Good afternoon, all.
A final conundrum with RSS feeds ... when I tried to create a subscription to Bloglines from Your Tutor I was assured no feeds could be detected but an update just occurred to my errant Internet Explorer feed from Your Tutor .....??????
I have just made a minor edit on the Wikipedia entry for Grenfell, New South Wales (added 'cyclist Reggie "IronMan" McNamara' to the paragraph mentioning tennis player Jan Lehane and cricketer Stan McCabe) and made two suggestions on the related talk page - well, actually set up a related talk page and then made two suggestions.
I never did get round to loading photos onto Flickr but I feel now is the right time to consider myself as having met all the basic requirements of the course and completed a few of the Adventure options.
So, Adieu and a big thank you to all involved in the Web 2.0 course from Itnitwit.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The end of the (RSS) feed-ing frenzy .....
Good morning, all.
I enjoyed Ellen's comment that I seemed to be having a "very interesting time exploring RSS" - what a broad application that word 'interesting' can have ....
The good news is that on the third attempt I got feeds to appear in Bloglines - was easy once I included the vital step of setting up a "Sub with Bloglines" in Favourites. I set up the following feeds
ABS Blog for Librarians (10) (0)
FOLK AUSTRALIA (10) (0)
NEWS.com.au | Africa (10) (0)
Powerhouse Museum - Photo of the Day (10) (0)
Tag: Diabetes - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (10)
I tried to set up a feed to the Lonely Planet podcast and videocast but got an 'unspecified error' message so maybe this hardware could not cope with that.
RSS feeds are certainly a great timesaver at an individual level and would be very relevant in a specialist library or in professional development.
I can't see me using RSS feeds in my work unless I got a sudden urge to become more involved in the theory of the profession and needed to be au fait with professional material and posts.
I must confess I didn't really go hunting other library blogs ....
I tried very hard to set up a news feed to this post. There are items showing up but I don't know whether it will automatically update as I would have thought it should .. Anyway I tried!! (the story of my involvement in this course ..!!!)
I enjoyed Ellen's comment that I seemed to be having a "very interesting time exploring RSS" - what a broad application that word 'interesting' can have ....
The good news is that on the third attempt I got feeds to appear in Bloglines - was easy once I included the vital step of setting up a "Sub with Bloglines" in Favourites. I set up the following feeds
ABS Blog for Librarians (10) (0)
FOLK AUSTRALIA (10) (0)
NEWS.com.au | Africa (10) (0)
Powerhouse Museum - Photo of the Day (10) (0)
Tag: Diabetes - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (10)
I tried to set up a feed to the Lonely Planet podcast and videocast but got an 'unspecified error' message so maybe this hardware could not cope with that.
RSS feeds are certainly a great timesaver at an individual level and would be very relevant in a specialist library or in professional development.
I can't see me using RSS feeds in my work unless I got a sudden urge to become more involved in the theory of the profession and needed to be au fait with professional material and posts.
I must confess I didn't really go hunting other library blogs ....
I tried very hard to set up a news feed to this post. There are items showing up but I don't know whether it will automatically update as I would have thought it should .. Anyway I tried!! (the story of my involvement in this course ..!!!)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Stewing with RSS feeds
My instinct was that RSS feeds would be bad news and what do they say about trusting one's instincts?!!
I have the account in Bloglines - that was an easy entree - and have managed to get the feed from the Powerhouse Museum's picture of the day - has turned up for twenty days. But I don't really know why - I click on 'subscribe' but am not asked to put in a destination so I can't conceive how the connection occurs unless the fact that I have an open Bloglines account is enough. But I suspect it is just within the computer, not going through Bloglines because when I look at my feeds on Bloglines it says I have one feed but I can't open it from there .. and I presume I should be able to?? But on the other hand I set up the initial feed on the CTC computer but it is showing up on the library computer which suggests it isn't just within the computer ... So if what I did was right it is very easy but it just seems to be too easy .... (But I am ITnitwit!!!!!)
I still have to find four more sites from which to set up feeds. But the general comments ... I can see RSS feeds being wonderful time savers for individuals and for specialist libraries who could nominate a single figure number of really useful websites/blogs. No more having to trawl those sites at regular intervals checking for the new material. But for the generalist library RSS feeds would be most useful for staff tapping into relevant professional sites rather than as a service for clients as it would be very hard to know which sites to connect to. They would also be a useful topic for a small group instruction module, providing a real service and again positioning the library as relevant and 'techno-savvy'. (I'm not sure how much the CTC manager knows about RSS feeds ....)
