Friday, November 23, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
#16 & 17 Wikis
I actually started playing around with Wikis a little while ago and think they are wonderful. I have ended up working with dispersed groups of people on various things and these smart little pieces of software get over so many long distance collaboration problems.
The Collections Co-op now has a wiki and we are working on one internally for the reference staff. The options are endless really.
The Collections Co-op now has a wiki and we are working on one internally for the reference staff. The options are endless really.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
#11 & 12 Librarything & Rollyo
Yes I know I'm going backwards but I promised to fill in this gap.
LOVE libraryThing but not so sure about Rollyo.
I am slowly adding my home collection to LibraryThing and keep getting distracted by all the other fun stuff there. I love the Zeitgeist and the fabulous things you find just taking a general schmooze around. There are thousands of people who read the same stuff I do! Even though I don't know any of them that's kind of comforting after the regular reaction my bookshelves get - kind of a bemused 'huh'.
While I see the point of Rollyo and think that it would be fantastic for those searching for similar stuff all the time, I don't really think it's something I'll use straight away. Good to have it lurking in the back of my brain though as you never can tell when it might save the day.
LOVE libraryThing but not so sure about Rollyo.
I am slowly adding my home collection to LibraryThing and keep getting distracted by all the other fun stuff there. I love the Zeitgeist and the fabulous things you find just taking a general schmooze around. There are thousands of people who read the same stuff I do! Even though I don't know any of them that's kind of comforting after the regular reaction my bookshelves get - kind of a bemused 'huh'.
While I see the point of Rollyo and think that it would be fantastic for those searching for similar stuff all the time, I don't really think it's something I'll use straight away. Good to have it lurking in the back of my brain though as you never can tell when it might save the day.
Monday, November 5, 2007
#15 Everything 2.0
Do libraries have a place in a 2.0 world? Yes I absolutely think they do.
Where will that place be? Hopefully right in the middle of things but I suspect for some libraries they will end up at the very edge of a farflung galaxy in the backblocks (to badly paraphrase Douglas Adams).
What will that place look like? My guess would be that my place won't look anything like yours, as it shouldn't if we are serving our communities properly.
Library 2.0 is really just a ramped up version of what libraries have been doing since the dawn of time - organising stuff so people can find and use it, keeping stuff so it is available to the next generation and helping people create new stuff (from recipes to research). The difference now is that the world has got smaller, the amount of stuff has got bigger and literally everyone is organising, keeping and creating.
I think we have some important choices to make about how we face this new world. We can demand that it plays by our rules or we'll go home, we can sit on the sidelines until we've got it worked out (by which time the game will have changed) or we can get in there and play along. If we aren't part of the game it will change without us and we will lose all hope of ever getting back in. That doesn't mean that we all have to in the middle of it but we do have to be open to ideas, giving things a go and cheering on those who are willing to be up the front where the hard knocks are happening.
One of the blogs I read had a great quote: "If you haven't failed you weren't trying hard enough". How sad for us if we didn't even get a 2.0 paper cut.
So let the games begin!!! (just let me go get my floaties, see previous post)
Where will that place be? Hopefully right in the middle of things but I suspect for some libraries they will end up at the very edge of a farflung galaxy in the backblocks (to badly paraphrase Douglas Adams).
What will that place look like? My guess would be that my place won't look anything like yours, as it shouldn't if we are serving our communities properly.
Library 2.0 is really just a ramped up version of what libraries have been doing since the dawn of time - organising stuff so people can find and use it, keeping stuff so it is available to the next generation and helping people create new stuff (from recipes to research). The difference now is that the world has got smaller, the amount of stuff has got bigger and literally everyone is organising, keeping and creating.
I think we have some important choices to make about how we face this new world. We can demand that it plays by our rules or we'll go home, we can sit on the sidelines until we've got it worked out (by which time the game will have changed) or we can get in there and play along. If we aren't part of the game it will change without us and we will lose all hope of ever getting back in. That doesn't mean that we all have to in the middle of it but we do have to be open to ideas, giving things a go and cheering on those who are willing to be up the front where the hard knocks are happening.
