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.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, November 8, 2010
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.
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.
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