Well, that's it folks. I have completed the Web 2.0 training. This has been a great opportunity to learn about some of the technologies that are out there and peek our heads over our little boxes and challenge ourselves to explore and think how we may be able to incorporate them into our own lives and our workplaces. I know I will use Blogger quite a lot. Not keen on Twitter at all. Will use Facebook infrequently as I have in the past. It has certainly increased my tech vocabulary. While it took a lot longer to complete than it should have, all in all it has been a very good thing to do. Hopefully our libraries in Western Australia will go forth and embrace this new way of communicating with the people.
Here's looking to the future and whatever it may bring.
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Geocaching
I have a brother and sister in law who are hooked on geocaching and they go near and far in the quest to discover these hidden gems. If you have the time and inclination it is a great way to expand your boundaries and travel to areas far off the beaten track. Another friend is sometimes stumped by the 'cryptic' clues and sends around an email asking for any ideas to help solve the location puzzle.
When reading through the information on this section I kept thinking about what a fantastic tool this could be to promote Mandurah. The tourism operators could use it to bring tourists close to their premises. The City (or the Peel region) could use it to promote community buildings (libraries, museum) , services, history. Schools could use it to teach a variety of subjects, eg: history, social studies, geology. The following link had a great idea about teaching students the history of their area by each cache containing historical information in a sealed test tube, this combined with a worksheet could make for a fun learning activity. A real information treasure hunt.
http://spotlight.macfound.org/featured-stories/entry/chicago-public-library-helps-teens-find-history/
Wouldn't it be great for the City of Mandurah - or the Peel region to market a geocaching 'hunt' as part of a regional promotional tool.
When reading through the information on this section I kept thinking about what a fantastic tool this could be to promote Mandurah. The tourism operators could use it to bring tourists close to their premises. The City (or the Peel region) could use it to promote community buildings (libraries, museum) , services, history. Schools could use it to teach a variety of subjects, eg: history, social studies, geology. The following link had a great idea about teaching students the history of their area by each cache containing historical information in a sealed test tube, this combined with a worksheet could make for a fun learning activity. A real information treasure hunt.
http://spotlight.macfound.org/featured-stories/entry/chicago-public-library-helps-teens-find-history/
Wouldn't it be great for the City of Mandurah - or the Peel region to market a geocaching 'hunt' as part of a regional promotional tool.
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Podcasting
I have only briefly had anything to do with podcasting and that has been during the basic interent classes that I teach when I briefly show my students how to surf around the ABC website and amaze them with technology. That you can actually listen to radio or tv stations that have been recorded. Isn't modern technology brilliant. Other than that I have had no real interest or need to think about podcasts and what it has to offer. During this Web 2.0 training has made me think about what may be out there. Having a little search, I have found that there is an assortment in the travel field - which is something that is of a personal interest to me and I know I will use these in the future. Thinking about the library. They are already widely used by the library community for conferences.We could possibly use podcasts for training purposes. How about recording our author talks so people who can't make it along are still afforded the chance to hear these speakers? Story time and/or rhyme time online? A wonderful way to advertise to a growing clientelle. Such as at this link http://lib.asu.edu/librarychannel/2011/06/22/libminute032_funthings2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheLibraryChannel+%28The+Library+Channel%29&utm_content=FeedBurner
Online video - Youtube
I do like Youtube although it is yet another time consuming space to play in. When I was putting together my "Magic" school holiday activity I began using books from the library. Mostly pretty well laid out and easy to follow. One trick I just could not understand. So I looked it up on Youtube and was finally able to master it. I actually use Youtube quite often for information or instruction. You should check out the 'quick' way to fold a shirt. Brilliant. Then fun for all the family to see who can do it the fastest and neatest. There are useful ideas on science experiments, craft activities, always cute or interesting baby and animal clips and an endless array of everything you had never even dreamed of. Can it be used in a library? Like the video clip I have embedded, it can be useful for spreading knowledge between libraries around the globe.
