Thursday 29 November 2007

#22 Audiobooks

I have had a quick look at the World EBook Fair site and I'm amazed at the collections available! I have found the collection of ebooks at Adelaide University so this is a good indication of the global scope of this site. The majority of collections appear to be American. (Or those I've come across scrolling down the list at the following page: http://worldpubliclibrary.org/Collections.htm
http://worldlibrary.net/eBooksAdelaide.htm

I shall explore more anon..........

Thursday 29 November 2007

I looked at www.podcastalley.com and investigated the Naxos classical musical podcast. As evidenced throughout this Web 2.0 discovery voyage, podcasts are a handy tool to inform, educate and entertain colleagues, library users and anyone with access to The Web. Used in tandem with wikis and other Web 2.0 tools, podcasts allow today's librarians access to a much greater audience. Collaborative projects with colleagues world-wide rather than those colleagues within an adjacent region means that research and the exchange of ideas can be conducted globally and relatively instantaneously. Librarians working in remote areas of Victoria who may not be able to travel to Melbourne to attend seminars can now be kept in the loop via podcast.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

viggo_mortensen_16, originally uploaded by vigsoko.

One of my favourite actors, Viggo Mortensen performed well in the recently released "Eastern promises".

Saturday 24 November 2007

An interesting piece of news from the Edna Online newsletter this week......

"Wikipedians and bloggers are warned to watch what they write, despite a recent court ruling regarding online defamation. Last week, a French court ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation could not be held responsible for content posted by its users. Three plaintiffs were each seeking 69,000 euros ($AU108,867) in damages for invasion of their privacy after their homosexuality was revealed on the Web site. Bond University Associate Professor Dr Dan Svantesson isn't surprised by the ruling, but says individual authors will probably now come under more scrutiny. "The court would say that once the party (in this case Wikimedia) takes steps within a time that seems responsible, then they would be protected," Dr Svantesson said. "The French ruling shows a general trend whereby the parties in charge of the Web site are not held liable." ZDNet Australia, 8 November 2007. "

Monday 19 November 2007

I was fascinated with the films of pets, in particular "talking cats". I am a cat lover from way back and couldn't resist adding the cute filmclip on the left side of this blog.
The category dealing with "how to" is very handy. I can see libraries using this site to instruct/inform/entertain both patrons and staff. If the Prime Minister can promote the Government's policies on YouTube, then libraries can certainly promote their services, resources, etc!!!!!!!!!!! I can see libraries reaching a much wider (and demographically younger) audience which would have to improve their relevance in today's society.
Sharing information via YouTube and other Web 2.0 tools will revolutionise interlibrary cooperation and the building of library/community partnerships.

Friday 16 November 2007

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

The value of this site below is that anyone can find Web 2.0 tools to set up their own blogs, wikis, etc or even their own training course. I like the use of star ratings for each winning site.

http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/

Friday 16 November 2007

Greetings all who peruse these ponderings! This is the first instance of my playing in the Zoho sandpit, alors celui ci est un "test".

I'm attaching a flickr photo of Coolangatta. The highrise on the extreme right is the serviced apartments where I stay every October for 7 nights. Heaven!

Thursday 15 November 2007

#16 So what's in a wiki?
I discovered the "Book Lovers Wiki" developed by Princeton Public Library and was very impressed with it. I can see how useful this type of tool is for informing communities about literature or any other topic where discussion adds value to our appreciation of life and experiences.
This 2-way dialogue is of great value to any public library service wishing to promote "virtual branches" of their services. The fact that staff can monitor stubs and/or complete entries is a bonus.
I can see that summer reading clubs would greatly benefit from wikis as well as reading groups, etc.