Conclusion!

I now have so many online accounts I'm not sure I actually remember them all. Let alone passwords! Still it has been interesting and some of them I am definitely still using. LibraryThing in particular, I have found very useful, somuch so that I have signed up for a lifetime membership, and rediscovered a few authors I read a long time ago.

All in all, the exercises have been useful, at the very least just to know what some people are talking about when they talk about Rollyo, etc. As someone who works in an information service it is important to keep current with internet trends, but at the same time, working doesn't leave a lot of time for experimentation and exploration! This course has been helpful just by giving me a chance to do that.

It's also been interesting to note a few things that are probably going to have an effect on the way some library and education services will be delivered in the future, such as Second Life's virtual classrooms and ebooks.

It's been good, although more time consuming than I thought. I suppose once you get started, you could spend hours every day to fully explore a lot of the online applications. One reason why my blogs are a little short, I suppose, is that having done the reading and the exercise, there isn't a lot of time left over for blogging!

So this is my last one, before I shed my librarygirl cover and resume my former existence as an international woman of mystery. I shall miss it, but espionage beckons!

Ebooks and Audiobooks

Wow, I just read a Frank L Baum story i never knew existed! Found it browsing in the Worlde Book Fair.


I still definitely prefer a hard copy, but audiobooks and ebook certainly do offer a bit of variety to people, making it easier to fit books into a schedule that often may not include time to curl up with a cuppa and a book. Ebooks in particular, existing in a global library, offer titles that just may not be available in printed and bound form.

Of course there is a lot not available as well, but ebooks and audio books certainly have their place. Audiobooks, of course, have long been in circulation in libraries, offering an alternative to those with sight difficulties, or time constraints. More people are borrowing them now to listen to in the car, or whilst doing housework, gardening, and many other activities.

The rarer titles offered by ebooks are a welcome and valuable addition to library services. I think this will only grow as people become more aware of what is available, and get more comfortable using them.

Second Life

Who has time? I resent the implication that this one would be my second one, I may already be running dozens of lives under different alias. In fact my core existence may depend on it.



I did join Second Life several years ago, but never got past choosing a name. I'm too busy trying to keep the first one ticking over, and I have the sneaking suspicion that it would be all too easy (and rather soul-destroying), to start putting one's physical life on hold in favour of the virtual.



The question of virtual education is an interesting one. The advantages are obvious, particularly for remote students, or those with physical difficulties, and have been moving forward for some time, although second life can offer a much more interactive on-line learning experience. Much potential there!

I did find it interesting though, that already 30% of second lifes industry is sex-based, and people are starting to sue each other. Bit sad.

I loved www.getafirstlife.com

Podcasts and YouTube

The benefit of podcasts, and vodcasts: A great way of saving something to listen to when and where it is convienient, whether downloaded to an mp3 player or listened to from a pc. Could be handy for libraries to have instructional podcasts that people can download for things like navigating the web page, researching family history, etc.



YouTube is hilarious, tedious, ridiculous, informative, revolting and entertaining. There is some great rare concert footage, old outtakes, short films, etc. However to get to them, one must sort through the most amazing amount of dross. Gems are there to be found however, if you have the patience and the right search terms.

Wikis and Rollyo

I like the way public libraries are using wikis, it's a very friendly, community feeling. The Princeton Summer Reading Club wiki was a nice one, allowing people to share reviews and information on books.

Wikis are a handy open forum for many professions, a great way of gathering varying information in one place, and, as shown by the list of examples, a versatile tool, for those within the profession and for those it aims to serve.

As for Rollyo, well I think we can all immediately see the benefit of a general search that can be restricted to trusted sources!
Here's mine : http://rollyo.com/jessscotch/music/

A quick one

Library 2.0

I forgot to mention in my last blog, I agree, to some extent, with those who claim the key principles are not new. Certainly the applications are new and evolving, but the aim has always been to provide the best service possible, and help the patrons to help themselves, utilising whatever is available and relevant, hasn't it?

Del.icio.us

Handy, very handy. Especially if you are someone whom needs to move around a lot of computers (always keep several steps ahead, people. never linger to long at one base or the feds will catch up). It saves valuable brain space that was, until now, taken up with remembering things like site names and web addresses, and can now be used for remembering usernames and passwords instead!

Will write more when I can explore further from a computer that lets me install the buttons!

Back from outer space (and google)

Once again I find myself with a lot of catching up to! Whilst I have found some time in my busy schedule of world domination to do a few of the weekly activities, I have not yet blogged them - the other astronauts tend to get a bit snarky about people hogging the bandwidth in the shuttle - something about tying up essential survival comunication lines. Blah, blah.

