#23 Is This Really the End? or just the beginning...

So, this is really over. I have had a very good time learning parts of the net and the technology interfacing (sometimes colliding) with librarianship today. I feel much more knowledgeable about the 2.0 around me and that makes me feel a little more competent. My favorite parts were learning about setting up a blog (much easier than I thought), the Wiki tool (but that could have taken a lot more time), Flickr (as the timing was perfect to share photos of my new baby), the collaborative tools (especially Google Docs - I love that), and the image generator (I became a Simpsons character!). Again, this was a very valuable training and I hope a lot of other staff took advantage of this as we can only use this well as a group if others share the knowledge and excitement. As for a next time, I am in as these self paced, high content trainings are a good match for learning on a busy schedule. Thank you to Karen Keys who obviously did a great job getting us through this. Kudos to you, and everyone who finished.

#22 Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight")

I was never one to listen to audio books and I do not see that changing in the near future. Audio books have been around for a while and although the idea of listen in on a long road trip always seems interesting, it has been a rare occurrence. Now we have e-books in our e-library. I think the format is great (even if you can't use the #1 audio entertainment devise - the IPod) and it is fairly ease to sign up, search and find something of interest. The idea of not only books, but music and videos is great. Am I more likely to use it? Not really as the content is the same and only the technology has changed. I guess I haven't changed that much.

#21 Podcast, Smodcasts

Podcasting is one of those things that has only recently entered my virtual world, but did so before Librarian 2.0. As an NPR listener, they talk about podcasts as a way to hear certain rebroadcast of shows and there was one I wanted to hear, so I went to the site and it was as easy as clicking a button. Also, as a YALSA member, there podcast set up on a number of topics - interviews really - with librarians in the trenches talking about their experiences. When I went to podcast.net, I found all sorts of interesting sites from Clash music to Vegan Radio. The other two sites, Yahoo Audio and Podcastally.com were way too commercial and always trying to sell me something. I'll stick to the free stuff and added the YALSA podcasting site to my Blogline.

#20 I Tube, You Tube

Here is a great video from the Clash call Bankrobber, which makes sense coming from Clash Librarian. I have been using You Tube for some time and it has been great to search for videos of music I have enjoyed. I also have viewed late night comedy which is on too late to view in real time. I have seen videos of friend's kids, librarian sites, instructional videos and a few really stupid things. I have yet to post my own video, as that is not my thing, yet, but how far could that be in the future? This is certainly one of my favorite sharing applications to come out of Web 2.0.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

The posting gave a short list which brought me to the #1-#3 listing for a variety of categories. If this is the short list, I am very glad I did not go to the long list. I was very pleased to see that through this exercise and my own web experience, I have been using some of the best tools on the web. for example, Mapping (Google Maps), Classified (Craigslist), Collective Writing (Google Docs), Social Tagging (del.icio.us), Video (YouTube), Photo (Flickr) and Social (Facebook), are the best in their class. For something different, I went to Yelp, a city guide which I tested like I do other city guides I've used, for Vegi restaurants. It mentioned a lot of ones in NYC that I have visited and also broke them down into categories, which I often do not see with vegi restaurants. I will use this when I go to Philadelphia for mid-winter. Another helpful find!

#18 Let's Collaborate & Have a Good Time

I am writing this post to my blog on Google Docs as part of task #18. I have to say, I love it. I have known about online word documents and spreadsheets that can be accessed without a computer, but I never had the need/desire to use them. Now I see how and, more importantly, why. The YouTube.com video was a great 3 minutes of my time as it explained why I should do this for work, and non-work, activities. There are many times I am editing a document with many other people and the emails pile up and who knows what is the latest version. I look forward to using this in a work setting and hope that my colleagues are equally interested. Thanks 2.0.

#17 1/2 Explore Facebook

A few months ago, as part of the staff chat project, I joined Facebook to test that site for a possible platform for our Queens Library chat. Obviously, we did not select that format, but I have maintained a peripheral interest in Facebook. It is an easy format to maintain ongoing contact with friends and strangers and find out more (and more) about those people. Overall, it has been a positive experience and I can easily see how people can spend hours a day on this site. The fact that I have 12 friends surprises me a little. Not that I don't have friends, but that it is so easy to maintain with little enthusiasm. That being said, I welcome more friends to share fun thoughts and have another venue to maintain contact, which is what it is all about.