Week 8: #19 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

Zoho like most of the other online applications is straight forward and easy to use, but somewhat limited in the features offered. I found the limited number of fonts (and font sizes) to be frustrating. For simple document that is not of a sensitive nature they are quit sufficient. I may have missed it, but I could not find a way to export ther doucment as a web page. For more complex documents I would use Word, Word Perfect, Lotus Word Pro or a similar commercial program. It also becomes a problem working online when you have a slow connection (I am on dial up at home). I am not totally comfortable with my documents being stored on line where I do not have control of them. It is nice to have access to them from any computer with internet access, but I am not sure is worth the risk.

Week 8: #18 Social Networking: Making friends in the comfort of your own home

I looked at MySpace, Ning, Yahoo!360, Catster and Dogster. I wanted to look at Facebook, but it required me to register, and I was not willing. They looked like a group of clones. I got boored quickly looking at the sites. They appear to consist of the minutiae of people’s lives (or even worse their pet’s lives), that only a close friend or relative would appreciate. I guess I am not of the age group to appreciate the social networking phenomenon. I am not one who is willing to share intimate details of my life with every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to place me under a microscope and examine me. If I want to make friends, I don’t think that the social networking site is the appropriate way to do it.

Week 7: #17 Blog About Technology

I find that many people who are doing technology are great at doing the technology, but are very poor at telling others how to do it, or even why it would be worth the trouble. I have decided that a blog would be a great way to communicate with the people who take classes at the library. It would give me chance to post materials on line where they could access them, and they would be able to comment on the materials and the class. As soon as I finish the iHCPL program, I am going to start working on my library blog. Having taught distance learning classes using WebCt, I think it will be fairly easy to organize a blog to do many of the same functions. In any event it will be great fun learning the ins and outs of blogging.

Week #7 task #16 "So what's in a wiki?"

I was not sure what I was supposed to have learned after I had completed this assignment. The concept of a wiki is great, but I needed more structure to the assignment. The SJCPL Subject Guidelines was interesting, but limited in scope. It also was not easy to use. Part of the problem was that it required a connection that was much faster and reliable than the one I had available.

The Book Lovers wiki begs the question: “Why?” It did not appear to be well used, and it was boring. The Library Success: a Best Practices Wiki was somewhat better. Although it was still rather dull, it was well laid out, easy to negotiate, and had some good content.

I can see a wiki used to enhance the programming at a library. Handouts and explanatory materials could be stored on the wiki and downloaded by anyone who was interested. Comment could be made, and it would be a great avenue for discussion.

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

Rick Anderson’s article on Away from the “icebergs” was the most interesting of the lot. Most of the articles were reminiscent of articles written by university professors who have to “publish or perish”. Mr. Anderson put forth 3 interesting ideas: The “just in case” collection (he does not like it), Reliance on user education (he doesn’t think we can do it), and The “come to us” model of library service (he appears to believe that if we build it they will not come).

I think we still need a large collection of hard copy books. None of the new technologies has the convenience of a book. A book is portable, easier to read than a computer or PDA screen, and cheaper than the new technologies I have seen. I don’t know what his library is doing wrong if there has been a 55% drop in circulation.

I think that libraries need to concentrate more on user education not less. Yes, the interfaces need to be improved, and accessing information needs to be easier, but most community library users still want to check out the latest Oprah book. The majority of the users don’t want to do extensive research. We need to make the effort to reach the few who do need to do research, but let us not let “the tail wag the dog”.

In my opinion the “come to us” model of library service is still very valid. The internet has its uses, but nothing beats going to a brick and mortar establishment (be it a store or a library) where you can touch the merchandise.

I found it odd that he mentioned the German term zeitgeist. In the field of education the teachers used a similar term English phrase “this year’s great idea”. We used it to describe the latest educational trends that were being pushed by the administration. They usually had no staying power, and appeared to be something that someone dreamed up to justify their administrative job. I am afraid that most (but not all) of Library 2.0 will be like the education trends. Temporary.

ACTIVITY 14 TECHORATI

Searching for Learning 2.0 on blog posts, tags and blog directories yielded vastly different results (~500 to over 8000). I was surprised at the variety of postings. To paraphrase an old saying “Any fool can post anything, about anything, and most fools do.” Some of the postings were of excellent quality and very informative. Some of them were off the wall, and others were biased and in some cases out and out lies. I will probably use this site if I need to locate a blog on a specific topic, but I am tired of sifting through bushels of chaff to find a few grains of wheat.

ACTIVITY 13 TAGGING

I found the del.icio.us software to be of little use. The tutorial video was hard to understand. Part of the problem was the connection speed (<100 kbps) and part of it was the monotone voice and rambling of the speaker. She assumed that the listener was a graduate student familiar with the software and that she was preaching to the choir. The slackerman link showed no results for the habits of highly successful del.icio.us users, and the beelerspace.com posting was hard to follow. It was almost like a stream of consciousness conversation with minute details that added little.

I can see advantages to using tagging, if you were someone doing research and sharing it with others working on the same research team. I would not use it as I am uncomfortable revealing that much information to the entire web.