Last week I did have a look at some of the podcasts and realized a couple of the links were dead links. I did check out Podcast Alley and thought it might be good for our library to have some reviews of books as a podcast or tie in a podcast for example of Harry Potter or other authors or illustrators. I do feel we could tie in podcasts as an educational tool either for our public or for staff development. I checked out some of the additional reading on how to create them. And it mentioned Camtasia Relay for publishing your own. I have used Camtasia Studio as a download free trial for 30 days, you can to by trying out Camtasia products using a free trial.
I have used podcasts for some online instruction which I have taken in the past. They are useful as you get a visual element, dialogue and you can go back and review easily. Another good tool!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Assignment-10
My YouTube video
This summer I took my 5 year old granddaughter to see "The Music Man" at the Stratford Theatre.
We had lots of fun before and after viewing some of the songs from "The Music Man" and some of the scenes. Our favourite was "Seventy-six Trombones". We sang and marched along with the video on YouTube. It was GREAT FUN!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu888i14-I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1iZarUHt04
This summer I took my 5 year old granddaughter to see "The Music Man" at the Stratford Theatre.
We had lots of fun before and after viewing some of the songs from "The Music Man" and some of the scenes. Our favourite was "Seventy-six Trombones". We sang and marched along with the video on YouTube. It was GREAT FUN!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu888i14-I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1iZarUHt04
Assignment-9 Zoho Writer
All these great Web 2.0 tools to play with, will they ever end......
We all know the answer as Jenny remarked we have only scratchedthe surface This is a great tool. I created a poster last evening in
which I attached to an email so I could make changes if necessary
at another location. If I would have used ZoHo Writer I would just log-in
and presto. I have not done anything too fancy on ZoHo writer but I like
what I see, similar to other word processing tools but with many extra features. And the list of ZoHo services it provides, a wiki, planner, show, chat, notebook list goes on. Great Stuff!
Thank you Jen for helping me successfully post this on my blog from Zoho Writer.
And my document created on Zoho writer.....
On the Bruce Trail again...........my second End-to-End!
I had a great day on the Bruce Trail in the Grimsby area a few weeks ago.
Beautiful weather, great views and one more 20 km hike to add to my end-to-end.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Assignment-8 Wikis
I have been aware of Wikipedia and the ability to add, change and delete information by its users. I have a concern with the information in Wikis being posted by anyone and everyone. I have been involved in courses where the instructor has said not to use Wikipedia as an authoritative source of information. That just tempted me to use it, and I did find the information useful on Wiki as a starting point which was helpful in bringing my thoughts and ideas together to complete the assignment. I used other authoritative sources to site.
Recently I was looking for information on a rural township community centre and did a Google search and one of my hits was a wiki source. It provided a contact name and phone number of an individuals name in which I recognized. I contacted this person and discovered he was no longer the contact person. Wiki is providing outdated information in cyberspace.
The SJCPL Subject Guides had all the information about their library on a wiki as a pathfinder. As I went to edit one of the articles a page came up which asked for a password and that it could only be edited by SJCPL staff. Good security measure to have in place having the option for only staff to edit particular areas of a wiki. A Wiki on our library site could be a place for patrons to share their likes and dislikes about what they have read or maybe a blog might be more appropriate.
The Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki looks like another impressive information site and once again each person who wants to edit has to confirm e-mail addresses because of vandalism problems. I am not sure where I saw a list of programming ideas for children on Charlotte's Web and other book topics and some blogs about books, etc. There was some great ideas, but now I can't find them :-(. So maybe too much is not a good thing. I could see us sharing ideas among staff, and creating an i-bistro manual for staff which could be edited when changes occur and easily accessible by all staff when in "desperate need" of the correct library procedure.
The Waterloo Way Wiki is part of the big picture "The Waterloo Way-Home of the Waterloo Region Entrepreneur Hall of Fame". It caught my attention because of the featured entrepreneur Mike Lazaridis. I was almost disappointed on the featured entrepreneur's small amount of info compared to others local names of interest, but then realized I had to search deeper for the whole article. All these things to do and remember, where does it end or should I say "begin"! This wiki site is looking for you to share a story or add to one which is already there. This Wiki venture could really bring some great additions of information for the Waterloo Way.
With my own experiences and after looking at the different Wikis which show us a variety of ways to use this tool, I would be cautious if implementing Wiki into our library system.
Recently I was looking for information on a rural township community centre and did a Google search and one of my hits was a wiki source. It provided a contact name and phone number of an individuals name in which I recognized. I contacted this person and discovered he was no longer the contact person. Wiki is providing outdated information in cyberspace.
