Peter Bromberg's Presentation

I'm glad I got the chance to see Peter Bromberg's lecture about staying relevant in changing times. He is an excellent speaker and I found the material very relevant to what we are learning in 550.

I especially enjoyed the piece about the exponential speed of change. I had never thought of the pace of technology in terms like that before, but it's absolutely true. The speed at which technology is changing the world is incredible. Certain technologies are going from current to obsolete in no time at all. Of course this poses certain issues for a library trying to stay on top of the latest technological trends. Having the introduction to Web 2.0 in the class was great, but there is still a lot more that I feel I should be familiar with. Also, while being familiar with all this is great, Web 2.0 is so dynamic that even in 6 months, it will be different than it is now.

Which brings me to the main lesson taken from Peter Bromberg's talk. Change will happen, and the library needs to be able to stay on top of it. Bromberg talked about how libraries need to reinvent themselves and change the way they are perceived by the public. The stereotypes that surround the library now, as a place for storing books with the librarians being the "gatekeepers" of information, are outdated and no longer needed in today's society. As librarians, we need to be creative in finding new roles in our communities. Yes, we will still have books and be able to help patrons find information, but we need to do more than that. Becoming a center for social and learning events and the community is the future of the library, whether it is offering classes on the newest technologies, creating gaming competitions or events, or just having knitting or book clubs. People are looking for interaction and connection to their communities. They want to be involved, to be able to share, and be a part of something. That's is the direction we are moving in, and we need to not be afraid to get there.

Final Thoughts on Learning 2.0

Overall, I liked the Learning 2.0 project. I think it's a great way to expose people to all the aspects of Web 2.0 and ways these can be applied in the library setting. As I said in the beginning of this project, I was really unfamiliar with a lot of Web 2.0 tools and I'm glad I got the chance to learn about them.

Questions:
What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I think my favorites are librarything, flickr, delicious... I really thought everything fun for the most part and definitely good to be familiar with. I really like the advantages for group collaboration in googledocs and zoho writer. My biggest complaint with Web 2.0 is only that I feel like I don't have enough time to take advantage of all of it, because I think there are so many useful tools out there.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I wanted to learn more about Web 2.0 and I think that this program has given me a great overview. There are a few things I would like to explore further, like Bloglines and Wikis. And I know that the websites offered in this project are just some examples of the 2.0 sites out there. I would like to become more familiar with some of the others one day too.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I had know idea how expansive Web 2.0 really is. I had no idea that half of these even existed, like Librarything or Rollyo. I also hadn't known much about how any of the Web 2.0 tools could be applied in the library setting, and I'm glad we got to explore that aspect.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
As I mentioned above, this program was a great overview of the various Web 2.0 tools. The only thing I noticed missing was social networking sites, and not just Facebook and MySpace, but also the professional networking sites. I'm already familiar with so this didn't bother me. But it would be good to include them for other people not as familiar with these.

Overall, I'm very glad that this class gave me a chance to learn more about Web 2.0. I will defiantly will be using some of these tools in the future.

Audiobooks

Audiobooks aren't really my thing. I find I have a hard time listening to books and staying focused on them. But I can see where others would really like them. They seem really great for long road trips. I think that having access to audiobooks, ebooks, kindles, etc are important for the library. I've never actually used a Kindle before and I'm hesitant because I really do enjoy the idea of having an actual book and being able to physically turn the pages, it's part of the experience for me. I'm sure Kindles offer a different type of experience, and who is to say that its not just as good in a different way. I think having a lot of books available on a single reader is really convenient, especially for taking on a plane. I like the ability to download books from anywhere and being able to access newspaper articles too. Having music on the kindle for background sound is a cool idea as well as having access to simple web browsing like wikipedia. However, I would always be worrying about dropping, losing, forgetting, spilling coffee on or otherwise ruining a kindle (I tend to abuse my reading materials). And I would never remember to charge it. I'm not sure where the Kindle will fit in the future. I would love to get one if I had the money, but I would probably use it as a suppliment to my book collection, not instead of it.

I went a little off topic there, so back to audiobooks. These are important for libraries to offer to their patrons. I also read an article about the benefits of audiobooks in teaching to kids who are struggling with reading literacy. By "hearing" the book, they are more likely to understand the context of the story. I took a look at Netlibrary.com though I couldn't make an account. I thought they had a good selection and easy navigation throughout the site. Looking through this, I think that I would probably like audiobooks for non fiction materials. I can listen to non fiction better than I can read it.

