The end, sort of

I'm really sorry that this course is officially over! Only the party remains. I particularly liked reading about others' experiences with the same tools I was using; there was always something they discovered that I had overlooked, or they had a different viewpoint. I appreciated the comments that I got, though I do like comments, and often there were none (sigh). I also appreciated the guidance and feedback from you, Jenny. I'm sorry you won't be in attendance at Galt View for me to thank you personally. It will be interesting to see where we go from here. YZ

YouTube and you, me and everyone else

Yesterday I tried to include this YouTube clip as a gadget on my blog; I spent way more time than I care to admit trying to do this and it never did work. So now I added a URL enclosure link, something I found in the blog settings. The title of this post is a direct link to one of my favourite skits of all time.

I consider the Carol Burnett show among the classics of comedy, and I've watched this Tim Conway / Harvey Corman skit more times than I can count and I still laugh. Comic genius!

A survey of the teenagers I live with (aka The 2 E's) quickly got me straight on what they use to stay connected: XBox Live, Facebook, MSN. They watch videos and stay up to date -- even on politics -- on YouTube. When I say I'll email something to them they look at me like I've grown another head. Who uses email?

Podcastalley.com blew me away by the sheer multitude of podcasts; I scrolled through lists that went on seemingly forever, with really great names. http://podcast.com/ is the correct link to a nicely organized grouping of podcasts. I got closer to what interested me here, and found a podcast by Nancy Pearl, who has incredible insights into books and a shhhhing librarian doll bearing her name (hey, its closer to fame than we'll ever get): http://podcast.com/show/7077/

I finally figured out why I couldn't get into the Yahoo podcasts. This article: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yahoo_to_close_podcasting_site.php explains that "The site never came out of Beta before the plug was pulled. There's not much information available beyond an underlined non-link now at the top of the site reading "Yahoo! apologizes deeply, but we will be closing down the Podcasts site on Oct. 31, 2007."

So, its obvious that all of this is in a constant state of flux. I bet the 2 E's don't have their own blog! Its all very interesting. Its all a bit overwhelming after these weeks of layering one web2.o thing on top of another.

Avoidance tactics

Yes, its true. I'm doing my very best to put off what I know I have to do today... attack the dust bunnies before they attack us. See how nice I've been to everyone today, adding comments to their posts that go as far back as 2 weeks! I know how thrilled I am to discover a comment to one of my posts. And I could even put a positive spin on this, and claim that these are belated random acts of kindness.

But the sad truth is that I am only postponing the inevitable and necessary. And I must take responsibility for those dust bunnies, which are more cat/dog fluff than dust -- I'm the one who keeps praying that no more homeless kittas show up on our doorstep. I'm the one who got a big fuzzy dog who has an extra layer of fur she sheds on a regular basis. Yes, she looks innocent enough (posing, above)! But Angie is a Nova Scotia Duck Toller, and don't let anyone tell you you won't be able to stuff quilts with the amount of fur you'll become familiar with. And finally, even though the fish don't shed (yay fish!) I've got an aquarium that seems to get more populated over time. (free fish are available to anyone who even looks interested) I must be nuts.

Thank you:

I'd like to say how great this web2.0 course has been, in many ways. Not only are we learning some really great new things, but I think we have also found a way to reach over that divide that is always there when we work in different physical locations, and our paths cross on several times a year. The blogs have given all of us who participated a more personal face, and I think that's great.

So thanks to all of you. Thanks to Jenny for helping us navigate our way. I look forward to meeting everyone on Monday. And now I'm really going to do what I said I'd do today... YZ

Web2.0 test

Here is a chart I inserted that I'm not sure what to do with. Oh well!

So, here I am fiddling around in ZOHO. The toolbar is quite easy to follow, since none of it is hidden and it actually makes sense.... Its easy to see by this that I wish I was somewhere warm and that I'd be a very happy camper if that were so.

I digress. I like the fact that all the documents follow me wherever I have internet access. I admit to being a bit leery about leaving all of my important documents to the whim of the Net.

I like the variety of colours available. *pretty nice!*

I also like that I can transfer my writing to my blog (once I remember my user name and password!)

