#19 Discovering web 2.0 tools

"Tools of the trade" by Mike Dahat (from Flickr)

Had a bit of a browse through the winners lists-really liked the travel site http://www.kayak.com/- think this could be useful for future holiday plans.
Also had a look at http://www.onesentence.org/ interesting items people have contributed.
I'm sure there is probably heaps of useful other winning sites which could be relevant from a library point of view, but ran out of time to check very many today.

#18 Zoho Writer

I had a bit of fun playing around creating a Zoho Writer account, and then using one of their templates I created a membership certificate for Techno-Dinosaur and the Web 2.0 Learning program. Only problem was I got a bit lost trying to then figure out how to publish it to my blog. (I think I accidentally exported the template back to Zoho Writer, but I can't even find it there, so perhaps it's floating around in cyberspace somewhere!!)
Oh well, better luck next time.

#17 Sandbox Wiki

( "Sandbox Village #2" by Eric K) from Flickr
A colleague saved me a lot of mucking around, by running me through adding my blog to the Wiki. Apparently he had experienced problems earlier, but was able to show me how to do it very quickly and easily, so I really appreciated that.

It was interesting to have a quick flick around looking at people's favourite things, and I could probably spend a bit more time browsing later, but I'm a bit short of time today, so I just voted for my favourite animal-cows! (Lovely gentle creatures, who bat their long eyelashes at you, and enjoy the simple things in life like a paddock of green grass, some fresh hay or simply sitting in the sun chewing their cud).

#16 Wikis

Wikis seem like a good way of allowing people to create shared sites with common information that can constantly be updated and edited as required.
I really liked the SJCPL Subject Guides wiki-I think something along these lines is a great library resource. The fact that it had website links, library resources and direct links back to the library catalogue is really great-I also liked the book covers that were included, similar to LibraryThing.
I guess the main thing we need to remember is that anyone can edit the material on Wikis, so it may not always be authoritative.

#15 Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

Rapidly changing technology is certainly going to have major impacts on the traditional library services as we know them. While people are relying more heavily on online based resources, and some of the Library 2.0 links suggested that print-based collections will gradually decrease, I believe that a lot of people will still be looking for a good old-fashioned book to relax and enjoy. Taking your laptop to bed to read an e-book, doesn't quite have the same comforting feeling as curling up under the covers with a good book.

Perhaps the non fiction print resources may gradually decrease, in favour of online up to date research tools, but I think print based fiction and magazines will still have a place in most people's hearts. Taking your laptop to the beach isn't quite the same as a trashy romance paperback that a bit of sand in the cover won't hurt.

Even though young children of today are growing up with computers and online internet use, judging by the attendances at storytime sessions, lots of kids still enjoy reading picture books with their parents, and it is probably an important bonding time for them, which sharing a computer terminal just wouldn't be.

# 14 Technorati

An interesting site to browse around. I had a play with different search techniques as suggested in the discovery exercises, although several searches I tried must have been less popular blog topics, as they didn't return many useful results. The popular blogs were fun to browse through, and get a feel for the current favourite topics people enjoy blogging about.

#13 Del.icio.us

I found this site a bit confusing at first, to understand exactly what I was viewing in the way of bookmarks and tags. After watching the YouTube video, that explained this in a very clear, concise way and I think I now understand the concept better. Not sure that I'll actually go ahead at this stage and sign up for an account, but useful to keep in mind. Could come in handy from a research point of view later on.

'Inside-Out-German Chocolate Cake' by Ulterior epicure (from Flickr) Delicious!!