Thing 23

Can't belive that I have finally finished!! Although, I will have to do a bit more homework soon, to be able to use my new MP3 player (don't know much about them).

At first this programme appeared a mammoth task - something that I would never finish in time. I got stuck on the Mashups, but once I managed to sort it out (with a lot of help from FF staff), I was on my way. I had never heard of most of the tools examined in this programme, so this has been a real eye-opener. For slowies like me, it took a lot longer than the 15 minutes a day allocated (although I did pick up the pace a little at the end).

Once I got through Technorati, I seemed to become more motivated and the work seemed more straight forward. Got a lot out of having dedicated sessions in the training room.

Will have to revise some of the work I did at a later date, as seemed to run out of time.

Glad to have at last completed it.

Thanks

Thing 22

I already recommend that our customers use this database on our digital library for course work, but was surprised to see the scope of the material available. It was easy to create an account. After creating an account I took a bit of time to browse the collection and found an interesting book on asthma. I also did a search on cooking and found a few other ebooks to browse and add to my favourites. I like the way it gave other related search terms. Had a quick look at Kindle but will go back to it later, as it looks interesting and can store about 200 books.

Thing 21

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/books-podcast-archive.html
Had a play around with all 3 tools, then went into Yahoo Podcasts, then searched under Book Reviews Podcasts and selected the New York Times Book Review Podcast. In these podcasts Review Editor Sam Tanenhaus talks to authors, editors, critics and senior editor and best-seller columnist Dwight Garner about new books. I listened to the one on Joshua Ferris, the author of “Then We Came to the End”, Scott Stossel on biographies and John Leland on Larry McMurtry. Thought this may be a good way of including excerpts from some of our author's talks on our website. Added the RSS feed for this podcast to my Bloglines account.

Thing 20

Had fun completing this task - could browse these video clips for ages. In the end I did a search under 1970s and picked out a video relating to Quadrophenia. It was great, although it kept stopping midway through the video (could be a problem if we have too many YouTube links on our website). Thought this could be a good website tool (eg. if there was a relevant video on an author who was talking at the library, or if there was a video on a subject related to an event, exhibition, display etc). This was definitely one of my favourite sites so far.

Youtube video

Thing 19

I selected a travel tool called Farecast at www.farecast.com
This site won first place in the travel section of the Web 2.0 awards. I found it a good way of viewing flight details and prices for most of the major airlines (found Air New Zealand, Qantas etc.. flights) and for many destinations. I could even search for a trip from Whangarei to Auckland! It is meant to also provide useful predictions as regards the best time to buy bargain tickets, but there didn't seem to be many entries for New Zealand destinations. I think a link to this tool would be a welcome addition to the travel pages of our website as it is not difficult to use and has quite a simple interface.

Thing 18

Seemed simple enough to create a free account in Zoho Writer. However, it did take a few attempts to create a new document. Once I managed to create a test document, everything else seemed quite straight forward. Many of the features are similar to word. It was easy to post an image etc. I posted one of my test documents to my blog. It is entitled Test Document 1.

Test document 1

Zohowriter

This is an online processor that edits, stores and shares documents from everywhere. You can save multiple versions of your document and generate PDF, HTML and DOC files from it. Its formatting is similar to Microsoft word.

Zoho writer

Thing 17

Wikis can be great! I found them quite easy to edit, as compared to some of the other Web 2.0 tools. After submitting an entry to the Favourite blog page, I added Wuthering Heights to Favourite Books and a couple of films to the Favourite Movies page. Definitely will use the Discovery Resources links again. I may even create my own wiki, if I ever have the time.

Thing 16

Found the SJCPL subject guides and the wiki developed by the Princeton Public Library very interesting and relevant. Liked the way the wikis mix teaching with title recommendations, new books, images etc. I later went on to view other library wikis including an interesting Library technology training wiki, which Auckland City Libraries could adapt.

Thing 15

Before I started this programme, I knew nothing about Web 2.0 and so this process has been a steep learning curve for me. As part of this task I read three articles from the OCLC Next Space Newsletter including Into a new world of librarianship by Michael Stephens. I agree with a lot he had to say about new technologies and the future of libraries, particularly the role of librarians and libraries in anticipating the way users access, consume and create content. It will be an extremely challenging role. I like the way the author cautions that librarians should not buy technology for the sake of technology, but that technology must be put to the test along with other traditional services.

Thing 14

Have previously briefly looked at Technorati, but this session gave me time to examine it in more detail. Liked the advance search option, although it was a bit off-putting getting varying results when searching Learning 2.0 using blog posts, the blog directory and tags. The tagging option proved to be more helpful than I would have first thought.

