The End

It's been an educational journey for sure. Many of the sites and tools listed in Discover I had already used, or least heard of, but I'd never thought of them in library context.

Of course, just leaning about these places may help us guide patrons who are looking for a better way to read their favorite websites, find music and videos, or just figure out what this whole Myspace kerfuffle is about.

I'd like to see patrons using the library catalog like a wiki to add summaries, reviews and suggestions for similar authors. It would have to be monitored of course, but even Myspace users have the ability to check comments before they appear.

The first thing I would change about this program are the mashups and image generators. A few of them are fun, but they really don't involve much input or any useful exchange of information. More toys than tools, and not really useful here.

I'd say my favorite activities involved the music sites and Flickr. I also liked the ability to share and network with Google Docs and wikis. It's exciting to see how people collaborate when they want to work together.

I discovered many tools that I'll use for myself and help patrons with, but I don't have the technical skills for library integration. I'll leave that up to Computer Services, whose people can use Web 2.0 to automatically bring library feeds to the public.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in developing and bringing this project to libary employees. We learned a lot, had some fun, and maybe earned a little vacation time too.

Twitter and Tumblr

Twitter seems like a superfluous little tool to me, but it's obviously useful/attractive to many people, or they wouldn't use it. Jeff Scott seems to have utilized the service quite well for his library system, providing updates on library programs and news--even new books added to the collection. Unfortunately, I'm not so tech-savvy as he, because I have no idea how to "dump" a feed. Perhaps the CS department has a better idea as to how to use Twitter for the library.

Tumblr on the other hand, is something I might use. However, I don't see how it is any different than a regular blog, like this one, where I could post pictures and links and quotes if I chose to. Apparently, Tumblr just makes it simpler to do this. The library-themed linkblog shown mostly provided links to longer articles...just like an rss newsreader. Only these include occasional pictures too, which is an attractive plus. I guess it's another way to inform patrons and library workers about what's going on in the library world.

Videos!

Of course, Youtube plays a part in my life for finding videos and sharing content. I'm not a heavy user, but it's great for finding video footage of just about anything. The other sites listed worked as well, although I found most of them difficult to navigate and choked with mostly low-quality footage.

The most popular channels on the pay-per-hit sites were those with scantily-clad women, leading me to wonder about the downside of user-driven content. Also, most of the videos were slow to load and buffer, which may be due to the library's connection speed or heavy traffic on the sites.

As for library relevance, the how-to videos and informational shorts, such as the science video sites can certainly help patrons find the info and materials they need. However, videos with audio will require headphones in the library.

Some of the good educational videos I found in my exploration: "Just the Facts" on blip.tv, a production of factcheck.org, which checks political accusations for accuracry: http://justthefacts.blip.tv/?utm_source=featured_ep&utm_medium=featured_ep#862063

Also, the humorous culinary advice from Pro at Cooking on Revver.



I love that Science Hack verifies the science vids on their site and I chose this educational clip on green energy:

Fatal Attraction: Birds and Wind Turbines

Podcasts

The only substantive use I see for podcasts lies in radio-type programs. Most demand these days is for video, not audio, and while podcasts are useful for recording and dispersing interviews, sermons, and radio programs, they pale in popularity to Youtube and music-sharing applications.

For library employees, podcasts can disperse information, like any other medium. For patrons, they do the same, but they will need to have a computer with sound and a pair of headphones if they want to listen in the library.

Personally, I hardly ever use podcasts except to listen to the rare interview or radio report that I'm interested in. I'd like to try some more, however, and podcast databases like the ones in Discover 2.0 will help me do that.

Audio Networking and Archives

Wow, another vast frontier to be explored. I had no idea those music networking sites existed and I'm interested in trying them all, but a bit wary about downloading programs onto my computer, especially free ones that rely on advertisers.

I found Pandora especially appealing. Because of its connection with the music genome project, the site could analyze the artists I chose, pick stylistic elements out of their work and suggest similar songs. I love an intuitive program that learns to anticipate what I'll like.

The Internet Archive is a bit overwhelming, but fun to browse around. I doubt you'd be able to find much here for patrons unless they are looking for something very old or low-budget. Youtube is a better place to search for videos.

Absolute Sound Effects might be helpful for bloggers or audio/video makers. I find the design a bit outdated and the pop-up ads very annoying, but its a resource that patrons might need, nonetheless.

Gutenberg Audio Books are handy for patrons who need sound recordings of older books and documents that we might not have available in our system.

Mango Languages is one of those sites that teases you with free lessons and then asks you to subscribe if you want to be a "serious student." Still, a nice way to explore another language if you're not ready to commit.

