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!
Monday, December 14, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
'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.
"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.
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