Thursday, March 15, 2007

#23 (Week 9)

I am glad I could finish this program. It was very worthwhile, though I did not have the time to really devote to each section that I would have liked. I enjoyed learning about wikis and blogs the most. The RSS feed was also very interesting and I could see using all these technology in my professional work. I would say that the program was overall very good in making me aware of some of the new technologies, though I wouldn't frame it as assisting in my life-long learning. The sections relate to tagging was probably the most interesting and unexpected. I need more time to consider the real value of the tagging systems, though I can see how users might like having their own system, especially for personal use. That OCLC is promoting this type of technology is extremely interesting and something we need follow in the profession. I also enjoyed checking out UTUBE and I will use Library Thing.

I think this program could be improved with more sessions to introduce the first few lessons. Also, the interfaces have changed while some of the directions have not, and for mid-level professional, more instruction is needed. At least the instructions should be more explicit. I found that several of the sources we reviewed lacked really good instructions.

I would be interested in this type of program again, though, I would prefer more concentrated effort on a particular topic, especially design of the blog, RSS feed, and wikis. Some of the other areas were less relevant to my work or in my personal life.


Thanks for offering this program.

#22 (Week 9) Ebooks

I regularly download ebooks to my IDOD, which is great way to listen to a good story while driving or traveling, or anytime really. I don't really like the way the catalog arranges the audio book collection. It would be ideal if we could create a browseable feature, showing all of the audio books on the shelf. I frequently browse on the first floor, but a digital stacks experience would be better than just a regular catalog search. I was unfamiliar with the worldelibrary. Libraries need to provide better access to sound recording of this kind. Itunes has a good enough selection of the NYT best picks, but the cost is high, and it is even worse in the books stores.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

21 (Week 9), Podcasting

I have a an IDOD, which I use for music, video, audio, and pod casts. I looked at the three resource sites for locating IPOD, but I found that it was easier to use the search feature on bloglines, rather than subscribing directly from the other services. There are a number of interesting broadcast out there, as well as some good resources for libraries. I looked at a podcast of a conference on scholarly communication.

Here is my blogline url
http://www.bloglines.com/public/danelle

#20 Week 9, UTUBE

I think this program is very interesting, though the quality of the film is rather poor, and the images flash to quickly, which makes it hard to focus. I think that this tool would work well for students and faculty, if the film captured is slow enough to actually watch. I looked at documentary short films specific to Woman Suffrage.

Here is the link to the film I found interesting, though as I said it is a bit fast paced.

Monday, March 12, 2007

#19 (Week 8) Library Thing

I really like this tool, and I can see how libraries short on cataloging staff might use this service. It is great for building a bibliography. You need to be careful in selecting Amazon, as you will not find most academic books. I added five books that I use regularly in my research, and I will go back to this service. The tagging system is also interesting, though, I am not sure that it would that useful for me, but if I shared my list, certainly it could be. Most of the books were held by 5 or so users, but every academic library in the U.S. has copies. This might be a good service to show students, and give them an assignment to share book reviews in electronic format.

here is my link to my library

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=danellemoon

#18 (Week 8) Online Tools

I reviewed the Zoho Writer's, which is a very interesting tool. If you have a blog and you want to add content, this program would work very well. I created two PDF files, which I thought I could export through my blog, but something is not working right. I saved the San Jose State Tree Exercise as PDF, which you can't use on the blogger. I created a document using Zoho, but I don't see how it loads to your blog. I tried this in Zoho, but it does not appear in my blog, and I am not able to import through my computer files. Does anyone have any solutions? If you can't import these web tool documents, what is the point?

#17 (Week 7) Wikis

Okay, I figured out how to post my blog to the favorites, though it took me a while to figure out how to do it. I am sure that this whole process is much easier than my experience so far. Time to learn the ropes is the issue. I already posted my thoughts on the value of wikis in #16, and have no other comments.

Friday, March 9, 2007

#16 (Week 7) wikis

I have a little experience contributing to a history conference wiki, and I think this format is particularly useful for a number of projects and programs. As many of the links provided through the exercise, one can use wikis for classroom assignments, for organizational groups, book clubs, catalogs and resource connections. This list of possibilities is really endless.

I am working with IT right now to get access to create a wiki for a digital library project that all of my staff can use as we work on various sections of our planning document. We will probably start this next week, and once it is up, I will post it on this site for all to see.

Monday, March 5, 2007

#15 (Week 6)

I reviewed very briefly a few of the articles related to Library 2.0. I found the article by John J. Riemer on the role of 2.0 and metadata very intriguing. It also fits in with the Chip Nilges article. The concept of the OPAC as the mainframe to library information is clearly on it’s way out. The Open WorldCat Project is a key example. The technology is there to support both technical library cataloging/metadata with tagging resources for non-librarians using WorldCat.

I see the benefit of these tools to develop new creative tools for patron use, but I also believe that the standards created through MARC and DACS need to be maintained along side “sexy” tools offered by the worldcat program and others. I can’t see the Library of Congress subject headings going away any time soon, nor should they. However, they are slow to change categories based on race, class and gender, and perhaps we all could learn something from how our patrons would tag information for their own work.

Nigles refers to “Collective Intelligence” articulated by O’Reilly, which conveys the larger concept of “users add value.” Clearly libraries and librarians need to think beyond the OPAC box, and harness some of this technology to compete with Google.

I am beginning to see the long-term benefits of this 2.0 Learning.

#14 (Week 6)

In exploring Tehnorati, I determined that this resource offers similar opportunities to tag and to create blog directories and the like. I tried searching for "Library 2.0" using tags, blog directory, and posts. I found nothing under directory, and over 5,000 for posts, and a more refined number of 1975 for tags.

I would like to have more time to review the tagging features of this and other tag products. I am still trying to determine how useful such tools might be from my work in special collections.

I clicked on the edit HTML, but the code does not appear in the text. I am not sure if I have followed all steps. Something to pursue at a later date.

Friday, March 2, 2007

#13 (Week 6)

I completed the review of Del.icio.us, actually I tried it out at the beginning of this program. I registered for an account and today created my first bookmark/tags. I think this tool is interesting and I could see how libraries might offer this type of technology to patrons using our computers in the building, especially for those who do not own a personal computer or lack Internet access. Patrons could login to their accounts and view and save their bookmarks. The question is would the library enforce a particular policy for what type of websites could be browsed--censor the use of this program?

I am not convinced that I would use this tool in my unit or do I see how it is better than my current bookmark program. Seems to be another extra unnecessary step, at least for bookmarking. The tagging feature is the most interesting, and could be useful for subject pages, where you want to reinforce the subject terms for individual resources and so forth.

Metadata Unplugged???

Check out this blog. It came through the listserv for the archivists.

http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/

Thursday, March 1, 2007

#11-12 (Week 5)

I explored Rollyo.com. I created a user profile, and thought I created a scroll list but cannot see where it appears. I don't see any real value in this type of program for my library work, and why would I use it, when I can create my own list of favorites through explorer???

I am sure if I spent hours trying to figure out Rollyo, the value might become clearer. The website is not very explicit on providing directions on how to and how to retrieve information from the options listed. On a final point, you can create various lists and view other sites, which might be useful if you spent your life on the computer. I spend too much time working using the technology, the last thing I am interested in doing is spending more time doing this sort of activity.