As someone else commented, it was hard to find suitable sites from which to set up feeds. I tried a few way-out things like African cooking and Iceland looking at websites rather than blogs but I assume if you click on the RSS logo (on the menu bar, not within the window) and it says no feeds detected, you can't set up feeds. I found an RSS logo on the diabetes section of healthinsite.gov.au/topics but coudn't get the feed to work. Also I couldn't get a feed set up from Annabel Crabbe's blog on the Herald site. When I clicked on the RSS icon the screen went back to general news. So all in all not quite an unmitigated disaster but not a real success either ....
I have the account in Bloglines - that was an easy entree - and have managed to get the feed from the Powerhouse Museum's picture of the day - has turned up for twenty days. But I don't really know why - I click on 'subscribe' but am not asked to put in a destination so I can't conceive how the connection occurs unless the fact that I have an open Bloglines account is enough. But I suspect it is just within the computer, not going through Bloglines because when I look at my feeds on Bloglines it says I have one feed but I can't open it from there .. and I presume I should be able to?? But on the other hand I set up the initial feed on the CTC computer but it is showing up on the library computer which suggests it isn't just within the computer ... So if what I did was right it is very easy but it just seems to be too easy .... (But I am ITnitwit!!!!!)
I still have to find four more sites from which to set up feeds. But the general comments ... I can see RSS feeds being wonderful time savers for individuals and for specialist libraries who could nominate a single figure number of really useful websites/blogs. No more having to trawl those sites at regular intervals checking for the new material. But for the generalist library RSS feeds would be most useful for staff tapping into relevant professional sites rather than as a service for clients as it would be very hard to know which sites to connect to. They would also be a useful topic for a small group instruction module, providing a real service and again positioning the library as relevant and 'techno-savvy'. (I'm not sure how much the CTC manager knows about RSS feeds ....)
As someone else commented, it was hard to find suitable sites from which to set up feeds. I tried a few way-out things like African cooking and Iceland looking at websites rather than blogs but I assume if you click on the RSS logo (on the menu bar, not within the window) and it says no feeds detected, you can't set up feeds. I found an RSS logo on the diabetes section of healthinsite.gov.au/topics but coudn't get the feed to work. Also I couldn't get a feed set up from Annabel Crabbe's blog on the Herald site. When I clicked on the RSS icon the screen went back to general news. So all in all not quite an unmitigated disaster but not a real success either ....
Getting 'thingy' about LibraryThing
Good morning, all.
I doubt that anyone will follow it up but I did include the following in a recent Library Lines column in the local newspaper .....
Last week as part of THAT course I ......and discovered LibraryThing ...
LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/) is ideal for people who love reading books AND love doing things on their computer. I would describe it as a cross between a huge library catalogue (contains over 25 million books) and a humungous book club. LibrayThing is an online sevice to help people catalogue their books easily and because everyone catalogues together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth. There are a large number of groups you can join, and at 'Talk' contribute to various conversations on book-related themes. Not surprisingly the largest group numerically is "Librarians who Library Thing" and my favourite topic in their Group Talks is "Funny Requests from Patrons" - it's a scream!
Click on any title and you will find ecommendations of similar books, member reviews and current related conversation topics.
LibraryThing uses the profile of the books you have entered to suggest books you might like to read (and even ones you wouldn't!). Once you have entered your books you can search them, sort them and add subject 'tags' or labels, also rate them, e.g. 4 stars, and write reviews.
Why not explore LibraryThing for yourself ..."
I doubt that anyone will follow it up but I did include the following in a recent Library Lines column in the local newspaper .....
Last week as part of THAT course I ......and discovered LibraryThing ...
LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/) is ideal for people who love reading books AND love doing things on their computer. I would describe it as a cross between a huge library catalogue (contains over 25 million books) and a humungous book club. LibrayThing is an online sevice to help people catalogue their books easily and because everyone catalogues together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth. There are a large number of groups you can join, and at 'Talk' contribute to various conversations on book-related themes. Not surprisingly the largest group numerically is "Librarians who Library Thing" and my favourite topic in their Group Talks is "Funny Requests from Patrons" - it's a scream!
