Conclusion (Learning 2.0 feedback)

I started off with a quote so I thought I'd finish off with one. "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change"--Charles Darwin.

Things I liked about Learning 2.0:

• That you can do the course anywhere any time (I did most of mine at home).
• That the library has set aside 15 minutes out of it's busy schedule to do this course.
• All the help from Mylee and Ellen. Good on ya guys.
• The opportunity to learn about daunting I.T. subjects.
• A chance to keep abreast of subjects vital to our profession.
• Being given tools that help us to provide innovative services to our clients.
• It was really interesting and relevant as well.

Knowledge and Networks (week 14 postscript)

In a not unrealated aside I would like to talk about the presentation we had from IBM's Petar Bielovich entitled ‘The IBM Learning & Knowledge Journey – lessons, challenges and insights’. He really blew my head away with his talk of knowledge management and how forming social networks is great business; it sounded such a human idea. Of course with computer systems like FaceBook, Myspace and Flickr (etc. etc. etc.) you can form communities all over the world. What a great idea for the State Library.

Here are some of the other things he told us about knowledge and networks that I thought interesting:

1. You always know more than you can say, you always say more than you can write down.
2. Knowledge can only be volunteered never conscripted.
3. I only know what I need to know when I need to know, when I need to know it.
4. My knowledge is unique to me.
5. The knowledge that people build up in their minds over years by experience is called “tacit knowledge” is difficult to access.
6. Downloading this knowledge needs extensive contact and trust.
7. You have to build an environment where people are valued not just because they have knowledge but because they can share knowledge with others.
   

How can libraries use social networking services? (Explore week 14)

The sites connected to week 14 of this course were very interesting. Those libraries are really getting out amoungst the clients. Social networking services are a great way to "sell" your service in a subtle way. In my oppinion the low key approach is what I think would be the best way.

The thing about social networking is that they are social first; as the title suggests. In that context the State Library is your pal on the block, not a pre-eminent cultural institution. At the risk of creating a tautology, the opportunity is to create a two-way dialogue between our clients and us.

Some of the ways we could use social networking in the State Library are:

1. To get unsolicited client feedback.
2. To trawl for information about how our clients see us and what they would like from a library service.
3. To advertise events.
4. To promote regular library services.
5. To connect with the library users of the future.

Second Life where "Meatspace" meets meet-space

I have to risk sounding a Luddite here because I think Second Life is a total cop-out. January 2008, residents spent 28,274,505 hours there (that's about 166, 467 person weeks, I didn't get up to years, because I didn't have a calculator).

What if all that energy and creativity were channelled into the cause of fixing the real world we all live in? I hope we all live in. We could fix cancer, the hole in the ozone layer and have some time left over to beautify own surroundings (and ourselves).

With all the problems in our world: global warming and childhood obesity to name but two, I think its the first life we need to give our efforts to. There are a many tools outlined in this course that will deliver what the State Library and its clients need in a timely, accessible and fun way. Second Life is just a diversion. (Check out the guy in the picture, he's in virtual reality).

What is "Social Networking"? (Discover week 14)

I didn't realise there were so many social networking sites till I looked at the map. I've been using and contributing to FaceBook for some time for my outside interest of stand-up comedy. It's really good for keeping in touch with a group of people with a similar interest.

But you do get some weirdos interloping on the group. Every comedian does a joke about their horror at finding their mum is on FaceBook. Why, you ask yourself? Because one of the cheif reasons most people (including comics) get on a social network is to make friends with the opposite gender. No one wants the grown-ups cramping their style.

But what is a friend? Is it someone you have spoken to, is it someone you just know about or have a business connection? You might find you want different networks for different areas of your life (back to Seb Chan here, he might have one for his library interests and one for his interest in DJing dance parties; not to mention his love of fresh fish).

Seb Chan and "leveraging" "knowledge management"

Recently I saw Seb chan speak in the Metcalf Auditorium about what he and his colleagues had been doing with their web site at the Powerhouse Museum. The museum has been using various forms of links to “bridge the semantic gap” so that even if you don’t know what the exhibit in the Museum is called you will be directed to it anyway.

They are also getting into client tagging of the Museum’s catalogue, “harnessing user energy” as Seb put it, to add value to the information they already have on their web site. Clients put on free form descriptions of the items and add meaning to the record on the web.

Seb drew our attention to all the pictures of exhibits in the Museum that the clients put on Flickr and all the hits that the Museum gets on its web site for things that they think are interesting. I liked this because it answered the question I keep on wondering about, “how do you know what the client wants?” The full-on knowledge management trip.

