#23 The end ... farewell, adieu, auf wiedersehn

This has been a fantastic experience. A big thank you to all of those who worked hard to make this opportunity available to us all. And thanks to everyone else from my library service who participated and whose blogs I enjoyed reading along the way.

I've learnt a lot. And I've appreciated the prodding and prompting to get myself out there and learn about the possibilities of Web 2.0 for myself and my work. My favourites along the way: Library Thing, RSS, Podcasts, Flickr. And having the blinds pulled up on the possibilities of doing things in more collaborative ways that involve our library users. I hope that in the next 12 months, I see some of these ideas take shape in our library service.

And I made it to #23 before midnight. Yeah for me!

#6 Mashups ... how did I forget

#19, #20, #21, #22, ... almost there and it's 11.26pm. Oh no, I didn't post for #6!!!! I don't want to see a nasty little white square on my tracking log after all this effort.
So here goes. I've been back and checked out the Mashup award winners and my personal favourite was oSkope, which is a visual browser where you can search and organise different web services.

#22 Audiobooks

Audiobooks are very popular at our library and I like the idea of downloadable books that simply 'expire' when the borrowing period is up. No fines, hurray.

But for myself, I like holding a book in my hand and reading. While I like podcasts, I've not really come to grips with audiobooks. I've tried in the car ... and my mind wanders and I realise I wasn't paying attention at all. I've tried at home, but I leave the room to fetch something or someone needs something and again, I've missed the story. So while this is a great resource, it's probably not one for me at the moment.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts

Finally, a topic that isn't entirely new to me. I already enjoy podcasts (mostly bits and pieces from ABC radio that I missed when they first went to air). And I don't have anything tricky, just my laptop and it all works fine.

The library related lectures etc are great too and I specially like the ones that have text as well, so I can listen and follow along. As the evenings get later I find this helps my addled brain...

So podcasts are one of my favourite web 2 things.

#20 You Tube

Imagine advertising Story Time on the tv ... amazing. This is an ad from the Calgary public library. Very nicely done and I enjoyed several viewings. Hope you like it too.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0

So many things to see, so little time ...

Clipmarks

Clipmarks appealed to me. Basically, you can 'clip' the best of your discoveries on the web and post them to your blog, or add to a public file, or build your own searchable file. It struck me because I find I have a fair number of visitors to our library who ask me how to send something they've found to someone else. Or they might want to print just a particular part of a web page. And sometimes it's tricky to help them in just the way they need. So maybe this is the tool that would be help.

There is also something quirky about electronically doing these things. Don't we all have a family member who cuts articles from the paper and sends them via snail mail? What's that old saying about no new ideas?

#18 Zoho

Access from any computer anywhere ... good. Do I need to be able to do this in my life at this time ... not really. It was easy to use though and I think the google spreadsheet idea is really great and could have fantastic office applications. Think booking sheets, attendance sheets etc.