The SJCPL Subject Guides had all the information about their library on a wiki as a pathfinder. As I went to edit one of the articles a page came up which asked for a password and that it could only be edited by SJCPL staff. Good security measure to have in place having the option for only staff to edit particular areas of a wiki. A Wiki on our library site could be a place for patrons to share their likes and dislikes about what they have read or maybe a blog might be more appropriate.
The Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki looks like another impressive information site and once again each person who wants to edit has to confirm e-mail addresses because of vandalism problems. I am not sure where I saw a list of programming ideas for children on Charlotte's Web and other book topics and some blogs about books, etc. There was some great ideas, but now I can't find them :-(. So maybe too much is not a good thing. I could see us sharing ideas among staff, and creating an i-bistro manual for staff which could be edited when changes occur and easily accessible by all staff when in "desperate need" of the correct library procedure.
The Waterloo Way Wiki is part of the big picture "The Waterloo Way-Home of the Waterloo Region Entrepreneur Hall of Fame". It caught my attention because of the featured entrepreneur Mike Lazaridis. I was almost disappointed on the featured entrepreneur's small amount of info compared to others local names of interest, but then realized I had to search deeper for the whole article. All these things to do and remember, where does it end or should I say "begin"! This wiki site is looking for you to share a story or add to one which is already there. This Wiki venture could really bring some great additions of information for the Waterloo Way.
With my own experiences and after looking at the different Wikis which show us a variety of ways to use this tool, I would be cautious if implementing Wiki into our library system.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Assignment-7
Assignment-7
Jennifer's introduction to Assignment -7 caught my attention. “No matter what type of organization you are apart of, the implementation of Web 2.0 tools helps foster a sense of trust and openness with your community by: allowing them direct input into designing and implementing services; providing an opportunity for feedback and; by demonstrating a eagerness to listen and respond to their needs.” I can see where these tools will help foster a sense of trust and openness and for the remaining part of this statement I feel it is only as good as the organization implementing it. Are we, as a library system ready to take this on? Will we have trained staff and the time designated to demonstrate “an eagerness to listen and respond to “their” needs. Or will we be creating a beast “information overload to the employees of our library”. KISS is my motto “Keep It Simple Silly” (I prefer using silly rather than stupid.) Is our library system ready for the change and at what increments will this happen? How does this fit into the big picture? These are some of my thoughts and reflections.
The Article by Meredith Farkas
Some good points are brought out by Farkus, she has introduced some pros and cons, misconceptions and misunderstandings, about Library 2.0. The confusion of what is what, opinions which are different and has led to mayhem in this technology world of discovery. Some took it a step further used it and have not updated for some time and don't follow through with using it. The comments on distance learners interested me and I agree with Farkus, as I just finished my distance courses and whatever I could get online “the better”. I was part of OntarioLearn which is a partnership of 22 Ontario Colleges who design and deliver online courses for their students. Courses are shared by the consortium so that no courses are duplicated. I did use some local libraries to get some of my information, but it was better to get as much as I could online 24/7. Is that the need of our patrons? Probably some and I am sure more will go in the virtual direction in the future, but not all patrons? We will have to look at our clientele and go in the directions according to their needs using whatever Web 2.0 tool we feel works best. My overall perspective is
outlined in the first paragraph on my comments to Jennifer's introduction remarks.
“Power from the People: Assessing the New Online Participatory Tools for Your Organization” has some very good points to consider about whether your organization should blog, provide online videos, RSS feeds and much more. Lots of stuff to consider and ponder. The “Away from the “iceberg”” article has some good points about the progress forward which will have to happen one library at a
time. And “To better bibliographic services” point out a number of significant ways library services can and should change. As you stated it's many things to many people and right now I'm somewhat interested in the direction Web 2.0 will take in the library world. Web 2.0 is BIG and what it means to me is “too much information”.
Jennifer's introduction to Assignment -7 caught my attention. “No matter what type of organization you are apart of, the implementation of Web 2.0 tools helps foster a sense of trust and openness with your community by: allowing them direct input into designing and implementing services; providing an opportunity for feedback and; by demonstrating a eagerness to listen and respond to their needs.” I can see where these tools will help foster a sense of trust and openness and for the remaining part of this statement I feel it is only as good as the organization implementing it. Are we, as a library system ready to take this on? Will we have trained staff and the time designated to demonstrate “an eagerness to listen and respond to “their” needs. Or will we be creating a beast “information overload to the employees of our library”. KISS is my motto “Keep It Simple Silly” (I prefer using silly rather than stupid.) Is our library system ready for the change and at what increments will this happen? How does this fit into the big picture? These are some of my thoughts and reflections.
