Thanks Guys

To Lynette and Leslie...many thanks for taking the fear out of new technology and for your positive and regular posts on my blog. Thanks too to the others for looking at what I discovered along the way. It was lots of fun, heaps more time consuming than I had first thought but useful. I doubt I shall be using Facebook regularly, but have already been able to help a member of the public with this feature. So you see girls, it's all worth it!
The only way I can think of improving the course is to maybe even up the weeks a little. Some weeks there seemed to be a lot to get your head around, and others seemed light on? But that too could be because some features seemed to be more obvious and user friendly - and that of course, could be very much an individual perception.
So..... see you round the traps :-)

The Gutenberg Project - WOW!

Downloaded "Bleak House" in HTML format. So easy, and the font was easy to read. But wait! Then I discovered "The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn" in mp3 format - amazing. This site is so user friendly. Saved it to my del.ici.ous.....and suspect I will be visiting it often. As a public library service maybe we could be promoting this to our housebound clients ?

You Tube - You Choose

But how do you? So much stuff on there! Heaps of applications for libraries here...adverts for up and coming events; videos of workshops; activities; sharing of ideas for physical layouts etc. The list is endless.

Second What???

This concept blew me away. The "Flying Librarians of Oz"? Oh Murdoch Uni! I guess this is the way of future learning. My kids should be good at it as they have been playing SIM games for years. I noticed the female atavars I looked at were all barbie doll like. Hmmmm....
I can see that virtual learning would be easier with an image to work with rather than visualising your peers tapping away at computers in isolated cold dens. It scares me a little I confess. Reality seems to be slipping away from me. Will our vocal abilities change as we cease talking as much and sit in front of screens more to communicate? How will we evolve to deal with this new age? I look forward to seeing where this goes. Actually ;-)

RSS feed to my Google Reader of some seriously unPC stuff.

Had a good look at some podcasts and particularly liked, from Podcast Alley, segments from something called the "Onion". Bit naughty and when I read and listened to them I glanced furtively around before guffawing.....e.g.
Recent Saving Of Planet Attributed To Working Assets Long-Distance Plan from The Onion
UNITED NATIONS–A U.N. report released Monday traces last week's saving of the Earth to Working Assets' long-distance plan. "Working Assets, with its donation of 2 percent of profits to groups like the Rainforest Action Network and Amnesty International, has been found to be the force behind the planet's saving," the U.N. report read. The report also found that by using green, soy-based ink and off-white, 20 percent post-consumer recycled paper for its bills, Working Assets halted the deforestation of 10 million acres of Amazon rainforest, prompted the release of 11,000 Tibetan political prisoners, and increased literacy in Honduras 40 percent.

Sorry, the devil made me do it.......

Rollyos for kids

I think school kids would really warm to this feature...checking out others search rolls. Even though it is easy to use, didn't find it appealing for me somehow. Not like wikis...now THEY appeal to me far far more!

Wikis

I think a Book Lovers wiki for our library would be a good idea as a starter. Easier to manage than blogs and I like the informality heaps. The fact that anyone (within reason - library borrowers only?) can edit pages means that we all get the chance to contribute to ideas and conversation that doesn't involve a lot of emailing back and forth. Yes, this is a useful tool I think. Had a quick look at Biz Wiki - a site offering multiple articles about business practices and links to business related wikis. I like wikis! I can see an application for wikis here too as part of our growing Outreach activities. Lots of networking opportunities.......