The lighter side to this task was exploring the popular blogs, searches and tags. Who would have thought that a blog with the name Boing Boing would be such a favourite! The list of top searches were also interesting, with more predictable top searches (Google, MySpace etc.) alongside the more obscure Zoey Zane.

Thing 13

Briefly read through the Us.ef.ul : a beginners guide to Del.icio.us and then began to explore the site. Thought it was a great idea, although the format was not very user-friendly and I don't know whether the public in general would approve of how it is laid out. However, I did manage to set up a Del.icio.us account for myself and proceeded to create a few bookmarks - found their tagging suggestions quite helpful. Read a few of the user reviews which helped with my selection.

Thing 12

Signed myself up to Rollyo today and then found a few good Zealand cooking sites. This could be quite a useful tool for adding and updating lists for the website. Had trouble successfully installing a searchroll onto my blog. The Rollyo icon is on my blog but I was unable to get it to link through to anything. Will try and come back to this later, if have time.

Thing 11

This has been quite a favourite with me. I signed up for an account and set up a list of books under the tag fiction classics. These include works by Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen and Emily Bronte. Enjoyed being able to see reviews by other people who have read the book - this could be a good reader's advisory tool. Also set up a widget, linking my booklist to my blog. http://www.librarything.com/widget

Thing 10

Loaded an image from Letter James and used it to create a poster in FD Toys. Played around with quite a few of the FD toys - including the calendar and stream. The latter toy kept me occupied for some time. Of course, I searched chocolate. The only problem I found with this toy was that a few of the images didn't appear to be relevant, although I did find some mouth-watering photos.

Thing 9

29 November : Tried out the Technorati tutorial and also looked at Feedster and Sydic8.com. Ended up gettimg a Technorati account - may come in handy as had lots of postings when searched for Reference Librarians - was even able to watch a video. Found Technorati quite easy to navigate, although when I have time will go back to some of the others. The only problem with it was that when I searched under chocolate recipes it seemed to give me a lot of unrelated sites as well.

Week 4: RSS and Newsreaders

Well, have finally managed to get myself an account on Bloglines and have now got heaps of feeds. I also went onto the New Zealand Herald website and linked to some feeds there as well. Not sure when I will get time to read them all, but found this exercise easier than last week's tasks.

They call him Flickr, Flickr...faster than lightning

Had great fun exploring all the great Flickr mashups and toys utnil finally settling on the Andy Warhol Warholizer in the FD toys option. Montagr was one of my other favourites, particularly the one with chocolate cake in it. Learning a lot of new things.

Chocolate montage

http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php#

I used Montagr to search for images relating to chocolate. This is a great tool as it enables you to create an amazing montage of photos and images on your chosen topic and allows you to zoom in and out of individual images. Also enjoyed finding blue images on Flickr Color Pickr.

25 October 2007

Have now set up various email accounts - sometimes hard remembering my passwords, etc.
Had a nice surprise when got a Facebook invite from Jen, who used to larc and is now in London.
Had a bit of a relapse on this Web 2.0 but now getting back into the swing of things.

Thing 4

Enjoyed setting up a blog, although had to ask the experts within the department how to do certain things. Also, for a while I couldn't remember my password so had trouble posting anything.

Have set up an email account on gmail so I can have a contact address on Facebook.

Had a quick play around on Myspace, Bebo and Facebook. They all have different formatting. I think I prefer Facebook, although it looks like MySpace is the place for looking up musicians, gigs etc. Found some interesting blogs relating to Hunters & Collectors and David Bowie.

From the beginning

...whereby I am forced to have a germ of an idea of what to write. Obvious choice - food. Being raised in dairies, I can identify any chocolate bar at 20 paces - and - not only recognise it but know what it tastes like too.

Thought this would be a good site for people to add some of their favourite easy-to-make recipes.

So to start off....

The manatuous sweetcorn muffin recipe

Ingredients
1 tin of creamed sweetcorn; 2 beaten eggs; pinch of salt pepper and sugar;
4 cups flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 1 cup milk;
40 gm melted butter; 1 cup cheese; pinch of cayenne pepper.

Extras
Can add parlsey, finely chopped celery, broccoli, onion, mustard, bacon, ham, pineapple, etc. etc. etc. depending on taste amd what's in the fridge.

Method
Sift flour, baking powder, pepper, salt, and all other dry ingredients. Stir in the sweetcorn, cheese and extras. Add milk, beaten egg and melted butter.

If the mixture is too runny add a little flour or if too dry add a little more melted butter or milk. Spoon into muffin pans. Bake at 190 degrees C for 15-20 minutes until golden (may take less or more time depending on the size of the muffin pans - I always test with a skewer).

Good luck!