Wow! There’s a lot of tools available out there! And to think, we may have covered 30 or more, but there’s so many more out there, and more are being developed every day! I was familiar with most of the tools in Learning 2.0, but there were some I’d never heard of before and some I didn’t know too much about. I had not heard about Grokker before, nor mashups, Rollyo or Zoho. Each of these were very interesting, and I can see myself using them more on my own, and letting others know about them.

I really enjoyed Flickr, image generators, LibraryThing, and the web 2.0 awards. I’m completely fascinated by most of the web 2.0 tools, but my least favorite I’d have to say was MySpace. I just can’t get into it, the sites are so busy and cluttered, I don’t know how others make sense of some of them. I think I’m going to continue to customize and use a few of the sites I didn’t already have accounts with: Rollyo, Technorati, Google labs, and some of the web 2.0 award-winners.

This was definitely an interesting adventure. I love learning new technologies and tools, I’d be interested in hearing what new ones others have found. The only tool I’ve come up with so far is TiddlyWiki, which I’ve mentioned earlier in this blog. Thanks to the committee for putting this together!

I found quite a few blogs on the LISWiki: I enjoy the Digital Librarian, he writes about tech stuff and how they relate to libraries and being a librarian. Then I found The Other Librarian, who blogs about Library 2.0, and a lot of the topics we’re working on for Learning 2.0. I could browse this long list all day, and keep adding them to my Bloglines, so I can continue to keep up with them. There are a lot of library blogs out there!

I used Podcast.net to find a few library/book podcasts, as Yahoo!s site says they’ll be closing the site September 30. I didn’t want to link to something that wouldn’t be there in a week, so I didn’t even bother looking there. I did find a podcast for What’s New at the Lunar and Planetary Institute Library. I also found one by Powell’s bookstore in Portland, the Bookcast.  I can see the usefulness of podcasts, especially in training and book reviews.  The topic I wanted to look up (knitting) had quite a few podcasts available.  I’ve heard of a few, and even tried listening to one, but I think I’ll have to try again later, as I just couldn’t get into a knitting podcast.  Book and movie reviews, though, that’s more interesting.  Also using podcasts for keeping patrons up-to-date with library happenings, and again, possibly with basic FAQs might be helpful.

Wow! I remember in library school when Gutenberg was just beginning! My instructors mentioned how Michael Hart had started the project, and I think I was even on a mailing list about it! Looking at the website now, it sure has changed and evolved, as has the internet! I can not only view the etexts of books, listen to audio formats, but even donate by PayPal and volunteer to edit! It seemed like such a small enterprise when I first heard about it, for such a big project. It’s nice to see that it’s still going strong, and books are being added all the time!

I’m writing this using Zoho writer, and this is pretty easy! I’m used to Google Docs. I’ve shared docs with my husband, my father (when we took a class together last year), and it’s very convenient. Especially when we’re on two different systems. Using Zoho and Google Docs to share documents between windows and a mac make things MUCH easier! We can collaborate, edit, and share ideas amongst each other.

I like the ease of editing, changing formats, collaborating, and portability of using these tools. I can save it, and use it wherever I have access next. Zoho has a lot of options in terms of formating, linking, and including html, and other features. I can just click a button to add a table, change the style, even add a smileyface!

I also tried Zoho Sheet, and I like how fast it loads, how organized it is, and how easy it is to edit! I might start using Zoho in addition to my Google Docs. I still like Google Docs, partly because I already have so many other Google accounts, and it’s nice having everything in one place. Occasionally at the Reference desk I’ll get a question regarding where a patron can use Word or Excel, and I used to have to tell them where the computer labs were. Last year when Google Docs was first announced, I started referring the patrons to Google Docs, and now I can also add Zoho to that list. It’s nice being able to do a lot of things you’d normally need software for, but using only the internet. It’s also more portable and collaborative, so I can the use in libraries (obviously) increasing.

I can’t seem to embed part of a spreadsheet I created in ZohoSheet, so I’ll keep looking into it. It’s probably WordPress, so that’ll make Dee happy. =)

I like wikis as they can be a great resource for collaboration as well as just maintaining and updating information. I’ve also found TiddlyWikis to be helpful for maintaining information on an individual basis. They call it “a reusable non-linear personal web notebook” and it is generally intended to be more portable, but some of the examples include people using TiddlyWiki for their website.

