I looked at both the Web 2.0 awards nominees and winners. I liked how they set out the list of winners in the different categories.
Looking back over the program I am still wowed with Google maps Australia and the variety of views – street map, satellite, terrain and the get directions feature. Google maps will be another site to explore the world when the need arises. I also had a look at Google Earth from the local Library and found it amazing. Again I could spend endless hours on this site.
I recall this phrase from Steve Moneghetti, “There is a beginning, a middle then another beginning…”
To Lesley and Lynette a special thank you for overseeing this journey. It was enjoyable although I had a few moments of hesitation with some of the activities.
It certainly has given us some awareness of what is out there. I can see we have barely scratched the surface. I think the activities chosen were quite useful and relevant for us to consider at the workplace. The only problem is having enough time to really explore when there is so much else to do. New web tools will be developed and enhanced continually.
It would be great to continue this ongoing learning.
Now comes the challenging part. How can we use some of these tools to enhance, engage and enrich our services we provide to current and potential customers?
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Flow charts
More new tools this week that you can share and use on the Internet.
I’ve had little need to use either flow charts or mindmaps on a computer before.
I had a look at Gliffy and Mindmeister.
Both have useful purposes as some tasks are best set out diagrammatically.
At this stage I’m more likely to use a flow chart program for org charts or floor plans.
I’ve had little need to use either flow charts or mindmaps on a computer before.
I had a look at Gliffy and Mindmeister.
Both have useful purposes as some tasks are best set out diagrammatically.
At this stage I’m more likely to use a flow chart program for org charts or floor plans.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Newsletters in a pop!
Another impressive tool.
Where do I start with such a choice of templates?
After looking at a number of categories, I’ve decided to continue with my Pawtraits theme.
Enjoy my newsletter
Where do I start with such a choice of templates?
After looking at a number of categories, I’ve decided to continue with my Pawtraits theme.
Enjoy my newsletter
Sunday, August 10, 2008
E-Books and audio books
Mindboggling! What a wealth of information out there in this site. I found the search facility easy to use.
I was impressed with the range of material available from world public library and the free sources available from Project Gutenberg.
What a great way of preserving and providing access to a vast amount of material.
For the visually impaired or those who love talking books another avenue to source items for old, out of print and where copyright has expired items.
We all get those odd book requests from time to time.
Monday, August 4, 2008
YouTube
I have never visited this site before, so much choice of video available for viewing and sharing.
Because of the note about the large bandwidth of videos and music, I looked at some short clips only. The quality of picture and sound was pretty good. I did not go to the high resolution video because of bandwidth issues. I found the search facility easy to use.
It was no surprise to see Google has a presence with videos as well.
The clips I looked at included Goodbye Peter Cundall and That’s your bloomin’ lot
Gardening Australia will not be the same without him. I watched his last television ‘Gardening Australia’ program which was screened recently. His knowledge of gardening is immense and you could feel his energy and passion. I had to include his iconic signoff.
Fortunately, he will be continuing his writing so his words of wisdom and tips will continue.
Due to the popularity of Youtube, it could be a useful tool for Libraries as a marketing tool. It would be a way of engaging Library staff to capture special events and activities of the Library and organisation.
Again with this tool, I have barely scratched the surface, so much more time is required to explore.
Because of the note about the large bandwidth of videos and music, I looked at some short clips only. The quality of picture and sound was pretty good. I did not go to the high resolution video because of bandwidth issues. I found the search facility easy to use.
It was no surprise to see Google has a presence with videos as well.
The clips I looked at included Goodbye Peter Cundall and That’s your bloomin’ lot
Gardening Australia will not be the same without him. I watched his last television ‘Gardening Australia’ program which was screened recently. His knowledge of gardening is immense and you could feel his energy and passion. I had to include his iconic signoff.
Fortunately, he will be continuing his writing so his words of wisdom and tips will continue.
Due to the popularity of Youtube, it could be a useful tool for Libraries as a marketing tool. It would be a way of engaging Library staff to capture special events and activities of the Library and organisation.
Again with this tool, I have barely scratched the surface, so much more time is required to explore.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Podcasts
Podcasts provide a wealth of information covering so many subjects whether educational, current affairs or for recreational purposes.
I found postcastalley a bit overwhelming because of the large number of programs available.
To limit my content, I specifically looked at ABC radio. I used itunes to download The great train show with Tim Fischer and Market report by Michael Pascoe.
After downloading the podcast, you have the freedom of choosing when you want to listen as well as a variety of devices (MP3 player/ipod or computer) to hear them.
