Week 16 - at last!

Have had look at the web 2.0 directory and the web 2.0 award winners. It is really amazing what is available. I would really like to be more disciplined and set aside some time to investigate further but.....

I have really enjoyed doing this course and if nothing else I now have a much greater awareness of some of the we 2.0 technologies. What did I like most? igoogle, rollyo, del.icio.us, google tools especially maps and earth, and the image generators. I will do some more work on RSS feeds, wikis and letterpop as I would like to incorporate these into my work.
This has has been a great learning experience and thankyou to Leslie and Lynette for their support and guidance.

One thing I have definitely learnt is that I have no interest in blogging - reading or writing!

Week 15 Flow charts

I quite like the idea of mind maps to help in decision making but after numerous attempts I could not get my head around these sites. I am sure it is reasonably simple but after spending the whole day on a computer my mind seems to stop functioning at 5 pm- if I could maintain my concentration I am sure a mind map might prove useful. If nothing else, at least I am aware of these sites and what they can offer and at another time I might try again

Week 12 Youtube

How could you not like this site. Such amazing stuff! I easily found a clip of the drumming at the opening of the Olympics, which I had not seen. I can now understand why everyone was raving - follow the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28pPsDU_F8c

On a more professional level. A couple of months a go we video taped a professional development session we ran and placed it on googlevideo so our country members could access it. On the whole the concept worked but we need to refine the technology and camera skills. We are definitely thinking about using it again.

Week 13 e-books and audio books

I was quite amazed at the number of titles available. Personally as I like reading in the prone position whether it be bed, bath or beach I much prefer the idea of a real book. I also like the idea of selecting real books from libraries and book shops. I didn't find the search mechanism particularly good.

I liked the idea of the audio books and may introduce my partially blind mother to them - at the risk of overloading my Father's download limits! On the couple of segments I listened to I found the voices very irritating and not sure if I could handle 8-10 hours of listening

Week 14 LetterPop

How easy was that. I can see all sorts of possibilities for letter pop - especially invitations. All I need is to get some suitable photos to upload. I also might try to design a Library newsletter but will need to play around with the graphics and work out the content and how best to present it to the masses

Week 11 podcasts

As indicated there are podcasts on every topic. Had a look at podcastalley.com but really couldn't make head or tail of it so just did a google search - what else! and also checked out the ABC site. Set up a feed using the 'add a gadget' function, which worked except the links aren't live - which probably indicates it didn't work! not sure what else I can do to get the live links.

Week 10 Rollyo

I really like this resource and will certainly be returning to play a bit more. You could do so much with it both personally and professionally. I plan to demonstrate this resource to many of my colleagues and I expect they will be equally impressed.

Week 9 Wikis

Still running behind schedule and trying to catch up. Have spent a lot of time perusing the different wikis. The site I found most useful was Meredith Farkas " Using wikis to create online communities" It very simply, which is what I need, explained the history and development of wikis and suggested various ways they can be utilised. The wiki established for the Northern suburbs was a great example of what can be done but it would be interesting to know how often it is added to a by who. Not sure when it was created but there seemed to be a lot of empty space but the potential is there if not the contributors.
Not sure if I missed something but I am still not sure, if I wanted to, how I would actually go about setting up a wiki.
Unfortunately the use of wikis is our our workplace is at the moment a no go zone but things may change in the future. At least now I have an idea of what a wiki is.

Week 8 Social Bookmarking

Running a bit behind time with the weekly activities - that's what happens when you take leave.
Had a look at Del.icio.us. Have added the buttons to my tool bar and started to save favourites, which is something I haven't done for years. I found it very easy to set up and now use on an almost daily basis. I can see how this could be useful in the workplace - especially being able to access and share favourites from any PC and with anyone. Particularly good for people working on same project.

Week 7 iGoogle

Have just added all the gadgets to my iGoogle page. There is so much to choose from but I wonder how much of it is really useful. Manged to get my blog added but could not make an entry as I had created the blog under a different account to the iGoogle page. I am a bit confused about all these accounts and will need to go back streamline things so everything appears together.