Something to try: Tabbloid

Today as I tried to catch up on my feeds streaming endlessly into Bloglines, I came across something that might make all of this less of an overload, something called Tabbloid. Here's the link, and it looks really easy: http://www.tabbloid.com/ Essentially, what happens is that you enter your RSS feed(s), choose where and how often you want delivery, and tada!!! you "Turn your favorite feeds into a personal magazine". You get a pdf version sent to your email address... and you can print it. How relatively old fashioned, considering that web2.o is supposedly doing away with this sort of thing. Maybe its the part of me that is still reeling from all of this information coming at me, and the idea of having something that even reminds me of a newspaper, is comforting. We don't even have to do the user name/password thing. And this comes to us via Hewlett Packard. Interesting... (this great image of a newspaper with thanks to just.Luc on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/people/9619972@N08/ )

A post in a blog about wiki

Note: after finishing this post, I noticed the negative tone, but I'm too tired to rework it. So be forewarned! The collaborative nature and open access of wikis, it quickly became evident to me, can be good and bad. The first wiki I looked at, "Library success" blocked me right away: "because of vandalism problems, email confirmation is now required... sorry for the inconvenience." Not a positive start to my exploration, but considering the benign topic of this wiki, there is a lesson to be learned here. "Front page" talked about information overload and had a section about "criticim of wiki" which included lack of reworking so the wiki quickly becomes old in its list. Obviously, participation is what you want if you start a wiki. I also found this particular site confusing and wouldn't have found a place to even start. Maybe a bit of information overload on my part. "Subject guides" looked promising, and I liked the idea that the subjects were user friendly and down to earth. When I checked Genealogy it included an article on using metal detectors. Interesting. When I checked Biography there was only one entry, and it was the profile of a librarian. Not what I had expected, and maybe that's why no one has ever added anything here. "Waterloo Way" had clear guidelines and stated the intent nicely. There was also a good section on Etiquette. I could imagine adding information to this particular site if I was so inclined. "Mfagan", which started out as Waterloo geographic content now has the comment that it was a "list of data sources but has expanded somewhat." Somewhat is an understatement; let's just say that it is now a collection that has spun out of control... what do job links have to do with this? To me, the point is that you have to keep on topic or you'll end up with something like this. I spent some time exploring Wiki Wiki Web, or Ward's Wiki, or (this shows you how long its been around for and its importance in the world of wikis) simply Wiki: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiWikiWeb. Yup, this is the granddaddy. It's been around since 1995. I thought this might be the most informative site of all, and I wasn't disappointed. There is a whole history of all the new developments, the turf wars, the deletion wars, and terminology only real wikifreaks (my term) could relate to. I had no idea wikis had such an interesting history. There is no doubt wikis are great collaborative tools. I could envision something similar to "Subject guides" in a library setting, where users can add local content. It would, however, make our "useful websites" section redundant. Wikis have become very easy to participate in, being WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). No degree or knowledge of programming language required. The user friendly interface would make it appealing for our users. Libraries should only enter into this after thoroughly examining the time element required, and the value of the end result. There has to be *active* participation to make a wiki work. There also has to be an appealing face put forward to encourage participation in the first place. That would mean a new look would be an absolute requirement for our library website.

Libraries and Autism

This post is a little outside the parameters set for this course, and is not part of this week's assignment. However, the information did come to me through one of the feeds I've set up on Bloglines, which is like getting Christmas presents every day! "Libraries and Autism: We're Connected" is also an excellent example of how libraries can use Web2.0 to reach their staff, and simultaneously, their clients.

I think that everyone who works in a library (correction, everyone) should watch the 2 part video, and access the resources collected in this joint project by the Scotch Plains Public Library (NJ) http://www.scotlib.org/ and Fanwood Memorial Library (NJ) http://www.youseemore.com/fanwood/.

The video, though "a customer service training video primarily for library staff to help them serve individuals with autism and their families more effectively" can be accessed by anyone directly from a link on the libraries' websites. The website for the project is an impressive collection of resources on autism spectrum disorder (Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder or Rett's Syndrome). Please take the time to check this out:

http://www.thejointlibrary.org/autism/resources.htm

And this link to Autism Speaks gives a very good, basic overview of what autism is:

http://www.autismspeaks.org/whatisit/index.php