Thoughts.....

Wow, it looks like I've finally hit the milestone. It took me a long time to finish doing all these exercises. Many were challenging! What were my favorite discoveries? I enjoyed playing around with Flickr & its tools, but everything I tried I came away with learning many new things. I was surprised that I learned so much. Had I not decided to join the 2.0 learning experience, I would have been sorely missing out on the chance to add to my lifelong learning. I will definitely still be using some of the tools I've come across. I would certainly participate in another program.

#22

Trying to find relevant books on NetLibrary and the library's Digital Books proved slightly challenging. I tried searching for topics pertaining to learning French on the Digital Books, and I finally figured out that I had to just type "French" in the "All" category. There aren't any nicely controlled subject headings or cross-references, so my search just seemed to be sort of hit-or-miss. The search also brought up titles not relevant. Nevertheless, I got several results that I was interested in.
Searching for the same topic under NetLibrary proved fruitless. Results were few and not relevant. I realized that just looking at the list of ebooks available that many books are several years old, so someone searching for the latest on a topic would be wise in choosing another resource. Even so, it is easy to click on a title and immediately retrieve the book to start reading.

#21

This is another tool in which libraries can grab onto and use. I simply typed in "library" for the search term and found many libraries have done just this. One law library offers a few self-help workshops (podshops?), others give "for teens by teens book reviews," and still others podcast upcoming programs. The Sausalito Public Library in CA is offering weekly podcasts of book reviews, in "Radio Sausalito's Check It Out". Doing so only helps to encourage more patrons to visit the website each week. It had some interesting podcasts, such as an author interview for Es Cuba, so I added these podcasts to my Bloglines.

YouTube

A huge variety of videos can be discovered in this vast resource. Users can find all sorts of instructional information, humor, and informational videos. Visual learners will especially appreciate it. As has been mentioned before, there can be many useless/tastless videos, but at the same time it means anyone can add their expertise to a topic. For the library end, perhaps libraries could use this for booktalking, program promotion, or fundraising. It's always fun to view funny videos, so I browsed about and decided to add this lighthearted little clip of how you may feel on Fridays vs. Mondays.

#19

Tons of sites to explore, what to pick? I browsed through Yahoo! Answers and found, obviously, lots of questions and answers. Users post questions in various categories, and anyone wanting to answer can sign in and offer solutions/opinions. This source could be used more for librarians wishing to flex their informational muscle. However, it could be a minefield if used as a reference tool. It might be used as a starting point for ideas on answers to a particular reference question, but I would refer to a more reputable source rather than rely on the answers given.

#18

I think the best feature of Zoho is that it is not limited to location; you can access it any place that offers Internet. This could be advantageous to students doing research papers. They can type in their information from school, home, and the library without worrying about losing or forgetting their disks or USB storage devices. Even better is the cost--free! If they need to download it to a locally installed office program, they can use another free program called OpenOffice.org, which is just as good--if not better--as Microsoft Office. It is also compatible with Microsoft Office.

#17 Sandbox

I added my 2 favorites under animals & restaurants. It was quick & simple to add entries. While interesting to look through, I'd want to bring a bit more organization to it. I thought of it as more of an exercise in editing in a wiki over something that is real useful. It would have been more meaningful if it had been more complex in its content.

#16

St. Joseph's site set up an intesting wiki where subjects are listed and choosing one, such as cooking, brings up other subcategories users can click on. A list of available books in the library is shown after clicking on one of the links, such as vegetarian. What differs from a regular catalog, however, is the other available information. Links to cooking recipes, cooking tips from the staff, and even links to cooking as a career are given. Even more interesting and useful is that the site has been tailored to fit local interests, such as links to a local farmer's market and chocolate factory. On the downside, some users may find it too cluttered if all they are looking for is just a book.

Also interesting is the reviews on BookLovers Wiki. Patrons who find a terrific-sounding review from another patron or staff member can click on the link and check the catalog for availablility. Patrons don't always realize they can ask a librarian for a good book, so librarians must find other ways to 'booktalk' their wares. Patrons may very well select a book/movie/CD/etc. that they might not otherwise consider if they see that is has been wiki'd. With Amazon.com's popularity, it is only natural for patrons to expect to find the same sort of information through libraries' sites. Allowing participation with Wikis also allow the patrons to feel more connection and pride with their library. Wikis are just yet another tool to help librarians with the ultimate goal: providing accurate, timely, and easy-to-retrieve information.

#15

Library 2.0 is an example of how libraries need to be looking toward the future. Libraries must show that they can keep up with the dynamic changes of the Internet. By embracing the technologies available, the library can continue to preserve its important place in the community in new and different ways. It means no longer being limited to walls and dusty bookshelves.