One of the blogs I read had a great quote: "If you haven't failed you weren't trying hard enough". How sad for us if we didn't even get a 2.0 paper cut.
So let the games begin!!! (just let me go get my floaties, see previous post)
Monday, October 29, 2007
#14 Technorati overload
Well, I checked it out and all I can say is that the blogosphere can be a scary place. Scary big, scary wierd, scary funny - honestly who would have thought that so many people could spend so much time writing about absolutely anything and everything.
I think that this is where my preference for wading over jumping starts to show. I've been back a few times, going a little deeper with each visit but being very careful where I put my feet. Maybe next time I'll take on TomKat or Brangelina but only if I have my storm rated floaties on and my finger on the off button.
This does somewhat downgrade my geek rating but I'm sure I'll get it back up there soon enough.
Whilst paddling in the shallow end I did find "Cooking for Engineers" (http://www.cookingforengineers.com/). If you like your recipes with step-by-step photos and a Ghant chart then this is the site for you.
I think that this is where my preference for wading over jumping starts to show. I've been back a few times, going a little deeper with each visit but being very careful where I put my feet. Maybe next time I'll take on TomKat or Brangelina but only if I have my storm rated floaties on and my finger on the off button.
This does somewhat downgrade my geek rating but I'm sure I'll get it back up there soon enough.
Whilst paddling in the shallow end I did find "Cooking for Engineers" (http://www.cookingforengineers.com/). If you like your recipes with step-by-step photos and a Ghant chart then this is the site for you.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
#13 Totally del.icio.us
I know I've skipped 11 & 12 but I really will go back and do them.
In the meantime I've uploaded all my bookmarks into del.icio.us and have been having fun tagging and sharing them. I must say I'm a bit of a fan of the tag cloud, I love the way it shows patterns of usage at a glance. I suspect tags like 'book' and 'food' are just going to keep getting bigger and bigger in my little cloud.
This is going to be really useful if I ever change jobs - no more exporting & importing and hoping nothing gets lost in transit. Come to think of it it'll be handy when I move around from PC to PC here and when I travel, all my favourite stuff just a few clicks away.
deeelicious!
In the meantime I've uploaded all my bookmarks into del.icio.us and have been having fun tagging and sharing them. I must say I'm a bit of a fan of the tag cloud, I love the way it shows patterns of usage at a glance. I suspect tags like 'book' and 'food' are just going to keep getting bigger and bigger in my little cloud.
This is going to be really useful if I ever change jobs - no more exporting & importing and hoping nothing gets lost in transit. Come to think of it it'll be handy when I move around from PC to PC here and when I travel, all my favourite stuff just a few clicks away.
deeelicious!
Monday, October 22, 2007
I love Bloglines!
I feel like I haven't done anything L2ish for ages but then realised this isn't exactly true. Whilst I haven't made a rollyo yet or put any of my stuff on LibraryThing (although I have created an account) or even made any more images I LOVE! Bloglines.
I have a bunch of library type blogs plugged in and it has become part of my 'first thing' routine - turn everything on and put in all my passwords, get a coffee while my PC thinks about things for a bit, check email then check Bloglines and see what is happening in libraryland. There are some wonderful, inspiring things going on out there! It's nice to start the day thinking anything is possible.
If I get nothing else out of all this (not likely) then this will be worth it all on it's own.
I have a bunch of library type blogs plugged in and it has become part of my 'first thing' routine - turn everything on and put in all my passwords, get a coffee while my PC thinks about things for a bit, check email then check Bloglines and see what is happening in libraryland. There are some wonderful, inspiring things going on out there! It's nice to start the day thinking anything is possible.
If I get nothing else out of all this (not likely) then this will be worth it all on it's own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