However, I see a great deal of potential for Podcasts.
In the educational field they would assist in revolutionising and enhancing self paced learning.
Museums, art galleries and libraries could add value to their collections by using podcasts for self guided tours, special events and exhibitions.
Organisations could post updates, seminars etc where they need to communicate to the public.
For the visually impaired, aged or sick, podcasts could provide another option for entertainment or educational purposes.
For myself I’ll need a lot more time to explore, to find something I’d like to listen to regularly. At the moment, reading, the radio and music keeps me busy on the train journeys to work.
I found postcastalley a bit overwhelming because of the large number of programs available.
To limit my content, I specifically looked at ABC radio. I used itunes to download The great train show with Tim Fischer and Market report by Michael Pascoe.
After downloading the podcast, you have the freedom of choosing when you want to listen as well as a variety of devices (MP3 player/ipod or computer) to hear them.
However, I see a great deal of potential for Podcasts.
In the educational field they would assist in revolutionising and enhancing self paced learning.
Museums, art galleries and libraries could add value to their collections by using podcasts for self guided tours, special events and exhibitions.
Organisations could post updates, seminars etc where they need to communicate to the public.
For the visually impaired, aged or sick, podcasts could provide another option for entertainment or educational purposes.
For myself I’ll need a lot more time to explore, to find something I’d like to listen to regularly. At the moment, reading, the radio and music keeps me busy on the train journeys to work.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Rollyo
The Rollyo image reminded me of those red and white boiled sweets. With del.icio.us/ I now have all my websites in one place that I can tag, share and access from anywhere.
With Rollyo I can now group websites together and search all of these at the same time. I found it easy to set up, edit and delete searchrolls.
I've retained 2 searchrolls and ran a few random searches. However, the search box is quite basic and I'm not sure how the results are ordered.
For a teaching environment, it may be useful to restrict students to the sites they search. However, the contrary view would be for students to learn to evaluate web sites of value to use and trust.
At this stage I’m not sure how useful Rollyo will be to me. I’ll have to explore further and use when an opportunity arises.
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With Rollyo I can now group websites together and search all of these at the same time. I found it easy to set up, edit and delete searchrolls.
I've retained 2 searchrolls and ran a few random searches. However, the search box is quite basic and I'm not sure how the results are ordered.
For a teaching environment, it may be useful to restrict students to the sites they search. However, the contrary view would be for students to learn to evaluate web sites of value to use and trust.
At this stage I’m not sure how useful Rollyo will be to me. I’ll have to explore further and use when an opportunity arises.
div style='margin: 10px; text-align: center; width: 160px;'>
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wikis
The use of wikis has certainly blossomed. They cover a large range of topics and purposes.
Wikis have a number of similarities to the other tools we have encountered in this program. These involve sharing, collaboration, ease of use and ability to add and edit, as well as the ability to link to other sites.
Congratulations on WikiNorthia!
What an innovative project by libraries from various councils working collaboratively on this project. I can see endless opportunities for other sectors, including business, educational institutions and community groups to become engaged and involved. I think this should be eventually rolled out to cover all areas of Victoria.
Organisations including our own are developing wikis as a knowledge management tool. Staff can offer ideas for changes or new information via a co-ordinator who overseas the content. This is used to maintain the integrity of data quality.
On reflection, I see wikis as an extension and development of database tools that we have previously used in Libraries. However, the differences are in the addition of all the web tools which have made wikis a very powerful tool.
Congratulations on WikiNorthia!
What an innovative project by libraries from various councils working collaboratively on this project. I can see endless opportunities for other sectors, including business, educational institutions and community groups to become engaged and involved. I think this should be eventually rolled out to cover all areas of Victoria.
Organisations including our own are developing wikis as a knowledge management tool. Staff can offer ideas for changes or new information via a co-ordinator who overseas the content. This is used to maintain the integrity of data quality.
On reflection, I see wikis as an extension and development of database tools that we have previously used in Libraries. However, the differences are in the addition of all the web tools which have made wikis a very powerful tool.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Social bookmarking
Another account and password to remember!
The process of registering with del.icio.us was straightforward and easy to navigate.
I added a few different types of sites to test this out. It was interesting to see how many other people had the sites bookmarked.
I checked a few of these to see if there were other sites within this tag which would be of interest to me. User notes were also interesting.
The concept of having access to your favorite sites and being able to add tags is great. It would be particularly useful if your work involved travel so that you could log into your sites from anywhere around the world.
