#23 Thoughts on the programme

This was a wonderful programme to have been involved with. I learnt lots! About a year ago when I first started hearing about web 2.0 and learning 2.0 I wasn't even sure what these things were - I would never have imagined I would now have done so many new things.

My favourite thing was Library Thing. I will continue using this after the project is over - and have got my family using it too.

I was very pleased to have learnt about RSS also.

The programme has certainly inspired me to keep learning.

#22 downloadable audio books

I can see lots of potential with downloadable books. However I have to admit I am someone who (quite old fashionably) still likes to have a book to hold. I don't ever read audio books - I am not sure why I am so attached to being able to read a print version rather than listening to audio???

I listened to Rapunzel on audio for this activity and was quite surprised at the beginning - I thought I knew the story well but the beginning wasn't familiar to me at all.

#21 Podcasts

Had a look at a few podcasts. I found podcast.net the most useful. I can definently see how this coudl be relevant to library services. There were already lots of podcasts available of author talks. Also I have heard people talk about podcasts of story time. And of course podcasts can also be used for learning tools (such as learning 2.0). There are definently good implications for libraries.

extreme breakdancing

And this is what i wish i break like...

#20 YouTube

As a lot of you may know I am a bit obsessed with dance - and at the moment I am particularly obsessed with trying to teach myself to breakdance! So I decided to see if there were any videos on Youtube that showed how to breakdance and there were heaps. Here is one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3JgqFh1Wjg Hope you all get inspired by this and start dancing.

#19 Web 2.0 awards

This was fun to explore what other sites are out there. My favourite was www.last.fm This site enables you to find suggestions for music you may like. I love getting ideas of things to listen to/read/watch etc (this is part of why I loved librarything because i love getting book suggestions). It is always a little depressing realising how predictable I am though - there suggestions are usually so spot on that it makes me feel very predictable.

#18 Zoho

Initially had some trouble signing up to Zoho - firstly web marshall blocking it and than had trouble selelcting username (everything I tried gave a message that it was already taken - even when i resorted to absolutely crazy usernames that i am sure were not taken...???) But in the end all was set up and I was able to play around with this. It was very interesting - i didn't know such a thing existed.

It will be interesting to see what implications such web based products as Zoho have on microsoft ???

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

This was great to have the chance to actually edit a wiki - and very easy! Although i did make a mistake at first - I put my URL in brackets [ ] and when I viewed it the brackets were of course there i.e. my entry displayed as [http://mylearning20blog.blogspot.com/] which wasn't really correct. But it was so easy to go back and fix!

The only thing was that we needed to add the password and our email addresses which it didn't mention in the instructions.

#16 Wikis

There seems to be lots of useful implications for wikis in public libraries. I was particulary interested in the subject guide wiki http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page. I think Wikis provide people with a way of quickly and easily adding information. This can be useful as both an internal resource for staff (such as training wikis) and also for the public. For example it got me thinking about ways a wiki could be used as a reader services tool - updating suggested reading lists/who writes like/entries about favourite authors. And this could be something that not just library staff could use but library borrowers too. I guess some people would worry about what people would add (if we let anyone add and edit entries they could put anything - not necessarily correct info...) but I think if we truly embrace web 2.0 this is about enabling everyone to be involved and you have to take some risks and have a bit of faith...

#15 library 2.0

Lots of intersting ideas - and good for anyone wondering why we are learning about web 2.0. The readings for this week really highlight why we are all learning about this and the impact it can have on our library service.
I found some good points in Into a new world of librarianship http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/3.htm He highlights how important it is for libraries to be user centred.
Here are some of the points about web/library/librarianship 2.0 that stood out to me

• Involves users from the get go in planning and launching services based on their needs.
• This librarian does not buy technology for the sake of technology.
• This librarian recognizes how quickly the world and library users change with advancing technology. Project timelines that stretch on for months simply do not work in Library 2.0 thinking.

#14 Technorati

Technorati definently seems useful for finding blogs - if I wanted a blog on a particular topic I would go to technorati to find something. The ability to look by posts or blogs is helpful.
When searching for learning 2.0 I found some interesting sites and even Virgo Blue from our library! The advanced search options were also helpful.

I was a little surprised by the most popular blog http://www.boingboing.net I can't imagine why this is the most popular blog of all the blogs out there??? I can't imagine I will be reading it again...

