#23
Summarize your thoughts about this program

Thanks for the opportunity to undertake this program. I am proud of myself for committing to and finishing the program. It has been a very self-disciplined exercise, especially when the system was very slow, which did cause a lot of frustration. I took the decision early on that I would have to spend personal time at home on this if I was going to learn anything and complete the program. It has been terrific to self pace and fit in as time permitted.

I have got to know online applications, resources, tools that I had only read about in passing. Some, such as Blogs, bloglines and wikis will continue to fit well with my professional needs and development.

I found most of the 23 things interesting but perhaps not all relevant to my needs but at least I am familiar with them.

I would be happy to participate in any future similar program as long as plenty of time was allowed to complete the tasks. I am always interested in Australian local content so this would also be a plus.

#22
Net Library Alternative
I had a look at the World EBookfair. It looks like a great way to catch up on your classics or if you are studying the appropriate Shakespeare sonnet. Terrific for students who may travel on public transport and have their MP Player anyway.

After attending the recent “mood, appeal and motivation in reader’s advisory service” session presented by Nancy Pearl I was very motivated to broaden the recreational books I read – downloading and listening to an e-book is one way I can achieve this goal.

I was glad that there was no registration process to download the free one I picked which was “The Little Match girl” by Hans Christian Anderson. As there was no credit for an editor or “adapted by” I presume that these are the original words he wrote.

It was very easy to download the 5 minute book into the Windows Media Player and subsequently listen to the book on my computer. In addition the well paced narration was good with clear pronunciation.

#21
Search tools for locating Podcasts
So can you search a Podcast on an ordinary search engine?

I found searching on the websites pretty easy and interesting to compare the results for the same search. I searched "genealogy". "The genealogy guys" seemed to be the most popular from a very small result. Searching "History" actually pulled up some family history podcasts which might be of interest. Abstracts or descriptions of the podcasts vary a lot so I would take this into account when evaluating what to listen to.

I had previously found "Family History Minute" podcast which I already visit regularly so was disappointed that it did not come up in the specific podcast websites.

I added it to my bloglines account (I was impressed that I did not have to log in).

I think Podcasts are terrific. Now instead of "reading up" on a subject you can listen. I think that they can be a useful tool for librarians and can certainly see value for family history researchers and historians.

Now I just need to get myself some headphones.

# 20
You Too Can You Tube

I was looking forward to this exercise. My son is has just completed Yr 8 at Eltham College. In an extended project for English students they were asked to study You tube and evaluate it and make some videos and submit them.

You can view the article which appeared here in “The Age”

My son spends a lot of time on You Tube,in fact he has set it as his home page. From a PC perspective it uses up a lot of download space.

He tells me that for a smoother viewing of a video press play then pause while it downloads. Check some emails or surf for a couple of minutes depending on how long the video is and then go back and stop the pause. It should then play without interruption.

I suppose there is an analogy between the popularity of You Tube and Reality Television, but I am not sure that I can explain why. I would suspect that a younger age group look at and submit to You Tube.

I have spent some time looking at the site and have registered and added two videos to my “favorites” list. I was thrilled to find a mini documentary for the scrapbooking company Creative Memories for whom I am a consultant. Very professional and full of information – I will be promoting it to my customers, as it was also only posted a month ago so it is current.

I searched Elvis Presley and was also thrilled to find his version of “If I can dream” which premiered on his NBC special in 1968. There are actually five versions of it on You Tube of various qualities.



From a library perspective I think that You Tube is a great tool to refer people to for limited historical footage, that recent TV interview (Terry Irwin’s first interview following Steve Irwins death is on YouTube) - so You Tube could be handy for cuurent "hot topics" - or do-it-yourself guides. I found some short videos on card making which would be of value.

Just like websites are evaluated for their authority etc for cataloguing and linking on our website – You Tube videos would have to be similarly evaluated. Perhaps there could be a library account established with videos added under certain headings etc.

#19
Web 2.0 Awards List
I enjoyed reviewing this list and re viewing websites already visited in this experience.

I particularly liked the personal communication category ; Planzo. I operate Microsoft Tools calandar on my home computer in the absence of a hard copy calandar which works well but I like the idea of a web based calandar that can be accessed by both my husband and I at any time.

#18
Web-Based Apps

I created an account with Zoho Writer and looked around. Happy to see the normal tools associated with any word processing program available.

Also looked at Googledocs. It was interesting to read about the kind of purposes that people put the applications to. One major factor being the sharing of documents. This reinforces to me that the Internet is a community itself and that connecting with others is key.

I love that any document you create - wether personal or business can be saved and accessible to yourself and nominated others, as long as there is access to the internet.

In light of a recent personal experience of having a hard disk crash and realising that most data, photos, tax files and more had not been backed up in three years (I know ..no excuses..), I think that web-based applications are another avenue for backing up of information.

Family history databases in the form of gedcoms can be uploaded to sites such as Rootsweb, so as well as being a forum to advertise your research interests, it is also a backup for any possible data failure that may eventuate.

#17
Playing around with PBWiki

How easy was that? I have submitted "Library 2.0 for info lass" on the Australian list on the PLCMC PBWiki . (Yes, I know, my title should be learning 2.0... just can't get libraries out of my head.) Had a look at people's favourite blogs but most seemed to be people's learning 2.0 ones. I added "The Shawshank Redemption" to favourite movies.

#16
So what's in a wiki?

I think that wikis and blogs are and will become key tools of communication between libraries and their users. Specific subject focused wikis are not only sources of reference and updated information but also can be used as a promotional tool for events happening in the library and the community creating that link of connecting.

Disappointingly it seems that there are very few Australian based wikis and blogs for genealogy researching and local history and none that I can find connected to a public library so I look forward to YPRL developing its content here. It is almost a blank page really as the possibilities are endless.