Week 8 Mashups and API

This week's topic was the most confusing to me. I need to spend a lot more time reading about all of this and slowly exploring all the ins and outs of it on the web. The mashups I looked at didn't really do much for me. Perhaps this is because I just don't understand the concept quite yet. When I tried to do the Rollyo exercise I got totally lost. I'm not giving up. I will take time to work on this. But for now - I need to sign off.
Feeling a little lost at sea right now, but less the dinosaur than when I started this class 8 weeks ago!

Week 7 Podcasting and Online Hosted Video

YouTube is fun. I had heard that TexShare had created a video on YouTube so that is what I searched for and found very easily. It's a great promotion piece and gives me a lot of ideas on how we could use YouTube in our library to promote new resources, services etc. to our users. It gives us yet another tool to reach people in the environment they are most comfortable with.

Sharing videos on YouTube is much easier than I thought. In a flash I had posted it to Facebook.

Podcasting is another way to share short or longer instructional pieces about library resources and services with our clients. I am delighted to see what both the Univ of Tennessee and the Claude Moore library are doing with it. Providing these great examples makes it very clear what the potential is for us. I can't wait to get my staff going on this. The possibilities are endless.

Week 6 Discovery Exercise - Photo Sharing

Photo sharing is fun and easy. However, I am still struggling with sending a complete album or slide show to Facebook or to my blog. One photo at a time is easy. And I managed to send a slide show using zuPort, but I'm not sure exactly how it happened. I still have much to learn and master with this.

There are lots of applications for libraries. After I learned to create my blog in the class, I created a blog for the library to update folks on our Move News. We are moving the library to a new location. I included 4 slide show of photos that document the process to date. I created the slide shows in Picassa and then created a link to them on the blog. This worked nicely. Now I would like to learn how to send the entire slide show to my blog (without using the link back to Picassa). Is this possible?

There are lots of other applications for libraries, especially where our historical collections is concerned. I will do more thinking about this as I master this piece of our work.

Pickens Academic Tower

Pickens Academic Tower,
originally uploaded by kathyhoffman48.

This is the artist's rendering of the new Pickens Academic Tower at the UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The Research Medical Library will occupy the entire top floor! We are moving on May 9, 2008.

Week 5 Discovery Exercise - Google Docs

To complete my blogging assignment I am actually moving to Step 7. I will create my text in Google docs then publish it to my class blog. All part of the learning exercise!

On to the question:

I believe that shared software such as Google Docs IS the wave of the future. Personally, I am so excited to learn about this wonderful tool. All too often I want to work on something at home and find that I don't have the file with me. No more copying to my flash drive to bring home, or emailing the attached file to myself. This will make my personal work much easier. It will also be a tremendous help in getting input and feedback on documents as they are being created.

One short coming of using public software such as Google Docs, is for corporations who require greater levels of confidentiality and privacy. But there are other tools that will fill this void. My institution is implementing Microsoft Office SharePoint that will sit behind our firewall and accomplish much the same thing. It's an exciting future.

Week 4 Discovery Exercise - Social Bookmarking

I am so excited about using del.icio.us! It is so easy to use. I have 2 computers (work and home) and it is hard to keep my favorite bookmarks in sync. Del.icio.us is the answer.

I particularly like being able to see tags that others have used. It makes the tagging process easier and more effective.

I certainly think this is a useful for research. It really helps you track and organize your work.

Week 3 Discovery Exercise - Social Networking Tools

Learning about social networking tools has been a very interesting exercise for me. When I first set up my profile in Facebook I was very dubious about it and limited what I said about myself. But then I started having fun with it. When I found that both of my daughters had profiles I was surprised and intrigued and wanted to learn more. So I stepped outside my comfort zone and did more with it. Basically it is fun, but one can eat up a lot of time with it.

Initially I didn't think Facebook had any use for our library. And then I learned that my institution has a profile in Facebook. I was amazed. After studying this profile, I have decided to put one up for the library, add a link to our catalog, and other tools. Perhaps it will be a good way to connect with our students. It's worth a try. I plan to explore this with my staff.

I liked the look and feel of Linkedin. It definitely has a professional flavor and I am inclined to use it in the future. I think a site like this for MLA would be great.

MySpace was a total turn-off for me. Too much stuff on the screen for me.

All of these tools have privacy concerns. And yet, I am intrigued and will continue to investigate the possibilities of these tools.