Finished!!

I have just finished week 12 - I have found the whole process very useful in all, despite the regularly occuring technical hitches, the interuptions etc. I thought that I was quite computer literate, but in all honesty, I have found out that there is heaps I did not know about. I guess that I end to use computers as a tool, to achieve a desired end, and tend not to spen ages just "mucking around" to see whats out there. I am really pleased to have improved my knowledge of all these 'toys' - and some of them will be very useful. I doubt that I will ever wind up using many of them for private use - I just can't cope with the level of 'sharing' that seems to be a part of many of them - maybe it's generational - I feel old now!

Google Docs

Wow - I had no idea that all these great free apps were out there - so easy to use - I am particulary impressed with Zamzar - we constantly run into problems with people wanting to open documents that we don't have capacity for, and I was only asked the other day about converting a file to a PDF - I will be able to do it next time

I can see this one tool making life much easier

Mashups

This is a great photo of the library interior that I played with at big huge labs - what fun!

Podcasts etc

Ah - the joy of being able to find and listen to the type of info & music I want, when I want. What a shame that the reality in country areas is that connection speed is often so slow that you could go and make a cuppa (and drink it) in the 'gaps' between bursts of audio....

Perhaps one day we will hve good connection speeds - probably around the same time the bush gets decent mobile phone coverage

Answer Boards

I think that answer boards are quite useful, and have often read the answers on various boards / blogs / forums that relate to a topic that I am interested in (found some quite good comments on a particulat type of makeup, for instance, that influence by buying decision) I haven't ever been involved in "slam the boards" - time is certainly an issue, but I will try in the future.

A "local knowledge" answer board could be quite useful, for local history applications - trouble is that those with the local history knowledge are not necessarily the people with the "computer savvy" who would be checking out the board!

Del.icio.us

Have just finished setting up del.icio.us, which was not difficult, although it seems a bit "arificial" to try and think of sites to link on the spot. However, it could certainly be very useful for a work based tool to manage useful sites for reference enquiries - another think to add to the "to do" list

Youtube Exercise

I have selected this video as I am going to see a concert by Wendy next week, which should be wonderful. As an added bonus, I managed to change the YouTube frame to purple instead of gray!

Wiki time

Having checked out some wiki's, the applications for libraries seem to be extensive- internally to share knowledge and work on big projects, and for customers, things like book reviews and local history would seem to be key areas. I imagine that it would be possible to post local historical photos and request the community to help with information on the content of the photo. It wouldbe a wonderful way to try and harness some of the knowledge that is out there.

Who knows, there could even be a Public Library News article in there!

RSS feeds

I completed the exercise of adding RSS feeds a couple of days ago, and was feeling unsure about the value of the whole RSS concept. I had the feeling that I was likely to waste more time than I saved. However, when I logged in today, I was pleasantly surprised-I was not overwhelmed with posts, it was easy to see what was new, and it only took me a few moments to check the posts. I think that I will be tempted to fiddle with it to set up the blogs that really interest me, to make full use of the tool. From a library perspective it could be a great way to help get our message to the customer, with minimal exertion on their part - definately worth exploring more.

Wonderful world of Flickr

I have to admit to having a good time wandering around on Flickr. I found some photos of our town- no one I know, but it did make me think about the issues of privacy and security that could arise out of publishing personal images to a public forum. For instance, on photo had a caption "my desk at XYZ school", and the members profile had a first name and an identifiable photo. With that info, I now know the woman's name, what she looks like and where she works. To me, that is a bit to much info to be so readily available.

I had heaps of trouble finding an image to blog about (what an ugly verb "blog" is - I just don't find it in the least appealing). My difficulties stemmed from an over-abundance of choice - I could easily have spent hours looking. In the end I searched for FRACTALS, and came across this photset, which I fell in love with. I could easily imaging some of these framed on my wall

http://www.flickr.com/photos/micktripp/sets/72157603725305067/

The owner of these has them as all rights reserved, so I have not included a copy here. I am not sure what sort of technique he has used to do the images, but they are just stunning.

First time for everything

I consider myself to be a fairly accomplished web user, but am certainly not used to participating in Web2.0 applications- I know what some of them are, and what they do, but have always looked upon them as something that had no real personal application. Having said that, I am keen to look at ways of utilising Web2.0 for work - there are so many great examples out in the library community, and Iwill be glad to gain the knowledge to make some informed choices about what our library can start to do. I am also hoping to build my computer skills for all of those new and different "how do I......" questions at the Ref desk.