Final Post

When I started the Web 2.0 programme, I was quite confident with the web and thought I knew most things. This as it turns out was not completely the case; I have learnt many new tricks, which will be helpful at home as well as work. I especially found Google reader helpful, I did not use it before this course and it saves me lot of time as I would usually spend a while surfing the net and now I don't need to so much, I can find all the information I want in one place. I also found the free online software helpful. Overall this course has been fun and informative and I'm sure to use the things I've learnt in everyday life.

Week Nine

This week I had a look at Youtube, though I have to admit  I am already kind of an addict, I use Youtube all the time.
I found this video that relates to the library, I like the noir feel to it:

I think the library can utilise the embedding fuction in youtube to embed related videos into our webpage, or even just links so the pages are easier to load. It could make the website more fun and add another layer of information.

I found the podcast information very helpful as I had heard of podcast but didn't really know how to access them or use them. I had a look at Podcast Alley to search for podcasts and found plenty of podcasts about libraries, I liked the name of this one: library geeks

I also looked at eBooks and audiobooks and the technology that goes along with it. Quite recently there was a new addition to eBook readers - the iPad from Apple, which has meant that eBooks have had a high profile as there was a lot of publicity surrounding the release. I think more and more people will be getting the books they read in digital form. I managed to find Alices Adventures in Wonderland, on Netbooks, and though it is still limited in the numbers of books it does provide I think it is a very useful resource. I didn't download an audiobook but have browsed the catalougue and there are books that I would like to download. I will have a go at this at home. I also had a look at TumbleBooks which looks like a very good resource for kids and parents.

Week Eight

This week i have looked at Google docs and Zoho Writer. I found these applications very useful as they reduce the need to purchase expensive software and make it easy to access your documents from anywhere you can access the web. I prefered Zoho Writers layout and found it very clear, though I would be more likely to use Google docs because I use a range of google produces so would only have to sign in once.
I made this document using Google docs.

The tool I selected to play with from Web 2.0 Awards was the iGoogle. The iGoogle is a startpage / homepage which has gadgets which you can customise like the weather, a link to gmail, search youtube, news updates and many more. I really liked it because at home i use google.com as my homepage because I like to be able to search from my homepage, and iGoogle still has this function and also has a lot of other useful gadgets. You can also choose different backrounds to make it look pretty. I will definately use this tool.

Week Seven

This week I have been looking at wikis. I looked at the Princeton Library Wiki and thought it was quite cool, though it is no longer updated. It would be a good model to use for bookclubs and recommendations, it would also be a good communication tool between customers. I also liked the 'Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki' as it was in a recognisable format: the same format as Wikipedia (which I do use a lot). I think wikis would be a good way for librarians to share information with each other and collaboratively create professional wikis on how best to organise things around the libraries.
I also had a play on the ACL PB wiki and left my mark on a few pages!

Week Six

I found del.icio.us really helpful. It could be really helpful for research as you could tag any sites relating to a topic and can come back to easily from any computer without having to search it out again. By tagging sites with related tags you can group them together under research topics. You can also share these tags so anyone who is reseaching that topic will be able to see that the tags sites will help them. I like del.icio.us because I can organise the websites I visit into categories and access them from any computer so I don't have to remember them myself.

It took me a while to figure out how to claim my blog on techorati, I think they have recently changed the website around. It is taking longer for them to accept my claim. I did not find this site particularily helpful, but I guess it could help for keeping up to date with blogs within certan fields.

My thoughts on Library 2.0:
The way in which we access information is constantly changing, we are relying increasingly on digital media and the use of books is decreasing. Research can now be done online so there is little need to use libray books to research but there is the opourtunity for libraries to provide an intermediary between the customer and the unfiltered, unreliable information available on the internet. Fiction books are not safe from digital replacement either thanks to audiobooks and eBooks, recently the new iPad was released to compete with other digital book/eBook hardware (i.e. amazons Kindle) but I think that there is still a place for paper books and will continue to be as they are much easier on the eyes and can be shared easily.
I think the libraries of the future will provide a space where people can go to find information, in whatever form it takes, its just a matter of adapting to these forms.

Week Five

I found Library thing quite fun to play around with this week, it is quite similar to a facebook application I use called Visual Bookshelf. I found the recommendation section the most useful, it recommends books to you based on the books already in your collection. I did have some problems figuring out how to put the searchbox on my blog but i eventually figured it out (with a little help). I'm not sure if this application would be useful in my role but it could be useful for other libraries staff.

Unfortunately Rollyo site is down for maintenace at the moment so I will have to have a go at that at a later date.

Week Four

This week I have been using google reader. I find it quite useful as it means that i do not have to go to multiple sites, that i usually do go to, for updates. I can get news and blog updates from sites and blogs i follow right in the one place, which saves a lot of time. I can definitely see me using this application a lot in my personal life and can see it would be useful to keep up to date with professional and work related news. I think libraries could utilise RSS feeds to keep customers informed of new books and events in the library and any other news that effects them. Anyone who is interested in the library can subscribe to this feed and get updates.

I have also joined twitter:
http://twitter.com/aliceinlibrary
I don't really like twitter, I would not post on twitter personally, but i can see how it is useful to keep up with information from others. I can see how it can be utilised by companies and services to keep their customers informed of news and promos. The library could utilise twitter much in the same way as an RSS feed and reach a wider audience as twitter is quite popular.
On a side note I did find a twitter related site that I found quite entertaining:
http://overheard.it/tweets/