Step 23: Yippee!

Well, I must say this whole process had a mind-boggling effect as I read screen after screen of text, tried my hand at these different applications, and tried to ingest it all. Now that I'm (finally) done I feel as though I've only scraped the surface. I'll get back to some of the applications as time allows. I don't feel I have time to do this at work though, so it will be from home.
"virtually" speaking, this is an exciting time to be alive and I'm curious about the future of web 2.0 applications.

What I would do diffently if an additional learning program was offered, is not to stipulate a time limit (with prizes etc.) Each of these steps took me hours to do and I felt a bit "dumb" about the fact that it was taking me so long. I found this activity extremely hard to do at work, with all the interruptions that always occur whether at my own desk or at reference.

All in all I'm very glad I learned all these new things and have been sharing my findings with family and friends.

Staying up to date in the "world of computers" is vital to my job!

Step 22: Web 2.0 awards list

I had fun playing around with some of the websites, notably Fuzzmail, which allows the recipient of your e-mail to read it as you wrote it, mistakes and corrections and all.

One thing is for sure: time flies by as you explore Web 2.0 features!

Step 20: the future of Library 2.0

The future is .....going to be different! But as the younger generation pursues a more digital lifestyle, let's hope that libraries will still remain an important physical space in which people come together and select real books.

spreadsheets

I also used Google Documents to create a spreadsheet about Natural Gas usage in 2007. I didn't share the document though, too boring.

Zoho Writer document

Dear Document:

Hello, this is pretty cool stuff. If someone comes to the Library and wants to type a letter on one of our internet computers I can tell them to go to Zoho Writer. If I saved this document and tried to open it in MSWord, would Word recognize it? Forget about Wordperfect, it doesn't recognize anything! To answer that question, I just clicked on "save as" above and the option is to save as Word Document! You can also save this document in many different ways. Brilliant!

The "Post to Blog" option does not work for me at this time. Perhaps it only works if I sign up properly instead of using the "quick create" option.

I cut and pasted the above writing from my Zoho Writer document as it wouldn't post to this blog otherwise.

Step 19: Technorati

Very clever, but isn't it a bit similar to Bloglines? Anyway I read some top ten postings and found some absorbing news and stuff. Interesting but not something I'll be spending hours of time to explore - too much else to do!

Steps 17 and 18

Hmmm, interesting ways of organizing all those websites I visit. Only I don't visit that many websites on a regular basis, not enough anyway to want to organize them like this. Not yet anyway.....

Step 16, Library thing

I'm definitely going to use this Thing. What a good idea!!!!!! Will it replace my current system?(I enter my books into a database at home and keep a printed copy at work, which gets updated every so often.) Whenever I do reader's advisory I grab my trusty printout and scan down the list to the appropriate reading level. It works fairly well - better than having a recipe box full of little cards to scramble through anyway.
Now with Library Thing the potential lies in having all my book suggestions available on the computer. I'd have the Thing open whenever I'm on the reference desk. Will I still prefer carrying around my printout? I wonder........
It will also be a lot of work to transfer all the information from my current (crappy little) database to this Library Thing.

What's "Sylvia" in Chinese?

Pronounced: "XI ER WEI YA"

Online Image Generator (15)

Here's my image!

Step 14

Bloglines prompts you to state your favourite subjects and then subscribes you to corresponding blog feeds. I decided to delete all those feeds and just search for my own. This makes the whole process of reading my bloglines account more relevant for me. I can't wait to add more feeds as I find them, especially those that provide new ideas for program activities.

Bloglines

Bloglines are mind-blogelling. I could find blogs from other libraries and get feedback and ideas galore. I could spend hours just reading the various feeds! Hours and hours.....but wait. I also spend hours and hours reading children's books. Where on earth can I find the time to do all this reading?