Merry Christmas!

I just want to say to everyone, enjoy your holidays and Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. 

Enjoy this video of my favourite Stars,  THE MUPPETS!!!

Just for the Library Girls

Just got this through my RSS feed and though some of you may like it.



Enjoy watching.

Finishing Web 2.0 Addiction central part 1

I have had great fun over these 10 weeks of training. As I have stated in the Title of this blog, it was in part Addiction central.  Many of the things that we covered in this training was known to me but I hadn't used it before, a few I did not know at all or have had a bit of a play with before.

At the end of the day they fell in 3 areas, will use in future, will not use and addicted to.

While it was interesting to find out about and use Facebook, flickr and Geocashing, I am not interested in them for personal use but could use them in a library setting.

All the other things that we have learn, I will be using for myself and looking to use them in the library system if possible. They have also lead me to other areas which I have found fun and useful.

I am now admitting that I am addicted to Twitter, YouTube and RSS feeds. Once I had used them a couple of times, I could not stop. I am not asking for help to stop but your and my workmates understanding that I do have addiction which I am working to control. I am restricting the time I go on them but am still very happy to view any fun Videos that you send to me, like the Muppet's.


Mel and Mark thanks for the great work you have done and I am looking forward to doing more training in Web 2.0 Addiction central.

Geocaching

At the beginning I was thinking that you could use Geocaching in the library quite usefully during school holidays or marking where the library was.  but after looking into it a bit futher, I don't think is is totally suitable.   I think that what they now call Waymarking would work better.

Waymarking is Geocaching  but for location not a cache of something (like a log book).  We could Waymark the libraries and may be have a hunt for places in the libraries and the actual library location itself as part of a scavenger hunt of the CoS library system. 

We could also update it for different events in the library as well.

Podcasts in Librarys

I must say that I do like podcasts, and I have found some that have interested me out there like from the ABC (Australia for the international people).  They are great for things that you miss due to the time they are on or the location (or find the podcast online).  Subscriptions also make it very easy to use as you don't have to worry download them.

But Library podcasts is hit and miss.  Firstly they need to be continuous and have some order to them.  Some of the libraries that I looked at had stopped adding podcasts or the link no longer worked. This has the effect of the searcher being no longer interested in looking at the podcasts that are there. Also the podcasts need to follow the feel/job of all online library presences. They need to be interesting and fun, not to be mistaken with hip.  Hip doesn't always work as it can date which puts people or audience groups off.

I believe we need to plan what the aims of the podcasts will be before we start to use them and also who the audience/s are.  If this is done I think the library can use podcasts for events and changes/educating patrons about the library..

YouTube

As soon as I hear that we were going to do YouTube I thought of this video. It is one of my favourite, and not just for the difference to a normal car review but due to the last part of the review, 'What if I'm asked to take part in a beach assult with the Royal Marines?' I have no idea how they got permission to do it but it's great that they did and I know what car I want to go on a beach with.



Now, to look at YouTube as a whole.

There is quite a lot of stuff that is not interesting or fun out there but there is also a lot of fun stuff out there, like the TopGear segments and the Muppets. The problem that can come up is stopping watching (or have a break from) things that are fun to watch. Also, if you what to have a presence on YouTube and keep people interested, it need to be of good quality and have some fun with it as well, even if it is informitive. The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library (US)have a great idea but they also need in my opinion some fun as well to get people coming back. They can inform the public but they also need to catch and engage them as well.

Things that come up in flickr

I was just playing around in Flickr and put in the search Perth + dogs + fun.  From the photos that came up, there were some photos that I was not sure why they did, one I couldn't even see a dog in it.

But I did come across this photo at http://www.flickr.com/photos/podiceps60/5184504006/. I liked the picture but they should of had different dogs and dogs that are linked to the country.  From there I found a better photo of a superdog. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/25348945@N06/3994456259/).

Facebook and Twitter

It has taken me a little while to do this weeks training for 2 reasons, firstly organising (and remembering) time to the do it in. Secondary there was some problems in logging into twitter for a time, so I got a bit out of the habit of doing the training.

I must say I prefer Twitter to Facebook in commenting on the what you doing and my personal preference.  Twitter is clearer to me in the layout than the Wall on Facebook.  You can clearly follow other people and their comments.  This is not to say that one is better that the other but what I would be likely to use.

I can see that Facebook can be used in the library environment to organise events that you are planning.  This would be very useful for the library if you had a Library Facebook page like Ellenbrook Library has. Patrons that are Friends of the library can book in to go to author talks or storytelling that are put the the events page.  You could also put on the regular events like storytime, bookclub on the Event's page to advertising, like posters/flyers in the library.

Twitter on the other hand would be great for internal communication especially for trouble shooting for staff.  Like in the training course, you would have a central account for the support as in SwanLibraries and people can message them the problems.  You could then have a number of people answering the questions depending on the question or day.

One thing about Facebook that I didn't like was you could not delete the page but only make it de-active. Also you could not use a user name easily if you want to which some people would like to do, especially if you are known by that name online.
After this training, I will be closing my Facebook page but may keep Twitter.

Yummy and Book Heaven.

As you can probably can tell, I liked this week's training on Yummy (Delicious) and Book Heaven (LibraryThing).

The main reason that I like them both, was that I did start cataloguing my personal library but I got mainly held up due to not knowing which format to use to make it easy for me to catalogue and use.  For Delicious, it was that I move between a lot of computers and locations at work and with each new computer I have to find all my links and also update them.  Both are easy to use and make it simple to navigate.

That's not to say that I liked everything for both of them and I will not be using everything that is available.

For one thing, apart from my apart from this training course, I will not be linking LibraryThing to a blog.  Also the instruction at the beginning was a little bit confusing for putting a widget on the blog for LibraryThing but it is very simple once I worked it out. That may have been just me in that case.

