Week 8, Thing #19/ Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list

I looked at http://www.campfirenow.com/. I wanted to look at a site that had web based group chat for meetings. Maybe instead of us driving back and forth between branches we could just have a online meeting. Campfire seemed easy enough. After you set up the initial chat room, you send an email invite to anyone you want to have access. You can have a virtual meeting, share files, pictures, and you can invite guests into the chat if needed. Of course the problem I would have is I'm not that fast of a typist. If I had something in depth to say, it could take a while before I got my point across. Although it might cut down on the long winded tirades some people get into at meetings...

Week 8, Thing#18/ Looking at Online Productivity Tools

OK, so I'm creating this post in Zoho Writer. If you can read it I guess I was successful in publishing it. I like the Zoho Writer. It has everything Word has plus a few extra bells and whistles. Templates are a little weak though. Plus, I like the idea of free software. It frees up people from having to go out and by even more Micro$oft programs (anything to stick it to Mr. Gates). Next I'm going to play with all the other programs like Zoho Wiki, Sheet, Chat and maybe even Meeting.

Just did spell check. It thinks Zoho is spelled incorrectly. Don't you think they would know how to spell their own name?

(OK, everything transfered over except the emoticon at the end)

Week 7, Thing #17: Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki

OK, between Bloglines not letting me into MD 23 things, and the directions to add your blog to the wiki being a little confusing, this activity was a little annoying. I get the whole idea of adding to a wiki, just need a little more practice.

Week 7, Thing #16: Learn about Wikis

Wikis, I think it's an interesting idea. I've had experience with wikis in the past so this was one of the easier exercises. When I went to ALA in Washington a few months ago, the ALA wiki was invaluable. I found just about everything I needed to know in one place. I also use wowwiki, a World of Warcraft wiki (enough said). The one thing I don't like about them is that on some wikis, anybody can go in and edit the info for either good or bad purposes. At times, it's kind of hard to know what the truth is.

I did bring up using a wiki at a branch meeting today. It seems a few branches are doing somewhat major shelving reallocation. Thought maybe we could set up a "best practices" wiki. We'll see.

Week 6, Thing #15: Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries

OK, after taking a two week vacation from 23 Things, it's time to get back on track.

I read three of the articles that were suggested: 1) Away from the Icebergs by Rick Anderson, 2) Into a New World of Librarianship, and 3) To a Temporary Place in Time.

I think what I got of this, or "what Library 2.0 means to me", is that Library 2.0 seems to be the big "now" thing. I like it and I think it has some interesting uses. People are using the Internet more and more, so it seems logical that we start using it to enhance BCPL. I do think we need to use a little discretion and not go overboard with it though (this coming from a self proclaimed computer geek). Not to mention the fact if this is going to be the future, we'd better get our bandwidth up to speed (is blocking My Space, a virtual community, what we're trying to accomplish). Creating a virtual library community is great, having databases online is great, but I still think having important print material is still a good idea because one question always pops up in my mind when dealing with online information...what do we do when the power goes out?

Week 6, Thing #14: Explore Technorati

OK, got through the Technorati site and to be honest, it's a little confusing. I finally figured out, after much searching, how to do the first "discovery exercise" (it's in the advanced search). Here are my results:

Top blog posts: 28,150 different hits
Tags: 3, but if you click on "view all", it takes you back to the top blog posts.
Blog Directory: 536

So yes, the results are different.

I explored the top favorites, top searches and top blogs, and found a few interesting things. I now have a new blog added to my bloglines account: Lifehacker, Tips and Downloads for Getting Things Done, and the top game was World of Warcraft: the Burning Crusade. It's all about the Warcraft ;)

Claiming my Technorati account

Technorati Profile

Here's the tag for MD 22
mdlearn2