# 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