# 23 Things

My pseudonym 'trailingbehind' referred to my lack of tramping but became synoymous with not keeping up with Web 2.0. Now I'm finally there I'd like to do the other 23 things! This has been an awesome exercise. I have embraced social networking with my Facebook page and have plans to set up my own blog to document my tramping. The blog feeds I now have are keeping me in touch with topics daily and I feel like I have a new hobby. Great that these skills transfer to my professional life and have helped me gain some rapport with my own teenagers as well as our library patrons. I particularly enjoyed the creative outlet the blog allowed, the adding of photos and a favourite Youtube video. I thought that the enthusiasm of some of my colleagues was particularly motivational. The whole exercise has had the unexpected benefit of networking about topics that wouldn't normally get discussed during the course of a day and I think most of us feel a great sense of achievement.

Omanawanui Track, Whatipu

Omanawanui Track, Whatipu,
originally uploaded by jonathan.aotearoa.

You get the most amazing views!

Cascades Kauri Park

Cascades Kauri Park,
originally uploaded by pierre27453.

Lake Wainamu behind Bethells Beach, Auckland, New Zealand

Lake Wainamu behind Bethells Beach, Auckland, New Zealand,
originally uploaded by Lens_Flare.

Takahe

Takahe,
originally uploaded by LMD2007.

Awesome plummage.

# 22 Social net-working

It's true, at North Shore Libraries we're not moving fast enough into social networking. There are some 96 million profiles on MySpace. We should be more proactive and join in. By using blogs, MySpace or Bebo we could reach many more teenagers than just those who come in our front door. Teens can make the library one of their friends and then they are reminded of the library whenever they log into their space. They can interact with us in a familiar envirnoment that would allow constructive dialogue There are some brilliant ideas to be shared on library blogs. Teen Zone - The Blog had posts about video gaming evenings, The Loft@ImaginOn allowed me to chose the background music as I trawled through photos of library events, book reviews and author site links. The interactiveness of such sites is very attractive and we shouldn't hestitate to tap into these social networks.

# 21 Facebook etc.

My daughter showed me her Bebo site and took me through some of her friends sites. It's such an attractive medium for today's youth that we should be communicating this way with our teenage patrons. Rotorua's bebo site is awesome and very attractive. I had a look at My Space but it didn't gel for me.
I set up a Facebook account several weeks ago in anticipation of communicating with my son's College facebook while he is in France. It has worked out really well as I have been able to write on their wall and view photos that they have downloaded. Now I discover there is a NSL facebook and in the meantime I have made contact with several old school friends. The networking potential is incredible.

# 20 E-books

Searched for an English version of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (1862). Translation copyrighted 1887 it was readily available on Project Gutenberg. Only released 22/6/08 it was available in HTML or Plain text formats. The complexities of copyright make such books the obvious choice to publish on the net. The increasing digital access to the world's most prestigious libraries is awesome.
It's not surprising that some of the e-book software providers for books in copyright make you use their own make of e-books so that they can have a piece of the market. No doubt we will be subscribing to many e-books in the near future but I don't believe the portability and pleasure of curling up with a book on the couch will ever be superceded. If anything, people's awareness of publications on the net will increase the demand for our services.

# 19 Podcasts

Have had several goes at loading the RSS feed from Sounds Historical http://www.radionz.co.nz/podcasts/soundshistorical to my Bloglines account but will have to do this when I get back to work as it's taking too long to load. I got very distracted last night listening to podcasts on i-tunes. Found a good one on 'storytelling' in Podcastpickle.com. Takapuna could put some of their recorded book launches on as podcasts with the authors' permission and likewise we could raise the profile of our oral history collections.

# 18 YouTube

This is a video of Natalie Cole and her dad Nat King Cole singing Unforgettable. The song itself is clever, combining her voice with her dad's but the footage in this clip is beautiful. The use of archival film of Nat King Cole and the real time footage of Natalie, plus a few digital effects makes this clip "Unforgettable".
The digital age means that we now have so much archival footage at our finger tips that we can indulge in our favourite artists, bloopers, advertisements etc any time we're on the net.

# 17 Twitter

Have always been curious as to what Twitter was about. It lets your friends see what is happening in each others lives between blog posts and emails. It can be accessed from your mobile phone or your PC. Basically you are limited to 140 characters which answer the question What are you doing? There is a similar set up in facebook where you get a box to say what you are doing. I don't think I'll be subscribing to this one. We save power in our household and don't generally leave the PC on all day. I know, it probably takes more power to restart every time I need to do my Web 2.0 homework!
A work application? This is again social networking and somewhat limiting for professional use but maybe one could "twitter' in a team building situation where it was necessary to get to know your colleague's 'other life' .

