Robin's nest

Thing #35 Micro or mini blogging

2008-06-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Started looking at Twitter but think I must be missing something.

Couldn't find the COB library Twitter account to look at. And what's it all got to do with my mobile phone?

Will have to try again later!

Thing #34 Using the Web for better health

2008-05-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

Found Fitday a very interesting site. The only problem is that to really get anything out of it you need to be honest in what information you put in!

Also some of the choices of foods etc. are not exactly the right type - very hard to be really specific.

I thought the report on whether you are getting the right nutrients etc. could be quite useful.

Thing #33 Express yourself through online art

2008-05-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Found Mr Picassohead quite fun but now can't find my picture again to try and put it into my blog. Sent it to myself at work so I will try again from there.

Thing #32 Online file storage

2008-04-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

Tried to use esnips but was doing this at home and could not upload any files as it needed Adobe flashplayer 9 and I could not get this to download (or do anything in fact)

Then tried box.net and was able to upload some photos and send them to myself at work, as I didn't know anyone elses's email!

Tried to upload a recipe as well but am unable to view the actual text so may need furthet work on this.

Thing # 31 - Get organized with Plaxo

2008-04-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

Found home page quite complicated, but using the calendar and task list was quite fun.
Could see various uses of sharing calendars among staff eg. between teams or job share partners so each knows where the others are up to in their various tasks, projects etc

Thing # 30 I'm in ur library

2008-03-26T18:07:00.001-07:00

bunneh

Not really a cat but couldn't resist this gorgeous photo from Flickr's Lolcats.

I agree some Lolcats are quite funny, but on the whole really can't see a lot of use for them in the library. Also I find the 'baby' language quite irritating in many cases. Maybe I just had too much grounding in 'good' grammar!

My lolcat below

Thing #29 Scrapblog

2008-03-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

Having tried at least 8 times to publish a page, and once found that even the copy I had saved had lost a lot of it's background detail so had to redo the whole thing, no I do not love this site!
After about 3 hours waiting endlessly for things to happen and still not having managed to publish anything I am giving up!!!

Thing #28 Well we're big rock singers

2008-03-21T00:26:00.001-07:00

getCoverPage.aspx,
originally uploaded by robynsmith23.

Very impressed with this cover - we thought the building was fairly impressive too!

Thing #27. Photobucket

2008-02-27T02:33:00.000-08:00

Found this an extremely confusing and irritating site, made worse by the continually flashing pop-up windows that will not go away!
Managed to save a few images to an album, but they did not end up in the album I created for them.

Altogether very frustrating!

Thing #26 Yourminis

2008-02-25T22:27:00.000-08:00

Found this quite fun but a bit overwhelming - where to start and stop.
Liked the idea of creating your own links to the Internet eg. chose "cover art' as a widget and then book covers, and was then able to open up the link from each book cover into the Amazon page with all the book's details.
Not totally sure when I would use this. Seems like creating a visual "Favourites' tab.

Thing #25 Letterpop

2008-02-24T23:12:00.000-08:00

Quite fun creating a "newsletter" in letterpop, although mine is more like a tourist advertisement. Could be useful for all sorts of publicity on the library webpage, and I presume you could create and print off small posters for use in the library.

But did not find the editing screen easy to follow and the background colour I chose does not seem to have happened at all.

Now, though, cannot find how to link it to my blog. Any suggestions?

Thing #24

2008-02-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

Managed to change a file type and the process seems very quick and easy. Unfortunately I really don't have much idea about different file types and all their uses, so at this point I am not sure what applications this would have in the library.
Obviously I need to find out more! Any suggestions?

Winery, South Australia

2007-12-02T23:11:00.001-08:00

Winery, South Australia,
originally uploaded by robynsmith23.

From a marvelous holiday in September 2007.

#23 End or beginning

2007-12-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

Has been a very interesting exercise for someone who was 'internet illiterate', and I have certainly dicovered a whole new world. I particularly enjoyed working with flickr and would like to follow this up, as well as wikis.

However unfortunately my enjoyment has been rather tempered by the fact that as a part-timer I simply did not have enough time to explore each area properly, and because of the pressure of finishing on a deadline I know there is an awful lot I have not taken in.

For future reference I would suggest this programme needs a good 6 months, for people (both full and part-time workers) to explore each area thoroughly and not just skip over the surface.

# 21 Podcasts

2007-12-02T22:02:00.000-08:00

Have had a look at podcast alley, but found it all quite confusing and had no luck in getting an RSS feed onto my blog. Nonee of the screens I am looking at seem to bear any resemblance to any of the instructions!

#22 Audiobooks

2007-12-02T21:56:00.001-08:00

This is an amazing site for the volume of titles available.

Found Kipling's 'The man who would be king' and got the full text on the screen, although was unable to hear it on my Mac computer.

Obviously there are library uses here for borrowers to download ebooks, particularly in the case of out of print books, or books hard to source, obviously those that have no copyright restrictions, but I'm not sure how satisfactory the audio component would be. Are they read by actors, like books on tape.CD?

# 20 YouTube

2007-12-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

A fascinating site which is a whole new world for short film and video lovers, and people wanting to share their own movies.

I looked at some spectacular short films on the northern lights (aurora borealis) and was particularly impressed with one called "Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) by someone called Ramirashko. Although it is really a more like a slide show rather than a movie, the colours and music are stunning!