Googledocs and Zoho (My Adventure)

I had a few questions relating to the document sharing applications:

1. Will you always want to share a document? I don't know about you, but my first draft is very much my own affair.
2. How do you control the fate of your files up on the web? Anyone who has lost files due to computer failure knows the importance of backing up. How do you do this now? And I don't mean in another building, possibly another state (did you ever hear about the company that had their files backed up in the second building in the World Trade Center?). And everyone has heard of the Dot.com disaster.
3. What about security? Heard the old joke about how you should never put anything up in an email that you wouldn't want on the front of the Sydney Morning Herald? I should think that Googledocs and Zoho are pretty much the same. I wonder how huge organisations with trade secrets go about these things.

All the bells and whistles (Explore -- Week 13)

I got quite excited about Slide share and Thumstacks. Another cool way to share slideshows. Something I could see being used widely for training purposes. A good way to share powerpoint presentations.

Googledocs and Zoho had a lot of good office applications: Googledocs is good for sharing documents without the hastle of having to be in the same R drive group; Zoho was good for Zoho Meeting and Zoho Projects and very cool because it lets you chat while you work on documents in real time.

I didn't really get Zamzar till I started trying to download a document to Googledocs from my home Del computer that uses Windows Vista. I needed to save the document in rich text or a typ of file that Googledocs accepted. One of the draw backs of beeing the leader of the pack (ha, ha).

I had this one thought though, aren't some of these apps. standard features on your home computer these days? Like Picnik is part of the Windows Photo Gallery on my p.c. The "cool" thing is probably that it is free.

This is says it all for me -- Slideshare

This slide show starts with the invention of roll film for cameras and traces some of the technology we all take for granted like video recorders. They all started with the wow factor and then people started to ask themselves "would I like fries with that?" This is how the creative process works, a continual refining of the product building on what you had before.

View Upload your own

Mashup Adventure -- Week 12

On the question about different types of mashups and how you might use them in the library, I had a bit of a surf on Google about mashups. Wikipedia has "Web Application Hybid" at the end of a list of options. This took me to Yahoo Pipes. This is quite a mind blower. You can harness a number of a number of applications like Google maps, RSS feeds, etc. to create your own mini web site. Think of the power. This site about wineries in the Napa Valley was one of their "hot pipes". Check out this address:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=bMPFtO342xGrr53VyzUFzw

I can see departments like Public Libraries Branch getting a lot of use out of this type of application. Where are the libraries? Where are related services. What are the feeds that would provide public libraries with community information that they need? These are all questions you might ask.

Mashups -- The value of Energy and Teamwork

Recently we've been seeing a lot of Energy and Teamwork on our floor. In this mashup I'd like to pay tribute to some of Ela and Chris Fam's excellent work. It was well appreciated by all!!! The only problem is that Joanna will have another title to catalogue but then she loves doing that. Good on you Serials Team!!!

The law of precession

I started looking at Stanen Design and what it does and it reminded me of The law of precession. This is like when a bee makes honey. That's it's goal. It's purpose is to fertilize flowers. This is like when you tag pictures on Flickr and then some one like these guys comes along and makes a mashup with tagged photos of peoples holidays and then mash them up with place names from the United States postal system. You never know what your goal is going to end up producing. So you better keep doing it! Flickrvision blew my head away as well. All these places all over the world and all these moments from people's lives being fired back at you. What is this all about? How can you take it all in?

Podcast Opportunities

I went into Online education database and Yahoo podcasts search with some interest but soon I was mentally back at university wondering why can't I understand any of this stuff?

Am I an idiot, I wondered. Of course I'm not an idiot, none of us are; totally. It's just either the recording situation or the speaker is not up to par. This issue was highlighted for me the more podcasts I looked at.

If we want to use this media at the State Library I would hope that we would consider:

1. Choosing a form of file that is compatible with a wide range of recievers (does everyone have/want ITunes?).
2. Get a type of file that downloads quickly (do you really want to spend a long time downloading a file?).
3. Make recordings that are of a good quality (clear to listen to and the speaker actually knows how to speak).

Library Success at the State Library

At the State Library podcasts could be used for a number of purposes we have previously used flyers and other written material. Young clients seem to be keen to take up the new information technology and we can exploit this self provided conduit. Here are some of the ways:

1. Oral History tapes online or MP3 player
2. Presentations by interesting speakers in the library on interesting items we have in the collection. Elizabeth Ellis and Paul Brunton doing a Betty Churcher.
3. Answering frequently asked questions on reader education subjects
4. A personal guided tour of the Library
5. Talk me through I.T. procedures.
6. Talk me through cataloguing procedures.
7. Induction information for new workers in the library

ABC and British Museum Podcasts

I went onto the ABC podcast site and found an episode of the Gruen Transfer (which I watched at home). What an opportunity we have now, you can catch up with back episodes of your favourite shows and documentaries.

