.. and it's goodbye from him ..

Like many of those working their way through this programme I already knew a little of what I was introduced to, but not a great deal. It has been a steep learning curve, but an enjoyable one, and has made me think of just how these individual tools might be used profitably in our college context. I also think that even if librarians decide not to implement most of the 'things' they should, at the very least, be aware of what is out there. I've enjoyed reading how other libraries in Oxford have adapted the technology to fit with their users, the story of successes, and of those things that haven't taken off.

I've found pretty much found all of the course was absorbing. ThinkOffice fell a bit flat, and LinkedIn was straightforward networking, but otherwise I thought the programme was very good. Ease of use and greater familiarity will come with practice. Thanks!

del.icio.us bookmarks

Again, not difficult to do once you get the hang of it. The exercise shows that it is possible to link all manner of updating tools, and display the end result on a feed reader. The reader content can be adjusted to provide the information you want to keep track of, from gadgets lifted from a collection, to individually engineered ones which keep track of your bookmarks. Portable, personalised information gathering.

Blogger gadgets

Very easy to add and configure, the danger is you get carried away (with over 1,500gadgets on offer. Ye Gods) and the blog starts to look messy. I couldn't resist the fish though. Very contemplative ..

ThinkOffice

I liked the extra features on this - superscript, subscript, saving as a pdf file - (I have yet to work out what a phonetic guide does!) but then the shine was taken off things with the wait at a busy time for the application to carry out commands. This becomes a real irritation ...

Google docs

Useful for group viewing and discussion of a proposed document, with the option of viewing and/or editing. Saves a sackful of email!

Wikipedia

My search was for ECT or Electro-convulsive therapy, and I was pleasantly surprised at the range of cross-references listed for the acronym. ECT has been a controversial therapy, and yet the discussion of the edits was always about how to be more exact with detail - the level of current used, for instance, and the removal of fictional portrayal in films where the treatment was something else. The references are invaluable, and because their range is often idiosycratic they point in directions more traditional encyclopedias don't cover. I was fascinated to learn, for instance, that Chinese children had been given ECT to break addiction to online gaming.

Wikis: an exploration

Very interesting to see the variety of uses that Web 2.0 tools are being put to use in the Oxford examples, all centred round the central issues of how best to communicate with service users in a relevant and engaging way. I like the video and audio induction tours that the Social Science library provides, and am getting more of a feeling of what has worked, and what was not succesful. Del.ico.us for subject bookmarking seems solid, and we are already using Library thing here at St. Hugh's to display new accessions on our Facebook page.

My first experience of Wikis was one used by the Learning Institute's Selection and Recruitment online course, which was great for extended discussions around HR issues.
Students seem a lot less willing to get involved in Wiki-type discussions on library matters.

I've added my thoughts on raising the library profile with customised searching of blogs and e-news media to the Ox23 Wiki.

Twitter and Hash 23

As part of it's grumbling service provision today I can only get to see the most recent tweets for the Hash23 crew, but it's easy to see how Twitter plays well with real-time reporting - conferences, (both virtual and actual), events, that sort of thing. And the limit on characters does focus attention on making the message short and to the point. Good for discussions around a topic too, without flooding your email inbox.

Twitter

I like the site - it's very clearly laid out, and easy to sign on and use. It'll be interesting to see the full extent of a range of applications. Signed up for a selection of librarian tweets.

Linked In

Good for professional networking and able to supply possible useful connections by profession and place. Interesting to see just who is on the College network.

Facebook

Our Facebook site allows a two-way interaction between library staff and readers. We can post real-time information and get a reaction. At the same time we are developing a sense of involvement and community - all vital if we are to gain a better understanding of user needs. The feed from Library Thing gives a colourful display of recent acquisitions, and a look at other libraries using Facebook shows how this could be further refined. I liked Queen's College separate listing of acquisitions by current and old members, for example.

I'm sure there's scope for us to mount future podcasts on our Facebook platform.

YouTube

A strong presence on YouTube from the Saied Business School. Clearly they have realised that in a very competitive market they need to show that they understand the significance of social media. The mix of video clips with links to other aspects of the school helps present a fuller and more immediate picture of the programme offered. And the results speak for themselves, with over 500,000 upload views and 45,000 channel views. Effective marketing.

