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

Rolf Hicker and icebergs as art

This is how you take the road less travelled. In my last post, I inserted a breathtaking, and copyrighted, photograph of an iceberg. I was called on it, and in future I will keep this in mind before blithely using someone else's art without at first asking, or giving credit where it is due.

I removed the photograph this afternoon, and used the 'contact us' on the website to request permission to use it; I was amazed that I got a response, and approval, so quickly and easily.

So, here is a link to the incredible photography of Rolf Hicker (who is also the webmaster), whose only requirement for my humble blog to use his work is to "provide a valid link to our iceberg pictures".

http://www.hickerphoto.com/iceberg-pictures-photos.htm

How does this have anything to do with libraries, and this course? Well, it means we have to do our research, have to make sure we give credit. It means that since we are in the public eye, we have to be conscious of it. As far as Web2.0 goes, I think that this showed me that even with all the fancy tools we are using, we should not forget the basics. Like asking permission, saying please and then thank you.

So thank you, Rolf, for allowing me to show a few more people your excellent work.

The library Titanic

Tonight I read Rick Anderson's 'Away from the "icebergs"'. Written by someone who is totally embracing the new technology, he says these threats to libraries are "remnants of a bygone information age, practices and attitudes that no longer make sense but which we have difficulty letting go." One of these, he says, is reliance on a print collection, because now everyone can have access to everything, and we don't have to have the information in print. He refers to a staggering drop in circulation (55% over 12 years) in his library, and suggests we have to be ready to move away from print, lest we end up in a life raft called the old fashioned book format, no doubt using our hands instead of paddles. I disagree with this in our library's situation. Though we have a lot of patrons who are Internet and Web2.0 savvy, we also have a very large client base who are not. An example of this is the number of Introduction to Computers courses we have run over the years. These are our clients... they are seniors, they live in a rural area with dial up, and they are learning to use a mouse. They read books; they like books. I agree more with the article I read yesterday, where the author stated that we have to evaluate our clientele and do what works for them. I *do* agree with the statement "if our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed—not our patrons". We have so little time to help our patrons as it is. If something is so convoluted they can't figure it out without a training session, then it won't be embraced by them... so it will be a dud. In the author's opinion, the "come to us" model of service is dead. He says "this means placing library services and content in the user’s preferred environment (i.e., the Web)". I agree that libraries are no longer the be all and end all where information is concerned. I disagree that the preferred environment is Web, at least in our library system (see above). That does not mean we ignore the new in favour of the old. It means that there is a balancing act going on here. If you fall out of the boat, you drown! It is important to keep in mind that we are serving a rural population, many of them very conservative, that considers the library a community meeting place, where they can browse, chat and ask for help... there's nothing leaking and this ship is sound. Maybe we just need to keep a vigilant watch for those big, lurking bergs, and steer a careful path. We can make ourselves accessible. One big step is a more attractive website, with a user friendly interface.

Addendum: In my enthusiastic search for the perfect iceberg, I neglected to pay attention to copyright. As it turns out, my first choice was copyrighted. I have contacted the photographer for permission to post it, but in the mean time, this stock photo (of a less beautiful, but still impressively sized group) will do just fine. Something to consider!!

The essence of Library 2.0

The way the week is going, I thought I'd best break down this assignment. Tonight I read Meredith Farkas article, and the comments back and forth. I appreciated her thoughts on technology and libraries, and I especially agree with her comments about the need to assess, and reassess, in order to provide our clients with what they want, not to show off the latest bells and whistles. As she says, "I know libraries can feel like technology is passing them by when they see all this cool stuff other libraries are doing, but if you’re focused on the needs and wants of your service population (including people in your community who don’t use the library), you shouldn’t worry." Those of us taking this course are learning a lot about web2.o. I wouldn't be surprised if my fellow RWLers would agree that many of these tools, though impressive, wouldn't get used by our clients. The people who want to interact with me come into the branch. It also takes time and effort to maintain these new additions. Thought provoking, and worth further discussion. YZ

