I'm on vacation today!
I didn't spend all day in the office doing the "Things"! I just returned from a few days in New Orleans, where I stayed at the Pierre Coulon Guesthouse, which is a wonderful place to stay in that fascinating city. (And one of the owners has an MLS, even though he doesn't currently work as a librarian).
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Thing 21 Podcasts
I've listened to a few podcasts before. And in my LiveJournal blog, I make a voicepost every few weeks (often I just read a poem or talk about something while walking down the street).
I think audio adds something very nice to the Internet. It's good to receive some of the parts of communication that are present in tone of voice and accent that are just not there in text only.
And here's the unusual thing about me and podcasts. When I'm actively involved in learning, I primarily receive information by listening. I listen closely, take few notes, and remember very well.
However, I find it difficult to listen to audio without seeing the person (this is equally true of audiobooks), unless I'm doing something else as well. So, I can listen very well while working out at the gym, while cooking, or while doing something else. But it's hard to focus on actually learning something this way.
But I still find the occasional podcast of value. I already had one or two set up in my Bloglines account, so I didn't add any more. I don't often listen to them--primarily because it's not possible to just glance over to see if I'm interested enough to pay close attention. Instead, it's necessary to actually listen!
I think audio adds something very nice to the Internet. It's good to receive some of the parts of communication that are present in tone of voice and accent that are just not there in text only.
And here's the unusual thing about me and podcasts. When I'm actively involved in learning, I primarily receive information by listening. I listen closely, take few notes, and remember very well.
However, I find it difficult to listen to audio without seeing the person (this is equally true of audiobooks), unless I'm doing something else as well. So, I can listen very well while working out at the gym, while cooking, or while doing something else. But it's hard to focus on actually learning something this way.
But I still find the occasional podcast of value. I already had one or two set up in my Bloglines account, so I didn't add any more. I don't often listen to them--primarily because it's not possible to just glance over to see if I'm interested enough to pay close attention. Instead, it's necessary to actually listen!
Things 16 and 17 Wikis
Wikipedia is a great thing and has been my primary contact with wikis (the other has been the wikis ALA creates for conferences).
I have contributed some small corrections to Wikipedia articles (in one, the whole change was to change "non-profit" to "not-for-profit", but it was a very important distinction in that article). It's surprisingly easy to modify wikis, though there is something about the format (other than Wikipedia) that I don't see to be able to follow very well. But I think that has to do with the planning and design, not the basic idea of a wiki.
I kept thinking I had posted about this, but then I remembered that either on QL Chat or on another library forum I had posted something about using Wikipedia for reference questions. I looked through several library wikis and found them interesting. Many, though, I think could have easily been set up in other ways--that is, it felt like they were wikis just to be "with it". I would prefer to see the various versions and editors. Or a blog format would work just as well. For example, I think the ALA conference wikis could be set up as forums, like the QL Chat just as well as they could be wikis. There is no need for "correction" of posts and, in fact, I think that few are "corrected."
When I have done collaborative work, I've used a blog with comments or something like Google Docs. Maybe I just want more control than a wiki provides!
I have contributed some small corrections to Wikipedia articles (in one, the whole change was to change "non-profit" to "not-for-profit", but it was a very important distinction in that article). It's surprisingly easy to modify wikis, though there is something about the format (other than Wikipedia) that I don't see to be able to follow very well. But I think that has to do with the planning and design, not the basic idea of a wiki.
I kept thinking I had posted about this, but then I remembered that either on QL Chat or on another library forum I had posted something about using Wikipedia for reference questions. I looked through several library wikis and found them interesting. Many, though, I think could have easily been set up in other ways--that is, it felt like they were wikis just to be "with it". I would prefer to see the various versions and editors. Or a blog format would work just as well. For example, I think the ALA conference wikis could be set up as forums, like the QL Chat just as well as they could be wikis. There is no need for "correction" of posts and, in fact, I think that few are "corrected."
When I have done collaborative work, I've used a blog with comments or something like Google Docs. Maybe I just want more control than a wiki provides!