YouTube

I didn't spent too much time on YouTube until this year (and even now, unfortunately I really don't spend too much time on it). Before then, I just thought it was a website for funny video clips with video clips copying the video clips. My friends would send me various links, I would watch them and then not really look at much else. Then a friend of mine suggested using youTube to view knitting tutorials (I think someone else in out class has mentioned this on their blog as well). That's when I really started to use youTube. I found it to be easy to use and a great resource for online tutorials about anything. I've looked up wine making tutorials as well and my job is thinking of creating and posting videos in the future. I'd never noticed the use of channels to narrow down or browse before. I also didn't know that you could actually subscribe to video users and follow their video posts. I can't see myself really getting into subscribing and browsing too much. Mostly I would go to youTube with a goal in mind and just use the search box. It's worked great so far!

I decided to look around at some library videos. I found this one that focused on libraries using future technologies. There are some really cool concepts in here, ideally, of course, for libraries with big budgets. I especially liked the "Ifloor" which allowed library patrons to post questions on a screen on the floor and allow other patrons to read the questions and try to answer them.

Podcasts

I've never really caught onto the podcast thing, so this gave me a chance to look into it a little bit. Podcasts can be equated to am radio on the web. Anyone can post an audio clip about anything, sort of like audio blogging. There are different degrees of podcasting from amateur to some very professional sounding clips I heard on podcastalley.com. The really cool thing about podcasts is that you can subscribe to have them downloaded automatically for mp3 players, similar to RSS feeds.

I saw a lot of libraries using podcasts to promote upcoming events, books, service announcements, etc. I think this is a great idea for libraries. Podcasts appear to be easy enough to set up and use, I think they will become even more popular in libraries in the future. I found a good list of library pobcasts at :http://www.libraryspot.com/podcast/othercasts.htm (in addition to their podcast at: http://www.libraryspot.com/podcast).

Web 2.0 Awards

I looked at the winners for the Visual Arts. I though the first place winner: http://colorblender.com/ was pretty awesome. It's a really simple concept, basically you scroll through colors using an RGB slider and the site picks out complimentary color swatches for you. Or you can choose to edit each swatch individually. These swatches can then be downloaded into photoshop or as .eps files to use from your computer. This is a great tool for designers or anyone struggling with color ideas or just for fun.

The second place winner was http://www.swivel.com/. It looks like a site where you can upload your charts and graphs and make them look more visually appealing. I guess I can see where this would be a good source to liven up projects or presentations. Nothing on there really stood out to me as anything really exciting, though.

The third place site was http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/ which "specializes in 'the visualization of complex networks.'" This site had beautiful designs based on things like subway maps, time lines, music notes, graphs, etc. It is all abstract and based on a specific data material and turned into a piece of artwork. Anyone can make a design and upload. I found this one on the site for a piece of artwork based on the dewey decimal system:

Zoho Writer

Zoho writer appears to be very similar to googledocs (which I thought was a great way to share and collaborate on an assignment).

I'm testing this out and will try to send this directly to my blog. I'm hoping it works! I'm going to test this the text editing to see the similarities to this and something like Microsoft. The text selection is limited but that makes sense. As an online application, it needs to consider only universal fonts available on all computers (besides, I don't think people are using something like this to design anything extravagant).
I like the color selector better than in Microsoft already!

I like how user-friendly this and googledocs are. The tools and interface is similar enough to microsoft that it is easy to figure out. Something like this is a perfect way to collaborate online because of it's ease of use and open access to everyone with an internet connection. It's hard to say whether something like this will ever take over for Microsoft anytime soon, but online applications are definitely taking a chunk out of the Microsoft market. I think some people are wary of keeping important docs on the web, especially anything with personal information, for security risks. But technology is changing and I think people and companies will start to turn to op line applications for day to day document use because they are free, easy to use and more versatile than microsoft in the way of sharing, exporting to the web, etc. This is also great for creating backups of work already started in Microsoft.

I personally would stick to googledocs because most everything else I have is google (blog, email, rss feed, etc) though Zoho writer is just about the same and I have no real preference to either.

*note: I had to cut and paste this entry in from Zoho because it would not let me publish to the blog. The settings were off. Aside from that, I have no complaints about Zoho.

Wikis

I like the idea of wiki's even though I have no real experience with them other than wikipedia. I can see where they would be useful in setting up a community forum of information site. I think that leaving the wiki open for anyone to edit, like wikipedia, has its advantages and disadvantages. Leaving it open allows anyone to share their information and ideas, which presents a much broader range of perspectives and opinions. Unfortunately, this can also lead to presentation of misinformation and can get out of hand if not monitored. Limiting the wiki's editors can help to manage the quality and control in the site.

