Phew. Now I know how Hercules felt at the end of his 12 labours. I'm really glad to have stuck with the programme, albeit in fits and starts, as a great way to play with the numerous web 2.0 tools I've been meaning to tackle for a while.
The prgramme demonstrates brilliantly that Web 2.0 is all about being able to access, create and share stuff without having to be a programmer, and not being tied to a particular computer in order to do it.
The downside is having to set up so many different accounts! even though Google and Yahoo are doing their best to consolidate different systems/take over your life.
My least favourite Things were RSS feeds (an unwelcome tidal wave), ThinkFree office (not as appealing as google docs), and Twitter (too much mindless babble - though having attended an excellent talk by a colleague this week I'm now open to conversion).
My personal favourites for leisure are Flickr and Delicious, as ways of sharing pics and links with others.
For collaborative working, until we get the common desktop that's been so elusive thus far, Google docs and wikis provide some genuinely useful tools.
As potential communication channels with library users and livening up our webpages, I'm also looking forward to experimenting with podcasts or videos, widgets, Facebook and Twitter. Not sure about blogs given the well known challenge of keeping them alive.
The very best thing has been reading entries from the blogs of other 23Thingers. I've found them hugely entertaining, reassuring, informative and motivating. Full of tips which answered the very question I needed help with. Thank you all.
I hope the 23ThingsOxford site remains in existence, as a useful reference point for us all, including those who haven't yet made it to the end or are yet to start.
Friday 9 April 2010
Inserting a screenshot
Note to self: it doesn't seem possible to copy & paste images (or text, for that matter) into the blog.
For a screenshot do this:
CTRL+Print Screen
Open up MS Office Picture Manager
Paste
In blog, click on Add Image icon.
As I keep forgetting about the extra step with Picture Manager maybe this will help to remind me!
Here's my latest iGoogle page, with a few extra widgets such as the OED and COPAC plus Flickr and Delicious. I wanted to include links to library related websites to make the page more useful for work purposes, such as the Bodleian, the British Library or the Library of Congress, but sadly there doesn't seem to be any widgets for them - yet. So I'll just have to use Delicious instead!
Widgets
Neat! without too much difficulty managed to tackle gadgets and widgets - inserting links to my Flickr photostream into this blog, and to my Delicious bookmarks on my iGoogle homepage.
This sort of thing should come in very handy to liven up any guides we'll be producing with the new LibGuides software.
By the way the Editors' choices for widgets in iGoogle were not my cup of tea!
This sort of thing should come in very handy to liven up any guides we'll be producing with the new LibGuides software.
By the way the Editors' choices for widgets in iGoogle were not my cup of tea!
ThinkFree Office
A definite plus point being able to use your Google login.
Throughout 23things I've been dipping into the blogs of fellow Thingers and have learned lots along the way. In this case Gigi mentioned ThinkFree is only free on a month's trial, which means I guess that Google Docs would be the open office tool I'd turn to in the future.
Rather than creating a new doc I spent my time looking at one of the existing shared docs in the Recommended list - a really interesting one being shared on the subject of social networking and e-learning, by Rob Gibson: see link below.
http://docs.thinkfree.com/docs/view.php?dsn=858149
Also in the Recommended list rather bafflingly was the schedule for the 2009 US tennis open. Eh?
Throughout 23things I've been dipping into the blogs of fellow Thingers and have learned lots along the way. In this case Gigi mentioned ThinkFree is only free on a month's trial, which means I guess that Google Docs would be the open office tool I'd turn to in the future.
Rather than creating a new doc I spent my time looking at one of the existing shared docs in the Recommended list - a really interesting one being shared on the subject of social networking and e-learning, by Rob Gibson: see link below.
http://docs.thinkfree.com/docs/view.php?dsn=858149
Also in the Recommended list rather bafflingly was the schedule for the 2009 US tennis open. Eh?
Thursday 1 April 2010
Google Docs
Cloud computing is often mentioned in the Sunday Times but I'd never got round to trying Google Docs as an example of that. Nifty! here's my in-depth easter survey if you'd like to try it
http://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=tYIG9xJN09HOD1TD-94bFdA&hl=en_GB#
http://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=tYIG9xJN09HOD1TD-94bFdA&hl=en_GB#
Wikis
Another good tool for collaborative working. Not only do we have numerous official wikis in use for our reader services and collections, it's great to see new ones emerging out of 23things. The Lankester Rodeo looks like a must-join.
Wikipedia surely needs no introduction. Is there anyone who doesn't turn to it as the fount of all knowledge....
Wikipedia surely needs no introduction. Is there anyone who doesn't turn to it as the fount of all knowledge....
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Pleasantly surprised that you can search Twitter and view tweets without having to create an account. Had a look at some of the #ox23 tweets - masterly efforts all of you who had a go.
Having created an account in the name of Juliet Thing I duly posted a tentative tweet and replied to a couple of the #ox23 tagged items. Also signed up as a Follower to some fellow 23thingers and for good measure a library.
Good to have dipped my toe in this particular water. Still not convinced about using this for work purposes but am noting a link below for future perusal and who knows it may make me a convert: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/
Having created an account in the name of Juliet Thing I duly posted a tentative tweet and replied to a couple of the #ox23 tagged items. Also signed up as a Follower to some fellow 23thingers and for good measure a library.
Good to have dipped my toe in this particular water. Still not convinced about using this for work purposes but am noting a link below for future perusal and who knows it may make me a convert: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/
Explored http://learn.linkedin.com/
Looks useful.
Drew the line at signing up, at least until I can face creating yet another username and password.