Swimming in the Social Soup

Here I am in the Social Soup. I'm in the middle row, third from the left... We have a week off from our course (yesss!!) but I'm hooked on some of the web2 discoveries I've made. I'm adding more and more feeds to my bloglines account, and then discovered I could also use my yahoo site to do the same thing (that makes one too many choices right now). One of the things that showed up in my feeds today, and that I tried to insert (but couldn't), is a video about Generation WE. Its a book, but its also a website with this video. Oh yea of nonpolitical bent, be forewarned. It brought tears to my eyes, and it made me recognize why so many kids the age of my children feel lost, depressed, and hopeless. I know the emotions are being felt in Canada too, but what about the activism? This is a very smart group, with some powerful points to make. OK, here it is: http://vimeo.com/2032854 I am having fun with delicious, and soon I won't have those gazillion bookmarks anymore! The other day, Carol and I discussed how we could use blogging to communicate between branches and staff.

The Elf speaks

I got my first email from Library Elf today, telling me I had a book due tomorrow. It showed me that it was an Interlibrary loan, and the calendar showed me the other dates I had items due. Like most library staff, I sign out things on the fly, unlike our clients. So Library Elf is a great reminder. I can envision it being incredibly useful for some of our very busy, multitasking parents who are juggling not only their jobs and kids' school responsibilities, but also sports and the library. YZ On a personal note: If anyone is looking for a great bike ride, take the Cambridge to Paris trail. It is built on an abandoned rail line so you can cycle side by side, its mostly flat, runs a scenic route along the Grand River, and its part of the Trans-Canada Trail. Wonderful! http://www.grandriver.ca/index/document.cfm?Sec=21&Sub1=84&Sub2=0

Library Elf - what happens when there are no more overdue fines?

There is this great little creature, an online tool called Library Elf. Bookworm and I were talking about it today, and I decided, in the spirit of adventure of this Web2.0 course, that I'd blog about it. Its a simple username / login (no skill testing questions) and you can list multiple library cards. RWL is on the list.

I can tell Library Elf how early and how often to remind me of material coming due. I've now set it up as an RSS feed to Bloglines, but the reminders come to whichever email address I choose. I could consolidate my family's loans. How good is that? I think we'd be doing our clients a great service by promoting Library Elf. And it was Bookworm's suggestion to include a link on our website. Here's the link: http://www.libraryelf.com/ I also like this because it is a Canadian product. woohoo! YZ

I'm back on delicious. The chocolate is too (delicious).

Note to self: eat chocolate before falling apart. That way, at least you won't care about the falling apart. I went back to delicious. I tried every single email address I've used in the recent past. I finally found myself! and reset my password. I also figured out how to add any bookmark I like (thanks Lisa) and I'm good to go. Technorati was way too technorati for me; overwhelming, actually. You'd have to really be into this. I think I'm getting a good handle on what's out there, but there was just too much of a "good thing" for me to go beyond skimming the surface. Incredible, though. Good night, moon. YZ

I'm trying to find myself. Have you seen me lately?

OK, I have to admit that I recycled the title from a t-shirt I wore when I was still living in Calgary, but it's really how I feel!

Last night, I thought I'd do a bit more exploring of some of the tools and sites I've been learning about in the Web2.0 course. I've decided that if I'm going to go to the trouble of learning about them, creating user accounts and adding things, and then blogging about them, then I don't want my efforts to become orphans overnight. So I went back to Flickr and downloaded some of the photos I took on the hike I took at the Huron Nature Area in Kitchener on the weekend. I grew up in Kitchener, and I've always seen the city changing by things being torn down and by more strip malls being built. This area is totally the opposite, and it is a wonderful gift to the residents of the city. yay!! Then, on a roll, I decided to go onto delicious and see how many other people tagged some of my favourite websites. oh oh. In my last post I think I talked about how I struggled with a user name and password for this site. I've never encountered a site that made it so difficult for me to get in.

