Week 6 - Web 2.0, Library 2.0

Traditionally, the library has been a place where you borrowed books and/ or looked things up for reference. With the advancement in computer technologies, this is no longer the case. The flow of information has increasingly become multi-lateral: from libraries to patrons, patrons to libraries and to the whole wide world. As pointed out by Mr. Rick Anderson "Away from the Iceberg", the present "come to us" model of library service is inadequate in serving the needs of the community. That is where the concept of Library 2.0 come into play.

The video from YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch@=6gmP4nk0EOE, entitled "The machine is us/ using us" sums up the Web 2.0/Library 2.0 phenomena.

I suppose in this computer age, we have to embrace Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. That is where the future lies. However we need to upgrade our computer skills first before embarking on this journey. I guess that is the reason we are learning "ACL Learning 2.0"

Week 6 - Technorati

Technorati is another website you can get carried away with. I could while away many hours on there if not for my teenage son asking me ‘what’s for dinner’ and informing me that it is time to prepare dinner. Anyway I started by setting up an account, then I claimed my blog and did a search for “Learning 2.0.” The results: Blog posts 1727 hits, Tags 276, Blog directory 391. The results would always vary depending on the date and time of the search.

I explored some of the popular blog, searches and tags. Unsurprisingly Boing Boing seemed to be the favourite, and I’ve been to it a few times. I enjoyed watching some top videos on popular blogs and I added The Two Talking Cats to my Favourites just for the fun of it. I hope it works.

Week 6 - Del.icio.us

I had a look at Del.icio.us and after watching the tutorial on video, I created an account. I looked at the popular and recent links and then I tried the subjects or categories I wanted. I found some interesting websites that other people have used and added them to my favourites. It's good to be able to bookmark a webpage, tag and add notes, and I can see how easy it is to retrieve the webpages later on. Another good thing about Del.icio.us is that it allows you to access your account from any computer. Here's the
link to my account http://del.icio.us/queenielovesfood

Week 5 - Rollyo

The instructions on Rollyo are not so easy to follow, however I managed to get help, created an account and added some of my favourite websites to my searchroll. I reckon it's just like adding to 'favourites/bookmarks'. However it is good to look at some of the useful websites people have created. I managed to add two useful websites (about similar subjects) from looking at others' searchrolls and I am sure that my own searchroll will be helpful to other people.

Week 5 - LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing and I'm sure many of us would agree that this is very useful, especially in our line of work. Had a tour and signed up and added books to my library. I would love to add more but for the time being just ten, as I will be using it again. It's so simple, easy and straightforward. My library address is http://www.librarything.com/catalog/queenielovesfood

Letter James

Week 5 - Image Generators

Love this site, its fun and straight forward. Guess I could spend hours playing around and creating personalised stuff. Went to Letter James and had a go, used the image (motiv 82 - Chicago Wacker Drive) to personalise it. I had a look at FD Toys and it is quite similar to the site in which I did my trading card.

Week 4 # Thing 9 – Library/News Feeds

I explored some of the search tools listed in the ACL Learning 2.0 website. Personally found Bloglines search tools easy to use. Technorati – I enjoy this site especially on humor but quite frustrating as it takes a long time to load up. Synic8.com is just a mass of feeds; difficult to find what you want. I was unable to get into Feedster, made several attempts, keeps on showing a message that it is updating its website. Topix.net is a good website to get NZ feeds. Its webpages are well organized too.

Week 4 # Thing 9 - RSS Feeds

I visited the CNET and learnt what RSS feeds are. Found my way around using the tutorial, managed to set up my own Bloglines account and subscribed to 16 feeds. You can view these at my url: www.bloglines.com/public/queenielovesfood. Adding feeds to my Bloglines account was, in the end, relatively easy. I added some of my favourite websites to my Bloglines feeds. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Back to the tutorial again; I realized that to have RSS feeds, the URL must end with xml.

Week 3 – Mashups & Third Party

Yes, I have been to Mashups. In fact I got rather carried away browsing interesting sites like color picker and Flickr Toys. I also created a trading card and sent it to a workmate. Last weekend, while having lunch with my family I took an interesting picture, very original, and I thought it would be nice to use on my trading card. How did this picture come about? A spring roll slipped away from a pair of chopsticks, dropped into a dipping sauce that created a smudge on a tablecloth and this brought to life the Alien staring at me!

Week 3 - Photos & Images

Not doing any baking this week, spent my hours (spread over several days) on Flickr. I signed up and managed to upload a photo from a website. What I intend to do ( when I have the time in future) is to create a family album to share with families and friends overseas. I tried to get to Mappr, but it keeps timing out, so I had to give up. On Technology, well I subscribed to Skype about a year ago and really think it's great! I get to see families and friends on the webcam although we have problems with the sound system.