Technorati

I did step one and it appeared that the first option, searching blog posts, ends up with the most results. It does this because it searches the text of all the blogs that it has indexed. The second option, tags, comes up with fewer results, as it depends on the blog owner actually marking the search term as one of their tags. The third option has the fewest results because it depends on the owner categorizing his/her whole blog with the search term.
I looked over the popular blogs, tags, and searches. I noticed that the subject matter of several of the favorited and top blogs leaned toward technology. I would probably use Technorati more for personal interests, hobbies, etc.

del.icio.us

I'll admit that when I first started looking at this site I was unenthused, but after I read more in-depth, I began to realize the benefits and values of it. As an avid bookmarker, I was pleased to see that I could import my existing super-sized list of bookmarks (I thought I was going to have to manually rebookmark everything). I like the fact that I can access these bookmarks from any computer with Internet access. I also like being able to view other users' bookmarks which allows me to see how many other people share my interests. Because you can use custom tags to organize your bookmarks, you can add tags that normally wouldn't be associated with the URL that you are saving. Conversely, one can search for a term and find information and URLs that they may not have even known existed.

Rollyo

Rollyo is interesting concept. Create a search engine using your own personal collection of links. It was easy to get started, just log in and start pasting. Rollyo is useful for providing users a means in which to search through a collection of trusted sites in a specific niche. I could see a library posting such a tool for homework assignments. I tried it out by creating a vegan recipe search, though there were a few negatives with it. I didn't like the sponsored links boxes listed throught my search results (but I guess they gotta make money somehow). It was a bit slow on searches. Also, some of the recipe results brought up weren't quite what I was initially looking for, but it could be because of the sites that I'd chosen.

Vegan Cooking

LibraryThing

Like any booklover, I have a vast collection of books. Although they're arranged in a semi-organized fashion, I've never attempted to take a real inventory of what I have. Library Thing certainly would be far superior to use rather than just typing in a title list in Word. It is fast, efficient, and would bring a bit more order to my collection. I did find that adding/deleting tags at a later time was a bit clunky (had to watch that I had the right book checked), but otherwise an easy to use resource. The social networking aspect is interesting for folks who want to connect to others with similar interests, though I doubt I would use it myself.

Now I just need some more shelves.

Online image generator

I sifted through The Generator Blog a little too long trying to find something interesing. The generators listed ranged from the really weird to the really useless. I finally just settled on the cereal box generator. It was easy enough to create.

8&9 - RSS feeds

I found it pretty simple to set up Bloglines and add feeds. I really should have set this up a long time ago since I have quite a few sites that I like to check up on a regular basis. Not only a timesaver, but it also gives me the opportunity to view similar feeds that I can add to my current list. Now I've got so many feed subscriptions I need to start organizing them into folders!

I looked over the feed finders and started with Syndic8. I threw in a few search terms, but the ones that looked interesting were awaiting repair. Most of the other feeds I waded through didn't hold much interest for me. Overall I wasn't too impressed with Syndic8. Topix's Offbeat News feed was interesting but didn't find much more worth subscribing to. Feedster was easy to browse through, but again, I didn't find much. For Technorati, I noticed that when the results of my initial search were brought up, it went straight to a heap of blog postings, not necessarily the most relevant. When I clicked on the blogs tab, I found several relevant blogs to my subject, so I much preferred this to the postings tab.

I also found that Google Reader allows you to easily search for feeds.

Despite browsing over the above feed sites, the most useful feeds I found was through the related feeds link provided on Bloglines. It was probably the quickest and easiest for me.

#7

One technology I really enjoy using is Google Earth. It came out around 2004/2005 and became immensely popular with users. Google joined various maps, satellite pics, aerial pics, and 3D buildings to create a virtual Earth that can be explored. You just type in the address, and Google Earth "flies" you over to the destination, where you can enjoy a birds-eye view of the area. Many of the images are often clear, and you can even zoom in for a closer look.

This posting wouldn't be complete if I didn't take a peek at one of the libraries. Can you guess which one?

More Flickr

motivator7161930
Originally uploaded by juhbelle

I could spend hours looking over all these tools. I hadn't realized how much had been built around Flickr. Some of the tools seemed pretty odd, but I did find fd's Flickr Toys the most interesting. I played around with Motivator and created this "poster." It was very easy and fun to do!

Flickr

Forest along the shore

I've looked at Flickr before but haven't done much more with it. I love travel pics, so I browsed around and found this typical picture of Alaska. We saw a lot of this on our trip this past May.

moving right along

Wow, I've to stop procrastinating and get moving with this blog. I looked over the 7 1/2 habits and felt that the hardest habit is viewing problems as challenges. If I run into a problem, my first reaction is to shove it aside for later. Then it sits. And sits... The easiest habit? I didn't find any particular one to be the easiest.

And here I go...

I'll add more later...