NZ GLAM

I have just been browsing through some of the suggested sites, trying to think about Web 2.0 in terms of concentration and diffusion. NZ Research is a concentration of research documents from different New Zealand institutions, and it provides access to a wide range of material, that the general public can view - a wonderful tool for those interested in studies on specific topics.
I found Digital NZ interesting, and feel that if I had a topic in mind it would be a wonderful resource. It works by concentrating information contributed by different groups and members of the public, and then allowing diffusion of this information through remixing and mashups. The ability to create your own widgets on this site is another way of diffusing the informtaion.
NZ Live appeared to be more like NZ Research in that it is a concentration of information, although the blog aspect does allow for diffusion though posts and comments.
Finally, Matapihi could benefit through the two aspects of Web 2.0 - concentration of information by contributions from the egneral public (like Digital NZ) and diffusion of information through a blog. I feel RSS Feeds would benefit this site, especially if aspects of wikis were used to allow readers to contribute and discuss different topics, and then be updated on these discussions through RSS Feeds.
Working through the different exercises in this last module has really helped me to see more clearly the link between concentration and diffusion of information, and the way these two aspects work together and affect each other to create the world of Web 2.0!

Education and Web 2.0

Browsing through Canterbury University's website I noticed a couple of things relating to Web 2.0. Firstly they have a tv channel, UCTV and it has podcasts available to view, on anything from lectures on various topics to help videos on how to use Moodle (online lecture forum) and Drupal (website developer), some of which are relevant to students and some to the general public.
Secondly, they ran a series of lectures on Web 2.0 in November/December (which I wuld be interested in attending if they come up again) titled 'Web 2.0: What It Is, and Why it Matters'.
This series looked at topics we have explored in CCL Learn, including Wikis, blogs, cloud computing and user-generated content, and was part of their community/continuing education. Given the ever increasing prominence of Web 2.0 in our daily llives, it is great to see the university providing an opportunity for the general public (for a small fee) to explore this vast topic.

Porirua EMO Blog

I found this blog really interesting. It is an example of a Web 2.0 tool being used by a council employee, to present information and opinions, but as the author says: "It's all my personal opinion, so don't go trying to infer any council policy from it. If in doubt, contact the city council. www.pcc.govt.nz". I appreciate that this is clearly outlined at the beginning of the blog, but wonder whether this blog is part of this employee's PD (and thus done in work time) or done in their own time?
I found this blog really useful, one example is the post below:

Monday, December 14, 2009
How's your back-up plan coming along?

Many Telecom XT customers have been left hanging today, with "an unplanned restart" of Telecom's Christchurch XT Mobile RNC switch (whatever that is), which resulted in the majority of XT cell sites south of Taupo not operating from around 6am.

So, how'd you fare without your precious cellphone? Did business grind to a halt? How much money did you not make today because of that simple little disruption?

There is no guarrantee of service, even at the best of times, so have you thought about how your business can carry on functioning without the cellphones working? How about if none of the phones are working? Or if the power goes out? Or if your computer network goes down for the whole day? How are you going to do your job? Have a think. And if there isn't a way to do your job without these things, have enough insurance to cover your losses during such times.
Posted by Porirua EMO at 2:18 PM
Labels: be prepared, business continuity, communications, insurance
0 comments

This is a great example of how this organisation is using current events and Web 2.0 tools to connect with the public and get the organistaion's purpose across, to encourage the public in this case to be prepared with an emergency management plan. While this site is not interactive as such there is the option to comment on a post, and this would be a great way for members of the public to share ideas.

Web 2.0 and Government Initiatives

I found this article very interesting and thought-provoking. As a consumer it is easy to demand that agencies offer Web 2.0 based services and collaborative options, as many non-government agencies currently do. However, the implications associated with this for both the public and the government are extensive and varied, and it appears to be something not to be rushed into, that needs to be carefully considered and piloted before full commitment is given.
The issue of transparency and trust was one that stood out for me from this article. I can see the concerns over use of Web 2.0 tools meaning that the government's involvement in a particular site may not be apparent, and feel that this could have negative effects on public trust and opinion. It is something that needs to be carefully considered.
I am impressed with the number of government agencies who appear to be implementing Web 2.0 tools. I especially liked the idea of the Poilce Act Wiki, and can see the potential for these type of tools to be used across a wide range of agencies to allow public opinion and needs to be considered in future policy and decision making.
I was also really interested in the Sort Me blog, and although I have only had time to flick through it, I plan to go back and read the past posts. I think the concept is fantastic, and will be recommending it to friends. The ability to post comments to the blog entries meant this blog became a collaborative experience, and allowed readers to tap into the knowledge and experience of the general population, and learn some helpful hints and habits. I did find it interesting that, at least at first glance, it is nto evident where the blog originated/who is running it - although I do like that it is made clear that this is a fictious scenario, and what a great way to present information that people may otherwise find dull and hard to engage with.

