I hadn't realised that Myspace was the most popular social networking site in the US and in Australia, and I found it interesting that New Zealand is aligned with the UK in their networking.
I only have a faily basic Myspace site at the moment, mainly just a few pictures on there. I'm working on converting a video I took into a format that I can upload too.
I originally started up my Myspace site when I discovered some of my favourite musicians major web presence is on Myspace, for instance the local band Telemetry orchestra and Ed Kuepper.
Now that our library has its very own blog featuring library news, there's no reason why we couldn't start using Myspace. We could include our news and also highlights from various collections. We'd be able to maintain it ouselves just like a Wiki, so we wouldn't need to rely on the council's IT section to keep updating the site for us.
We will be able to have a social network of our borrowers! That is a little scary.
With regards to Second life. The only exposure I've had to it is via an episode of the Simpsons and the only use I can think of that we'd be able to benefit from is to create versions of our borrowers. When one of them does something bad, we could have a field day tormenting them in Second life. That would be a booster to staff morale.
These are some of the things we can do easily in the near future. Imagine what's to come in a couple of years. There will be things that don't exist now, things that none of us have thought of! It makes life so much more exciting.
Gotta go - the record had ended...
17 April 2008
Maid of Bond Street - Online applications and tools
I'm actually very excited about my discoveries this week. I love Slideshare. I've wanted to create presentations for years, but don't have access to the software needed. But now I have and I can share my presentations with everyone.
I have used Google documents before at home for tables of council development applications for our precinct meetings. I refuse to use Microsoft Word and excel and only use Lotus at home and work so there are lots of compatability issues as the Microsoft products won't open anything created using Lotus.
Google docs gets around this. I don't have to worry about compatability anymore!
It is very easy to create a document, edit it and share it.
At work we could use this to get documents from the draft stage to the finnished product a lot quicker. And the person who created the document wouldn't have to do all the work themselves. The only thing I'm worried about is the legality of using this for council business as we are no longer in control of backing up our work.
I have used Google documents before at home for tables of council development applications for our precinct meetings. I refuse to use Microsoft Word and excel and only use Lotus at home and work so there are lots of compatability issues as the Microsoft products won't open anything created using Lotus.
Google docs gets around this. I don't have to worry about compatability anymore!
It is very easy to create a document, edit it and share it.
At work we could use this to get documents from the draft stage to the finnished product a lot quicker. And the person who created the document wouldn't have to do all the work themselves. The only thing I'm worried about is the legality of using this for council business as we are no longer in control of backing up our work.
16 April 2008
She's got medals - Mashups
I'm already familiar with musical mashups as they've been around for some time now. David Bowie's 2004 single release "Rebel never gets old" was a mashup of two of his older singles, "Never get old" & "Rebel rebel".
I've now discovered there's a whole lot more to mashups.
Our library could use Google maps along with Streetview (when the local one is launched) to show our branches on our catalogue to make it easier for the public to find us.
Here's a mashup of my photo added to a calendar:
The library could also use mashups involving the catalogue so our members could use search results and data in their own applications at home.
I've now discovered there's a whole lot more to mashups.
Our library could use Google maps along with Streetview (when the local one is launched) to show our branches on our catalogue to make it easier for the public to find us.
Here's a mashup of my photo added to a calendar:
The library could also use mashups involving the catalogue so our members could use search results and data in their own applications at home.
Join the gang - Podcasts and audio
I didn't realise there were so many podcasts available. Educational, informative, fun, songs, video and radio programmes. I've discovered an interview I missed whilst I was at work on my local radio station. I was able to download the podcast and will now be able to listen to it!
A lot of material is being archived which is good as much of it is transient in nature. It's great for timeshifting programmes too.
A number of libraries are making use of podcasts and content is varied as you'd expect from libraries. I particularly liked the he way some libraries podcast their author talks and storytimes. I can see no reason why we couldn't podcast our forthcoming author talk. We could test-drive our new video camera. We could also podcast our storytime and lap-sit sessions so children who can't make it to the library due to poor weather or illness are still able to see the stories being told, or join in with the songs from home.
A lot of material is being archived which is good as much of it is transient in nature. It's great for timeshifting programmes too.
A number of libraries are making use of podcasts and content is varied as you'd expect from libraries. I particularly liked the he way some libraries podcast their author talks and storytimes. I can see no reason why we couldn't podcast our forthcoming author talk. We could test-drive our new video camera. We could also podcast our storytime and lap-sit sessions so children who can't make it to the library due to poor weather or illness are still able to see the stories being told, or join in with the songs from home.
Come and buy my toys - Answer boards and social searching
It is very good to see that answers given by librarians are often rated quite highly. I'm not surprised though after seeing the range of responses given to some questions. Many librarians go out of their way to provide informative and complete answers.