Google docs are great. Very, very useful, as I could start penning a manifesto on home ground, them continue it while in zero gravity, without taking so much as a memory stick (the luggage restrictions on those flights aren't to be believed!). I can see how all kinds of people and professions will find google docs very handy indeed, including those in libraries.

Also a fan of google maps - which got me to a location I had previously been unable to find.

Google book search I love. How could you not? All the handy little accessories, like the reviews, the previews, the buying links, etc. Bibliophiles plaything!

The igoogle page I also thought was pretty great, as google is my personal homepage anyway. so having the accessories right there on the page is pretty damn handy. Again, lots of stuff to play with. Personally, loving google recipes, and, as mentioned above, google book search.

Yay google, go google. I like it so much I may buy it.

MySpace Libraries

Huh?
I've looked at quite a few libraries myspace sites, and I'm not sure I see the point. To be honest, I fond some of them a little embarrassing, although I find my own site embarrassing as well, so maybe I'm just being overly cringy.

But still, who are they reaching? The friends lists are made up of more authors and organisations than patrons, because really, why would kids want a library as a 'friend' in their social network? would they want to list their school, or individual teachers? don't forget, once you have been added you can not only see blogs, rude comments, smutty bulletins, etc. but get notifications of them as well. Isn't it a little like inviting an authority figure to a sleepover? myspace is supposed to be a fun, social, gossipy place for friends, and fans. I can appreicate that libraries need to promote themselves and their activities, but in the social networking sites, who is listening?

Facebook vs MySpace

I have had a MySpace for ages. Can't go past it if you are a music fan. Most of my "friends" on myspace are bands, mostly unknown, that I'm keeping track of.

So I have never been particularly interested in Facebook, because I have never been particularly interested in "social networking". If I want to talk to a friend, we talk. If we just want to check in without actually conversing, there is sms.

But, due to demands, I now have a Facebook account. So far I have thrown virtual novelty confectionary at people, discovered I am a glass of hard liquor and joined a hate group that seems to want to maim drivers who don't indicate. What all this is supposed to be doing for me I'm not sure, but it's definitely wasting time and I suspect that superpoke doesn't really help build social skills. Who really wants a sheep thrown at them? Do you want to be the kind of person that would do that? Do you want to be friends with the sork of sicko that would enjoy you doing that?

Well, I suppose Facebook can make one confront and question one's inner self.

Anyway, I must return to investigate others Faces.

Past catches up

Oops. We came to the RSS section of the course and a distant memory drifted vaguely into view. RSS sounded so familiar. Feedreaders even more so. Then I began to remember a time when the state library was a little excited about enabling RSS feeds from their website. All library staff were given a rundown on them and encouraged to join a feedreader. Which I did, at the time. I also checked it faithfully for months afterward and then totally forgot about it.

It hasn't forgotten me. I returned, only to be refused entry, leading me to suspect my account had lapsed. But no, it was only my memory refusing to store passwords. Once this key was accessed, I was in.

I couldn't bring myself to fully face the information overload it contained. There were hundreds of feeds in each catagory. Piles reaching the metaphorical ceiling. Erk.

So I have learnt a little somthing from this exercise. It's one thing to be creating all these new accounts, but remember, after the novely has worn off and you forget - they won't.

I'm back

So I've got a bit of catching up to do. Sometimes, with a life like mine, one finds oneself unexpectedly out of the country. I cannot reveal exactly why but the photo is a clue.

Lets just pretend the pic came from Image Chef and no one will get hurt.

A small sample of my light reading material is posted on LibraryThing. Of course, I am unable to share my more serious tomes, as many are unaware of their existence, and should they be discovered, our political, religious and economic systems will collapse around the world. So I'm saving that one for a really bad hair day.

Must press on. More web to be woven.

LibraryThing link

maddog

maddog
Originally uploaded by libgirl3

linked

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr

When did vowels become so unfashionable? Would putting the e in Flickr be so terribly time consuming?

I have created an account, uploaded a photo and invited a friend. Also had a look around the extra stuff you can do. Vanity publishing has reached a whole new level.

Starting Block

Nothing like a public diary to make you feel at one with millions of unknown entities. Okay people, brace yourselves, I have just decided this is the perfect forum to start airing the dirty skeletons in the closet. Now, where should we start? Where the bodies are buried, or where the money went? How I got away with it for so long, and continue to do so?

By the way, my blog title is taken from a song by Rage Against the Machine. Kudos to anyone who knows it.

***********************

Week 1

Task : Start a blog.

Did.

Could not think of anything to write.

Maybe next week I'll be brilliant.