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.