Friday, March 28, 2008
Week 11 - online applications and tools - GoogleDocs
I like GoogleDocs & GoogleSpreadsheets. I use them so their applications for me are obvious. Being such a long way from NSL and many other libraries GoogleDocs is a great way for me to participate in meetings online, and collaborate in writing submissions and other material (without incurring travel expenses and the like). I can restrict my shared documents to viewers only or open them out to other collaborators who can also edit them. Different versions can be saved and by using coloured text all collaborators can quickly see who did what edit and how it fits overall. It's like having a draft document that everyone writes and from all the edits and suggestions a final document is created. I'm really looking forward to using this tool in some upcoming collaborations with some far-flung colleagues. It should be fun, but more than that it furthers the whole concept of collaboration and inspires each and every edit to be more than the last.
Week 10 - mashups - explore, discover, adventure
The whole idea of a mashup is pretty exciting. I like the idea of taking the map of Australia (or NSW) and overlaying it with book covers of stories set in particular towns, areas, states. Even a mashup showing authors and their home towns, etc. To further this reading map concept have a join-the-dots type scenario where readers can read their way across a state, along a highway, from the Top End to the Bite. Themed mashups have such options and creativity that the sky is reasonably endless - romance in rural NSW, crime across Victoria, early Australian life from discovery to Federation, ...... the possible list is limitless.
Week 9 - podcasts - adventure
Where was the Hannibal podcast from Stanford when I was studying Ancient History????? I feel so betrayed.
This is such a cool thing - the new line in online learning. It's not just visual, it's aural - the combination of the two, from a learning perspective is such a great leap and suits all thos edifferent learning types (I may have remembered a whole lot more about Hannibal if I had listened as well as read and he was one of my favourite characters from Ancient Rome).
I did find navigating the iPod downloads a little tricky - not as straight forward as I would have liked.
The Yahoo search worked a whole lot better and I found a great podcast "Hannibal is at the gates" not to mention a whole lot more on Military History - a wonderful door has now opened that I didn't realise was there. This info is not restricted to the sole domain of Universities and other centres of learning, it's out there for everyone, and gloriously free at that. What a great thing!
This is such a cool thing - the new line in online learning. It's not just visual, it's aural - the combination of the two, from a learning perspective is such a great leap and suits all thos edifferent learning types (I may have remembered a whole lot more about Hannibal if I had listened as well as read and he was one of my favourite characters from Ancient Rome).
I did find navigating the iPod downloads a little tricky - not as straight forward as I would have liked.
The Yahoo search worked a whole lot better and I found a great podcast "Hannibal is at the gates" not to mention a whole lot more on Military History - a wonderful door has now opened that I didn't realise was there. This info is not restricted to the sole domain of Universities and other centres of learning, it's out there for everyone, and gloriously free at that. What a great thing!
Week 9 - podcasts - discover & explore
Podcasting opens up such a new world.
I enjoyed the podcasts from the Library Success wiki - Book Talks Plain & Simple - and could immediately see their use in a Public Library for all those RA questions when someone wants to know about a book. This quick little snippet/blurb neatly entraps you to want to listen to the rest of the book and you are left with the author/title info so you can immediately rush out and reserve the book.
What would be really good is a link to the podcast from within the library catalogue so that for every podcasted title you can listen to the blurb and decide from that (as well as cover info if you've got Syndetics) whether or not you want to borrow/reserve the item - you can do this at home, in the library, anywhere and everywhere - you don't have to have th eitem in your hand reading the blurb itself to decide what you think.
As an aside this could then reduce the size of bib records because you wouldn't need to add the blurb onto the record, just the podcast link. For the hearing impaired the transcript of the podcast could be linked to the record also reducing the size of the bib record (I personally find long detailed narrative descriptions within bib records to be highly annoying).
And the best thing? To have these podcasts available for download through Libraries Australia as an intrinsic cataloguing function - that way everyone gets to share.
The podcasts from ABC Radio National mean that if you miss a show or discussion down the street a few weeks later someone talks about "oh yes, I heard this on the radio and they said ............" you can go back and find it and listen to it. If you missed it on the day it doesn't mean you've missed it forever and it's so much nicer than reading the transcript which doesn't have the same feel as listening to the show "live".
What other benefits does podcasting have for libraries? Author talks - up there and available within days/hours/minutes/live! Combined with vodcasts this is such a huge area for expansion. I know some libraries are already doing and loading visuals to YouTube etc., this is certainly an area where we can expand, grow, learn, and develop some real skill and professionalism - beyonmd the home-movie feel.
