Carrying On...

Well, I don't know how this is going to go, because the time factor is a biggie now, but I had a quick look at Catatonic Chataholic's blog (beautiful) and she's still having fun out there in the world of web 2.0, or 2.1...
So when I get the chance... (it's now 12:20 and I'm a pumpkin) I would like to see where she's been to find more challenges. No promises about doing them - just it looks as though it could be good.
Learning 2.1

WOW - the 23rd thing...

Oh dear - I feel as though I have finished in a bit of a rush, but there was a lot of learning in there!
Loved: Blogs. Even if someone said - "What are you doing that for, it's just a diary online?" Well, yes it is, and it is a huge time waster, but it was a great way to discover the various aspects of dear old Web 2.0. I also enjoyed the formatting side of the blogging business. Making things "pretty"... and I am absolutely stunned by some of the fantastic blogs out there! Creativity rules! And not one the same.
I also enjoyed finding out more about Flickr and Picasa, and using pictures ... How much of it I have retained is another question, of course.
And del.ici.ous to sort out our untidy generic computers! Whew!

Bloglines. This is a side I think I will return to. For my own benefit. I have only a few sites that I visit for 'updates', and this is one way to go. I realise that there are other ways of getting feeds to one's internet toolbar (my computer at home keeps on suggesting Firefox's Bookmarks) but at least I am now aware of that. I always wondered what RSS was like...

Didn't enjoy: The Time it all took. It does take time, and I don't know how we are going to avoid that when we start doing more of this with our library work. I have commented on this before. Enough said. One can only type so fast. (except maybe Catatonia...)

Thoughts: I can see ways in which each of the aspects we looked at could be used in our work - even zoho or google docs... Library 2.0 is another way of communicating, and is evolving all the time. The danger in that is not being wide-awake enough to the trends, and perhaps catching the wrong bus... but nothing ventured...!

eBooks and Kindle...

Well - how good to find Stephen Leacock on Project Gutenberg! I can relax now, in case MS ever decides to get rid of "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town".... Useful! And free! I wonder! That's VERY special.
Now - kindles for our librarians? To hand out to patrons? Instead of the newspaper each day? I don't know. More virtual library!

Podcasts....

I did it - I found Nancy Pearl and put a feed in my Bloglines so that I can keep up with what she has to say about books she's read! I do enjoy using Bloglines to do this sort of thing, and I just need to find out how to get Kim Hill on there too... because my Reading Group all listen to her...!

Youtube

Mr Bean at the library.....
This was relatively easy to do - searched for 'library', found Mr Bean, and then clicked on the 'embed' information and pasted it into the post...
Uses in libraries? As a part of creating the virtual library? Yes. Nothing to stop us putting storytime on the internet.... via our webpages for kids... or as a record of what we have done. Or in "How to use stuff" as in 'searching particular databases', or 'signing up'.
Virtual Library, here we come!

Web 2.0... Awards

Well, I started this post a while ago, and since then I have been busy - almost back at work full-time, and so without time to go a-blogging or webbing...
Still, some of it has become a little addictive. At this rate, I can see the next household purchase will have to be a laptop and wireless connections...!

I have used, since before we started, Facebook. So I thought I would see if I could 'evaluate' it in some way...
FOR: Privacy. I am intrigued by the way one can limit who can see what. I realise there was a breach of privacy recently with the launch of the new Facebook, but it is a risk one takes. I could choose to have my friends "invisible" from prying eyes, for example, but I find that I like being contacted by people from the Zimbabwean diaspora, and if that is a way to find friends, then I'm going to leave it like that. It's a choice, and they certainly warn against exposing all of your information.
Contact. I like being 'found' by people from long ago! Even if I then don't take up their offers of friendship (or they don't take up mine...)
News. There are some things I wouldn't have learned about without Facebook, like the death of a colleague in that almost contact-less country of Zim. And the notifications are great.
Groups. Have a look at the Zimbabwe Wildlife ones, and of course libraries... Some of the latter are worth it, and exclusive, and others are great, and lead one into the library itself. Only problem, you do have to sign up to do this, but then again, it is a kind of privacy issue.
AGAINST: Time. Well, time-wasting, of course. It's a kind of all or nothing scenario.
Privacy. Potentially always a problem, as the related article suggests, and some of my family won't go near it. Yet I do agree with the comment that it is perhaps the 'more classy' one of the various social networking sites.

I can see an application in the library setting - Reading Groups, Young Adult groups? Liaison between staff members/library branches about stuff...
It may be a little slow to start off with, but it could be done - the person checking the 'generic' email could check the social networking site too, for example. I do think we may have a way into the lives of those people who don't come to the library, through these kinds of social networking sites.

Video games....

Herewith a video - now why did the post ask me for a title and then give me selections, while I couldn't type in what I wanted...????
This is some of my family playing tennis in Johannesburg... Beautiful winter weather, not so? Noisy birdies too.

Labels...

As mentioned before, I like the idea of a 'word cloud' of labels... as in the Paper Cuts blog from the NYT. The best I can do for now is Blogger's label list (see near the end of my sidebar). I found a blog called betabloggerfordummies which looked as though it had the solution, which I was still unable to use...
If anyone has any ideas out there...