#23 Thoughts about Learning 2.0

Well, here we are - George and me at the end point! So . . . what next? We couldn't resist just a tiny "borrow" of this cartoon from the New Yorker but it's not what we have decided to do. We might continue to blog/bark away happily to ourselves - unworried that amidst the loud and continuing woofing on the web, these two dogs will ever be heard. Most diarising is for oneself after all.

However, we agree that now we are through to the end, we haven't been barking up the wrong tree. And to mix a few more metaphors, it is a case of not drowning, waving after all. We are glad we have done this - maybe we are a long way from being afficionados in this wild world, but we discovered a lot more about a number of new technologies and can see the potential for some of these in the work environment. For example:

• We are already finding a place for wikis
• there's junk on Flickr but gems within it too
• people tagging shows the need for this huge body of information to be organised "somehow" (and as a wayback cataloguer, I am grateful for structures and metadata); but from Zoe's and Kirstie's presentation on the new world of federated search solutions, which includes the tagging concept, it's clearly something that we cannot simply dismiss
• I located some great ABC podcasts and have subscribed to the SLV Creative Fellows ones (and was disappointed to find that Chloe Hooper's talk wasn't there) - I can see how and why people love this.
• I was really impressed by the quick look I had at the Zoho suite of applications - Writer, spreadsheets etc. These must be useful in the reading rooms.
• There are some good library/technology-related blogs out there written by people who have a much sounder grasp (read, intelligently reflective) than I do of which "things" might move or morph into something we need to watch.
  

Other thoughts? It has been more of a marathon than the '23 things' ads would have us believe - the whole exercise was much more than the suggested 20-30 minutes a week. It's stating the bleeding obvious to say that I guess it depends on your knowledge base to start with. So that's one learning - and I can imagine it might have been quite difficult for part-timers to fit this into their working week.

But there are definite opportunities here. I think we have to be thoughtful about the ones we embrace, and be open and recognise that it will continue this way. I'm sure there'll be 23 more thngs any time soon! As a last thought, perhaps next year, we could have some sessions in the training room on things which could be useful to us individually or helpful in the work environment.

#22 eBooks unfavourites

I did not feel relaxed after this experience - though Mr Gutenberg's collection looked impressive enough at first. Having studied a lot of literature in my original university degree, I thought I would listen to one of my favourite Shakespearean sonnets (no. 116 - Let me not to the marriage of true minds) . I am sure Jane Aker (reader) loves her Shakespeare but if I had listened all the way through, she would have killed him for me. To my ears, it was truly awful! Persevered further with another sonnet (different human voice) and with Coleridge's Kubla Khan with same sorry outcome.

I feel enormously grateful that I am sighted and that this is not my only avenue of access to some of this material. If Gutenberg audio was the only way to get to listen to that work of Charles Dickens you could get hold of in no other way, then OK - but the tones, the misplaced inflections etc of the few things I listened to wouldn't encourage me to back here for any other reason. I recognise how beneficial having this large number of audio-book collections online might be for the blind and vision-impaired, but neither the human nor the computer voices were for me.

Good initiative, but for me, I can really only imagine you'd need to have no other way at all to access some of these books . . .

#21 Grumpy old women and podcasts

Yes, well - we looked at Yahoo podcasts and as instructed looked for book reviews. Found Nancy Pearl on National Public Radio but wasn't really in the mood to listen what she had to say. Then found The Wellspring program - episode 44 said it was about Eckhart Tolle's The New Earth, but after listening for 5 minutes and learning that spiders probably began spinning their webs 136 million years ago, I realised there was some kind of dodgy link between the audio and the description so decided that was enough. That web's been around a lot longer than this web.

ABC's Life Matters seemed to offer more, particularly the program called Grumpy Old Women. Here I could take a test to determine via a checklist of behaviours if I was one; the famous "not found" message appeared and I decided that in any case, I didn't need the checklist at all. Feel quite confident that I have reached the GOW status.

#20 YouTube

George and I had some fun looking at YouTube - clips of favourite singers, stuff from TV (Black Books)and this terrific trawl across time - Pachelbel as you've never heard it before. Some sobering stuff too - I tried searches like "Burma" and "uprising", "John Howard", "Kevin Rudd". Found much more than I expected to, but I realise now I shouldn't have been surprised - uploading any kind of file now seems to be so easy. This site alone will provide masses of material for someone's sociology thesis.

And all good dogs digg, don't they?

Well, George was overcome to discover she could go Digg-ing . . . so we did and we added another top web 2.0 thing to our blog. We aren't sure what we'll do with it or if the Digg-ing will be worth it, but we thought . . . this is after all a sandbox, and there's stuff there in spades.

