Social Networking and Web 2.0 Wrap Up

The most interesting use of social networking I've come across is this one created for Burberry it's stunning. The combination of the photographs, music and interface really demonstrate how a luxury retail experience can be translated to an online application. It shows how social networking tools can be adapted to meet the needs of an organisation, what Burberry has done wouldn't work for a library, so what would ?

To answer this question I think it's important that there is collaboration between those working with the technology- developing user interfaces and customising applications- and those working with library users. A good example of this is the collaboration between a "user-experience librarian" and software developers at Georgia Tech. Students developed an unofficial iPhone application for university students. It allowed them to access various campus services already available online on their iPhones. One of the librarians suggested they incorporate a tool that showed which computer terminals were available throughout the library. Although not a social networking application the collaboration here shows how libraries can take advantage of emerging technology to enhance services.

One area that I think is set to expand rapidly as far as Web 2.0 applications and libraries is with iPhone applications. Washington D.C. public library were one of the first libraries to take advantage of this technology. Clients can search the catalogue, get information about library services, read reviews and reserve items using their iPhones. I think it's going to be a very interesting year in terms of changes to the way people access information in their everyday lives.

Well this is my last and long overdue post- I've enjoyed each week and am looking forward to looking out for new developments in the world of Web 2.0 on my own.

Week 13 Online applications and tools or Better late than never!

In my rush to finally get the last two weeks of the course finished I completely forgot to blog about my experiences with online applications. Throughout the year I have completed several group assignments as part of my uni studies and each time I have been surprised by the reluctance of my classmates to use online tools to help with communicating and collaborating. Despite having access to already well developed tools through UTS online most students only make use of emailing and Facebook (which I have come to decide although it is great for organising events amongst friends it is inappropriate for most collaborative work). I was really disappointed. I expected all the tech savvy Gen Yers to show me how easy it was to use online applications to get group work done. Now I've done this course I have accepted that in most cases I'm going to have to lead the way.

Earlier in the year I came across this demonstration of Google Wave and I was very excited- this was unlike my reaction to Facebook. It just seems to make so much sense. It was USEFUL. I'm not suggesting that social networking sites aren't useful but I guess I'm much more willing to change my working habits than I am to change the way I relate to my friends and family. Watching the demo I was relatively unaware of the collaborative tools that are already available online but now armed with more knowledge I'm even more excited about what Google Wave will make possible http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ.

Mash ups

Okay here is my lame attempt at a mash up using http://bighugelabs.com/ and an image from flickr. I struggled to come up with some motivational text because all I could think of was a quote from Grey's Anatomy "Trauma's a team sport. You don't have to be a hero, you just have to go where you're needed" and I couldn't find an appropriate photo of a trauma team. I'm not a regular viewer and I have to say the show is even worse than I remember but this line has stuck in my head.

Some other interesting mash ups I've looked at include:

• http://www.idemc.org/
• http://placestolive.com.au/
• http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/londoninmaps/exhibition.html

Week 11ish- well it's not really anywhere near 11 at all

I have been neglecting Web 2.0- well in this forum anyway. As part of my uni work I have still been putting many of the tools I've come across here to use. It's uni break now so I hope to complete this over the next month.

I have also coincidentally been downloading a range of podcasts. I've listened to lots of sci fi dramas from various sources to help with an assignment, I've also listened to some classic books from http://librivox.org/, and some lectures from http://oedb.org/. And I had the pleasure of listening to podcasts selected by a friend on a short road trip we went on over the weekend.

answer me this!

I am completely off schedule... but posts are up to week 10- answer boards and social searching. I have to admit I am a little disappointed that week 10 doesn't involve adding any widgetty boxy thingys to my blog.
As ashamed as I am to admit it I can be a bit of a militant DIYer (read pain in the ***) so I stumbled across answer boards very early in my Internet life- yes I am actually old enough to remember preinternet days. I have looked for answers to:
1. try to retrieve a nose stud from a sink hole
2. fix a vacuum after trying to retrieve nose stud from sink hole
3. hang a mirror
4. fix various things on my pc (i was never entirely sure what was wrong with it but always seemed to find something by just punching in whatever codes were popping up)
5. improve my memory- i really can't believe that's all i can remember well all that i can remember that i'm willing to admit in a public forum - although if you ever need to regrow eyebrows topically applied coffee is a common solution.
I love the idea of librarians "slamming the boards" it sounds so ???? i'm sure i'll think of a word when my brain function returns to normal.

