ECU Library Learning 2.0

Week Thirteen. Grand Finale

2007-11-09T10:04:00.000+08:00

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

2007-11-02T09:41:00.000+08:00

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

2007-10-26T10:01:00.002+08:00

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 videos Others - 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

2007-10-19T14:40:00.000+08:00

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

2007-10-12T09:59:00.000+08:00

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

2007-10-04T13:13:00.000+08:00

#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

2007-10-01T10:54:00.000+08:00

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.

Week Six. Photos and images

2007-09-21T16:49:00.000+08:00

Photos and images

#10. Take some digital photos and post one on your blog.

Borrow a digital camera from MMR if you don't have your own.

Post the photos on your blog using Blogger's photo upload feature.

#11. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.

Listen to this podcast [2:38]--> Audio File by Helene Blowers

Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Within the past year, Flickr has becoming the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword “tags” to create associations and connections between photos and users of the site.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a good look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer. Find out how tags work, what groups are, and all the neat things that people and other libraries (list also here) are using Flickr for.

Discovery Resources:

Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps)
Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials
Flickr: Popular tags
Interesting- Last 7 days
Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups) and let’s not forget to look at some other libraries

Discovery Exercise:

In this discovery exercise, you have two options…
Take a good look around Flickr and discover an interesting image that you want to blog about. Be sure to include either a link to the image or if you create an Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool to add the image in your post. Another option you have for including images in your post is to use Blogger's photo upload tool.
-- OR --Of if you’re up to an easy challenge ... create a Free account in Flickr and use your digital camera to capture a few pictures of something in your library. Upload these to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images “eculibraryweb” and mark it public. Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. Once you have a Flickr account, you have two options for doing this; through Flickr's blogging tool or using Blogger's photo upload feature.

PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) is it advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog.

#12. Have some Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups and 3rd party sites, and create some mashups

Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications using images found on the site. Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups* that use Flickr images.

Here are just a sampling of a few …
Mappr - take Flickr images and allows you to paste them on a map
Flickr Color Pickr - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.
Montagr – create a photo mosaics from photos found on Flickr.
Discover more mashups, web apps, and Flickr tools.

Discovery Exercise:

Your discovery exercise for this “thing” is to:

1. Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there.
2. Create a blog post about one that intrigues you.

Personally one of my very favorite tools is FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. And there’s a ton of librarians out there that have created their own Librarian Trading Card.

So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat little apps. And if you up to the challenge while you’re add it, why not create a trading card of your own. :)

* Mashup Note: Wikipedia offers some great articles that explain mashups. Basically they are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like a map) In this example, you get Mappr (http://mappr.com/)

PS: Learning 2.0 image created by Spell with Flickr.

Week Five. Wikis

2007-09-14T16:45:00.000+08:00

Wikis

#8. Learn about Wikis

Listen to this podcast [1:49]--> Audio File by Helene Blowers

A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well known of these knowledge sharing tools, but with benefits that wikis provide, the use and popularity of these tools is exploding.

Some of the benefits that make the use of wikis so attractive are:

Anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content.
Tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom.
Earlier versions of a page can be rolled back and viewed when needed.
And users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content.
In most cases simple syntax structure is used.

As the use of wikis has grown over the last few years, libraries have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge. Among their applications are pathfinder or subject guide wikis, book review wikis, library conference wikis and even library best practices wikis.

Discovery Resources:

1. Use these resources to learn more aboout wikis:
Wiki, wiki, wiki - from PLCMC's own Core Competency blog
Wiki’s: A Beginner’s Look – an excellent short slide presentation that offers a short introduction and examples.
What is a Wiki? – Library Success wiki presentation
Using Wikis to Create Online Communities – a good overview of what a wiki is and how it can be used in libraries.

Discovery Exercise:

1. For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at some library wikis and blog about your finding.Here’s a few examples to get you started:
SJCPL Subject Guides – a pathfinder wiki developed by the St. Joseph County Public Library system
Book Lovers Wiki - developed by the Princeton Public Library
Library Success: A best practices wiki
Library2.0 on the loose: an unofficial unconference for Western Australian libraryland– an example of a wiki created to support a specific event
The Bull Run Library wiki - a public library wiki and also a Learning 2.0 participant
Other library wiki examples

2. Create a blog post about your findings. What did you find interesting? Do you think this technology would engage students? What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?

