The End of the Oclwebthings Challenge: This is #23!

The last posting for Oclwebthings!

The Questions:

What was your favorite thing you learned about? Conversely, what did you like least about Web 2.0? What areas of Web 2.0 do you think the library should get more involved in? What Web 2.0 services have you shared with your friends and family?


Last question first, this is mostly too new for me, but I might try to convince some of the people I know to try Campfirenow. com (see Web 2.0 awards)

I have several favorites: First, Librarything-mostly for the discussion groups and shared libraries. I also learned about RSS feeds, which are keeping this current events fan happy. I consider it important for my job (at the least ) to keep up with a surface knowledge of current events. I really like the concept of tags and how useful they are. Because people think in different ways and might have different descriptors for classifying information . This after all, is one of the Web 2.0 concepts to make the Web work for communities of users.

I didn't have any least favorites, there are some things I learned about that I feel that I don't need personally or professionally, like Flickr or Technorati, but I'm glad to understand a little bit more about what is out there for web users.

I'm not sure what more we can learn about Web 2.0, but if the Oclwebthings have more to share, then I'm willing to learn more.

ListenNJ

I downloaded one of the "Always Available" titles : Catch Me if You Can by Frank W. Abagate, narrated by Barrett Whitener.

Sign up was easy.
I used the PC Plus at my branch, with the assumption that the software (Overdrive) was in there, but it wasn't. I had to start over again after my search and installed it with no problems. I lost my choice but was able to get it right back again. It's a forgiving system, when I realized that it was going to take a long time to download the whole book, I canceled and decided to start over, but I noticed that the first two parts were still there, and that was all I needed to hear at that point. I could have chosen before hand just to pick the first part. Live and Learn! I was able to skip parts and go back with ease. The narrator was clear and understandable.

For searching, I liked the "only show copies that are available" option, since there are limits on how many can go out, this can be a time saver for someone who won't have to waste time finding items they can't use. Another one: I know of patrons who look over the book carts to see what others have checked out, so the "recently returned" search feature would handy for them. I liked the search features in general and think that most users can use them easily.

PodCasts

I tried both Podcast.com, and Odeo.com. I don't know if it was my work computer or something happening at Podcast, but I couldn't get anything to play, except for one thing and when I went back to it, I couldn't find it again. Odeo was easier for me. I tried out the featured podcasts on the home page and they worked fine- this one for example:
Anaudajohn's "All Roads lead to Oneness" http://odeo.com/audio/19190023/view


I looked around a little in the subject searches and the search feature. I noticed that for some of them I got error messages and they wouldn't work, but others did. Sample:
Anime World Order's "The Synthesizer Has not Been Stolen Yet" http://odeo.com/audio/18305403/view

Youtube

I have used YouTube mostly for things like the trailer for The Fall (see below for the link) and things I saw in the newspaper or news reports "Cute Knut" for one. The Fall has a TV ad out now that I found interesting enough to try and find out more about the movie, so I am using YouTube as a tool to find out more, but I'll need other sources like a printed review before I decide whether or not to see this movie

Problems: I know that Youtube is still fighting Viacom (which they allude to in their history video). So, I'm not sure if it's OK to be viewing a big chunk of copyrighted material without the owners permission- and there are all kinds of TV shows both American and foreign showing up. I've seen it mentioned online that these are taken down when Youtube catches them, but then go back up again anyway! However, imo a few minutes here and there is fair use and can be great publicity to boot.

P.S. I've read recently that Knut is starting to be considered a has-been. . . how fleeting YouTube fame can be!

The Cute Knut:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zZLKb_5S21E

The Fall:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yQt0QjWHUjY

Web 2.0 Awards

Among the winners of "Communication", I saw something of interest to me: Campfirenow which bills itself as "like instant messaging but designed exclusively for groups". It's free and they give a tour to check it out to that someone can decide if they want to use them or not. I don't think that I need it for working with Ocl, but if I ever get into a professional committee which is out of the system; this will come in handy,I can use this for my personal contacts as well. Here's the link: http://www.campfirenow.com/

Just for fun I choose games and picked arcaplay.com because it's free and it's very easy to embed its games in my blog and share with friends. I took a peek ahead to the next Webthings challenge and decided I would to try and embed a game. Here is the link:
http://arcaplay.com/
Below is a sample game-enjoy!




Free Online Games brought to you by Arcaplay

Web Apps

I signed up for Zoho so that I can get a closer look at its features and was pretty impressed. I'm planning to use Zoho in the future. I love the tags so if I have a project that can be described in different ways, I can use that to help me or others find the document.
On to the question from Webthings:

How would you use the collaborative features of Google Docs or Zoho at your branch for a project? Is there a project currently that you're working on where Google Docs could help or save time?
As of now, I'm not doing the type of collaborations that require a document. I certainly feel that a committee that is working on a project that will be written like a collections list or a research effort will find this very helpful. For one thing, it was very easy to edit the document that was done by webthings in google. A committee or work group can work from anywhere in the system, instead of worrying about bringing along things like memory sticks or being at a computer that has the word document. Also, I didn't notice if Google had it, but Zoho had features that would allow users to communicate as well as work on documents- a feature that would save time as everything will be in one place.

Library 2.0

What does it mean to me?

After reading the suggested postings from Oclwebthings, I think that it means to be prepared to learn and to change with the times. I know that I can't learn everything, but I know what I do best and will strengthen those areas and know who and where can help me with the rest.

The readings:

The one I would like to blog about is "To better Bibliographic Services" this article is about metadata as if it were like a concept car-very cool and a great leap forward but not going be on the show floor anytime soon- because of funding I'm sure. I love the concept of expanded delivery and I already there is ILL within states without regard to county or town borders. It would be great that a class that has a project can look into school, public and academic libraries and book stores. Find libraries close to them, then request and get delivery with just a few clicks! Is Riemer's ideas just a wish list? I'm sure his suggestions can be done, it's just a matter of will, time and all library workers getting together to make their case to their tax payers to bring about these new ways to search for materials.