Friday, May 27, 2011

#23 - Summary

I finally finished this exercise. It surely took a lots of my time in the evenings.

I really liked Flickr, RSS, the Image Generator and YouTube. I now know what all these new web-based technologies are about and can use them in real life. I've learned a lot from this training, even though at times I felt overwhelmed and frustrated. I also felt that I need to sharpen up my skills with all these new technologies and be more familiar with them in order to help customers in the library. However, I think some of the "things" here will not be relevant in the long run. For example, Podcast is of limited use since it is a speaking presentation and hence labor intensive. I think that is why Yahoo discontinued it a few years ago. The same is for audiobook. It is easy to create an ebook but you need a (expensive) good narrator to make the listening of a story enjoyable. The children audiobook I listened to is very good since the narrator's performance can draw the attention of a child.

I hope next time if the County offers a program like this, the sites would stay in working order for a longer period of time. For example, the Public Work's sandbox is no longer available.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

#22 - Audiobooks

I went to MCPL web site -> elibrary -> audiobooks -> enter netlibrary -> logged in with library card number and pin number -> collection of eaudiobooks. By browsing the list of collections or enter the book title if known, I selected two children's fiction ("B" is for Betsy and A Time of Angels). I tried the Media Center application for the first one and Download Manager application for the second one. Both worked. The only problem I have during the process is the window insert that asked one to choose an application. It turned out that I have to click on the list(the Mediacenter*.exe or the Download Manager) directly above the 'choose a application' button rather than to do it, however, the cursor when located onto the application does not indicate that it is to be clicked (hand sign). I think this is a slight design flaw.

The audiobook selection is rather limited. I tried Dan Brown as author and nothing showed.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

#21 - Locating Podcasts

I tried the three referenced podcasts sites. The Yahoo Podcasts is no longer there. Yahoo shut it down in September 2007. Podcast.net cannot be found in Google search. It may have been renamed as podcast.com. Podcastalley.com is kind of hard to navigate. However, by Google search of "library related podcasts", I found a site on health related library podcasts. The URL address is,
http://www.muschealth.com/gs/relatedinfo.aspx?action=showpage&type=podcast&source=gs&pageid=P00225
The subject fields go from A to Z. I listened to a subject on stenting for cardiovascular disease that is very informative.

Friday, May 13, 2011

#20 - Discover YouTube

YouTube is the most popular video site in the world that offer users to upload their own favorite video clips to share with others and download/embed the videos from the site to their own site. I found a lot of my favorite old songs by my favorite singers there.  The following is a short video clip about a cat and a dog that is very funny.

#19 - Web 2.0 Awards List

The Web 2.0 awards are given every year for a variety of subject fields.  I looked into dozens of sites and found all of them interesting or useful.  I checked in more detail the following two sites and really liked their offerings.  The first one is an entertainment site called Hulu.com which you can view for free most of the recent TV shows, and movies (some pretty old).  The other one is Yelp.com, a site for users to both review other peoples comments and offer recommendations of their own on top local restaurants, shopping, nightlife, entertainment, various services, etc. It has sites in all the major cities.  Some of the comments are fun to read.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

#18 - Online Productivity Tools

Zoho Docs or Google Docs is a free online word processor/spread sheet as well as presentation software that provide free workspace and file storage for the creating, sharing and editing of document by a group of collaborators.  For example, for a group of students working on a school project, everyone of them can participate in editing the project planning and report writing.  Since the document (file) is stored in Zoho Docs or Google Docs and not in anyone's own computer, members with permission can go online to edit the document.  The programs can also be used by small business owners to do the business planning , budget, and inventory without investing in the expensive MS Office Suite.  They can also use the program's templates to design and print out advertising materials.
I have created a short test document in Google Docs called "testdocument.txt". The file contains a single sentence "This is a test of creating a document in Google Docs and exporting it to my Learning 2.0, Things #18. The address of the test document in Google Docs is in the following URL:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CdHjkIHNmTrcilORkysZ8fr04DhWKxqa9xinpDhXb9I/edit?hl=en#

Friday, May 6, 2011

#17 - Sandbox Wiki


“Sandbox” is the term that wikis often use to describe the area of the website that should be used for play. It can also used by students to collaborate as a group in doing a school project, or by computer professionals to test or experiment a developing program. It is a restricted environment in which certain functions are prohibited. For example, deleting files outside the sandbox is not allowed.  Also, entry in the sandbox is not permanent and will be erased after a while.
By the way, I am not able to log-in to the Maryland Libraries Sandbox site.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

#16 - Learn about Wikis

A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well known of these knowledge sharing tools.
Some of the benefits that make the use of wikis so attractive are:
Anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content.
Users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases simple syntax structure is used.
Libraries all over the country have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge. Among their applications are subject guide wikis, book review wikis, ALA conference wikis, etc Two libraries with wiki sites are,.
The U. Conn. Library has a wiki site for library staff,
,http://wiki.lib.uconn.edu/index.php/Main_Page
This Wiki was created to help maintain the large amount of documentation. The Wiki makes all of library’s documentation searchable, and allows easy access for anyone in the library to edit the information when necessary.
Another wiki site is the Albany County public library,
http://albystaff.pbworks.com/w/page/1693188/FrontPage
This web site documents how to do things for library staff. All staff can edit it.
Some of the information in this site are:
Technical services, public services, children's, circulation, training information, etc.
The above two sites show that information of various subjects can be included in a library's wiki site and all staff can  participate in editing the contents to make them better.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

#15 - Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries


The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing,  user-centered design and collaboration on the Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. 
Library 2.0 is a model for a modernized form of library service that reflects a transition within the library world in the way that services are delivered to users. The focus is on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community. The concept of Library 2.0 borrows from that of Web 2.0 and follows some of the same underlying philosophies. This includes online services like the use of OPAC systems and flow of information from the user back to the library. 
Some people are saying that with the advent of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0,  the libraries as existed today are no longer needed in the future.  However, no matter how advanced the web based  future library looks like, a library that is located physically in a community will still be needed.  People in the community will go to the library as a gathering place for programs and meetings, go to the library to browse the shelves for books (rather than a list of book titles in an online catalog) that happen to strike their fancy, much like window shopping in a mall or department store. Also, not all people in a community will have Web 2 level knowledge to do everything online, and we never want to forget those people.