Wikis are great tools for businesses. We were thinking of setting up a training wiki for the employees of the winemaking shop to learn the processes of wine making. We could also set up a wiki for our customers so they can share their tips and experiences. In the case of libraries, wikis can be used as an interactive website among staff. I think keeping a wiki open to the library patrons as a community center is a great idea. However, leaving anything open to the public runs the risk of getting out of hand. Even the community forum in my town can become opinionated and malicious.

I started a wiki on PBWiki. I didn't spend too much time on it but still found that setting up the account and starting was very easy. The tools and interface seemed user friendly to me. I could easily edit the text and links were easy to create.

Learning 2.0

I found the articles about Libraries 2.0 interesting. They demonstrate who technology and Web 2.0 have really changed the dynamic of the library. Rick Anderson illustrates some of these changes in his article "Away from the 'icebergs'." He emphasizes the importance of making changes in the library from traditional to progressive attitudes towards information and technology. He discusses the dwindling need for huge print collections, how librarians should focus on technology instruction for their patrons and how libraries need to learn to compete with the influx of new information accessible through the web. Another change in perception is mentioned by Michael Stephens as he mentions that "the library is human." What I have gathered is that libraries have shifted away from the traditional role of a place to get books and find articles to a completely interactive environment. Technologies have made it so easy to integrate the users and library that it more of a community than ever before. Chip Nilges talks about "collective intelligence" which encourages people outside of the library such as professionals, faculty and patrons to "contribute their expertise to the collective." This sharing of information can be done through blogging, tagging, creating online reviews, etc. In these ways, the library creates a sense of community and creates an environment of learning that everyone can participate in.

Technorati

Technorati is a website that indexes blogs similar to google, however getting technorati to index your site looks a bit more complicated with adding code whereas google will index anything. I can see where people who are really interested in blogging would love a site like this. It shows the most popular blogs, tags, pics and video as well as the latest blogging trends and subjects. I haven't really caught on to the whole blogging thing yet, with the exception of being familiar with how blogs are used to improve website search optimization. This 2.0 blog is the first personal blog I have ever written; I guess I am a little behind in this whole area. I would probably prefer to search for interesting blogs through delicious, the interface for technorati seems a little crowded and difficult to navigate. I don't see myself becoming a real serious blogger anytime soon, so technorati probably wouldn't be something I would use on a day to day basis.

Delicious

At first, I didn't quite understand the idea of delicious. I guess I just saw it as a way to upload your bookmarks on the web so you would be able to access them from any computer. I can see the convenience of this, but I wasn't convinced enough to go through the effort of creating and account, uploading my bookmarks, etc. However, once I started to browse though the site, I started to see how many uses it had. You can use tags to identify and sort your bookmarks into different categories and search the site similarly tagged websites. I like this way of searching by tag and browsed through a lot of articles this way. I was able to bookmark some popular design websites for free images and fonts, which always comes in handy. Another aspect of delicious I liked was the ability to look at other user bookmarks. This way, you can link up to friends, classmates, coworkers etc and see what sites they have been reading. This would be great for online groups, for example, creating a delicious account for my coworkers and I to share different posts about winemaking. In a library setting, I think a site like this would be great for conducting preliminary searches on a particular topic to see what is out there.

Rollyo, Library Thing and Image Genertors

Rollyo

I think Rollyo is a useful search tool. It allows the user to limit their searches to a preset group on websites. It's great if you are conducting a search specific on only one topic or if you have a set of reliable websites that you prefer for your information. I made a Rollyo based on art museums in and around the NJ, NYC area. This way I can search to see the latest exhibitions, what artisits are in the collections, etc.

Select...art exhibitionsSearch The Web

Library Thing
I enjoyed Library Thing, especially the idea of having an online catalog of books I've read to be able to share with my friends and vice versa. The social library aspect of it is what is most intriguing. As far as getting reviews and recommendations, Library Thing is a good place to start. However, I was already reading reviews and recommendations like these through Barnes and Noble and Amazon. I've started to upload my books online and look at some of the recommendations. Sites like this make me wish I had more free time to read.

http://www.librarything.com/home/emilyweisenstein

Image Generators

I had played around with these before while working with flikr. I have some of the images posted to my account there. These are great and a lot of fun, but must admit to being a photoshop snob so I prefer to edit and alter my photos from there.

