Robbie's Training Log

Facebook

2007-12-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

I just created a Facebook account and I can see why people are so into it. It is interesting to see accounts of people that you have not seen for a while or to just look to see what other people's interest are. I felt like a slack having such a plain profile so I may have to go back and change that at some point, especially since it is easy to use the network to find people (I searched library and I came up as the fourth entry). The applications seem easy enough to use but I would like to take some more time to select any before adding them. Overall I found Facebook easy to use and I can see why people like this tool as a way to network.

OverDrive

2007-12-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

I did find working with this tool gave me a better understanding of how it works. I did not realize you needed the OverDrive Media Console to transfer the downloads. I did transfer a book to my MP3 play and found it relatively easy. However, when I went to place a hold on an item it did not recognize my card, so I will have to go back and try it again. This was a good exercise since I will feel more comfortable helping people with OverDrive and I enjoyed the easy so I plan on using it myself.

Podcast Search

2007-12-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

I found the site Podcast.net to be the most useful when searching for different subjects. I found that it broke down subjects more specifically, and with so many podcast available I found this helpful.

Several times while searching these sites I came across the podcast Grammar Girl. I decided it was an interesting idea for a podcast and added this one to my bloglines account . If found it was as simple as adding a RSS feed.

Use of You Tube

2007-12-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

I posted this video below about the recent Big Read for the Joy Luck Club because I think it demonstrates how You Tube can be used to market an event. Of course we have similar postings, including one for our upcoming Anime Convention. These simple videos can make a program look more interesting since You Tube can be a tool to create an active multimedia campaign to make library programs seem up to date and interactive.

I found up loading the embedded code fairly easy to set up. It would be interesting to see the other side of the process. I would like to know how hard it is to make and load videos on to You Tube or other websites.

2007-12-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

zillow

2007-12-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

I went the real estate section of the Web 2.0 Awards and found a site I was familiar with, Zillow. When I previously used this site I did not think about it being a Web 2.0 tool but with the helpful map mashup this site is clear that this is a helpful Web 2.0 site. For the buyers this site makes it easy to see where a property is located and what similar properties are going for. For the buyer this seems to be an easy way to get your property online through this popular website.

Even having a section like real estate also makes me keep in mind how many ways Web 2.0 tools can be effectively used.

online productivity

2007-12-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

I found Zoho to be a good document format. Having used Google Documents before I found that Zoho had several additional features with such tools as their additional layouts. I also found that they had a pretty good selection of additional tools like their wiki creator and I especially liked their spread sheet option. Online productivity tools has been one of my favorite Web 2.0 functions. The portability and the ease of sharing and publish these items is a good addition the the web.

using the wikis

2007-11-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

Adding my blog to the two wikis was simple. The only thing I found to require much thought at all was using the edit link option to create a name separate from the url. Knowing that wikis are so easy to use gives me more of an idea of why they have become so popular.

wiki overview

2007-11-28T15:53:00.000-08:00

The library wikis listed provided several good ideas of how to use wikis. After looking at the wiki Library Chick I thought that wikis can be used effectively for continuing educational. The wiki Library Success A Best Practices Wiki proved that wikis are an effective tool for librarians to learn more about specific sites and the library profession. The SJCPL Subject Guides has several subject guides and shows that collaboration through wikis can provide great resources. I would think that these would be particularly helpful since electronic resources can change frequently.

The other wikis made me realize other great ideas as well. The Book Lover's Wiki shows how patrons can become involved in the process while the Bull Run Library wiki shows how several departments or even Friends of the Library can use a common outlet. Finally, I did not expect to find the ALA Conference wiki very interesting but it may have been the wiki that called for this format the strongest. Many people may have different incites (in this case some people may have particular experiences in New Orleans) that would make a collaborative tool very useful.

The one question I would have is how much resistance other libraries found from either IT departments or from upper administration since wikis, or other web 2.0 tools for that matter, would not likely follow any web design guidelines for an organization. Has it been to much for organizations to run an public site without the generally followed header, footer, font, or other format rules of the standard website?

Rollyo

2007-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

I still have to use this tool more to decide if I find it useful. However, I did like how easy it was to set up and the idea of creating a search engine that is subject specific is appealing. To create a personalized search engine I rolled together Broward County Libraries and Nova University's library websites. Although a search for Ask A Librarian pulled up Broward County first all of the following entries on the page were from Nova.

