Thing 23 - The end of all existence...

No, that's not quite right.



Lets try again -

"The end of JTHM?"



No, no, no...


I'll get it in the end...

Anyway enough of that. I have really enjoyed the time spent learning about all these new technologies that I had only vaguely heard about before.

It has been fun, instructional, and I have learned heaps. I will definitely be taking away several ideas to implement the use of within our team - like Rollyo, Zoho, Bloglines and podcasts.

I'm pretty sure that in my day to day life as "Fluff the librarian", these 23 things will be of benefit to me, both in helping me help my customers, and increasing my enjoyment of my job (and leisure time too).

I actually started this to learn new stuff and become a better Librarian and Superuser. And I think I have acheived this goal...
(Note: I already have an MP3 player, so one of my brothers is going to be lucky enough to get a really cool Xmas present. - Of course, I'm not saying I don't want it, plus if you pick my name out of the hat for the camera I will be ecstatic! - I have been putting off upgrading my crappy little digi cam until I knew I hadn't won this cool and capable 2.0 camera.)

Thanks for everything, and guess what - I figured it out, I knew I would...

It's the end of my ACL learning 2.0 experience...

...however it is merely the beginning of my Library 2.0 life!

[Thanks ACL learning 2.0 team... keep up the fun and innovative ideas!]

(PS: I hope you had as much fun as I did.)

Thing 22

Net-library

Easy enough to make a new account for myself, but I don't find the site itself very useful (mostly because of the limited range of books), but also because it logs you out far too often, it is a little clunky to use and it uses pdf's which if you have dial-up is a real pain;

However you can search for your subject of interest within the e-book itself, there are a few very interesting books, and it is free to use...

For all that, I will probably still check out some of the books - mostly the cooking ones especially Holiday Cooking Around the Worldand Cooking the Chinese Way, and some of the travel ones could be good (Europe for Dummies sounds intriguing), however most of the fiction I can just access through Project Gutenberg already. And to access my favourite sort of fiction (scienc fiction anfd fantasy) I just head directly to my most favourite e-book website ever - Baen. Plus you can download in several different formats from these other sites or just read on your computer...

Here's one of my favourites from Baen -

Werehunter

Here is my favourite find on Net library - a recipe for Dead Bone Cookies (cool name and yummy recipe).

BTW: My Kindle rant- Who would really buy a dedicated e-book reader when you can get one that gives you as good quality in e-book reading but also has extra functionality including the capability to play games, use it as a mobile phone, go on the internet, and read & prepare documents, etc etc ... PDA's (like my Lifedrive), or Blackberry's... the list goes on.

Plus it charges you to access free content! As I am a bit of a spendthrift... not the one for me! I like free e-books - and there are plenty out there.

Thing 21

Well after finding out what they are, i found out that i have been using them already - mostly on my Lifedrive...

Check out the Melbourne tours I tried out in October when I was over in Melbourne for a holiday.

Thought I'd try the same search on the different sites [Zealand auckland]:

I found Podcast alley to have the best site and range (75 results)...

Didn't like Podcast.net not very many results (4 in a keyword search) and rather minimal site and search options...

I also really liked Yahoo search... because you could limit your search to Online Music Stores; the Web; and Podcasts BUT also because the results were quite good...

I found a podcast directory site - Podfeed - which basically uses a Google customized search. this was an easy to use site which gave good results... Although it seems to only search the Podfeet.net site.

I am using the following podcast about food markets because I have become quite a fan recently... And also because the one that i actually wanted about the Real Gold book has disappeared off the Radio NZ website... oh well, never mind - Try some Food with Judith Cullen

This interview also includes info on her new book Dinner in a Basket.

And you can even check out her website.

Some interesting and useful podcast sites in NZ...

PodcastNZ

Podcast Travel Guides for New Zealand (Note: does cost $ but minimal amount)

Radio NZ (excellent podcasts and a big variety)

Thing 20

You Tube...

I had some great fun roaming around You Tube... and it was really hard to pick just one video to embed here...
I finally choose the following old black and white training film...
"Your Life Work" aka So you want to be a Librarian.

According to the Richmond Town Library: "This is an open access occupational film about the library profession, and becoming a librarian. It was shot in 1947..."
I find that even though it is slightly out of date and frequently un-PC, that age-old question every librarian has probably heard is finally answered. You know the one...

"I'm looking for a book.

I can't remember the author or the title, but I'm sure it was blue"

Plus check out this classic.. it still makes me feel good after many screenings!

Notes about You Tube: There were a couple of things I liked about You Tube such as the ability to say yes i like this comment or no I don't like this comment. The ability to use just one click to add items to your favourites was a good feature as well. Also the fact that when you do a search it makes suggestions as to what you might have meant if you make a spelling mistake.

Thing 19

Discovering web 2.0 tools

I decided to choose Etsy... both because I had used it before and because it is such a fun, and groovy site...




Retail section: 2nd place





Etsy is a place where the artsy, crafty and talented can sell stuff online from anywhere in the world, to anywhere in the world... and the less artsy-crafty of us can buy it.


I even like the cool & funky name. It reminds me a little of Titirangi market, but online and even funkier.



While most of the products are amazing and made by very talented people... it is the interface the webdesigners have provided that makes this such a cool experience... Not only user friendly, it is intutitive and fun to use...

Make sure you check out Time Machine... have a play! You'll enjoy it, trust me.

And Colours and Connections are quite funky too...

Of course it would be even better with a touch screen - how cool would that be.

So that is my favourite Web 2.0 site (at the moment) - check it out and tell all your friends too!

Thing 18

Well, Zoho is kinda a great idea!
Wish it had been going a few years ago when people were coming in to the library and asking if we had Word on our public computers.
Have thought that now we don't actually have to have microsoft office loaded on the public PC's - especially now that internet is free access.

I had a play around and the two posts about Life below are examples of a post I did from Zoho and a post sent as a draft and then published myself...

Liked: That you could do word processing, spreadsheets, presentations etc. And that it was fairly easy and intuitive to use.
Didn't like: That it lost some of my work especially when I was sure I pushed the save button a couple of times...

Here's a presentation I did - Real Gold theme (my way)

Life_opportunity_journey

Life is full of opportunities and staying in your comfort zone isn't one of them.

Take a leap of faith, commit to seeing life as an adventure and a  journey, not a destination...

Don't be so afraid of making a mistake that you never get to enjoy all that's on offer.