I enjoyed the podcasts from the Library Success wiki - Book Talks Plain & Simple - and could immediately see their use in a Public Library for all those RA questions when someone wants to know about a book. This quick little snippet/blurb neatly entraps you to want to listen to the rest of the book and you are left with the author/title info so you can immediately rush out and reserve the book.
What would be really good is a link to the podcast from within the library catalogue so that for every podcasted title you can listen to the blurb and decide from that (as well as cover info if you've got Syndetics) whether or not you want to borrow/reserve the item - you can do this at home, in the library, anywhere and everywhere - you don't have to have th eitem in your hand reading the blurb itself to decide what you think.
As an aside this could then reduce the size of bib records because you wouldn't need to add the blurb onto the record, just the podcast link. For the hearing impaired the transcript of the podcast could be linked to the record also reducing the size of the bib record (I personally find long detailed narrative descriptions within bib records to be highly annoying).
And the best thing? To have these podcasts available for download through Libraries Australia as an intrinsic cataloguing function - that way everyone gets to share.
The podcasts from ABC Radio National mean that if you miss a show or discussion down the street a few weeks later someone talks about "oh yes, I heard this on the radio and they said ............" you can go back and find it and listen to it. If you missed it on the day it doesn't mean you've missed it forever and it's so much nicer than reading the transcript which doesn't have the same feel as listening to the show "live".
What other benefits does podcasting have for libraries? Author talks - up there and available within days/hours/minutes/live! Combined with vodcasts this is such a huge area for expansion. I know some libraries are already doing and loading visuals to YouTube etc., this is certainly an area where we can expand, grow, learn, and develop some real skill and professionalism - beyonmd the home-movie feel.
GoogleMaps fun
As an aside to everything else I've been having fun with GoogleMaps lately and think it's kinda cool being able to create your own map and embed the results in your blog (or where ever). Here's one I prepared earlier.....
View Larger Map
It shows general directions from Grafton (me) to Salt Ash (my parents).
What's cool about this? Aside from the fact that it creates the html code for me (just cut and paste), it's an easy way to keep track of maps if & when I may need them again, and when blogs are shared it's a simple way of coordinating a trip where all collaborators can go in and view the suggested route/itinerary. I like it.
I don't really need a map from Grafton to Salt Ash (I could probably drive it blindfolded if I had to) but I'm using this aspect to keep track of the next planned Biblio Turismo run scheduled for May this year - bound to be fun!
View Larger Map
It shows general directions from Grafton (me) to Salt Ash (my parents).
What's cool about this? Aside from the fact that it creates the html code for me (just cut and paste), it's an easy way to keep track of maps if & when I may need them again, and when blogs are shared it's a simple way of coordinating a trip where all collaborators can go in and view the suggested route/itinerary. I like it.
I don't really need a map from Grafton to Salt Ash (I could probably drive it blindfolded if I had to) but I'm using this aspect to keep track of the next planned Biblio Turismo run scheduled for May this year - bound to be fun!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Week 8 - answerboards & social searching
Okay, now I'm a big believer in the role Libraries and Librarians (esp. Reference Librarians) can play on the AnswerBoards. Aside from the fact that it's a bucket load of fun it's a huge learning experience. I must admit that I have learned so much more in the last 6 months about using the Internet as a reference tool than I have in the last 5 years.
I have been Slamming since September 2007 - some months I get right into it for the whole day and answer as many questions as I can, other months I'll be lucky to answer 1. But the way I look at it, out there on those AnswerBoards are people who aren't coming into the library to ask their questions (in person or remotely) so therefore they are still my client base beacuse I never know from one question to the next just where that person is from and it may be that they are in fact one of my local constituents. But even if they weren't they are still asking questions and helping people find the answers to their questions is 1. what I do, 2. what I'm trained to do, and 3. what I'm jolly good at doing. So I tend to think that on the 10th of every month someone out there is getting the benefit of an experienced and qualified answer to their question - that, and they are being taken seriously, their question is valued.
On a side not, getting your answer chosen as 'Best Answer' is the absolute best buzz!!
Beyond all this though, Slam the Boards means I am part of an online community of like minded Librarians seeking to help as many people as we can around the world find answers and learn that Libraries are great places and Librarians are great people. WikiAnswers has recently come on board to give all registered Slam the Boards Librarians contributor status on WikiAnswers which further cements the quality of answer given and the validity of its contribution.