The Article by Meredith Farkas
Some good points are brought out by Farkus, she has introduced some pros and cons, misconceptions and misunderstandings, about Library 2.0. The confusion of what is what, opinions which are different and has led to mayhem in this technology world of discovery. Some took it a step further used it and have not updated for some time and don't follow through with using it. The comments on distance learners interested me and I agree with Farkus, as I just finished my distance courses and whatever I could get online “the better”. I was part of OntarioLearn which is a partnership of 22 Ontario Colleges who design and deliver online courses for their students. Courses are shared by the consortium so that no courses are duplicated. I did use some local libraries to get some of my information, but it was better to get as much as I could online 24/7. Is that the need of our patrons? Probably some and I am sure more will go in the virtual direction in the future, but not all patrons? We will have to look at our clientele and go in the directions according to their needs using whatever Web 2.0 tool we feel works best. My overall perspective is
outlined in the first paragraph on my comments to Jennifer's introduction remarks.
“Power from the People: Assessing the New Online Participatory Tools for Your Organization” has some very good points to consider about whether your organization should blog, provide online videos, RSS feeds and much more. Lots of stuff to consider and ponder. The “Away from the “iceberg”” article has some good points about the progress forward which will have to happen one library at a
time. And “To better bibliographic services” point out a number of significant ways library services can and should change. As you stated it's many things to many people and right now I'm somewhat interested in the direction Web 2.0 will take in the library world. Web 2.0 is BIG and what it means to me is “too much information”.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Assignment-6
Del.icio.us is interesting and would be beneficial and useful as a work related tool within our library system and for our patrons. I like the ability to add favourites and tag items of interest and group them into useful categories. I can add all my bookmark to this account and it will prompt me to add any new bookmarks to Del.icio.us when I am bookmarking. There are a number of options and uses in which explored further could be useful to our library. Sharing web links, using combined keywords and tags for learning. Building a reading list and syllabus, do research and share with others by tagging and creating your own group. I like the ability to collect all needed information in one place and sign into my account at any time or any computer with an Internet. I will use this tool for my personal use and I can see Del.icio.us incorporated into our library system for staff and/or patrons as a work related tool.
Technorati is a site once again in which you become a member and access it with a pass and login. This site is for keeping track of blog conversations and what is happening right now. It will help to direct traffic to your blog. I found it easiest to search for blogs by subject and by using keyword or topic searches brought up related tags to check out as well. Obviously the tool is useful to many. As I don't blog on a regular basis and do not search for blogs the “appeal” isn't there for me.
I
Technorati is a site once again in which you become a member and access it with a pass and login. This site is for keeping track of blog conversations and what is happening right now. It will help to direct traffic to your blog. I found it easiest to search for blogs by subject and by using keyword or topic searches brought up related tags to check out as well. Obviously the tool is useful to many. As I don't blog on a regular basis and do not search for blogs the “appeal” isn't there for me.
I
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Assignment-5
Library Thing looks like a great tool to use. I have not used anything like this in the past to keep track of books I have read or what I would like to read. It has many options as to what you can do and use which would determine your level of involvement. This may be a tool for our library system to promote to patrons as there might be some interest. Possibly setting up a group for library members and/or staff to share.
I have used Facebook for a course and we had a group in which we could share a discussion on different topics. I also became “friends” with my adult children who use Facebook. I have put a few pictures on and communicated very briefly. I am apprehensive about this tool, as I feel too much is revealed to whomever is friends with my children as I can see who they are friends with etc. and my network within Facebook is very small. I know you have the choice of adding a friend or not. A comfort level for me would be using this tool with a group as I have would invite the members of the group. There is too much advertising on Facebook and the “Green because you can” is just one of many non-profit organizations which is available to you along with a number of other topics to become a fan or sent it on to a friend. Facebook has too much clutter.
I have used Facebook for a course and we had a group in which we could share a discussion on different topics. I also became “friends” with my adult children who use Facebook. I have put a few pictures on and communicated very briefly. I am apprehensive about this tool, as I feel too much is revealed to whomever is friends with my children as I can see who they are friends with etc. and my network within Facebook is very small. I know you have the choice of adding a friend or not. A comfort level for me would be using this tool with a group as I have would invite the members of the group. There is too much advertising on Facebook and the “Green because you can” is just one of many non-profit organizations which is available to you along with a number of other topics to become a fan or sent it on to a friend. Facebook has too much clutter.
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