Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards

When I frist try to access the web 2.o awards site it was down, so I turned to google and punched in web 2.0. I ran across a really great web 2.0 site that catalogs web 2.0 sites. ( This could get complicated your thinking but thats the end of the redundancy). What was nice about this site, http://www.go2web20.net/ is that it uses tags in a could to let you pic out a site by the type, ie a site about videos, music, social networking, shopping ect. Through this site I found a very fun cooking site that uses user generated tags to lets me search for shared recipes by ingredient or taste.

After finally getting to the web.20 awards I was not impressed. The awards mostly featured sites that are already popular and familiar to many users, and I did not find that many of the sites that interesting with the exception of www.pandora.com which is an awesome Internet radio type site that lets you select an artist or song you like and it builds a radio station of similar music. As the play list rolls you can tell the program if you liked or disliked a certain song and this will alter what kind of songs will appear on the station in the feature. Since the basic service is free you do get more b-sides, live tracks, and slightly odder tunes, but talk about the ultimate radio experience! The adds are visual so all that is required to ignore them is a minimized explorer window.

-M

Thing # 18

Alright, this looks like a fairly scaled down version of word. It would take a while to figure out if it had all the same applications that are available in word but the basics appear to be covered.

The program also seems to have several useful templates. And anything with an emoticon is all good!

Why, with a lack of auto formatting, Zoho may be even more useful than word.

I am also interested in the idea of collaborating on a document. I have never used this feature in word either and I wonder how well it works.

Basically, while this application has some potential to get around some of the problems of word, it will surely have it's own frustrations. I'm not that excited about it, but it is good to know about for helping patrons who are having technical issues related to moving between computers.

Which makes me think that it might be great for public libraries who limit computer usage where a patron could get shut out of the computer that his or her work is saved on, to recommend this web app. since it would be accessible from any computer with the Internet. Start it at home, work on it at the library, pull it up for the teacher at school with no worries about losing disks or different versions of word. Leaving your documents accessible from anywhere without a storage device, now that part sound useful.

Guess I just might become a fan.

-M

Thing # 16 Wikis

I must admit that I've had some negative perceptions of wikis in the past and while I admire the ability to do something like a Wiki I have never found one that I was overly interested in as an author and a reader. (although I admit to using wikipedia for a general idea on an unfamiliar subject.) So In completing this thing, I tried to concentrate on wiki use in the library and forget all the negative experiences I have had with wikis in the past. Takeing a look at what other libraries are doing with wikis was a big help.

I thought that the subject guide that St. Joseph county Public Library turned into a Wiki was a very good way to assist patrons in finding materials they were looking for but it is not exactly a Wiki due to the very limited scope of who is editing the content. What is the difference between a highly restricted wiki and a homepage? Not much.

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page

I was more impressed with Book Lover's Wiki created by the Princeton Public Library. While still limited, allowing at least some patrons to add content to the Wiki makes the page more in line with the idea of web2.0. While I am sure they request submissions to be sent via e-mail to ensure that nothing inappropriate is posted, it would be more user-friendly to allow patrons to use an online application without sending an e-mail. I know that in forums and news group posts can be held until they approved by the moderator of the discussion. I am not sure about the technical difficulty's of using that within the scope of the WIKI tools being used by this library system, but I think patrons would prefer to type on the page and hit a submit button without having to switch over to their e-mail ect.

Over all, Wiki's look like a fun way to get patrons involved, and I very much like the idea of a WIKI for book recommendation and review. I think this would be especially successfull with teens and older kids, and may keep them interested and talking to each other about books. Teens and older children are much more interested in what their peers think about something than what a grown up does. They are the ultimate experts on what other teens might want, and they love sites where they are in control of the content. While it might mean some extra supervisory work, bring kids together on the library web page could have as much impact as bringing them together in the library.
I feel that at least in my branch, fewer adults are as techno-savvy and spend as much time surfing the Internet, but this same kind of book review application would be good for adults as well. I think in Cecil County, it might not be as popular with adults as it could be for teens and older elementary students but it could encourage younger adults to be more involved in the library.

-M