Well, that's the end of the road. I think i've learnt a few things and discovered a lot of websites that could be handy to recommend to customers. In fact, a patron asked me what a "wiki" was the other day and I was able to give them a good account, having watched the video explaining them for this programme.
I don't think libraries will have to abandon books straight away, but it's good to get a sense of how things will change over the coming years, so the programme was good on that account.
Bye now...
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Week 9 (session 22)
This week I looked at the e-books available on Net Library. Lots of classics available there and it would be great if you just wanted to look up a certain section (not sure if I would want to read a whole book onscreen yet, though I haven't seen a kindle yet).
I also looked at the Downloadable Media set-up. I've actually used this service before to download a book to my ipod. It used to be that it wouldn't work on ipods and I think people will find it a lot more practical now that ipods are included in the servicable files. It's a bit of a pain that you have to download the software to your computer, but it doesn't seem to be a very big file size. It would certainly be handy if people could load up their ipods from the Library computers, though I guess it would be a great strain on the network since audio books are reasonably large files.
Great to see some newer authors like Chuck Palahnuik on there.
I also looked at the Downloadable Media set-up. I've actually used this service before to download a book to my ipod. It used to be that it wouldn't work on ipods and I think people will find it a lot more practical now that ipods are included in the servicable files. It's a bit of a pain that you have to download the software to your computer, but it doesn't seem to be a very big file size. It would certainly be handy if people could load up their ipods from the Library computers, though I guess it would be a great strain on the network since audio books are reasonably large files.
Great to see some newer authors like Chuck Palahnuik on there.
Week Nine (session 21)
This week I was looking at podcasts. I tried the links suggested, but both Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts didn't seem to go anywhere. However Podcast Alley seemed to have plenty of podcasts listed. The library-related ones mostly seemed to be about how to use libraries.
The most interesting one I found was the "Classic Tales Podcast" which is described as the following:
"The Classic Tales Podcast delivers professional performances of unabridged classics. Enjoy classic short fiction from Poe, Dickens, Hardy, and others. Performed by character actor B.J. Harrison"
Sounds like a good thing to recommend to audio book users who are want to try a few different classic authors without having to get an audio book by each of them.
For the record, the podcast can be found amongst the arts listings, at number 12 in the list:
http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_genres.php?pod_genre_id=17
The most interesting one I found was the "Classic Tales Podcast" which is described as the following:
"The Classic Tales Podcast delivers professional performances of unabridged classics. Enjoy classic short fiction from Poe, Dickens, Hardy, and others. Performed by character actor B.J. Harrison"
Sounds like a good thing to recommend to audio book users who are want to try a few different classic authors without having to get an audio book by each of them.
For the record, the podcast can be found amongst the arts listings, at number 12 in the list:
http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_genres.php?pod_genre_id=17
Week Nine (session 20)
I was already pretty experienced with wasting time on youtube. To complete this week's session, I thought I'd link this video I made for my old band...
Week Eight (session 19)
This week I looked at the award nominated site, www.lulu.com. It is a website where you can layout your own text and images as a book and have it printed. A 120 page book only cost US$7 to print. However, you'd already know how to lay it out as a PDF. I suppose the postage would make the whole thing I bit overly expensive. Otherwise, you could write a book for a friend's birthday and give it to them ... assuming that you are exceedingly fast at typing and laying out books...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Week Eight (session 18)
Hi there,
This week I learnt how to use the website, Zoha, to create documents. I thought i'd try that page because I've already used Google Docs a little bit. My first attempt at a Zoha doc is posted in my previous post, though none of the smiley faces came up. It was pretty easy to use and quite similar to Microsoft Word. It's kinda nice to think that people who can't afford Microsoft word and other programs of that type can use these free sites online.
Test One
"ken you don't want to be a page forever"
"who said i've been alive forever?"
"ken you don't want to be a page forever"
"who said i've been alive forever?"
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Week 7 (session 17)
This week I looked around the ACL PB wiki. I added my blog to the bottom of the list of favourite blogs (you'll have to scroll right down!). I found it interesting looking around - especially at all the lists of favourite books that people had put up (making use of links to Library Thing and other sites). Could be a few there I might be interested in reading too...
Week 7 (session 16)
Hi there,
This week we learnt about Wikis. I suppose I had always thought about Wikis in terms of wikipedia and it was interesting to see them as a more general way for group decision making to work. It seems like it would work best when a group has some clear pieces of information to share or a specific task to work together on.
