ebooks/audiobooks

Audiobooks have been considered a useful format of publishing for a while now, especially for people with vision impairment. They are also fabulous during a long car journey where you can listen to them on the way :)

eBooks are still establishing themselves in the user market, but have come a long way in recent years, especially with Amazon's development of the Kindle reader. *2014 update* EBooks have certainly made their mark on the library environment, with many retailers specialising in 'lending' through the library. We have considered eBooks in our library, but the timing was not considered right at the time. I have not yet had the opportunity to revisit the option of eBooks.

YouTube

I can definitely see the value of presenting video format online. It is also a great way to store assignments of students. Many great explanatory videos can be used in classrooms, as well as videos that may put a comedic slant on seemingly dreary topics.

Podcasts

I knew about podcasts and listened to a few because I've had to, but never really actually sought out podcasts of things I'm interested in. I am now subscribed to children's books and Hogwarts Radio :)

Podcasts are great news for school libraries in a sense that AV techs no longer have to tape things off the radio for student use, but download them online.

Hmmm legal (cheap) downloads for TV programs next maybe

Rollyo

Yay I used a Rollyo! I only did a small one of my fave bookshops so I only have one place to look for a book, but it's a start. I am unsure of using it in a professional sense, although it is easy, there are so many resources out there that if you put something together, you will always miss something and it would be a hell of a job to maintain.

Select Search Engine...Bookshops I <3Search The Web

Powered by Rollyo

*2014* Rollyo is another 2.0 application which is now defunct. I did not use this application any further than this tutorial, though it could have been used in a school library environment with selected subject sites and book review sites (such as GoodReads and Inside A Dog).

Wikis

I have had a bit of experience with wikis through Uni study, and while it was great to use, especially for a group project, it was a little difficult to edit as there were codes that needed to be entered to format it properly. Once you got the hang of that it was great.
A couple of our ICT classes at the moment are using wikis for project, though I think they have just started and can't say how they have found them yet. I think they are great for sharing ideas and for classes to all be able to work on a project together. The biggest wiki around, is Wikipedia. While it is a good source of general information, the fact that it can be edited by others, makes it an unreliable source for many assignments. This is something that students need to be aware of when it comes to wikis and using their information.

Delicious

First of all I am so glad it is no longer del.icio.us, how annoying was that? Second of all I can see huge potential for this to be used for us at work. I am currently working on a website for our library and was thinking of a topic pathfinder section, where websites on specific topics can be found.

By using Delicious instead, it would be easier to tag and put up only one copy of a website with multiple tags, rather than separate topic documents that would have to be updated each time something new was added.

This is brilliant stuff!!

RSS/Google Reader

I have actually been using Google Reader personally for a while now. I regularly use it for Book Review blogs, other librarians blogs, and any other relevant info that is able to be RSSed relevant to my work. My two favourites that I always look forward to are Unshelved and Awful Library Books *2014* Google Reader is sadly another tool that has ceased to operate. I was on maternity leave when this occurred, so didn't realise I had to move all my feeds into another reader and now they are all gone. Well, not gone, but I can't remember half of what I was following. There are other tools like Feedly which can be used as an alternative.

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking tool aimed at connecting people with friends, acquaintances, companies and anything else that may be of interest. While Facebook itself is often blocked by school networks, the school library could use it to communicate with students outside of school hours, as well as the parent community. I have had a personal Facebook for many years now, and follow many areas that are of interest to me, which helps me keep up to date with issues and organisations I am interested in. While Facebook is great for finding lost friends from years ago, I found I was not actually interacting with any of these people, and I didn't want people I didn't know anymore delving into my history, though I suppose if I didn't want it out there, I shouldn't put it there.

Myspace

I used to have a Myspace account, but I got rid of it when I moved to Facebook and wasn't using it anymore. I found that though it is a great tool, you often get bombarded with requests from musicians and authors trying to promote their wares. I think it has done fabulous things for those artists trying to get known.
As for school use, I believe that social networking sites are often barred by school networks and as such, would probably not have much effect when used by our school library.

Using Flickr

Pic6
Originally uploaded by allie83

Well I have finally joined Flickr, and have attached my blog to my account. The pic I am posting is one of our library book pyramid "pimped up" for the Book Safari theme for book week. There are other library display pics from this theme too.

Enjoy :)
Flickr is not only a useful virtual place to store pictures of what your workplace has done (as posted above), but also to facilitate searching of images which have a creative commons license, meaning no copyright is being breached.

Image Generateors

I have not had much experience with image generators, but now I realise where all of those funny picture posts have come from.

