The opportunity to teach someone else about using these Web 2.0 tools presented itself following m niece's wedding in August. Because our family is scattered across the US, getting and sharing photos from the wedding would be difficult. Her photographer put the professional photos on Shutterfly,and for the rest of us I suggested that we put ours on Flickr. I created a little tutorial using Wink (a free tutorial program that captures screenshots and uses Flash) to show everyone how simple uploading photos to Flickr can be, although not everyone thought it was so simple, and some refused to try it at all. My mother was amazed at how inexpensively she could get the professional photos (Shutterfly gives you the first 15 free, and the remaining 25 or so that she selected came to about $7- delivered. You can also choose to pick them up at a Target near you.)
Interestingly enough, although we all swapped links and emails, no one (except me) posted any comments on the photo sites. Still too new a concept for many people.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
You Tube's thing over there
I just changed my search expression (for the YouTube widget that posts random videos on your blog) from "Lake Tahoe" to "Manchester, Vermont" and have gathered a very strange crop of videos- lots of which have to do with soccer in Great Britain (you know- Manchester United et al- not surprising, although I thought it would filter to be a boolean "manchester AND vermont- apparently not, although ultimately, pretty amusing nonetheless- why we all love YouTube). Can't remember how you get yours- will check on it and get back to you.
My Flickr Badge
Just got to say that I really enjoy my Flickr badge (over there on the right hand side of the blog). It shows random, ever-changing photos from my Flickr site and reminds me of the portraits and the newspaper photos in Harry Potter, where the photo subjects would be moving around and waving- talk about interactive!
You can get one here. I love Flickr!
You can get one here. I love Flickr!
Rollyo-create your own search engine
I don't think we'll be offering Google any serious competition any time soon with this tool. After spending a frustrating amount of time trying to create a searchroll by importing some of my bookmarks (as opposed to manually entering up to 25 urls in a tiny scroll box window), I revisited the site today, armed with a list of ready reference sites, courtesy of a PubLib subscriber. I cut and pasted the urls into the tiny box and ran a search for "US Presidents list" hoping to score a list of US Presidents- I got 2,040 hits, 20 per page, but the relevance was low- lots of citations for "list" "President's" etc. One of the top 5 results was this: "a speech by Michael Heyman, the President of the Smithsonian at the time, in ... If you need a refresher in HTML, visit my list of helpful sites. ..."
I am sure there is a specialized use for this- if for instance you know exactly which haystack contains the needle you're looking for, and you need to keep finding it, but I was not very impressed.
My searchroll is public and is titled "Ready Reference", that is, provided it persists upon logout: the site is unclear as to what is actually saved- it says I have no saved searchrolls, but it lists Ready Reference in my profile.
Oh, yes- and lots of sponsored links and ads, although no weird pop-up junk.
I am sure there is a specialized use for this- if for instance you know exactly which haystack contains the needle you're looking for, and you need to keep finding it, but I was not very impressed.
My searchroll is public and is titled "Ready Reference", that is, provided it persists upon logout: the site is unclear as to what is actually saved- it says I have no saved searchrolls, but it lists Ready Reference in my profile.
Oh, yes- and lots of sponsored links and ads, although no weird pop-up junk.
Friday, September 7, 2007
23 things redux-15 down, 8 to finish
OK- I am determined to get InfoPeople's flash drive so I am going to focus on completing the 23 things, which I am copying here from the InfoPeople blog, so I have it all in one place. I am also adding links to the relevant blog posts, and outside sites where appropriate.
The 23 things list:
1. Read this entry (that's right, the one that you are reading now), and this FAQ to find out about the program and to make sure that you are eligible to participate. Remember: to take our challenge you must take or participate in at least one of our Web 2.0 events. (DONE)
2. Set up your own blog on Blogger.com & add your first post.(DONE)
3. Register your blog by sending an email to infopeeps@gmail.com with your blog's URL and begin your Web 2.0 journey. We will then add your blog to our blogroll that you see on the sidebar of this blog so everyone can see what progress you are making.(DONE)
4. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image-hosting site. Set up an account and join some groups! And remember, blog about what you learn!.(DONE)
5. Have more Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & third party sites.(DONE)
6. Look at some of these library websites that are using Web 2.0 to enhance their offerings and create a blog post about anything Web 2.0-related that you think would be useful in your library. (MORE)
7. Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Bloglines newsreader account.(DONE)
8. Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds and add them to your Bloglines account.(DONE)
TO DO: 9. Sign up for a Twitter account. Track your activities using Twitter for a few days. Think about how Twitter might be useful linked on a library website and blog about your Twitter experience.
10. Play around with an online image generator. Blog about your experience(s).(DONE- see the image at the bottom of my blog- it was surprisingly difficult to find this image generator)
11. Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books.(DONE-see my sidebar for the nifty LibraryThing widget that shows a changing array of books from my library).)
TO DO: 12. Roll your own search tool with Rollyo.