Click on any title and you will find ecommendations of similar books, member reviews and current related conversation topics.
LibraryThing uses the profile of the books you have entered to suggest books you might like to read (and even ones you wouldn't!). Once you have entered your books you can search them, sort them and add subject 'tags' or labels, also rate them, e.g. 4 stars, and write reviews.
Why not explore LibraryThing for yourself ..."
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Social networking and all that
Good evening...
I have looked at each of the examples of social networking in action and I can see that these institutions are using MySpace etc to great effect. Their sites are eye-catching, informative and provide lots of opportunities for members to interact with the site which is so much the expectation of contemporary culture, or at least youth culture.
I was particularly interested with the local Government Communities of Practice example which is much 'bigger' than libraries but could offer great potential for enhancing the social fabric. The East Renfrewshire Council example was also interesting because it was simpler and therefore more accessible to me than some of the others, impressive though they are. I could see something like it as being only just out of reach of this library.
It could be just that I have been toiling over this course for five hours today but the different applications - blogs, wikis, social networks - are starting to merge together in my mind. They all seem to involve networking in the sense of sharing ideas and inviting interaction and where does one out-perform another? I guess these social networking sites have the advantage of already having a high profile in the cyber-world - even I have heard of MySpace and FaceBook although I had never visited them before today. And the sample sites are so comprehensive with pictures, blogs, videos and podcasts, posts, links that perhaps they incorporate individual elements that we have previously looked at like wikis and blogs and videos - encompass the lot.
For libraries who have staff with the expertise and time to maintain sites like these, a page in MySpace would be great for client marketing and interaction. For one of the earlier applications - I forget which - I thought no-one would be likely to find the library's entry, but that wouldn't be such an issue on MySpace. For networking at the professional level I think you would use a wiki or a more closed environment like that.
But the course asked about possibilities for my library using social networking and they don't look good. Apart from the veracity of that user name, I can't imagine myself ever having time to manage such a site, bearing in mind that a poorly maintained and presented site is as much a 'put-off' as a well-constructed, attractive and informative site is a 'come-on'. I note that the NewsGrist article suggested that at least for that institution the maintenance of a presence in MySpace was effective in increasing interest, usage and interaction and that managing time is based on balancing competing priorities and not always doing the existing tasks because they have always been there. A modest blog might be a better spec than the current printed Newsletter. But the latter takes about five hours once every six weeks - an effective MySpace page would take a lot more than that!!
I have looked at each of the examples of social networking in action and I can see that these institutions are using MySpace etc to great effect. Their sites are eye-catching, informative and provide lots of opportunities for members to interact with the site which is so much the expectation of contemporary culture, or at least youth culture.
I was particularly interested with the local Government Communities of Practice example which is much 'bigger' than libraries but could offer great potential for enhancing the social fabric. The East Renfrewshire Council example was also interesting because it was simpler and therefore more accessible to me than some of the others, impressive though they are. I could see something like it as being only just out of reach of this library.
It could be just that I have been toiling over this course for five hours today but the different applications - blogs, wikis, social networks - are starting to merge together in my mind. They all seem to involve networking in the sense of sharing ideas and inviting interaction and where does one out-perform another? I guess these social networking sites have the advantage of already having a high profile in the cyber-world - even I have heard of MySpace and FaceBook although I had never visited them before today. And the sample sites are so comprehensive with pictures, blogs, videos and podcasts, posts, links that perhaps they incorporate individual elements that we have previously looked at like wikis and blogs and videos - encompass the lot.
For libraries who have staff with the expertise and time to maintain sites like these, a page in MySpace would be great for client marketing and interaction. For one of the earlier applications - I forget which - I thought no-one would be likely to find the library's entry, but that wouldn't be such an issue on MySpace. For networking at the professional level I think you would use a wiki or a more closed environment like that.
But the course asked about possibilities for my library using social networking and they don't look good. Apart from the veracity of that user name, I can't imagine myself ever having time to manage such a site, bearing in mind that a poorly maintained and presented site is as much a 'put-off' as a well-constructed, attractive and informative site is a 'come-on'. I note that the NewsGrist article suggested that at least for that institution the maintenance of a presence in MySpace was effective in increasing interest, usage and interaction and that managing time is based on balancing competing priorities and not always doing the existing tasks because they have always been there. A modest blog might be a better spec than the current printed Newsletter. But the latter takes about five hours once every six weeks - an effective MySpace page would take a lot more than that!!
