It has been interesting exploring the various "things" as part of this shared learning experience. Some of them have been fun (image generators, YouTube, podcasts, wikis, RSS) and others make my head hurt just thinking about them (technorati, del.icio.us). I probably would not have explored a few of the "things" like del.icio.us on my own and don't really expect to use all of these in the near future, but at least I know what they are and am familiar with what they can do.
Finding the time to complete the exercises was probably the most challenging part of Learning 2.0 and I suspect would be the main obstacle to participation in any future exercises.
All in all, Learning 2.0 was fun and informative.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Thing 22: Audiobooks
Since we frequently have had to set up accounts on netlibrary for patrons, setting up my own account has been one of the easiest parts of completing the 23 things. I prefer to read rather than listen to audiobooks, but if I had a long commute, I might listen to audiobooks more often. I was glad to see many of the yearly compilations of New Stories From the South available as audiobooks, but the two I listened to samples from had a narrator with a generic Midwestern accent that took something away from hearing the short stories in the collection read by someone with a Southern accent. As our audiobook patrons frequently tell us, the narrator plays a very big role in whether the audiobook is enjoyable or not.
Thing 21: Podcasts, Smodcasts!
Of the three podcast directories, I liked Yahoo Podcasts the least. On Podcast.net, I liked how it lets you search using keyword, host, and location since any and all of these could be helpful in locating a specific podcast. The ability to search by genre or keyword makes Podcast Alley quite useful for finding podcasts on a particular topic - I found several interesting book and library themed podcasts using this site.
One of the local news programs had a feature about a year ago showing how churches are using podcasts of sermons as a new way to reach people. They interviewed one man who listened to the Sunday sermon while he was jogging, a woman who listens as she drives to work, and a couple who are able to "attend" their hometown church even though they live 500 miles away by listening to the podcast of the service each week. One pastor mentioned that they are able to reach many people who are sick or elderly and can't make it to regular services through podcasts and they have people from their church who go out and show them how to use the technology when needed. I think this is a great example of an organization using technology to meet an existing need.
One of the local news programs had a feature about a year ago showing how churches are using podcasts of sermons as a new way to reach people. They interviewed one man who listened to the Sunday sermon while he was jogging, a woman who listens as she drives to work, and a couple who are able to "attend" their hometown church even though they live 500 miles away by listening to the podcast of the service each week. One pastor mentioned that they are able to reach many people who are sick or elderly and can't make it to regular services through podcasts and they have people from their church who go out and show them how to use the technology when needed. I think this is a great example of an organization using technology to meet an existing need.
Thing 20: You Too Can YouTube
YouTube and similar sites can be lots of fun but they can also take up lots of your time if you aren't careful. I looked at a few of the library-themed videos on YouTube and revisted an old favorite Raging Rudolph http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvWVzjBfrn0
The Rudolph video always reminds me of a former co-worker who liked to recite the dialogue and act out all of the parts.
Libraries could certainly make use of such sites to post short tutorial videos or videos promoting new services or upcoming events. The possible uses are endless. Staff could even create videos as a morale and team building activity. When I was in college, the students in the science and math departments used to create a video every year with skits poking fun at the various professors in the department and the professors would make a video teasing the students. We'd show the videos at a cookout just before finals and everyone would laugh and have a great time. It helped all of us not to take things so seriously and also provided us with the opportunity to work together on something that was fun but also a good learning experience. Many of the library videos that I looked at seemed to have been created for just such a purpose.
The Rudolph video always reminds me of a former co-worker who liked to recite the dialogue and act out all of the parts.
Libraries could certainly make use of such sites to post short tutorial videos or videos promoting new services or upcoming events. The possible uses are endless. Staff could even create videos as a morale and team building activity. When I was in college, the students in the science and math departments used to create a video every year with skits poking fun at the various professors in the department and the professors would make a video teasing the students. We'd show the videos at a cookout just before finals and everyone would laugh and have a great time. It helped all of us not to take things so seriously and also provided us with the opportunity to work together on something that was fun but also a good learning experience. Many of the library videos that I looked at seemed to have been created for just such a purpose.
Thing 19: Discovering Web 2.0 Tools
Although it was hard to pass up the cocktail builders' site with its promise to take the booze you have around your house and tell you what cocktails you can make with it, I ultimately decided to look at the offerings under Lists and Polls. The winner in that category is a site called 43 Things where you can list what you want to do with your life and then get a list of links to other people on the site who want to do the same thing. I suppose this would be a useful site if you enjoyed meeting people with similar interests online especially if you had a really unusual interest and happened to find someone who shared that interest. Since social networking online is not my thing, I also checked out Listdump which was the 3rd place winner in that category. Listdump is pretty much what it sounds like - a place where people post lists of all kinds. I suppose either of these sites could be used to help draw people to the Library website by placing posts on the site. However, it was the 2nd place winner that probably would have the most uses in a library setting. Statsaholic compares website traffic on different sites. This could certainly be useful for businesses thinking about advertising online or wondering about their competitors.
Thing 18: Web-based Apps
Zoho Writer was very easy to use and I like it much better than Open Office. Since I spent yesterday in a Time Management training course, I enjoyed experimenting with Zoho Planner as well. I imagine that the instructor would love all the little lists you can create on it. As for me, I'll probably stick to putting my lists on sticky notes - they just work better for me - I think being able to take the pen and scratch the thing off the list makes it feel like more of an accomplishment than checking off a box on a screen. As for Zoho Writer, I would certainly use that if I were on a computer that didn't have MS Word.
Thing 17: Playing Around with PBWiki
It was fun to look at the favorites that had been posted and adding the link to my blog was fairly easy. I can see how being able to post information in this way could be a very good thing, but like all good things, it only takes one or two people to really mess things up. The freedom to almost instantly post text, photos, and video on the web raises issues of how/if people can also be protected from invasion of privacy, libel, and slander or if people are willing to surrender those protections for the advantages technology such as wikis present. It will be interesting to see how/if these issues are resolved in the near future.
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