Looks useful.
Drew the line at signing up, at least until I can face creating yet another username and password.
Facebook and libraries
Social networking in a non-social context. Plenty of serious studies done in this area.
One LSE study http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Projects/Case_Study_Five_report.pdf refers to an
OCLC report, ‘Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World’ which apparently concluded that social networking is ‘not for libraries’. But that was 2007, ancient history in web terms.
More recent is this article, Use of Facebook in academic health sciences libraries
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2605034/
J Med Libr Assoc. 2009 January; 97(1): 44–47.
The consensus? a useful marketing tool and could be even more so once greater numbers of libraries embrace it.
One LSE study http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Projects/Case_Study_Five_report.pdf refers to an
OCLC report, ‘Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World’ which apparently concluded that social networking is ‘not for libraries’. But that was 2007, ancient history in web terms.
More recent is this article, Use of Facebook in academic health sciences libraries
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2605034/
J Med Libr Assoc. 2009 January; 97(1): 44–47.
The consensus? a useful marketing tool and could be even more so once greater numbers of libraries embrace it.
My Delicious
Just noticed I forgot to give the link to my account as proof the deed was done:
http://delicious.com/juliet.thing
http://delicious.com/juliet.thing
Podcasts and videos
Find some podcasts we were told, so I thought I'd try out University of Oxford on iTunes U for a listen to one of the many oxford lectures which have been made freely available. Apparently it's been a worldwide hit and has just passed its 2 millionth download. What a marvellous way to share this august institution's intellectual output with the wider world.
As we don't have iTunesU installed on our pcs I'm consulting the FAQs and see an alternative channel is via http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Top of the pops there is A short romp through the history of philosophy by Marianne Talbot, which is playing on my pc via Windows Media Player on as I write. It's going in one ear and out the other so it's good to know you can rewind and replay!
YouTube I'm not a big user of but am happy to have a quick search for something sheep related. Here we have 17 seconds of Shaun the Sheep & flock doing Riverdance, which is cracking me up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8DFwb3zlDk
What an absolute marvel that all this podcast and video stuff is just, like, out there. Yet amazingly my search on YouTube for sheep library retrieves only one hit, er, "Two guys run through a college library during finals weeks dressed as a cow and sheep".
As we don't have iTunesU installed on our pcs I'm consulting the FAQs and see an alternative channel is via http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Top of the pops there is A short romp through the history of philosophy by Marianne Talbot, which is playing on my pc via Windows Media Player on as I write. It's going in one ear and out the other so it's good to know you can rewind and replay!
YouTube I'm not a big user of but am happy to have a quick search for something sheep related. Here we have 17 seconds of Shaun the Sheep & flock doing Riverdance, which is cracking me up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8DFwb3zlDk
What an absolute marvel that all this podcast and video stuff is just, like, out there. Yet amazingly my search on YouTube for sheep library retrieves only one hit, er, "Two guys run through a college library during finals weeks dressed as a cow and sheep".
Delicious
Easy to use in some ways, eg tagging and searching for tags. Unexpectedly fiddly in other respects, eg couldn't install the bookmarklets thing, had to try more than one way to add people to my network. Anyway came across some interesting sites via the ox23 tag and my new network, for future perusal at least, which is the main point of the social bookmarking exercise.
Wednesday 10 February 2010
Online photos and images
Created a flickr account, tentatively named nottheradcliffecamera. (Brain fizzing at yet another username and password.)
But behold this bevy of beauties - http://www.flickr.com/photos/47437773@N06/
If you've ever worked at the RSL and want to be added to the RSLdiaspora gallery do get in touch!
But behold this bevy of beauties - http://www.flickr.com/photos/47437773@N06/
If you've ever worked at the RSL and want to be added to the RSLdiaspora gallery do get in touch!
RSS feeds
Sign up for Google Reader - done.
Subscribe to some feeds - done.
Boggle at sudden torrent of incoming feeds - done.
Keep up with the 23things programme - just about!
Subscribe to some feeds - done.
Boggle at sudden torrent of incoming feeds - done.
Keep up with the 23things programme - just about!
Friday 29 January 2010
The elusive screenshot
Finally, with a little help from my friends, and Microsoft Picture Manager, I proudly present my iGoogle start page!
What a triumphant end to a week which has been more exciting than I could possibly have imagined, featuring as it did 2 other New Things from Well Being Week - juggling, and tango. Tune in next week to see me do them both simultaneously.
Things 1 & 2
Setting up Google ID and a customised iGoogle start page were new Things for me so already my web2.0 awareness has rocketed! Selected some "sensible" gadgets first for weather, news, time and date, then to make up the 5 threw in A Joke a Day. Would prefer a one-liner rather than the long long epic that's today's choice, so may need to revisit that choice. Maybe the horoscope will be a better bet for a laugh...
Anyway will shortly attempt a screen shot (or screen snot as I just typed) to add a little colour to this thrilling post.
Anyway will shortly attempt a screen shot (or screen snot as I just typed) to add a little colour to this thrilling post.
Hello world
Flourish of trumpets for my first ever blog post. Have finally jumped on the 23things bandwagon and looking forward to the magical mystery tour of all things web2.0.
Very impressed by everyone else's blogs - with more and more popping up by the minute it seems - and enjoying the warm glow of companionship on this joint venture.
Now, which blog buddies shall I choose to Follow?
Very impressed by everyone else's blogs - with more and more popping up by the minute it seems - and enjoying the warm glow of companionship on this joint venture.
Now, which blog buddies shall I choose to Follow?
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