Friday, June 17, 2011

Week 24 The dark side of the web

I am glad to see that this topic was included, because there is a dark and insidious side to the internet. There is unfortunately an abundance of malware, phishing, Trojans and worms just waiting to destroy your hardwork and even your livelihoods.

As the Mum of a Marvel devotee, I often have the words of Uncle Ben (Peter Parkers uncle) from Spiderman echoing in my head, saying ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’

This quote rings true, as we apply this to the internet and our duty of care to our library patrons.

Be vigilant and careful as the internet does have a dark side, but also remember it can bring wonder and amazement to your life.

As this is the final post attached to Learning 2.1 … thanks for reading.

Week 23 Mashups revisited

The topic Mashups Revisited filled me with great expectation and trepidation, as last year my inaugural experience with mashups went quite well; and this year was just as exciting.

Exploring the Mashup Australia entrants from last year, it was refreshing to see their use in everyday situations, compared to some of the crazy and creative mashups presented by local staff.

Thank you to NSW State Library for including Mashups once again.

Week 22 Instant communication

Instant communication is the reactive result of demand from our Y and younger generation, but has found a place in the hearts of many including the Grey Nomads.
IM (aka Instant Messaging), Skype and Twitter certainly have many benefits. When IM was originally just typing I wondered about the lack of human expression and infliction that the written word in this environment would deliver – allowing for miscommunication, etc, but with the advent of video and audio option hopefully the human essence of interaction can be preserved.

I must admit to being a Skype fan. With family overseas and many of our younger patrons at the library utilising Skype it seems to be a sagacious and cost effective method to communicate with people across the globe.

Instant messaging in the library could be a priceless tool to advise of activities, discussions and to generate feedback on what the public need.

Week 21 More with Google docs

Google Docs was my all-time favourite discovery from Learning 2.0 last year; I must have told so many colleagues, family and friends that I’m surprised the serve didn’t crash, so you can imagine my delight at seeing Google Docs included in Learning 2.1.

Unfortunately very few people can simply work from the one device and not all are online, so what I find most useful is the ability to work offline.

Perusing the 100 Tips for Google Docs section is very well set out and while many of the first 40+ tips are probably common knowledge for any computer savvy/desktop publishing geek, I think that it was clever and showed true commitment from Google to include this information for all levels of computer expertise.

Week 20 Event management

Doodle delivers much more than the name implies. As part of the Event Management unit in Learning 2.1 I have discovered a new favourite tool, that is so user friendly there should be no excuses why people don’t utilise it more !!!

What I loved about Doodle is that by simply clicking a few buttons and adding data, you (almost) instantly have a poll to generate via email for any gathering you can imagine.

Just when you think this application can’t get any better, you are sent email updates on who has accepted your invite. How absolutely brilliant !!!

Week 19 Productivity - doing more with rss

Through Learning 2.0, I first discovered the amazing world of RSS feeds; this knowledge has been improved due to Learning 2.1. Again the opportunity to have information dropped at your doorstep, but the problem comes with the 21 century issue of information overload. Therefore the greatest advent for me has been to utilise FeedSifter so that I can filter my feeds.
The other issue I have is with the numerous sites and applications in use; I don’t have time to daily check the blogs I subscribe to, or Facebook, or Twitter, etc, so having my RSS feed sent directly to my inbox has been a gift from the Time Saving Gods and as any time deprived Mum knows … Time is the most precious component of Life.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Week 18: Learning 2.1 – Slideshows, Screencasting and Digital Story Telling

Another amazing site to join, but the repetition of completing your personal details becomes annoying in the end. Wouldn’t it be great if through Google you could create your website and then just tick a few boxes to join the various sites that interest the user. Each site I have joined holds great interest, so you certainly do not begrudge the chance to utilize their site … just the paperwork to become a member.
With that said, I am now also a member of SlideShare. I was a bit disappointed that the site requires your slide show to be already for upload, as opposed to having the chance to upload photos and create the slide show directly on the website. Therefore, I will have to put these pics into eg: Powerpoint, etc and then upload. I’ll also embed links into my blog page (Manilla Mayhem) and Twitter.

Week 17: Learning 2.1 - Nings

Joining Library 2.0 Ning seemed to be an easy process on the surface; the problem arose when I tried to active their generated email within 13 minutes of receiving it and was denied the chance to activate the account, with claims that the time had expired. Despite a lot of fluffy around, I was unable to get the system to generate another email alert.
Also the fact that each membership must be approved, results in time delays (of around 24 hours apparently), this is counter-productive to the ‘instant’ style of applications on the internet. Therefore I was not able to join more groups, leave comments, add the Ning badge to my blog, etc.
I was able to upload a photo for my account, add links to Twitter, my blog, etc. AND voice my frustrations about they whole process.

Week 16: Learning 2.1 - Evaluation

Google Alerts: what a brilliant way of finding out what people are doing, saying and thinking about a specific topic. I was able to set up alerts on horse training, Manilla Library and Learning 2.1 … all delivered directly to me !

Burnfeeder: Entering the feed source for Manilla Mayhem was very easy again. It has been surprising how exciting and easy all this training has been. I already had an RSS feed set up, so it’s been so simple to organize http://feeds.feedburner.com/ManillaMayhem.
I have also been able to redirect my blog (Manilla Mayhem) to my Feedburner feed; publish a chicklet to display my Feedburner feed (widget) and offer blog updates via email.
Got to love technology !!!!
Survey Monkey was easy to create but there was a little confusion on just how it would be linked to the blog. Crisis averted and it looks great. Test drove the link and the survey presented itself !!! Yipee.

Survey Monkey

Click here To take this survey and provide feedback for this blog.

Week 15: Learning 2.1 - Delicious

I was not a fan of Delicious in 2.0 but linking it to my Twitter account was relatively easy. I didn’t realize the simplicity that Delicious brings to social bookmarking whether you are tagging, managing or sharing. The user forum in Delicious was also very helpful.

Week 14: Learning 2.1 - Twitter

Well I am finally a Twit and part of Twitter. While I had good intentions of following other Tweets on #nswlearning2.1, the first task was to select 10 Tweets to follow. In the beginning it was very difficult to try and isolate what subjects to search, but once I started with Keith Urban and started searching my main interests … the 10 slots were easily filled.
I’m surprised that Twitter is so much fun. I love micro-blogging and the fact that you are restricted to 140 characters, despite the fact it requires some editing to comply. I have been able to Update my profile, add a photo and link my Twitter account to my blog page of Manilla Mayhem.
The only criticism I have, is that you can’t go in and edit after posting, which you can on your blog page.
I could imagine that Twitter would be great to use with library as a quick way of informing the public that eg: Storytime will features unicorns or pirates today, or reminders of special visitors and talkers, etc.

WEEK 13: Learning 2.1 - New Beginnnings Again (Blog Refresher)

It's hard to imagine that it has been just over 2 years since I was last on this Blog site. I had such wonderful ambitions for its creation and while in the moment of undertaking study it was brilliant … after its conclusion, I found it difficult to maintain the enthusiasm to continue.
Today I have resurrected Manilla Mayhem, with a brand new look … it is exciting all over again.