Thing 14 Technorati
1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
OK, I'm missing something (probably because I waited a while to do this). I see how to look for "Learning 2.0" in the tags......oh, OK, you click on "advanced" search. The results didn't seem all that different to me, though of course one can see differences. Interesting. I also searched some things that just interest me and found some interesting posts.
Now, what I don't quite get is the value of being able to just search blogs. I can think of some few times that I might do this, but not often.
I enjoyed Technorati and was glad to learn more about it. However, I'm more or less on information overload, so I think I'll stick with the tools I already know. I read plenty enough blogs already.
Also, the blogs I read, I read because I know or admire the writer. I don't want to just jump into the middle of a blog by a writer I don't know.
OK, I'm missing something (probably because I waited a while to do this). I see how to look for "Learning 2.0" in the tags......oh, OK, you click on "advanced" search. The results didn't seem all that different to me, though of course one can see differences. Interesting. I also searched some things that just interest me and found some interesting posts.
Now, what I don't quite get is the value of being able to just search blogs. I can think of some few times that I might do this, but not often.
I enjoyed Technorati and was glad to learn more about it. However, I'm more or less on information overload, so I think I'll stick with the tools I already know. I read plenty enough blogs already.
Also, the blogs I read, I read because I know or admire the writer. I don't want to just jump into the middle of a blog by a writer I don't know.
Thing 19 Web 2.0 tools
How cool! I had never heard of this award and right away bookmarked it (using del.icio.us, of course) so that I can spend time later looking through many of the sites.
I am particularly interested in local information on the web (I love the "neighborhood" application on Facebook and have made a good friend there--someone I wouldn't have met otherwise who lives only 4 blocks from me). So, I checked out several of the "City Guides and Reviews" and focused on Yelp
It was interesting. Oddly, unlike most of these sites, there was a lot of information about my hometown in Oklahoma. Many of the local sites are much more focused on cities, which makes sense. More new people move to cities, so people are looking for more information. And it's harder to be anonymous in one's reviews in a small town.
There wasn't as much in NYC, by neighborhood at least, as I would have thought. But the site is very easy to use, both to search and to create reviews.
I think that adding libraries to local information sites reminds people that libraries are still out there and still providing useful services.
I am particularly interested in local information on the web (I love the "neighborhood" application on Facebook and have made a good friend there--someone I wouldn't have met otherwise who lives only 4 blocks from me). So, I checked out several of the "City Guides and Reviews" and focused on Yelp
It was interesting. Oddly, unlike most of these sites, there was a lot of information about my hometown in Oklahoma. Many of the local sites are much more focused on cities, which makes sense. More new people move to cities, so people are looking for more information. And it's harder to be anonymous in one's reviews in a small town.
There wasn't as much in NYC, by neighborhood at least, as I would have thought. But the site is very easy to use, both to search and to create reviews.
I think that adding libraries to local information sites reminds people that libraries are still out there and still providing useful services.
Thing 18 collaboration
I've had a Google Docs account almost from the beginning of Goggle Docs. Being able to collaborate on documents was one of the things I thought would happen much earlier in the history of the Internet. I use Google Docs a lot. Not so much for work, where the Microsoft products are standard and (at some levels, anyway) there is easy access to shared drives. But for writing outside work, I often use Google Docs and highly recommend it. I checked out the other two sites as well and found them interesting and useful, but I don't think that I'll change, just because I'm so familiar with Google Docs already.
Thing 20 Video
OK, I just wanted to see if I could post a video on YouTube a few months ago. I don't take much video with my camera, but I couldn't resist video of these guys in Central Park (you may have seen them; I've seen them several times).
YouTube can be a terrible waste of time, but it also makes it really easy to share video content. I can see libraries using it to introduce staff (more in a smaller library), demonstrate something, offer a preview of a program, give a building tour, and so forth. It seems to almost call for amateur video, so one doesn't feel that it's necessary to have highly sophisticated video. And because so many people are looking for video there every day....those same people could easily just run across the library's video.
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