I think I am most likely to use the search option to find blogs on specific topics rather than use the popular option. Maybe this would be good for people who just want to kill a lot of time but I don't think I am that likely to just stumble on something that I find really interesting this way.

#13 Del.icio.us

I have been using Delicious for a while now and find it very handy. When I find a website i like or think i may want to look at another time i add it to delicious. It is so annoying when i am after information and i know i have seen it on the web before but can't remember where or what page or how i stumbled across it previously. Del.icio.us prevents me from having this frustration. I just go to my delicious page and i can easily access the page again. I find it especially helpfull since i am often using different pc's (sometimes at Springvale, sometimes Dandenong, sometimes outside of work) and Delicious ensures i can access these web pages from anywhere.

#12 Rollyo

I had never used Rollyo before and was surprised at how straight forward it was. I think there are lots of great implications for this. You could create your own metasearch engine. I used it to create a search tool for book reviews and also one for cd reviews. This could be a real time saver. Instead of going to several different web pages and doing the exact same search over again I can now search just once and get access to the results of many web sites. For example, when i use my book search I get results from metacritic and the guardian librarything etc.

#11 Library thing

I LOVE library thing. Very fun. I love finding ideas for what else to read - viewing their suggestions, looking at the reviews, etc.

My mun and sister have now joined library thing too!

I have added some images of the books in my library to my blog too.

#10 -playing with image generators

My creation
Originally uploaded by debbiehutch2003

lots of fun things here. I turned a photo of camel riding in the sahara into a lovely stamp. Hope you all like it. This generator can be fund at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/frame.php

#9 Finding Feeds

I found all of the finding feeds tools a bit hit and miss. I found a few interesting blogs with them, but on the whole found that they all brought up a lot of unrelated stuff too. I did find some interesting blogs about restaurant reviews and some recipe sites too.

#8 RSS Feeds

well there were a few challenges in store with this weeks acivity - subscribing to RSS feeds. I have heard about RSS feeds and always thought they seemed very useful. However when ever I have clicked on the RSS icon on a web page and been presented with the XML code I have felt overwhelmed and thought there must be another way!! So I was quite looking forward to this week and feel very satisfied to have figured this out.'

There were initially a few hiccups - apparantly our computer security was disrupting the way that bloglines is displayed. It also took me a long time to figure out how to share my feeds and include a blogroll in my blog. But i feel very pleased when i finally got it!!! Here is the address http://www.bloglines.com/blog/DebbieHutch

#7 Blog about technology

It is strange how much technology has changed even in my life time. When I was at school we still had card catalogues. I remember when I started at Uni being shown the internet! It was the first time I had ever used it. I think about kids at school now - and I don't think of myself as that old!- and how they must use the internet all the time and yet when I was at school it never occured to us to use the internet - and we only used computers during our computer class. Although we didn't have that many computers at my school so we also had type writters!!

I worry about how fast technology is changing and how easy it is to get left behind. I don't own a computer at home and feel that I really should get one if I want to stay in touch with all the changes.

This is why I am finding this learning programme so fun, and important, as it gives us all a chance to find out about new things and hopefully realise that they are not as daunting as they seemed!

#5 more pictures of people reading

Vacationland
Originally uploaded by erik shin

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Originally uploaded by dhammza

#5 flickr -attemp 2

Originally uploaded by dev null

Well I got so carried away before exploring flickr that I decided to create a calendar. However, I think that was actually activity #6! So I better do #5 again and do it properly this time! So Here are some photos I found on flickr of people reading - it seemed appropriate given we are a library. And they are nice pictures too...

#5 Flickr

My creation
Originally uploaded by debbiehutch2003

Here is a calander I created in flickr. The picture is from my holiday in Siccily - this was the most beautiful island and the water the most gorgeous colour.

I am going to update more of my holiday photos onto flickr soon and i will add them to my blog too.

Oops - I completely forgot to do a part of week 1's activities - commenting on the 71/2 habits of life long learning. We were asked what habbit we find easiest and what hardest. Well i think PLAY for both -easiest and hardest. Playing is obviously fun and easy. But it can also be the hardest one. We all tend to think we are too busy to find time to play (there is always something else that seems more important). But I think it is really important to realise that playing is important. We need to make the time. Often we learn some of the best and most valuable thing when we think we are 'just playing'.

Week 2 Creating a Blog

Well week 2 done - my new blog created! And I had quite a bit of fun trying out each of the templates and changing the colours, etc.... Although in the end went with white anyway...

I am impatient to get started on week 3 now.