So, I finished the course! So there sister in law, I can finish something!
So, the question is, will I close my blog now, or write to no one or just use it for therapeutic purposes. (My question mark won`t work right now, I think I`m on French keyboard or something.)
I think online learning was better for me this time because I knew a few other participants, and at least had met many more from across the room. I will check your blogs once in a while to see if anyone has decided to keep it up. It would be cool to socialize this way...maybe.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
pod people unite
Once I found my way through the links, it was really cool to see so many podcasts available. I found that they weren't as useful as I thought, the titles were misleading to me. After a few minutes of listening to two that seemed library related I gave up and moved on. It was podcast alley that I spent the most time at. I have a visual memory, so in order to absorb an audio cast, I have to close my eyes, but then I get sleepy. They seemed to me to be pretty self-promoting, but I will have to look again for more serious podcasts on library matters.
So, this is pretty neat. The thing is when I would need a podcast the most, it would be when the computer isn't working. I would like someone to talk me through working offline again for instance.
But, it may also be nice to walk me through other technical events, like using the microfilm machine or downloading audiobooks. Perhaps that could be a pre retirement project for our beloved township supervisor, making podcasts on how to use these things when she is not around to ask and gets tired of taking calls at home. ;)
Honestly though, it would be kind of neat to go to our library website and have a link to a short podcast telling you how to log in, figure out your pin number and the easiest ways to search. Following that, perhaps a video or even just audio tutorial on how to use download library for audiobooks, boolean search terms or Novelist plus. If I keep dreaming, it would be fun to hear the RWL collection librarian publish a podcast monthly on trends in purchasing, what is coming out soon and perhaps what is involved from the time a book is ordered until it comes into the first person on the holds list.
Though the word pod makes me think of sci fi movies of my childhood, it is really so easy to download one, I don't think it would scare people to have a link to one on our website.
So, this is pretty neat. The thing is when I would need a podcast the most, it would be when the computer isn't working. I would like someone to talk me through working offline again for instance.
But, it may also be nice to walk me through other technical events, like using the microfilm machine or downloading audiobooks. Perhaps that could be a pre retirement project for our beloved township supervisor, making podcasts on how to use these things when she is not around to ask and gets tired of taking calls at home. ;)
Honestly though, it would be kind of neat to go to our library website and have a link to a short podcast telling you how to log in, figure out your pin number and the easiest ways to search. Following that, perhaps a video or even just audio tutorial on how to use download library for audiobooks, boolean search terms or Novelist plus. If I keep dreaming, it would be fun to hear the RWL collection librarian publish a podcast monthly on trends in purchasing, what is coming out soon and perhaps what is involved from the time a book is ordered until it comes into the first person on the holds list.
Though the word pod makes me think of sci fi movies of my childhood, it is really so easy to download one, I don't think it would scare people to have a link to one on our website.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
A three year old did my homework!
This is part one of the assignment, see the theme of our most favourite show, now that grown up tv is not exciting for us and animation rules.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
a fly in the ointment
Having spent just two hours in another branch last night makes me wonder how much we depend on connectivity? I know we have to and I love it, but just two hours without online access was so odd. The computer could have had a bag over it most of the night and it would not have made a difference. I felt lonely, rather incompetent and out of place and it was busy this night as well. I don't know why I found the library eerie without the internet connection, I lived much more than twenty years without it.
If it had not been busy, I think I may have lost it.
If it had not been busy, I think I may have lost it.
zoho opinion
So, this is Zoho writer, which I have never heard of before.
The hardest part is to be told to write a paragraph about anything. The coolest thing I see hear is the ability to put editing captions along the way. I'm forever putting brackets in my writing because I think my mind doesn't follow a logical pattern and the brackets are my wanderings. Well, if I could share a document with little captions and then the person could erase them, my writing would be clearer and more logical. There looks like there is a lot to explore here, I will definitely bookmark it. Especially as I have an old word version and am unlikely going to update it soon, I may be able to use this sometimes instead.
I can see this being great to write library articles for our local paper with another staff member, which I did once and had to use a pencil to edit it and then she had to type it. This is really easy to export to Word too.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
That's a great looking wiki you've got there...
Ah, November 12, watching Caillou's Holiday Movie, an intelligently concocted movie that shows all of our traditional Christmas pop culture.