#9.
Add an entry on the ECU Learning 2.0 Wiki on Blackboard

A trial Wiki has been set up on MyECU Blackboard for this exercise.

Go to the ECU Student Portal and then MyECU (Blackboard).

Login with your usual ECU staff ADS login.

Go to the My ECU Sites at the top.

Enrol yourself in the ECU Library Learning 2.0 Semester 2/07 Group Wiki by following the instructions below.

Blackboard now has the ability to set up a Communities Site and we have set up an ECU Library Learning 2.0 Semester 2/07 Group Wiki there.

You can enrol yourself in this Blackboard Communities Group Wiki.

First you need to search and find the Community that has been set up.

To find our community site, type “ECU Library Learning” and click the "GO" button next to the search entry box (you can type uppercase or lowercase).

Under Search Results it will show the listing of sites that met the search criteria you entered, in this case any site with the term "ECU Library Learning" in its title or description.

Click on the "Enrol" button to the right of the site listing.

Then just click on Submit and you will be enrolled in this community.

Find the ECU Learning 2.0 Wiki on Blackboard
The ECU Library Learning 2.0 Semester 2/07 Group Wiki has been set up for this project. To find it you now click on ECU Library Learning 2.0 . Then click on Group Wikis on the left. The View under ECU Library Learning 2.0 Semester 2/07 Group Wiki
For the purposes of this exercise we will be commenting on Library Trends and Hot Issues
Use the right hand links to navigate around and get your bearings. Under Site Navigation there are 3 pages on the go:

Home ECU Library Learning 2.0 Wiki

Hot Issues: Food in the library?

Hot Issues: Mobile Phones in library?
You can Post a comment, or edit and add to the text on these topics.

Discovery Exercise:

Make some comments under Home. You will see a couple of comments already there, so dive in and have a go.

Make some comments under one of the Hot Issues

Edit and add to the text in one of these 3 pagesEventually we could open this up to all Library staff who wish to comment on these or other library issues.

Week Four. RSS feeds

2007-09-06T14:33:00.000+08:00

RSS feeds, part 2

#7. Set up an RSS feeds from one of the library journal databases into your Bloglines account.

1. Do a search in one of the EBSCO databases, for example ERIC (EBSCO). You can set up an alert and receive updates on your search as new information is put into the EBSCO database. You will see an RSS icon saying "Create an Alert for this Search". An alternative exercise is to create an alert to one of the Emerald Library ejournals, for example "Library Hi Tech".

2. Click on that and read through the instructions and give it a go.

Note: This page contains the URL for the RSS syndicated news feed that you need to paste into your Bloglines Newsfeeder. the feed URL will look something like:

http://0-rss.ebscohost.com.library.ecu.edu.au/AlertSyndicationService/Syndication.asmx/GetFeed?guid=1083385

However, because of the ECU WAM authentication you will need to amend the URL so that you delete the "0-" and the "library.ecu.edu.au"

http://rss.ebscohost.com/AlertSyndicationService/Syndication.asmx/GetFeed?guid=1083385

Post to your blog what you learned this week.

How useful would this be?

Where can you see this being used?

Do you think this technology would engage students?

Note We can only use RSS through this Blogines method at ECU right now. Some browers, such as Mozilla Firefox have RSS enabled more easily within the brower. RSS may be more widely used when we upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 browser later in 2007.

Congratulations! Once you have tackled these RSS exercises, you've tackled the most difficult week of the whole 23 Things :)

Week Three. RSS feeds

2007-08-31T09:00:00.000+08:00

RSS feeds

#5. Discover RSS feeds

You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small funny tags on websites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is? Well don’t worry, according to a recent survey you’re still in the majority, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionising the way news, media and content creators share information, but it also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web.

Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit everyday. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

Atom is another syndication format which works the same way. You cna subscribe to this Blog thru the Atom link.

Additionally, many of ECU’s journal databases, such as those from Ebsco, offer RSS feeds as a way to delivery a current awareness and alert service to you. ECU library ejournals, such as the Emerald ejournals, offer feeds so you can be alerted when a new issue is published.