The problem with many of these sites in the library is that we don't have sound on many of our computers and we don't lend out headphones. Oftentimes, we can only refer the sites to patrons who have access at home.

Google Docs

I've used Google Docs before, usually as a backup for my Word files, and an easy way to access assignments at school. It's great for immediate collaboration and easy access. Normally I use my USB thumb drive to transfer documents between computers, but some computers don't like the drive or try to install programs when I insert it. Some computers don't have the programs I need.

This application is especially useful for library patrons who don't have computers or internet connection at home. They can work on their documents at any of our libraries without carrying around a disk or thumb drive. They won't have to worry about our firewalls and we won't have to worry about the potential viruses coming from their home computers.

Cool Tools

I can see how some of these activities will encourage interaction and learning new skills, but I really don't know where the sketchcast site comes into the process, even if it is interesting to watch the videos. Badges are fun, but I think most people can judge the reading level simply by looking at the posts.

Probably the most relevant tool for library staff is Yahoo Answers where we can really help people and let them know librarians are there to help. Next month, I will try be there to slam the boards.

Movie Reviews

Wikis

I like the idea of Wikis but the quality of each project depends on the skills and dedication of the editors. The more editors you get, the greater the chance of errors, bias, and disorganization.

Wikipedia is a good example of a well-controlled, active community with a consensus in mind. Sure, the occasional prankster or agenda-prone editor comes along (just check the edit records for the page on evolution) but overall, the information provided is accurate and fairly unbiased.

I like the idea of building something through an open group of users sharing knowledge. But those users need to be savvy, organized, and dedicated to the project if you want substantial results.

So, I have a lot more exploring to do when it comes to using wikis, but I am excited about the opportunities.

Reading Networks

I had fun playing around with Library Thing and Goodreads. Although I already had a Library Thing account, I hadn't used it much. Like most of the 2.0 sites, I will have to spend much more time with them before I get a true idea of all the possibilities and limitations.

Library Thing has a more attractive format and allows tags to get organize books, however I get the feeling that it represents your personal library and not all the books you've read. I generally don't buy books unless I know I'll read them a million times and can get them at a low price. The public library serves most of my reading needs.

Goodreads makes it a little easier to find books, since they list many editions together, though not all. Sometimes I had to use the Amazon search to find what I needed. I felt like this site had more possibilities, although I haven't had a lot of time to explore either.

I set up a Goodreads account at http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1056173
Hopefully I'll have time to play with this more and interact with other users.

Technorati

I think Technorati is a great tool for finding out what people are talking about and networking with different sources. It has a nice format for keeping track of your favorite blogs and is more visually appealing that Bloglines.

I noticed that the most popular topics and posts related directly to current events and the newest stories. No surprise there.

As far as the different searches, I couldn't find a way to search the blog directory under the advanced search options. The video showed it next to the main search bar, but maybe you have to log in to see that, because I didn't. I did try a "Learning 2.0" search in the main bar on the front page and that yielded different (and many more) results than the tag search. However, the results of the tag search were probably more precise and accurate to the subject I wanted.

del.icio.us tags

At first I felt a bit skeptical about the virtues of social bookmarking, but I'm definitely warming up to the idea as I hear more about it. It would be extremely convenient for me to access my links from other computers, especially when I'm writing papers at school and would like to find all the research sites I'd bookmarked at home.

I scanned through the isdesk account and found some interesting sites. One of the more popular ones was the complete works of Darwin online. When I scrolled down the list of comments, most people just described the site, but a few comments said, "W00t!" and "I'll never have to go to the library again!" Ah, no.

Although, I can see how del.icio.us tags can become sprawling monsters in the way of favorites folders, it at least offers a system of organization, if you can think of the right tags. Certainly a great resource and something I will use in the future for myself.

This Week...

Most of the generators just stuck words on an image, nothing I couldn't do myself with photoshop. I like the trading card program (which I already used in an earlier exercise) and a few of the ones I found through the generator blog. Some of the picture warping ones are entertaining for a little while.

I love this random fact generator: http://www.mentalfloss.com/amazingfactgenerator/

"President Lincoln’s oldest son was on the scene of three presidential assassinations. His father in 1865, Garfield in 1881, and McKinley in 1901."

Yikes.

As far as revisiting...I started my own personal flickr account and uploaded a lot of outdoor photos. I also went back to bloglines to read updates posted on some of my favorites. I've been fiddling around with ficlets.com since I already had a Myspace and Facebook account. I'm not to fond of the setup at ficlets and despair over most of the writing, but it is entertaining.

