Week 7, Thing # 17, "Sandbox" Wiki

A sandbox is a term that wikis often use to describe the area of the website that should be used for pure play.

Using wikis, discussion on the use of the following web 2.0 tools can be added:

• Online Learning - Create a Library blog.
• Blogging and Avatars - Discussion blog.
• Photos and Images - Librarian Trading Cards.
• RSS and Newsreaders - Set up an RSS feed that gives ideas to teachers about how they can use library resources or highlights library projects.
• Image Generators - Generate an image for library website, newsletter, or bulletin board. - Create images promoting upcoming library events.
• Tagging, Folksonomies and Technorati -
• Wikis -
• Online Applications and Tools - Hold workshops for learning web 2.0 tools.
• Podcasts, Video and Downloadable Audio -

Plse Share your thoughts & include them to the above list ! :)

Week 7, Thing # 16, Wikis

The eighth web 2.0 tools I learn is Wikis. A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. An example is Wikipedia.

Benefits of wikis:

• Anyone can add, edit or delete content.

• Tracking tools within wikis allow users 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 world have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge.

Library wikis: TPLib Wiki (Subject Guides Wiki), Open WorldCat

The types of applications within libraries and schools that might work well with a wiki:

• Subject guides

patrons can add to the collection of useful resources
librarian can moderate the wiki and decide what websites can stay in the guide                        

• Annotating the catalog

adding wiki functionality to the catalog would allow patrons to post synopses and reviews for books they’ve already read
this extra content would help patrons make informed reading decisions from the library catalog of whether the book will meet their needs

• Community wiki
• Wikis for Librarians 
• Meetings (posting agendas, discussion prior to meeting, etc.)

In conclusion

Internally wikis can make it easier to share information among librarians. Externally, they can make the library’s website a true online community.

More info at

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.

These three wiki templates are most commonly been used:

MediaWiki                    PBWorks                    Wikispaces

Which should I use??

Week 6, Thing # 15, Thoughts on...

Library 2.0 - It's many things to many people.

I've read the perspectives on Library 2.0 from the following list :
Away from Icebergs
Into a new world of librarianship
To more powerful ways to cooperate
To better bibliographic services
To a temporary place in time

It mean for school libraries -

It was difficult, expensive and slow to distribute materials in print formats. Thus, building a comprehensive collection of materials that anticipates the user’s every need has always been a problem when information was available only in print formats.

With Web 2.0, library patrons will expect access to everything – digital collections of journals, books, blogs, podcasts, etc as library services are integrated into their daily patterns of work, study and play through their preferred environment (i.e., the Web). As a result, many of them prefer to visit the library online.

Apart from having RSS Feed for user to subscribe in a reader, libraries should welcome the submission of reviews, assignment of keywords (“tagging”) and other forms of user participation.

Libraries should also collaborate with Amazon to provide digital downloads of books and invite readers to tag and comment.
 
It mean to me -

Incorporating communication and social networking tools (Web 2.0) into library services to enhance the delivery of information resources to library patrons, reducing discovery times and keeping the library vital and essential. An example is TP Library's Old Blog TPLiBlog. The TPLiBlog provide information on all the new books, movies and magazines.. Explore more at Digital Library Portal too..

Week 6, Thing # 14, Technorati

The seventh web 2.0 tools I learn is

.

Technorati is a search tool to find feeds as discussed in Thing # 9. Remember?

There are a lot of features in Technorati

• capability to search for keywords in blog posts
• search for entire blog posts that have been tagged with a certain keyword
• limit a search by language
• search for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject

Now that I’ve worked with tags in Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Technorati,
My thoughts about tagging -

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

Having Tags, it is easy to search for anything by doing any keyword search.

Week 6, Thing # 13, Del.icio.us - social bookmarking site

The sixth web 2.0 tools I learn is del.icio.us - a popular Social Bookmarking site which allows me to bookmark a web page and add tags to categorize my bookmarks.

Similar to Newsreaders, Social bookmarking tool can replace our traditional browser bookmark list.

A bookmark 'sharing' site -

• I can bookmark (save) websites that I find useful and share them with other people.
• I can look at other people's bookmarks and discover other websites that may be of interest to me.

Discovery -

I explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users and am able to see the comments they added about this bookmark and the tags they used to categorize this reference.

