Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Off the cuff : Zemanta experiment
Having completed my Web 2.0 part 2 training I thought I would see what other blog support options are out in big, bad cyber world and discovered Zemanta, a blogging tool that provides writing assistance for those who need it. Having had a wee play with it I felt that it was a tool that may be useful for bloggers who do not have a lot of experience in written language. It offers suggestions for scripts, links to images, tags and related content. Quite fun to play with but seemed a lazy option that can be used when you do not want to make the effort to do something on your own. Whatever happened to discovery opportunities and self learning?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Web 2.0 Final Post (or Last Hurrah?)
Perhaps this is not the final whistle!
What do I make of my Web 2.0 experience?
I guess I can identify with the phrase "You've come a long way baby!" Certainly it is many years since I hatched and there has been a lot of water under the feathers since then.
When this training started a couple of years ago I realised how much I did not know but needed to, if I was to stay afloat. It has not been an easy journey as there have been a number of times when the very obvious stared me in the face but I could not get to grips with what I had to do. Web 2.0 Parts 1 and 2 did allow me to learn at my speed. It was never intended to be a race, more an opportunity for me to absorb as much as I could, personally, from each exercise. I have certainly achieved that and I would encourage anyone to take the plunge with this training. I am really proud that I did not have anyone do the work for me, although I happily asked people to share their knowledge so that I could walk through the mine field without losing all my feathers. I have learned so much through simple trial and error, admittedly more error than trial but what better way to learn! I am hugely grateful to Danielle Carter for her infinite patience throughout phase 1 of the original Web 2.0 learning that helped set me on the right track. Mr Marlowe and Daniel...I think I can see your assistance in a number of blogs that are familiar to me! You are unsung heroes. I have really enjoyed the "start at the beginning" approach for everyone where we all stepped off the lowest bank together. The training has seen a number of colleagues working so well together and actually HAVING FUN! The workroom has echoed with laughter that probably made many of our customers think "I'll have some of what they are having, please".
I have discovered some great blogs on public library sites [see http://bhplnjbookgroup.blogspot.com/ Berkley Heights Public Library]which was lighthearted and fun. Loved their link to awful library books! Managed to find a couple of great reads from the list on their blog, so I guess that validates the purpose of good blogs... readability, effectiveness and inclusiveness.
Like every resource, people have their favourites, so if we all enjoy something different just imagine how much collective resource we have to share with our communities.
While I remain anti "Twitter" because it seems such a superficial means of communication (how well can you really get to know someone on twitter?) Who really gives a FRA what some fleeting screen personality thinks at one particular moment in time - I suspect that their tweets will not alter the course of mankind! I have found Facebook very easy to use and have caught up with a number of past acquaintances who have joined Facebook. Zamzar was very interesting and I would use some of its options again if the occasion arose. Downloading free music did not appeal to me in the slightest. While it was certainly possible the type of music available did not set my nest on fire.
GoodReads was another resource that I will stash in my kete. While I did not enjoy using it as much as LibraryThing it may be useful as a recommendation for other people.
So "Hats off" to all the crew who have had a go and given their all to complete this training. You rippers!
What do I make of my Web 2.0 experience?
I guess I can identify with the phrase "You've come a long way baby!" Certainly it is many years since I hatched and there has been a lot of water under the feathers since then.
When this training started a couple of years ago I realised how much I did not know but needed to, if I was to stay afloat. It has not been an easy journey as there have been a number of times when the very obvious stared me in the face but I could not get to grips with what I had to do. Web 2.0 Parts 1 and 2 did allow me to learn at my speed. It was never intended to be a race, more an opportunity for me to absorb as much as I could, personally, from each exercise. I have certainly achieved that and I would encourage anyone to take the plunge with this training. I am really proud that I did not have anyone do the work for me, although I happily asked people to share their knowledge so that I could walk through the mine field without losing all my feathers. I have learned so much through simple trial and error, admittedly more error than trial but what better way to learn! I am hugely grateful to Danielle Carter for her infinite patience throughout phase 1 of the original Web 2.0 learning that helped set me on the right track. Mr Marlowe and Daniel...I think I can see your assistance in a number of blogs that are familiar to me! You are unsung heroes. I have really enjoyed the "start at the beginning" approach for everyone where we all stepped off the lowest bank together. The training has seen a number of colleagues working so well together and actually HAVING FUN! The workroom has echoed with laughter that probably made many of our customers think "I'll have some of what they are having, please".