#19 . . . that's number one nine explore (encore encore encore)

Oh no, here we go exploring again! Now the Olympics of Web 2.0 - the top threes (gold, silver, bronze) of every conceivable web 2.0 category.

But wow, we bow . . . bookmarking category, top dog is ma.gnolia. George and I (remember George?) just have to give many wags of tail to any site that can direct us to this one. The essence of life's choices encapsulated in a flowchart. Simple uncomplicated chaps with simple uncomplicated needs . . . Maslow knew what was what. (And it's perfectly upfront in Dogboy's profile - food is good!)

Looked at the top of the pops in a few categories - Flickr again, Rollyo again, Facebook etc. Looked at the Ning thing (another place for creating groups?) , the Xing thing (have no need to discover deals, employees, colleagues using a six degrees of separation principle, though I guess if I wanted to find someone I used to work in New York with . . .? but I guess that's the point?) and a thing called Swivel, which seemed to be a site where bits of data were brought together. For example, I could see in graph form how many people had died on Mt Everest in the last 50 or so years. Not sure when you would want that but from a library perspective, you never know, there could be useful stuff here. . .

But why is Biblio Web 2.0? Where's the mixing/mashing, social networking, "being where the users are" bit? Isn't it just another webpage or is there something fundamental I still don't get here?

#18 word processing and so on

A quick look at the Zoho options suggests that it has potential - created a short document in Zoho Writer, then pasted it back into Word to see if formatting was retained well. It seemed to have many of the useful options for working with a document that you find in Word so I can see how useful it would be in a library (like ours) that doesn't offer proprietary office software. Hopefully assist with managing user disbelief eg "You mean you don't offer Word!!??" The multiple templates could be of use to some I guess - certainly there've been over 1000 downloads of something (can't recall which - maybe the resume) though in the end for the entire English-speaking, web-accessing population, I guess that's probably not much?

I could see that I could use the Zoho productivity suite to create a spreadsheet, a presentation, to get organised, create a wiki, manage a project, build a database. A taste of Bill Gates plus the wiki option - and given that there are plugins for Word and Excel, you have to like it - a flexible, convenient, interoperable kinda package.

#16 Learning about wikis & #17 Sandbox

I remember about 18 months ago when attitudes to the original Mr Wiki (Jimmy W and his Wikipedia) were quite negative because every ordinary Tom, Dick or Harry could add and edit. Well, obviously people out there voted with their feet or fingers or whatever - it is now one of the top 20 most-visited sites and I think most of us recognise it is really useful as a first stop. Jimmy Wales's original vision of everyone on the planet being able to get access to the sum of the world's knowledge was actually the essence of Web 2.0's inclusivity (is that a word?), participation and collaboration and I think it is a great vision. One of the good things I found in my explorations was this Online Community report which has a short list of good tips on when the wisdom of the collective might work best.

I did find another one that was briefly fun for a quick squizz - lots of "How To" articles. How to : pick a lock, fix a scratched CD, get a job with the UN, , kiss (!), be a gothic Lolita, call in sick when you just want a day off !!! (And there's another 25, 034 after these - but it does have a search engine attached). And the best advice of all was a spot of dog wisdom. . . (Yes, Saturday was slow)

I had also previously come across the Library Success wiki and found it very useful - at the time, it was great to check out what was happening in digital reference. And we have a training wiki now here at SLV, thanks to Mark = great application.

The sandbox thing? I dutifully checked it out but freaked when I saw that I had to give yet another username and password so I haven't added my blog to the list. I could see that I could, but it didn't mean I needed to - and I'm absolutely sure it wouldn't add a single jot to anybody's meaningful experience of this learning exercise. As for the other toys in the sandbox, I'd rather talk to someone about their favourite film or their favourite music and I'd certainly rather have a face-to-face stoush about dogs being superior to cats (meerkats are fine), than to bother adding my comments online.

BTW I discovered a good site while checking wikis out - well-written, simple outline for newbies like me at Geekgirls.

#15 Library 2.0 and where 2.0?

Read all of these perspectives - yes, clearly it's about adaptability, being able to do that quickly, with some (but not endless) reflection. The whole Library 2.0, Web 2.0 thing reminds me very much of all that research way back which told us that, when seeking information, the first source for most people was a friend or someone they thought knowledgeable. Libraries weren't ever right up there at the top though we have always been able to rely on the "trusted" label when it comes to information. And as the social networking phenomenon and online communities of interest have the potential to bring people with knowledge about the same things together, maybe we do need to think about which of these new technologies really can help us adapt to where people are. Maybe we do have to stare this thing in the face. There are other information experts out there - members of the public who are very knowledgeable about their area of interest - and they can potentially answer each others' questions if they are connected in an online community . . . can't they???