I've discovered, much to my dissapointment that some people who can't help at all, still reply with silly statements like, no I don't know! or No, can't help. Looks like they are trying to build up their points, but it spoils it for the rest of the community. That's the problem with a system like this where points are awarded for each answer. This to me is a form of spam. I've just joined up with YA and have posted my first question and given my first answer. It looks like this is going to be fun. There goes my spare time! Only have 99 points... Must build it up!!!
I'm already a member of Eatability, which is the best of the restaurant review sites on the web. I often review and rate the restaurants I visit, mostly highlighting all the positive aspects (as they are running a business) and hope that this helps to encourage them to continue to provide excellent service. I always mark other reviews as helpful, if they are useful, as I love it when others rate my reviews as helpful.
Our library is about to implement reviews and ratings on our catalogue. It will be interesting to see what books are rated highly and which ones receive really low ratings. We may be able to use this feedback to help with collection development.
I've discovered, much to my dissapointment that some people who can't help at all, still reply with silly statements like, no I don't know! or No, can't help. Looks like they are trying to build up their points, but it spoils it for the rest of the community. That's the problem with a system like this where points are awarded for each answer. This to me is a form of spam. I've just joined up with YA and have posted my first question and given my first answer. It looks like this is going to be fun. There goes my spare time! Only have 99 points... Must build it up!!!
I'm already a member of Eatability, which is the best of the restaurant review sites on the web. I often review and rate the restaurants I visit, mostly highlighting all the positive aspects (as they are running a business) and hope that this helps to encourage them to continue to provide excellent service. I always mark other reviews as helpful, if they are useful, as I love it when others rate my reviews as helpful.
Our library is about to implement reviews and ratings on our catalogue. It will be interesting to see what books are rated highly and which ones receive really low ratings. We may be able to use this feedback to help with collection development.
07 April 2008
Silly boy blue - Tagging, folksonomies, delicious & LibraryThing
Del.icio.us has been quite useful for bookmarking my favourite or useful websites. Only problem is I have to have many of the sites marked as private as they are innapropriate for shared computers at work. A few of my sites are shared and i'll get around to sharing more in the future.
I like the way some quick search boxes appear within the listings, so searches can be performed from within Del.icio.us.
Del.icio.us would make a great library reference links page, similar to the one Sutherland put together.
I tried looking up Bookmobile in Technorati and got the same results in both the keyword and advanced search, so I thought this was a bit of flim-flam on the State Library's part, then I scrolled down and found the tag search box and tried the search there. I ended up with a much more useful list of 25 hits.
I now have a LibraryThing account.
I like the way you can add covers and see other readers who like the same books.
I'm about to start using GuruLib instead though as I like the way I can catalogue my CDs, although that will take me a few years to do! I'll have to stop buying them.
I like the way some quick search boxes appear within the listings, so searches can be performed from within Del.icio.us.
Del.icio.us would make a great library reference links page, similar to the one Sutherland put together.
I tried looking up Bookmobile in Technorati and got the same results in both the keyword and advanced search, so I thought this was a bit of flim-flam on the State Library's part, then I scrolled down and found the tag search box and tried the search there. I ended up with a much more useful list of 25 hits.
I now have a LibraryThing account.
I like the way you can add covers and see other readers who like the same books.
I'm about to start using GuruLib instead though as I like the way I can catalogue my CDs, although that will take me a few years to do! I'll have to stop buying them.
24 March 2008
Little Bombardier - video online
I've just been searching on Youtube and google video and discovered there is a huge range of videos available. Some are good and some are so bad, I can't understand why anyone would bother uploading them onto the web.
There appears to be a lot of great library related material available. One video I found relates to renewing loans via the web catalogue:
We have a lot of trouble explaining to our borrowers how to do this even though it is simple. It would be great to upload a video showing how to renew items on our catalogue and embed it on our website.
There appears to be a lot of great library related material available. One video I found relates to renewing loans via the web catalogue:
We have a lot of trouble explaining to our borrowers how to do this even though it is simple. It would be great to upload a video showing how to renew items on our catalogue and embed it on our website.
12 March 2008
When I live my dream - Wikis
My wiki
I've been having a lot of fun with wikis. I have my own web site that I put together many years ago, however I haven't updated it too much recently as it is very labour intensive. Now I'm thinking of ditching it and replacing it with a wiki which not only I, but my friends can help me maintain. I'm not sure if I want to let everyone play around with it yet.
At the moment, the only wiki I regularly use is a private one that my wife, a friend and myself use to help us organise our pending overseas trip. Just like the camping mob who used a wiki instead of email to plan their trip, we have found the wiki is the only practical way to do this when there are multiple people involved.
I started with a Wordpro spreadsheet that had the calendar on it, but had to convert it to a PDF so my friend could read it on his computer. He's email me changes and I'd add them then convert it and send it back to him. It was impossible to keep track of the emails too as they all had different subjects.
