FAQ's

How does this program work?

This program is a self paced learning program which enables people to explore and learn through play. There are no classes or workshops the idea is to explore no your own and see what you can do.Share your thoughts and ideas. You can do this through your blogs. Comment on each others blogs and explore and ask your peers for help.

How long does this program run for?

The program officially begins on the 2nd of March and ends 29th of May 2009.

How is my progress tracked?

You will be using your blog as a way to record your progress. We will be using the tracking log to mark off each activity you have completed.

Is there any training? What if I need help?

This is a self directed program and no training is provided. If you do need help we encourage you to talk to the other participants. If you are still experiencing difficulties you can email us for help.

Week 7: iGoogle

Listen to audio here

# 15 Remember the list of Google products and services from last week.
Imagine being able to access all of those products from the one website, using the one account. Well thanks to iGoogle you can.

Google offers the ability to create a personalized iGoogle page that gives you at-a-glance access to key information from Google and across the web. On this self-designed page, you can choose and organize content such as:

• Your latest Gmail messages
• Headlines from Google News and other top news sources
• Weather forecasts, stock quotes, and movie showtimes
• Bookmarks for quick access to your favorite sites from any computer
• Your own section with content you find from across the web
• Google Book Search

Discovery Resources

• Personalise iGoogle
• iGoogle Instructions and Tips
• iGoogle Problem Solving

Before completing any of the tasks below, please login to your google account using the email address and password setup in last week's task or when you created your blogspot blog.

iGoogle

1. Go to iGoogle and login if you have not logged in
2. Add the following gadgets (check out the discovery resources to show you how to do this):
   • Google Map Search gadget
   • Google Book Search gadget
   • One of the facebook gadgets
   • Google Docs and Spreadsheet gadget
3. Search for a library gadget and add this to your homepage

And finally...

Check out the following youtube video about working at Google.

4. Create a post in your blog page about this exercise. Don’t know what to write about? Think about these questions: Do you like iGoogle? What improvements would you suggest to Google? Would you like to work at Google?

Week 12: Conclusion

www.eduplace.com/.../graphics/fireworks2.jpg

Congratulations!!

Throughout the course of this Learning 2.0 program we’ve explored just a small sampling of these Web 2.0 technologies that are empowering users with the ability to create and share content.

But given time there are so many more we could explore.

Although not a proper discovery exercise we would like participants to select any site from this list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees and explore it.

With so many to choose from, it might be handy to first select a category that interests you (like Books or Personal Organization) and then simply select a tool/site to explore.

Be careful to select a tool that is Free and that doesn't require a plug-in or download.

The majority of these are free, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Discovery Exercise:

Select any site/tool from the list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees. (If you prefer to select from just the winners, here’s a link to the winners.) There is no need to create a post as you have come to the end of the program, but take a moment to explore and reflect on what is available.

1. Explore the site you selected.
   


2. What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any applications for its use in a library setting?
   

If you are interested, here is a Web 2.0 tool Directory for you to explore- it is simply amazing what is out there, and evolving every second!

Week 11:Ebooks and Audio Books

For this thing, you will explore where you can get free ebooks and get an idea of the types of titles you can find here. Take a look around and locate a few titles of interest. Many school and public libraries have audiobook and ebook collections, so check what they have in their collections. Audiobooks are popular for ELL and Special Education students, as well as communters who enjoy a good story during a long ride. There are a number of commercial audiobook and ebook sources, and many of these companies have exhibits at library conferences.

Discovery Exercises:
1. Explore World EBook Fair' site for FREE downloads from the Gutenberg Project. Also just explore the site - there's much to check out.
2. Create a blog post about your findings.

Discovery Resources:

1. LibriVox, audiobook versions of copyright-free books from the Gutenberg Project. Read by volunteers. Started in August 2005 by Hugh McGuire. Check it out!
   
2. Check out this "Best Places to Get Free Books" site, too.

Week 10 : Podcasts and Videos

Listen to audio here

The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS.

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the last year and a half; it’s easy to see why. Podcasts take many forms, from short (like the ones used in this Learning 2.0 program) to much longer interviews or panel group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portal device) with headphones or a speaker.

iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.

For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Once found, you can easily pull the RSS feed into your blog reader (i.e., Bloglines or Google Reader) account as well, so that when new casts become available you’ll be automatically notified of their existence.

Discovery Exercises:

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.

Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your blog reader account.

Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?

