Thing 24

The final post.  Well here are some of my thoughts about the program.

If you decide to do similar training in the future, it may be more beneficial to do it with group instruction, but the groups should be made up of people with similar aptitudes.

I think it also should be noted that for staff that work part-time this is type of program requires a larger percentage of their time than those staff that work full time.  I found it to be quite time consuming, even though I was familiar with several of the technologies.  It would be interesting to track the amount of time required to complete these tasks. 

It should also be noted that shared computers pose a problem for some staff.  If you forget to log out, the next user has access to your files.  You can’t set cookies to remember your password when you are working on a variety of computers.  Also you can’t use favorites.  Perhaps introducing Delicious earlier on in the program would help with this issue.  But this means that instead of 1 person setting up a list of links, everyone taking the program has to take the time to do it.  So adding the links that we always use to the Weblinks page might be a better option.

This exercise hasn’t really been anonymous either for many reasons, the least of which is that as soon as you ask co-workers for assistance they know your account, and you have to record your email address on the spreadsheet for all to see.

I also think it would help to actually have to use g-mail during the course, rather than just setting up an account.

Thing # 23

“Did you locate a title that you might want to try out and download once you have an MP3 player?”

Am I getting an MP3 player?

I didn’t have any luck finding any of the titles I searched for within this database.  Again it appears the content is heavily based on American authors and content.  It is helpful though that the database can be searched by genre, etc. as is the ability to list all the titles, and then sort by various means (such as newest).

I don’t think I’d want to have to sit in one spot to listen to a complete book on a computer, so transferring to an mp3 would definitely be preferable.

Thing #22

I didn’t have much success using the podcast searching tools.  Odeo was just searching and searching, so I gave up on it, and Podcastalley didn’t find what I was looking for.  I broadened my search and found related items.  Perhaps it’s a little light on Canadian content.

The online programming is interesting.  Having podcasts of authors would be kind of cool.  Maybe the Pass the Book program could use something like this.

Thing #21

YouTube is a great site.  If you hear about something that was in the news that you missed, you can often go there and find it.  Or if you are looking for something old like an episode of Gilligan’s Island, or the Munster’s when you you’re trying to remember the names of the characters.  I agree it’s great for watching bands and listening to old music.  I’ll often go and listen to new music artists here before I buy their CD.

The problem with YouTube is that it can be a time-aster.  Because it shows related clips it’s too easy to jump from one video to another, and before you know it the afternoons gone!

YouTube has released its most viewed video lists for 2009, in which the clip of Brit Susan Boyle was watched more than the next three most-watched videos combined.  Find the story, list and links here: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/12/16/youtube-most-watched-list.html

  I must say David after the dentist is one of my favourites.

Thing #20

I almost missed the “Feedback” section on PB Wiki.  Does it mention this anywhere in the notes?  This is sort of what I mentioned in my prior post, but not quite what I was thinking… more along the lines of constructive suggestions for the next go around.

I like the list of recommended restaurants.  We have actually had patrons from out of town ask for recommendations.  Of course we try to send them somewhere local!

By the way.  What happened to thing #18?

Thing #19

Perhaps it’s just the ones I have looked at, but there are some things I don’t like about Wikis.

Many of the library oriented ones lean towards reviews, or others may include customer ratings.  But there is no way to know who is actually adding the content.  An author, publisher or other interested party could easily be skewing the results, or padding the reviews.

It also seems that information on a Wiki can get dated very quickly.   On the ones I’ve looked at it’s difficult to see when and by whom the information is being updated.  So you don’t know if you are looking at old information or recent.   Maybe I’m missing where information is dated or categorized, but it seems like you’d have to do a lot of digging to qualify the information.  And if the people who started the wiki lose interest then….

Lists are static.  Creators have to repeat or type out information that you might find in a database, etc.  They don’t seem to be easy to update, modify or sort say by date to find the most recently added information.

With multiple editors information isn’t added in a consistent fashion, again calling into question the usability of the data or information.

However, perhaps we could use a wiki to gather feedback on 25 things, things that could be implemented in our workplace, and/or things that might help the next group?

Thing # 17

I can’t help but wonder if developments such as Kindle and the Sony’s Ebook Reader are going to have a big impact on libraries sooner rather than later. 

http://mobile.thestar.com/mobile/NEWS/article/727191

And it sounds as though Google is on the verge of being able to digitize any book, even current ones through paying $60.00 class action payouts to authors.

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=1563202

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=1957311

I liked the post by Dr. Wendy Schultz – “Infinite Futures.  To a temporary place in time…On the way to the library experience of the future” where  Library 1.0 to 4.0. are discussed.

On a totally different note does anyone know how to edit images with a white or transparent background like those of the authors on this site?  Is there a program or website that does it easily?  Thanks!

http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm

Thing # 16

While using Technorati to search, I had much more luck switching the search option (next to the search box) to posts rather than blogs, and the subject I was looking for was quite specific.

I can’t find the advanced search, but I would like to try it to improve my search results even further.  I don’t think you can use boolean and other searching features like quotations.  I keep getting ”0″ results no matter what combination I tried.  I did get the option to then refine the search by some advanced search functions.

I could not find my blog using this search tool.  I did find it using the Google blog search and the Google search engine.

Thing # 15

Delicious may be a good way to share bookmarks between departments and branches, and could also be good for staff that have to share computers, moving from one to another.  It would however be time consuming to add all your current bookmarks.  Perhaps there is a way to import? 

It’s also one more account to set up, remember, keep updated, and another website to have to access, rather than just adding it to a browser.

I don’t know whether I’m not looking at the proper tab, but I don’t see where there are “lots of resources that have been highlighted throughout the course”.  Also this link doesn’t appear to be working http://slackermanager.com/2005/12/the_several_hab.html

Thing # 14

The online image generator I used was cooltext http://cooltext.com.   Cool Text is the world’s most popular graphics generator.  Online since 1998, whose servers have rendered over 300 million free images! 

Here’s my new logo:

I understand the warning to be “tasteful”.  It’s easy to generate ones that aren’t.  One graphic I clicked on gave me the option of:

  library’s Escort Services

  library’s Corpse

  library’s Balls

  library’s Soul

 library’s Freedom

Nice…..