I think this would be a useful educational and research tool (like on the Youtube video clip) as people connected together for example in some research could use this tool to collaborate and share their knowledge. I know of one speaker/presenter who uses this site to access their favourites.
I would use this site if I was travelling for an extended period and have all my favourites in one place.
The process of registering with del.icio.us was straightforward and easy to navigate.
I added a few different types of sites to test this out. It was interesting to see how many other people had the sites bookmarked.
I checked a few of these to see if there were other sites within this tag which would be of interest to me. User notes were also interesting.
The concept of having access to your favorite sites and being able to add tags is great. It would be particularly useful if your work involved travel so that you could log into your sites from anywhere around the world.
I think this would be a useful educational and research tool (like on the Youtube video clip) as people connected together for example in some research could use this tool to collaborate and share their knowledge. I know of one speaker/presenter who uses this site to access their favourites.
I would use this site if I was travelling for an extended period and have all my favourites in one place.
Friday, June 27, 2008
iGoogle
I was not sure what I was letting myself in for with this exercise.
One of the advantages of the iGoogle page is that you can customize and change it to have all your Google tools and gadgets in the one place. A bit like a one stop shop.
I found it quite easy to add new stuff once you got the hang of it. There was so much to choose from. I liked the minimize feature so that the important stuff to you (like the map search, the Weather, latest news etc) was prominent on the page with the tools like google docs, editgrid spreadsheets in the minimized size.
I also had fun experimenting with changing the artist theme and select theme tabs. You could never get bored with your iGoogle page with so much choice for colours, moods and tastes.
Working at Google
It’s so different from a traditional workplace most of us know. In the careers part of the Saturday Age, they have a regular feature about perks of the job which I find interesting. Google surpasses all of these.
This philosophy is used to attract and retain the best people so that all their energies are channeled into developing and improving new and innovative tools. It certainly has worked with the success of Google. Our exercises these past two weeks has given us an opportunity to explore some of these.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the retirement of Bill Gates at Microsoft and how these two rivals develop.
One of the advantages of the iGoogle page is that you can customize and change it to have all your Google tools and gadgets in the one place. A bit like a one stop shop.
I found it quite easy to add new stuff once you got the hang of it. There was so much to choose from. I liked the minimize feature so that the important stuff to you (like the map search, the Weather, latest news etc) was prominent on the page with the tools like google docs, editgrid spreadsheets in the minimized size.
I also had fun experimenting with changing the artist theme and select theme tabs. You could never get bored with your iGoogle page with so much choice for colours, moods and tastes.
Working at Google
It’s so different from a traditional workplace most of us know. In the careers part of the Saturday Age, they have a regular feature about perks of the job which I find interesting. Google surpasses all of these.
This philosophy is used to attract and retain the best people so that all their energies are channeled into developing and improving new and innovative tools. It certainly has worked with the success of Google. Our exercises these past two weeks has given us an opportunity to explore some of these.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the retirement of Bill Gates at Microsoft and how these two rivals develop.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Google tools
Wow! I was not aware of the variety and range of tools that are available and still growing. It’s no wonder it is referred to as the new Microsoft.
Google docs
It was easy to create a new document or upload a document from one of your files. There were sufficient editing and formatting tools. It would be great for collaborative group work especially for academics and business.
Google maps. Working through the exercises was a great way to see the range of information available.
I was very impressed with the directions between A and B. Great for letting people know how to get to places and no more reasons to get lost.
I checked out a few favourite country gems to use the satellite and terrain function and was impressed with the detail and quality of the maps.
Google booksearch
I added this as another favourite to use to find books. Tested this out with a book I recently purchased. I was surprised to find additional information in this instance, a summary of the report that you could download.
I liked the additional links on the page where you could purchase; borrow the book as well as the reviews and contents pages.
Google docs
It was easy to create a new document or upload a document from one of your files. There were sufficient editing and formatting tools. It would be great for collaborative group work especially for academics and business.
Google maps. Working through the exercises was a great way to see the range of information available.
I was very impressed with the directions between A and B. Great for letting people know how to get to places and no more reasons to get lost.
I checked out a few favourite country gems to use the satellite and terrain function and was impressed with the detail and quality of the maps.
Google booksearch
I added this as another favourite to use to find books. Tested this out with a book I recently purchased. I was surprised to find additional information in this instance, a summary of the report that you could download.