Sharing documents. a.k.a. instant correction service...
Good afternoon.
I've created a very fictitious document and hopefully sent it to nswpln. I don't want it back (!!) but I can quite see how the exchange of versions back and forth
would be very useful. Oriana, I hope you don't collapse when you receive something entitled 'Contract between the State Library ..." - I didn't know whether I should 'Invite Collaboration" or just click 'Share' and I did try to send it under the title of "Week 11 Web 2.0 course exercise" but it rather looks like it went with the document title - sorry about that ....
Such document construction would be ideal in a regional library situation or where there are dispersed sites of a library when creating something to go over the name of the one institution. I can also see such document sharing being handy for producing strategic plans and similar policy documents at a Zone or regional level. Instead of a draft document being tabled and taken away and read for the next meeting, and then variations voted on and them taken away and written in to produce a final document to be tabled at a third meeting, a document that has been read, amended and agreed to should only need the one tabling. Even doing editing by ricocheting emails is pretty inefficient as explained in the Plain English video. Also such a method means more people can be involved in the production of such documents (not just a two/three person sub-committee) which should improve their quality on the one hand and their acceptability on the other.
This sort of document preparation or at least document drafting would be effective meeting preparation, requiring participants to really think about the issues involved and come with thoughtful reactions to share. I would see concurrent document editing and associated communication explaining why changes were made.
I've created a very fictitious document and hopefully sent it to nswpln. I don't want it back (!!) but I can quite see how the exchange of versions back and forth
would be very useful. Oriana, I hope you don't collapse when you receive something entitled 'Contract between the State Library ..." - I didn't know whether I should 'Invite Collaboration" or just click 'Share' and I did try to send it under the title of "Week 11 Web 2.0 course exercise" but it rather looks like it went with the document title - sorry about that ....
Such document construction would be ideal in a regional library situation or where there are dispersed sites of a library when creating something to go over the name of the one institution. I can also see such document sharing being handy for producing strategic plans and similar policy documents at a Zone or regional level. Instead of a draft document being tabled and taken away and read for the next meeting, and then variations voted on and them taken away and written in to produce a final document to be tabled at a third meeting, a document that has been read, amended and agreed to should only need the one tabling. Even doing editing by ricocheting emails is pretty inefficient as explained in the Plain English video. Also such a method means more people can be involved in the production of such documents (not just a two/three person sub-committee) which should improve their quality on the one hand and their acceptability on the other.
This sort of document preparation or at least document drafting would be effective meeting preparation, requiring participants to really think about the issues involved and come with thoughtful reactions to share. I would see concurrent document editing and associated communication explaining why changes were made.
(S)mash - ups!
Good morning, all.
Mashups are fun! Being more creatorati that technorati downloading the photo was an issue but using the Bighugelabs to create a poster was easy. A little more flexibility in positioning the lettering would be nice .... Now, will I be able to download it to the blog ....
This was not actually my choice of image but the image I had in mind, a group of some eighty people at a library function all waving their arms in the air, to be labelled "Locals Love their Library", was not in fact in the camera. So I decided the process was the important thing .....
Mashups would be an absolute boon for promotional and marketing activities within the library. My immediate thought was of a suite of promotional material including posters, bookmarks, calendars, postcards, letterheads using the one image as the uniting element. Quick to do, professional looking, uniquely local. They would also be useful in creating award certificates.
There is also plenty of scope for using mashups in local history. For example a series of scenes and images of primary documents tracing the route of a local explorer. The "London: a life in maps" example could be replicated in the local town or a survey of local agricultural history - the local history librarian could work with the local museum on such a project. They are being lost as the older farming families move away or die out but there would still be enough local farm families with historical farming photos that could be used for such a project.
For the techno-savvy librarian running small-group courses in something like using mash-ups would be a very popular initiative, particularly in school vacations -a useful service and also an effective marketing strategy, demonstrating the library as relevant, up-to-date and generally 'cool'. Even the CTC manager here had never heard of mashups.
By the way, to anyone monitoring this, I did answer a question on Yahoo!7Answers a couple of weeks ago - a very basic question about what states made up Great Britain in the cold war period. I also wrote up LibraryThing in last week's Library Lines column in the local newspaper.
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