For Delicious, it was mainly that I had to create a yahoo account for email to set it up.  I am not a bit fan of having a yahoo account again as there was a reason why I stopped having one when I was in my early 20s.  So if anyone knows how to create a Delicious account with a non-yahoo account please tell me.

But apart of these small issues I really liked them both and plan to continue to use them in the future. I may even get a paid account for LibraryThing.

Wiki Wiki Wiki

Looking at some of the Wiki pages for this weeks training, showed the differences that wiki's can be used for and how complex (or simple) they can be.   This can be seen in both the design or content of the site.  The Montana History Wiki and Antioch University's Staff Training and Support Wiki  are quite simple in design but that does not mean the information available are.  They are both used for different reasons with quite detailed information but they don't need to be complex (fancy) in design. 

I found the clear link to be a writer on the site for Games and Public Libraries Wiki  and NSW State Library Readers' Advisory Services wiki  informative in stating not just anyone can change the information on the Wiki, so there is a feeling that you can trust what is put on the site.  The other sites that I looked at didn't seem to be as clearly stated as who could change content but did have a log in button on the page.

Before this week, I have had a bit of experience with wiki's, not just including Wikipedia.  A friend of mine created a Wiki site that was part of and followed a Superheroes (no relation to the TV show but the Champions system) Rolyplaying campaign. We put information about what was happened in each session and a bit of history about our characters on the site. With this wiki, only the players could change things on the site but everyone could see it.  This helped with following what had happened and gave us the ability to develop our characters and the world we were in but allowed out friends to see what was happening. This was just a fun campaign but the wiki help make it more fun.

Wiki's can easily be used by the libraries both externally and internally, but should have clear who can edit and comment on the pages.  If it is aimed to the public, a good idea that was on the Montana History Wiki site, was that if you would like to comment, you  can email to a email account and the comment may be then added.  This would be a good way to stop spamming of the site but still allow comments.  For protection of the site, I think that should be locked to staff only.

RSS feeds there are lots of them!

As I was jumping around gmail reader, starting with Unshelved which I have followed for a number of years, I found a great box next to the Feed you are looking at called "More like this.."  This is a great tool to find sites that may interest you. Most will not grab you but there are some which will surprise you.  I found 2 websites that I created a RSS feed from called Library Stuff and LIS news: -the Cream of the Crop. Library Stuff is American based weblog for Library development but posts headlines about libraries. Some are surprising, like one of my favourites, 'Stick to lending Books, suburb mayor tells library'.  LIS news is more world wide and can be fun as well.

Some RSS feeds are about news reports, which a lot of people now use instead of reading the headlines.  these feeds provide headlines as they come available so people feel more up to date. One which I found interesting was not run by one of news services which a lot are, but by Library Interact and it provides headlines which you can then read more if they grab you.  The name of the RSS Feed is called Citation from -Library Interaction which you find though Google reader. 

One Feed that I could not pass was the National Library of Australia - Library news and events.  This is a great Australian based one that tells what is happening here.

These are just ones that I have looked around in a short time, I am sure there are more out there that I will love or like better than these.  More come out all the time and any library could have one to promote and interact with staff and community.

Images online: What is out there??

It is likely that while you are on the Internet and looking around you will find a photo of yourself or someone you know.  This photo is likely not put up by you or that person, this is because there are a lot of photo's online and many different organisations and groups now post online. They also have put up old photos and  archive materials online for easy of access.

Now that people have digital camera's, it is easier to put their photo's online as they are already on the computer.  There is also a growing trend for people to storing their digital photos in their own 'photo libraries' on the web so they can have access anywhere they want and to share their photos. This can be also linked to be part of people's social networking pages (facebook and LJ) or their own web page that they have created.  Some of the Photos can be on things that you think are fun, different or stranger as teh photo below.



Sign at a Bali Temple



It is getting easier and easier to to get photos online so don't be to suprised when you are surfing the web you come across a picture of yourself.  A picture that may be one you don't expect to see or in some cases what to see.  Your library could put up photos of what the library looks like so people can see before they go or if it is the outside recognise what they are look for when going to the library for the first time.

The Blog

What does it actually mean to use a Blog??     

What to put on a Blog??

For these two questions, I had to think about before starting to write this blog.  The second question for me is the hardest to start off on.

To me, a blog has been something that I used for personal reasons to keep in touch with my friends that I don't see very often and see what they are doing.  It hasn't been something that I use to post to very often but it gives me access to my friends blog for content that they don't want the whole world to know as well as a easy way to follow their blogs.

This is due to Blogs having 3 type of information in them that is accessible (not all blogs have this and may have different names). 

1. Public Content and Access = everyone can see and read the post.  You need to be careful and understand what information you are allowing any person in the world to see. Or more importantly, sometimes the post is about information that you don't what a certain person to know about.
2. Friends Content and Access = people that you have given permission to have extra access, not all the people that follow your Blog.  You need to have a idea who this person is in some way because otherwise what is the point of giving them extra access to your Blog? You are removing the reason behind the Friend only access.  You need to remember that once you have given permission, you can take it away when ever you like.
3. Private Content and Access = Only you the author can see and read the information.  This is one way to have a diary and no one can access or see this information.

A blog is something that can you a way for you to connect to people through friendships or people with similar interests.  It is also showing the world and people that read your Blog one or more aspects of you, depending what they read and what you decide to put out there to be read.  Your Blog can change overtime as you change and your idea for what the Blog is to be as changes.

This Blog is just one aspect of Stepham who could be just an aspect of a unknown person. This depends what I have decided to write in this Blog and make available for you to see.  If I decide to write under another name or in a different place, another aspect may be viewed to all or to a select few. 

This is what it means to use a Blog.