In this respect, I think wikis would be a use for libraries, especially in group decision-making processes. For example, if a team were organising an event at one of the libraries they could each contribute ideas of what they need to get done and then divide the tasks amongst themselves, without having to send countless emails (which could get more confusing). At the end of the day, they would have a wiki that clearly showed what they had decided and could therefore be used to keep everyone on task.
Then again, I suppose teams could just as easily have a meeting to decide such issues. Though I suppose a wiki is something that can be constantly updated (unlike a meeting which is likely to only be once a week at most).
The Auckland Public Library wiki seems more about sharing information and seems like a great place to get an idea bout what is going on day-by-day throughout the libraries.
This week we learnt about Wikis. I suppose I had always thought about Wikis in terms of wikipedia and it was interesting to see them as a more general way for group decision making to work. It seems like it would work best when a group has some clear pieces of information to share or a specific task to work together on.
In this respect, I think wikis would be a use for libraries, especially in group decision-making processes. For example, if a team were organising an event at one of the libraries they could each contribute ideas of what they need to get done and then divide the tasks amongst themselves, without having to send countless emails (which could get more confusing). At the end of the day, they would have a wiki that clearly showed what they had decided and could therefore be used to keep everyone on task.
Then again, I suppose teams could just as easily have a meeting to decide such issues. Though I suppose a wiki is something that can be constantly updated (unlike a meeting which is likely to only be once a week at most).
The Auckland Public Library wiki seems more about sharing information and seems like a great place to get an idea bout what is going on day-by-day throughout the libraries.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Week 6 (session 15)
Today, I am writing about some articles that talk about how libraries should deal with web 2.0 technology...
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/3.htm
This article is a general coverage of how libraries should react to web 2.0. I agree with the point about "techno-lust" - sometimes I think we need to be careful to only embrace parts of the new technology that are relevant to what we want to do. For example, the library shouldn't have a twitters account just to seem up-to-date and should only set-up things like that if they allow us to serve our patrons better.
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm
I found the part about increasing user education quite relevant. I guess librarians will deal more in trying to help people access all the information that is out there digitally, so it won't just be a case of pointing people towards the right shelf of books. At the same time, I hope we don't rush too quickly into filling the whole library with computers because I feel some patrons are already disappointed with the decreasing amount of books on display. It'll be a while before everyone wants to read on their computers, tablets, etc
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/4.htm
I liked the idea of libraries working together. It makes more sense for libraries to share information digitally rather than through the effort involved in inter-loans. It's also good that libraries create their own areas/databases of information, because the internet overall is such a massive swamp of questionable information (where it's hard to be sure of the "facts" that you are finding).
Okay, looks like that's all for Week 6...
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/3.htm
This article is a general coverage of how libraries should react to web 2.0. I agree with the point about "techno-lust" - sometimes I think we need to be careful to only embrace parts of the new technology that are relevant to what we want to do. For example, the library shouldn't have a twitters account just to seem up-to-date and should only set-up things like that if they allow us to serve our patrons better.
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm
I found the part about increasing user education quite relevant. I guess librarians will deal more in trying to help people access all the information that is out there digitally, so it won't just be a case of pointing people towards the right shelf of books. At the same time, I hope we don't rush too quickly into filling the whole library with computers because I feel some patrons are already disappointed with the decreasing amount of books on display. It'll be a while before everyone wants to read on their computers, tablets, etc
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/4.htm
I liked the idea of libraries working together. It makes more sense for libraries to share information digitally rather than through the effort involved in inter-loans. It's also good that libraries create their own areas/databases of information, because the internet overall is such a massive swamp of questionable information (where it's hard to be sure of the "facts" that you are finding).
Okay, looks like that's all for Week 6...
Week 6 (session 14)
Hi there,
This week I claimed my blog, which required me to post the following code for verification:
KMK4SU6459UF
I didn't realise there was such a hierachy that you could sign into, in order to promote your blog. Hopefully my key word doesn't send anybody to mine, because I don't think it would be too exciting to a general reader!
I suppose the most useful application of Techorati for my current role would be if Auckland City Libraries wanted to gain popularity for its blog and listed it on the site. Alternatively if a library patron I was serving asked me about what blogs were popular then it could be a good resource to send them to.
Okay, that's all for this session, I think...
This week I claimed my blog, which required me to post the following code for verification:
KMK4SU6459UF
I didn't realise there was such a hierachy that you could sign into, in order to promote your blog. Hopefully my key word doesn't send anybody to mine, because I don't think it would be too exciting to a general reader!
