Topic 17: Image generators

This was a fun topic. Through my experiments I think that image generators could be used as a fun addition to library displays.

ImageChef.com Flower Text

I created this flash animation at http://www.imagechef.com/ , following a link from The Generator Blog. I also used ImageChef for the star shape at the top right handside of my blog.

One final generated image - libraries, an unlikely graffiti subject:

Topic 16: Podcasts

I Googled "library podcasts" and came up with the Library Success Wiki, looked at previously in this course. They have a page on podcasting with a number of links to podcasting libraries. I found one link that seemed to be podcasting about libraries, rather than libraries offering podcast tours, which was what I was after. I subscribed to the podcasts of the Infopeople blog by clicking on a podcast subscription link and choosing Bloglines as my reader. I now have a page of podcasts which looks similar to a page of blog posts except for a play button at the end of each post.

Topic 15: YouTube and TeacherTube

After a few tries, success in embedding a video! I found I had to click on Edit HTML and then paste the html code from the YouTube page. The video showed as a white box with a red x in it, which usually means bad news. I thought I'd publish the post anyway to see if the video showed up after all, and it did! So just because you can't see your video in the Compose box where you are writing your text it doesn't mean it won't work.

I had trouble finding a post-worthy library related video on YouTube, but found one in the end. It's a clever library tour video that uses humour and manages not to be too "cringe-worthy".

I tried to look at http://www.dailymotion.com/ . I'm pretty sure when I first clicked on it when the topic was put up on Janison that it was accessible but maybe we were all too curious about that site last week because it is now blocked. Anyway, YouTube works as does TeacherTube. I looked at the two sites and found TeacherTube to be easier to operate with much less visual clutter. I can see the potential in these sites for libraries, such as library promotional videos (as already done by our Stephen Dunne), tours and how to use the catalogue (also already done).

Topic 14: Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Here is a link to a resource about Library 2.0 that I found useful:

http://librariesinteract.info/2007/12/31/ten-library-20-resolutions-for-2008/

Library 2.0 theory is fine, but it's nice to have some examples of how to make one's library "2.0".

As for what I think Library 2.0 is? I think it is taking the best and most useful of what is available in the form of web 2.0 tools and using them for the benefit of library users, taking the "user-centric" perspective.

Topic 13: iGoogle

I've added a couple of items to my iGoogle page. I found it very easy to do. Simply click on "Add stuff", search eg "Google documents", "Google reader", click "Add it now". I have a clock and weather gadgets apart from Google documents and Google reader. I think it is useful to have these things in one place for at a glance viewing. A version for students would be a good idea, and one of the 'compulsory' boxes could be a search box linked to our library catalogue. An overdue items reminder could be included "You have 1 book due this week", but that depends on a compliant library management system.

Topic 12: Tagging

De.li.cious looks like a useful tool for being able to access your bookmarks anywhere and share them with others. The number at the end of the link shows how popular a link is - the people who have bookmarked that link has the more popular, and perhaps more useful it is. That can help save time, as a usual internet search brings up links of varying quality but you don't know how good they might be until you click on them. Regarding how this tool could be used in our work, if our library network had an account it could be a one stop shop for interesting links. It could be used in tandem with Networking blog. Instead of looking through previous posts trying to find that interesting link someone posted about, one could check the De.li.cious links page that has a list of all links posted in Networking.

Topic 11: More Flickr fun

The variety of "mashups" with Flickr out there is amazing. I looked a site called http://www.dumpr.net/ and it has a variety of effects that can be used with flickr photos, some serious, some novelty. A serious effect I liked was Lomo:

Before:

After:

Photo taken by alphageek.

Another mashup site is http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/. Apart from purely digital creations, you can make a photo cube. Something like this would be fun to use for library displays - put in a length of fishing line before folding it up and you could hang it up. Looking at the instructions (I haven't made one, might try it at home!) it seems a rather small cube but I think the template could be enlarged on a photocopier for a bigger cube more suitable for a display.

Topic 10: Flickr

Topic 10 asks us to upload a photo from Flickr that we like to our blogs. I went to http://www.flickr.com/ and there on the homepage was a fabulous picture I wanted to post to my blog. Too easy!



Click on the picture to go to the page this photo belongs to. The photographer's photostream has many other amazing pictures.

Topic 8, Topic 9: Wikis

I've delved into the world of wikis so it's time to write about my experiences adding to a wiki. I joined the LEARN Network Wikispace and added an entry to the LEARN Network Jargon Busters Glossarwiki (about Avatars). Then I went to play in the 'sandbox' page and added some favourites. When I added my favourites I tried to change the font of what I had typed to distinguish it from the other entries but it changed the font for the entire page. Same if I tried to change the colour. I highlighted my text, chose the font and then everything changed, rather than just my highlighted selection. So in the end I stuck with the status quo. I looked at the Help section and it advised to do exactly as I had done so who knows what I did wrong. Luckily I could fix up my accidental changes by clicking Cancel - I wish there was a handy Undo button! When I went back in to Edit the page again there was a message where I had to click "Discard previous draft" to cancel it completely. So a few problems there but that was my first try. It's a good thing that a sandpit is a place to play and often make a mess, so that fits the idea of a Sandbox wiki perfectly, at least for me!

Wiki wanderings

At the moment I am exploring wikis ahead of answering this week's topic questions about wikis and the value of wikis to library services. I found the following pictures through a link at a wiki page about weeding (scroll down to "Ideas for Disposing of Weeded Books and/or Used Books"), and thought I'd share them here for a bit of literary levity (read the titles from top to bottom):



You can see more "sorted books" here. Clever idea, isn't it?