Week 9: Is this really the end?

I'm glad I've finally crossed the finish line. At first, though as excited as I was, I was also a bit afriad to participate in this programme because most of the things that I had to do were so new to me. However I think this is one of the best things I did in 2007!!

I've learnt a lot through this programme, things that I never knew existed (let alone think of using it)! This was an excellent way for me to keep in touch with the latest 'in' thing available online. THANK YOU VERY MUCH ELGAR for encouraging me and guiding me through the whole process. Personally I don't believe that this is the end - this is most definitely only the beginning for me!

Week 9: Podcast + ebooks

I visited two podcast web sites. I added one podcast "15 minutes advantage" by Dr. Bill Dyment in my Blogline. I listened to the interview "getting things done" with the best selling author, David Allen.
Another podcast I viewed was the "Review of Green Day's 'American Idiot'". I clicked on the "Play" button but to watch the review I had to install 'Quick Time' from Apple Inc. I wasn't sure if I should install it or not and in the end I decided not to install it.

This site is good for sharing one's opinions and information with others as well as to get some quick info (and the latest updates) on a number of topics.

eBooks: I created my Netlibrary account and did a title search. I typed 'Martin Luther King': 1 hit, Full-Text: 82 hits, Subject search on 'Martin Luthor King': 2 hit, Keyword: 1, Author: 0. And then I chose the 'Full-Text' option and read the short summaries of some of the books. I clicked on 'View this book' to read the text of the books(it even showed the page of the text).

Netlibrary is another good site where people can get the bibliographic details of books(including the page numbers).

Week 9: You Tube

" I chose the Podsafe Christmas song video from You Tube to share with the others who are doing this acl 2.0 learning progm. The animation is awesome and I enjoyed watching and listening to the song. I also want to say a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you (I know – it’s a bit early :-D). "

I like You Tube videos and video tutorials. The idea of using video tutorials is fantastic, as listening and watching the demonstrations at the same time can help users understand new things easily.

Week 8: Web 2.0 Award

I like this Flickr very much, because I like seeing beautiful photos of places even though I haven't been to those places. Flikr also provides the map of the places shown in the photos (although this service is not available for all of the photos). I could look at the photos and the maps, and day-dream about those places and imagine I'm there for hours, simply forgetting the time. I like the black and white photos as much as I like the colour ones.
The black and white photos create a different feel and they make me look back at my childhood sceneries – this is probably because all of my childhood pictures are in black and white. I like seeing scenery photos such as the sky, the beach, trees … etc.
Flickr is a fantastic web site to share their photos with friends or other people.

Week 8: Online productivity

I had never come across Google Docs and Zoho Writer before and I was curious what they were. I visited each sites and signed up right away. Wow, I agree with Blowers and Herriges! who wrote a document called "Welcome to Zoho Writer". I also liked Google Docs, because when you want to use an Excel Spreadsheet or make a PowerPoint Presentation you can just click on the File menu and choose whatever you want to use. Zoro Writer has lots of Tool bar and Format bar options. What a fantastic online Word Processor!. I typed this document using Zoho writer and tried to export it to My Document but it took so long(30mins passed but still downloading), clicked on cancel button.

Week 7: Wikis + PB Wiki

Wiki: Wikipaedia is a well known web encyclopaedia. Wikipaedia is supported by approximately 200 different languages. Usually when I want to get some news about my home country, I visit the online newspaper of my home country. However, sometimes it takes a long time to get it(I still use dial-up internet!). But today I accessed my home country’s online newspaper through Wikipaedia (using my own language). It was easy and quick, and there were heaps of articles containing the latest news. I also like the fact that with Wiki, everyone can participate in it and share their knowledge and resources. When I was watching the video, demonstrating wikis, I thought, we could use it for Akozone Homework group.

However, the downside is that it is too easy for other people to edit someone else’s information easily and quickly. So even if I put up a good info that I want share with others, my posting may be gone by tomorrow!

SJCPL Subject Guides: I liked the Homework guides. It covers every subject from Elementary school to College. Also there are some useful links, so students can ask their homework questions and get the answers.

Book Lovers Wiki : I liked reading book reviews. If we want to participate in the book reviews, we can simply email our own book reviews and if we want to edit a book review, we can click on the “edit” page. We have to have an account and log in to edit, though. After reading some book reviews I ordered “The other side of Israel” by Susan Nathan.

PBWiki: It was easy to access the Favorite Blogs using the password, but I got stuck! How do I add my blog to the Favorite Blogs. I spent quite a long time then EUREKA! I know! I added my blog to the Favorite Blogs. It was so simple but I had thought it was asking me to do something different! Typical isn’t it?!

week 6: Technorati

Technorati + Library 2.0

The keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog directory experiment showed different results.

1. Learning 2.0 blog posts: 745 hits.

2. Learning 2.0 tags : 1,292 hits

3. Learning 2.0 blog directory : 89 hits

I tried this experiment on 1 Nov. at 1:42pm. Everyone would know by now that results differs depending on when the search was run, that is, depending on the date and time of the search. Also using slightly different terms affects the results - for instance, running a search using the plural form of a word gives different results (e.g. directory-directories).

I would like to quote Sarah Hughton's definition of L2.

"Library 2.0 simply means making your library's space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. Examples of where to start include blogs, gaming nights for teens, and colaborative photo sites. The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives to make the library a destination and not an afterthought."

According to Hughton's theory, ACL 2.0 Learning online prgm. will make us equip well to help our patrons needs. However there are still some patrons who need basic technologies such as using OPAC and sending emails... so we have to run some courses for those continually ( I know how popular our compter class "click and learn" is). Before starting this progm. we ran a blog session for patrons. After the session, all the customers asked when would be next session.