El Fin!

First of all, I am so happy to have made it this far. Honestly, there were times when in the past I thought of just quitting and just wait for the next batch. This is specially true when there are pressing concerns at home and when it gets really crazy here in San Marco. But having two of my colleagues in the branch being really patient in going through each activity for all the weeks we have worked on this together inspired me to never gove up.

Looking back, I have mixed feelings of the activities that were presented. Frankly, most of them are not really new to me. I am comfortable with a lot of these web 2.0 applications that some of the activities were mere refreshers and/or an added opportunity to re-visit some of the websites I haven't been to recently. But I still do appreciate teh opprotunity as creative repetition is still a valued aspect of learning. It also give me the opportunity to see all of these learnings vis-a-vis improving the services we have for the library customers. So in a way, this still gave me a fresh perspective in a number of things.

Would I do it again? Certainly. I love the chance I had discussing these with my colleagues. I enjoyed the working hour or two each week to have some sort of creative output. It is time well spent.

As for future JPL learning 2.0 batches, I suggest that participants be given more hands-on activities with regards to being more immersed in the application. Or atleast have different skill levels (eg beginner, intermediate or advanced) so different learners will have other options. Maybe we could explore team/collaborative output on the branch level as well. But all in all, I think this is a good start. Congratulations to all of us.

Maximum Overdrive!

Even before this activity, I've used Overdrive a number of times in the past. My wife and I are big fans of the library wven before I came to JPL and maximize all the library services available. I've downloaded a couple of C.S. Lewis audiobooks in the past and may download a few more when I do get my new MP3 player. :-)

I think the instructions of downloading audiobooks are simple enough. I don't get it when some of our customers feel overwhelmed with using this non-tradional library service. An issue raised before is the speed of internet connection may be a factor in the wait time for the download. Some are not too patient with this. However, I see more and more customers (hopefully) taking advantage with this wonderful service. I just hope to see more of the popular titles available and more librarians more comfortable with the technology for us to effectively guide the library public.

Being a bit daring with podcasting

With everybody being so busy (or atleast pretending to be), having the flexibility of having your music, TV and radio shows and other information when you want it or where you want it is becoming more and more important. The 2008 Beijing Olympics is the perfect example with NBC seeing a remarkable increase in the number of viewers watching the video streaming online rather than "adjusting" their busy lives just to see the latest world-record shattering triumph of the planet's best athletes.

Podcasting is pretty cool in its ability to cater to the needs of its intended users in this changing times. I for one find it very useful because on certain days when I work the night hourshere in the library, I fail to catch my favorite radio program (The Clark Howard show) That is why I was so excited when the show offered podcating link in their website, albeit a couple of days after the live broadcast. It gives me the flexibility of just downloading the show with my MP3 player and listen when I want.

Beyond this, the technology have potential as well in the realms of public service (podcasting important info) or education when a student who misses class can download a podcast of a lesson. However, like with any other tools, this should always be used responsibly.

Amazing world of you tube

The world of video sharing is changed forever by online video sharing sites. By far the most popular of this is You Tube. I've been using You Tube for a couple of year now for a variety of purposes. I use this as a tool to upload home videos to share with my friends as well as find certain TV shows from my home country that I miss. I find the program pretty straight forward and interesting.

Above is one of my all-time favorite videos posted in you tube. The link was shared to me by a friend earlier this year and I think the "show" was pretty amazing.

Better Library Service with Web 2.0

I had a grand time playing around with the different websites of Web 2.0 award winners. A lot of them are really cool and worth the time if one cares to maximize its use. I am happy to note that I do take advantage and aware of a number of these sites and agree that some of them are really excellent. A number I have used already to assist customers. One common site is google maps. Web 2.0 in mapping has gone a long way that it now gives real time traffic video update integrated to the usual turn-by-turn direction from point A to point B. This is really neat coz it gives you an option to find alternative routes which is as easy as dragging the lines across the map with the use of the mouse.

Docstoc.com is likewise pretty useful in public library reference work. It's straightworward, user friendly and very reliable in finding important legal and educational documents. It is a resource we can share to our customers as some sort of a DIY when tehy can't access the library or when we're closed.

There's honestly alot more of these applications that I see have great potential. A customer may be interested for the latest Olympic games stats (versus the 1972 Munich games for instance) and istats.com would come in handy. :-)

All systems go with the Zoho

Honestly, this is one web 2.0 application that I haven't previously explored and find great potential in use. I marvel at the flexibility of this program vis-a-vis the usual word processor (eg ms word or open office writer). I like how different applications can be easily managed like doing spreadsheets or even including features. And because it (only) works online, sharing/editing documents with your network is pretty straightforward too.

 

But the application being dependent on the internet may be a liability depending on the user. If one is dependent on wi-fi and encounters a dead spot, then work can be seriously delayed. So, it may still not totally replace the traditional word processor. atleast not yet. I haven't gotten the chance to test its compatibility to import documents across a range of word processor versions. In some cases, that is very crucial as well.

 

I've been telling some of our librarians that Zoho writer and similar applications have potential as well as an alternative for those who use public computers. This gives them the flexibility of using any station and easily accessing their files. There's no need to worry about defective floppy disks or missing USB thumb drives. Although backing-up, of course, is always be a good idea.

Felt not so witty on PBwiki

First of all, I should read the posts more. I was trying for more than an hour trying to log-in but just couldn't. I created a seperate pbwiki account but i still couldn't get into the site we were supposed to be playing with. I was about to give up when I read the post of Cambie with the invite key. Whew!

Honestly the feeling right now was more of a relief than anything else. But when I was able to get in, I see the potential of wikis hands-on to be able to collaborate with the team in giving meat to the wiki page. As long as you have the right access :-) key, it is fairly easy for team members to make additions or editing the page. But I guess there ought to be some sort of guidance/editing as well if we want to have this used for public viewing. But for private/small group/internal purposes, this is really great!