I enjoyed meeting Michael Stephens at his Forum last week - the research results sound like they will be interesting reading.
Also appreciated the opportunity to hear Noel Pearson at QPLA - found his comments on elevating disadvataged groups thought provoking. Then had a very interesting afternoon hosting the local studies library tour.
It was great to meet people from all over at the Conference and also at the SLQ training. All up a very intellectually stimulating week!
Online databases: My favourite is Newsbank - has made answering numerous queries on the Info Desk quick and easy. I have also recently participated in a couple of SLQ's online database training sessions. The databases all have many features I was not aware of prior to the training.
I liked the Science Journals 'create a web page' feature. It must make it very easy to return to any relevant sources you have located, even if you only retain it for personal reference.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Playing catchup!
I have got way behind with Learning 2.0 so , with the program due to finish in a few weeks, I am here to do a quick catchup.
Wikis - have had a couple of recent experiences with wikis; CLIC, Alison's Information Services wiki, and Looking back...memories of Townsville, a recent Lifelong Learning program to encourage adult learners to use new technologies. In the latter I think the staff learnt as much as the participants while helping them to prepare and upload their stories!
I think I need to spend a bit more time being involved with CLIC to get the hang of it.
I had thought it would be good to have a staff wiki to keep track of, and easily return to topics researched by Local Collection staff. After discussion with Warren it was decided that this could be done with the use of Word Documents which are easily searchable too. The discussion reinforced the fact that, when considering any new application, you need to be clear on what you need, and the pros and cons of all the options available.
Online collaboration - had a quick look at Google Docs, and uploaded a document from my computer. It looks to be a very useful application and seems to be pretty easy to use. Have realized I could have actually tried it out recently when I was putting together a new information sheet, and asking for other team members comments. A missed opportunity to expand my and other team members knowledge. Oh well, next time......
Web videos - I really like the CommonCraft Show videos, some of which Warren has used in the Learning 2.0 activities. I have used the one below for training in basic internet searching ....
but haven't manged to embed it!!!
I did some other YouTube searches - found Susan Boyle, and was again impressed by her talent. Also did some library related searches. I find it frustrating when reloading takes place several times during a video. While there is some great stuff around, unless someone else points it out, it seems to take a lot of time wading through a lot of poor and mediocre stuff to find it! I can see that we could make use of web video on the library website - eg a preview of the coming activities, some tutorials in using the library catalogue or searching the internet, for example.
Social networking - I joined Facebook some time ago, purely to view my sister-in-law's photos from her overseas holiday. I haven't been interested in doing anything else with it, and looking at it again I'm still not. Although, when I have more time I might seriously consider giving Shelfari a go! It looks useful for keeping track of what I've read, and reviews are always interesting.
Because it's not something that appeals to me in general, I have difficulty understanding the popularity of social networking sites, and the privacy (or lack of) issues concern me. While these sites in many ways make communication easier, they also make abuses (eg bullying) easier.
Because of the general popularity of social networking sites libraries do need to consider them as another option for connecting with a broader range of potential customers.
Wikis - have had a couple of recent experiences with wikis; CLIC, Alison's Information Services wiki, and Looking back...memories of Townsville, a recent Lifelong Learning program to encourage adult learners to use new technologies. In the latter I think the staff learnt as much as the participants while helping them to prepare and upload their stories!
I think I need to spend a bit more time being involved with CLIC to get the hang of it.
I had thought it would be good to have a staff wiki to keep track of, and easily return to topics researched by Local Collection staff. After discussion with Warren it was decided that this could be done with the use of Word Documents which are easily searchable too. The discussion reinforced the fact that, when considering any new application, you need to be clear on what you need, and the pros and cons of all the options available.
Online collaboration - had a quick look at Google Docs, and uploaded a document from my computer. It looks to be a very useful application and seems to be pretty easy to use. Have realized I could have actually tried it out recently when I was putting together a new information sheet, and asking for other team members comments. A missed opportunity to expand my and other team members knowledge. Oh well, next time......
Web videos - I really like the CommonCraft Show videos, some of which Warren has used in the Learning 2.0 activities. I have used the one below for training in basic internet searching ....
but haven't manged to embed it!!!
I did some other YouTube searches - found Susan Boyle, and was again impressed by her talent. Also did some library related searches. I find it frustrating when reloading takes place several times during a video. While there is some great stuff around, unless someone else points it out, it seems to take a lot of time wading through a lot of poor and mediocre stuff to find it! I can see that we could make use of web video on the library website - eg a preview of the coming activities, some tutorials in using the library catalogue or searching the internet, for example.
Social networking - I joined Facebook some time ago, purely to view my sister-in-law's photos from her overseas holiday. I haven't been interested in doing anything else with it, and looking at it again I'm still not. Although, when I have more time I might seriously consider giving Shelfari a go! It looks useful for keeping track of what I've read, and reviews are always interesting.
Because it's not something that appeals to me in general, I have difficulty understanding the popularity of social networking sites, and the privacy (or lack of) issues concern me. While these sites in many ways make communication easier, they also make abuses (eg bullying) easier.
Because of the general popularity of social networking sites libraries do need to consider them as another option for connecting with a broader range of potential customers.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Web conference
I am shocked to see that it has been more than 3 weeks since I last blogged! How time flies!
I have just participated in my first web training conference, hosted by SLQ. It was less than successful. I really needed a headphone/mic set. I only had headphones, which were dicey and kept fading in and out unless I held onto the cord. There was provision to text if you had no mic, but not being experienced with IM and having to hold onto the headphones with one hand, it was all a bit much to handle in mid-afternoon!
Also, because the screen size is diminished it wasn't always easy to follow the facilitator's cursor around the screen. However, the training did broaden my knowledge of Library PressDisplay. Things, as always, can only improve with better equipment and more experience!
I have just participated in my first web training conference, hosted by SLQ. It was less than successful. I really needed a headphone/mic set. I only had headphones, which were dicey and kept fading in and out unless I held onto the cord. There was provision to text if you had no mic, but not being experienced with IM and having to hold onto the headphones with one hand, it was all a bit much to handle in mid-afternoon!
Also, because the screen size is diminished it wasn't always easy to follow the facilitator's cursor around the screen. However, the training did broaden my knowledge of Library PressDisplay. Things, as always, can only improve with better equipment and more experience!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Delicious
I have been using delicious for a while, and for me it has been one of the most useful web 2.0 tools. If you move around the libraries using different desks, you don't have to save your favourites on each computer - they are all together in one place. I also use it to park useful websites I discover while doing reference queries. Tagging them then makes it easy to find all saved sites on a similar topic.
I like the fact that you can have private and public bookmarks. I have made sites like online banking private, and they are then easily accessible when you are travelling, for example.
I had a look at Digg - didn't do much for me, so I haven't signed up.
I like the fact that you can have private and public bookmarks. I have made sites like online banking private, and they are then easily accessible when you are travelling, for example.
I had a look at Digg - didn't do much for me, so I haven't signed up.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Blog reading list
I have belatedly realized I can set up a reading list of blogs I wish to follow on my blog dashboard. I am giving it a go - I think it might suit me better than doing it by RSS feeds. We'll see how it goes! It will depend on me accessing my blog regularly though!!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Mashups
I have really enjoyed checking out the links in the mashups activity, and have managed to produce a slideshow of some of the photos I have on Flickr. See the bottom of this blog for the results!
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