Week Thirteen. Grand Finale

Grand Finale

#22 Explore any site from the Web 2.0 Awards list, play with it, and blog about it.

Throughout the course of this Learning 2.0 program we’ve explored just a small sampling of the these new internet technologies and websites that are empowering users with the ability to create and share content. But given time there are so many more we could explore. Current estimates place the number of web 2.0 tools at somewhere between 300 & 500 with only a handful emerging as market dominators. And although time will only tell which of these new collaborative, social networking and information tools will remain on top, one thing is for sure, they're not going to go away (at least anytime soon).

For this discovery exercise, participants are asked to select any site from this list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees and explore it. With so many too choose from, it might be handy to first select a category that interests you (like Books or Personal Organization) and then simply select a tool/site to explore. Be careful to select a tool that is Free and that doesn't require a plug-in or download. The majority of these free, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Discovery Exercise:

Select any site/tool from the list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees (If you prefer to select from just the winners, here’s a link to the short list.)
Explore the site you selected.
Create a post about your discovery. What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any applications for its use in a library setting?

#23 Post your thoughts about the Learning 2.0 program on your blog

Here are some questions to prompt your thinking:

What have you personally learned from this program?
What have you learned about yourself, others and the organisation in which you work?
What was the most important skill you have learned and why?
What action will you now take if any?
Would students use these technologies as part of the library’s online environment?

Is there some specific technology that you would like to see ECU library adopt ?

Congratulations! You deserve a good pat on the back for getting this far and give yourself the doggie Web 2.0 award found on the Library Intranet!

Week Twelve. Podcasting, Videos and downloadable audio

Podcasting, Videos and downloadable audio, part 2

#20 Discover some good podcasts from libraries

Listen to this podcast [2:17]--> Audio File by Helene Blowers

The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS.

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the last 24 months, it easy to see why.

Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries (like the ones used in this Learning 2.0 program) to much longer in person interviews or panel group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portal device) with headphones or a speaker.

iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.

For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Once found, you can easily pull the RSS feed into your Bloglines account as well, so that when new casts become available you’ll be automatically notified of their existence.

Discovery Resources:

To find out more about podcasts start with Yahoo: What is a podcast tutorial


There are many, many podcast directory and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that don’t, like iTunes, require a software download: Podcast.net Podcastalley.com Yahoo Podcasts

What? You want to learn how to be a podcaster too?

Optional Resources for those who want to learn create podcasts Yahoo: Publish a podcast Odeo’s Studio – online recording studio. Beginners guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts How to podcast tutorial


Discovery Exercise:

Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here, such as user education training podcasts from other university libraries or library news. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account

#21 Listen to some podcasts from the Podcasting @ ECU site

This site has been set up to assist staff and students at ECU to develop and deliver effective podcasts, as well as to look at some of the issues associated with the use of podcasting in a university setting.


Did you find some useful podcasts?

Be sure to post to your blog what you learned this week

Week Eleven. Podcasting, Videos and downloadable audio

Podcasting, Videos and downloadable audio

#19 Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.

Listen to this podcast [1:58]--> Audio File by Helene Blowers

Within the past year online video hosting sites have exploded allowing users to easily to upload and share videos on the web. Among all the web 2 players in this area YouTube is currently top dog serving up over 1 million video views a day and allowing users to not only easily upload their own video content, but also easily embed clips into their own sites. If you're a DA library then you won't be able to search YouTube at work. This site is currently blocked at the Internet Access Point.
If you can search it from home or elsewhere then I'd encourage you to do so and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from 1970s TV commercials to library dominos . Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has to offer. :)

Discovery Exercise:

Explore Yahoo Videos & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?

OPTIONAL: Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and paste code for the for "Embeddable Player.” Note: you'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.

Other popular video hosting sites:Google videosOthers - top video site list

NOTE: Videos, like music downloads are bandwidth hogs, so try these task at non-busy network times.

Week Ten. Social Tagging part 2

Social Tagging, part 2

#17 Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.

Listen to this podcast [2:46]--> Audio File by Helene Blowers

So now that you’ve been blogging for awhile, you might be wondering just how big the blogosphere is?

Well according to Technorati, the leading search tool and authority for blogs, the number of blogs doubles just about every 6 months with over 51 million blogs currently being tracked by the site. If the blogging trend continues, it is estimated that Technorati will tracked its 100 millionth blog in just 5 months. Yes, these numbers are astounding, but as you’ve already seen for yourselves, blogging is so easy that these publishing tools are being taken advantage of by almost every industry, including libraries.