I liked the additional links on the page where you could purchase; borrow the book as well as the reviews and contents pages.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
My space and Facebook
These two social networking sites were interesting to look at and provide an insight into this growing phenomenon. They have a very different purpose to those websites I access at work. This made me a little uncomfortable using these at work.
These sites are so different to how we as a generation generally communicate and use the internet.
The younger generations having gown up with constantly evolving new technology have adapted and used technology to communicate, interact, share and participate in a multi media environment in a world eliminating borders and distances.
Organisations and Libraries have to join out into this community to capture and invite the participation of this generation. The use of their tools of communication can be used to promote library services to this group. I see it a valuable resources for public and academic libraries.
Facebook
This exercise provided an opportunity to see what this is. However at this stage I don’t see any need to put myself out there. I’ll put this down to fear of the unknown, lack of knowledge, experience and exposure to this social space.
I liked Ning. I guess it was more within my comfort zone and something I could easily relate to. I guess that is how the younger generations relate to Myspace and Facebook.
These sites are so different to how we as a generation generally communicate and use the internet.
The younger generations having gown up with constantly evolving new technology have adapted and used technology to communicate, interact, share and participate in a multi media environment in a world eliminating borders and distances.
Organisations and Libraries have to join out into this community to capture and invite the participation of this generation. The use of their tools of communication can be used to promote library services to this group. I see it a valuable resources for public and academic libraries.
This exercise provided an opportunity to see what this is. However at this stage I don’t see any need to put myself out there. I’ll put this down to fear of the unknown, lack of knowledge, experience and exposure to this social space.
I liked Ning. I guess it was more within my comfort zone and something I could easily relate to. I guess that is how the younger generations relate to Myspace and Facebook.
Monday, June 2, 2008
RSS feeds and feedreaders
I have been aware of RSS for some time but had never used it…probably because it meant venturing out of my comfort zone. This program provided the perfect opportunity.
I think rss would be a useful tool for current awareness services.
Looking around the web there are plenty of sites offering rss feeds.
To test this out I added a few feeds that would be of interest to me.
Currently I receive a service of table of contents for select journals via a weekly email
You can read your feeds when you want instead of waiting for the email and you don’t have to be in the Office to check your feeds.
I chose google reader in preference to Bloglines as I had already set up an account with google setting up the blog (blogspot). Not another account and password to remember.
I think rss would be a useful tool for current awareness services.
Looking around the web there are plenty of sites offering rss feeds.
To test this out I added a few feeds that would be of interest to me.
Currently I receive a service of table of contents for select journals via a weekly email
You can read your feeds when you want instead of waiting for the email and you don’t have to be in the Office to check your feeds.
I chose google reader in preference to Bloglines as I had already set up an account with google setting up the blog (blogspot). Not another account and password to remember.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Image generators
I had many tries with this activity, so many images to choose from. The one I have selected was pretty conservative though.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Flickr
I found Flickr very interesting this week. You certainly could spend hours with this tool. A great way to share your photos.
I decided to pick a theme this week - Pawtraits. I hope you enjoy the photos.
You can find these in Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/gp/26864192@N08/42nJ2V
I wanted LuLu to be the first picture but could not get this to work.
I decided to pick a theme this week - Pawtraits. I hope you enjoy the photos.
You can find these in Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/gp/26864192@N08/42nJ2V
I wanted LuLu to be the first picture but could not get this to work.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Pawtraits
Hi my name is LuLu and I am a 3 1/2 year old dachsund. My best friend is William - an old staffordshire terrier. I love to eat as much as I can and I like to vaccuum the floor and carpet for any crumbs that I can get. Bones and sweet biscuits are my favourite foods and I also love anything that I can find in the bin. I love to have my big tummy rubbed, have cuddles and to sleep on a comfortable bed.
Hello my name is Mihu. I am a pomoodle (pomeranian cross poodle)aged two and half years. I'm very affectionate and a sweet-natured. My favourite activities are chasing tennis ball, taking naps on the sofa,and chewing any zips and buttons i find on clothes. My favourite for dinner is homemade meatloaf.
I'm Claudia, a russian blue. I had a lovely home and wonderful life with my family. I loved entertaining them by dragging socks throughout the house while performing my cat musical. When I needed to rest I found the nearest human lap, bed or couch.
Hello. My name is Yuki and I'm a 2 year old female black shaded semi-long haired burmilla. The burmilla breed arose from an accidental mating between a burmese and a chinchilla. I inherited my black eye-liner, which makes my beautiful green eyes look so big, from the chinchilla side. This picture shows me with a new toy.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
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