I really like how SJCPL used wikis to create their subject guide. I also like the LISWiki for many reasons, including the fact that it has a list of known library-related blogs! Wikis can be updated by anyone and one can see what changes have been made and by who. I have seen them used for policies, procedures, meeting minutes, and subject guides. I can definitely see wikis being used in more libraries. These are a few ideas that can be incorporated into the Rasmuson Wiki, expanding its usefulness. Maybe we’ll add them or think about it someday. =)

The first time I tried Grokker it seemed a little confusing, and slightly overwhelming, yet intriguing.  The next time it made much more sense, and I can see many uses for it.  I like seeing the list of results, but the Map View is nice!  I like being able to see at a glance the quantity of similar results all in one place.   The Outline View can also be helpful, as it works like Windows Explorer and is easily navigated.  The Map View allows me to see sample images (be it covers or site images) and get a different feel for the results I received.   Grokker is different than other search engines because of the way it prepares and presents the results.  It’s nice to have some sort of organization occasionally, and I can see sometimes using Grokker, sometimes Google, and other times wanting to search tags on del.icio.us or Technorati.

I’ve heard about Technorati for a while now, but never got a chance to really look into it. I always thought it was just a tag or standard when I saw it on other blogs, but now I know a little more about it. I did the search for “library 2.0″ and one of my entries came up in the first pages of solutions, in addition to another Rasmuson Learning 2.0 participant. I’ve been putting tags on most of my posts, but I didn’t realize they would be picked up right away, since some search sites need to update with what’s new periodically. This is obviously more real-time, as many web 2.0 tools are. People are gravitating towards more instant results, and many of these tools fit that “need.” Being able to search tags through Technorati is convenient, as you can search the web for blogs and other sites that have tags or metadata, as opposed to having to go each site and searching for keywords within the text. Now we’re searching for tags that people have attached to the blogs or sites for a reason, as they deem the blog to be about that particular subject. Searching for blogs by tag is also helpful for finding similar blogs or blog entries for one’s needs.

I’ve claimed my blog and will soon start a watchlist. In the meantime, I’ve put a badge on my sidebar and will keep playing with this tool, too. It is fascinating to see what tag people thought to give similar blogs.

The Generator Blog sure has a LOT of image generators listed! A few I tried weren’t available, or had problems with the link/software. I did finally find an interesting one: the AmazType Typographic Book Search generator. I entered my search term and at first thought it was just going to start showing book cover images for my keyword, but it’s more than that! The covers were arranged in a way to make up the letters of my original search term. The only thing is, I can’t seem to find a way to stop it. It keeps adding images to the letters! It took me a little while to find one I liked that worked, and finally found AmazType.

Working at Reference I’m at least aware of many of our web resources. I don’t always remember them, but I do know about them. I love looking through VILDA, especially with my parents who’ve lived here over 55 years now. They can tell me about some of the places and people in the Fairbanks pictures, and I can show them thing I’ve found while helping patrons, or becoming more familiar with the tool. Last year I took a class on Fairbanks history with Dermot Cole, and VILDA came in very handy!

I’ve tried a couple of the audiobooks from ListenAlaska, and while I like the portability, I wish there were more books to choose from, and more that would allow CD burning. Working with Apple and iPods would be nice, too, especially because most of the people I know have iPods, not generic MP3 players. One of the audiobooks I downloaded and burned to a cd was a book of nursery rhymes for my son. It would have been nice if I were able to go to individual tracks, but unfortunately each cd is its own track. That way, if I want to skip forward to a different nursery rhyme/chapter/etc, I’d always have to listen to the first ones until I got to it. I can only take so many readings of “Little Boy Blue” with a strong English accent! (nothing against the English, but it was at a time my son was learning to speak, and we didn’t want to confuse him with all the different accents and dialects at the same time).

I wish we had more time for movies lately. Maybe we will as fall and winter approach, we’ve actually been enjoying this nice summer. For once we had no smoke, and the weather was relatively warm and dry compared to recent years. It was nice being able to be outside more, and to let Kieran outside to play. The first summer after he came home was the big smoky summer, so we were cooped up inside whenever we didn’t have to be outside. This is such a nice change, but not too good for catching up on movies and DVDs! Soon, we’ll start checking out what we have at the media desk again!