# 23 - Contemplating 2.0 and the future

I commenced the program aware that my knowledge of the internet and the tools that people were talking about and using, was starting to fall behind and this would be a wonderful opportunity to gain this knowledge in a structured way.

I began slowly (well taking holidays will absorb a big chunk of time and not having access to the internet at home was limiting), but once I really got going I have enjoyed the opportunity to learn about these resources. I'm sure you've noticed by now a tendency to include lots of "fun" elements which kept me amused tracking them down and incorporating them into my blog.

Key learnings

I have learnt that Flickr isn't a horse (ie. My friend Flicka) or a light driving someone crazy and it is an incredible resource for storing and sharing photos. (It also has lots of fun tools associated with it).

Bloglines are a valuable resource and I now check my feeds daily to gain a quick overview of those areas of interest I identified and must admit that it does save alot of time.

There are a lot of reources on the internet that allow you to have fun. It was fairly obvious that I enjoyed play week, as this was when my blog suddenly started sprouting games, pictures, etc. and I loved LibraryThing - a great way to list all your favourites / personal collection and share them with others.

From Rollyo I created my AFL search engine, which I have used and found effective, although in the long term it will probably be more useful for retrospective searches than current issues as they will be picked up via my bloglines feeds.

I love the concepts of Del.icio.us, Zoho Writer and Google documents and spreadsheets as they allow you to operate effectively no matter where you are based. I do think that the web based applications still require some development before they replace Microsoft Office programs, however, I suspect it is just a matter of time before they evolve to something more sophisticated or Microsoft make a big leap and setup their own web based applications.

Wiki's rock and I can see there are signifcant uses for them within libraries. They can be used:

• internally to managed policies, procedures, forms, etc. instead of intranets
  
• for pathfinders, booklists, etc. which can be opened up to the community so they can share their links
  
• for socialised community information linked to the library website - what a simple way to make your website a virtual community hub.

YouTube, podcasting and eBooks have all been around for some time with varying degrees of takeup/success in the wider community. These are key tools/resources for us to use to promote libraries to those members of the community who are fully utilising web 2.0.

Final reflection

At the conclusion of the program, I am far more aware of the evolution of web 2.0 and the key resources which are available for all to access, and I've certainly accessed sites/tools which I will continue to use.

I believe that in order for public libraries to continue to remain as a relevant resource and a key community hub, we need to embrace these resources and incorporate them into everyday policy and planning.

Web 2.0 and beyond should not catch us unaware, we should be planning now on how we can utilise these technologies to enhance and promote our services, so that our virtual libraries continue to grow to meet the needs of our communities.

# 22 - eBook frustrations and musings

Very difficult to comment on this learning step as I was unable to access any of the ebooks in the Learning 2.0 program (World eBook Fair site), as there was a charge/password associated with all I tried - unable to locate any free downloads.

However, I did get a sense of how an eBook would work through the tutorial in Netlibrary and could see that there could be quite a demand for them, particularly with non fiction titles.

I believe that the key thing is to offer the option of the traditional physical book, along with providing access to various virtual tools, which include eBooks and other online databases/resources, and then letting the borrower choose what format they wish to access the information from/in.

It will be interesting to see how eBooks evolve with the introduction of the Amazon "Kindle" reading device in the last couple of weeks - will it make them more popular being portable ???

# 21 - Podcasting

I already had an understanding of what a podcast is and have accessed them on many occasions, however, I did have some difficulties with Podcast.net where I was unable to hear any of the podcasts I searched for.

I located a book review and listened to it, then got adventurous and went 774 ABC Melbourne and went to their podcasts, selected Health and lifestyle and loaded the RSS feed into my bloglines account, which then enabled me to hear the podcasts of the last few weeks. A very simple way to ensure you don't miss out on a regular segment you listen to on the radio.

In relation to public libraries, podcasts are a way to expand the services we offer through the virtual library to the time-poor, transport-poor and socially isolate (including aged) elements of our community. I can just imagine a parent and child listening to a podcast of a storytime before bedtime or an individual/group in an aged care facility listening to an author/book talk.

This web 2.0 tool could easily be introduced to websites - in fact some libraries have already done so.

# 20 - To YouTube or not to YouTube

You could spend alot of time playing around in YouTube as you explore the millions of videos. Just trying to find an amusing library/librarian video took me a significant amount of time, although if you were looking for something generic it would obviously be quicker. (see below for clip found)

In seaching for this video, I did find a number of "serious" videos which were promoting services and even advertising for staff. I didn't see a booktalk or storytime video'ed (not that I was really looking for them), but this may be a possibility for the future so that our community can still have access to these services without leaving home.

