Since I couldnot post it onto my own blog Ai thought I would post my favourite painting here as a test
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
#23 Endings or beginnings
What do I think of what we've been doing for the last couple of months? On the whole I've enjoyed it enormously and I have learned a great deal about the tools and resources available. On the odd occasion my 'f' word hasn't been 'fun' but rather 'frustration' - but that is part of learning and thinking things through.
What Helene Blowers and her colleagues at PLCMC have achieved in developing and making available the program is terrific. In due course I would like to go on to or dip into the '43 Things' she has set up.
We've been given a taster menu and the opportunity to develop some knowledge and confidence. The real test for us is to reflect on which of the tools might best assist us to deliver our services and to reflect on how we can maintain our awareness of what develops in the post Web2.0 world. Because I have done the program without much conversation with colleagues I would benefit from a discussion with others who've just completed it to talk about which of the tools we've looked at present opportunities for our services.
I do know that the harnessing of Web2.0 in the library environment has given rise to much spirited conversation around how we skills ourselves, how we allocate resources, whether we are ceding authority by inviting user participation and contributions and therefore dumbing down and so on. It is for this reason that two recent newspaper articles struck a chord. The first piece (Weekend Australian, 18-19 August 2007, Inquirer, p28, Strike up the bank for elitism) (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22262635-28737,00.html) was an edited extract of a speech by Claire Fox to the Centre for Independent Studies Forum and made me stop and think about the professional skills and judgement we do need to contribute and make accessible regardless of the public and user interaction we invite. The second piece was by Rachel Buchanan (The Age, Saturday 25 August 2007, Insight, p7, Black and white and all over?) (http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/black-and-white-and-all-over/2007/08/24/1187462515667.html) who reflected on the role of reporters and media organisations in the Web2.0 world - all very relevant to libraries.
Thanks to Leneve for enabling me to do the program and to Denise and Lynette at Yarra Plenty for looking after us.
What Helene Blowers and her colleagues at PLCMC have achieved in developing and making available the program is terrific. In due course I would like to go on to or dip into the '43 Things' she has set up.
We've been given a taster menu and the opportunity to develop some knowledge and confidence. The real test for us is to reflect on which of the tools might best assist us to deliver our services and to reflect on how we can maintain our awareness of what develops in the post Web2.0 world. Because I have done the program without much conversation with colleagues I would benefit from a discussion with others who've just completed it to talk about which of the tools we've looked at present opportunities for our services.
I do know that the harnessing of Web2.0 in the library environment has given rise to much spirited conversation around how we skills ourselves, how we allocate resources, whether we are ceding authority by inviting user participation and contributions and therefore dumbing down and so on. It is for this reason that two recent newspaper articles struck a chord. The first piece (Weekend Australian, 18-19 August 2007, Inquirer, p28, Strike up the bank for elitism) (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22262635-28737,00.html) was an edited extract of a speech by Claire Fox to the Centre for Independent Studies Forum and made me stop and think about the professional skills and judgement we do need to contribute and make accessible regardless of the public and user interaction we invite. The second piece was by Rachel Buchanan (The Age, Saturday 25 August 2007, Insight, p7, Black and white and all over?) (http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/black-and-white-and-all-over/2007/08/24/1187462515667.html) who reflected on the role of reporters and media organisations in the Web2.0 world - all very relevant to libraries.
Thanks to Leneve for enabling me to do the program and to Denise and Lynette at Yarra Plenty for looking after us.
#22 Audiobooks
The functionality that seems to be provided by Netlibrary when you access a book (eg annotation, access to a dictionary, access to a pronunciation guide) are all useful and the process for accessing titles (once your library subscribes) seems straightforward. The services would be a particular boon for schools or universities with multiple campuses and remote students.
I have no idea about comparative costs but, if bearable, a service like this if it offered contemporary material in languages other than English might be a useful alternative to public libraries building collections in such languages.
The range of material available on Gutenberg's Audio eBook Collection fascinated me (I must return to hear Benjamin Franklin's Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout and I can't imagine how wonderful it would have been to have access to the Electronic Tools and Ancient Near Eastern Archives many years ago when at university). Would love to know more about the demographic that uses the site. Was delighted to see that poetry can be heard on the site (eg Coleridge and Shakespeare) because often hearing it read well is the way that you develop confidence/interest in reading it yourself.
Very pleased to learn of these resources and will return to them.