Public PC's Post 2

Adding to my last post, I also experienced the frustration a customer may feel when something on the public PC's doesn't work. Trying to burn my Productivity 2 files to CD, I discovered that there was something wrong with the CD burner on my computer, as it wouldn't recognise the blank CD I inserted. I tried to just do it through the Cd drive, wondering if it was the burning program that was the problem, and also tried a second CD, but neither of these worked. Fortunately I had it saved on USB, and went back to my computer where I was able to burn it with no problems.
AND I reported the problem to the librarians for them to deal with! It was ok for me as I had the backup option of my own PC, but was good to empathise with the customers.

Public PC's and Productivity 2

Have finally managed to complete Productivity 2 - I found this the hardest module to complete, not because of the content (which was pretty basic) but because of the difficulty in getting access to the public pc's when I had time available to do CCL Learn. Having said that, it was great to experience the PC's, programs and accessories that are available to the public.
Overall, I found there was a fantastic range of programs available, and found Paint.net particularly useful (in fact I will look at downloading it on my home computer) and have already recommended it to several customers. It is not a particularly intuitive program though, so was great to have some time to spend playing on it.
I ran out of time to do the Audacity exercise, but am keen to come back and revisit that.
One negative about the public pc's is simply the fact that they are public! I found it much more distracting being in a public environment - the kid next to me had rap music coming out of his computer, and the girl next to him was humming and singing along to her music through her headphones! Along with book trolleys bumping along the tiles and automatic windows that seemed stuck and kept opening and closing - it was not as prodcutive a time as it could have been!
Having said that, for customers who don't have access to a pc at home the facilities the library offers would be wonderful.
I think, especially with the free internet, that a course such as Productivity 2 is essential for all staff who are involved in face-to-face contact with cutomers.

Skyping

Our CCL Learn Wednesday group held our meeting this morning via Skype conference call, which everyone enjoyed (for some people it was a highlight of CCL Learn so far)! Skype is fantastic as it is so easy to use, and free - I use it regularly to call family and friends in Australia, and it's even better with the webcam option. Glad to see CCL Learn making use of this technology, and it was a great opportunity for those who haven't used it before to see how easy it really is. It also got us thinking about the possibilities of integrating Skype into our daily business transactions, especially for cross library meetings - we could all see the benefits of time saved on travel etc, and the ease of everyone being able to remain at their place of work in case of low staff numbers, but still enabling everyone to attend metings and collaborate with other staff, also across other Council units.
The Web 2.0 module seems to follow on very nicely from this, looking at what Web 2.0 is, and government agencies use of different Web 2.0 tools, for 'concentration' and 'diffusion' - more on that in the next post.

'In the (fluffy, white NOT stormy) Cloud'

After all the rain lately, I couldn't face blogging about a grey cloud! I have found this module really interesting, and probably out of all the modules I have completed so far I have learnt the most from this one. The Wikipedia article on Cloud computing was full of 'tech speak' and not particularly helpful, but i found the video on this topic enlightening. Some of my favourite comments, that most helped me understand the concept of Cloud Computing were:

"Everything we think of as a computer today is really just a device that connects to the big computer that we're all building" - Tim O'Reilly, CEO O'Reilly Media

"We still have to think about how tables are structured and how we're couriering things and how we're gonna scale our webs and how much network and space and electricity we have. Ideally it should just be like 'the Carebears' in the cloud - perfect and happy. Someday I hope we'll be there." - Matt Mullenweg, Cofounder Wordpress

"Cloud Computing - it's a way to deliver services rather than applications, completely independant of platforms and physical hardware - and I hope it works!"