This is kind of morbid and freaky, but yeah, I thought it was amusing at the time :D


I found that a lot of the codes I was given to copy and paste to the blog had an error on them and Blogger wouldn't allow me to post. *2014* Image generators, while still used, have evolved into meme generators. Meme's are user created images that are usually funny and spread widely among internet users. Common memes are Grumpy Cat and the Keep Calm images

Second Life and virtual worlds

Wow, I hadn't realised that so many were invested in online realities. I'm very tempted to sign up but can see it draining away my time. The benefits for education would be great though, I am currently studying via Distance Ed and one of the lecturers is actually interested in using second life as part of the subject, which I am actually looking forward to, it is sometimes so much simpler to interact "face to face" so to speak, than through emails.

Personally though, looking at the videos and the about Second Life, it looks like a real time version of The Sims, probably the only video game to get me truly hooked, so Second Life would be a very dangerous time consumer.

The online gaming world really doesn't interest me, mainly because of my addictive personality (and that while studying DE is really NOT a good thing) but I can definitely see how some people get so immersed in it that they completely forget about their First Life

iGoogle

I find iGoogle really useful, both personally and for work stuff. My fave gadget is Google Reader, where I subscribe to about 30 odd blogs/news services to keep be updated in the world of libraries, books and more. One of my favourite subscriptions is the Unshelved comic strip, which can be found at www.unshelved.com

Until next time :)

Allie *2014 amendment* Unfortunately, iGoogle has been made defunct and is no longer available. This is disappointing, as it was a place to keep a lot of information in one place. I have not yet discovered an alternative, though I have not yet searched for one.

Google Books

I must confess I don't use Google Books as much as i probably could, though there hasn't really been an instance where I needed to.

Google Books would be great in my instance working in a library, if anyone came searching for a book but wasn't sure what the title was or who wrote it we could search on there.

I don't think Google is the new Microsoft. If it was, I'm sure they would be charging us as much as they could for the privilege. I think Google has actually surpassed Microsoft in many applications, and I look forward to seeing what they have to offer for the future.

Here is the link to the book I am currently reading now.

Never the Bride *2014 amendment* I still don't use Google Books for more than just trying to determine what a book title may be, however the scope of what Google Books can do since this course was undertaken has grown somewhat. Google Books provides searchers with reviews on the books searched (if they exist) and also information on where to purchase the books, and a link to WorldCat, where searches can see if their local library has a copy to borrow. It also attempts to be a 'one-stop shop' for information on books, like reviews, and user bookshelves, however I think GoodReads has that market cornered.

Google Maps

I LOVE Google Maps. It is one of my favourite sites Google as to offer. If I need to get directions to somewhere I use Google Maps. If I want to see what my house looks like from both the street and bird's eye view, I use Google Maps.

My husband and I recently looked at a house to buy online and once we found out the address, looked it up on Google Maps to see if it was really the land size we wanted.

I absolutely LOVE it!!

PS Uluru looks rather different from above eh?


View Larger Map *2014 amendment* There are many uses of Google Maps in a school environment. Students can map local areas, check in on major cities, and library staff could map where books of interest take place. In one recent example, a teacher did a charity ride through South Africa, and his progress was charted via Google Maps Ride for Zambia

Google Docs

I created a form for work which I may or may not actually use, regarding cataloguing requirements for department staff. You can view this at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AqCgdwWDU6WfdEx2VElfR1lZRlNmRXE2RGZsWWF6LXc&hl=en

I'm assuming that will work.

Google Docs is easy to use, and can act as a backup for users to save things so they are not lost in unforeseen computer glitches. Google Docs can also be used as a collaborative tool, where various people can work on one document without necessarily being in the same room. A group assignment can be completed this way, as well as the initial stages of creating a policy document.

Web 2.0

I am finding that Web 2.0 resources are a great way to not only share information, but also have a hand in how information is put together. There are some problems one may find along the way with regards to misinformation and any info found on a Web 2.0 application is probably best not taken as factual evidence of something, as anyone who is a member of the application can edit or input something. This can be useful for the school library environment to allow both staff and students to communicate with each other on a variety of different applications, such as a GoodReads account, where both staff and students can review books from the collection.

First Post!

Ok, so here is my first post for the Syba Signs How 2 of Web 2.0 program. So far so good. I have played around with customizing, but I haven't completely worked out how to make my dogs face not quite so big. I hope to gain information about new tools that could be used to enhance my use of 2.0 tools for work purposes, as well as gain a better understanding of those tools which I have experienced, but may not be using to their full potential. I hope everyone enjoys the program!

xoxo Allie