The possiblities for the virtual library are endless.

# 19 - Web 2.0 tools and award winners

Some very smart people (or certainly people with a lot of time) out there to create some of these winning sites. I checked out the Biblio rare book site and a games site and had fun exploring both. (Note: there is now a new game in my blog - see bottom of the page for the fishing game, courtesy of my exploration).

Loved the tool box, what a good way to combine all the useful sites/information together, so you can create the ultimate website/blog. Unfortunately, I couldn't save the link to my Delicious favourites, as I don't have the 2 key buttons installed (they were blocked - see previous blog entry). Will just need to save it to my favourites on my PC.

# 18 - Zoho writing

Well this has been an interesting experience, just trying to locate where my I could locate the published document from Zoho writer was saved as a draft.

I've joined and tested both Google documents and Zoho writer. Can see benefits to both, but they don't yet have the functionality of Microsoft Office programs. Of course, this refinement may come and it must be admitted that my familiarity with said MS programs means that I am looking for the functionality as a given.

Will be interesting to see how both products continue to develop and whether it will mean the end of MS office as we know it.

Testing Zoho Writer

Lets try to add a table

---

hours of opening	Mondays	Tuesdays
Hawthorn Library	10 am - 6 pm	10 am - 9 pm
Camberwell Library	9 am - 5 pm	9 am - 5 pm

Note: unable to manipulate cells easily. Tried to make hours centred only, but also centred library names and needed to highlight each seperately and then click on the left align button to return them to original state. Columns don't seem to work also.

Otherwise table was easy to insert and looks clear and simple

Let's add in an image

I find it quite difficult in resizing and manipulating images once they are in the document. Easy to add them however.

# 17 - Playing in the Wiki sandbox

I must admit that it is incredibly easy to add and edit a wiki, which demonstrates why they are so popular and work well - you can't really stuff it up.

I've added my blog address to the PLCMC learning wiki under favourite blogs and Boroondara as well as making a comment under Favourite books, way down at the end. (comment refers to "The Bagthorpe Saga" by Helen Cresswell.)

I can actually see some applications for a wiki between only friends / family, and may even set one up to handle some of the issues around Xmas present shopping.

# 16 - Wiki's

I was aware of Wikipedia, but I can see that there are alot of possibilities for Wiki's in the library. Things that could be set up easily and maintained. For example:

• Subject lists/pathfinders
• Booklists - if you liked this author, try ...
• Intranet - put the policies, procedures, forms, etc into a wiki for use by library staff only
• Community wiki - either expand upon the current CIS setup or create something new which will build upon current community outreach activities and build links with individuals and community groups / neighbourhood houses
• Local History encyclopedia - get the observations and recollections of as many people as possible

Now the challenge is getting everyone on board and setting up the wiki's

# 15 - the future with 2.0

It is my belief that the library industry and profession is in the middle of reinventing itself in order to be flexible and open enough to integrate the new technologies and evolution of the web .

We need to be actively looking at the possibilities and seeking ways to utilise these new tools which are appearing with web 2.0 and which will continue to evolve into web 3.0 and beyond. It involves us recognising that a combination of actual and virtual service is required to meet the needs of our community - working in tandem with one another.

If you think back to the introduction of the internet 12-13 years ago and how it has grown and developed, it is fairly obvious that where we'll be in 5-6 years (let alone another 12-13 years) could be far beyond what what we even imagine now. Certainly the rapidly increasing popularity of virtual libraries and online databases, where the community can access information and services from the convenience of their home, work or wherever they are travelling, is an indication that this will be a major area of growth and we need to ensure its continued development.

It's an exciting time to be involved in the libraries.

# 14 again - searching for blogs on technorati

Pretty easy to do the searches, just type in the keywords and the list appears. With the amount of blogs tracked, you wonder if there is any topic not covered.

My blog is now listed and tagged, I don't suspect that it will be viewed by too many people, so I don't expect to see it showing up in the popular list anytime soon.

# 14 - Technorati and claiming my blog

Technorati Profile

Well I've registered with technorati and are now claiming my blog. I'm unsure where this will lead me, but lets give it a go and let the spiders out.

# 13 - Delicious

This was not entirely unfamiliar as I believe that Del.icio.us is a variation on furl which was in vougue 2-3 years ago.

I've registered on Del.icio.us and imported my favourites across, but still need to do some playing around with tags.

Unfortunately I am unable to add the 2 recommended icons to my toolbar, as our IT department has blocked this functionality. However, I will perserve on without them.