" If you need software, it's not cloud computing. If you need hardware beyond your laptop/pc, it's not cloud computing. All of the activity you want to do should take place on a remote server elsewhere and all you should need is an internet connection." - Maggie Fox, CEO Social Media Group


Next, Google Docs (GD). I have a document that is currently being edited at the moment by fellow CCL Learners, and will post that to my blog when it is done. I think GD has lots of benefits, and some negatives as outlined in the above document. I did find that if I tried to copy and paste a word doucment in to GD that had pictures in it, the pictures would not paste in, and I needed to save them as seperate jpgs and insert them into the document that way.

Google Calendar seems like a great application. I don't plan to use it at this stage as I already have an electronic diary in Outlook for work, a paper diary for work and a paper diary for home (and still forget to check them all sometimes, don't think I need to add another to that mix)! I do like that you can email invites to friends and they can accept via email (so they don't have to have Google Calendars) and that you can access a mobile version of Google Calendars on your mobile phone. Finally, offline access to your calendar is a fantastic idea, as this is one of my concerns with web-based applications when the Internet doesn't work (having experienced it today I know how frustrating it can be!) so offline read-only access is great.

CCL Learn PBWiki

Ok, decided to move on from MediaWiki and come back to that when I can get it to work. Although so far not having luck with PB Works either! The PB Wiki Tour and PB Wiki Gallery are not working, the pages seem to no longer exist. Ray have you had any updates about these, are there new links to these pages? I would like to check them out if possible. At least the PBWiki tips page is working, and I am sure some of these tips will come in handy as I explore the site and play more.
I enjoyed adding to the Favourites page on CCL wiki, it is a random collection of favourites but fun to read and pick out the comments by colleagues I know - and think about what my favourites are, there are too many to list so limited myself to two for now!
Have just added my blog to the CCL Learn Blogs list on the wiki, and hope to make some time this week to explore some of the blogs of prior CCL learners. So far I have found the PBWiki pretty easy to add to/edit, I like that you can easily make basic changes like text colour and add links really easily. I had expected that in the wikis module I would be setting up my own wiki, but it has been great to practice adding to a wiki, and I will continue with adding a page of my own, and hopefully one day may create my own wiki if the need is there.

MediaWiki Frustrations

Ok, am having problems with Media Wiki. Firstly when I open the link to the sandbox from CCL wiki it brings up a main page that says 'There is currently no text in this page'. I thought maybe it was because I wasn't logged in (although the CCL wiki did say you should be able to browse the page without being logged in). So I created an account and clicked the link in the email I received to confirm my email address. But it will not let me login using the account I have just created, it comes up with a message saying 'There is no user by the name 'Gill', but that is the account I have just had confirmed! Bit frustrated now, wondering if the settings on my IE browser at home are causing the problem? Will just move on to the next task and try the Media Wiki site on work computer and see if it works there, or if anyone has any ideas please comment!

Discovery of Wikis

I have just read some of the articles and examples of Wikis, and am starting the discovery exercises. I found the 'Using Wikis to Create Online Communities' article the most helpful in clarifying for me what a wiki is (as opposed to a blog or social networking site or website) and how they might be used. I like the idea of using wikis for conferences, and can really see the value in Subject Guide and also Catalog wikis. I know personally I use the library catalgoue quite a bit, and I am much more likely to place holds on and borrow books that have descriptions and pictures than ones that don't - using a wiki to allow the general public to update the catalog listings seems like a great idea, although I think there would need to be some kind of control and regulations on it.
I liked the SJCPL Subject Guides wiki, and how if you logged in you could comment on titles, and also thought the links to other sites would be really helpful e.g. on the 'Cooking' page there was a link to a local Farmers Market, this would be a great resource for visitors to the area, and a great promotional tool for the markets themselves.
I thought the Princeton Public Library's 'Booklovers Wiki' was a great use of this tool. It is a shame that they didn't continue it, but great that they evolved from this original idea to upgrading the catalog to include reviews directly. I can see potential to use this idea for the Book Clubs that we run at South, Upper Riccarton and New Brighton libraries, and think that in fact Julianne may have already planned this for our Summer Reading program. Also for Reading Crusade, it would be fantastic for different schools involved in this to be able to share their progress, reviews etc throughout the program using a Wiki. I can see the benefits for this especially for less local schools e.g. Maruia School.