# 16 Zoho and Google Docs

Had a good look at Zoho Writer but preferred Google Docs. They do much the same thing, .Google Docs just seemed more user firendly to me. Here is what I wrote.
Musings on Google Docs
This is going to be great for producing newsletters for a Society I belong to. Instead of attachments going back and forth we will each be able to log in and edit the document. It makes emailing look so passe. It doesn't matter where the participants are, they will all be able to contribute in their own time.
There are so many potential uses for this web-based application. There was one couple's story about how they do their shopping list using a spreadsheet on Google Docs. (This really appeals to the list making side of my personality!) The shared spreadsheet is categorised in the same order as the layout of the supermarket. Each can update the list any time without having to contact the other. No more calls, "Honey, we've run out of milk". After printing the cell contents are deleted and the list starts again. Cool!

When I tried to upload it as HTML I found I wasn't subscribed to Win Zip on this laptop so will have to experiment more when I'm back to work after the school holidays

# 15 Rollyo

Created a couple of searchrolls and then managed to add them to my blog. Was wondering if the HTML gets updated when I went back and modified one of the searchrolls but found it doesn't. So I'd need to take the link off and add the new HTML. Yet another useful way of collating and accessing favourite or useful websites so that you can access them from anywhere.
http://www.rollyo.com/editroll.html?sid=465056

# 14 Library Thing and cataloguing

I must remember to use this tool. It beats having to look for the lists I usually make in the back of my journal. I loaded one title that no one else had in the world of Library Thing, probably because it is a New Zealand publication about A1 and A2 milk. I really enjoy the social networking that is possible. Working in a library you are never short of a good read but you could certainly broaden your horizons following other people's recommendations on-line wherever you are. You can have your own personal library in your pocket!
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/pcltempleton

# 13 (week 6) Image generators

Used FD Toys to create a poster of my daughter's cat and I have posted it on my facebook in a new photo album .

This is fun. I used Letter James to doctor this Paris sign

http://www.letterjames.com/

#12 (Week5) Add an entry to the Learning 2.0Sandbox wiki

Have been using a Wetpaint wiki for sometime now. Great way of communicating with others and also for documenting a history of what is going on in your personal or professional life. I really like the term SandBox. The opportunities are only limited by one's imagination.

#11 Wikis

Great for collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. The lack of editorial control is a problem for academia but as all users are potential authors it is a plus that everyone can contribute their expertise or opinion without needing to know HTML. This makes it very easy for an organisation to set up an in house wiki which potentially everyone can contribute to equally.
They are a great communication tool if you want content from people outside the library. Wikis can be set up for specific events such as conferences or be ongoing such as book promotion lists.

#10 Web 2.0, Library 2.0

So much of what we are learning from 23 things we will be able to apply immediately to our library services. We need to rethink the way we do things and concentrate on using Web 2.0 to link people to each other and their information needs. It could be as simple as a library blog or wiki. Readers could blog reviews or be allowed a forum to discuss what their needs are. All we need is a moderator. We have the technology already and now we have the enthusiasm. No longer do the staff wonder what a blog is, or why Facebook and Youtube are so attractive to our patrons.

#9 (Week4) Exploring Technorati and learning how tags work with blog posts

7,471 results for Learning 2.0 in Technorati Blog posts. Really interesting Welsh article on use of cell phone technology in the classroom has created lots of comment. The study found that kids enjoyed using their cellphones to access the internet and felt motivated to learn. Some people thought it a crazy idea but hey, it has to be the way to go. My daughter would be in seventh heaven with the technology access. Okay we'd have more short sightedness and arguments over lost cellphones but if well moderated it could be a great enhancement for some kids learning styles.
Under the Blog Directory had a quick look at geekswithblogs.net and decided that this is definitely too technical a blog for me. It's another language!
Going into the tags linked to Learning 2.0 under videos gave just eight videos from different nationalities. Under blogs there were 109 with the tag "learning 2.0", lots of like minded librarians doing 23 things.
It gave me the option to change the level of authority and the language of the blog posts I got. It must be a huge job moderating what gets posted. Gives access to related tags and the most recent post I found was posted 18 minutes ago.

#8 (Week 4) Tagging and Del.icio.us

This social bookmarking service would be great for organising study topics for students. Its portability makes it so much more versatile than the old method of using Favourites. I had a go with saving web sites with free crossstitch patterns. By tagging with the individual subjects I will be able to come back when I have the time and choose to look at the individual topics rather than having to go back into each webpage or wait until I'm on my home computer to search my Favourites. When I put in the topic tramping I came up with a lot of NZ sites as hiking is the preferred term overseas. With tagging I can put both on any site I save and this makes it more accessible to others.