Our wiki has a number of pages linking off from the calendar. When there are flights involved, we click on the link to get to the flight page with more links to airports and the appropriate aircraft so we can view seating plans. For each city we've listed things we want to see or do with links to websites. There's discussion boards on each page which we use instead of emails. Even the emails from travel agents with quotes are uploaded onto a discussion board. I just can't imagine how we could plan this holiday without the wiki.
Library wikis
Some of the library wikis I have found have impressed me. I particularly liked the SJCPL subject guides wiki. Our reference links page is maintained by the council so it is hard to update, but this one would be so easy to maintain, add to and update links by any of the library staff.
Due to the council controlling our website which makes it hard to add or change anything, I'd love to have a wiki attached to our site where we could update library news regularly. We'd be able to promote our collections and activities.
Wikipedia
I looked up my suburb on Wikipedia> There is a very good and comprehensive article already there. I did find an error though. It mentioned that my locality was subdivided in the 1800s and there are now three streets in the subdivision still existing. There are really only two, and one of the named streets never existed in our area! It was very easy to edit the entry. Only took a few seconds to do and it is all correct now.
I've been having a lot of fun with wikis. I have my own web site that I put together many years ago, however I haven't updated it too much recently as it is very labour intensive. Now I'm thinking of ditching it and replacing it with a wiki which not only I, but my friends can help me maintain. I'm not sure if I want to let everyone play around with it yet.
At the moment, the only wiki I regularly use is a private one that my wife, a friend and myself use to help us organise our pending overseas trip. Just like the camping mob who used a wiki instead of email to plan their trip, we have found the wiki is the only practical way to do this when there are multiple people involved.
I started with a Wordpro spreadsheet that had the calendar on it, but had to convert it to a PDF so my friend could read it on his computer. He's email me changes and I'd add them then convert it and send it back to him. It was impossible to keep track of the emails too as they all had different subjects.
Our wiki has a number of pages linking off from the calendar. When there are flights involved, we click on the link to get to the flight page with more links to airports and the appropriate aircraft so we can view seating plans. For each city we've listed things we want to see or do with links to websites. There's discussion boards on each page which we use instead of emails. Even the emails from travel agents with quotes are uploaded onto a discussion board. I just can't imagine how we could plan this holiday without the wiki.
Library wikis
Some of the library wikis I have found have impressed me. I particularly liked the SJCPL subject guides wiki. Our reference links page is maintained by the council so it is hard to update, but this one would be so easy to maintain, add to and update links by any of the library staff.
Due to the council controlling our website which makes it hard to add or change anything, I'd love to have a wiki attached to our site where we could update library news regularly. We'd be able to promote our collections and activities.
Wikipedia
I looked up my suburb on Wikipedia> There is a very good and comprehensive article already there. I did find an error though. It mentioned that my locality was subdivided in the 1800s and there are now three streets in the subdivision still existing. There are really only two, and one of the named streets never existed in our area! It was very easy to edit the entry. Only took a few seconds to do and it is all correct now.
03 March 2008
We are hungry men - RSS feeds (a few days on)
I've now got RSS feeds Bloglines and on My Yahoo. I've also got an RSS toolbar on my Firefox browser at home, however that isn't as useful for work related feeds as we use the inferior internet explorer at work. I prefer Bloglines though for my RSS feeds. It's one of my bookmarks on my internet homepage.
I love the way I can add some of the sites I like to look at every now and then and check if there are updates in one place.
I've added a weather site that had an RSS button on it and I've found a David Bowie site that didn't have any RSS button or RSS feed info on it, from memory that was the same situation with the Powerhouse museum's pic of the day. Anyway they both update regularly when there's new info or pics on the sites.
With regards to the use of RSS in libraries. I'd like to see it used for our new items lists. Currently I print up one each month costing us $16.00 each time, just on printing. If our users were able to view new items through their RSS readers then we could cut down on the number of copies printed. Another advantage would be the number of collections listed each month wouldn't need to be limited to the three collections (due to volume) printed each month.
I like the way Sutherland library has an RSS feed from their news page and loved the way they have all the different buttons for the different readers to select from.
Somehow I don't think we'll be doing that though as we ususally update our library news once every year or so!
I love the way I can add some of the sites I like to look at every now and then and check if there are updates in one place.
I've added a weather site that had an RSS button on it and I've found a David Bowie site that didn't have any RSS button or RSS feed info on it, from memory that was the same situation with the Powerhouse museum's pic of the day. Anyway they both update regularly when there's new info or pics on the sites.
With regards to the use of RSS in libraries. I'd like to see it used for our new items lists. Currently I print up one each month costing us $16.00 each time, just on printing. If our users were able to view new items through their RSS readers then we could cut down on the number of copies printed. Another advantage would be the number of collections listed each month wouldn't need to be limited to the three collections (due to volume) printed each month.