This week’s discovery exercises focus on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account (a free online newsreader) for yourself to bring your feeds together

Resources:

CNET Video: RSS – Feel the Need for Feeds (3:32) – a good over view of what RSS is and the benefits to users.
Feed Me: A gentle introduction to Internet feeds - a good tutorial from Palinet, a library cooperative
Using Bloglines Tutorial (how to Keep up with dozens of blogs everyday) – This online tutorial walks you through how to setup a Bloglines account and add newsfeeds. Follow Steps 1 to 3 to set up your Bloglines account. Steps 4 – 9 are optional and cover how to subscribe to different types of feeds (podcasts, Flickr albums, etc)

Exercise:

1. Follow the resources above to learn more about RSS and newsreaders.

2. Create a free online Bloglines account for yourself and subscribe to some newsfeeds to your reader. See Using Bloglines Tutorial steps 1-3 for instructions

Then try adding a few other types of feeds from other sites. Go to the pages below, locate the feed and subscribe. (Select at least 3)

#6. Locate some library RSS feeds

Now that you have a newsreader (your Bloglines account), you can begin adding other newsfeeds that interest you. There are several ways you can locate newsfeeds:
When visiting your favourite websites -- look for news feed icons that indicate the website provides it.
Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere in the navigation of the site. (Here's an image that contains a sampling of several feed icons).
Use Blogline's Search tool - Bloglines recently expanded search tool lets you search for news feeds in addition to posts, citations and the web. Use the Search for Feeds option to locate RSS feeds you might be interested in.
Other Search tools that can help you find feeds:
Feedster - One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets you search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts
Topix.net - This search tool allows you to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlets RSS feeds for information, not weblogs
Syndic8.com - Syndic8 is an open directory of RSS feeds that contains thousands of RSS feeds that users have submitted.
Technorati - Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs you may be interested in.

Additional Resource:

Technorati Tutorial on finding and adding your blog

Week Two. Blogs

2007-08-24T16:43:00.000+08:00

Blogs

Now that you’ve done some exploring around this website and understand how this program will work, it’s time to setup your very own personal blog. For this program, we recommend that you use Blogger*, a popular free online blog hosting service that is extremely easy to use. Blogger is owned by Google. You may already have a Google Gmail account. If so use it to sign in to Blogger, or if not follow the steps below.

# 2. Set up your Google Gmail account. Gmail is a free web-based email service similar to Yahoo mail or Hotmail. You will need a Gmail account to sign up for your Blogger account in the next task.

# 3. Set up your Blog and add a post
The first step is to set up your own blog to record your thoughts, discoveries and exercises in the ECU 23things.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Your blog should be work friendly. For the duration of this tutorial there will be work related content on it and your co-workers may read it. After the tutorial is over, it doesn't have to be about work, but readers should be comfortable reading it at work.

2. 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.

3. How you choose to identity yourself on your blog is your choice. You can blog under a screen name, anonymously, or as yourself.
For this exercise I am recommending you use Blogger, a popular free online blog hosting service that is easy to use. Creating a blog using Blogger takes just a few easy steps:

Exercise

1. Go to http://www.blogger.com/

2. Click on Sign in

3. Your sign in name is your gmail address, without the @gmail.com for example yourname
your password is the same one you use for your gmail account

4. You'll be taken to this screen, click on "Create blog now"

5. Select a display name.

6. Name your blog and choose an address.
The name is the title that displays at the top. For example, Bobbi's Thoughts or Bobbi's Babbling
Your address is the URL people will type into go to go your blog, they do not have to match.

For example your address could be bobbi123.blogspot.com
It may be hard to find an address that's available, you may have to try several and use the "check availability" button

Be sure to also write down your blog address.

7. Select your template.

8. You're ready to start blogging! Create your first post, even if it's just a test post.

9. Email your Campus Senior Librarian with the web address. We will add it to the ECU Participants' blogs list on the web

Once you’ve created your blog here are a couple important things to know:

1. To add posts: Log into your account at http://www.blogger.com/
2. Click on sign in
3. Use your gmail address and password to sign in
4. To view your blog: type in your URL from step 6.