As for Google I find it so easy to use and I am so surprised about how much there is to use beyond the search capacity. I have just purchased a laptop for home and will certainly be adding to my iGoogle page.

I have read various articles about working at Google about there creative work spaces, bringing animals to work etc etc but I read recently that the average salary for Google Aust staff was $170,000! Do they employ middle aged librarians???

week 6 GoogleTools

I enjoyed this activity especially google maps - managed to get a full list of all the restaurants and cafes in st kilda. So now I know where they are and how to contact them. Google maps would also be great for sending directions to people coming to visit the library.

I am not to sure about the directions supplied to get from point A-B. Although I would arrive at my destination there were more direct routes than those given. I had fun checking this out.


Google docs was interesting but as we are totally microsoft focused here at work I see little use for it. It could be usefil at home.


The thing I do like about all the google tools is the portability/accessibility. I have set up an Igoogle account and now I can access all my 'stuff' whenever I am logged on - this includes emails, documents, photos and my blog!

Week 5 My Space & Facebook

I have very little to 'blog' about this topic. Not for me and nor the Library

Week 4 RSS feeds

Using Google reader I have subscribed to various RSS feeds including the blog of a friend travelling overseas - I thought this was very innovative! I also made the mistake of subscribing to ABC online - way too much information! I want to know how people find the time to read so much, let alone add to other blogs and maintain their own. Is it just me or are others also feeling inadequate due to the fact, like me they really have little or no interest or spare time to follow such pursuits. Having said that I do intend to incorporate some rss feeds into my intranet site - that is, of course, once the IT department work out what a rss reader is!

Library Thing

I thought I would try to locate some of the books I added to our nursing collection today - all very health related and probably a bit dull for the regular reader. Couldn't find any of them using the the ISBN search which was very disappointing as I had vision of incorporating this resource into the library intranet site. Might revisit at a later stage. Then I just chose 5 novels to add to my library. All of them were included in many other libraries. As per usual I am having trouble uploading the graphics

Dirt Music : A Novel
Dreaming of the Bones
Road Rage (A Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery)…
Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China
With No One as Witness (Thomas Lynley and Bar…

Week Three - image generators

I created this image very easily although it did have some flashing bits in image chef which seem to have disappeared. What a fantastic site.

This was created using Image Chef http://www.imagechef.com/

MDNS Nurses & Bikes 1919

Nursing&Bikes 1919
Originally uploaded by febcats56

Photo held in the Royal District Nursing Service Historical Collection. Uploaded 26/5/08

MDNS Nurses & Cars1919

Nursing&Cars1919
Originally uploaded by febcats56

Uploaded 26/5/08. Photo is part of the the royal District Nursing Service Historical Collection

Flickr

For a task that seemed fairly simple this has taken forever. Finding Flickr and having a look was fun. Found some great photos of one of my favourite spots - Inverloch. But having to set up a yahoo account, a yahoo email and a flickr account took ages - and another lot passwords -and then there were all the adds to wade through! Give me the simplicity of google anytime. Managed to upload some more historic photos into Flickr. Should I have been able to upload the photos onto this blogg? If so I missed the 'Button'. So here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/26822782@N07/

OK, have now added the images - it makes a difference when you check out the icons more carefully.

Sorry images didn't upload. Just left with a blank space. You will need to use the link.

I am still feeling very bamboozled by all of this - does anyone else feel the same?

Week 2

Have had a look at some of the other blogs and obviously my lack of imagination and literary talent is definitly showing. I have decided I am not a bloggy person. It takes a lot of effort and time to investigate what is out there let alone maintain a presence on my own minimalist blog. Perhaps I will have a greater affinity with Flicka or delicious. Oh and where is the spell checker?

Hello to all fellow bloggers

Have finally got round to setting up the blogg and posting first message. Not being a member of the Govt libraries group I would like to introduce myself. I am Jane Edwards and manage the Library at the Royal District Nursing Service here in Melbourne - yes we are the nurses who drive the white cars and visit people in their own homes. At RDNS we employ 1200 staff based at 23 sites across Melbourne. The Library is situated at the Head Office in St Kilda. I am looking forward to getting to know you through the course of this program.