An alternative to Del.icio.us is Diigo - a powerful research tool and a knowledge sharing community.

Libraries can take advantage of social bookmarking sites -

Currently, Library Catalogue let users do a search by Keyword Anywhere. By using social bookmarking sites, users can add comments of the library materials they've borrowed. When a search is being done, all library materials tagged with the keyword user entered will be shown along with other users comments. Sounds Good?

Week 5, Thing # 12, Rollyo

The fifth web 2.0 tools I learn is   .

Rollyo allows me to create my own search tool for just the websites I trust and find useful.

I Create a Searchroll with Searchroll Name: Library - [See Image]

I also Add a Rollyo Searchbox with site search and my searchroll to my blog by adding HTML/JavaScript of the codes provided from the website.

This tool is useful because with Rollyo Searchbox, it's easy to do a search by typing in what we want to search and select which search engine we want to search in rather than having to go to the search engine website.

Happy Searching!!

Week 5, Thing # 11, Web 2.0 award-winning applications and Ning

In 2.0, I've been leaning new internet technologies and websites that are empowering users with the ability to create and share content.

There are many sites from various category of Web 2.0 Awards winners list.

I select LibraryThing from Books category. Take the tour to check it out.

• What did I like about the tool?
• LibraryThing is the world’s largest book club.
• On LibraryThing everyone is a librarian. Become a member and we can catalog our books online.
• What were the site's useful features?
• LibraryThing is an impressive cataloging app.
• Post book collection (200 books for free), or more for $10 (year) or $25 (life).
• Find new books to read.
• Share library of book collection with others.
• LibraryThing can connect likeminded readers.
• Can I see any applications for its use in a library setting?
• Yes, there are 2 type of member account - Personal and Organization to choose from. Type in member name and password and an account will be created. Thus, any library can join this world's largest book club and 'expand' their library collection.

Another site that is gaining popularity is the social networking site - Ning where I can create and join new social networks.

And also Play -- The Traveler IQ Challenge™ to check Travel IQ. I can embed this game in my blog by adding HTML/JavaScript of the codes provided from the website.

Week 5, Thing # 10, Online Image Generators

The fourth web 2.0 tools I learn is Online Image Generators.
Online Image Generators - websites that allow me to easily manipulate images for Free.

Some of them are:

• FD Flickr Toys - a wide variety of things I can make on this website!
• Comic Strip Generator - browse to make my own parody comic strip or try the basic cartoon search.
• Image Chef - things I can make are only Sketchpad, Poetry Blender, Word Mosiac, Photo Frames.

Remember?? Week 3, Thing # 6 of my post, I talk about creating a trading card. It can be created from FD Flickr Toys website mentioned above.

This is the Peach Roses photo Frame I've created... :)

Week 4, Thing # 9, Library related blogs and/or news feeds

I now have an RSS Reader; I begin adding feeds that interests me.

I can simply go to websites I had been visiting often, look for the availability of RSS feed and subscribe to them or use Search tools to find feeds.

Search tools to find feeds:

Blogline's Search tool - Blogline's recently expanded search tool lets users search for news feeds in addition to posts, citations and the web.

Feedster - One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets users search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts

Topix.net - This search tool allows users to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlets RSS feeds for information, not weblogs.

Syndic8.com - Syndic8 is an open directory of RSS feeds that contains thousands of RSS feeds that users have submitted.

Technorati - Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets users search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help users find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs users may be interested in.

Google Blog Search - Search for blogs

Blog Pulse - Tracks conversations
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Of the above search tools, I found the following useful and would prefer to use them. 

1. Blogline's Search tool  2. Topix.net  3. Google Blog Search

Each of the website lets me find something specific.

1. posts, feeds, citations and the web  2. local news  3. blogs
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These are some of the feeds I've subscribed to:

Week 4, Thing # 8, RSS feeds and Blog Reader

Is this icon familiar?? YES!! This is RSS feed icon.

The third web 2.0 tools I learn is RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. I read more by visiting Infinite Thinking Machine website. Below is a quick summary...



RSS

RSS allows me to subscribe to online news and updates. If the website offer an RSS feed, all I need to do is subscribe. It's FREE. Once I subscribe, I do not need to visit that website to check for updates...regularly updated information will be delivered to me.

