Week 10: #23

Reflections on Library 2.0:

I really enjoyed working through these exercises. I learned a lot and especially enjoyed viewing YouTube. I will not be viewing it anymore, though, because I do not have a computer at home.

I was surprised at the number of young persons who are not familiar with a lot of the new technology we have learned. I feel newly "up to date" and I hope that we have similar learning opportunities in the future. Thanks to those who put this learning experience together for us.

Week 9: #22

Overdrive has a number of attractive features including a great user interface; easy ways to link to desired type of media; and a search window allowing familiar ways to search, i.e. author, title, etc. The selection of media was good and included titles in several genres for a variety of interests. The music selection is limited due to licensing limitations in that media. Overall, I found it an inviting site.

The free sites were not as visually attractive. The variety was limited and the selections in the e-book site were poor. The audiobook site provided more quality and variety, in my opinion, although volunteers record the books. I have not listened to any of their selections but my guess would be that professional readers would do a better job. I prefer the HCPL site to the free sites.

Week 9:#21

I found a podcast of librarians discussing current library news. I found it by typing in public library on PodcastAlley and then exploring some of the returns. The podcast is called Uncontrolled Vocabulary. I tried listening to it on my Bloglines account but it was taking too long to download or perhaps I wasn't doing something correctly. Here's the link:

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss38665.xml

Week 9: #20

This exercise was about discovering YouTube. It was quite an interesting and enjoyable exercise for me. I watched several videos about libraries and librarians and noted the common purpose of the profession continues even as technology changes.

I wanted to see if a video that I saw several years ago was viewable on YouTube. I found it by searching for the musical group's name in the search window. It is a British synthpop song and video about libraries. It is quite amusing. You can find it at

http://www.cheekybeef.co.uk/library.html

Week 8: #19

This exercise was the most personally helpful I have completed thus far. I really like the ability to do word processing in Zoho that can be accessed from any computer, just as I like having a yahoo email account that is not tied to any particular isp.

I tried out creating a simple document and was pleased to see that in a few minutes I had mastered the basics of using the application. Since the icons are based upon standards I had come to know in using Word, it was easy to see how to edit my document.

I will definitely use this application and perhaps teach it to customers who are frustrated by needing to carry around floppy disks, jump drives and the like. This will permit a lot of freedom and flexibility in creating and sharing documents. I really appreciate being able to learn this.

Week 8: #18

Social networking is interesting and time consuming. I looked at the various linked sites and enjoyed two: Ning and Rate My Space. I liked Ning because it organized the blogs into common interests and I liked Rate My Space for the same reason and because I like decorating.

I can see where occasional blogging could be helpful or entertaining. It would be good to use it in moderation.