#23 The 23rd thing...

I think this image of a black hole is where my thinking is about Learning 2.0. There are things I have discovered from this course that are stronger than the pull of the black hole, like Blogline and RSS feeds. I have become addicted to this and have the notifier on at work as well as at home. I think it has lead to a dramatic increase in the amount of literature I am reading about Libraries, from both Library sources (ALIA, SLV) and non library sources (Boys bloke books blog). I also will continue with podcasts(really liked Odeo), ebooks, (youtube and other social network systems), Library Thing and Wiki. There will be a group set up at our Library to investigate the uses of Wiki (and we thought our name should be WikiWarriors). So much for the power of the black hole.....But then there were things I learnt that have a high chance of being sucked into the vortex of the hole. These are things like Zoho - found it really annoying not to be able to cut and paste from places, and you never know it might not be lost forever. There was Flickr, Technorati and Del.icio.us which I never really spent a lot of time on but didn't jump out at me like the others. I will have the blog to look back on in future to remind myself of the things to have a check on every now and again (no promises).
I would like to say thanks to those people who created it, I might have bagged you along the way, but I am very glad that I have done it, and that it is now over.

#22 Lets hear it

I must admit that ebooks had not even been something that I have thought about for myself, let alone for the library public. World ebook fair was a cool site, obviously not free anymore, and as long as you understand that the book are not current titles (I would think because of copyright laws) then it is OK. I had a longer play on some pay per use sites that are Library affiliated. Netlibrary and Overdrive were the suggested ones and I had a look at these. There are some Australian Libraries in ACT and Qld who have Overdrive, but for our Library service to look at these as a viable alternative to current spending, then there would have to be an in-depth look at these. On a more personal note, I might look at subscribing to something like this, for those items I would like to hear (or see - as some were in Video format) at a later date.

#21 Podcasts

Well I have used podcasts for awhile now, from itunes as well as feeds that I have found since starting Learning 2.0. The State Library Popcasts on Genealogy are really good as well as other stuff I have found in podcast since I have started looking. And I must admit, that is what I think the difference between now and what I thought of learning 2.0 at the beginning. I am now looking for information, both professionally and personally that is out there that I had just never looked for before. As part of Bloglines I now am up to date with current news and library information. Some interesting podcasts are:
Sherlock Holmes Audios
and
Is there a doctor in your family tree

Hope you like these.

#20 Youtube where you can spend all day ...

Well here I am again, having just watched heaps of different movies, songs, "documentaries" and people just doing stuff infront of a camera. It certainly had a voyeur feel to it for some of the more personal items, but there is so much more in the way of entertainment and information. From the L2 Unconference in Melbourne held earlier this year to watching the crash that almost claimed the life of Richard Hammond off Top Gear. I listened to songs as well as the Library Domino's (someone with way too much time on their hands) to sitting watching Johnny Depp (it is one of my favourites now too).

Here are a few of my Favourite things......





Hope you like it as much as I do. As our library have just set up a WikiWarrior team, I hope that we might have some practical applications for Youtube as well.

#19 Omeo and Facebook

I have been using Facebook for the past couple of months, thanks to a Canadian friend I have. She has over 30 friends, and some of her friends in Canada have over 300 friends. It does make me look like a sad sack to admit I only have 5 friends....on Facebook. I communicate with other friends in other ways, mainly messenger or email or even the post (though not very often). I have found facebook to be easy to navigate and apart from the double up of emails going to my email account to tell me there is something on Facebook, I really like it. I think all the negative things I have read in the news about Facebook are not the norm for me, as I am too busy checking Bloglines.

The other new site I had a look at was Odeo (which shares millions of podcasts and MP3s with its audience) and found apart from remembering another ID and password that I listened to some great music and podcasts. The searching was good as were the topic choices. I will use this at home, but probably not at work, but still a good site to have gone to.

Zoho

There are so many new things that are being discovered as part of Learning 2.0. I must say that I think Zoho will have practical applications.

As I type this post, I am also watching "the Librarians" on the TV, hope it lives up us. Or maybe do we have to have a better standard than it. "The book is your canvas and the mind is your brush." The are so many things on the internet that I still have to learn that I think my mind is certainly not a brush. Photo from The Librarian

Sometimes the picture is clear and then at other times it is more of an impression. Hopefully more clear than not. It just takes a lot of time remembering all the different log in passwords and website addresses. But the journey has been enjoyable and yet there are points at which I want to bang my head or crash the computer on purpose.

Anyway back to the topic at hand, I hope I have discovered enough about Zoho to post this to my blog....lets find out.

#17 & 18 Playing in the sandpit

This cartoon sums it up, I felt like I was back in Playgroup. Had to ring a colleague to get the blog to post like his (thanks) and then had to think of what favourite I had - must be a boring person because it took awhile to decide. Ended up with fav vacation, which if anyone has met me, was of course Disney, and why wouldn't it be.

and then more from Zoho ....hopefully

#16 Wiki

Wiki's are something that I have accessed heaps of times. When there is information that I am looking for about people, bands etc I check wikipedia as well as some other places. I would hope that the Library could look at setting up a wiki like the booklovers one. It would be an easy introduction for staff and patrons. I really like the idea of the subject guide wiki as well. It does concern me that inaccurate information can be looked at by unsuspecting internet users as real, but then as with all information, checking the facts is part of the response. Now it is late and I am tired, but happy to be back blogging (scary) and to be still on the path of a lifelong learning journey.

#15 What is 2.0 and are we learning?

Not quite an Iceberg, but this is more how I feel about Learning 2.0. Sometimes on firm ground (learning about Blogs, Bloglines and RSS feeds) and other times washed down the river (tagging and flickr). There is so much that can change in the Library field that for those who do not like change it is a major problem. Not sure if that is me all the time, but certainly every now and again.