HDR Photography

This is not strictly CCL Learn related, but through blogging and my favourite magazine (Notebook) I discovered this amazing travel photography site, I think these type of photos showcase the amazing capabilties of photo editing programs and technology in general! CCL Learn has made me more aware of Web 2.0 tools like blogging, before this I wouldn't have bothered looking at this blog (or any blogs really)but now I have and love these shots! I really feel like I am taking some of the modules and using them to learn about my interests and passions, and am really benefiting from the whole experience. It is also great to be able to share exciting tools and discoveries with colleagues, some of whom can then share them with their classes.
Check out the photo below, it is taken by Trey Ratcliff from his amazing website

Gadgets on blogs

I have found the gadgets and widgets module really fun, but time consuming! I could spend hours searching through all the available gadgets and adding different ones to my blog and iGoogle page! I really enjoyed learning how to add different gadgets to my blog using the html edit mode and string code - i can see how people could spend so much time actually creating these tools, and am almost interested in learning about coding myself, although that is another ballgame altogether. I am often going to xe.com to do currency conversions (when buying things online and when trying to convert prices at home (Aus) to NZ dollars, so this latest gadget I have added to my blog will be handy at least for me, just have to add it to my iGoogle now.

iGoogle

I already had a basic iGoogle before CCL Learn, but after looking at Netvibes decided to keep using iGoogle, and just create a new one linked to my Google account and play with adding more gadgets etc. I am finding iGoogle one of the most useful tools so far, it is so easy to have everyhting I would want to be logged into open at once, in one window and not multiple tabs. I have just added Hotmail and Facebook gadgets so I can be looking at these on my iGoogle page. It also has my Google reader on it, and I have added Google maps gadget (which I am always using)and world clocks (so I can see the time in countries where frineds and family are). I would recommend iGoogle to anyone wanting to have multiple tools and communication pages open at once.

Tropical Storms and Google Gadgets

Check out this tropical storms gadget I found on Google Gadgets!

Libraries on Facebook

In the further reading section on Social Networking I enjoyed viewing the slideshow on 'Building the Social Library Online'. I thought the idea of a library podcast keeping customers updated on whats happenign in and around the libraries would be a great tool for CCL to use, especially thinking about the programmes we run in the libraries and learning centres, how practical to teach people about podcasting and then direct them to the libraries podcast to stay updated. I also liked the librarian from Barrington's Facebook page, where customers could give feedback, ask questions and particularly the feature where they could request new titles for the library, what a great way to involve customers in collection building. I can definately see the potential for various social networking systems to be used within the library netwok to the benefit of both cutomers and staff.

Ning

Firstly, I feel like I have usernames and passwords comign out of my ears! Despite trying to keep them all the same for CCL Learn stuff I seem to have managed to amass a pile of different ones, I think I have done well to not forget any so far! Thank goodness for the 'I have forgotten my password' button though, I'm sure it will come in handy at some stage!
Secondly, have just gotten back from Sydney and the lack of sleep (combined with time difference) is making me feel jetlagged, so my comments on Ning probably do not make much sense, getting the typing correct is enough of a challenge at the moment! Having said that, I have enjoyed joining 2 Ning networks, thanks Marie and Jane for the invites and Marie for setting up our group one. As far as I can tell in the small amount of adding and exploring I have done, they seem very similar to Facebook, with the difference being they are created around a topic/theme of interest, rather than general social networking. I think this would be great if you have a particular interest, although for keeping in touch with friends Facebook seems more suitable to me (this is probably also because the majority of my friends are on Facebook and getting eveyrone to join Ning would be too much effort).
Now I am off to try and search Ning for networks on particular topics, wish me luck!

Library Thing

I don't have a library thing account (have just joined up to Shelfari last week) but found the ability to 'build' gadgets and imbed them into your page interesting, and may have to test it out. I know when we had a group from Linwood College building their own wikis at the Learning Centre earlier in the year they were learning how to embed you-tube videos in their wiki, and I look forward to this. In thsi module I am learning that things like html that I thought were only for 'tech' computer people can actually be used by everyday computer users (albeit in a much more simplified 'copy and paste' manner. And if I actually wanted to get into programming I could do a itunes university free course on computer programming language, although I don't think I will ever be at that stage! This has demystified some of the 'computer speak' for me though.

