#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...

I’m very grateful to the Statewide Project for this invaluable opportunity which could not fail to broaden the horizons of every participant. I admire Lynette & Lesley for so successfully steering this monumental process.

There is no doubt this is only the start of a new era, generation, metamorphosis, paradigm, quantum leap, revolution, shift, transformation, vision… for us as human beings & library staff. Our descendents will view us & our customers as almost a different species.

My feelings are still mixed: wonder at the possibilities & what’s out there; excitement that there are new ways to connect with people whom our channels have bypassed; & trepidation at the immensity of contributing to the necessary development & the difficult choices which are now even more inevitable.

Even with the constantly morphing tools we’ve been given to foster interactivity, empowerment, & connection, & the demonstration to ourselves that we have achieved a goal which may have seemed Mt Everest at the start, the road ahead is ever steeper & ever more challenging – the essence of life now. Completing the course though is a milestone, which I hope will spur me on in moments of discouragement.

I could spend weeks exploring more deeply the resources whose surface we have just skimmed. The real world now looms however, with the real challenge of finding the best mix of services unimaginable in the past, which will make the most difference for the greatest number of customers by the wisest use of resources, as well as fulfilling more traditional aspects many customers still want – a familiar goal..

#22 Audiobooks (or “The end is in sight”)

Marvellous, revolutionary resource for customers, though will not right now eliminate physical CD Audio Books (our standard challenge of maintaining several formats applies because all our customers will never be early adopters).

Looked at & watched demos on:
http://www.oclc.org/audiobooks/
http://www.overdrive.com/products/dlr/
http://www.overdrive.com/products/dlr/demos/salesdemo.htm http://www.overdrive.com/files/DLReBooks.pdf http://www.overdrive.com/products/dlr/tour/default.asp

So liberating to be less tied to the technology of a specific player than in past, but still a great shame to be unable to load to iPod. Paradigm shift to library paying for a service/access for customers as opposed to owning an asset needs to be fully recognized by funders.

http://worldebookfair.com/Mp3eBooks.htm Though ingenious, Gutenberg Computer voice audio e-book was disconcerting & not restful. Turned with relief to Human voice files & Sound of Human Voice Collection. While it is wonderful & a tremendous achievement to have classic titles of lesser demand though this free site, major popular demand & therefore a substantial commitment, would be for paid services.

Authorization required to get into other sections.
http://worldbookfair.qoop.com/
http://worldebookfair.com/Childrens_eBooks.htm
Noted http://worldebookfair.com/PLIN.htm (public libraries international network publications) under http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm

# 21 Podcasts, Smodcasts

Looked at http://audio.search.yahoo.com/ http://podcastalley.com/
http://www.podcast.net/ through which I added Kankalee Public Library Podcast to my Bloglines account, as an example.
Checked which ABC Radio National programs are podcast.
Visited introductory page of http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ , but no further - far beyond skills to create anything currently, but has enormous potential for creating, keeping in touch & empowering both groups & individuals. As indeed has the whole podcast revolution.
Listened to Learning 2.0: Make "play" your New Year's resolution – great to have a reminder of how far I have come, even though still only scratching surface. At the start it all would have been gobbledegook.
As a result visited http://www.myspace.com/ for the first time. And for good measure looked at http://www.facebook.com/ which my only teenage relative uses.

#20 You too can YouTube

On http://www.youtube.com/
I particularly enjoyed the Medieval IT help desk, library dominoes & Conan the Librarian (let no one say we have no sense of humour). Could have spent many hours playing on this & also on http://video.google.com.au/
http://video.search.yahoo.com/
I can see video is another immensely powerful tool for interactivity with customers especially the digital generations.

The video I chose says it all 'A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto' – inspirational & aspirational.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblrRs3fkSU


In a lighter vein, also so much closer to the bone, I liked the messages in 'Libraries in 2010' (not so far away)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V67QuW0NeXI

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

My tool from the Web 2.0 awards on http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/ was http://pipl.com/ - picking up info on people through the invisible or “deep web” often hidden elsewhere, would seem to be a goldmine in a library or personal situation. And indeed there was only an incomplete overlap between pipl & google. Addresses & some other types of info through pipl (not necessarily of course the person you want) so perspective does produce other angles. Better results if country not specified. I think it would be useful for libraries.

In my quest for a site which I could assimilate & make any kind of comment on, I had earlier looked at City maps & guides, Travel, & Visual arts. All wonderful but all needing lots of time to explore.

