Week 12: Wrap up ; social networks

We are unable to access Facebook, due to council's IT restrictions.
I looked at MySpace and managed to find my Swiss brother-in-laws 'space', with all his great photos in a slideshow (this was one thing I was unable to do earlier in the course - all I ended up with was the space on my blog, but with nothing in it!).

I have found the course a bit of a battle, as, due to intermittent leave periods, I have not been able to evenly allocate the time to it, and I also misunderstood the purpose of the blog & so ended up with some messy postings.
Still, it has all been a huge, new experience for me and I look forward to getting together with my work colleagues to discuss practical ways in which to implement some of these new ideas.

Week 11: Online applications & tools

I had some trouble with Google Docs, in that, after uploading a photo from my PC, I was unable to remove the huge space preceding the photo. Also, not clear about whether I have actually shared it with slnsw - selected share, typed in the address, then save and close. Hope it got there!!
As for use within the library world, Google Docs might be useful for work with our remote branches.

Week 10: Mashups

I used Big Huge Labs to create a map, showing places I've travelled, which appears at the bottom of this blog, but I couldn't quite see how this could be classed as a Mashup, without actually attaching some photos to it and I could see no instructions for doing this. Hence my calendar (scene from Glen Rose, Isle of Arran, Scotland).

I was unable to corrected the spelling of "visited" on the map, as it was created in Big Huge Labs, which didn't seem to allow any edits

I guess we could use mashups on our web site, on example being perhaps a map showing the Branch Libraries, with photos of the libraries attached.

Week 9: Podcasts & Audio

I see podcasts as useful for catching up with missed programs, as we have done in the past with videos.
For our Library purposes, they could be used for inhouse training for remote library staff and also for promoting new material, although, for the latter, I don't really see why this would be any better than just providing text reviews. In lots of ways, I see it as just another instance of having to be "tuned in", instead of just opening one's eyes and reading!

Week 8: Answer boards & social searching

Re "slamming the boards" - our library takes an active part in Libraries Australia ASKNOW, which is really another form of "slamming". I find it quite amazing that people feel the need to find their information in this manner, instead of actually putting the effort into searching for themselves. Even on ASKNOW, it is often obvious that some students are looking for an answer "on a plate" for their assignments.
On a more positive note ... yes, I guess there is a role here for the reviewing of items in our collection and the gathering of feedback on our services.

Week 7: Tagging, del.icio.us, LibraryThing

After some help at a staff training morning, I was able to set up an account in Del.icio.us, saving a number of bookmarks, and then opened an account with LibraryThing, listing some of my latest favourites. Also created links to these from this blog.

Week 4 Revisited

Earlier on, I had trouble created an RSS feed, but have now done so - to ABC News.