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.