Then tried Books – http://www.lulu.com/ self publishing for our many aspiring authors. http://www.biblio.com/ for 2nd hand books. Congratulations to our friend, winner www.librarything.com & acquaintance, honourably mentioned http://reader2.com/ . Also http://bluerectangle.com/ especially book review component. No contest that customers would love the interactivity & ability to choose & control their individual forms of involvement with resources & literature, whether their own or in libraries, & with others who share their commitment, wherever they may be in the world. Therefore these sorts of tools are crucial if libraries are create, empower & contribute as essential parts those networks.

There’s another friend in Search http://www.rollyo.com/ .
http://www.eurekster.com/ - way beyond my skills to contemplate any role in creating a swicki or custom social search portal on a particular topic. But extremely relevant to libraries.
http://www.usabilityviews.com/simply_google.htm & http://www.zuula.com/ a super, super search engine, both needing a lot of exploration but will have to defer.

Looked at Web 2.0 tool Directory & was again overwhelmed. Noted Gizmoz (animate yourself), Qunu (help me with …right now), Stikkit (little yellow notes that think), Unpackd (Share the joy of unpacking stuff – not operational yet) & Widgipedia (widgets). It’s a brave new world all right.

#18 Web-based Apps:They're not just for desktops.

How liberating to farewell attachments! And that we are no longer tied to buying software as was so limiting in the past - had no idea until saw the staff tracking log in Google Docs & started this exercise.
Another empowering revolution in communication, for everyone in both work & personal life, & as providers & customers.
Created my Zoho account & am preparing my blog initially in Write. The screens for Write & Sheet seemed like good friends, who've just revealed some hidden facets - always wanted to do emoticons. Will have to explore other new ones later.
Imported & then deleted a Word file to test.
And an image above (fingers crossed it stays there).
Tried to publish it but didn't succeed (I think due to initial mistake in setting up acount) so will try to transfer it a bad old way.

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

I did look at the wiki tips, how to videos etc, but am not at stage of using those yet, so the syntax will need to be mastered.
My blog is now in the sandbox, under my library, after some confusion about whether the square brackets etc are actually required. In the end the blog seems to be visible in what seems to be the right place.
Also added a line to the Music favourites which also seems to be there, after a bad moment in which I tried to add a comment instead.

#15 Blog on Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

The visions in the five articles on Web 2.0 are so mind blowing that I needed some time to formulate any thoughts at all. Especially ‘To a temporary space in time’ showing Library 2.0 is still only product based, at an early stage on the way to a heavenly state in which each person can have the individual & unique experience their heart’s desire, via the intervening stage of virtual reality.
In one way the world has exploded into exponentially increasing power to achieve.
In another way nothing has changed - libraries have always aspired to, but never achieved, relevance to every single community member, whose needs & preferences vary infinitely, i.e. a goal of all things to all people.
And whilst playing on Learning 2.0 is exciting & enlightening, there’s no change either in the need for confronting & challenging work by human beings (the library’s staff especially) to make the hard decisions in allocating finite resources of all sorts. (Current degree of difficulty: highest ever). The potential of technology, though enormous, is less than the increasing complexity & challenge in harnessing it to exactly match & anticipate each & every customer’s needs, whilst resources by contrast, are not infinite. Medical services face the same challenges.
Whereas in the past progress meant discarding an older way in a linear progress, everything ever done or held now needs to be available somehow, because some customers will still want vastly different parts of how it used to be. Sometimes too, customers (as well as staff), may not want to be interactive, wired or wireless, or find endless possibility motivating, for every minute of 24/7.
Libraries still need to do it all – & it’s still a tall order.
To end on a positive note, as sometime library worker Mao Tse-tung (along with Chinese philosophers) noted, the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.

#16 What's in a Wiki

Looked at http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Travel
http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library
http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
which looks a goldmine, and opened a few library wikis on
http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Wikis#Examples_and_Information

A new universe out there. I use Wikipedia a fair bit & find it very informative, as well as covering very recent stuff or things not in a traditional encyclopaedia. Just on things of personal interest, so fortunately I’ve never had to confront the issue of authority where it really does count e.g. in study. I heard on talkback radio ex Gov Gen Peter Hollingworth inquiring of founder Jimmy Wales about the entry on him, which he found inaccurate, & wondering about the need to balance democracy versus accuracy, & also Wikipedia’s view of the risk of libel.

Things like new books, staff picks & potential subject resources would be extremely & immediately accessible in this form & mostly those risks don’t arise. A previously impossible vehicle for customers to access a whole lot of info they'd hopefully love to have.
And great potential for arriving more quickly & with less stress at a better, more complete product, document, project or whatever, whenever & wherever a group of people are contributing to it, & that’s all the time now.
Not to speak of it being so easily accessible to others who are trying to invent or modify a wheel & again that’s everyone at some stage.

