#19. (Week 8) Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list, play with it and write a blog post about your findings.

I had an interesting time exploring the website Lulu.com. I was amazed that you could publish your own poetry, cooking, comic, and even e-books using this website. So you no longer have to approach publishers or buy expensive software, of course there is a charge for producing your books. You can get complete support from the staff at Lulu if you need help through the publishing process. It's a fun website to explore and would be great to produce a photo book or similar to surprise your friends and family with. One downside is that can only choose from set templates which is a problem if you wanted your book to look more personalised.

If you wanted to use this website in a library setting you could create a local history book similar to "Point Chevalier Memories" (published by Auckland City Libraries last year.) you can then sell them on Lulu.com or in your library.

#16 & #17 (Week 7) Wikis

I was familiar with Wikipedia already and use it often, so it was interesting to learn about other wikis, our Auckland library website tries to encourage patrons to join it so that they can add their own book reviews and discussions.

A great way to use wikis is by getting a person's opinion on what a book was like to them so that you get real criticism instead of relying on publishers' reviews that are like press releases and are always trying to promote the good things about the book. So use wikis as a guideline but don't treat them as gospel. For example I use Amazon.com to decide weather a TV show or a new CD would be good to purchase based on reviews I look at the publisher and public reviews and then try to pick up on what the majority of reviewers think. Of course you can also listen to half tracks or watch episodes to get an even better idea.

Being able to read and write reviews can really help library patron's decide on what they would like to read next. If you really love a book you can create a real buzz about it if enough people join in on the discussion. However there are some idiots who abuse wikis but you just have to ignore them. Overall I like the idea of wikis and being able to start your own page on any subject you like so you could really use it as a promotional tool for the library.
I explored the ACL PB Wiki and added my blog to favourite blogs.

#15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries.

In Rick Anderson's article "Away from the “icebergs”" he said that his library has had a 55% drop in circulation over the last 12 years, because of easy access to information because of the Internet. I don't know about ACL libraries over the same period but it seems that circulation has been up over the last few years (2008 in particular)and that there were vast numbers of patrons entering our libraries and taking out books.

Most people coming into our library still expect to want to take out books and read them at home. They also want to and need to speak to humans and many particularly the baby boomers and the silent generation demand this and don't have any interest in the Internet or other media for example: audio books. This is just my experience of my community library. We also have many patrons using the library just for the free Internet.

It would seem that if children are taken to libraries regularly they will pick up a love of books and also the physicality of books. I attended a customer service course through Auckland City Libraries last year and the teacher explained that the biggest users of libraries today is generation X, as they are raising families and introducing their kids to libraries at the moment. At my library this is definitely the case. Perhaps when generation Y grow up and have children they wont be coming into libraries as often as they will all have their own portable devices such as the ibook that will be able to download books and they will be so acclimatised to these new technologies that they will not crave the physical nature of books. There probably will not be physical libraries at all in the future and everything will be online, we will only exist as a virtual library where the public will download any book for free. Actually once libraries close and go online, books will cease to exist and there will only be blogs. People will still be required to pay for a new fiction "book" by either signing up to the authors or publishers blogs and paying for subscriptions. However I can see writers losing out financially in the same way the music and movie industry are losing out financially today with the rise of illegal downloading.

Overall there are many benefits to Web 2.0 (instant access to information) but of course there are many downsides especially to people like myself who love holding and reading real books and visiting libraries. In Dr. Wendy Schultz's article "Infinite Futures" she states that "Libraries are not merely in communities, they are communities: they preserve and promote community memories" this is why many of our patrons come into our library and they would lose their community if libraries were online.

#14 (Week 6) Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.

I joined this website and claimed my blog it was a bit confusing I think the claim went through. I tried to search for ACL learning in blogs and posts but the Web 2 blog doesn't come up. I suppose this site serves as yet another good source for finding specific infomation I found some interesting blogs on photoshop, vintage fashion and entertainment gossip. I don't know if I would use this site that much, I usually just "google" anything I need to find. Some of the links in this exercise do not work and may need updating, as I tried adding a watchlist to my blog but there was a message from Technorati saying they weren't offering this servce anymore. I also tried to seach for "ACL Learning" in Blogs and Posts but I couldn't find the blog. There are some interesting features on Technorati such as the top 100 blogs, the hottest blogsphere items and the tag search, however I don't' think I would use this site that often. Technorati perhaps serves as yet another useful advertising tool.

#13. (Week 6) Learn about tagging and discover a Del.icio.us

I was able to sign into this site by using my Yahoo account which I found very handy. I added my favourite vintage shopping sites, my favourite music sites and Auckland city libraries and a couple of "font sites" as I visit them regularly.
I think it's a great idea to be able to store all of your favourite websites in one place so that when you are using public or work computers you wont have to be typing them into google all the time.