As for the OCLC experts, I found myself being a bit irritated by the guy who kept referring to himself as "this librarian" and wondered what was wrong with the first person pronoun? So for me, the style thing got in the way of what were otherwise fair enough points.

Wendy Schulz's short analysis of web history - interesting. The Library in its 4.0 incarnation as knowledge spa? The idea of an augmented reality where the physical and the virtual merge and we can bathe (basically) in it - am not sure that I will want to.

So . . . am I just an old dog? do I apply for a departure package? do I just blog on . . .

#14 Technorati

Checked out Learning 2.0 as exercise requested and . . .

In blog posts 3, 199 hits
In tags, no number, just a message that said "everything in the known universe about Learning 2.0". Did I do something wrong or is that just a very big number?
In the Blog Directory, 569 blogs about Learning 2.0.

Looked at Popular ones and don't get it. Especially why this one is rated #10. And also why cats get so much air-time. And also why it has the name it has. I won't give up on getting it yet - I'll explore more tomorrow when I am more awake.

Tagging and del.icio.us

George and I have had a good look at del.icio.us and are now deciding if it's good enough to eat. The PLCMC Learning 2.0 list of del.icio.us things is long and scary and it's a bit interesting to see how people tag things, I spose. I created an account because I can see the value of being able to get at your bookmarks from anywhere and being able to share them. Just a note on the scary side again though - the Go2Web2 directory in the PLCMCL2 list had been tagged by 13,272 people all thinking that the hundreds and hundreds of logos labelling places you can go to do web 2.0-ey things was something they needed to hold on to. Places like: Vringo, Vayama, Siphs, Deezer, Bravisa, Noteske, Gyminee, Nymbler, WizLite, FooWHo - where I could share my mobile videos, solve my international travel, earn money from my own marketplace, take notes online, track my personal fitness, or have a personal baby name assistant (what would I do here? Share conversations about why I named MaryLou MaryLou?)

[And just when George was feeling a little brain-dead absorbing the myriad possibilities, and trying to imagine which of these really could improve the quality of her life (not to say some of them mightn't) the world opened up! There was MyDogSpace, the community network for dogs. Well, this is the place for us; we've landed - as the label says, you can "do it all in a very lovely community". Sigh!!!]

#12 Rolling over, lying down

I rearranged my page elements here and then Rollyo-ed again. Must be doing something wrong - it doesn't seem to work. What should I be expecting here? I thought I could search for "stuff" . . . Patient advice needed.

Rolled my own but . . .

haven't really used it yet. George and I are way behind in our explorations so have to get on to number 13. We have no time for free undirected frolicking (ie normal healthy bone-strengthening physical exercise) - it's all online explore, explore, explore . . . sigh.

The LibraryThing thing

Skipped #9 - looked at all the things I could make but haven't time or inclination right now. I have checked out LibraryThing and picked the first 12 books on one shelf - despite being a Virgo-girl-Librarian my home collection is in extremely random disorder. LibraryThing could possibly be a useful way to know all the books I have in my library - one day. Maybe Library 4.0 or Third Life will transcend time and dimensions and actually get them in order on my shelves for me without any effort on my part?

#9 - Sniffin' around

George and I reckon that the all-time ultimate list of library and librarian blogs would have to be John Hubbard's LISWiki site - it lists hundreds! And a quick sniff suggests we would rather have a good romp at the park than read many of them - thinking out loud might not have worldwide appeal. Anyway, LISWiki highlights the ones that have a Google PageRank of 7 or more but I don't get it - the ones where I find the reflections and comments useful aren't highlighted.

My favourites - in no particular order - are:
blyberg.net
David Lee King
Stephens' Lighthouse
Information Wants to be Free
and The Other Librarian - the guy who writes this has a really good post called We Asked for 2.0 Libraries and We Got 2.0 Librarians. This is well worth a read - important that we have some exposure to the "stuff" out there, so we can assess what's worth having.

And try The Annoyed Librarian on a bad 2.0 day, when you already have a huge load of stuff to do. (I can only get this done at home and each thing takes me at least an hour to really explore; someone else said they can do it in quiet moments on desk - not a bad idea!)