I like the way Sutherland library has an RSS feed from their news page and loved the way they have all the different buttons for the different readers to select from.
Somehow I don't think we'll be doing that though as we ususally update our library news once every year or so!
27 February 2008
There is a happy land - RSS feeds
I'm really looking forward to working out how to use RSS feeds. I had a go a few months back and couldn't work it out at all, ao I gave up. This is one of the main reasons why I wanted to partake in this programme.
26 February 2008
Love you till Tuesday - Flickr success!
Well I've now posted a bunch of my personal family photos and excellent pictures of Sydney Harbour (as my sister-in-law lives in South Australia) in a couple of sets. She's viewed them last night and added me to her contact list. I've discovered she is already a Flickr member, so i've also been able to view her family photos too. She's a keen photographer too, so interesting times ahead!
25 February 2008
Rubber band - Flickr
I've finally mastered Flickr. I've been trying to find a way for my sister-in-law in South Australia to view some of my photos, but other than emailing them to her, wasn't sure how to go about it.
Now that i've got a Flickr account, I'll be uploading some of my photos for her to see.
I've noticed some of the library pictures on Flickr are fun, so he're my first library picture taken at the end of last year. The dog was known to the dog-catcher, so must have escaped from home on prior occasions. He had a great time running through the library.
Now that i've got a Flickr account, I'll be uploading some of my photos for her to see.
I've noticed some of the library pictures on Flickr are fun, so he're my first library picture taken at the end of last year. The dog was known to the dog-catcher, so must have escaped from home on prior occasions. He had a great time running through the library.
Looking around Flickr I've noticed there are a lot of arty photos and some really great photos and even photos I would have deleted from my camera if I had taken them.
I love high dynamic range pictures, so I looked up hdr and found this 500 series Shinkansen. When I was in Japan around 9 years ago I was in a suburban train and saw an ad for this train on the wall. I ended up ugrading my cross country ticket so I could ride on it.
20 February 2008
Sell me a coat
Stephen Fry mentioned how he missed a Dr Who episode when he was younger and at the time he couldn't do anything about it except look at the TV guide each week for a re-run.
That reminded me of the same situation I was in. I was watching an episode of Star Trek (the original series) many years ago when half way through the episode the picture went blank. For a long time afterwards I checked the guide for a repeat of that episode, till I forgot which one it was. Since then we've had the DVDs available and I was able to watch all the episodes again.
It is amazing how much old stuff from when we were growing up is now available, either on the web or on DVD. At the time it was all fairly transient, you'd watch it once then move on. Now we can re-live a fair bit of it whenever we want.
As much of this content is available on the web, libraries need to get in on the act, possibly by becoming a portal and making access easy.
It will be interesting to see what our council's will let us do. Some appear to be more open-minded than others. I know our council is frightened at the prospect of the public being able to interact on our site "What if they say something negative about council and it's there on our site for all to see?"
Looks like there are some exciting times ahead for libraries.
That reminded me of the same situation I was in. I was watching an episode of Star Trek (the original series) many years ago when half way through the episode the picture went blank. For a long time afterwards I checked the guide for a repeat of that episode, till I forgot which one it was. Since then we've had the DVDs available and I was able to watch all the episodes again.
It is amazing how much old stuff from when we were growing up is now available, either on the web or on DVD. At the time it was all fairly transient, you'd watch it once then move on. Now we can re-live a fair bit of it whenever we want.
As much of this content is available on the web, libraries need to get in on the act, possibly by becoming a portal and making access easy.
It will be interesting to see what our council's will let us do. Some appear to be more open-minded than others. I know our council is frightened at the prospect of the public being able to interact on our site "What if they say something negative about council and it's there on our site for all to see?"
Looks like there are some exciting times ahead for libraries.
18 February 2008
Uncle Arthur - where it all began
I liked the way there was a link to Wikipedia for the definition of Lifelong learning. A number of years ago many students wern't able to reference Wikipedia as a source of information in asignments, however now we are finding it is one of the first ports of call.
I've found when researching subjects I have a vast knowledge of, the printed encyclopaedias sometimes have factual errors or ommissions (possible due to space limitations) which make articles somewhat misleading. Wikipedia on the other hand appears to be more comprehensive.
It goes to show you how the internet has evolved over the last few years and the input of many individuals is helping to produce a very useful information source.
I've found when researching subjects I have a vast knowledge of, the printed encyclopaedias sometimes have factual errors or ommissions (possible due to space limitations) which make articles somewhat misleading. Wikipedia on the other hand appears to be more comprehensive.
It goes to show you how the internet has evolved over the last few years and the input of many individuals is helping to produce a very useful information source.
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