Still Week Ten: Wrap up

(image courtesy of http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ )


Well, that's me finally completed the course - trust me to leave it till the last day!

I have really enjoyed learning more about web2.0 and can see already that I am using my newly acquired skills.

I have started a new blog for my business ( http://karritreelane.blogspot.com/ )  and am excited about the opportunities that this year will bring, all those new situations where we can utilise our new skills in the library setting. The suggestion at COC libraries to create a procedure manual wiki is interesting, I can see great benefits in each staff member being able to edit and comment on current procedures.

The comments that I'd like to make about the course are pretty minor, so I'll just make them dot points:

• the timing of the course (over Christmas/New Year holidays) made it difficult to maintain momentum
• some of the technologies have been blocked by our council PCs. This made the 1 hour allocated to us during work time spill over into our home time. While that seems insignificant it's not always easy to find time at home to watch this clips or browse podcasts.

Some ways that I'd like to see City of Cockburn libraries take up this new technology

• combining with the youth workers to organise geocaching activities (perhaps as part of their school holiday activities)
• all staff members being able to contribute to and comment on the staff blog
• more staff members contributing to the public blog and facebook page
• all staff participating in the creation of and maintenance of a procedure manual wiki or similar

My favourite parts of the course were

• seeing a little part of each member's personality shining through in their personal blogs
• participating and understanding a little more about twitter, which I thought was a huge time waster initially however have come to appreciate more and more
• learning more about maintaining and personalising my own blog with widgets etc
• discovering the joys of delicious and other social bookmarking websites

And that's it from me!  Thank you to the coordinators and facilitators of the course, I think that you've done an amazing thing for WA public library staff :D

Week Ten: Geocaching

image courtesy of geocaching.com

I can actually see myself having a bit of fun with geocaching, I like the idea of participating as a family with my children, and teaching them that there's more to the world than computers, books and skateboarding!

The idea of trying to attract youth into participating seems optimistic, I remember being a teen and heading of on orienteering courses, filled with disdain for this utter waste of my time... I suppose if we tried to catch the kids a little younger we'd have more chance ;)

I would be willing to investigate geocaching further for our library service, though here in the Cooby Hood the chances of a cache remaining unvandalised are zilch.zip.nada.zero  ...sigh...

I looked at a few of the geocaching that other libraries are undertaking and felt that similar set ups could work for the City of Cockburn, we have this awesome area at Manning Park which would be perfect for cache hiding. Shame there's no cafe there though (sometimes I get the feeling that my life is ruled by access to caffeine).

Week Nine: Podcasts

So, I've been a bit busy this last month and am only just getting a chance to finish off this course.

Must do it by the end of the month so that my iPhone can have a chance of getting a big brother!

The computers here at work drive me mental, they never seem to play ball and let me listen to the podcasts that I find. Never have that problem at home on my iMac ;)

Here's a link to a page that I thought library folk may appreciate - an insight into upcoming publications and reviews http://booksonthenightstand.com/
I can think of many times when libraries could make good use of this technology, if only our IT systems were agreeable and played along... Podcasts of storytimes and guest speakers are an ideal way of storing and sharing information and entertainment.

I have used podcasts in the past for a number of reasons, one thing that comes to mind is more of a live streaming, when I've watched and listened to the Senate Inquiries through the Federal Parliament website. They can be very interesting if you choose your topic wisely!

Week Eight: Online video

Oh, how to choose a video to embed!  There are over 36 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute - there must be a better way of catching up with the latest popular videos...



YouTube is a great way to spread information, contact customers and entertain. There are certainly ways that the libraries can use online video.



Personally I love YouTube for the 15 minutes it buys me to complete a task uninterrupted by my little ones - I have set up play lists with all of their favourite clips, including Justine Clarke and the Muppets, and this lovely song which never fails to indicate the start of nap/rest time.

Week Seven: Social Networking, Facebook and Twitter

Facebook, I resisted for years until finally a friend convinced me to register last year.

'It'll be great for your business!' she claimed...
Well, it has been, I've slowly grown my friend list and am able to use my business page to keep customers up to date with what's happening in Karri Tree Lane world. 

It is also a huge timesucker and is crap in comparison to Real Life Interaction. I am wary of my family's safety, and have pretty tight security settings.

Used appropriately Facebook is great, yet so many people seem to be able to get in the poo through being naive or stupid, I am really pretty unsympathetic! 


Twitter...  I am pretending to experiment with twitter, tbh I just don't understand the appeal.  I have my business facebook page set up to automatically update twitter, this works well enough for me ;)  I already have a hard enough time keeping up with the emails that I'm sent everyday never mind interacting with people on both facebook and twitter.  

