Lessons 26 & 27: Final Thoughts

I am glad that many of the KCLS staff have opted to participate in this program; I feel it will allow us to better serve our patrons and anticipate their future needs. I look forward to being able to incorporate what we have learned into the new KCLS features.

I did enjoy the format of the program, as I prefer to do as I learn, rather than sit and listen. However, I think one of the major flaws of the program was the underestimated amount of time many of the lessons would take. I know that as I helped many of my colleagues, they were weeks behind simply because they could only do one of a multi-part lesson in a week's time.

I hope that in the future, KCLS will utilize similar methods for training. Many things to everyone who put in so much of their time and effort to bring Learning 2.0 to KCLS employees.

YouTube & Podcasts

One of the great features of YouTube is the ability to embed videos. KCLS could possibly use this function to demonstrate the various services we offer, or how to use things such as self check-in. Or, by putting story times online, KCLS might be able to reach more patrons who may not be able to get to these events.

Podcasts have been around for a while, and I must admit I have never taken advantage of them. Probably because I don't enjoy watching on my computer monitor. There is a great diversity of podcasts available online, enough to keep even the pickiest person entertained and informed.

Web 2.0

I explored the many Web 2.0 Award Nominees and browsed many of the award winning sites. Lately my hobby has been real estate, so I checked out HousingMaps.com, PropSmart, and Trulia; none of which I had previously used. I was dissapointed with HousingMaps.com, as many of the listings were out of date and the navigation was less than user friendly. Propmart and Trulia were both user friendly; though saving properties and searches was a bit more difficult. In the future, I will probably stick to my old was of browsing real estate.

Online Software Tools

I have had a lot of experience using the online productivity software offered by Google, and I am slightly familiar with the products offered by Zoho. I generally have no need for office products, since I don't generally use these products when they are installed onto my cpu. That being said though, I do think there is a usefulness to these products that has not been tapped into.

Google Labs is always fun to explore, though I rarely use many of the offered products. Google Maps is probably one of my most frequented sites. Other than that, I don't have much use for the other products.

Exploring Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

I chose to read all 5 articles in an attempt to be well rounded. They were all insightful and offered information I had not previously considered. Library 2.0 may not be the final incarnation of how a library functions, but it must be acknowledged and embraced.

Customized Search Engines

This week I experimented with both Rollyo and the Google Custom Search Engine. While Rollyo did have cute graphics, I found the ads to be quite distracting. For my own custom search engine, I used google because it was ad free. I found it simple to set up and easy to use. In the future, I will probably use this service again. Were I doing research on a specific topic, I see how these sites could be quite helpful.

My Google Search

My Vacation to South Park

On my summer vacation I visited South Park. I met with Cartman, Kyle and Stan. They showed me around town and we had great fun.

Exploring Wikis

I must say I am not new to the whole wiki experience; I often use wikipedia when searching for a quick answer. I am a huge fan of the ability to add and find information on just about ever topic one might be interested in. This excercise reminds me of an article I read a few weeks ago in the Seattle PI. The piece is short and simple, however it reminds the reader that we need to consider the source, and possible bias, of all information we find online.

LibraryThing, et al...

This weeks lesson was to check out Del.icio.us, Technorati, and LibraryThing. I'm sorry to say I did not learn a lot this week as I already have Del.icio.us and LibraryThing accounts. For kicks I decided to set up another LibraryThing acount and add a few appropriately themed items.

Feel Free to Browse

Fun, Friends and Networking

As I embarked upon the My Space experience, I began to contemplate all the various uses I might have for such a site. Though most of the functions I imagine were geared toward personal uses as opposed to library uses, I do think it could be quite beneficial. However, were I to set up and use such an account extensively, my first choice would be Facebook.

I would like to think everyone on My Space has checked out our KCLS page; I know I have. I think this expectation might be too high. However, the fact that KCLS is attempting to keep relevant in an every changing social world is a great step. Far too often organizations are mired in traditions and are unwilling to move forward. Hopefully KCLS will continue to provide fantastic service in new and fascinating ways.

Fun With RSS Feeds

As a general summation, I've never been a big fan of RSS feeds. It may seem archaic, but I enjoy visiting the various websites I get my information from as opposed to signing into one site to view everything jumbled together.

I was willing to overlook my prejudice and give the ol' RSS feeds another shot at impressing me. I set up my bloglines account on Thursday of last week, and proceded to forget all about it until I began a new blog entry. So, I've not made real good use of my new account as of yet. In the future I will try to at least attempt to pay some attention to the RSS feeds I subscribe to. After setting up my bloglines account I subscribed to several news feeds: CNN, Seattle Times and a few others. For some added humor, I subscribed to Unshelved, because it makes me giggle.
I managed to subscribe to a few of my fellow Learning 2.0 participants' blog feeds without incident.

In an attempt to complete the next part of this weeks lesson, I used Feedster to search for a couple feeds I would be interested in reading. I took the easy route and used the content channels to find something entertaining and insightful. failing that, I chose the next best thing, celebrity gossip news and a sports feed. It amazed me to see how many library related feeds existed. I managed to contain my excitement and sign up for just two of these RSS feeds: The Shifted Librarian and The Grammatically Incorrect Librarian.

I do realize that many people enjoy and find RSS feeds to be a useful tool, I just don't happen to be one of them. In the future I will attempt to make greater use of these handy devices as they can save a great deal of time and aggravation. Until I am able to make that leap, I will continue my searching and browsing in the old fashioned manner to which I have become accustom.

#6 - Even more fun with Flickr (aka Mashups)

I had so much fun with the different Mashups; it was hard to pick which one was my favorite, so I won't. I decided to use the Trading Card Maker. After I finally decided on a phote, it was pretty simple to put together the final product. I decided to upload it to Flickr, so that I would always have access to it. I thought about making a magazine cover, but decided I was just not creative enough or a calendar, but I did not have enough of my own photos. Though I will probably go back and create some more! Here's what the final card looks like.

#5 - Discover Flickr

Since today is such a lovely day, I thought I would find a photo that incorporated two of my favorite things: sun and flowers.

I love Flickr. Though it is one of many photo sharing websites, it is by far my favorite! It's easy to use and user friendly. I love that your photos can either be public or private within the same account. When I'm browsing for photos, it's easy to find them because of the use of tags and groups.

Setting up a Blog

Setting up a blog for Learning 2.0 was easy! Thanks to the Learning 2.0 team for providing such easy to understand instructions.