The missing #7 Blog about technology

This struck a chord as an image of transformation.

In looking at the tools Learning 2.0 has introduced to me to so far I marvel at the infinite ingenuity of human beings who constantly push previous boundaries outward both to prove they can as a challenge & have fun, as well as to solve problems. As a novice though it is also daunting to realize that I am playing very superficially along now well trodden paths, in contrast to the developers who are now light years away in other universes, whereas to actually use these tools in providing better services for customers requires much time & practice to master even minimally, & even more importantly some sorting of wheat from chaff in identifying the best aspect to focus on at any one moment. It is true that many customers would share a slight degree of apprehension about some elements of technology, so a bit of fellow feeling can be helpful. But really this is just the start of the road & the hard work of implementation.

To feel more empowered, I should remember surviving what appeared mountains at the time but just specks now.

And that libraries' role is to target technology which will work for customer needs, not to be the world 1st to develop a new angle (in which case we might be in the IT industry, not working for & with library customers). Technology is the enabler, not the end itself.

#6 More Flickr fun

Looked at Flickr Postcard Browser, Flickr Color Pickr, Delivr Digital Postcards, Trippermap & Trip Planner. No success in getting to Mappr or Montagr. All very exciting to dip into but need to spend a lot more time later to get even a loose grip.

Tried Librarian Trading Card & 1 other tool on Fd's flickr toys unsuccessfully (different reasons). In desperation tried Mosaic Maker on same site to create mosaic of Meteora.

#14 Technorati

Vastly different numbers under advanced search for Learning 2.0 & another subject I tried in posts, tags & blog directory. Had a quick look at Popular page – top favourited, top searches & top blogs, but frankly felt overwhelmed. As is to be expected, a main theme is technological wizardry which is far from my forte. However found many blogs on subjects of much more minor interest (though major to me) through tags & blogs approach.
Joined Technorati & claimed my blog which does seem to be there, although wasn’t sure whether I had completed the process. Established very small watch list of 2 items. Included a Technorati tag on blog (which I will probably remove very soon), as a learning exercise.

#13 Del.icio.us

Looked at Del.icio.us PLCMCL2 account & then checked out tags & comments for
http://www.libraryspot.com/
Viewed Youtube video.
Brief look at Private: The Several Habits of Wildly Successful del.icio.us Users, & Us.ef.ul: A beginners guide to Del.icio.us - will return later.
Created my Del.icio.us account with a small demo sample of genealogy sites, also bundled as Family History.
http://del.icio.us/ACGsQuest
Added linkroll to my blog as learning exercise for myself but then deleted.
Again, immense potential for future use both professional & personal.

# 12 Rollyo search engines

I think I've had a minor victory. My very small Succulents search roll is now on my blog - bottom not top, but I'm thankful for small mercies.

As always there seem to be a multitude of search rolls, even though they are meant to save time by streamlining access to the millions of sites (as well as the issue of being trustworthy).

#11 LibraryThing

I now have a library on LibraryThing. The widgets defeated me, so are a challenge for the future. The other 23 Things are calling.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ACGsQuest

#10 Image generators

Spent a fair bit of time trawling the Generator Blog, & also searching for other generators on one hobby, which led to several bits of free software I was afraid to try. Looked briefly at Letter James & FD Toys.

My final effort uses Famous People Image Generator, from the Generator Blog.
http://www.signgenerator.org/people/famous.asp

#8 RSS

My bloglines account is now established with subs to feeds from a Quickpick, several library & personal interest sites, & several colleagues' blogs.

I marvel at this absolute revolution of quantum leaps in saving time, doing more, becoming & keeping connected with others, & communicating in any way anyone is likely to want according to individual needs. So much formerly in realm of dreams, sci-fi or impossibility is now reality. I still find this infinite access rather relentless – this human being may the weak link unable to live up to the technology.
I’ve just made make my blog public – a minor personal victory.

# 5 Discover Flickr

I'm overwhelmed at the vast range of spectacular & breathtaking vistas on Flickr, including the monastory of Holy Trinity in Meteora (8,500 views of Meteora!).

Some more on http://www.snap.com/ too.

NLA picture website also has reams of material on my topic.

A quick look at fotolia, snap & dumpr showed them far in advance of my current capabilities but a goldmine for the more highly skilled.

#4 Register your Blog

What a marathon!