#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!

#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 There are so many jobs and procedures, paper based manuals seem to be out of date before they are even printed.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.

#12 Roll your own search engine with Rollyo

Rollyo is an interesting concept. I've already had staff tell me how useful it is. I'm pretty good at Google so I don't bother with it, but if you wanted to search particular website regularly it would be an excellent resource.

#11 All about LibraryThing

LibraryThing is a good concept with a lot of potential. Kingston is even trialling the LibraryThing for Libraries widgets in our online catalogue! First in Australia I believe.

And here is a link to my catalog

#10 Play around with Image Generators

#9 Finding Feeds

The amount of blogs out there is astronomical, not to mention the amount of subjects covered.
Everything from Melbourne food blogs to trampoline purchasing blogs.

#8 Make life "really simple" with RSS & a newsreader

RSS is great, especially when you have a huge list of web resources you check on a regular basis. However, there are some sites that I will still go to to "read" the info instead of small snippets. I find you learn more info by going to the sites.

That said, Bloglines is a great online RSS aggregator that I'm sure to use in the future.

# 7 Blog about technology - last.fm

LibraryThing might be the social reading revolution, but last.fm is the social music revolution.

Unlike LibraryThing where you need to manually add books to your library, Last.fm hooks directly into your PC's music player (eg. iTunes), so whenever you play a song your profile gets updated and stats are recorded.

Here is my profile: http://www.last.fm/user/Bradii/

You can also add widgets to your blog to share your recently played tracks etc with everyone. Look to the right and you will see mine. Last.fm makes it really easy to share new music with your friends (especially helpful if they are overseas).

Taken from last.fm:

Last.fm is the flagship product from the team that designed the Audioscrobbler music engine. More than ten million times a day, Last.fm users "scrobble" their tracks to our servers, helping to collectively build the world's largest social music platform.

Last.fm taps the wisdom of the crowds, leveraging each user's musical profile to make personalised recommendations, connect users who share similar tastes, provide custom radio streams, and much more.

# 6 More Flickr Fun

One of the things about the Internet is that half the time you find things that just don't make sense. http://icanhascheezburger.com is one those things... I don't try to understand it.

Above is a mashup I made using the lolcats generator.

#5 flickr

DSC02098.JPG, originally uploaded by Bradii.

I've been using flickr for some time now... I go to a lot of concerts and always take my camera.

A trip through flickr shows you how easy it can be to take really great shots - you just need some luck.