A fountain of knowledge about all Things web 2.0?!

When I checked my emails this morning, I discovered the following email. My email client (Thunderbird) thinks it is a scam, and I was wondering if any other Cam 23 bloggers had got similar invitations. I know, I'd like to think "I'm all that!", but I know that others doing Cam 23 have a lot more knowledge about these things than I do.

Hello evans_above

I am the editor of videojug.com, the world’s leading ‘how to’ website. We’re about to get bigger and better and i'm looking for some keen & skilled writers to be a part of it.

We've just launched a powerful new self-publishing website that helps people with unique know-how & expertise (i.e. you) connect with our knowledge-hungry audience. The website is called Videojug Pages - http://pages.videojug.com

I am searching for a select group of writers & bloggers to become Founder Members on Videojug Pages. I came across your blog - '1-23 one step at a time' - and was really impressed.

I'd like to invite you to join our growing community of writers (it's 100% Free).

You can share you unique knowledge by creating pages about your interests on Videojug Pages and can earn money through our equal advertising-share scheme: we share all revenues 50:50 with our writers.

There are some great benefits to being a Founder Member:

• Build an online audience & become an authority on your chosen subject
• Inform & guide our knowledge-hungry audience
• Promote yourself, your business & your website/blog
• Become an on-site 'Guardian' with additional on-site privileges and access
• Earn money through our unique 50:50 advertising share scheme
• Get a Founder's Badge to prove it!

To find out more about this exciting project and to get involved just click here

You can also reply to this email (it’s come from a real person!) if you have any questions etc...

Looking forward to seeing you on the site.

Best wishes,

Harriet

Harriet Hungerford
Editor
www.videojug.com

I guess it means someone is reading my blog, if nothing else!

On a completely unrelated matter, I have now found the YouTube video I wanted to add to my blog about podcasts and YouTube. I spent ages looking for it at the time and couldn't find it, not knowing what it was called, but that I would know it when I saw it. I think I originally came across it on my FB wall, but can't remember who posted it.

Librarians Do Gaga

I love it! I would love a chance to prance around to music in the stacks!

The End

I have graduated from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. Hooray! I didn't know it when I started but I used the web in a Web 1.0 kind of way. Doing Cam23 has moved me into Web 2.0. It is true, I did have a toe or two in Web 2.0 before (despite not knowing that there was a Web 1.0 and a Web 2.0), but having looked at all the new Things I think that not only have I come across a whole load of resources I didn't know about before, but that, also, I am starting to think about using the Web differently because of it. It is not a very intuitive process as yet, but hopefully it will become so as I explore further.

I think doing Cam23 has been a  steep learning curve. We've covered lots of new things pretty quickly and for some of us (i.e. me!), we will need to take some more time to investigate and appreciate what these applications can do. One thing I have noticed is that the majority of people I know do not particulalry use these applications, and I therefore think projects like Cam23 are worthwhile courses for spreading the knowledge. The more people who know about, and know how to use, these applications, the more it will be possible to use them in the work environment. I get the impression that a lot of UL staff are having a go at Cam23 which bodes well for the future of the Library moving into a digital age with staff who are not afraid to get on board with new technology.

One thing I have not been able to do as much as I should have and would have liked to have done is read other peoples blogs. What I have been able to read has always been informative and enlightening, and I hope it might be possible to keep the blogs open for reading after the Cam23 project has officially finished. I'm glad we've got a few more days to finish off and I will try to catch up on some reading now that (with this post) I will have finished all the required blog entries for each Thing.

The Things which I definitely intend to keep using are:

iGoogle - including the calendar and reader. If I can find the opportunity I will also use Google docs. The drawback with the Google stuff is that everyone else has to sign up for a Google account to be able to work collaboratively with the tools.

Doodle - super easy to coordinate meetings and other things like, which film we should see next week.

Slideshare - a good place to continue finding out about Web 2.0 once 23Things finishes. I also found a presentation on AFOREST - something being covered in my son's English class which he needs to practice but which he "couldn't remember" exactly what it is!

Delicious - as I've got my bookmarks uploaded there now, I probably will use this occasionally, if for nothing else except for having all my bookmarks stored in one place. But, personally, I'm not keen on the layout/look of the thing. It is not pleasing to the eye. I'd like an easier way to look at/see at a glance and organise the bookmarks. At the moment, they just seem like one long, sprawling list, despite the tags.

YouTube, iTunes, Facebook, podcasts - I already used and will continue to do so.

Blogger - not sure about this one. Without the discipline of Cam23 where you have to write something on a regular basis, I feel that I know myself only too well, and will not be up to keeping a blog going - but it's been nice while it's lasted!