LibraryThing

2007-11-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

LibraryThing is a tool that can seriously distract you for some time. I found the information for Reader's Advisory helpful and enjoyed perusing some of the groups. I found that it was really easy to set up an account and to begin filling up a library. The only problem I had was that it can be particular about the titles. While trying to add an entry to my library I tried typing in the title "Organic Inc" but it did not work until I added the period at the end of Inc. Only the slightest of blemishes on a very fun and useful website.

Online Image Generator

2007-11-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

I found these tool's east to use than I thought it would be. I particularly like the card catalog John Blyberg’s Card Catalog Generator, which probably no surprise being a librarian. I think this generator would be good for marketing purposes.

I found the other generators were also easy to use and enjoyable to use. The for dummies mock ups is just a fun tool to use and its uses could also be enjoyable, although I can't think of any now.

Web 2.0 ideas

2007-11-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

OCLC's articles had some every interesting ideas. One of the ideas I found interesting came from the article, "To Better Bibliographic Services", John J. Riemer states that we should use better relevance ranks by bringing in such information as circulation activity or sales data. I think this is a very good idea to bring more variables into our relevance rankings as long as we can still create individual search by such categories as subjects.

I also found two interesting ideas in the article, "Into a New World of Librarianship", by Michael Stephens. One was the idea that libraries could be more transparent in its decision making. Obviously we cannot be all things to all people but letting patrons see where we are headed and receiving their input could possible give libraries a better reputation and better functionality.

I like what the tools and ideas of Web 2.0 can produce but I also liked to here Mr. Stephens statements against "technolust". I think it can be easy for anyone interested in technology to want to try anything new regardless of how our patron's would actually use it. I think there is the challenge, to embrace these uses of technology and understand where they can used most effectively.

Labels

2007-11-20T10:40:00.000-08:00

I have to admit this was an exercise I made much harder than it needed to be. This was one of those instances where what you try the first time does not work so you jump straight to more illogical solutions. One problem I had is figuring out the vocabulary, such as Blogger using the term labels instead of tags. However, after about thirty minutes of frustration I found that it was actually really easy to set up and add labels. Since this blog is in the early stages I don't know if the labels (or tags) have much in the way of usefulness but I could see these being useful as blog continues to grow.

looking ahead

2007-11-13T06:47:00.000-08:00

With the opportunity to write about anything technology related I would like to look ahead to online tools. I am looking forward to this session because I like the portability of working with online documents. I have used Writely (which is now part of Google Documents) for some time now. I began when I was still in school. I was a bit concerned about my work being lost but I never ran into any problems. Of course you can use a usb drive but with my memory it was nice to be able to leave the house without having the possibility of forgetting something. Whether using my lunch break or going out of town it was a great help to know I did not need to bring anything to continuously work on a paper.

Del.icio.us

2007-11-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

I heard about this site some time ago but I never followed through with finding out more about it. Using Del.icio.us paid off almost immediately. By exploring Del.icio.us's search function I found the wiki Librarian Chick. This site had good links to other helpful sites, many of them Web 2.0 applications. The application of making your bookmarks portable by using this web based service was the second service I found very useful. This can be particularly useful when doing job rotations.

Flickr

2007-11-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

We have the opportunity to talk about anything to do with technology but I think I will stick with what we have covered this week, flickr. An area that I think I fall far behind on is using digital cameras and digital images. I knew of Flickr but it did open some new ideas to me. Particularly, I was interested in the mash ups. I thought the use of the Mappr and Trip Planner features sounded very attractive for sharing images and experiences from a trip. I also think the blogging feature is an interesting tool to create a coversation about interest or experiences. I feel a little bit better about my knowledge of how we can use digital images and I realize that in a short time I have found out there is much to explore.

7 and 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits

2007-10-20T08:56:00.001-07:00

I think I have some level of efficiency in all of the 7 and 1/2 habits of life long learning but if I had to choose one that I would have the most difficultly with it would be the seventh habit teaching or mentoring others. It maybe odd to say since everyday we work with teaching people how to use information but I think I tend to want to learn independently. Hopefully, by acknowleding this will help me with helping others.

With my idependant learning style I guess the second habit would be the easiest for me to keep up since I do often take responsibility to learn things on my own.

I found it useful to self examine through these 7 adn 1/2 habits, not just for this learning experience but for all learning experiences. It reminds me how I learn in all situations, where I am strong and where I need to improve some of my habits.

Thing 1 Getting Started

2007-10-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

So far, it has been pretty easy to find my way around the links and exercises. It looks like the exercises will not be overwhelming but will be very useful to go through. I can't ask for more than that. I also liked seeing the word play used so we know it is a fun training environment.