Podcasts

I'd already had some experience with these courtesy of my iplayer, but hadn't seen the range of material available from the 'cast sites. Good to see that the University has cottoned on to the applicability of the concept, with PodOxford for sixth formers, and was also very interested to learn of 'enhanced' podcasts from the English Faculty. In the college context I think an introductory podcast for induction would work well, with later 'casts covering more specialist topics such as an introduction to the Rare Books room. Podcasts win out on three counts: the majority of our students are used to working with mp3 players, and working with online digital content as part of their culture. Secondly, as with the BBC iplayer, the content can be accessed at a time convenient to the individual, and at a pace that suits them. Finally of course it saves a chunk of staff time if some of the learning about the library and its resources can be passed over to the student.

Del.icio.us networks

Easy to construct, and useful to see what another trusted Delicious user has decided is important enough to bookmark. The only danger of course is that the sites and information content can expand exponentially! I liked the ability to RSS feed from a particular tag on a site

Del.icio.us

I can see that the ability to access bookmarks anywhere is a useful tool, but I was more interested in tagging to open up routes to unknown sites. It's not perfect without controlled vocabulary, but is near enough to gather a good armful of useful leads. A search for the tag 'Lake District' brought back an interesting selection, but it would be neater if Delicious gathered together identical sites rather than listing them separately.

Gratifyingly, a shot in the dark with 'St. Hugh's' as a tag brought back the biography of one of the first women to read mathematics in the university.

Picnik

A free photoediting suite which seems to do pretty much everything Joe Public would want to do with everyday images. The link between Picnik and Flickr does provide a seamless way of editing images, and then saving them back to an image repository. I thought it wasn't clear how to add colour to an image. Clicking on the tab 'Colours' takes you to a page where the Help button explains that to add a colour cast 'check out the tint tool in our effects section'. The effects section is actually a tab indent under the 'Create' tab. I know, I know, I should get out more ...

I have added Picassa to my Google bar, and it will be interesting to see how the two programs compare.

Working with Flickr

Well, this was completely new ground for me but Flickr seems easy to use with text and images spaced out well on the home page. I had some images of the grounds on my PC which were easy to load, and then tried to import pictures from my Truprint account. Although Truprint does have the option to export to a social network Flickr isn't one of them - I can however export to my Blogger account. I experimented with sending the shots to my email address and that worked fine.

This feels like a fairly steep learning curve, but I'm enjoying it, and its interesting how the exercises throw up other discoveries along the way. If it is possible to say this online in a mumbled, hard-to-make out tone of voice I have discovered that I don't need to have three or four windows open simultaneously, but can just open a new tab for each site on the one window. Ahem.

More RSS feeds

It has been fun looking around to find some interesting blogs and sites to subscribe to - David Byrne and the London Review of books will make interesting reading, and I have added a couple of fellow 23 participants to my list. Surprised to find that Brian Eno doesn't appear to have a feed. Given his interest in these things I suspect I just can't find it.

I used to work for 1000heads, a PR firm with a detailed knowledge of the significance of social media for marketing and promotion. Often we were able to tell businesses of something going wrong in their organisations before they were aware themselves, through staff contributions on public websites and blogs.

Interesting to see that some sites only offer subscription to RSS feeds that go to Internet Explorer, but a quick cut and paste solved that ...

Google reader and RSS feeds

I had already set up a Google Reader page with feeds from Phil Bradley, iLibrarian, and (oddly, because I can't remember why!) Guardian theatre. Resurrecting the page reminded me that it is very easy to get too carried away and be overwhelmed by the number of feed articles coming in. Far better to concentrate on a few that you are actually going to read. Phil Bradley's blog is always good value.

The reader page looks a lot better when a particular feed is selected for display, but I don't like the miniscule 'Manage subscriptions' button bottom left. Why so small?

Looking at other blogs

Perusing the Vere Harmsworth Library site gives an excellent display of the versatility of blogs - the ability to gather together useful links to other sites and catalogues. I particularly liked the random display of book covers - colourful as well as informative - and the cloud display of tags. And RSS feeds are a great way of keeping readers informed of what is going on in the library, helping them to feel involved and part of a library community. Great stuff!

Looking at other blogs it's interesting to see how many went on the Web 2.0 study day in 2008, and are welcoming the chance to reacquaint themselves with the Web 2.0 tools.

I agree with 'College Library jottings' that the Blogger interface isn't very intuitive - having to select 'Customise' in order to get to the tagged menu and edit posts.

It's amazing to see the range of applications that are now available to add to the igoogle home page - hours of delving into the store! And I'm pleased to have learnt how to make screen captures and insert them into a blog entry

Starting afresh

I was last involved with Web 2 technologies via the first day conference held to introduce these emerging means of communication to the Oxford community. I'm a little rusty, but it soon comes back, and it will be interesting to consider their application in a College context. I'm hoping to learn more about the range and potential of Web 2 technologies, and be able to incorporate them more into my daily work routines