Week 8 Online Productivity and Web 2 Awards List

I found Google Docs a useful tool. I can see that it would be great to save docs and upload files to one place so you can access, share, edit etc from any computer. I was able to sign in quite easily as I already had an existing account, but then I had trouble uploading files. I read all the instuctions, did the trouble shoot and so on, but no matter how many files I tried, I always got the same message - server error. So I don't know if this is something I'm doing wrong, or if there's a problem with the computer. I then tried making a simple document and saving it. this seemed to go OK. Here's the link.

Then I checked out the Web 2 winners. I settled on books and had a look at Lulu and Biblio. They are quite different in what they do. Lulu is a website which enables authors to publish their own work for free and sell it to their particular audience, with publishing tools provided so they can format and upload. It has millions of registered users and visitors each month, so the published work potentially reaches a huge audience. You can take advantage of their specialised tools and packages, become members of groups, follow blogs, buy, sell, and connect to others. It seems to be a very clear and well thought out website, easy to get around and full of links and information. I don't see it as being of particular use to the library, however. I liked Biblio a lot because I'm a huge fan of second-hand book shops and this one kind of brings the whole thing online with an independent book seller philosophy behind it. The user has the ability to buy new and used books from over 5,500 independent booksellers globally. Some of the profits are channelled back into helping literacy and providing books in poorer communities. This again is probably not of particular use for a library other than providing some information on sourcing rare or hard to get books.