To further cement the value of the monthly Slam, the School of Information & Library Science at the University of North Carolina is taking on a study of Yahoo Answers to see whether or not the answers provided by and tagged by Librarians are being chosen 'Best Answer' over other answers provided - to see whether or not we are in fact providing value for service and being recognuised for it.
Current count there were 106 participating Libraries/Librarians - including 2 from Australia and 1 from New Zealand.
I have been Slamming since September 2007 - some months I get right into it for the whole day and answer as many questions as I can, other months I'll be lucky to answer 1. But the way I look at it, out there on those AnswerBoards are people who aren't coming into the library to ask their questions (in person or remotely) so therefore they are still my client base beacuse I never know from one question to the next just where that person is from and it may be that they are in fact one of my local constituents. But even if they weren't they are still asking questions and helping people find the answers to their questions is 1. what I do, 2. what I'm trained to do, and 3. what I'm jolly good at doing. So I tend to think that on the 10th of every month someone out there is getting the benefit of an experienced and qualified answer to their question - that, and they are being taken seriously, their question is valued.
On a side not, getting your answer chosen as 'Best Answer' is the absolute best buzz!!
Beyond all this though, Slam the Boards means I am part of an online community of like minded Librarians seeking to help as many people as we can around the world find answers and learn that Libraries are great places and Librarians are great people. WikiAnswers has recently come on board to give all registered Slam the Boards Librarians contributor status on WikiAnswers which further cements the quality of answer given and the validity of its contribution.
To further cement the value of the monthly Slam, the School of Information & Library Science at the University of North Carolina is taking on a study of Yahoo Answers to see whether or not the answers provided by and tagged by Librarians are being chosen 'Best Answer' over other answers provided - to see whether or not we are in fact providing value for service and being recognuised for it.
Current count there were 106 participating Libraries/Librarians - including 2 from Australia and 1 from New Zealand.
Week 7 - adventure - LibraryThing
I must admit to not using LibraryThing since I first joined oh so long ago. Looking at it again I can see its social value - at a glance you can see how many other people have your book, you can read comments, give it a star rating and really connect with other readers.
I've now linked my LibraryThing library to my blog.
Personally I prefer to use Shelfari . On a balance I see them both as pretty much the same. I guess I've just spent more time on Shelfari. As with Library Thing I can also link my Shelfari bookshelf to my blog (which I've done). After a while I go with the one that best suits me and tend to let the others fall by the wayside.
I know that some Library Management Systems (eg Spydus) are looking at linking to LibraryThing within their catalogues so that patrons, staff, etc can comment on and rate the collection but I think it is certainly worth looking at what the others can offer too.
I've now linked my LibraryThing library to my blog.
Personally I prefer to use Shelfari . On a balance I see them both as pretty much the same. I guess I've just spent more time on Shelfari. As with Library Thing I can also link my Shelfari bookshelf to my blog (which I've done). After a while I go with the one that best suits me and tend to let the others fall by the wayside.
I know that some Library Management Systems (eg Spydus) are looking at linking to LibraryThing within their catalogues so that patrons, staff, etc can comment on and rate the collection but I think it is certainly worth looking at what the others can offer too.
Week 7 - discover 2 - technorati
Okay, I found no difference between the results of a keyword search and the advanced search for "bookmobile" though it did take me a moment to realise there were 4 tabs to choose from - posts, blogs, photos, and videos. At first glance they all looked the same.
With the second search for "nswpln2008" I was initially put off by the fact that on the posts tab there were no hits at all what at first I took to mean 'no hits at all across all 4 tabs'. When I went back and did the search again I realised this was not the case: no posts, no blogs, no videos, but quite a few photos. This was a humble lesson in paying attention to the details and not assuming that just because the first search tab was empty that all the tabs were empty.
I've not used techorati much at all so may just need to play around with it a bit more to get the best out of it.
With the second search for "nswpln2008" I was initially put off by the fact that on the posts tab there were no hits at all what at first I took to mean 'no hits at all across all 4 tabs'. When I went back and did the search again I realised this was not the case: no posts, no blogs, no videos, but quite a few photos. This was a humble lesson in paying attention to the details and not assuming that just because the first search tab was empty that all the tabs were empty.
I've not used techorati much at all so may just need to play around with it a bit more to get the best out of it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Week 7 - Explore
The instructions were simply and easy to use. Having joined del.icio.us some time ago it was good to go back in and really look at its usefulness and usability. So now my del.icio.us account is linked to my blog and the world has opened up in a whole new social way.
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