Ah - no. Previous post a bit premature

Now I've finished week 8. Going over the notes I realised I hadn't really looked at technorati so have done that too. I've claimed my blog but I'm not entirely sure what else I can do with tagging... might have to come back to this later.

Still on Week 8

Tadaa! finally have come to the end of week 8 with LibraryThing- there was a few things to go through in the one week. Thankfully I was able to use the same method as below to get a LibraryThing widget. I've only entered in a few books from memory- I'm not sure when I'll ever get the time to enter all my books but I think it's a great idea.

YAY!

Okay worked out that I needed to go into "Layout", "Page Elements", "Add a gadget", "HTML/JavaScript" and then paste the html code I copied from delicious into that window. I did actually manage to do that last week- just didn't get the chance to post this. I'm slow but not that slow!

Nice try - FAIL

Okay so obviously enough time has passed to prove that whatever I tried didn't work . I'll try to look at my blogger settings to see if there's someway I can do it from here...

de.li.cio.us - Still trying

Okay I should explain the post below - a picture of Blake Library at UTS was a test for a profile I had to set up for uni who knew this course would come in handy so quickly.

I am still trying to get my de.li.cio.us links to show up here somehow... sometimes it all seems so magical- in that way ignorance makes this more exciting - never knowing if what you attempted will actually work! if I knew what I was doing it would all just be too predictable. HA! I will tell myself anything to ease the pain of my frustration...

I set up a "job" in my de.li.cio.us account that has hopefully scheduled for something to magically appear some time in the next 24 hours - this somehow doesn't make complete sense even if it is scheduled to update at a certain time would some sort of box or something have already appeared on my blog? who knows but will give it a day and see what happens.

...not quite

Okay that attempt was unsuccessful and dinner time really is getting close so I will have to continue this adventure another day.

Delicious

I am attempting to add a linkroll from my delicious account... and now, strangely, I am feeling hungry thinking about it..

Woohoo

Okay worked out how to add a feed from ABC news now just have to work out how to make it look pretty...

What the?- RSS Feeds

Hhhm am trying to add an RSS feed to my blog but obviously I have not yet been successful! And see previous post where I have added a link to my google reader- well I think that's what I've done.
I am enjoying the challenge though. Have tried several methods - add gadget, add link, and from google reader and none have worked- I was almost successful adding one of the news gadgets but will try again...

Google Reader (64)

Google Reader (64)

Wiki's

Wow, I've long been a fan of Wikipedia but had no idea that there was a whole world of wiki's out there. I'm amazed it hasn't infiltrated everyday life more than it has...
Coincidentally I came across a wiki for the first time last night, it was a support site for my ISP unfortunately it didn't help me solve my problem but it will definitely be one of the first places I look for help next time.

Flickr

Once again thanks to my appalling memory it has taken me longer than it should have to find a suitable image in flickr. One of my biggest problems with the internet is I always see interesting things or think of things that I'd like to look up and then forget where or what they were. So another thing I'd like to achieve from this course is the ability to use tools to overcome this.

I picked an image from "Silence in the Library" an episode of Doctor Who. For obvious reasons it seemed appropriate but I also imagine that a time travellers second most important tool, the first being some sort of time travelling machine or device, would be a library of some sorts whether it be in the traditional sense or some sort of electronic manifestation.

First Steps

I'm not overly comfortable writing with the expectation of having an audience and thought I'd begin with some small steps. Responding to some of the questions posed in the Learning 2.0 program seemed a good place to start.


What do you hope to learn from the program?

I'm hoping to learn to use Web 2 tools and to gain the confidence to use them creatively. (As I'm sure this post illustrates- I need to work on the creativity side of things)


What do you think about Lifelong Learning?

I love working in an environment that provides opportunities to improve my knowledge and skills. When I've been in fairly stagnant work places I've always sought out learning experiences elsewhere. For me continuous learning is essential to avoid becoming bored and feeling like I'm in a rut.

What other blogs have you discovered?

My memory is terrible! have looked and enjoyed many blogs but can't think of any off the top of my head...

What do you like about them?

Oh I love witty commentary and pretty pictures- and gadgets are always good too.

Can you see a use for blogs inside the Library?

Libraries play a huge role in storing and sharing information. This makes communication, like blogging, important for those working in a library, the better we are at sharing information amongst ourselves the better we will be at providing a service to clients.

How about blogging for a client audience?

Yes as above any medium that facilitates the sharing of information is useful.