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Facebook & Twitter
Facebook
I initially signed up for Facebook a while ago to try to follow my grown up children who were always discussing photos that they had posted or things that they had been doing etc. They always knew what each sibling or cousin had been up to ALL the time. I would phone to let them know about something and they already knew because the first one I spoke to had facebooked it for the others. I felt I was missing out on the photos, no one seems to sit and share an old fashioned photo album anymore. I am not so fussed about the 'having' to know everything about everybody all the time. I initially thought it would be a wonderful thing to be able to put my many, many photos onto facebook, so any one could access them if they were interested. I began well, but that initial burst of interest and enthusiasm has waned somewhat. I actually believe, now that I have learnt about Blogging that I will blog in future, as that actually marries up images with text which will actually suit my purposes better.
Libraries need to have a Facebook page linked to the COM website. Maybe the City of Mandurah should also embrace this technology as it would be a useful tool in the events, tourism, youth and marketing areas. We must have a presence in the cyber world.
Twitter
What you normally hear of twitter is the very frivilous rantings of celebrities, which do not interest me at all. It is interesting to note that lately a lot of tv programmes have incorporated twitter into their communications/promotions, including news and current affairs programmes. Is this reaching out and including the younger multi-technical generation?
I have found some very interesting sites that I know I will follow eg. travel, I am just not so sure that I need to twitter about my activities.
While I don't believe I will use it in a personal/private (I use the term loosely) capacity, I can see it being a useful tool in libraries. Sending out information on new titles, events and happenings and other relevant library material. Brilliant idea. We must be in the space where people are and there are many, many people in twitter.
I initially signed up for Facebook a while ago to try to follow my grown up children who were always discussing photos that they had posted or things that they had been doing etc. They always knew what each sibling or cousin had been up to ALL the time. I would phone to let them know about something and they already knew because the first one I spoke to had facebooked it for the others. I felt I was missing out on the photos, no one seems to sit and share an old fashioned photo album anymore. I am not so fussed about the 'having' to know everything about everybody all the time. I initially thought it would be a wonderful thing to be able to put my many, many photos onto facebook, so any one could access them if they were interested. I began well, but that initial burst of interest and enthusiasm has waned somewhat. I actually believe, now that I have learnt about Blogging that I will blog in future, as that actually marries up images with text which will actually suit my purposes better.
Libraries need to have a Facebook page linked to the COM website. Maybe the City of Mandurah should also embrace this technology as it would be a useful tool in the events, tourism, youth and marketing areas. We must have a presence in the cyber world.
What you normally hear of twitter is the very frivilous rantings of celebrities, which do not interest me at all. It is interesting to note that lately a lot of tv programmes have incorporated twitter into their communications/promotions, including news and current affairs programmes. Is this reaching out and including the younger multi-technical generation?
I have found some very interesting sites that I know I will follow eg. travel, I am just not so sure that I need to twitter about my activities.
While I don't believe I will use it in a personal/private (I use the term loosely) capacity, I can see it being a useful tool in libraries. Sending out information on new titles, events and happenings and other relevant library material. Brilliant idea. We must be in the space where people are and there are many, many people in twitter.
Monday 9 May 2011
Delicious
This is a very handy tool. While I was studying I kept coming across some very interesting sites with inspirational ideas that could be useful in our libraries. I emailed the links to the people who I thought may have been interested in them as that was the only way of passing on the relevant address. While I also emailed it to myself, that means I have to either mark it as a favourite on my computer, or trawl through old emails looking for the link. Delicious is obviously a far better way of storing and sourcing these links for both yourself and also others who may be interested in the same sort of information.
Library Thing
I
found this very easy to sign up for and use. It has been a great addition to the Mandurah Library online catalogue, which, when searching for an item brings up similar genre titles, provides information and links by either author, title or tags. Very easy to click links and discover a myriad of further reading items.
found this very easy to sign up for and use. It has been a great addition to the Mandurah Library online catalogue, which, when searching for an item brings up similar genre titles, provides information and links by either author, title or tags. Very easy to click links and discover a myriad of further reading items.
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