#30 The End

I did learn quite a bit through the Learning 2.0 program. I found the most useful lessons to be those that allowed me to explore how added tools work with technology I'm already using. So, enjoyed adding stuff to my blog; enjoyed looking at how others are using wikis; and was particularly impressed with the online productivity tools. YouTube was fun, so was LibraryThing.

I haven't changed my mind: there are tools that I didn't find useful for me: MySpace seems to be another blog/wiki technology. I looked at academic institutions who had created a MySpace area for information useful to students--why isn't a web page enough? Why does everyone need a place to comment, to post their information--which is the only use I can see with MySpace. While I enjoyed creating my own search engine, I didn't find Rollyo or Technorati to be a tool I will use.

Now that it's over, my challenge is how to keep up!

#25 Google Lab/Base

I looked for information on Google Base because I'm not sure why this is a unique service. It seems to be yet another database to store information that is available for others. If I want a recipe, why switch over to Google Base when Google can bring up a spicy chicken recipe from Wolfgang Puck--not readily available on Google Base. This is my opinion from a researchers point-of-view. But if you don't want to host your own website of free recipes, Google Base is a good service. Also looks like Base is a place to advertise--I did a search on research papers and found several services that were available via Base.

What may be useful for libraries is the events and activities section. I did a search for UAF and found concerts and sporting events listed.

Google Labs looked more interesting--I started working on creating a web page. Very easy to use. I also looked at the accessibility features, read up on the work that Google is doing to make sites more accessible to the visually impaired.

Again, I don't know that I would use these features on a daily basis--it's one more place to go!

#29 Rasmuson's Stuff

I'm reading Sarah Crawford Isto's Good Company, the story of her parents' arrival and thirty eight years in Fairbanks. Came across some names that I recognized (walking down Loftus in my neighborhood, I've often wondered who Loftus was). Going out to Vilda was great--some photos of Isto's parents and other names that she mentioned in her story. It was also great for background information on geographic or place names that are mentioned. Ever heard of the Curry Hotel--the stop off place for the Alaska Railroad between Fairbanks and Seward? There are photos of that place, even images of the geographic area as it was being developed.

Let's see if I can get some links to some photos:
Curry Hotel

Here's what I want to know: when are more photos going to be added?

#24 Google Maps

Fascinating how one can get sucked in and spend minute after minute playing around with this stuff! Yes, Google Maps can get you the directions you need (no aerial view of my house, although neighborhood was available) and the Google Pedometer can track your miles. Google Earth did have a blurry picture of my residence. What I wanted, many minutes into this assignment, was a site to log running miles. And whaalaa I found one: America's Running Routes . Fun to imagine me logging the miles--okay, will I really try the Geist to Farmer's Loop to Yankovich to Miller Hill to Sheep Creek to Parks Highway to Geist Road route? Stay tuned . . .

Looks like the running site used the Google map of Fairbanks, but the site also has other local routes that Fairbanksans have saved. Fun site!

#28 Opera

Tried Opera but didn't find anything that was more useful than Firefox. Like Forefox's tabs and that its presentation is clean. IE always seems too busy whenever I use it.

I'm getting into the widget idea--downloaded a clock for this assignment. Not much else to report!

#20 YouTube

I did several searches and found videos that showed how You Tube could be used by a library's publicity staff or as how-to introductory shorts. The challenge: is the Library ready and willing for this type of service?

Sure there's lots of fluff but there's also good stuff--found a great video on a search for the reclusive author Cormac McCarthy--UAF's Midnight Sun Writer's Program could tape the authors' presentation and have them available via You Tube. The question is, why? We already videotape these presentations and they're available for checkout. Perhaps the best use is a short of last year's authors to be used for publicity.

And a number of UAF funny videos for students are great--cabin life is a great one! Here's potential to reach out to students about what to expect in Alaska.

I searched for Parkinson's and found a wonderful video on Deep Brain Stimulation--not too gory, but did explain the procedure. There are other videos out there that discuss this disease. The potential uses for science are many!