Exercise #7.2

Topix.net was great for snippets of news. By the time I'd looked at my RSS feeds as well I was saturated with many of the same stories. Syndic8.com was overwhelming. Had a quick look for an interesting podcast. Could even listen to French but with my hazy language skills they all seemed to be of a religious nature. I related best to Technorati. Found a video on tendonitis which is relevant to me at the moment. My life will never be the same. There are so many possibilities both personally and professionally to broaden one's horizons.

#7.1 RSS Feeds

Initially thought this question was going to be beyond me until I had a play and the tutorial was right, it is very easy. In fact I got carried away and have had to delete various feeds as my lifestyle wasn't going to cope with the amount of information. Thought I'd catch up on BBC news about Wales where my bro lives. The news feeding every minute was overwhelming but its sensationalism was not unlike our own. At least they're not in the grips of election year.
I subscribed to several of the cookery feeds and got a great recipe for Spinach and feta quiche from Simply Recipes. I wonder if anyone cooks with a laptop in their kitchen?
The Library feeds seem much more manageable and a great way of keeping abreast of overseas professionals. There are only so many hours in a day but with RSS feeds you have so much at your fingertips.

#6 Digital technology

Have wanted my own digital camera for ages so took the plunge and went out and bought one with the excuse that my son can take it on his trip to France next month. Would be great if he took the attachments and downloaded pictures in the school's Facebook page so that I could keep a virtual eye on him! Isn't digital technology amazing. It moves so fast. The smallest memory stick for the camera was 1GB!
Last month I got a text from a friend in London and another friend sent e-mails from all over the world as she travelled so that I got the enthusiasm she was feeling at the time. I could join in the funny stories about the GPS system driving them into a one lane dead end street in Spain when they wanted the supermarche, or the tornado they experienced in the States.
My generation complain about the constant texting our children do but when you think about it logically, they are far more communicative than we ever were and it's nothing new that the communication is with their peers and not with their parents!

#5 Mashups

Didn't realise how appropriate my pseudonym 'trailingbehind' would be. I haven't posted anything for over a week! Have had trouble with the response time on my daughter's laptop when loading Montagr (lack of space on the hard drive if I'm interpreting the messages correctly). I'm convinced that it's all to do with my son sucking all the broad band power upstairs for his online gaming! Seriously, I do need to upgrade so that all these Web 2.0 applications are available to me in real time. Tried Montagr at work using the tag 'birds' and got some beautiful photos.
Found the Mashup awards. Aren't people clever.
Now that I have been introduced to the likes of Twitter and del.icio.us my virtual world has expanded ten fold. I think I'm even getting ahead of my kids! or perhaps their stunned silence at my enthusiasm is teenage speak for 'we knew that!'

Anawhata

Anawhata,
originally uploaded by grinnner.

Had already worked out how to put a photo into my post using the icon on the compose screen so now I'm having a go at blogging my chosen photo direct from Flickr.

# 4 (Week 2): Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site

Some of the photos I found on Flickr for my favourite bush walks and birds are awesome. I'm already falling behind in my blogging but have decided that I deserve some play so I am spending this evening looking through other people's photostreams using key words that interest e.g. Muriwai, Piha, cats and birds. This is a great way to compile your digital photos so that family and friends can see them and they don't take up space on the already crowded bookcase of albums.

I've created a Flickr account, now all I have to do is prise the digital camera off my daughter and get some of my own photos up on the net.

Above is a link to one of the photos I found when I searched for Anawhata. I'm getting good at editing my posts 'cos they don't always start out looking the way I want them to. Also I've learnt if you right click on the x on the photo then you can open the link.

Still walking

Managed to walk between rain clouds yesterday. Having fun uploading some of my photos today. It did warn me that it might take 24 hours to delete my first efforts but seems to have deleted photos straightaway. Great being able to edit and drag the different boxes around to place things in different positions. I'm hooked!

First-time blogging

I can see blogging can be quite a creative outlet. I like the fact that you are in control and you can use colour, pictures etc. to reflect yourself. I had a go at changing my template several times and I'm going to scan some of my own photos at work tomorrow so I can share some of the beautiful Auckland walks I have done. This is a work in progress!

In the beginning

I can't go out tramping this term because of an injury so I'm going to use this blog to document my road to recovery. Starting today I am going to go for a walk locally with a friend. It has been bucketing down here these past few days so here's hoping it stays fine for the hour we want.
And no hills! as I haven't been walking for several weeks now.