# 23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning .....

This really does now feel like the beginning of something big!! I am really happy to have reached the end of the 23 tasks and within the time frame of the course - but after this Library 2.0 learning journey so far I now feel really enthused to continue on. As soon as I attend to a few other things that I have neglected in my new found enthusiasm for blogging over the past few weeks I will start on the next series of exercises in Learning 2.1!

Learning 2.0 has been very much a learning journey with a sense of discovery and delight at having the world of web technology suddenly opened up to me. And the learning is definitely an ongoing journey, as I continue on to the next step of Learning 2.0 and beyond.
In the process of following a variety of links during all exercises in the course I have also learnt so much more about libraries and librarians around the world today. I also have lots of sites to follow up on and go back to. Because I am now thinking about the new technology I have become aware of references to it in all sorts of places that I never noticed before! I have read articles in newspapers, magazines, online, heard about it in conversations, and see symbols refering to it everywhere!!!

I had great fun with the photos, mashups and online image generators. I was really happy to learn about RSS feeds and Del.icio.us, both of which will help me enormously in keeping up with information. I also subscribed to Library Link of the Day, that I learnt about during my travels on this course, and have already had some very interesting library related sites emailed to me to peruse. Ideas for implementing Web 2.0 technology in libraries are endless.

This Library 2.0 course was, however, quite difficult to follow at times (especially in the beginning) and it is a shame to see so many participants drop out. We need to be able to give more support and encouragement to staff members who are undertaking the exercises. I also ended up doing the whole course at home because of the amount of time needed. It is also the kind of course where the more you put into it, the more you definitely get out of it.
The requirements of the exercises were not always clear and a lot of time could be wasted in trying to find out what to do. The learning process was also not linear as a textbook would be - dipping in and out of sites and following links in different directions is a whole new concept in learning in itself for some of us. Talking to other participants was always helpful.

Before I go any further I think I also need to go back over the 23 things to refresh my memory of each one and to ensure that I continue to use the new skills that I have learnt. I am looking forward to continuing to explore the world of Web 2.0 technology, especially in relation to libraries of the future. Thank you to everyone involved in the presentation of this Learning 2.0 course.

# 22 Audiobooks

Downloadable audio books appear to be a resource that will expand much more in the future as more and more books become available online. The concept of the subscription services Netlibrary and Overdrive that enable libraries to purchase audio files so library members can download them on to their mp3 players is very interesting - especially the fact that the audio files are automatically deleted from the mp3 player at the end of the loan period!

I had a look around the World eBook Fair site http://worldebookfair.com/Mp3eBooks.htm, especially the Gutenberg's Audio eBook Collection and The Sound of Literary Works Collection. I had a listen to some of the The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde, Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm, and The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. Just as in the audio books in the library now, the skill and quality of the reader makes a huge difference to your enjoyment of the story. The titles are generally of very old books at present.

The World eBook Fair site also has a section marked Project Gutenberg of Australia, but the page is under construction. Even though I had read about Project Gutenberg before, it was interesting to follow some of the links about it - http://www.gutenberg.org/ and a site with some of the history of the project - http://promo.net/pg/.

# 21 Podcasts

I had a look at the podcast directory tools - podcast.net, podcastalley.com and Yahoo podcasts. I did find some interesting podcasts through those directories, but I think the best podcasts I have come across have been in my general searching and visiting of Internet sites at other times. Many Internet sites now have podcasts available.

The SirsiDynix Institute has some really good podcasts of library related seminars and talks. I have listened to some already during this course. One I plan to go back and listen to is -
25 Technologies in 50 minutes, a presentation by Stephen Abram (Vice President of Innovation at the SirsiDynix Institute) on the new technologies. http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/seminar_page.php?sid=69

I have added the SirsiDynix Institute podcasts to my Bloglines account so that I can keep up with their latest seminars.

I am also interested in ABC Radio's podcasts of shows such as The Health Report. It would be great to just listen to The Health Report via podcast as it is broadcast at a time that is not suitable for me. I have added The Health Report podcast Pod feed to my bloglines account too.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/default.htm

Podcasts will be very useful for me in keeping up with the latest information or talks etc that I have missed. They have great potential for use on our library website for such things as author talks and interviews, explanations of library resources, library radio show broadcasts, showcasing library events.

# 20 You too can YouTube

I have spent some time looking at lots of interesting clips on YouTube. You can really get carried away here!

I really liked the Medieval IT Help Desk at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ - I could relate to the poor fellows confusion with new technology (the book!),
and Conan the Librarian at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHoHaAYHq8.

I looked at quite a few clips on libraries, and then started looking at fiddle music clips of Alasdair Fraser, a really wonderful Scottish fiddle player who now lives in America. I hadn't really looked at the YouTube site before (only seen odd video clips elsewhere). It was really great to see some good clips of fiddle concerts. I wanted to post an Alasdair Fraser clip on to my blog but the clips of his concerts said no embedding by request. I guess that means that I can't do it, but maybe I can still add a link to one. I ended up putting a funny one of Mr Bean in the library on the blog instead.

The Alasdair Fraser video clip I wanted to share is at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffHz3wry5Nc.

Video clips could be used on the library website or blog for recording events, author talks, library promotion, reader education explanations about aspects of the library. They could be used on the staff intranet for teaching purposes, promotion of branches, news etc etc.

The material that is already on YouTube varies between really good clips and rubbish. Libraries can however create their own material.

# 19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

I looked at a large number of the sites listed on the Web 2.0 Awards pages http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/ .
Many of them didn't seem to be all that useful. Some had potential though and were interesting.

Realtravel - describes itself as the travel guide and trip planner powered by advice from real travelers. It shows places to go, things to do, helps you plan a trip, hosts your free travel blog. The advice is from real people talking about their own trips. Could have some very useful information.

Listdump - is a community list generator based on the simple fact that everybody loves a good list. Some of the top lists I saw were: Most beautiful mountain ranges in the U.S., Best Food Websites, The Coolest New Blogs, Generators for Web 2.0, All Things Japanese. Some lists had lots of entries, some just a few. They were open to anyone for contributions, or you could start your own list.

Ucoming - upcoming events, and it did come up with events on in Melbourne first. Only had a small listing of what is really on in Melbourne in any given week.

These were all made up of contributions from anyone and therefore the content and quality of the information varied a lot. The concept of being a community resource open to all for contributions is very different to what we are used to, though it does have lots of potential. I can see this idea being well used for sharing information on reading, favourite books and authors.

# 18 Web based Applications and Tools - Zoho Writer

I am writing this piece in Zoho Writer after creating an account for myself, and hope to post it to my blog when I have finished.

The idea of being able to access your documents from any computer, anywhere, and being able to work collaboratively with other people on them is great. This would perhaps have been even better than using a wiki for my previous example of editing a book. We could perhaps have used Zoho Writer effectively for drafts, although a lot of the book was done in the first instance by using specialist music software and as I understand it Zoho Writer is confined to standard word processing.

Zoho Writer seems to have a lot of the word processing style features of microsoft Word, which I have used endlessly over the years. I am about to experiment with background colour to distinguish this piece from my normal blog posts.

This colour is very bright! What do you think?

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

On the PBwiki Learning 2.0 I added my blog to the Favourite Blogs list http://plcmclearning.pbwiki.com/Favorite%20Blogs. You'll find it under Australian Blogs - Learning 2.0 Blogs, Eastern Regional Libraries.

I also added a line to the Favourite Vacation Spots list.