Podcasts [Project Play: Semester 2: week 6]

This week we got to learn about podcasts. They're a good way to share audio or video content. I took a look at some of the library podcasts. A fair number were geared toward children.

I chose to add to my bloglines subscription Uncontrolled Vocabulary : a live discussion of news, trends, and topics in librarianship. In fact, I started to listen to one of the podcasts. I didn't finish it because it was an hour long and I needed to get back to work.

I haven't really gotten into podcasts. I prefer to listen to music when I am driving in the car or doing a physical activity outdoors. I do occationally listen to an audiobook. However, I can see the value of podcasts. It is a way to get out your message using audio or video. People can then listen to it or watch it at their convenience and not worry about missing it.

Social Networking sites [Project Play: Semester 2: Week 5]

This week we took a look at social networking sites. Although I understand the attraction, I'm not totally convinced that I personally need a MySpace or Facebook page. Yet it may be a place for the library to connect with younger users, at least to start with.

My assignment is to look at 3 library myspace pages. I took a look at Oshkosh PL OurSpace, La Crosse PL , Denver Public Library , and Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. The one I liked the best was Denver's. Oshkosh's was pretty basic. LaCrosse's site seems to be about blogging. I was wondering why there wasn't a link to the Library's home page or library's services. Whereas both Charlotte and Denver' s had links to library services. Charlotte has links to the best books of 2007 for teens, a meebo link for chat, links to find out more info about the staff. Denver has links to library services: AskColorado (virtual reference service), the catalog, reference databases, youtube summer reading video.

A lot of people are using social networking sites, so I guess the library has to go where the customer is, so to speak. But I think gearing a library's social networking site toward teens would be more useful. It would be interesting find out the impact of those sites on library use. Does the use of the library's databases increase? Does the use of instant messaging tools (Meebo, virtual reference services like AskAway) increase? Does it reach potential users and make library users out of them?
I'm not sure about getting a page on MySpace or Facebook for the library for which I work. Perhaps doing as Denver Public Library , and Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County did and concentrating on teens would be the way to start? But I think that the site has to be useful to the population that you are trying to reach. Otherwise, why would they even visit the site?

Remember the Milk & Jott [Project Play: Week 3: Semester 2]

This week we got to play with Remember the milk and Jott. Both have the potential to be useful tools, particularly for list makers. I successfully sent a message to Remember the milk. I added a due date and then clicked on "complete". It took me a while to figure out where my task went to after I did that. I think with a little more effort I could tap into the usefulness of Remember the milk. Whereas, with Jott I'm not so sure. I do see it's usefulness, but I have never lived and died by my phone. I do have a cell phone, but I'm still learning to use it. My screen is so small, I really haven't wanted to use it for email & texting. I guess I'm just old, but I am trying to play more, learn more, and fear less.

Google docs never sleeps. [Project Play: Semester 2: Week 2]

This week we got to play with Google docs. It's quite a powerful tool. I was impressed by the ability to share documents and look at all the revisions. I can see why groups of people use it. However, when I was do the editing it seemed to take a while to load. Another potential problem is that it relies on the Internet to work. Without a stable, high speed Internet connection one could be up the proverbial creek without a paddle, so to speak.

IM, the smart choice [Project Play, Semester 2]

It's second semester of Project Play and we are learning how to use IM. Although I didn't have an IM account (I do now), I was familiar with IM. I do virtual reference (AskAway) via Question Point which has an IM capability. However, I don't use it very often. But when I do need to communicate with my fellow online librarians or have a technical problem it is nice to be able to communicate instantaneously.

The first part of the assignment was pretty easy. I found someone who was online, typed a message, press enter, and waited for a response. And what do you know someone replied back. Yee haw!

I already had a yahoo account so I thought that I would start by using yahoo messenger, but I wasn't sure how to find people to talk with. So I signed up for a meebo account and put a link in my blog. It was pretty easy. My office mates gave me their IM names to add to my buddy list. I did chat with my office mate using meebo. I even figured out how to get a picture of my cats on my meebo page.


Finally I tried out the sloganizer to come up with my title for this post.

Project Play Week 9: Wikis

Week 9 is wikis.

I think that wikis can be a good way to share information. The Common Craft video did a good job of explaining that. However, like any information source one has to examine who is putting out the information and if it is a reliable source.
The first assignment is to check the external links in the wiki article for my community to see if there is a link for the library. Madison, WI, does have an external link for the library. So I couldn't add a link. I then went to my home town, Watertown, WI, to check for an external link to the library. There wasn't one. I tried to add one without creating an account (I have too many accounts already), but I'm not sure if I was successful.
In addition, I did go the Project Play Sandbox wiki and added some titles to
Favorite authors, titles, or series
Favorite movies
Favorite quotes
It was pretty easy to edit the pages (easier than wikipedia was) and add my two cents. Also it's a pretty cool way to share favorites. I saw a number of my favorites already on the various lists.

Week 8 of Project Play


I can't believe 8 weeks have already gone by. It's seems like yesterday that I was just starting this blog.

This week I'm learning about tagging and social bookmarking. Coming from a world of controlled vocabulary, it's a bit unsettling. However, it's kind of cool to see what hundreds of other people use to describe a bookmark. The tags a person chooses can tell me something about he/she and how that person views the world. Maybe it will give me the incentive to "organize" my work and at-home bookmarks so I have access to them from any computer?

For libraries it has the potential to tap into whole new worlds and connect with new library users who might not be aware of what the library can do for them.

I did get a del.icio.us account. Here's a link to it. I started to bookmark a few sites. It's kind of fun and easy, especially with the del.icio.us button.