Tuesday, October 16, 2007

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

I've already mentioned last.fm, so I'll mention another website that I interact with.

Threadless.com is a website devoted to T-shirts. Not only can you purchase t-shirts, but you can also submit designs and vote on other peoples submitted designs. For an American website the prices and shipping are very cheap, and occasionally they have $10 sales on all t-shirts. One of the best features is the Slogan creator that allows you to submit simple ideas for t-shirts with slogans you make up.

#18 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

I'm posting this straight from the word processor...

Web apps are getting some nice features these days. This thing appears to be better than many old versions of MS Word!

Friday, October 12, 2007

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

I've added my blog to http://plcmclearning.pbwiki.com/Favorite Blogs

Too easy.

#16 So what’s in a wiki?

Wiki's have a lot of potential in a library. I'm currently playing around with one that will hopefully become a staff manual. There are so many jobs and procedures, paper based manuals seem to be out of date before they are even printed. It'd be great if there was one central resource that housed all the information staff would need that could be easily updated by all as conditions and procedures changed.

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0 ...

Personally I hate the term "2.0".

It doesn't matter if someone is talking about web 2.0 or library 2.0 - From the Model T Ford to the newest BMW 3 series, a car has always been called a car. Given the logic of calling things 2.0 surely we'd be up to at least car 97.0 by now.

The real development has been the Internet being available at high speeds almost anywhere around the globe and the ever increasing speeds of personal computers, these two things have allowed software developers to ever increase the userbility and reach of products.

Maybe 2.0 refers to the adoption of web technologies?... if so it should be called 'moving with the times'.

If this is a revolution now, I'd wonder what people will call what's happening on the Internet in 5 years time...

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

All these types of social bookmarking website (librarything, technorati, last.fm), all have a 'popular' page that allows people to discover new interests, be them bands, books and subjects. I believe these 'popular' pages are the best part of the whole social 2.0 idea, and best of all its the easiest to use.

#13 Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarking in Del.icio.us

I have a great interest in social bookmarking, especially 'tag clouds'. This type of user focus cataloging has the potential to open up library catalog's and revolutionise OPACs. LibraryThing for Libraries is one example of social bookmarking making its way into OPACs and living harmoniously with proper cataloging techniques.