Pecha Kucha

This is the first time I've ever hear of Pecha Kucha and I think it's a great idea. Essentially, it's a way for artists to present their work in a framework of 20 slides for 20 seconds each, for a total presentation time of 6:40. This is a great framework for presenting and although may be mostly used in the arts now, I can see this sort of thing spreading into other feilds. Too often people (especially artists) can go on and on about their work, long after the audience stopped listening or caring. This forces them to make their presentaions quickly and effectivly. And still, if you think about it, 20 slides and 6:40 is more than enough time for most people to make thier point.

These Pecha Kucha nights are pretty packed. It's a great networking opporunity. However, something along these lines runs the risk of being labeled a "fad" due to it's apparent trendiness, though I'm hoping it wont. I think if this catches on to other businesses, it could change the way we look at lengthy, boring presentations.

RSS and Google Reader

This week I looked into RSS feeds and how to subscribe to them. I had originally tried bloglines.com but decided I really didn't like it. Maybe it was the layout? However, I then switched over the Google reader and found that to be so much better. Of course the real advantage is that it links right up to my google account, and having all accounts in one spot is much easier. Also, signing up for the feeds was simple and the layout is very clean.

RSS feeds seem like a valuable tool. I like the idea of being able to subscibe to blogs/websites. I also found that it makes searching jobs easier too. I've already subscribed to indeed.com to under library jobs. This way I can always check new job postings.

Because I've never really been familiar with RSS feeds before, I think it will take me a while to take full advantage of the cababilities they offer. I'm slow to pick up this kind of stuff. It's one more thing to check while I'm on the internet, so I will need to be better about remembering it's there.

Using Flickr and Web Photo Editing

Jack 3
Originally uploaded by pasghettius

I created my Flickr account this week.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilyweisenstein/
To be honest, I have never taken any interest in photo sharing online. Even through Myspace and Facebook, 90% of my pictures were posted and tagged by somebody else. I'm not sure why I've never worked with the photos, probably a combination of privacy and laziness. I really don't want my pictures floating around for anyone to see, but also, I've always been too lazy to upload, name, tag etc. For the most part any pics of friends and family just get emailed (and only after they have bugged me repeatedly... maybe I am just photo lazy).
I was impressed with Flickr however. There are tons of beautiful pictures posted. And it's a good way for me to start to share photo's with my friends (maybe this will inspire me). I like that you can add contacts and join different photo groups.
To start on Flickr, I uploaded a couple pictures of my dog Jack and then used a couple third party modifications to them. I was surprised at all the third party photo sites out there. I spent most of my time on the bighugelabs.com site which had a lot of ways to modify the photos. Overall, the third party sites all looked like a lot of fun, Maybe I will start to use more of the online photo sharing tools in the future.

Thoughts on Web 2.0

My thoughts on Learning 2.0 so far....
Learning 2.0 is an essential tool for not just for librarians, but for anyone with an internet connection. The web is moving away from just a place for static information into much more user interactive environment, and it's moving that way quickly.

I'm excited to start learning about 2.0. As a web designer, my knowledge of web 2.0 is embarrassingly small. I am familiar with using social networking sites, blogging and bookmarking sites like de lic ious to improve website ranking and visibility, but never actually used them (which is quickly becoming essential in order to market websites and online businesses in an oversaturated market). In the library, access to these tools are great for creating ease of use in the library, access to information and customer service. Being a public service organization, it's very important to keep up with or be ahead of the public with regards to technologies.

The 23 Things look like fun to learn about. I'm looking forward to learning about wiki's and Flikr.

I thought all of the 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learning were beneficial, but especially the habit of having confidence in your ability to learn and in taking responsibility for your own learning. Without these two, you can't even begin the process of lifelong learning. If you have the attitude that you can't learn something, you won't even try. You need to be confident in your ability to learn something new, even if it means extra effort and work. Taking responsibility for your own learning is also important. As adults, no one is going to force you to learn something. But by taking a passive approach to learning, you're only cheating yourselves.

The habit that I will personally need to work on it setting goals. Usually I learn something new by taking an interest in it, but after a while, the interest fades and it goes by the wayside. For example, when I tried to learn Spanish, I had a had the Spanish-English dictionary, CDs for my car, etc. And then, I let it drop. If I had set a more permanent goal for myself, maybe I would have been more inclined to follow through. A more recent example is knitting. I learned to knit in November. I made a couple scarves but haven't done anything with it for about a month (lack of time might also have something to do with this). I should set a more permanent goal, like getting through a sweater by next year.