Week 7 Wikis

This week I explored wikis and checked out some of the recommended ones to get a feel of how they work.While they are all places where knowledge can be pooled in a collaborative way by anyone, they also have differences in they way they present their information and in the amount of content, links, editing options etc. It seems to me that in some cases the wikis give information, but after that there probably isn't much more need for it to be added to changed or whatever, because the information is pretty good as it stands. So from that point of view, I'm not so sure how they differ from a regular website, apart from the fact that the option is there for anyone to take part if they want. I enjoyed looking around the various wikis and seeing just how much information we have at our disposal. Sometimes this make me feel a little dizzy though
- the old information overload problem again!
I like the idea of people being able to contribute their knowledge for sharing with others with similar interests and this concept seems ideal to a library environment where rapid turn over of information about books, reviews, events, technology, learning programmes etc would be very uselful and enriching.
I logged in to the ACL PB Wiki and went to favourite blogs where I added my blog to the list. This was a pleasant exercise because it went without a hitch and showed me how easy it is to add info to a wiki.

Week 6: Library 2.0, Web 2.0: The Future of Libraries

I found the articles interesting and quite thought-provoking. It's hard to fully imagine where libraries are heading as things are moving so quickly. The way one can access information has altered radically in recent times. Now it's possible to get information about anything at any time from sources that can be accessed directly, and not have to rely on an organisation to provide it for you. You actually don't have to leave your home to get a book or specialised information any more. This has changed the kind of relationship patrons have with their library which is evolving more and more into a kind of collaborative and sharing environment. People still want to come to the library, join in activities, share a sense of community and know that there is a safe and welcoming place where they can spend some quality time, get the information they require, or enjoy a specific experience. I like the quote: "Libraries are not merely in communities, they are communities."I see this as being the way a library might feel in the future - a place where there is a lot of interactivity and user participation, information sharing and education.

Week 6: Delicious and Technorati

Delicious gave me some trouble joining and logging on, but eventually I got there. I added 10 websites of interest, mostly to do with books and this part of the process went surprisingly smoothly. Relief! (As an aside, I believe that the time frame set for the exercises and the amount of work required to complete them seriously needs to be reassessed. Realistically it is taking a lot longer than the suggested one hour per week, especially for part-timers - and that is time that cannot be spared at the workplace, consequently it is being done at home.)
Anyway, back to Delicious: I find it quite a good site for people who want to manage lots of sites of interest which they want to access from different locations. You can tag, save and share all from one central point and get more info on other helpful sites if you want. Information sharing is an integral part of library services and I can see this having benefit for libraries.
My link to my Delicious account is:http://delicious.com/Katharine_2020
I then signed up to Technorati. I can't see a great deal of use for this one in the library because it appears to be all about blogs, which although interesting for some, would probably not be essential in terms of information gathering. I had no luck with claiming my blog as there didn't appear to be any way to make a connection to this, either through the link you provided or through the site itself.
I'm finding the things we are required to join with their log-ons, sign-ins, passwords, email addresses etc becoming somewhat unwieldy - ever more stuff to keep in mind so that I can access even more stuff to keep me up to speed. This (along with having so much of my personal information out there) is a part of sharing in the internet community that I'm not overly comfortable with, because although it makes things simpler on one level, it also adds more and more things to keep abreast of and to monitor. I guess the trick is to find the level you're comfortable with and only take as much out of it as you need.

Week 5 Rollyo

Rollyo is not working, so I will leave this for now and continue on to the next exercise

LibraryThing Week 5

I really liked Librarything. It's a great place to catalogue your books so that you can remember what you've read, check out what other people are reading, get recommendations, reviews, find similar reads and discover completely different reads. As usual, there's a huge amount of information out there, I have to train myself to be a bit selective or I could be on there for hours! So far this is the one I've enjoyed the most because it has a lot of relevance for me personally and professionally Anything that expands my knowledge of books has got to be an asset to my job, especially in the readers advisory area and in sourcing interesting reads for my housebounds and bookclubs.

Week 4 Twitter

I've never really seen the point of twitter to be honest - all those people updating their every move and thought, so a whole bunch of other people can share in it. So for me this was purely an informative exercise to see how it's done. I checked out the twitter site, made an account and signed up for a few areas that took my interest, but I most likely will not be using it. However, I can see that it is hugely popular and culturally relevant, so cannot dismiss it, simply because it's not my cup of tea. I think it does have use for businesses and organisations where effective, up to date output of information is vital, and the library would obviously fit into this category.
This is my twitter link:
http://twitter.com/bluemoonmuser
Here are two tweeters I'm following:http://twitter.com/johnkeypm

http://twitter.com/GreenPeace

Week 4 RSS feeds

I set up a news reader on google which was pretty straighforward. Initially I opted to get the offered package of a dozen or so sites so I could get to see how it worked quickly. That was interesting, although an information overload of stuff I probably didn't need to know that much about! I can see how it would be a good way to streamline all that info and cut it down to manageable amounts, but one would still have to be selective. It seems to me that this has its advantages and disadvantages. In terms of the library it obviously would be helpful to filter relevant information in areas like readers advisory, reviews, author info etc. and allow patrons to keep up with new additions to the catalogue and events at various locations. I did have some difficulty subscribing to some sites. Apparently some go automatically via Internet Explorer to be stored in the computer rather than directly onto my Google Reader, so you have to work your way round that. It seems that there is never only one way to do something, and sometimes, there seems to be no way at all!!
Here's the link to my google reader:http://www.google.com/reader/view/#overview-page