Widgets and Gadgets Discovery

Have just been on the University of Auckland Library Search widget. If I understand it correctly this is a widget that could be added for example to my blog, so then my blog followers can search this library's catalogue and databases from my blog. This is great from an ease of use point of view, and I can see potential for this tool to be well used by customers e.g. if they could put a widget of CCL Search facility on their iGoogle page they could access a lot of information from one place. A colleague who did CCL Learn Pilot group showed me iGoogle awhile ago, and I find it really useful - i have gadgets like multiple time clocks for cities around the world, Google map directions, weather forecast on my iGoogle page, and have just added a Facebook Summary to it so I can easily see updates. It will save me opening lots of new tabs and logging on to different applications when I can access them all from one place. Will now have to go and add Twitter to my iGoggle page!

Hospitals and Technology

My mum had to have surgery yesterday, and is doing well. My sister told me about a great faciltity that the hospital has, so I have just tried it out. On the hospital's website they have a feature to send an email or an e-card to a patient. I chose from la range of designs of cards, and entered mum's name, room number and then typed my message. The hospital will then print it out and take it to her room today - an almost instant get well card to a different country! It's great to see places like this taking advantage of a range of communication methods, and really good for family and friends who are overseas.

Ning

I just joined Ning, but am still waiting for the confirmation email to come up in my inbox, have sent it twice now and still not received it so will go onto second module for this week in the meantime I think.

Twitter Username

Oh, forgot to say my twitter username (for those who want to follow me) is aussiegill1

Tweeting

Have just joined Twitter, I am not convinced that it is for me but will give it a go - that is after all the purpose of CCL Learn! So far I am following Jamie Oliver, Notebook Magazine's Editor and Coldplay's tweets. Just don't know how interested I am in hearing what people (even close friends let along people I don't know) are up to every minute of every day, but I can see how it would be addictive for some people. I had friends who did the Oxfam 100km walk last year and that used Twitter to keep friends and family updated about each team's progress along the walk, which was fun to follow. Will continue exploring and see where I get - I am always saying don't say you don't like something until you try it!

Oodles of Wordle Fun

I love Wordle! I have used it a number of times before (at the Learning Centre we do a holiday class that is always fully booked, where the kids create an iron-on t-shirt transfer from their wordle image) but always putting/typing a body of text in. This time I used it with my blog URL and the image on my page is the result, with the words used most often on my page in bigger type. I also took the colours from my blog and transferred them into Wordle so that my image had similar colours! Great fun.

fd's Flickr Toys

I think this site is great, definately my favourite of the 4 I have looked at so far. I love the colour palette generator, that makes a colour palette based on the colours on your photos (can see real potential for this in Digital Scrapbooking personally and also classes I teach). I also think the 'Make your own magazine cover' tool would make a great school holiday class, where kids take a photo of themselves and make a magazine cover, thinkign about colours and text/stories. CD Covers, Calendars and Trading Cards - this site is a great way to quickly and easily create a multitude of projects and gifts with your photos, will be passing this one on to customers for sure.

Flickr

Have just added some photos of colleagues hard at work in the Learning Centre (see Clare above)! I think Flickr could be a great tool, I currently put my photos up on my Facebook account for friends and family to view, I like that they are all there along with the rest of Facebook's features, but will be interested to learn what else Flickr can do. Having free photo editing software is fantastic for customers, and I look forward to discovering other creative ventures on Flickr. This task was fun just walkign around and chatting to colleagues about what they were doing (and explaining why I was taking their photos)!

Podcasts

Ok, I think that is enough podcasts added for today - the trouble is finding the time to listen to them all! Also, am about to add a link to my links list that I discovered the other day, if anyone has customers inquring about learning a language, history etc this may be a good thing to point them towards, I was amazed at the range on offer. It's i-Tunes U, the i-tunes Open University, where you can download clips on anything from learning French to studying Ancient History or Literature, and all for free.