I suppose the most useful application of Techorati for my current role would be if Auckland City Libraries wanted to gain popularity for its blog and listed it on the site. Alternatively if a library patron I was serving asked me about what blogs were popular then it could be a good resource to send them to.
Okay, that's all for this session, I think...
Week 6 (session 13)
Hi there,
This week I set-up a delicious account:
http://delicious.com/thepillarofhate
It seems like a fun way to share websites between friends. However, I'm not sure whether it would be that great for research unless you were already in a community of people who were interested in the same subject and used the delicous website. The main problem would be that the keywords that people put in would hardly be exhaustive and I wonder whether it would be able to translate from US to British spellings, etc.
Therefore I think the libraries aren't in danger of being taken over by a tool like this!
This week I set-up a delicious account:
http://delicious.com/thepillarofhate
It seems like a fun way to share websites between friends. However, I'm not sure whether it would be that great for research unless you were already in a community of people who were interested in the same subject and used the delicous website. The main problem would be that the keywords that people put in would hardly be exhaustive and I wonder whether it would be able to translate from US to British spellings, etc.
Therefore I think the libraries aren't in danger of being taken over by a tool like this!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Week 5 (session 12)
Well, it seems that Rollyo is undergoing routine maintenance so I can't actually complete the second and final task for this week. Maybe I can get a pass anyway?...
http://rollyo.com/
http://rollyo.com/
Week 5 (session 11)
Hi there,
I think by this week, I should be all up-to-date and ready to enter Week Five. Which is when I look around Library Thing and add this widget to my blog ... (David Foster Wallace might be a good thing to search, if you wanna try it) ...
I think by this week, I should be all up-to-date and ready to enter Week Five. Which is when I look around Library Thing and add this widget to my blog ... (David Foster Wallace might be a good thing to search, if you wanna try it) ...
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Back to Week 3 (session 8)
Hmm, just when I thought I'd sorted out the run of weeks, now it seems like the session order is going backwards...
Today I was playing image generators, which seem to be very inflexible online photo-adjustment tools. On the upside, they are super easy to use. It's a bit more difficult to actually think of anything funny to do with them, but here is my lame attempt...
http://www.imagegenerator.net/browse/newscaster/date/133667/
Today I was playing image generators, which seem to be very inflexible online photo-adjustment tools. On the upside, they are super easy to use. It's a bit more difficult to actually think of anything funny to do with them, but here is my lame attempt...
http://www.imagegenerator.net/browse/newscaster/date/133667/
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Real Week 4 (session 10)
Okay, so I set-up a Tweet:
http://twitter.com/GarethShute
It was very easy to do. Though I do wonder if we librarians should be encouraging people to read in such small increments. After reading tweets all day, I wonder if people will still be up to taking on a novel at night?
Though it is fun to feel right up to the minute with your celeb-stalking...
http://twitter.com/GarethShute
It was very easy to do. Though I do wonder if we librarians should be encouraging people to read in such small increments. After reading tweets all day, I wonder if people will still be up to taking on a novel at night?
Though it is fun to feel right up to the minute with your celeb-stalking...
The Real Week 3 (session 9)
Hi there,
So this week, we had to set-up RSS feeds for ourselves to watch. I used Google reader. It was pretty easy to use. I hadn't really used RSS feeds before and was amazed how many websites I used had them and not only for news pieces - some gave feeds to report that new podcasts had been put up (e.g., both the Slate Magazine and National Radio websites have RSS feeds for their blogs). Therefore I can definitely see uses for myself in using these feeds, especially since sites like the Herald, divide up their content into different RSS feeds so you can find out just what you need to. My only problem was that some websites seemed to want to add my RSS feeds to my iGoogle home page rather than to my Google Reader. But at least it was easy to search from within Google Reader.
Anyway, my feed page is here:
https://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%2F07287818630153977777%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list
The library uses already seem to be underway. I think it's a great idea that you could find out when a new book by an author you like has had a new entry added (i.e., by being notified when a search under their name brings up an extra item). It would be similarly useful for letting people know about events at different branches and other news of this type.
Okay that should be plenty of rambling on this topic for me!
So this week, we had to set-up RSS feeds for ourselves to watch. I used Google reader. It was pretty easy to use. I hadn't really used RSS feeds before and was amazed how many websites I used had them and not only for news pieces - some gave feeds to report that new podcasts had been put up (e.g., both the Slate Magazine and National Radio websites have RSS feeds for their blogs). Therefore I can definitely see uses for myself in using these feeds, especially since sites like the Herald, divide up their content into different RSS feeds so you can find out just what you need to. My only problem was that some websites seemed to want to add my RSS feeds to my iGoogle home page rather than to my Google Reader. But at least it was easy to search from within Google Reader.