RSS feed

A file (on a webserver) that includes information about the updates I am interested in. RSS is alot like HTML, the programming language behind websites. Web browsers (Internet Explorer) can read HTML code and display a web page. RSS code is very similar, but must be read by an RSS aggregator (or reader), which can then display the update.

RSS aggregator (or reader)

Collects (or aggregates) all of my subscriptions in one place. Once subscribed to RSS, I can simply open my aggregator to read any new updates. The experience is alot like reading email.

Subscription

RSS was initially intended to help people subscribe to news updates. Not surprisingly, many news sources have RSS feeds (also called news feeds). Blogs may be the most common source of RSS feeds. Almost all blogs have an RSS feed. Mine is 'Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)' which can be found at the bottom of each page on my blog. However, it's not useful. Thus, I added Subscription Links to the sidebar of my blog. It'll let my readers easily subscribe to my blog with popular feed readers. Other web 2.0 tools also commonly include RSS feeds.

Most wikis allow me to subscribe to any changes. Services such as social bookmarking (del.icio.us), photo sharing (Flickr), or even web searches (Google News, MSN Search, Technorati) can provide additional sources of RSS feeds.

"Learn more about RSS"

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RSS feeds & Blog Reader

1. Create a free "RSS aggregator" account from Google Reader (or Bloglines) to collect RSS feeds
2. Subscribe to newsfeeds

I set up an RSS feed reader by simply signing in to Google Reader with the Google account I created when I first create a Blogger account!

I simply click on 'Add a subscription' to add RSS feeds.

Under 'Subscriptions', I'll see the feeds I subscribed to with the number of messages waiting to be read in parenthesis next to them. The feed name will be bold when there are new messages.

RSS feed readers - Client software or a Web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing.

Bloglines - Bloglines is a web-based news aggregator for reading syndicated feeds using the RSS and Atom formats.

Google Reader - Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs.
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• What do I like about RSS and newsreader?
• RSS allows me to subscribe to online news and updates for free. RSS feed delivers regularly the updated information from feeds I subscribed to. Newsreader receives them for me to read (like reading email). Thus, saves me time of browsing through websites for new contents.
• How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
• Libraries can add Subscription Links on their website to let users easily subscribe to with popular feed readers. This new technology enables any updates to be shared instantly with users.

Week 3, Thing # 7, Anything technology related

Web 2.0 technology

1. Blog - read a person's diary and gets to know the person recent activities
2. Flickr - post photos and share with other's

• Blog is useful for me as I not only get to learn web 2.0 technology but also to pen my thoughts by writing a diary.
• Flickr is not useful for me as I do not have my own photos to upload yet. :(

Week 3, Thing # 6, Flickr fun - Flickr mashups & 3rd party sites

Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications using images found on the site. Many people have created third party tools and mashups that use Flickr images through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces).
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Some of the fun Flickr mashups and third party tools:

• Mappr - takes Flickr images and allows us to paste them on a map
• Flickr Color Pickr - lets us find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color
• Montagr - create a photo mosaics from photos found on Flickr

Of the above, Flickr Color Pickr is the one that intrigues me.. Upon selecting a colour, a few images of that specified colour is shown.
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Trading card

There are many librarians who have created their own
Librarian Trading Card.

Would you like to create a trading card of your own? :)

Week 3, Thing # 5, Flickr - popular image hosting site

The second web 2.0 tools I learn is Flickr. I explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.
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Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s. Flickr uses "tags". Tags are like keywords that we add to a photo to make it easier to identify and find later. Each photo can be assigned up to 75 tags.
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I take the Flickr Learn More tour and get to know some of the things I can do after I Sign Up for a Flickr account.

• Flickr is an online photo management and sharing application
• Upload, Edit, Organize, Share photos in Flickr
• Keep in Touch with people with the use of Flickr

It's easy to create a Flickr account! I simply sign in using my Yahoo account since Flickr is now owned by Yahoo.

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While I look around Flickr for an image that I like, 

I discovered Flickr: Getty  where I do a Search on Getty Images.

It's a useful link & I found this image! Why this image?

It's a morning moon behind the clouds in the sky.

- morning is the beginning of a new day and I look forward to it..

- my poly classmate gave me the name: moon (the english translation of a chinese character in my name)..

- I would relax by looking up and see the clouds in the sky..