I think a video component could be added to a library webpage, perhaps to give a guided tour of the library, or to show some of the events we held.

# 19 Discovering web 2.0 tools

2007-12-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

Had a look at the book creating site "Lulu".
Found this quite fascinating with the ability to create your own publications of all sorts and have them bound at what seems to be a very cheap rate and then distributed for sale if you wish - with the added claim that because of the site's 'no. 1 rating among self publishing websites' your work will appear at the top of searches in google etc.
I loved particularly the photo books you can create with full binding etc. (I have seen this done professionally and it is very expensive.)
I think there would be many uses in libraries for this sort of technology, such as annual reports, brochures. poster etc.

I like the idea of a library produced calendar with the year's main events printed in it as well as all sorts of promotions and information included. The run would probably have to be restricted though or the cost could still be prohibitative.

A great idea (and more economic!)I think would be to have a children's book writing and illustrating competion, with the winner receiving a bound copy of their book.

# 18 web-based apps

2007-12-01T19:06:00.001-08:00

Have looked around this site and attempted to create document with image, but it was extremely slow and often not responding.
Looking at the list of 'bugs' in the 'forums' I think there may be some technical problems with this site.

The idea of this free service is good but I don't find it very user friendly.

# 17 Playing around with PBWiki

2007-11-29T22:45:00.000-08:00

Seems to be a very easy website to use and you do feel as though you are 'talking to' other people.

# 16 So what's in a wiki

2007-11-29T21:54:00.000-08:00

Love the community feel of these wikis, although I think one of the main problems would be accuracy of informnation, and you would need to accept people changing your entries whenever they wanted to!
I think they would be excellent for library web pages where libaray patrons could be invited to add their comments on all sorts of things eg. libaray actitvities they ahve been to, local facilities they have used that might be of interest ot others etc.
They would also be great for library catalogues where users could add reviews of the books listed, suggestions for 'tags' or other added search terms etc.

# 15 On library 2.0 & web 2.0

2007-11-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

All the visions for the future of Information provision et. are quite exciting, but I have to say to me in many ways quite overwhelming! The librarian in 'into a new world of librarianship' obviously does none of the traditional library tasks - there simply wouldn't be time!
(Also a plea for more simple, meaningful terminology - alot of the concepts are really not difficult but they are hidden by 'trendy' terminology.)

I prefer the view in "To a temporary place in time' where at least there seems to be a feeling that a library should still be a pleasant PHYSICAL place to go, not just a virtual space (and I like the sound of the comfortable chairs and brandy - and maybe even some books!)

Having had a whinge though I think there are lots of avenues for new ideas, and particularly in my area of cataloguing. The traditional methods and techniques of cataloguing should not be thrown away, but they could well be enhanced with the use of metadata, public tagging etc., which might make the catalogue a lot more user friendly.

# 14 Technorati

2007-11-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

My keyword search in blog posts today came up with 1821 results, but even though I did a phrase search the results were often for the separate words. Much better when refined under "Blogs about" and I put libraries (25 posts).
Searching in tags gave 1514 articles but again not necessarily as the phrase. These were more actual articles, presumably tagged by the 'poster'
Blog directory gave 827 results, but still contained a lot of seemingly 'off the topic' results (eg. elearning, web 2.0).

#13. Tagging, folksonomies etc.

2007-11-29T17:08:00.000-08:00

Have had a look around del.icio.us. Aileen says the main interest here is the grouping and tagging of your "favourites" but I didn't seem to come across a lot on that topic, rather more on the tagging etc.

The concept of public tagging (metadata?) is interesting to a cataloguer but I feel lack of any structure can have drawbacks in lack of consistency in headings used. Good for browsing etc. but for serious searching I think there also needs to be some sort of authority structure.
Maybe public library catalogues could eventually allow for the users to add their own tags to the catalogue record?

#12 Rollyo

2007-11-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

Have created a search roll for travel. Hopefully will add more later.
Handy to use for sites you use often and trust.

A library application: On our website we have lists of online databases in categories eg. health. There are several databases under each category and they could be linked with search rolls through 'rollyo' so only one search is needed not several.

#11 Library thing

2007-11-28T17:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/rsmith1

#10 Image generators

2007-11-28T16:15:00.001-08:00

Thinking skeleton,
originally uploaded by robynsmith23.

Surprisingly easy now I realise I can save pictures to Flickr before uploading to my blog!

#7 Reflections on technology

2007-11-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

The technology we have been learning about in this programme opens up all sorts of possibilities for individual people! I look forward to spending more time exploring.

#6 Flickr fun

2007-11-28T15:44:00.001-08:00

Billboard,
originally uploaded by robynsmith23.

Had problems with this as Flickr account not fully active.
Thanks to Aileen ,now OK!

2007-11-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

#10
Robyn 罗宾 - prononciation (PinYin) : luō bīn

I rather like my Chinese name, from the Chinese name generator.

2007-11-26T22:53:00.000-08:00

Have found public URL for blogsite, but now what do I do?

#8

2007-11-26T22:40:00.000-08:00

Have found this very time-consuming but I can see it could be very useful in gathering items of interest and news. Need much more time to investigate properly but I have to move on!

Venice

2007-11-25T14:13:00.001-08:00

Venice,
originally uploaded by evgeniy_ramich.