Week 9, Thing 20: Exploring YouTube

Here's a short video from YouTube entitled, "A Battery Powered By Water." Particularly interesting is the possible use of the battery in emergencies. The theory is that just by licking the end of your flashlight battery that has gone dead, the moisture from your saliva can provide enough power to get the flashlight working again. It paints an attractive picture, doesn't it?

I prefer the videos that teach or entertain. The odd videos about identifying people from the neck down, for instance, are fairly useless - to me at least.
Applying this technology to library websites is fascinating. Libraries could provide video clips of program highlights, like the Harry Potter Party, as a marketing tool, or provide a video tour of the library, its services, book talks, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Week 8, Thing 19: Web 2.0 Awards List

I had fun exploring Backpack. What a great way to create and store all those lists that would normally be written on little pieces of paper that you can never lay your hands on when you need them. Customizing a calendar is also a handy feature. These are wonderful tools for personal or work use. It's the ability to share information that is so remarkable to me.

Google Maps was very helpful. Usually, I use Mapquest but I think I like Google Maps better as you can post maps to your blog, etc.

I also took a look at Medstory under the Health category. This would be a good tool to lead patrons to when they're researching health issues, as the websites listed are very reputable, like the Mayo Clinic and the National Cancer Institute.

Week 8, Thing 18: Online Applications & Tools: Zoho Writer

I successfully opened an account at Zoho Writer and created a document. I was able to make it a public doc (BTR 2007 Titles)in order for others to view and edit if they so choose.

NEW TITLES FOR BEGINNING TO READ BOOKMARK 2007


Fiction:

Bess and Tess by Susan Blackaby

My Birthday Cake by Olivia George

Old Mo by Stacey W. Hsu

Pig Wig by Yukiko Kido

Dancing Dinos Go to School by Sally Lucas

Tiny Goes Camping by Cari Meister

Follow Me, Mittens by Lola M. Schaefer

Can You Play? by Harriet Ziefert

This should be useful as it's a bookmark that Deb Shepp and I are working on together. This web-based productivity application will make it easy for Deb and I to work on the list whenever or wherever we choose. This is especially invaluable given our different schedules. This is a great tool!

I ran into some difficulties when I tried to publish my document to my blog. The following message appeared: "Unable to connect your blog. Username or password may be incorrect." I checked the username and password; they were both correct. I think the problem may be that I never verified my email address when I first opened my blogger account. When you don't verify within a short period of time, it's a bit tricky to get it all straightened out. I'm still working on it.

Week 7, Thing 17: Learning 2.0 SandBox Wiki

I added an entry under 'What I Am Reading' in the Maryland Libraries Sandbox - which was easy to do. The sharing of favorite books is always fun as well as reading other people's entries. I'm forever on the lookout for good reads. I have to admit that I feel like a blind person wandering in a confusing maze. I hope the more I navigate and explore, the more I'll understand.

I agree with the other participants' confusion about being able to edit them. Why would you want to have an entry of my favorite [anything] and then have people edit and change it? Then it's not your favorites anymore, it's a group of people's favorites. But maybe that's the point - they're suppose to be fluid and malleable. Is that right?

Week 7, Thing 16: Wikis

Being a bibliophile, I took a look at 'Book Lovers Wiki' developed by the Princeton Public Library. Technically, I don't know how we would make it happen, but I think it would be a fantastic service if patrons could write their own reviews of the library materials they've read or used and be able to link to those reviews while searching our catalog. A Wiki sounds like a good tool to allow patrons the ability to share this kind of knowledge. I know when I'm searching for books at amazon.com, I like to read the public reviews, as well as, the professional ones. Also valuable would be the ability to connect to people who have similar reading tastes (similar to the service LibraryThing provides) as well as view a list of read-alikes... I could keep going as the possibilities seem endless.

Week 6, Thing 15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 & Beyond

After reading the OCLC Next Space Newsletter - Web 2.0 Where will the next generation of the web take libraries, I'm amazed at people's ability to imagine what was once the unimaginable - their vision astounds me.
The perspective on the "just in case" collection struck a cord. I compare "building a comprehensive collection of materials that anticipates the user's every need" to a dog chasing its tail - most often, it's a fruitless task. The idea of collecting in a non-traditional sense is intriguing to a Materials Manager. Wouldn't it be wonderful to build a collection in which there are no "shelf sitters" - whether virtual or real? Wouldn't it be wonderful to satisfy every patron's request, whatever it might be? It sounds like the sky's the limit for libraries in the next generation of the web.

Week 6, Thing 14: Technorati

Using "Learning 2.0" as a search term, the highest results were from blog posts, then tags, and the lowest results were from the directory. I liked searching by blog tag because the search terms appear highlighted within the text. I found this a good way to evaluate relevancy. I found searching by blog directory more visually appealing. Maybe the folks at Technorati can combine the best of both methods.