Well, now I don't know what either my user name or password are. So... if someone, anyone can use delicious to bookmark Local Initiative for Future Energy Co-op, would you perhaps share the newest of the 2 people who did this? That would be me.

If you supply me with my user name I'll give you chocolate! (and I will not criticize you if you use it for makeup...)

I thought I would blog out my frustrations. Everything was fine until hit 'publish post' and I got a very weird error message. Spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure it out (learned I am not alone, not a big help, thank you!) and by then I'd forgotten what I was going to say anyhow. This is my tale of woe. I'm going to do a more positive post about Technorati, OK?

delicious is now easier to spell

I've always wondered about the strange name, so with this assignment, I satisfied my curiousity about it; after Yahoo bought del.icio.us from developer Joshua Schachter for between US$15 million and US$30 million (!) it was redesigned, and (sadly) renamed. Its easier to spell, sure, but knowing its owned by yahoo sort of takes the "romance" out of it, y'know?? I had fun playing around with the bookmarks after my initial struggles with trying to create a user name / login combination that the site would accept. I don't have any more room in my brain for more usernames! I've done some tagging with Flickr, and I liked how this site offered suggestions. I was disappointed, though, that delicious did not find the website of my local paper, newhamburgindependent.com yummy enough to allow me to bookmark it. Or IBistro, which I use a lot. So there are limitations. Your little website of choice may end up being a crumb on the web2.0 floor. That's all I'm doing tonight. Oh yes, I guess I can add some labels (tags) to this post too before I go. Happy Thanksgiving (burp).

[global domination began yesterday]

I happily skipped into GREEN because you can on Facebook; it impressed me that this page has been operating since 2006. I checked out the other nonprofits from the link. Tempting to go further down that road, but its getting late. Will check that out later. Nice to see people of all ages and from all parts of the world paricipating; there are always party poopers, though, and I think I found the biggest one. I saw the note that GREEN had launched a website in January 2008. How great! Maybe they have (showing off her considerable knowledge ;-)) an RSS feed. Well, some big black thing has taken over the site, with the name as the title of my post. Something called SQUARED WORLD ENTERPRISED (tm). http://www.greenbecauseyoucan.com/Welcome_to_Squared_World_Enterprises!__Squared_World_Enterprises.html Who gets to trademark a black blob that takes over someone else's website?? The power of Facebook pales here, because people have been saying since September that the website doesn't work and no one has noticed. Or cared. Or done anything. Maybe they are ignoring it in the hopes it will go away... like global warming. Or maybe the new site was a hoax to begin with! Well, I digress. Lets not let ourselves go totally paranoid here. Facebook is an incredible social tool. Everybody does Facebook. I have an account. I don't use it much, but if/when one of my boys heads out to the far side of the globe, I imagine this is how we will stay in contact. Now on to LibraryThing. You dear sweet LibraryThing! I've had people rave about it, and I've checked it out, but until I took the time that this course asked me to I did nothing. Well, those days are over. I went nuts. I did a retrospective (a nice trip, thank you) of some of my favourite fiction titles. Only added very recent nonfiction. Total = 45. (see previous adjective, nuts) I'm very visual, and I love book covers! So though I tried to do my searches using the stalwarts such as the (misnamed on LibraryThing) National Library and Library of Congress I ended using the ubiquitous amazon.ca to get the covers of the copies I'd read. My big annoyance with LibraryThing?? Someone has already used my user name! I don't have enough brain cells to remember yet another new user name. Maybe we should be given unique user names at birth?? Anyway, this assignment was a great adventure. And I'm pleased to say that I'm using bloglines to track my feeds- 10 of them - and its great. I did add Community Development 2.0 to the list but the new assignment did not show up as a feed. Don't know what's going on there. Tomorrow is a full day, so its time to drop out of cyberland into dreamland. Yvonne