Now to the readings about Learning 2.0. I found myself nodding while reading the article titled "Away from Icebergs". It is a fine line between holding onto the past (with a tightly clenched fist) and changing the system every time the world changes (very unsettling and destabilizing) When I read "Into a new world of librarianship" I would like for the Librarian 2.0 to be part of the Goulburn Valley Regional Library look, but truthfully I cannot see that this will happen.

#13 & 14 Tagg your Technorati

This is a photo of my cousins daughter - on her birthday. The day out way wonderful. A day of technology with digital video cameras, phone cameras and digital cameras, we do like to take a photo or two, must add some to Flickr.
But today it is time to talk about is a Del.icio.us and dis.cove.ring way to have bookmarks. I will probably not use this site again, unless my way of operating changes. I can see the practical usefulness of it to those using multiple computers, but I usually only access 2, home and work, and are mostly happy to have very different pages bookmarked at each.

However I do think that I will use Technorati. I was surprised at the difference that the blog/tag/blog directory searches had. It is a tool that I have found to be already a link on many of the blogs and pages I am now searching on, and I just don't think I ever saw the icons before. But now that I know what they mean I see them, just like the RSS feeds.

#11 & 12 Library Thing and Rollyo - who can guess what I'm talking about

Library Thing is really good and being able to add the widget (hopefully) with such ease is also amazing. My catalogue only teenage fiction at this stage. There are other books I could add, and probably will at a later time, but as usual time is the key factor. And there is never enough of it.

Rollyo is another cool tool which I think I will be using after this. The ability to make your own search engine to be limited just to web addresses you want to search is brilliant. Which I had thought of it.

#10 Chocolate

Chocolate

Mmmmm... yummi!

http://www.kessels.com/Downloads/choco/Chocolate.html?Naam=Carol

When we had to use an image generator, I thought - a what! It is not something that I have used before or even heard about (which is becoming the norm in this course). On The Generator Blog, I stumbled across one called Chocolate bar Generator, and thought of my sister in law. Carol loves chocolate, all things chocolate. Using this image generator made me think of her and I will have to let them know my blog address now, so that she can read that I am writing about her. Won't she be thrilled!
I found that the image generators were self explanatory by name, mostly and that the main ones I used were text generating. They were easy to use and quick to get around. The face transformer site was a bit confronting - I will not again use a photo of myself on there, BUT you have to see stuff to know not to do it again.

#8 & 9 RSS and what to feed it!

The first time I heard about RSS was during the Ebsco training, but as I had never used them and the trainer was looking to leave ASAP, I didn't go into it, and then promptly forgot to go into it with the Tech staff. I found setting up the Bloglines account and putting on the feeds of places I knew quite easy and logical. Where I think I spent alot of time without a great deal of success was with Feedster but I discovered more items to add by using Topix. I think it was because of the way I am used to searching and that eventually I will get my head around looking for different sites, similar to what I already look at, but bringing to me other information. This is going to be a very useful tool, as I am continually checking a news site in Canada, waiting for a specific article to come, now I can wait for it to come to me. Yeah!

#6 & 7 Fun & Technology

Each day has been an adventure with me having heaps of fun on flickr. I have found an extraordinary amount of photo's and even some from a group I attended just late last week. We had a fantastic time in Ballarat discovering how current technology and information sharing can enhance the knowledge database of all, instead of just a few. We saw from birth ( a Municipal Christening Cradle) to death (A tour of the Old Ballaarat Cemetery). It was while reading one of my colleagues blogs that madde me think about what technology has done for me in the past years. I have family living overseas and without the advancement in technology I do not know if we would communicate as much. Yes I can call them on the telephone, but it is not the same as being able to see them (in person, on the other side of the world) and hear them and have them see us. My son and I love being able to webcam with my brother and his family. The other thing I was thinking about was faxes (not sure why) and the way the paper used to be in a roll. Technology has wonderful applications, it is just learning how to use them.

#5 Flickr - had never heard of it

Flickr, once I had created yet another account name and password to remember, was surprisingly easy to navigate for a site I had never heard of let alone been to. I have posted 5 photo's - 1 from a local studies trip I went on last week and the others from a car show Nicholas and I went to earlier this year. Hopefully they are all tagged well enough for people to understand why I chose the tags I did. It is great being able to give a desription as well as the title and tags. I found that the numbers of groups available to join was a bit daunting as my pictures were not all of the same topic, but if you want to have a look go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/14116188@N02/ I am enjoying having a play with this and can see some personal applications to share photo's with friends in a safer environment than any of the ways we were considering.

#4 What a blog!

Before this started I had only ever heard of one person I knew who had a blog, and I only looked at it once. The technology had never really interconnected with my life, but I now also have a facebook account to catch up with some school friends post a school reunion, so I will have to make a concerted effort to update it also. It is exciting looking at all of the different blogs, trying to work out who has named their ones with more obscure names, and reading their thoughts about the program.

#2 How long is a lifelong

I would like to think that I exhibit some of the 7 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learning. I feel strongly that I am good at accepting responsibilty for my own learning (2) and mostly view problems as challenges (3) when they are not overwhelming. I enjoy the play, but this in itself can occassionally cause Habit 3 to be needed. From the Wikipedia definition I would like to believe that I have alot of knowledge to contribute and will enjoy the experience of learning. The photo above is there contributing to Habit 7 1/2. Nicholas and I enjoyed the car show earlier this year.

Here we go!

Well here I am writing my very first post in my very first blog. This is the technology that I have seen snippets of but have never had the time (or made the time) to get into it myself.