Reflections

Podcasts

I love podcasts, so for me the discovery process for exploring podcasts seemed more like fun and not work. Which must be why it took me way too long to post about them!

I have a new ipod nano, which has a tiny video screen with color. So I've gotten really into the video podcasts available (and they are too numerous to list here). These are especially wonderful when stuck in an airport. I downloaded a some vintage hollywood movies from the itunes store (and for free; just select Podcasts, then select TV & Film) and watched them in the airport on my layover and on the plane.

Libraries are using podcasts in all ways imaginable. I think our library might library use podcasts to provide information about the library and library services. And if video was used, for library tours and instruction.

You Tube Videos: 90 second book review: Austenland

Oh course I liked this website, who doesn't love YouTube?? The reason why did I chose this video is that I read about it in the January 2008 issue of the Library Journal and thought it sounded intriguing. What a creative (and low budget) use of both the library's resources and YouTube to generate interest in books! Especially classic books, like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and make the story relevant to millennials by using pop culture references to make a video.

Unfortunately however, the possibilities of YouTube for my respective organizations are limited since it is blocked from our access. But if it weren't I would: add any dining & wine or famous chefs and or comedic food/dining/wine references to the culinary institute to encourage both students and teachers to engage and offer combined learning/entertainment opportunities. As for the hospital library, I would add healthy cooking or exercise videos that are consistent with the organizational mission. Or create some library use videos to help "market" the library and library services.

Web 2.0 Awards

There were so many great sites/apps on the Web 2.0 Awards list! But I will only pick one, and that will be...the "personalized google" under the Start Pages category. I'm really not sure why it came in 3rd place, since the winner, Netvibes takes forever to load (and offers google as their main search engine anyway!) and, sadly, is just not esthetically pleasing. It looks like something made with Microsoft Publisher circa 1991. My guess, google envy! Everyone has it right now, even the EBSCO vendor who showed me their "google experience" search interface they will soon release.

What I like most about the tool is that it's great to integrate all your other useful stuff like email/gmail, rss reader, google docs & apps etc., which I'm already using. It offers some killer add ons, specifically related to libraries. I just ran a search in the add ons page for "medical library" and found so much useful "stuff".

Obviously libraries can use this tool to store their favorite useful web pages or news feeds in one place including, but not limited to: Worldcat, Librarian's Book Revoogle, and ALA's Best of Free Reference search boxes.

As a complete cheesy side note, you can pick your own theme for the header. Mine is (of all things) a fox who hangs out at an Asian tea house and does such things (according to the time of day) as row her boat on the lake, wash her clothing in the lake, eat lunch, make paper cranes, feed the ducks, eat dinner and sit on the dock at night to watch the sun set and the fire flies come out.

I love this thing so much!

Google Docs & Apps

I've been using google docs for quite some time. I love it because with this tool, you only need an internet connection to have all your work at hand. It's just like using a social bookmark but with documents.

In my opinion, using google docs is just as easy as using the word processing software we're all familiar with using. The features that I like the most are the portability of the docs and applications like the calendar.

The aspects I disliked the most are that some of the formating you get in a word doc, just doesn't translate the same when you try to print a google doc. [Another thing I disliked was that when I published this google doc as my blog entry, it removed all the formating so I had to go in a put back in the paragraphs.]

I read a cool article in Wired about one person's experience with relying on Google docs & apps exclusively for a month. The author summarizes the good and bad aspects of using the google docs much better than I can!

My Wiki as ePortfolio

I was so impressed by the wiki's as content manager, that I decided to let my web page ePortfolio go, and switch to an ePortfolio using PBWiki. It's not completely finished, I still need to update my resume, which I'll then add for a completed portfolio.

I really like the PBWiki because it let's you use HTML/CSS code, but you don't have to know any to use it. PBWiki also lets you block edits, so it was an obvious choice for me to use this as a personal portfolio.

Wikis

I love wiki's. The thing I like the most is that it can be anything you want it to be used for. It's so much better than a spreadsheet, since multiple users can get in there and update it at the same time. I would use a wiki for information, similar to a webpage, where you can manage content.

Some of the benefits to finding information on a wiki is that it's easy to include relevant bits according to those who use it most (for example, an HR wiki could have policies added by the records department and benefits added by the benefits department.) Some drawbacks to finding information this way would be that you may not be able to trust the source, as with the infamous wikipedia hoax.

Some types of applications within libraries that would work well with a wiki are: policies & contact information including instant messaging apps, online collections, finding and subject aids. I am really impressed with wiki's as content management system.