The final post

It never ceases to amaze me what's out there on the web. The more I think I know, the more I don't know and NEED to. So, thank you Jayne Gutry for organising the web 2.0 training. It's been a lovely journey of discovery; I especially enjoyed setting up my blog, checking out the web 2.0 award winners plus seeing all those easy-to-understand YouTube tutorials by LeeLeFree. A+!

W9, pt trois: NetLibrary & Downloadable Media

So, it was only last Friday that I got a customer inquiry about NetLibrary, from the Pt Chev branch. The title in question was The Law Of Hippocrates, and there were only two pages when I got to the record. I know nothing about the Hippocratic oath, and thought, just as the Pt Chev librarian had, that surely this book covers more than five points spread over two pages! But, alas, the record was right, and we were quite wrong. So, NetLibrary, you rock!

It's a little disconcerting that one of Oscar Wilde's most celebrated works, An Ideal Husband, isn't available as a eAudio book via Downloadable Media! I have a soft spot for him, so I can recommend this title, which is available: The Importance of being Earnest.

What can I say? eBooks and eAudio books are just fantastic for commuters.

W9 pt deux: Podcasting

My other half if a Mac snob, so I was introduced to his podcasts via iTunes years ago. Very cool. Even now that I'm a PC netbook user, I've stuck to getting podcasts from iTunes - it's such an awesome access system/channel. I listen to a French station -  'Classique and Jazz' - which is just so fab - jazz for free!

Anyway, I checked out a the following directories:

PodcastDirectory:
As I wrote the recommendations for podcasting and multimedia recently for the ACL web content review, I thought I found a rough diamond in this screencast. It talks about how to do podcast book reviews: http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/4672360 - how great is this!?

Podiobooks: http://www.podiobooks.com/title/letter-from-china - fantastic quality for a first choice audio book I found on the web in seconds. It's an insight into China, a country I know so little about, but is a vast and growing nation, with scary consequences e.g. slave labour, people having no access to Facebook (aren't I lucky?), and widespread poverty plus animal abuse. Nuts! Fascinating. Saddening. Even tho the narrator sounds a little robotic, his narration is still clear and easy to listen and follow. So many Chinese immigrants in NZ have a hard life.

Podcastalley.com seems to want me to dl software before I can subscribe, which I'm loathe to do as I already have iTunes. No thanks this time round.

W9 pt uno: YouTube

OMG. If I can write dialogue like this, I probably wouldn't still be an online editor. YouTube rocks, I can link to all sorts of crazy adventures about virtual libraries, library scenes from movies etc but hey, this is FUN, so enjoy the rocking scene from Thank You For Smoking.

W8: Online docs & winning sites

Before I got my job @ ACL, I was working for a small web co in Onehunga. This co went all progressive and decided that Google aps and docs were the way to go. He wanted full collaboration. In fact, we set up docs that we were editing simultaneously in real time! Wow, I thought to myself: "Imagine writing a screenplay this way!" You'd complete it in no time!" So here's the link to my Google doc: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AT5xhAjP5yMMZGZkYjZwdGRfMG43ZjR2Mg&hl=en I set up just for the web 2 requirement.

I love Zoho too, but couldn't figure out how to link to a Zoho doc from this post.

OK, so I initially picked the winner for the SEOmoz 08 winner in the food category, and, hmm, the site didn't grab me in 2 seconds, so I moved on, and stumbled across One Sentence: http://www.onesentence.org/, the honourable mention in the Fun Stuff category. Well, I got onto the site, which is about true stories told in one sentence, and I found myself riveted. I love the ratings system, how the ups and downs balance things out. I really liked this one-sentence story:


true love

After 10 years of counseling, a full time career, and the support of 4 children, my dad still cries every night at the loss of Mom.

oh, and this one:

myfairmaybe

When he told his four-year-old daughter that the doctor just needed to look at her eyes to make sure they were okay, she whispered, "Will he put them back in when he's done looking at them?"

I don't know about you, but this is probably the first time i've stumbled across a site that had a sentence that could make me cry.

Like I said, the rating system is so groovy I'd like to plant that on the ACL site somewhere!

W7: Wiki woohoo

Well, aren't wikis fun? I've even taken the liberty of tidying up the T&D wiki homepage on the Zone for us! It's a way for me to get started on wiki-ing myself into the online world.

Actually, I've recently had the chance to do quite a bit of work for the Chinese Digital Community, which happens to be a wiki and one of Auckland City Libraries' sister site. We held a successful competition for Chinese New Year last month and the page views were off the charts (Unique visitors increased by 700%, and page views went up 900% during the month compared to the monthly average). Yes, it's very collaborative and a great way for the community to share information: stories, articles, research, images, video, audio.

So I've added my blog to the fave blogs page, and some movies to the fave movies page. It's fun, but I sure don't like the messy look of an amateur wiki site. Doesn't work for me!

Which reminds me, I should see if there's anything to update or tidy up for ACL on Wikipedia!

W6, pt 3: Library 4.0?

I believe ACL is as advanced as it can be for the online world of libraries. The video about web 2.0 is an apt summary of how the web has evolved into an online social place. People and what they do are ultimately what makes interesting reading and viewing on the web.

While our site, www.aucklandcitylibraries.com, hosts a number of web 2.0 features (tag clouds, My Discovery, RSS, shareability), it is still not the social space it can be. In fact, we’re a little bit behind the 8 ball, but we’re getting there! Roll on, Twitter! At least we can try to get some sort of two-way communication going with Twitter… hopefully!

The article ‘To a temporary place in time...’ is pointing towards library 4.0 which includes a “knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought. In companies, this may take the form of retreat space for thought leaders, considered an investment in innovation; in public libraries, the luxurious details will require private partners as sponsors providing the sensory treats.”

Sounds like a sci-fi movie to me, but I’d like to be there!