#13 Del.icio.us

There's a lot of potential for staff with a group account. I didn't have a big play with this, but I think the concept is great. I set up an account so I will use delicious again. As I tend to move from computer to computer at work, I have to remember what my favourites were each time I log in. So this will (hopefully) be useful and easy to use.

#12 Rollyo

I really liked Rollyo. I think it would be a great element to add to a webpage and for personal use as well. I'd be curious to see how well it worked with our subsciption databases. Something for me to pursue at a later date. Again its a really easy tool to use for specific topics. I wonder how well it searches for cheap flights.... I created a newspaper search simply because that was the first thing that came to mind.

#11 Library Thing

I had a lot of fun with LibraryThing and much like with a reference enquiry - when someone asks you what you like to read, you can't think of an answer. So I had to resort to my usual suspects to add.

On a side note this is how much Library 2.0 is getting me hooked - I started fiddling with the html to make it fit within the left panels. Naturally I had to go back to fix my Slide widget too. Oh dear, I have digressed. But it's all about the learning and how I can apply it in my day-to-day work.

Back to LibraryThing, as another staff member has suggested, there is no reason why we couldn't create a group for our library users. Another great thing about LibraryThing was it was sooo nice and easy to sign up...I just have to remember what username and password I used.

#10 Image generators

In the past I've used ImageChef for a few things. I was so excited when I first used it, that I could actually do some interesting things to images to present the information at hand in a more interesting format. I suppose this is the main thing about these generators is that we can take something we know, have expectations of how it should look and then mash it up to engage the audience.


Have to say thanks to another 2.0 blogger for this site (that's you Emma!), South Park Studio. As a fan of the occasional episode, i couldn't resist. It was fun deciding all the different options, and I could only pick black for clothing colours 'cos that's all I can choose at the moment.

The generator blog - how many options were there to choose from! Definitely need more than 15 minutes for that one. But I had to have a go at Slide. Having seen in it on other blogs and on Facebook, I needed to have a go. Although I had trouble linking my Flickr account, I was able to work around it and load the photos in a different way.

#9 Finding feeds

After much delay, I now get to writing a post about finding feeds.

Of the suggested tools that I had a play with Topix wasn't helpful in locating something of interest. I think this had much more to do with the layout than the content provided. To me it seemed that there were a few too many options. However, I liked the local content that was presented on the homepage, useful for the current election. Which reminds of a Blog that I must and will now subscribe to, Crikey.

By contrast, I really liked Technocrati, it's simple to use and search. I love the way that from the homepage there were 7 headings to choose from and when I clicked on one of the links (Entertainment - of course) I saw interesting stuff straight away - poor Kanye. And the scrolling information shows how much is out there.

But because I'm still a bit new to all this feed stuff, I think I'll come across feeds when I'm reading print. A bit old fashioned I know, but at the end of the day when you're on dial up at home, there's only so much searching and waiting you can do. However, I do like the fact my Internet explorer browser at home has an RSS function which I think will be a lot easier to add feeds.

One last thing, I did use the RSS feeds for journals found in our online databases and I think there is a lot of potential with this. Personally its a great way for me to manage various library journals according to my preferences.

#8 RSS, Newsreaders and bloglines

Well, it took awhile, but I finally did it, and if I have to say so myself - yay! Once I had seen feeds appearing on other blogs, I wanted to do the same. Three days/sessions later, over a few weeks and I have managed to add a selection of feeds to my blog. I think my biggest hurdle was navigating around the Bloglines site which I found to be a little clunky. After re-reading the instructions numerous times, and a bit of fiddling, I worked it out. So the moral of the story is - if you want to do something enough you will work it out.

RSS would definitely make life easier for those who want to keep in touch with what's changing on a whole lot of sites. The potential it holds for groups of people who share a common interest would be infinite. And I can see why there are so many library related blog popping up, but it makes you wonder is there a blog overload. (Probably not as everyone is part of their own niche.) I guess, a less techy way of explaining RSS would be - a means of going to one website, to see what's been happening in all your favourite websites.

There are a lot different ways that libraries can implement this type of technology and I've already been thinking how our library service's web presence can implement these tools.

#7 technology

Broken Computer
Originally uploaded by gargola87

Sometimes I think technology has taken on a life of its own.

I hated computers when I was at uni about 10 years ago and remember the semester we started to put our tutorial preferences in using the new computer system - and of course, it crashed. So they made us do it the old way, using paper forms.

Now, where would we be without our mobile phones, computers, and web 2.0. How much work could we do in a blackout?

For me, with the library 2.0 tasks, it's a whole new language, the 'tech speak,' is the biggest hurdle for me; some of the naming conventions just don't make sense sometimes.