So how does a person get their blog listed as part of the blogosphere and how can you tag your posts with keywords to make them more findable through a Technorati search? The answer to the first question is that your blog is probably already being captured by Technorati due to the fact that your already using Blogger, the most popular blogging tool.

But if you want to join the party and have your blog officially listed on Technorati and also take advantage of the watchlist and other features, you’ll need to claim your blog yourself. As for tagging posts with Technorati tags? This is easy too. All you need to do is add a little bit of HTML code to the bottom of your post (see my example below) and Technorati will pick up these tags when it spiders (or web crawls) your site. In Technorati you can search for keywords in blog posts, search for entire blog posts that have been tagged with a certain keyword, or search for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject (like photography or libraries).

Discovery Resources:

Technorati Tour – videocast of new features & new look Technorati Discover & Popular features Discovery Exercise: Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different? Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?

#18 Read a few articles from our ECU Endnote Library on Web 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.

You’ll find the Endnote Library on the ECU Library intranet. You can also add your own readings there if you are familiar with Endnote. OR may wish to listen to one of the podcasts on the SirsiDynix Institute’s Archive http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/future.php .

What did you learn this week? Can you see ECU applications for Del.icio.us and Technorati ? Let us know in your blog post this week.

Week Nine. Social Tagging

Social Tagging

#16 Learn about tagging and discover Del.icio.us (a social bookmaking site)

Listen to this podcast [3:53]--> Audio File by Helene Blowers

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts). Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data anyway they want.

In the past few weeks, we’ve already explored a few sites –such as Flicker to create an association between photos that we individually uploaded. This week and next week, in addition to exploring Technorati tagging, we want to also take a look at the popular social bookmarking site called Del.icio.us (typed in as http://del.icio.us/).

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page, add tags to categorize your bookmarks. Many users find that real power of Del.icio.us is in the social network aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. You can think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.

Discovery Resources:
Otter Group Del.icio.us tutorial (12 min video) - Highly recommended!!!
Us.ef.ul: A beginners guide to Del.icio.us
Several Habits of wildly successful Del.icio.us users

Discovery Exercise:
View the 12 minute Del.icio.us tutorial to get a good overview of its features.
Take a look around Del.icio.us using the eculibrarylearning account that has been created for this exercise.
Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorise this reference by?
Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool. Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?

Week Eight. Play Week, Virtual Worlds, Second Life

#13 Watch the ECU library DVD of "You Only Live Twice", the ABC Four Corners program on Second Life and virtual worlds.

"You Only Live Twice" can also be downloaded straight from the ABC site.

You may also wish to view the same program through ECU Flexilecture. The purpose of putting the video there is to give staff a feel for what Flexilecture is all about. Many ECU staff presentations and lectures are loaded there already and they can be viewed from the desk top if you log in. To give this a try go to http://flexilecture.ecu.edu.au/. Then ECU Community, then ECU Community Interest Channel. The program is there and can be viewed online

#14 Check out the ABC Four Corners website for some of the supporting materials.

There are transcripts, articles and links to further resources there http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/

Library Resources

Kathryn Greenhill, of Murdoch University Library, gave a talk on SL at the National Library of Australia in February 2007, as part of their Digital Culture series.

The NLA website says:
“Greenhill’s Flying Librarians of Oz: What's the Fuss about Second Life and What's It Got to Do with Libraries? Second Life is an online virtual community created by its residents. There are over 250 Second Life librarians. More than 4000 people per day visit InfoIsland, where they can talk to a reference librarian, browse information resources, attend tutorials, listen to inworld broadcasts, trial databases, and attend functions like music recitals and author talks.” http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/issues/86/story01.html

You can view Kathryn’s slides here http://www.slideshare.net/sirexkat/flying-librarians-of-oz-whats-all-the-fuss-about-second-life-and-whats-it-got-to-do-with-libraries

#15 Post to your blog on how, or if, you think Second Life may impact on libraries.

There is a brief library related SL video by Jeremy Kemp on YouTube. Do a search on Do a search on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ under "Second Life Reference". It’s called War of the Worlds.

Readings

There are further readings in the 23 Things project Endnote library on the library Intranet.

Catch up week

Week Seven, Catch up week
October 1st. Hey it's a long weekend for some.

This week is a chance for you all to catch up, so there's won't be any exercises this week.

Just to recap on what your blogs should include. You should be completing the exercises and blogging about how you went and what application you can see with these new technologies. Your blog posts should be at least 100-150 words each week - we'd like to have a conversation and the more you post, the better the conversation will be.