for school use for papers, projects, reports and such. Libraries could make a public file for posting book reviews, an online suggestion box, and tutorials or how-tos.

We have a wiki lesson coming up, I see, and I have created & participated in wikis. Though I'm sure wikis have their place, I find Google Docs so much easier to use I wonder if it could replace wikis.

And because every post should have an image, here is one:

Blonde at the library

For the video component of Lesson 5, I did some searching using the term "libraries" on both Google video & YouTube. I found it interesting that many of Google video's videos came from YouTube. There's a lot of good stuff out there--funny, smart, educational (and sometimes all 3). There's also a lot of junk. I watched most of one "video," which was really only a PowerPoint presentation that someone taped with their video camera. To me, they missed the point.

Anyway, to practice embedding videos and for your viewing pleasure, I present "Blonde."



This was not intuitive for me, and I had to go to Blogger help to figure it out, but--Ta da!