My biggest complaint regarding You Tube is its searchability--hard to narrow the searches to your specific topic. And it all depends on how the video was tagged!

I'm going to post a librarian video in this post. Here goes:

#18: Zoho: What if?

One of the issues for the public workstations @ the Reference Desk has been that Word is not installed on any of the computers. Is this a good substitution? It looks like Word, feels like Word--why not?

I'm looking at some features to see how useful this would be. What would be the problem with pointing patrons to this resource? In fact, this could be added to a library toolbar with other resources. Going to save and see what happens.

Saved this document then figured out how to export into an actual Word document file. This really is useful--and it has a spell checker button! Read some of the comments on Zoho's blog--others out there are figuring out how to use this resource and Zoho is supplying the apps needed to work interactively.

Reviewing some tools

Since I have links to other Rasmuson Learning 2.0 bloggers, I do spend some time checking out what they've been exploring. Reading Adasiak's blog I was curious to see what he'd done with Rollyo, since I wasn't that thrilled when I worked on it. His Rollyo is created for those looking for Fairbanks specific sites--aha, could I create something similar for the English Department? So I gave Rollyo another go!

You know what I'm really looking for? A search engine that searches both our licensed databases and freebie web sources. While I included CQ Researcher in the list of places to search and it was included in the search process, it didn't bring me results from Rasmuson's subscription source. Which brings me back to some work I'm doing on the federated search engine committee--we're looking at products that search licensed databases and freebie web sources. And I'm back to the usefulness of Google (one of my favorite lessons was creating a search engine via Google!) for the freebie sites. No, I'm not giving up on looking for new resources that can provide services I'd like to use; the exposure to these resources is great! I do believe that one day it will all come together.

And on Wendi Lyons' blog I found a recipe for falafels via her Epicurean link. The blogs are useful!

#27: Grokker

While reading the latest issue of Library Journal's Net Connect (Summer 2007), I came across this article about Grokker being used as a federated search product. I'm serving on the Library's committee, so read this with interest--and wondered with a bit of a whine why is the library world always behind the curve? Where were we when this was being created by Groxis? Okay, enough whining--went out to the Learning 2.0 to see what I could see.

Knowing that Grokker may be useful as a federated search engine, I couldn't get excited about searching only Yahoo, wikipedia, and Amazon. I'm more interested in how it's being used by other libraries, so will do some searching--will report back!

#26: MySpace

Imagine that! The hardest part has been typing in the security code at the time of setting up an account!! Have spent twenty minutes and no luck--it won't recognize what I type!

So, I went out and looked at some MySpace, specifically for library- or university-related pages. ALA has a neat page and some of the individual librarians have pages that work--links to services with descriptions, instructions.

Was looking around and discovered that UAF Student Activities also has a page--links to events, but not much else. Back to ALA's page: at least there are links to services. That's how I see using MySpace.

Read an article about universities using MySpace as an enrollment tool--mostly they provide links to information about the university.

Not real excited about MySpace.com.

#23: Library Elf

A moment of panic: first, I had to find my library card! While hiking the Crow Pass Trail (Girdwood to Eagle River), I was swept away by the currents of the Eagle River (had to ford @ mile 13! Didn't have a library elf to save me, but the Bob was there to wade in twice and make sure I made it across safely!) and everything went under. While the library's copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude was in the waterproof part of my backpack (not even damp!), my wallet was in a pouch that wasn't waterproof--my Noel Wien card got wet, the card number a bit mussed. Put everything out on the truck's dashboard on our way out of Girdwood and back toward Fairbanks to dry--will see if I can find it. Be right back . . .

You might not realize this, but lots of time has gone by because I've misplaced my wallet! Man, I could use some mechanism that helps me keep track of my things--what good's a wiki or a grokker or flickr (or my nifty book review search engine!) if I can't locate my stuff! Will finish this later . . .

Okay, everything is in order. What an easy program to sign up for! Logged in and discovered that I have nothing checked out--oh yeah, we finished the Star Trek: The Next Generation series before we went on our hike. Guess I need to get to my local public library!