I have no idea about comparative costs but, if bearable, a service like this if it offered contemporary material in languages other than English might be a useful alternative to public libraries building collections in such languages.
The range of material available on Gutenberg's Audio eBook Collection fascinated me (I must return to hear Benjamin Franklin's Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout and I can't imagine how wonderful it would have been to have access to the Electronic Tools and Ancient Near Eastern Archives many years ago when at university). Would love to know more about the demographic that uses the site. Was delighted to see that poetry can be heard on the site (eg Coleridge and Shakespeare) because often hearing it read well is the way that you develop confidence/interest in reading it yourself.
Very pleased to learn of these resources and will return to them.
#21 Podcasts
This exercise was valuable for me because I didn't realise that there were such beasts as podcast directories. I did look at the three listed as discovery resources - the layout of podcast.net appealed most to me and seemed most useable. The very general headings under which podcasting programs are clumped might be useful as a browsing resource but they cover such variety it is quite stupefying. Things like the 10 most popular podcasts are fascinating but didn't tempt me in the least to sample any.
Podcasts work well as a way of sharing or extending the life of public programs (eg lectures, debates, seminars) conducted by libraries; as we develop audio guides to exhibitions or collection items it would be useful to load those as podcasts; now that Australian poetry pamphlets are digitised we could podcast some of those poems being read to bring them alive. I have been reflecting on whether the podcast at the beginning of each exercise or 'thing' has added a different dimension to learning - I don't think it has made a material difference.
I added the British Library's podcast feed to my Bloglines account.
Podcasts work well as a way of sharing or extending the life of public programs (eg lectures, debates, seminars) conducted by libraries; as we develop audio guides to exhibitions or collection items it would be useful to load those as podcasts; now that Australian poetry pamphlets are digitised we could podcast some of those poems being read to bring them alive. I have been reflecting on whether the podcast at the beginning of each exercise or 'thing' has added a different dimension to learning - I don't think it has made a material difference.
I added the British Library's podcast feed to my Bloglines account.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
#8 RSS and newsreader revisited
In the course of exercise 21 have been doing a lot of listening to podcasts and suddenly realised that I'd not made my RSS feeds public - when I did #8 I couldn't quite make it all work. Of course, no guarantees this time either, but maybe pasting this html will achieve the objective....
Thursday, August 16, 2007
#20 YouTube
Searched for all sorts of things on YouTube, including unsuccessfully for a video about a monk showing someone accustomed to scrolls how to read a book, spoofing our bewilderment when faced by computers. Couldn't find it. So then I got serious and looked at various offerings retrieved by a search for 'libraries'. One that caught my eye was A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto, have tried to embed the string using the Edit Html page so will see what happens because I wasn't sure if I should write the rest of the blog entry in the Edit mode or Compose mode (am doing the latter). The Manifesto was very earnest and worthy and I have no idea how the pictures related to the content.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
#19 Web2.0 Tools
Selected Yahoo Answers to look at - it is a cluttered site, which does not appeal to me. However, it is a site that gives you a lot of information about how each transaction/question is proceeding and about the standing or rating of those asking and answering questions which is an interesting and accountable way of managing things. Good use of tags and clouds too. I decided I had better leave the site when I became mesmerized by the actual questions and answers rather than looking at the site and its attributes.
So, off I went to Etsy in the retail category - retail being a personal strength. By contrast a very visual site - lots of photos. This makes sense given the purpose of the site. Library sites could do with more visuals because ours are so text heavy. The other thing that appealed to me was the way that the site offered you 'ways to shop' - for example, by colour, by category of item (jewellery, clothes etc), by maker, by how recently posted to the site, by where the vendor is located (yes, there were sellers in Melbourne!) The Library's site divides 'ways' in by research interest (genealogist, media, teacher etc) may be we could add some quirkier ways in to the site/collection.
So, off I went to Etsy in the retail category - retail being a personal strength. By contrast a very visual site - lots of photos. This makes sense given the purpose of the site. Library sites could do with more visuals because ours are so text heavy. The other thing that appealed to me was the way that the site offered you 'ways to shop' - for example, by colour, by category of item (jewellery, clothes etc), by maker, by how recently posted to the site, by where the vendor is located (yes, there were sellers in Melbourne!) The Library's site divides 'ways' in by research interest (genealogist, media, teacher etc) may be we could add some quirkier ways in to the site/collection.
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