Discovery Resources:

· There are many, many podcast directory and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that don’t, like iTunes, require a software download:

o Podcastalley.com
o MyPodcast.com
See also Odeo.com

Do you want to learn how to be a podcaster ? (Here are optional Resources for those who want to learn to create podcasts)

Beginner's guide to podcasts and podcasting

How to Podcast

Listen to audio here

Youtube

Within the past year online video hosting sites have exploded allowing users to easily upload and share videos on the web. Among all the web 2.0 players in this area, YouTube is currently top dog serving up over 1 million video views a day and allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily, but also embed clips into their own sites easily.

Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from 1970s TV commercials to library dominos and a video made by library school students for National Library Week. There's also the cult classic Conan the Librarian. CLA 2006 conference Library Cheer was fun, too. See also:

• Introducing the Book
• Library 2.0 Manifesto
• March of the Librarians
• A Vision of Students Today

Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has too offer.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or componets of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?

OPTIONAL: Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and paste code for the for "Embeddable Player.” Note: you'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.

Discovery Resources:

Other popular video hosting sites:

• Yahoo Videos
• Google videos
• TeacherTube

NOTE: Videos, like music downloads, are bandwidth hogs. It is recommended that you complete this exercise during light Internet usage times.

Week 9: Wikis and Rollyo

Listen to audio here

Wikis

A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well known of these knowledge sharing tools, but with benefits that wikis provide the use and popularity of these tools is exploding.

Some of the benefits that make the use of wikis so attractive are:

• Anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content.
• Tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom.
• Earlier versions of a page can be rolled back and viewed when needed.
• Users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases simple syntax structure is used.
  

As the use of wikis has grown over the last few years, libraries all over the country have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge. Among their applications are pathfinder or subject guide wikis, book review wikis, ALA conference wikis and even library best practices wikis.

Discovery Exercise:
1. For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at some library wikis and blog about your findings.
Here are a few examples to get you started:

• SJCPL Subject Guides – a pathfinder wiki developed by the St. Joseph County Public Library system.
• Yarra Plenty Reader's Advisory wiki.
  
• Book Lovers Wiki - developed by the Princeton Public Library.
• Library Success: A best practices wiki
• CSLA Conference 2007 wiki – an example of a wiki created to support a specific event.
• The Albany County Public Library Staff wiki – an example of a wiki created for library staff to document procedures.
• Library Bloggers Wiki
• Yarra Plenty Training Wiki
  
• Sample school wiki
• Sample Literary Circle Wiki (10th Grade English)
• Sample AP World History Wiki
• http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbwiki.com/
• Other library wiki examples such as library instruction.

2. Create a blog post about your findings. What did you find interesting? What types of applications within libraries and schools might work well with a wiki?

Discovery Resources:

Use these resources to learn more about wikis:

New Zealand Police Act Wiki

New Zealand Government Wiki

· Wiki, wiki, wiki - from the Core Compentency blog of the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County.
· Wikis: A Beginner’s Look – an excellent short slide presentation that offers a short introduction and examples.
· What is a Wiki? – Library Success wiki presentation.
· Using Wikis to Create Online Communities – a good overview of what a wiki is and how it can be used in libraries.

Do you have a group of websites that are your favorites? Or a set of online resources that are similar that you frequently use to answer homework or reference questions? Well Rollyo may be the tool for you. Rollyo allows you to create your own search tool for the just the websites you know and trust.

Take a look at some of these search rolls that have already been created:
Public Domain e-Books Search
Rare Book Library Search
Free Photos
Quick Quotes
Explore other rolls here.
Here’s searchroll created to search ten of the Reference sites listed in SJLibrary's WIReD.Try a search for broad term like "homework” or “history” to see results listed from multiple sites.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore Rollyo and create an account for yourself.


2. Create a search roll for any subject you like.


3. Create a post in your blog about your experience and link to your search roll. Can you see a potential use for tools like this?

OPTIONAL: Add your searchroll to your blog using the "Create a Searchbox" tool.
Select...Reference. Search The Web

Rollyo - You just never know when this little tool might come in handy.

Week 8: Social Bookmarking

Listen to audio here

Social bookmarking

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts).

Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data anyway they want.

In the past few weeks, we’ve already explored a few sites – Flickr and LibraryThing to name two --that allow users to take advantage of tagging.

This week we want to also take a look at a popular social bookmarking site called Del.icio.us (keyed in as http://del.icio.us/)

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorize your bookmarks.

Many users find that the real power of Del.icio.us is in the social network aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you.

You can think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.

Discovery Resources:

• Us.ef.ul: A beginners guide to Del.icio.us

• Several Habits of wildly successful Del.icio.us users
  
  
• Social Bookmarking in Plain English: Another Commoncraft Youtube video which explains Del.icio.us in user friendly terms.
  

Discovery Exercise:

1. Create an account (I know, not another one!) and take a look around Del.icio.us
   
   
2. Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to categorize this reference?
   

Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool.
Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance, or is it just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?