Anyway, my feed page is here:
https://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user%2F07287818630153977777%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list
The library uses already seem to be underway. I think it's a great idea that you could find out when a new book by an author you like has had a new entry added (i.e., by being notified when a search under their name brings up an extra item). It would be similarly useful for letting people know about events at different branches and other news of this type.
Okay that should be plenty of rambling on this topic for me!
Week Five (session 7)
Hello again,
According to the Web 2.0 blog, I seem to have been stuck on week three for the last three sessions so I hope I'm not getting behind ... I've put the session number to make things more clear...
Anyway, here is a picture that I messed around with in Picnik:
According to the Web 2.0 blog, I seem to have been stuck on week three for the last three sessions so I hope I'm not getting behind ... I've put the session number to make things more clear...
Anyway, here is a picture that I messed around with in Picnik:
I feel a bit mean mucking around with a picture of the founder of Flying Nun, but he just bought it back so he must be happy anyway...
Bye now
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Week 4
This week I played around with Flickr mash-up apps. I made this trading card. It is all black and white and moody...
That's all for this week it seems....
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Week 3
Hi there,
This week I was exploring Flickr. Being a vain person, I tried to find a picture of myself playing in the Brunettes. However putting "Brunettes" into the search engine came up with quite the wrong results, so I had to cast my faded mind back to remember what venues we played. Finally I found this picture.
That's me way in the background, playing the trumpet.
Coming back down to earth - I think Flickr would probably be a useful tool for community librarians if they are looking for pictures for children who are doing school assignments. I suppose it would also be an accessible place to load pictures of library events (assuming permission was granted from the people who are shown in the images.
Anyways, I think that's enough for this week.
This week I was exploring Flickr. Being a vain person, I tried to find a picture of myself playing in the Brunettes. However putting "Brunettes" into the search engine came up with quite the wrong results, so I had to cast my faded mind back to remember what venues we played. Finally I found this picture.
That's me way in the background, playing the trumpet.
Coming back down to earth - I think Flickr would probably be a useful tool for community librarians if they are looking for pictures for children who are doing school assignments. I suppose it would also be an accessible place to load pictures of library events (assuming permission was granted from the people who are shown in the images.
Anyways, I think that's enough for this week.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Week Two
Today I explored some social networking sites. Bebo seemed very odd to look at and I can see why it was surpassed by Facebook - perhaps this is why the Auckland City Library Bebo page has fallen into dis-use?
It was easy to find other librarians on Facebook because someone has set-up a group page for Auckland City Libraries. Assuming you're logged onto Facebook, the page can be found here.
Myspace is also filled with librarian-musicians, including members of the following bands:
Bearcat (which includes Dan Trevathan from Circulation)
Bloody Souls (which includes Andrew Tolley from Circulation)
The Gladeyes (which includes Jade Farley from Circulation)
It seems like social-networking sites would be a great place to promote the library. The only problem would be that our patron's have such varied interests that it would be hard to start a group that addressed the interests of all of them. However, I believe that ground floor have started a page for their teen reading group and I suppose similar groups for our Music Dept, etc, could work well.
That seems like enough online socialising now. Best go and talk to some real people...
Gareth
It was easy to find other librarians on Facebook because someone has set-up a group page for Auckland City Libraries. Assuming you're logged onto Facebook, the page can be found here.
Myspace is also filled with librarian-musicians, including members of the following bands:
Bearcat (which includes Dan Trevathan from Circulation)
Bloody Souls (which includes Andrew Tolley from Circulation)
The Gladeyes (which includes Jade Farley from Circulation)
It seems like social-networking sites would be a great place to promote the library. The only problem would be that our patron's have such varied interests that it would be hard to start a group that addressed the interests of all of them. However, I believe that ground floor have started a page for their teen reading group and I suppose similar groups for our Music Dept, etc, could work well.
That seems like enough online socialising now. Best go and talk to some real people...
Gareth
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Hate
Hi there,
This is my first post. It was very simple to create, which is good because I am very lazy. I am looking forward to making my next post more interesting than this one - hopefully I will learn how to add pictures or moving images in future. That might make things more exciting ... though don't hold your breath.
Thank you for listening.
TPOH
This is my first post. It was very simple to create, which is good because I am very lazy. I am looking forward to making my next post more interesting than this one - hopefully I will learn how to add pictures or moving images in future. That might make things more exciting ... though don't hold your breath.
Thank you for listening.
TPOH
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