I have discovered some great blogs on public library sites [see http://bhplnjbookgroup.blogspot.com/ Berkley Heights Public Library]which was lighthearted and fun. Loved their link to awful library books! Managed to find a couple of great reads from the list on their blog, so I guess that validates the purpose of good blogs... readability, effectiveness and inclusiveness.
Like every resource, people have their favourites, so if we all enjoy something different just imagine how much collective resource we have to share with our communities.
While I remain anti "Twitter" because it seems such a superficial means of communication (how well can you really get to know someone on twitter?) Who really gives a FRA what some fleeting screen personality thinks at one particular moment in time - I suspect that their tweets will not alter the course of mankind! I have found Facebook very easy to use and have caught up with a number of past acquaintances who have joined Facebook. Zamzar was very interesting and I would use some of its options again if the occasion arose. Downloading free music did not appeal to me in the slightest. While it was certainly possible the type of music available did not set my nest on fire.
GoodReads was another resource that I will stash in my kete. While I did not enjoy using it as much as LibraryThing it may be useful as a recommendation for other people.
So "Hats off" to all the crew who have had a go and given their all to complete this training. You rippers!
Week 6 : Facebook (Did I play nicely with others?)
Now there's a challenge feathered ones! What if I did not want to play nicely? The odd pike with a bullrush never did anyone harm...and while I would like to tag walls our neighbourhood has "big brothers" watching your every move and graffiti art is so yesterday!
Facebook was an interesting exercise. What a lot of people want to claim you as their friend. Are they lonely, desperate or actually interested in you, for the right reason???? Seriously, I can see that it has a certain appeal. I was intrigued to learn that it was developed by a Harvard student as a means of student communication and it is fascinating to notice that intellectual snobbery is alive and well in virtual circles. (Facebook versus MySpace...who would have guessed?)
It is interesting that YouTube and Facebook seem to be the popular sites for many of our customers, however the content that I see on the screens as I stalk by indicates that many users are not as pure as the driven snow and their values are significantly different to mine.
Facebook has some appeal for me as a means of keeping in touch with friends, but I can also do that through "old friends" which has better levels of security. I did find it easy to use but the down side was the number of anonymous people who wished to be my friend. Whoa, there are some creepy pond dwellers out there folks!
From Manukau Libraries perspective...I would promote the Library's Facebook to others because I think the work that Manukau Libraries does throughout its communities is awesome! Perhaps the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" gives us the right to promote our libraries through any means that we can. So I will twitter, facbook, chirp and trill as much as I have to! After all, there is more than one way to skin a cat...
Facebook was an interesting exercise. What a lot of people want to claim you as their friend. Are they lonely, desperate or actually interested in you, for the right reason???? Seriously, I can see that it has a certain appeal. I was intrigued to learn that it was developed by a Harvard student as a means of student communication and it is fascinating to notice that intellectual snobbery is alive and well in virtual circles. (Facebook versus MySpace...who would have guessed?)
It is interesting that YouTube and Facebook seem to be the popular sites for many of our customers, however the content that I see on the screens as I stalk by indicates that many users are not as pure as the driven snow and their values are significantly different to mine.
Facebook has some appeal for me as a means of keeping in touch with friends, but I can also do that through "old friends" which has better levels of security. I did find it easy to use but the down side was the number of anonymous people who wished to be my friend. Whoa, there are some creepy pond dwellers out there folks!
From Manukau Libraries perspective...I would promote the Library's Facebook to others because I think the work that Manukau Libraries does throughout its communities is awesome! Perhaps the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" gives us the right to promote our libraries through any means that we can. So I will twitter, facbook, chirp and trill as much as I have to! After all, there is more than one way to skin a cat...
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