# 12 - Rollyo'ing

Bit daunting at first, but then realised that I had already started with the AFL flavour on my bloglines, so that all I needed to do was to go back and find the HTML codes for those feeds again, as well as adding in all the individual club feeds.

This seemed to create the search engine okay, but then I had some problems in getting the HTML code so that I could include it in my blog. Anyhow I figured it out and now you will find (if you scroll down) that there is an AFL News search engine available for you to use.

# 11 - Library thing rocks!!

What a great tool, it's simple to join and to easily add books to. I could have been there for hours adding linking to my favourite books, in the end I just picked up on some of my favourites and what I've been reading.

Very easy to add the search widget to the blog, however, I discovered when trialing it that the search results were not showing fully due to the template I've been using, so this has just lead to a 30 minute session of viewing all the other templates to choose another which enabled the search results to show fully.

I'm still not completely happy with the current template, so don't be surprised if it my blog changes it's look again soon as I search for the perfect look.

#10 - playing around

My creation
Originally uploaded by Alien Crater

Well it must be admitted that this has been fun to play in. I've not only created the image in this posting, but have also added a message in dynamite and included a mental stimulation element to my blog (ie. jigsaw puzzle).

I could have just kept adding more and more elements to my blog, but felt that it would become too overwhelming.

(Note to self, consider changing elements on a regular basis to keep the blog fresh)

# 9 - Feeding your RSS

After spending a significant amount of time finding all the RSS links on the websites I wanted registered as part of the previous task, I just heaved a big sigh when I saw that this element introduced a number of tools for searching by subject and would have saved me some time. (another sigh)

Anyhow, I went in to check them out and found that:

• Feedster - couldn't access the site
• Technorati - I didn't like it at all, too busy and not really of interest to me
• Google blog search - I liked the way it worked, but I'm not that interested in other blogs
• Topix - I thought this was the best of the search engines shown and did save add some RSS feeds to my bloglines after doing some searches on it.

I will say that the feeds that I listed only earlier today, have already been collecting news in the areas I was interested in (primarily AFL football and the Kangaroos), so I can see the benefits of them immediately.

# 8 - RSS feeds

This started off looking quite confusing and technical, but in reality (once you get past all the intricate instructions) is quite simple.

All you need to do is look for the RSS button or link in a website, click on it, copy the html address and then add into your bloglines account.

I've set up my RSS feeds to have a distinctly AFL feed, with lots of feeds coming in from the AFL website and sports sections of the key newspapers. This may become overwhelming during the main season - as there are a lot of articles written - but I'll monitor the situation and if necessary can delete some feeds.

Can see there is alot of potential in this, but I did note with interest that neither the City of Boroondara or City of Darebin (where I live) websites have a RSS feed link, which I think could be quite useful. Will be interesting to see if they get a feed happening in the near future.

#7 - Reflections on technology

My creation
Originally uploaded by Alien Crater

The more I explore the Web 2.0 tools, the more I can see their application in the community and in libraries in the future.

The challenge is integrating them into everyday life/work so that people don't feel threatened.

I've been surprised at how easy it is to work with all the elements around. For example, when I first created this blog I thought it seemed quite boring and couldn't imagine why they have such popularity. However, in a very short time I've been able to:

* add images
* include a news feature (with updates on afl football)
* create a billboard
* create a movie poster (included in this post)

I'm looking forward to learning more about the upcoming Web 2.0 tools.

# 6 - having fun flickr'ing

relax billboard
Originally uploaded by Alien Crater

Well you could spend forever playing around with all the flickr tools manipulating and creating fun images, but eventually you need to stop playing so that you can move on with the program.

You can see the results of my exploration with the attached billboard which uses a photo from my holidays - it was very easy to do.

# 5 - Flickr'ing

Well after going off on holidays and enjoying my time in Cairns and with family, I return determined to master the Web 2.0 challenges.

The next step was Flickr'ing where I've discovered a new location to show off some of my holiday snaps. So I've become a member and uploaded some photos of the Frankland Islands (on the Great Barrier Reef) and Mossman Gorge to share with the world.

It will be interesting to see if anyone views or comments on the photos.

Looks like lots more fun stuff in this area to explore. The toolbox has some interesting stuff in it that I hope to play with very soon.

Will keep you updated with my progress - better late than never.

Help, I'm in over my head

I think I could be in trouble here. Not sure what I'm doing, what I need to do and how to sort things out.

Here's hoping that I gain some skills so I can start treading water quickly or else I may be going down to acquaint myself with Davy Jones and his locker.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle