#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.

#17 Add an Entry to a Wiki

At first, this seemed like a great opportunity to participate in a new Library 2.0 tool that I have come to enjoy (see posting #16). However, once I started asking myself, "what should I add or create for a wiki", I froze. I could add something to an existing Wikipedia article, but what would be appropriate? Adding to the Queens Library entry? The YALSA entry? Maybe the "Paul is Dead" entry as I know lots of clues? There are other wikis I could have added to, but I couldn't pull the trigger. Finally, I got it. I created a new Wikipedia entry (no easy feat to find something not there) on my father's hometown in Belgium, where I spent my childhood summers. I created only a few lines to start and figure I will go back and add to it, along with anyone else who has something to say about this tiny village in eastern Belgium. Wikipedia adds the hotlinks and makes it look very professional. I am very pleased with my entry, except that it is now my new ongoing projects, and I really didn't need one of those. Here is the link to my article or just enter "Barvaux" in the search box. Enjoy. Barvaux, Belgium in Wikipedia

#16 Wiki Me This

I have become a real fan of wikis as I see it as a comfortable middle ground between the tech savvy and the more traditional librarians; between the open access idea and the more fix site format, and between the free-for all anyone can add content to the site selected by the professional. The examples given were good examples of what is out there. Many wikis from public libraries that I have gone to do not let users alter content, but may send them to an area where they can, and some are the anyone-can-post variety. Some are a combo. I am a big fan of Wikipedia and have gotten much information that might be considered trivial (anything I would want to pass on to someone else or is important does have to be verified). However, using a wiki for community information seems the easiest, and most useful, for community based libraries like ours. We just completed our assignments on Web 2.0, which scares a lot of traditionalist (including me, a little), however, what better venue for a wiki then coordinating a wiki for community resources. I remembers soon after I first started working at Queens Library that we used hundreds of hours of librarian time to compile a community database. Wouldn't it be best to now have the actual community participate in an endeavor such as this? I think it would be a great start, both for the library and staff and for the community for when they are prepared to start doing more, they, and we, will be ready for the next level.

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0...

I have come to find that I entered librarianship at a unique time; 14 years ago there was no internet in our public library and the only technology was the catalog and things to listen to music on, which we did not provide. Today, it seems that we, and I, are always feeling a little behind. That is a horrible feeling for a librarian, and a profession, who are in the information dissemination field to feel. I have come to learn a little about what we are now calling Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 through necessity and this project. However, after reading the OCLC Web 2.0, it stills come back to what I have always known about serving the public in a library, we should be customer service driven. To me, Web 2.0, which is user-centered change is simply responded to what, but more importantly, how, the user wants/needs to interact with the library. To be customer service oriented is to be tailoring the services to our users, known and unknown. Only now, we do need to go to the customer; instead of providing them with sites, we need to be sharing resources where they are. I really liked Rick Anderson's article, although i disagree about one thing. I do think we need to reevaluate the "Just in Case" collections and also give up the customer coming to us and instead integrate where they are, but I disagree that we need to give up "User Education". So many public library customers need us to be the experts and we need to make sure we can help them get to where they want to go or else they too will not be able to participate in the latest whatever. It is easy to get left behind and who else is going to assist the public, certainly no one but us will do it for free and correctly. There is a role for us to play here. Finally, I will give the link here for myself, and anyone else who cares on the OCLC Nextspace articles as I am sure to come back to it. The Wikipedia entry on Library 2.0 give great resources which will certainly change as we move on. Enjoy. www.oclc.org/nextspace/002.6.htmI.

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

Interesting. I have signed up my blog, this one, with Technorati by posting the link they gave me. It search out the link and was able to connect my blog and it was "created" in their index. However, when I try to find it using the search tools, it does not come up. How is that possible? How do I know? When I do a search for "clash librarian", nothing comes up. You mean to say that there are no blogs in the universe with these two words? I have even done advance searches. If I put my entire blog address in the search field, it does come up but then I did a search of a word that I know is in my blog (Croton) and that did not come up. Lesson learned? Sometimes the technical is not-so-technical.

#13 Tag! You're It!

At first, I read all the accompany literature for this task and watched the videos and tutorials and found myself starting to get confused. And then, I went to the site, set up and account and it really was easier then it seemed. I thought the tips was the best of the accompanying links. There was one problem in that when I wanted to place the del.icio.us button on the web browser, my computer did not allow me to do it without permission. The way around this was to simply add it as a link and place that on the bottom of my tool bar. I added links that I thought were a little special that I use and when I saw how many others in del.icio.us used them, some of them were unique and some were very common. I do see this as a great tool and will continue to use it. You are welcome to take a look at my links as I have added the site to the right of my blog. Enjoy.

#12 Roll Your Own Search Engine

So I went to Rollyo thinking that it was something that it is not. I wanted to have a search engine that would only search certain terms in a variety of search engines or sites but I guess that is a meta-search engine. Instead, I set up a Rollyo account to....to...do what? I have to say I am not sure what the function of this is except to direct me, or those that use "my" search engine to their advertisers. When one does a search on say, "Belgium", on one of my choices, one is directed to some good sites, but why use this instead of just going to the original sites. I think Google is another good example. Why do a search on Rollyo instead of going to Google directly. I would like someone to set me straight as to how to use this correctly.

#11 Thing this: Librarything

I have friends who have used Librarything.com and they used it to catalog their personal library collection. As many librarians, and bibliophiles, I have too many books in my personal collection that I can not stand to throw out no matter what the condition. Why do i keep them? Does it make me feel smarter to see them on the shelve (some of which I have never read)? Do I feel it projects a superior imagine when others come over to my apartment and see them? I don't know. I do know that many times I look at a book that I read and remember what I felt when I read it; the time period in my life at the time; and the people I have shared it with. I have placed 15 titles in my Librarything.com account of books that continue to have impact on my life, whether I read them recently, or a while ago. If any of these strikes your fancy, let me know. I love sharing similar books with others.