I listened to Evelyn Waugh's voice that the British Museum has in their collection. This made me think of all the oral history tapes we have in the Library. Podcasts connected to the State Library's website would be a wonderful way to make them available.

Regina Sutton has already made use of podcasts so we can visit or revisit Towne meetings and other presentations on the intranet. I think we are just chipping away at the potentiality of this medium. With the popularity of MP3 players I think we've got something.

Yahoo 7 Answers

The Yahoo 7 Answers "Adventure" assignment was a lot of fun. I posted a question and I felt all responsible but as I went through it started to seem more and more funny. The question was all about naming this woman's future child Freya or Wyatt. I said think about how that child will feel living with that name but then I weakened and said:

"If these are names that refer to some sort of media association then in ten or twenty years time everyone will be able to tell their age by that association and be thought terribly cheesy (all those Britneys and Courtneys are probably already having a hell of a time).

All my best wishes, Sue
P.S. Terribly sorry if your name is, in fact, Britney or Courtney"

I was checking through the questions that other people had put up. Similarly there were a mixture of serious and humorous answers. As one person pointed out, here they are asking total strangers about the most personal issues of their lives. Maybe this isn't a good idea.

I remember an anecdote that the presenter of a seminar on social networks on the internet told us. A man wrote in "what do I do when I have these pains in my chest?" and people were desperately writing back "for God's sake man, go to a doctor". What I mean is these sites are a lot of fun but you have to use your own judgement when asking a particular question.

Slamming the Boards

What a great idea "slamming the boards" is; getting in to where people are doing the searching and giving potential clients free samples. That's always been a great way of advertising. (Hold on a minute, we're usually free).

We could provide links to out site and our library; a kind of paper trail, without the paper. We would have to have a think about this, would we do this on a regular basis, or just hit and run? Build a kind of reference service away from home?

And who would do this sort of thing, just reference librarians? Often questions are from other librarians with cataloguing issues and people with technical services experience would be better equipped to answer such questions. The possibilities are endless.

Tag lines and signatures

I thought the Answer Board Librarians Wiki was a great idea. These were my favourite tag lines and signitures. I couldn't help imagining what the people were like behind the tag lines. This is what I think:

Librarians--Ask Us, We Answer!
She wears flat shoes and never wears a skirt.

Librarians--We eat questions for breakfast!
She's a bit plump and has a wild look around the eyes.

Librarians--Yep, we're here!
This one lives for their holidays and flex days.

Have a question you don't want the whole world to see?
This is the colleague that turns up each day wearing sun glasses.

Librarians ... the ultimate search engines
Works in I.T. and dresses like a goth.

Librarians provide power tools to the people.
Has to be a male librarian, does a lot of work on his home at the weekend.

Librarians are where you are - online! (The Library is a resource, not a building).
This one looks like Ellen and Mylee.

Guess which one looks like me.

Social Searching

In big picture view I think "social searching" makes a lot of sense. Everyone putting in their bit of the picture is like each of us contributing a peice of a zigsaw puzzle. The whole idea of each person being a "neuron" is right. The way I see it there are two sorts of people: the "numbers" people who contribute logic and control and the "ideas" people who contribute courage and compassion. Bring both of those types together on a situtation and you have balance. It's what the world needs right now. If technology can do it for us, I say bring it on.

Del.icio.us - Technorati - Library Thing

Del.icio.us is a must; after a few of these Learning 2.0 sessions I can't even remember what all these sites were. So I started adding some of the sites to my Del.icio.us account as a way of keeping notes. I had a little problem working out where I put the URL from my blog but I suppose I should have looked at the notes from Sharon Morris first.

Technorati is interesting, a way of getting into all the blogs out there by subject. I have started a blog on my own interest and am hoping to tag it and so get people to access it out there on the internet. Otherwise you just don't have a hope (I seem to have the same name as a Canadian detective T.V. program character - so as far as everyone out there is concerned I'm a blind detective with a dog).

Library Thing was cool but I have some reservations. I thought there were privacy issues involved with telling people what books you were interested in; I think they have laws about this in the U.S.A. I suppose when you get onto Library Thing you don't tag all those books about terrorism and the middle east.