And if I had more time, what I'd like to do as an exercise is look at 20 libraries which have posted blogs on their websites and see just how much their communities are engaging with them. Presumably the "being where the users are" concept can be tested - if they are talking to us (ie commenting on, or engaging online in some way with a library blog), then the exercise is worth it. If they aren't, shouldn't we be asking questions?

RSS feeds and library blogs

Had already subscribed to a feed or two. Have now added Dilbert and Information Wants to be Free - I came across the Library Success wiki some time ago and found it very useful. Created by the same librarian as this blog. And finally, will I ever be free of information?

Floored George following #7

Yep! You can really see just how floored George (known to most as Georgina) was after the #7 experience - off her food as well. I'm actually quite concerned for her - wonder if there's a blog on dog depression. Maybe I'll check it out in the next exercise - could be real possibilities there. . . anything called a Feed can't be all bad. Chin up, George! (You see, poor George has had a sheltered life really - still hasn't recovered from her first www upset ie. the Google discovery that she belongs to a species officially called "canis vulgaris'. She was off her shredded best beef for days)

#7 dog in fog

This is one dog in the (blog) fog . . . and nothing at all to do with Polish beer.

Something technology-related? Hmmm. . . how about a few fun facts from Technorati, the site originally set up to 'blogwatch'. Here I learnt that there are now about 70 million blogs, appearing at the rate of about 120,000 a day. And there are splogs, the parasites of the blogosphere, appearing much more during the holidays (when the kids are bored and need something to do?). The Japanese seem to be blog-crazy, with 37% of all blogs being in Japanese, followed by English, Chinese and Italian. And I can usefully add that Farsi is number 10.

And then, at the page on popular blogs we have the "most linked to" and the "most favourited". Us blog dogs love the potential of the English language, but George and I were floored to discover that one of the most favourited was a cat blog (#13) - and more highly ranked than Dilbert. Seriously floored! (Any day now, you can meet my friend George). Just so much "stuff"!

Mosaic mashup

Done. . .finally!
Not without angst though - 3 attempts before I got the hang of how to make appropriate attributions to the photographers. My favourite title is no. 12 Downtown Church with Zooming Cab - has that 'je ne sais quoi' ring!

1. Pre Rup portal, 2. First Class, 3. Trogir, 4. 30 - 6342, 5. Church Doors Closed, 6. welcome..., 7. can i live here?, 8. Upper East Side Apartment, 9. red doors galore, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Downtown Church with Zooming Cab, 13. Downtown Church, 14. two, 15. The Doors of Hope, 16. Four door saints

Still Flickr-ing

Exploration = travel for the purpose of discovery (so say multiple Google dictionary options). I have discovered that there is a lot to discover - lots of poorly-lit byways, laneways and alleys to go down and get lost in. So I'm still Flickr-ing . . . but thing #6 is a long way from thing #23. I had better get to mashing something up.

#5 Flickr exploration no.1

On Flickr, discovered a few quick things.
1. Dogs Rule! (bigger than cats, elephants, horses and other species). Even so, I haven't joined a Flickr dog group. I have enough friends for now.
2. Striatic, the bowler-hat-wearing technical editor of How to use Flickr and a FlickrCentral Moderator, needs to bone up on his geography just a tad. Inviting all new Flickr-ers to go on a world tour using geographical tags, he provides several travel options by continent, citing two Downunder locations that new travellers might want to visit - Melbourne and Cambridge! Then again, maybe that was Cambridge, Tasmania.
3. I could create a Flickr account so I did. It has one photo - my best friend George in reclining position.

***dogboy***

Self-portrait here is meant to be in my profile... doggone it! Could I see how to get it there? Followed instructions, fetched something from cybersomewhere, got excited, wagged my tail heaps, teetered on edge of achievement as I hit that "publish" button . . . had to have some Smackos to recover from the disappointment!!
Any hot tips on how to get my fetching features into my profile?? (Will even take advice from cats)

Why blog?

Us dogs have been busy and haven't come back, but have tracked some of the other AID blogs - and some people are really getting into it. Someone asked why and I didn't post a comment at the time. There's lots of useful "stuff" out there in the library blogland it seems to me. A few examples? Check out Lorcan Dempsey's blog (http://orweblog.oclc.org/)
or David Lee King whose posts from July 5-12 are worth a read. He asks "Why Learn this Stuff"? (http://www.davidleeking.com/) and answers.

One of the problems, it seems to me, is that it is easy to spend a huge amount of time reading "useful stuff" and bouncing from blog to blog. When does it stop being learning and become indulgent, especially when we have a lot else to do?

not so tricky after all!

Getting to this place wasn't really all that difficult. Just making the time and committing to action was what was needed!