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.