Is this the end of the road?

I am done yes. You heard correctly I finally finsihed. So you don't have to worry about being exposed to my long posts ever again! Yes. I am really proud of myself for finishing and I'm glad that I joined this program. I learned about a lot of new technology that I could use, and I learned about new ways to use technology that I already knew about. If I could suggest one single change it would be two impractical ones. One I would suggesst that there be scheduled times for at least 2/3 of library staff to work on web 2.0 together in a lab maybe an hour or two before the library opens. I know that it would be really hard to work out everyone's schedule that way but I think it would help to provide people a specific time to work on this. That way no one has to rush through it without getting the chance to fully explore (which happened to me once or twice). Besides that working with other staff is vital to this program I beleive. My co-workers probably deserve at least 50% of the credit for my having completed this program simply throught the assistance and tips they offered. Now whether or not they want to claim that is another story...But I think it would be really beneficial to give everyone who does this program in the future a defined time to work on it together. Beyond that the program was a huge success and I definately plan to play around with the things I learned more and make my blog acutally look nice. So it's been a fun, frustrating, and fruitful experience that I say was completely worth it even if I never get an mp3 player

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday

I am almost finished; I am so excited about that. After everything is said and done I'm sure I'll be slightly sad. It's been fun learning about different resources on the web that I didn't even know were there before and seeing how these technologies are affecting the world today. I think my favorite learning experince has been a tie between the mashups and the rolleyo search tool. I loved rolleyo because of the easy convinece and innovative practicality of being able to design your own search...and mashup sites are just fun to play around with. I think web 2.0 has affected my life long learning goals by showing me just how much there is out there to learn. I love the internet, and I use it constantly, and I had no idea that there were so many ways to make my utilization of the internet easier, more precise, etc. I think this program has also affected my life long learning goals by making me more aware of the cross over between certain areas of knowledge. I have used a wiki before, and have one of my own, but I never thought of a wiki as a tool to be used in libraries before this program. After playing around with the wiki exercise and seeing all of the different groups that use them to communicate I realized what a great idea it was. So I think that in the future I will increase the fields of knowledge that I apply to a situation even incorporating ones that I might not believe would apply to the situtation. This will make me a more effective employee, and I think a more effective thinker in general which is always a good thing.

Rolleyo

I just played around with rolleyo and created two search roles for myself. It seems really cool; I have no complaints after having played around with it. It seems like a good tool for libraries to utilize. Instead of limiting the information accessable to them by searching under only one subject or looking for a specific book they would be able to expand the information available to them by tailoring their search engine. I think this is a tool that would certainly be invaluable to libraries in the future or the present

Here's my thing

Alright. So as we know from previous posts. I am a huge fan of librarything. It is an amazing tool that can be utilized in a lot of practical ways for personal and public use. Libraries can make create their own page on librarything as an extension of the virtual library. It's a really innovative and refreshing way of looking at virtual libraries, and I love that it gives information about the latest books published by certain authors. I really just like this tool because of the unique way that it gives booklovers to communicate with oneanother; I believe it can be used for libraries in the same way.

I spy with my little eye

I just tried to use the image generator for my post this week. I was going to go the relatively simple route of making a 3-d cd cover with a picture of a bird on it. My screen kept freezing unfortunately and I couldn't get it to stop. So just picture that cd cover and go to this website and play around because exploring the things that the site allowed me to do was actually kind of fun

http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/

vodcasts and libraries

I looked up both videos and podcasts and thought long and hard about how they apply to a library setting. Videos would be best for libraries I think. It would give libraries the chance to present new information to their patrons about their library. I can only see podcasts being used in libraries for events that are ongoing such as story times. Both serve as an interesting way to keep patrons instantly engaged with what is going on at their library. Seeing differnet information posted on a wiki, being informed through some type of instant messaging system, even seeing a photo album of past events on flickr, can't compare to seeing things live. Using videos and podcasts serve as a way to interest patrons on the spot making them more likely to seek out information about a library

The Best Podcast Ever

Is not on my blog. I tried to find one, but I didn't see any that seemed appropriate for my blog or for the purpose of proving any knowledge on my part of web 2.0 technology as it applies to podcasts. Overall I'd say that podcasts serve the exact same function as youtube videos in more general terms, and I perfer youtube. The one advangtage podcasts have is that you can use them when you're on the go or when you're at home.

youtube

*Aside note before I start this post. Is it just me or does it seem like ordinary guys who wanted something to do after they dropped out of Harvard are behind all of the web's most famous sites today? And they're all millionaires at least. I have the new formula for success in life. Add being good enough to get into Harvard + dropping out of Harvard+ goofing around on the internet in your down time= the website that everyone at your high school reunion will be using and will not believe you created. I digress... Youtube. Youtube has basically anything that you could ever want to watch online. It's like the internet's version of cable. One of the things that I like about the site is the amount of access to information that it gives normal people. Granted most of that information is useless, but I'm sure Obama's last speech is up there somewhere. The video that I showed for my blog post is an example of this in a really weird way. The guys in the video are an acutal group, they're called Flight of the Chonchords and they have their own show on HBO. They are originally a popular folk band in New Zealand and one of them played in Lord of the Rings. Anyway, they came to the U.S. and had an impossible time finding gigs. Now they have their own show on HBO which has already completed its first season and should be coming back for a second one at a later date. I know what you're thinking; you're thinking how did they manage to go from no gigs to t.v.? My theory is youtube probably had something to do with it. People, mainly college kids, can find out about guys like this and all other sorts of random, cool information on the site. This is where youtube comes into play for institutions like libraries. It could be used to promote our volunteer staffs, our programs, any information about our library that we want to promote and it will be seen on youtube. I can't say how many people will see it, but it does at least offer the potential for exposure on a global scale. Locally we could use it to let people know what's going on our libraries, and the ways that they can get involved. Librarians could even do little tutorials on youtube telling customers how to...access their account online, or apply for a library card.

Oh and as for the guys in the video, you should check out their show; it's hilarious. Enjoy

Mashups

Just when I think that flickr can't get any cooler, it brings me mashups. Okay so mashups are basically computer geniuses (I say geniuses because I am computer illiterate and even the most simple mashups seem like the work of brilliant scientists to me) take some aspect of flickr, most likely their photos, and then mix them with an aspect of another site like a map. There are so many different things that you can do on these sites. By far my favorite was pickr color (ironically I am not sure if that is the right name). It is a mashup that takes public photos from flickr and groups them accorrding to their color, you click on one and you get an array of pictures in that particular color. Mappr is also something that really interested me, particularly the pictures that littered the trail of route 66 on one map. I like that idea for maps in general, you open up a huge map and instead of seeing red lines for roads you see famous steakhouses and beautiful beaches, little towns nestled in the alcoves of mountains. It would be comforting to the traveller, make them feel like they're going somewhere rather than traveling a red line. I don't know how pracitical it would be if the only thing you wanted to use a map for was to find directions but hey finding directions are what GPS systems were invented for. I also found a really cool project on mappr called "empty city" that allowed you to take a virtually mapped tour of San Fransisco, Las Vegas, and Bakersfield (I believe). The project itself had something to do with urban abandoment and decay but the idea of taking a virtual tour of theses places is what appealed to me. Hmmm...I claimed that pickr was my favorite mashup site, and then spent the entire blog talking about mappr. I may have to revise my choice for a favorite. Basically I liked them both, and if as web 2.0 predicts libraries of the future are headed in the "virtual" direction, then these are really unique and eye-catching tools that I think we should have at our disposal. Isn't that what the web 2.0 library of the future would be anyways? Mashing up apsects of a traditional libray with new web technology to create something new and better for our users?