RSS Feeds Post 2

Ok, just had to close down again, I don't think my browser likes having so many tabs open and working at once! Will have to try mozilla next time (although I never use it because I am much more familiar with IE, I am definately a creature of habit in many ways)! Have found looking for RSS Feeds that lots of sites I would visit e.g. Cuisine Magazine, ninemsn don't seem to have them. Not sure if I have just missed the feed symbol or if they just don't have it? When I used the search feature in Google Reader for TV3 it bought their feed up, but then browser started mucking up, so will try again soon.
I think the Learning Centres (with our new website, check out the link in my link list on this blog) could look at adding an RSS Feed option to the site so new updates and programme info could be easily followed, whether we have the amount of information added to it regularly enough to need this function I am not sure, will see as we develop it further!
On to Podcasts next, looking forward to this as I already subscribe to one (Hamish and Andy, radio presenters from Australia) and love being able to listen to their shows as I miss not having it in the car on the way to work - it's funny how sometimes it's the little things you miss.

RSS Feeds

Ok, I have found this last week a struggle to fit CCL time in, with lots of other work tasks cropping up during the week, and the browsers running slow or freezing! But have finally sat down and managed to get by Google Reader account running, and have subscribed to some feeds. I have found it great learning how to add some of the libraries RSS feeds (new on website, new fiction - which I normally check every week using the CCL homepage so this is a much quicker way! and the CCL Blog) to my account. I don't know how useful the new feed will be that I have added (I like checking ninemsn as it has more new from home) and I am not sure about the layout of RSS feeds (I am a very visual, 'pretty' design kind of person, one of those people who always gets sucked in by new lollies etc in cute little packets) and find them a bit boring, but I guess alot easier to skim information. Will be interested to discover what others I can find.

Technology Frustrations!

So I have been trying to do my week 2 module for over an hour now - and have had to close IE7 and all sites I was viewing at least 5 times and then open them again as it keeps freezing! Decided rather than continue to try and get frustrated, I would blog about my frustrations instead! Started off in the lab, and after 45 mins of the extreme slowness of the browsers in there (something wrong with them) I gave up and came to my desk to do it, and the browser is running faster but keeps freezing! This is not fun, especially on top of 2 days of TRIM headaches! Makes me realise how much I rely on technology, and how frustrating it is when it doesn't work! I can try certain troubleshooting techniques up to a point, but this is beyond me! Oh well, think I will give up for now and try again tomorrow. On a positive note I am off to the theatre tonight to see Four Flat Whites in Italy, have heard so many good things about it and I could definately do with a laugh! Will let you know how it was tomorrow.

CCL Learn Session 2

I'm in my second session of CCL Learn, having time to play around with my blog, follow others blogs etc. Good to have time to experiment. From the 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective Learners' the point that I found most relevant to my style of learning was 'Successful lifelong learners know the value of play'! This is definately true of me, I love trying things and find I learn effectively with enquiry style learning. Something I learnt that I will need to work at is 'Sucessful lifelong learners view problems as challenges'. I do this to a point, but probably need to work on not being frustrated when things don't work as I want straight away!

Personal Learning

Ok, just went to the next step in LAMS and I was supposed to blog about personal learning for my first post! Never mind, just illustrates the fact that everyone learns differently. I am definately of the generation that learn (at least technology-wise) by doing and experimenting, hence the first thing I did was play around with settings, changing the colours, fonts and gadgets on my blog. I learn best by playing, putting gadgets on and taking them off if they don't appeal. I think it is partly growing up with computers etc, and constant use that makes me confident in my ability to play without messing anything up too much (this is a constant fear that some of our older customers who don't have this experience have). It's great to see these customers come along, learn from someone and then have the chance to play- the enthusiasm and exploring that results from these classes is wonderful. After all, I am a firm believer in 'practice makes perfect'!

First Post!

Wow, first post on my first blog, what a momentous occasion - I feel like I need to come up with something really witty to say! Mind you, it took me long enough to come up with the address for my blog so don't have 3 hours to waste composing my first comment (otherwise this blog may consist of only one post)! For those of you who haven't met me (and heard the giveaway accent)and are questioning the title, yes I am from Australia, Sydney in fact. I moved to NZ 4.5 years ago and really enjoy the lifestyle here. 3 years in Blenheim gave me a love for good food, fine wine and the Marlborough Sounds! Moving to Christchurch after that was a great opportunity to travel more (much cheaper to fly to places from here than from Blenheim) and indulge some other passions, snowboarding and sailing. I am really enjoying working at CCL and look forward to the new experiences that CCL Learn has to offer!