Oamaru visit

Oamaru visit
Originally uploaded by dudaxue78

Not the end ... but the beginning ....

I can't believe that I have completed the ACL 2.0 training!! It has been an incredible learning experience for me. I have grown personally over the whole process. Along the way, there had been moments of doubt and inadequacy but my perseverance has definitely paid off. I have learned lots of skills and been challenged many times over. I can confidently say I have overcome my initial fears of accessing the useful tools on the Internet.
It is the end of the discovery journey but a new beginning for me as I do intend to keep up with the newly acquired skills and to put them into good use on a personal and a professional level.
I would like to express my thanks to Jayne and her team for their great work, their patience and encouraging comments which have motivated me throughout the course. It has been an enjoyable and beneficial course for me!

NetLibrary and ebooks.

I am delighted to say that I am quite familiar with the NetLibrary and the ebooks. I had to catalogue this database and in order to create a bibliographical record, I visited the site and looked at its functions and services. I already have an account with the NetLibrary and have read a couple of books on it. E-books are becoming very popular as they are easily accessible. The great advantage is that e-books are available all hours and at all locations where you can link up to the site.

Podcasts

This technology is all new to me. Did the tutorial and gained a better understanding of what podcasts are and of the three types available. Had some fun searching on the podcasts directories. Once again I am awed by the number of podcasts and the range of subjects covered. I added the RSS feeds to a couple of podcasts on wine making to my account in Blogline.
I prefer the vodcast(video podcast)which makes the broadcasting more interesting with its visual presentation. Have a look at the "Interactive health" vodcast I posted along side this blog.

Discover YouTube - Video

This is my very first time on YouTube! I am very impressed with this site and the service they offer. Can't get over the the number of videos available and how they are organised! I did a few searches and found some useful ones on travel, cooking and music.

A friend of mine recommended Chris Rice's music.In addition to finding music videos on Chris on Utube, I also discover he is a talented cartoonist. Have loaded the video onto my blog. The whole process was quite straight forward and it did not take as long as I expected.

I think this site can be beneficial to library websites with the volume of stuff on it. Some of the videos will be great for learning and research. However, the librarians will need to be selective in their coverage and to provide the relevant URLs on their web page.

Discovering Web 2.0 tools

I have selected the Healia site.


Healia is a consumer health search engine and it provides specific answers to health seekers's queries. I did a few searches on illnesses and treatments. The site takes you from the general headings to the specific ones. Under each medical condition, it gives the causes, symptoms, diagnosis/tests, treatment and prevention. Within each of these headings, there are extensive articles giving more relevant information on latest research and treatment. Included are also correspondence from patients describing their personal experience with the disease/illness and their response to some of the medication and treatment.

There is even a blog when one can subscribe to their regular health news and to keep up with other health bloggers.

This site will be of use to library users who have particular interests in the medical field or for medical students acquiring additional resources for their studies.

Accessing Zoho Writer ...

Can't believe I am moving along with these exercises!! Have just created an account with Zoho Writer and had a good look at its applications. I am amazed at the number of options available and the toolbar is so useful.
I have done a couple of trial documents. I aim to have one posted onto my blog. Just have to see if it all works!

I did get the document about"Accessing Zoho Writer" on to my blog. It appears below.

I have added the URL :http://writer.zoho.com/ as I intend to revisit this site to explore it further.

Another cool and dull morning to be arriving at work. The hot topic this morning is the rush to complete this ACL 2.0 learning journey. Quite a few have concluded their discovery trip and are awaiting anxiously to have their last couple of exercises marked so they can receive the hard earned reward - the MP3 player.

 

Well, I still have to continue on though the end is in sight. This Zoho Writer looks rather amazing with its many applications. No doubt I will get to know its functions when I explore further.

Playing around with PBWiki!

Had a good viewing of the PB Wiki resources. It is definitely a fantastic tool and I have added my blog to a couple of the favourites pages - the movies and the restaurants. Just can't believe that I am getting to enjoy this more than I anticipated!

View the pictures on the side bar -->


Have also added my blog to http://acllearn.pbwiki.com/Favourite+blogs

Wikis - what a discovery!

This is a wonderful exercise to introduce one to wikis. I have heard about wikis from my kids but have never accessed any! I had fun looking at different types of wikis and to see what information they contained. It is definitely a fantastic way of sharing and gathering information/knowledge with others. I like the way that anyone can edit, delete and add to the wiki. The ability to control and to improve the content of the website provides learning opportunities for those who are not so confident with their technological knowledge without the fear of messing up!

It is definitely a great way to encourage interaction between staff and patrons in a library environment. There is endless possibilities for libraries to use wikis to share information and resources, e.g. to set up subject guides, book reviews, community news, library forums, research tools, instructional manuals, customer information ... etc.

I hope to explore this research tool further to gain a better understanding of its applications after I have completed this course!

On library 2.0 & Web 2.0....

I totally agree with the perspective presented by Michael Stephens in "Into a new world of librarianship" . With the great leap in IT and all the information available via the Internet, librarians need to re-evaluate and re-define their roles to meet the new generation of information seekers. Librarians can no longer sit back and be collectors/guardians of their resources. The library needs to offer their multi-facet services to its clients. Librarians are required to take a more active role and to think of effective means to promote and market their useful services. It is vital that librarians plan and constantly keep up with user changes on the advancing technology highway. They must communicate with users to discover their needs and to think of innovative ideas to encourage users's participation in bringing about the best library services.