Too much news

I spent a lot of time on RSS and ended up with more information than my little brain is willing to hang on to. There's so much out there! I subscribed to other participants' newsfeeds (lucky them?) in the hopes that they can either shed more light on this for me, or they too will admit to being somewhat overwhelmed by this. I've got an embedded newsfeed on my blog, CBC books, which I am finding the most useful feed because it deals with new titles, awards and nominations for awards. Some of the other blogs are just ramblings and... well, I ramble quite a bit myself. I think this particular feed would be a good addition to our library's website for the reasons I gave for adding it to my blog. The RSS feed sites had a lot on them, but it would have taken me too much time to whittle down what I'd want, for the time I'm giving it right now. Maybe I'll go back later. I did not like http://www.topix.net/ because even when I narrowed it down by country and province, I found very little content on what was useful to me; this annoyed me so I let that go. I think the focus of these newsfeeds are more U.S. based, and that's not what I'm looking for. All in all, its been very interesting. Now I am off to ReThink Waterloo, where the energy co-op I'm secretary of (LIFE) has a booth set up. Looking forward to hearing Robert Kennedy Jr. speak tonight. Yvonne

RSS feeds: this has really opened a can of worms!

Well, there go all my excuses that I don't have time to stay on top of the news. Right now I'm on CBC's website, and its giving me step by step instructions on how I can get RSS feeds in an incredible number of subjects. I'm getting started now. I just reread the instructions for our assigment and its asking us to set up a bloglines newsreader account. I'm going to do this, but will likely add RSS to my yahoo account. I'm a member of two groups, and check the yahoo email daily; there is a limit to how complicated I'm willing to make my life. One of the things I'm really excited about is how much useful information I'm finding on other people's blogs. So thank you Pat for steering me to the Youtube RSS explanation; it was great! Now, on to exploring some more. Yes, I am having fun.

The new, Hockneyized Library and you

I must say that mashups were somewhat daunting. Thanks, Chris, for your pretty budgie image that led me to Hockney-ize family members, wind turbines, and finally (heaven forbid) the Library. I tried polaroid frames which led to pictures of columns and windows and I never did find the door! Then Flickr refused to recognize the url. But its in my photostream, so you'll see it if you are patient... If you have the time its easy to be creative with images because some of the tools are so simple. But some of them are complex, so "throwing something together" isn't really what its about. The image generators are amazing, all of them. It would take some indepth exploring to find what would be the most useful in our situation. To be honest... I wouldn't be doing this at work. I'd be doing it for myself; I would be interested in hearing how others would envision using it though.

Flying into Kyle

My son's g/f is visiting from New Brunswick. The last time he went to visit her, before Christmas, he was stuck on a train for 24 hours longer than he should have been (he swears he will never set foot on a train again). Now I'm checking WestJet's website and they are giving us a weather advisory, about Hurricane Kyle affecting flights into the Maritimes. Not sure what it is with our travel plans and the weather. She may end up staying here for an extra day... they won't mind! YZ

Flickr'd some images from SK

I've heard of Flickr, and now that I have some photos saved to the laptop, I could use them. I had a yahoo account already, so used that to jump into Flickr. Downloaded a couple of files and when I edited one to brighten it up and improve the focus, I added another one, just to edit it using picnik (or is it piknic). Then I created a short slide show. I found the Flickr very easy to use, very intuitive. I can see myself inviting my friends to share some of my travel photos. We could use slideshows to highlight library events, or our branches, when we have a booth at a public event.

Well, here I am in blogland

I can't help but learn something here. And considering that web2 has sort of swept over the landscape while I was busy doing other library things, I'm sure I will learn how to use it as it relates to the library. My concerns -- how to find time to do yet one more thing? Will something fall by the wayside? Considering I've got this far, I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do next. I have beside me "Blogging for dummies". (I kid you not) Yvonne