This website would suit people that don't have their own computer and I can see the potential of this site as a useful research tool because you can have all the sites you have browsed in your research sessions saved instantly, it also works with single pages from websites. I liked the tagging function.

I think I would use delicious as I have so many favourite websites and I don't really want to clutter up the favourites column on my computer at home. I'm glad I was introduced to this site and look forward to exploring it.

#12 (Week 5) Roll Your Own Search Engine With Rollyo

I had never used this website before so great to get acquainted with it. It was another website that was easy to join and to sign into. I created some searches and tried them out, however they aren't coming up with anything as it kept coming up with this message: "Sorry, we encountered a temporary error processing your search"
Perhaps there was a temporary fault with the website.

Anyway I think in theory it's a nifty idea to be able to create your own searches and have access to other peoples search engines. It was difficult at first to add the rollyo search bar to my blog but with the Web 2 course instructions I was able to manage it. At least I'm getting the hang of how to add bars etc to my blogs and will be yet another useful tool for library work.

#10 (Week 4) Twitter, Tweeters and Tweets

I watched the YouTube video on Twitter and then signed up, I don't really think I would use Twitter that much, I would rather use Facebook to keep up with friends and I like RSS feeds for keeping up to date with things that interest me such as books and music. I would prefer to keep up to date with current events by visiting the NZ Herald website or Yahoo news as they are regularly updated.

Whenever I put keywords in the search box on Twitter for subjects I was interested in it often came up with no results so it was difficult to find things (I probably just need to explore twitter a bit more to get the hang of it). I have added a some twitter accounts to follow and I also linked my Blogger account with my Twitter account.

I don't see the point in posting everything little thing that you do in your personal life or following every little thing that a friend does in their everyday life, it is more interesting to follow famous people or to keep updated with the latest news on books or music. Twitter seems to be just another way for many people or companies to advertise their businesses for free so you are bombarded with ads like many of the other social networking sites such as Facebook. Libraries could of course use Twitter to let library patrons know what's happening at their local library.



Here is my twitter account link:


http://twitter.com/rocknrollbelle

#9 Week 4 Learn About RSS Feeds & Set Up a Bloglines Account

I had set up an RSS feed last year through work training at my site and also watched the tutorial on it, so I am familiar with RSS feeds. I have them set up on my computer at home and at work but I never bother to look at them much I usually visit the websites or read monthly e-newsletters. I had fun familiarising myself with my RSS feeds I've subscribed to some of my favourite graphic novel publishers such as Fantagraphic Books and Drawn & Quarterly. The feeds are just like blogs and many of them have really great photos and pictures added.

I've also subscribed to all the latest feeds on the ACL website about new books and DVDs that come into our library so I can keep up to date with all the latest for myself and patrons of my library, and I can also be of some assistance to those who inquire about RSS feeds.

The only thing I don't like about RSS feeds is that I often forget about them unless I actually click onto the feeds box and keep it open. I tend to take more notice of e-newsletters. I think about 2 hours went by while I was reading them all!

#7 (Week 3) Edit your Own Images Discovery Exercise

Before Picnik

After Picnik

I took a photo of some clivia plants (or fire lillies) at my library and did some editing with Picknik.

I played around with the colours to get more of a sci-fi look and produced some luminous colours on the plants and surroundings. It is a good tool if you don't have photoshop but you have to pay

more to upgrade to premium accounts if you want more features.

I found Splashup was a good site to use as it has very similar features to photoshop and looks the same. I would probably use this site more than picnik to edit photos and images.

#6 (Week 3) Flickr Mashups & 3rd Party Sites

I found it difficult to navigate my way around flickr at first (finding the different applications/mashups,) as I don't use these features at all didn't even know you could do things with your images on fickr so it's good to know they are there.

I use photoshop to edit my photographs and images at home, Flickr applications are perhaps easier to use than photoshop because you only have to add a picture of your choice and it is incorporated into the design for you. Photoshop is more complicated and takes a bit longer to achieve results like this mock up magazine I created as part of the discovery exercise

Flickr applications would be very useful for creating book displays and posters for library events as we don't have photoshop on our work computers so I think I will use it for this purpose.

I enjoyed making this magazine cover for the discovery exercise and I also made a Pop Art picture using create a "Pop Art Poster" from an image I found on Flickr! I'm looking forward to using more of these toys and applications lots of fun!

Exploring Flickr Week 3

I have been exploring Flickr this week. I already had an account but have only ever saved personal photograhs onto it, so I haven't really explored it much. I joined a few groups and found one related to libraries and librarians around the world, I didn't know that you could add your own images to these "groups" before. I'm also interested in vintage clothing so I also joined a vintage fashion group and saved a few other accounts to "my favourites" so I could have a good look at them later.
Here are two groups I joined...

http://www.flickr.com/groups/715543@N25/ (this is devoted to vintage fashion and fabric adds)


http://www.flickr.com/groups/librariesandlibrarians/