Wikis - I'll definitely give a go (as I mentioned in my Wiki post)

And finally, Wordle was fun, fun, fun, but I think I say I think an awful lot! I haven't managed to import the finished product, because although I can get a screenshot of it, the screenshot goes into the clipboard and I can't seem to get it out of there into the blog. I think last time I imported a screenshot I did it from an Apple computer at home. PCs are not so easy!

Actually, ignore the last paragraph! As you will have seen, I did manage to import the Wordle screenshot, but it took a long time to get it there!

And all that remains to be said, is thanks to everyone who has guided us into unchartered waters and expanded our horizons. Thanks very much for all your time and effort.

So long, and thanks for all the fish ....I mean, Things!

Wiki'd

Well, I never knew that. Wiki means fast or quick. I thought it meant that it was a small off-shoot of Wikipedia, until today.

Anyway, now I know that it is a type of do-it-yourself web page, I can immediately think of a good use that it might be put to. In our department, we have several visiting scholars working with us every year and we basically have to provide the same information for each. I think this information could be collected together and made into a Wiki so that any visiting scholar could refer to it before, during and after the visit. The beauty of it being that with each scholar's visit and experiences the Wiki can be updated to hold the current and most useful information by the very people who use it, the experience of the user always being richer than the onlooker.

I had a browse round several of the Wikis recommended and thought that other libraries used them very well to induct and train new staff into best and common practice for that library or department. No reason that could not be done here too.

Marketing the 2.0 way

Marketing with social media is not something I've ever thought about before, and being new to a lot of the social media we've been looking at and not knowledgeable about marketing, either 4Ps or 4Cs, I'm not too sure where to start.

I have checked out the Slideshare presentations about it and can see that it could be a useful tool to use to promote yourself, your business, your country etc.

Since starting 23 Things, the department where I work has set up a Facebook page," 'cos everyone's doin' it!". It is being regarded as a place to communicate in a more informal manner with people than using the face we present on our website (not that the FB page has been publicized there yet. Where's my to do list?). And, I believe that there are some whispers going around about a possible department blog being set up, but there is nothing concrete happening on that front just yet. The worry is, is that these things are set up but not followed through when there's either not enough info to fill the space, and time and/or money is tight.

If you have the right resources to invest in setting up your marketing potential through web 2.0's social media, then I think it can be an effective way of communicating with new and existing clients. But things get out of date quickly and once started I think it's crucial to be disciplined about regularly updating and reviewing content.

Personal on Demand Broadcasting or Podcasting + YouTube

Podcasting!!!! I love it!!! Never knew it was short for Personal On Demand broadCasting, though.

I think I listen to podcasts more than I listen to the radio or watch telly. I podcast mostly radio programmes, top one being the Archers and second fave is from the Flylady on Blogtalk radio, both of which I download via iTunes.

I was in Somerset last week and picked up some Tourist Info on Bristol and was interested to see that you can download audio guides from the web before you go out and about around Bristol. Brilliant idea! It'd be like having your own personal tour guide.

I think having a UL podcast would also be a good idea. I know there are students who come to the Library and leave without ever figuring out how to find the book they want. I think I saw a post on the UL FB page which said that they had come and gone without finding the books they'd wanted. Maybe a podcast could even be made for new staff? Perhaps, once done, it could save Colin C the multiple staff induction talks that he has to do? Probably would be best if an update is scheduled to be made on a regular basis. We wouldn't want one podcast made to last for the next 30 years, now would we?

As for YouTube, there are a lot of library films on there - some for fun, some serious but still entertaining. The Sydney Jones Library have done a series of different short clips which  show you how to use the photocopies and how to use the check-out to self-issue books. I guess some short films made about some of the systems used in the UL would be useful, presumably this would be allowed once permission had been granted by the Librarian. However, as you can create video podcasts, I presume that it could be posted onto YouTube as is and that would kill two birds with one stone.

Google docs

I'm back from holiday and trying to catch up and finish Cam23 by the end of the month, so today I've had a little look at Google docs. I played around with drawing option, which was fun. Maybe abstract art will be my thing! Anyway, it was all very nice and I think would be very useful, especially for people working on collaborative documents or working at a distance from each other. However, it was interesting to read in Marshables blog that work written in Google Docs doesn't easily import into Microsoft Word and keep it's format. So that is kind of a drawback.

Ooh, and by the way, something happened today which proves Cam23 has been worth doing. Ed Chamberlain (I think) put a link in one of his emails to a blog, and said that that is where all future updates of some computer stuff for the Library is going to be posted, and suggested we add the rss feed for updates. And, I thought to myself, yes I actually know how to do that, and I wouldn't have known it before Cam23. Yay!