13. Learn about social bookmarking then create a Del.icio.us account and add and tag some Web 2.0 sites. (DONE)(not sure if this link opens my public delicious account or if one needs a password)
TO DO: 14. Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.(need to blog about this)
TO DO: 15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.(need to blog about this)
16. Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them. (DONE) Also, I set up a wiki at PBWiki- haven't used it much but it's good to know about the capability: Wikilib.
17. Add an entry to Infopeople's Our 23 Web 2.0 Things wiki. (DONE) I added a post on Blogs but couldn't quite figure out how to do the hyperlinks so they don't show the entire url- will go back sometime and figure it out.
TO DO: 18. Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.
TO DO: 19. Explore My Maps on Google Maps and create a map for your library and add a picture of it to the map.
20. Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.(DONE)
TO DO: 21. Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.
TO DO: 22. Teach someone else how to use one of the technologies described above and blog about your experience!(write up Flickr training)
23. Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog. (DONE)
The 23 things list:
1. Read this entry (that's right, the one that you are reading now), and this FAQ to find out about the program and to make sure that you are eligible to participate. Remember: to take our challenge you must take or participate in at least one of our Web 2.0 events. (DONE)
2. Set up your own blog on Blogger.com & add your first post.(DONE)
3. Register your blog by sending an email to infopeeps@gmail.com with your blog's URL and begin your Web 2.0 journey. We will then add your blog to our blogroll that you see on the sidebar of this blog so everyone can see what progress you are making.(DONE)
4. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image-hosting site. Set up an account and join some groups! And remember, blog about what you learn!.(DONE)
5. Have more Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & third party sites.(DONE)
6. Look at some of these library websites that are using Web 2.0 to enhance their offerings and create a blog post about anything Web 2.0-related that you think would be useful in your library. (MORE)
7. Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Bloglines newsreader account.(DONE)
8. Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds and add them to your Bloglines account.(DONE)
TO DO: 9. Sign up for a Twitter account. Track your activities using Twitter for a few days. Think about how Twitter might be useful linked on a library website and blog about your Twitter experience.
10. Play around with an online image generator. Blog about your experience(s).(DONE- see the image at the bottom of my blog- it was surprisingly difficult to find this image generator)
11. Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books.(DONE-see my sidebar for the nifty LibraryThing widget that shows a changing array of books from my library).)
TO DO: 12. Roll your own search tool with Rollyo.
13. Learn about social bookmarking then create a Del.icio.us account and add and tag some Web 2.0 sites. (DONE)(not sure if this link opens my public delicious account or if one needs a password)
TO DO: 14. Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.(need to blog about this)
TO DO: 15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.(need to blog about this)
16. Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them. (DONE) Also, I set up a wiki at PBWiki- haven't used it much but it's good to know about the capability: Wikilib.
17. Add an entry to Infopeople's Our 23 Web 2.0 Things wiki. (DONE) I added a post on Blogs but couldn't quite figure out how to do the hyperlinks so they don't show the entire url- will go back sometime and figure it out.
TO DO: 18. Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.
TO DO: 19. Explore My Maps on Google Maps and create a map for your library and add a picture of it to the map.
20. Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.(DONE)
TO DO: 21. Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.
TO DO: 22. Teach someone else how to use one of the technologies described above and blog about your experience!(write up Flickr training)
23. Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog. (DONE)
Wishlists for ILS features and more
Spent alot of time this morning going through my listservs and came upon some interesting stuff at PubLib, one of which was a blogger's wish list for his next ILS upgrade. Although I suspect that many of these features already do exist in some systems, it is instructive to have the Library 2.0 elements in a list form.
Also a post about a project called MaintainIT: "In true grassroots fashion, the MaintainIT Project is taking to the road to visit rural libraries in northern California, gathering stories about maintaining public computers, spreading the word about the tips and tricks already collected in its free Cookbooks, and learning about the triumphs and challenges libraries face."
I really like the idea of collecting all that information and publishing it on the spot when requested.
Also interesting that Google has created a library utility very much like LibraryThing. It works in conjunction with Google Book Search- I plan on checking it out to see how it compares.
Also a post about a project called MaintainIT: "In true grassroots fashion, the MaintainIT Project is taking to the road to visit rural libraries in northern California, gathering stories about maintaining public computers, spreading the word about the tips and tricks already collected in its free Cookbooks, and learning about the triumphs and challenges libraries face."
I really like the idea of collecting all that information and publishing it on the spot when requested.
Also interesting that Google has created a library utility very much like LibraryThing. It works in conjunction with Google Book Search- I plan on checking it out to see how it compares.
Dynamic Web Sites
I'm taking a class (through Diablo Valley College's online program) on building dynamic websites using Dreamweaver with ASP, ColdFusion and PHP. The training methodology is one that I prefer: the lessons are embedded in the actual hands- on creation of an interactive web site. All three server-side languages will be presented as part of each lesson, thereby providing exposure to more than one, although we will be focusing on PHP and MySQL. It's a little slow getting started- we are currently waiting for access to the DVC development server, and I am tempted to go ahead and install Apache and PHP on my local machine, just to get going. Although I think that would be an instructive experience, my concern is that it could be possibly destructive as well!
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