In a library setting I suppose I can see the benefits of both Facebook and Twitter, depending on the demographic that you're trying to engage with.  You can follow my Web2.0 twitters at @2point0beth

Week Six: Delicious and Library Thing

So, Delicious has cheered me up a little from the Wiki debacle. 

I can see great benefit in social bookmarking, it will mean that I don't have to hobble from the work room to the librarian's office on my busted toe to see those wall stickers. I can just click on her tag cloud and browse all those favourite sites at my (seated) leisure.

I created an account on Delicious with the view of keeping it long term, however, it was showing way too much of my personal info (having linked in to my legit Yahoo account). So, I deleted that one and started again.  You can find me here    I am hoping to add to this list the rest of my suppliers and other sites of interest, and use it to keep track of all those cool products I find while researching (in all that free time I have).  I can also see how it will be useful for my customers and library clients.

On to Library Thing.

Library Thing is awesome, I love it! Sadly I don't seem to be able to prioritse reading for entertainment at this point in my life, by the time I get home from work, spend some time with the children and catch up on my business stuff, getting to sleep is much higher on my list of priorites than reading.  I really do love to read though so hopefully things will settle down again soon and I can get back into it!  I have added some titles to my Library Thing library and will get to that widget now.

I can see how useful Library Thing is in a public library setting, I think that my mums' group 'Book Club' should start our own account - perhaps we could turn book club into more than an excuse to disappear for a few hours in the evening once a month!

Week Five: Wikis

Well, after following all of the instructions, writing my contribution to the Web 2.0 wetpaint wiki and thn managing to not save  my work, I have a little bit of Friday Afternoon Rage to release...

I am suspicious of Wikis. I will put it down to my complete control freak nature, and leave it at that. I am sure that they are highly valuble, I read (don't contribute to) wikipedia regularly but always with the thought that more than one reference point is invaluble.

And in the news constantly, WikiLeaks.org
Sigh. I think it's time for the Friday night sundowner. All this reality is making my head hurt.

Bring on some sunshiny happy blog posts, next week perhaps? :S

Week Four: RSS Feeds

I've been having fun adding RSS feeds to my google reader - it's funny where interesting pages pop up!

Some I've added from links friends have posted on Facebook. Others I've found while reading from websites already in my fave's list.

A few of particular interest include:

http://dismantle.org.au/  This one my Dad forwarded me in an email

http://cockburnlibraries.blogspot.com/  I've been enjoying reading about Graphic Novels courtesy of a colleague

http://www.mamamoontime.com/2010/11/50-alternatives-to-gifting-toys-for.html  This one was posted extensively on Facebook by friends, we're very big on sustainability in our house so I've subscribed to the blog to keep up to date with other ideas :D

http://pictureseatpeople.blogspot.com/   And this blog is adorable! Though I find the text hard to read on the work PCs (I'm a Mac user at heart)

http://swanlibraries-2-0.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default   I have managed to subscribe to the course work feed, though it didn't give the option of adding to my Google Reader page initially. So I copied and pasted the link into the box on my GReader page ;)

I can certainly see the benefits of using the RSS feeds, both as a consumer and creater of information sharing.

It is a very handy time saver.

Week Three: Sharing Images

This is the International Breastfeeding Symbol.

It is available to share freely for non commercial gain.

It is used by businesses and public locations to show acceptance of breastfeeding families, and I think it's great! Anything that normalises breastfeeding as the optimal food for babies is a great help.

Here is a link to some places that this symbol has been seen in use:

http://mothering.com/breastfeeding/international-breastfeeding-symbol-photos

And a photo of some famous friends!

I've breastfed my 3 boys in so many places over the 7 years I've been a mum, but the support I've had from my managers at work has been awesome - when my oldest was a baby he would visit me every work day for a lunch time feed in the tea room at work. Never an eyelid batted by colleagues, always just a friendly hello. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all libraries displayed  'Breastfeeding welcome here' stickers, available from the Australian Breastfeeding Association? You can request one for your workplace here:

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/advocacy/welcome.html



Ooh, a blog with purpose!

How exciting, a firm prompt to encourage me to get my head around these somewhat foreboding technologies!  I often find myself needing a sharp shove in the direction of change, finding comfort and solace in the known... I still remember the slight feelings of frustration when our librarian took away the electric typewriter and insisted that we become familiar with printing labels from the computer - who's the dinosaur here? 

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

I thought it would be useful for me to use this blog as a practice run, and keeping a record as I gain new skills, which I will put to good use in my work and personal life.  So, here goes nothing :D  Let the fun begin!