Web 2 and conclusions

This has been an amazing activity. Some of the applications are not relevant to my field of work but it has been an eye opener and I am now more aware of what is happening out there. I've enjoyed "surfing" and finding all sorts of "things."

Podcasts, Videos and Downloaded audio

As for an ebook, it was amazing what was out there but if I was going to spend money then I'd buy a book. I like the tactile feel of the paper, I like to read and look things up, words, places, maps and to re-read favorite passages again. So someone reading to me is also not my thing. And why would I download a book and then read it on my PC OH Quel horror. How could I snuggle up for a "book in bed day" with reams of print outs (more forests gone west) or worse still a laptop to browse by. Never.


Had a look at the podcasts but as I don't own an MP3 player or an IPOd and I don't listen to music, except on the radio not really my thing. Did find some travel podcasts but not interested in downloading and listening to later on. I like NOW.


I found this on YouTube. It's my son Rohan, sailing on Lake Garda in northern Italy , June 2007. It's amazing what you can find.....and I like the music too.Will keep looking for other exciting vids

Found one

Enjoy the Amazing Christopher

Online applications, tools and technology

Was very pleased to discover Zoho writer. We have lots of people asking for word processing and/or MS office products, that we don't have. Will now have great joy in suggesting that they try Zoho writer on the internet and free. Did look at Google docs but preferred Zoho. That was a real winner. I am overjoyed with all the new technology.

I really liked Library Thing and will probably get around to catalouging my home collection when I retire. Something to keep me occupied and if only to annoy my family even further. They make jokes about my "reference" collection of atlases, dictionairies, books of quotes etc. They ask for borrowing slips for the Crime section, "chick lit" or very serious real literature.

Am already a big big fan of Google Maps. Love looking up the location, city, town, village, street, of the current book I am reading. We will be using it this weekend to help navigate our way from Sydney airport to Manly, in the dark, late at night. Google Maps gave us detailed instructions, door to door, all printed out, turn at this corner, procedd for 75mts etc. Just as good as and heaps cheaper than TomTom or SatNav. We have used Skype quite a bit also. We have a camera and microphone at home on our PC and our son in London has them built into his laptop. Recently he "showed" us around his new flat in Sth London just by walking around with his laptop. He then proceeded to hang his laptop out the window to give us a view of the London skyline. It was fantastic to see a family member " in real life."

FlicR looks to be a really useful tool for storing photos. People have told me they have used them for presentations overseas. Saves lugging a whole lot of discs loaded up with photos and then hoping the software doesn't crash

. Facebook is the new "MySpace" for grown up kids. My family members like it. They're into all that social networking and seems to fit the bill. YouTube has kept me amused and informed. Can't imagine living without all this new technology. I'm not a slave to it but have certainly embraced it and enjoyed the immediate connections and information it supplies.

FlickR

Am sort of familiar with FlickR but don't use it myself. I don't even use a camera but I like to look at photos of family and recent holiday snaps. Found a good travel site on FlickR about sharing holiday photos. Don't think I'd ever put mine up there but interesting to look at other people's. Also gives you ideas of what to see and what to miss.

Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati

Looked at all the resources but not really my thing. I'm a "back of house"supervisor, not a reference librarian. Liked the idea of "tagging" but I have so few bookmarks not really relevant to my work or social life on the web. Particularly liked the "Steve the art museum" project. Technorati was out in the stratosphere for me. I registered on "Library Thing " and logged my 5 books.

I prefer to spend my time reading my books rather than making a catalogue of them. I can go to Amazon in a flash and find reviews similar books immediately. Much prefer to spend my time reading than making up "lists".

Finding feeds

Feedster was fine. Don't usually search news by topics, just read the whole thing on line.

Google blog search came up trumps with blogs from family and friends.

I liked Feedster the best for searching giving the option of using news, blogs or podcasts. Found a podcast I liked. Rick Steves is an American travel guru who organises small group visits to Europe, with lots of interesting activities and a variety of accomodations, hotels, pensiones, chalets. His podcats are on American radio but available over the internet. Something to look out for.

RSS and newsfeeds

I've added 5 news feeds to my reader. Enjoyed looking at the newsfeeds listed. Am / was a fan of Judy Blume's books. In my past life as a primary teacher I read a lot of them, out loud, to children. Might bookmark a couple of these to keep me in touch with what's happpening out there.

Playing around with PBWiki or Zoho Wiki

Had a look at all the discovery resources. Tried unsuccesfully(many times) to add my blog to the PLMLLearning 2.0 Don't know anything about shipping or how to find the ship that brought your ancestors to Australia but you might like to look at the amazing sailing vessels in this book, after all we are a library and a library has great books.

Wikis

I'm quite a fan of wikipedia and have travelled on the wikis at the airports in Hawaii, so I'm not surprised that they used the name for something that would be quick quick. The information contained is a good starting point as long as you remember that there is a wide variation in the authority of the content. It's updated constantly and therein lies its weakness. Little time for reflection and verification often takes precedent over truth and personal bias . It is being used in libraries for comments on catalogues, books used and referenced, exhibitions and experiences. There is a big future for this sort of application so long as users are aware of the potential for misinformation or biased comment that may be contained therein.

Books and travel

This will be my travel and book blog. I do lots of both and enjoy them equally, although one costs a lot more than the other. But the books can travel, so it's a good way of combining my two particular passions.