Web 2.0 sounds exciting and so versatile. It may seem a bit daunting at this stage for me but I am sure I shall embrace it and look forward to the challenges and technologies it will bring to the new phase of library services.

Getting not-so-technical with Technorati ...

Technorati is another powerful search tool. It depends on where you search using the same keyword, the results can be vastly different. I searched for "Learning 2.0" in the popular blog which came up with the most results - 9,188 sites, whereas I only got 814 searching under blog.

I have created my own posts and tagged them with Technorati tags. It is quite easy to do and there is no particular standard tags you need to comform to. Have claimed my blog and created a watchlist.

Del.icio.us

Have heard a great deal about this web site from friends but it is not till this discovery exercise do I get the opportunity to explore its usefulness and potential.

I really like Del.icio.us and the way the bookmarking is organised. It is amazing to see how each user tags similar topics differently and from the little I have seen, some keywords used in tagging are more common and less formal though they may not be correct. I went into the PLCMCL2 account and viewed a few of the resources. I really like the way you can view all the sites under one single tag. It is great that what you bookmark and tag can be shared by others and you can also see theirs, thus creating a collective research on various subjects. I suppose that is what is meant by social bookmarking. It is awesome to see that some sites provide you with an RSS feed to receive updates to new bookmarks you have added or those added by your friends.

I think this is a powerful research tool as it gives the user many different ways of accessing useful websites which are highly organised. The unstructured tagging keywords make this tool less threatening to those who may not be familiar with their research topics. Yet they will get a very staisfying result!

Rollyo

Had fun exploring Rollyo and created an account. Did my first search roll and I found this useful in arranging relevant search sites under one topic. It is a good way to share with others on topics of mutual interest.

Had a bit of a problem linking the searchroll to my blog as the instructions were not that clear but I did get there eventually and the Rollyo Roolbar now appears on this blog! Bravo!

Select...Life' no. 1 prioritySearch The Web

LibraryThing

I am really enjoying this and it is a great tool to keep up to date with your reading and to share books with others. I think it is marvelous that you can add items to your online catalogue and to create a widget to display the titles in my library as well as my blog. Here are the five books I added:

Fun with Image Generators ...

This is a fun exercise and it is great to discover all those animated images which I can use to accompany my writing. Take a look at this image:



Here's the link to:

http://www.fodey.com/

Have a look at all the image generators available to you and be creative! I also enjoy the Ninja text as I find these little warriors rather entertaining!

Locating news feeds ...

This is a cool exercise as I never realise how easy it is to add newsfeeds to my newsreader. I tried out the Blogline Search tool as you suggested and it was great to find feeds which interest me. It was rather quick to add the newsfeed to my blog by clicking the botton "clip/blog this" and instantly it appears in my newsreader!


Feedster is not available at present as they are having an upgrade. So I gave the others a try. They are all reasonably easy to search for feeds and it definitely opens up a new world for one seeking information and "news" on a variety of topics. I have provide a link to one of my newsfeeds which I hope you will enjoy!

http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs_display?sub=59428095&site=2026081

Bloglines

Have created a free online account to Bloglines and subscribed to 12 newsfeeds. Here is the link if you are interested, have not posted anything yet!


http://www.bloglines.com/blog/redcarnations

Technology addicts ...

Now that I have gone so far with these exercises, I have to admit that I am enjoying this much more than I anticipated. Prior, I loathed the thought of spending hours bashing away at the keyboard and looking at the Internet and others' blogs!

Having recently been away to Oamaru and taken my son's digital camera, I find myself quite attached to the camera as it is so easy to use and so practical too as you can immediately view the images taken and to delete the unwanted ones as well as giving you the opportunity to retake them.

It is great that they can be downloaded straight onto the PC and you can have them printed or emailed to your family and friends at your own convenience without all the hassle of going to a photo shop.

Now I have an insight into what my kids are doing when they post their own blogs and upload images onto them. It is amazing how we have become so reliant on technology and what it can do for us in a great capacity. It sure makes life more colourful and interesting!

Orange capsicum???

I went into one of the Flickr tool applications - "Retrievr" and did a rough sketch of an orange capsicum and the programme searched related images similar to my sketch. Have to say it is a pretty neat tool though it did not find an exact match. Mind you, I am not the greatest artist! Will love to explore this service at a later date.

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony
Originally uploaded by dudaxue78

I finally got the hang of this! Here's the result - see the photo and description. It did take a while and a lot of patience!

Have to make the effort to do this more regularly!

flicker photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16505141@N08/1766028483/

Social networking?

Had no idea what social networking actually means till this exercise. Had a good look at Bebo and it is rather fascinating to see the amount of stuff others put into their profiles. Being so 'green' in this area, I am slowly coming to grips with what I can do when I put my mind to it!

Have logged into Bebo and found the ACL profile. The request to be a friend of ACL was sent but need to wait for confirmation before I can proceed. Will see what happens ...

Do I really want to create a blog?

Feeling a bit agitated that I have been asked to have a blog! Being not so IT savvy, this is quite a task! Now that I have one, I do feel I have accomplished something! It really is not so scary and it is quite fun.

However, the next question I ask myself is that do I want to share all my thoughts on a global level??? Sure I have no wish to be an open book, revealing so much about myself. Friends said to give a go and see the results ....