Social Networking

I have a MySpace account and much as I loathe the whole system, it keeps me in touch with friends and what's going on around town. MySpace is so youth-oriented that libraries as a whole will definitely have trouble attracting viewers there. Libraries simply aren't "cool" in places like that.

However, youth programs like the YAAB are sure to grab a good level of interaction, since they've made the connections already with the kids in person and those kids' networks are now all connected with the library. I like FVRL's YAAB site and I think it was a great idea.

I'm not so familiar with Facebook, but I think it's a bit more mature, perhaps. Libraries might find a place there if they can appeal to the users. The focus should probably be on book picks and readers, not necessarily library cards or library programs.

People like libraries a lot, but they're usually not desirable on friend/contact lists for personal profiles on networking sites. Your library is your friend, but it's not your Friend.

Instant Messaging

I prefer e-mail to instant messages, but I can see how IM can be helpful, even more so than the phone, because it gives you a little time to think and revise your sentences. If you have a staffed reference desk, IM can be a great tool, but at a small branch like ours, where our circulation desk doubles as reference and our staff tops out at four, there might not always be someone there to type out responses. The IS dept at VA might be better equipped to field IM reference.

As far as communication between branches, IM only works if the two people are at their computers at the same time, which can be tricky with our varying hours, meetings, and field work. E-mails seem to work better for now.

I would be interested in trying a meebo application on our webpage to see how many people would respond, and how many staff would be available to answer their questions. I have a feeling we'd get a lot of immature comments and chatting, and some people who type very slowly. However, if there are a lot of web-savvy patrons who want to make inquiries this way, it would be an exciting new way to communicate with them.

News feeds

Feedster - the link wouldn't open for me

Topix.net - I added the top stories news feed because sometimes it's handier to scan headlines than browse articles. But when I started to browse comments, I lost my faith in humanity again. An article on the tragic school shooting in Illinois brought up all the nastiest bickering about gun control. I think maybe I will just stick to the articles.

Syndicate - a bit too technical for me. I had no idea to start here but poked around and came up with a lot of technical gibberish. I finally found a feed I wanted and figured out how to add it to Bloglines, but I can see how confusing this might be for many people.

Google Blog Search - I typed "library" in and got an awful lot of blogs mentioning library, but not many actually focusing on libraries. Maybe if I played abound with the advance search, I could find more, but I was lazy. I can see how this might be handy, but how many people actually search for blogs? Usually we stumble upon the ones we like and want to keep reading.

Technorati - Similar to Topix.net, lots of articles with people saying whatever they feel like. I don't like having to click on the blurb and then click on the link to the article. Why can't it just take me straight to the article? I don't care about what all the web crawlers have to say about it.

Library Weblogs - I found a few with LISWiki that might be helpful, but the ones on The Blogging Libraries Wiki seemed too specific. It might be interesting to peek in on what the Seattle Friends are doing, or what programs the main library in Portugal is putting on, but I don't see any purpose in subscribing to their blogs.

I think patrons might enjoy getting news from their favorite sites. If the library wanted to start a blog, the best ideas might be one advertising upcoming programs and one on book picks and/or new books.

RSS feeds

I've used Google Reader for some time and enjoy that service because it keeps me up to date on the blogs I'm most interested in. I can check if any of them have updated without visiting each site individually.

However, through Bloglines, you still have to jump to the sites to read full articles which will display ads embedded in the page and trigger annoying pop-ups. However, it's nice to scan headlines in peace, even if you lose the pictures through the feed.

Also, neither Google nor Bloglines displays user comments in the feed, which can be positive and negative. Sometimes I want to hear what other people think, and sometimes I don't.

Flickr Mashups

card
Originally uploaded by sun_falling

I explored several flickr mashups including all those listed in the Discover blog. I can't see how the collage would be useful but I enjoyed the images retrievr came up with. I made a trading card and I can see how fun it would be to make a whole deck if you had a theme.

I enjoyed exploring the Trip Planner as well, though it relies more on Yahoo than Flickr. I'd have to spend a lot more time with it to actually plan a trip, but it's something to keep in mind. I like how many options you have and how it arranges all the times in a comprehendible pattern.

Photo: "the colors of queens"

the colors of queens
Originally uploaded by JS300

I really love this Flickr photo because there's so much to look at. All the colors and the stylized words spread in every free space.

7.5 Habits

The easiest habit for me is to set a goal. I'm constantly making lists of things I want to accomplish. However, I often don't elaborate on how to finish major goals or detail a timeline for the process.

The hardest habit is seeing setbacks in a positive way. Generally, when I encounter a problem, I worry that I'm doing something wrong and I often get discouraged. However, I know that challenges are a part of life, and working through them tends to give me skills and experience for the future.