# 4. Register your Blog on the ECU Library intranet

This will enable us to track your progress, but will not be visible to any outside ECU.
Add your blog URL to the spreadsheet at L:\LIBRARY\LibServices\23 Things Project

Resources

Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library's Services

Read this great introduction to libraries and blogging

Week One. About Learning 2.0

2007-08-17T16:20:00.000+08:00

Week 1
# 1. Read about Web2.0 and Learning 2.0

What is Web2.0 and why will it affect libraries?
Web 2.0 is the next phase of the internet and will have a huge influence on libraries. Whereas the first phase was largely static in that users tapped into the Internet for information Web 2.0 will be characterised by collaboration and interaction. Users will no longer be just consumers but will contributors to web content and interact directly with other users. Many library staff are already getting into Web 2.0 with the creation of podcasts, blogs, wikis, arranging RSS feeds and in other ways. However, it is very important that all staff be brought up to date with Web 2.0 because of the significant impact it will have on libraries and how we work and provide services.

What is Learning 2.0?
The term Library 2.0 has been coined to define how Web 2.0 will affect libraries. Libraries have been developing professional development programs to help them gain the new skills and awareness of Web 2.0. Learning 2.0 is one such program.Christine MacKenzie, Director of Yarra Plenty Regional Library, gave a paper at ALIA’s Information Online Conference on Learning 2.0, a library staff development program based around Web 2.0 technologies. MacKenzie also had an article in the December 2006 issue of Incite.

The Yarra Plenty's Learning 2.0 program is based on a program developed in the US at Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library. The program has been licensed under the Creative Commons and is freely available for other libraries to use.

What is ECU Library doing about Learning 2.0?
ECU Library will evaluate the Learning 2.0 program during semester one 2007 with a pilot group of six library staff. The library then plans to implement the program later in semester 2 2007.

This project being set up by Julia Gross and Lyn Leslie will provide the means to efficiently pass on the knowledge and skills that we will require in the near future.

Learning 2.0 consists of 23 Things that library staff can do on the web, to explore and expand their knowledge of Web 2.0 technologies. The 23 Things are discovery exercises in technologies such as blogging, RSS feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting, online applications, video and image hosting sites. Staff work through the discovery exercises each week. The whole program will take about 9 weeks to complete.

Here is ECU's list of 23Things

In Week Two you will get into blogging. The program will run through the Blog, with new exercises posted each week.

Exercises

Have a good look around what is on the ECU Learning 2.0 blog at http://eculibrarylearning.blogspot.com/ This might look like just another website and, in a way it is, but it is set up as a blog using Blogger. Each week a new blog will be posted to this site.

Check out the ECU Learning 2.0 Learning 2.0 program blog and their blog of the 23 Things ECU’s Learning 2.0 program was adapted from PLCMC.

Explore some of the Yarra Plenty Regional Library Learning 2.0 blog

Reading

The main reading for this week is the Maness article Library 2.0 theory: Web 2.0 and its implications for libraries

Read also The C’s of Our Sea Change: Plans for Training Staff, from Core Competencies to LEARNING 2.0

This is a good recent article and gives more background on Learning 2.0 as an online self-discovery program that encourages library professionals to dive right in to new Web 2.0 technologies.

Check out the blog posts on the in the coming weeks, as there will be instructions and links for you to follow. The blog has been set up to chart our progress in ECU Library Learning 2.0. The program will run through the blog which has been set up on Blogger. Each Monday the next lot of tasks will be released to the blog.

In Week Two you will learn more about blogs and set up your own blog.

Tip: Multiple Passwords

During the coming weeks, as there will be exercises requiring you to set up logins to various websites. It would make sense to have a handy spot to record all your passwords for these!

Getting Started with 23 Things 2007

2007-03-17T13:37:00.000+08:00

Getting Started at ECU Library Learning 2.0 2007
There are 23 Things that you can do on the web to explore and expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0. Staff should aim to complete all 23 items on this list by 23 November 2007. These 23 Things are self-paced discovery exercises. You are encouraged to work at a rate that fits in with your work schedule. It's all about team work, so consult your colleagues if you need help. The weekly schedule of 23 Things is to help you stay on track. Each week starting in 2o August a new set of exercises will be published on this Blog. Read the FAQ for more information. Above all, have fun with it!