Reflections][snoitcelfeR & a Suggestion

Well, its been fun. Really, I mean it, this has been one of the best staff development exercises I have ever been through. I'm not talking about surfing YouTube or playing with Mash-Ups (those were fun by the way) but rather watching and working with my fellow staff members to utilize all of this Web 2.0 madness. There's a lot out there and while this program just covered a fraction of the possibilities waiting for libraries it got us all thinking about those possibilities, and that's no small feat. What I enjoyed the most about Learning 2.0 was the way it made Web 2.0 and everything that term covers approachable, no matter what ones prior experience with social networking/blogging/etc. was.

Where we go from here is only limited by what we are all willing to try out, I have mentioned it already on this blog but would really like to see KCLS explore the implementation of quick reference service via text and Instant Messaging maybe this could be explored in a future version of Learning 2.0. No matter what new services we try out it will be fun to see what happens next!

On a side note this will be my last regular post to this blog, but if you wish to listen to me ramble on or just plain stalk me on the web check back. I will update from time to time linking to any other online projects or blogs I'm involved in.

-Matt

Daft Punk will r0x0rs you!

OK, so as you should be able to tell I am a Daft Punk fan. I am also a huge fan of YouTube and similar services, I have used YouTube for a long time now so embedding these files was nothing new for me.

Onward we stride with Learning 2.0, onward to the Web 2.0 Awards!

So I set out to find something of interest to me and the Supreme Court Zeitgeist fit the bill. Now you must understand that I read the Federalist Papers for fun, and that I enjoy observing how the decisions made by the court system effect our lives. The great thing about this site besides the volume of information it links to that pertain to the decisions made by the Supreme Court was its separation of that info into categories (News Stories, Web Pages, Blogs, Books & Magazines) that will certainly make it easier to direct a patron to resources highlighting current events involving the Supreme Court if I ever have cause.

Google Labs

While I'm still waiting for the crazy people running the Google lab to produce a lightsaber they have rolled out some interesting services. The NASA nerd in me loved the Google Mars service that is in beta and I was already a fan of Google Extensions for Firefox, other than those two I found things to be interesting but not all that useful for me like Google Trends. Trends is "neat" but unless you were trying to figure out what words to use in a marketing campaign based on the worlds search habits for instance I'm not sure what you would do with the information.

Why online software rocks!

I've used Google Docs a number of times since it’s so easy to bounce to it from my Gmail account but I was very impressed with Zoho's offerings. Whichever one you end up going with they rock for the same reason, they'll do most everything your average user needs from productivity software while being free and available anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection.

The 2.0 of it all

There are plenty of ways to expand service in library 2.0 style through the widgets, wikis and mash-ups being spawned daily but one way I would love to see our library system take a step towards the future roles envisioned in the articles from NextSpace would be taking advantage of how popular text messaging is with younger age groups, yes I'm talking about librarians with Blackberry's attached to their hips replying to questions that teens ask via their cell phones and IM devices. It'd be a great way to have our services be available through another medium. And being able to serve more people in more ways is really what we're all after and what the 2.0 of it all is about, right?

Rollyo vs. Google....

And the winner is....Google!

Shocking, I know.

For me Google's custom search looked cleaner, the screen was not as busy and I really don't like Rollyo's logo. Yes my decision was based entirely on aesthetics this time, but many consumers are just this fickle when it comes to the products they align so I figured that once in a while I can be as well.

Now for anyone interested in current events in Japan you might want to try out my custom search: Japanese Societal Goings On

Something random and fun to mix up the old Learning 2.0 Blog!

This chili dog was very tasty!

Generator Tomfoolery!

Lightsabers are awesome!

A wiki wha?

I'm in the camp of wiki supporters, Wikipedia has come through for me several times serving as a link to more "authoritative" sources on topics I have researched through it. Plus I'm a big fan of the collaborative knowledge sharing that wiki's promote.

The LTA run wiki mentioned in this lesson is a great idea, I also would like to see something in wiki style applied to the general system and benefits announcements that can be hard to find on the intranet.

And now for something completely different!

Why? Because it’s been to many posts without a picture, that’s why! And yes cats do play video games in case there are any doubters out there.

Library Thing

This is one of the greatest ideas I have ever encountered online. I set a LibraryThing account up sometime ago but never got around to taking advantage of it, but thanks to Learning 2.0 I've jumped back in. If you look to the right (or left if you're standing on your head) of my blog you'll find my LibraryThing widget with a sampling of what you'd find on my bookshelf at home or you can check it out here. The only problem I can find with having a LibraryThing account is finding the time to enter all of my books.