#10 Play around with Image Generators

I have thoroughly enjoyed this exercise. I will say, it was very time consuming and enjoyed a little too much. First, I was glad to come across FD Toys, bighugelabs.com/flickr. I had been looking for a good site to make my own products from photos and this site was great. Maybe a holiday toy in the works. However, the real time on this exercise was spent on The Generator Blog, generatorblog.blogspot.com. There are so many site and options on the side that lead to hours of fun. Of note, I loved the personalized Dylan song, the sudoku generator and, of course, the Simpsons' character generator. I have been looking to making myself a Simpsons' character since the Tracy Ullman show. Enjoy.

#9 Feeding Frenzy

In order to make sense of more and more information, I looked into four tools, Feedster, Topix.net, Syndic8.com and Technorati. Of all of them, I was most impressed with Technorati as it was excellent at searching for photos and videos more than then others. I thought Feedster was good for its advanced search but it really needed it as a regular search bring up too much information. I did a search for "Belgium" looking for a good RSS site to get the latest news, but was overwelmed by investment banks. I could have used the advance search in eliminate banks, but I lost interest. Topix.net was great for seeing the news of cities and towns around the world but the real uniquness was the interactive graph that shows how often the term was in the news. For example, I searched "Croton" on Topix.net and there was a huge peak in April. When I clicked on that spike, I saw a list of topics about the great spring snow strom which was in the news at that time. Synic8 was OK, but I found little special from the other search tools.

#8 Make life simple with RSS

Although it may be true that RSS makes finding information more simple in such an information drenched environment, I am not sure my life has been made simpler. I am the first to state that I prefer as much information as possible, but now I am starting to see the extent of that statement. I do think it is helpful to search sites such as Feedstr for specific news items. However, when one is searching blogs for authentic information, it would certainly need to be verified. I look forward, I think, to going through my 10 news feeds everyday and seeing how this really works.

#7 Blog about Technology

Being able to blog about anything technology leads me to talking about two things with a common theme. With the birth of my second son recently, using tools such as email, digial camera, flickr and blogspot has enabled my wife and I to share our news with so many family and friends in a short amount of time. In the past, we would have taken photos, brought them to the store and wait for development and then mail them to selected people. We would ahve also made phone calls, but certainly not as many as the number of people we were able to email. Finally, anyone who has been to a hospital understands that technology is keeping people alive. 100 years ago, woman were still dying from chid birth and yet that was never a concern for my wife. So, tech keeps people healthy and enables me to share that good news with many.

#6 More Flickr Fun?

So I explored many of the third party sites related to flickr and I must say that it confused me a little. My first idea was to take some of my photos I have load and make a nice montage of them. I thought it would be fairly straight forward, but few things are. I am still in the dark on this application and inlew of spend too much time on this, moved on to see what others have put together. I found this interesting site called FlcikrNews which takes photos of the news of the day. It can be found at www.jakeliefer.com/flickrnews

Enjoy

# 5 Explore Flickr

Panorama of the New Croton Dam
Originally uploaded by Nicky Pallas

The photo you see is the great Croton Dam, located in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. As it was in my hometown growing up, I would often bike there with friends or on my own. We never got tired of taking in the greatness of this structure. Even though I found a panoramic photo, it still does not do justice to the size of this dam. Even today, it is one of the world's largest human made structures in the world, created with simple machines and the hands of laborers. If ever in Northern Westchester, I highly recommend seeing this great site.

#4 Register your blog

I set up my blog, which was easy, and registered it today with QL Learning 2.0 so I can get credit for doing it, get my $25 gift certificate and maybe a laptop (that is always nice). I believe that this is the easiest step of the 23 1/2 (except for maybe the half). I am starting to look at other QL Learning 2.0 blogs and there certainly is a range of activity and postings. Soon it will time to upgrade with photos and sound and move to the next level.

#3 Grab yourself a blog in 3 steps

Being a blogger in three steps - nonsense. Or that is what I thought. I had an idea that it was not a hard thing to set up, but I really didn't know the steps. Using Blogger really did make it easy and, yes, I am pleasantly surprised. My favorite part was choosing a new and a template and then it was just a matter of typing (that I knew I could do). My purpose, other than using this for the QL Learning 2.0, I am still unsure of that. Communicate with friends, family, strangers like others do? Maybe. Like so many things, I believe my blog will be driven by necessity.

#2 Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning. That is one of the main reasons I became a librarian in the first place. I love passing information on to others and also enjoy learning things for my own benefit. However, before this project, I would not have formalized the process. But I have and here is part of my learning contract to myself:

• I will have a better understanding of emerging technologies by the end of the 13 week course.

Sounds simple, but the it is in the details that we find the challenges.

#1 Play. Discover. Have a Blast.

As part of the Queens Library's Learning 2.0, I am looking forward to learning 23 1/2 things about emerging technologies. It is great to be able to have this opportunity as I might not take the opportunity to learn this on my own. Even setting up a blog is a new idea for me, even though it has been all around me while I only have dipped my toe in the water before this project. By making this part of my week to week activities, I hope to keep up to date with what is needed to move forward in library land. And who can't use a $25 gift certificate as payment for self-improvement?

In cyber space, no one can hear you Clash

So, this is how a blog begins, not with a bang, but with slight confusion. I wish myself the best of luck as I move forward into cyber space. Here we go....