I like the Library Success wiki. I found out that U of Ottawa starts a Master's in Information Science next fall, bilingual though. I found out about online courses I could take when this is through to continue my learning. There is lots of terrific links and ideas on this wiki. It is very controlled as well. I remember reading a while back that on Wikipedia, they had to shut down Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff's entries because people were constantly editing them in their rivalry for the Liberal leadership last time. The speculation was that their own people were changing them to make the one sound better than the other. Am I the only one that misses Paul Martin? It shows the dangers of a true wiki, but it does seem that there is someone out there to watch out for these things.
If I'm doing a dissertation for my PhD. do I want a wiki? No, but in real life when someone asks the difference between yams and sweet potatoes for their farm market stall, well sure, then a wiki is great. To me, that says it all, wikis are easy to read, in real language for the most part and interesting. Are they completely reliable, maybe not, but again, if I am just looking for common information, that's a risk I am prepared to take.
I visited the Community Wiki briefly but wasn't drawn into it and moved on right away. Library success has a nice list of topics that are easy to navigate. I also looked at the mfagan wiki and thought it was cool to find stuff about my beloved St. Jacobs. But it was just copies of pamphlet maps I have seen for years. If I lived far away, that might be useful, but here, don't really need a map of the streets there.
The Waterloo Way was cool, I liked that it was asking for articles for some people and I liked that there were some older people on there too, but wait, all men? Is that a reflection of our entire society or just those that contribute to these things? Shouldn't they at least be asking for articles about female entrepreneurs?
I'm not sure where this fits in, but I know when I go to the Canadian Tire website, I like to read the reviews by people who have bought the product and see what they think. Sometimes I see that the person has had the thing for two years and it has fallen apart, or that it didn't leak in the rain or that they love it, but it took six people to put it together. I guess I'd like to see that for books too, especially people in Canada's thoughts and really I would like to know if anyone has been able to get through Thackeray's Vanity Fair in one try or even two. (I once offered anyone in my residence floor $10.00 if they could read it in two months, but no one could. I don't take risks like that with library folks though.) That's what would be so cool about a review feature on our own website. It would be local for the most part, and the reviews would be by people who live a lot like me, and have the same book selection, or movie selection as I do. It would give us another opportunity to connect with each other. I would love to know what kind of books Lois J. reads and likes...for instance.
I like the Library Success wiki. I found out that U of Ottawa starts a Master's in Information Science next fall, bilingual though. I found out about online courses I could take when this is through to continue my learning. There is lots of terrific links and ideas on this wiki. It is very controlled as well. I remember reading a while back that on Wikipedia, they had to shut down Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff's entries because people were constantly editing them in their rivalry for the Liberal leadership last time. The speculation was that their own people were changing them to make the one sound better than the other. Am I the only one that misses Paul Martin? It shows the dangers of a true wiki, but it does seem that there is someone out there to watch out for these things.
If I'm doing a dissertation for my PhD. do I want a wiki? No, but in real life when someone asks the difference between yams and sweet potatoes for their farm market stall, well sure, then a wiki is great. To me, that says it all, wikis are easy to read, in real language for the most part and interesting. Are they completely reliable, maybe not, but again, if I am just looking for common information, that's a risk I am prepared to take.
I visited the Community Wiki briefly but wasn't drawn into it and moved on right away. Library success has a nice list of topics that are easy to navigate. I also looked at the mfagan wiki and thought it was cool to find stuff about my beloved St. Jacobs. But it was just copies of pamphlet maps I have seen for years. If I lived far away, that might be useful, but here, don't really need a map of the streets there.
The Waterloo Way was cool, I liked that it was asking for articles for some people and I liked that there were some older people on there too, but wait, all men? Is that a reflection of our entire society or just those that contribute to these things? Shouldn't they at least be asking for articles about female entrepreneurs?
I'm not sure where this fits in, but I know when I go to the Canadian Tire website, I like to read the reviews by people who have bought the product and see what they think. Sometimes I see that the person has had the thing for two years and it has fallen apart, or that it didn't leak in the rain or that they love it, but it took six people to put it together. I guess I'd like to see that for books too, especially people in Canada's thoughts and really I would like to know if anyone has been able to get through Thackeray's Vanity Fair in one try or even two. (I once offered anyone in my residence floor $10.00 if they could read it in two months, but no one could. I don't take risks like that with library folks though.) That's what would be so cool about a review feature on our own website. It would be local for the most part, and the reviews would be by people who live a lot like me, and have the same book selection, or movie selection as I do. It would give us another opportunity to connect with each other. I would love to know what kind of books Lois J. reads and likes...for instance.
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