WCPL Learning 2.0 Things

2008-04-01T18:30:00.000-04:00

Click Learning 2.0 Things on the right to see the complete list of Learning 2.0 Things to Do.

#13 What have we learned and where can we go?

2008-03-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

We've reached the last Thing of WCPL Learning 2.0. For this last Thing, we ask you to think about what you have learned in the last few weeks and post a comment (or two if you have a lot to say!) with your thoughts.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? What technologies do you think you'll continue to use either personally or at work?
Can you imagine ways we can use any of these technologies to serve our customers or connect with new customers?
Are there any technologies or websites we didn't look at that you would like to share with everyone?
Any other parting thoughts to share with us?

Thanks for participating!

#12 Discover wikis

2008-03-11T08:00:00.004-04:00

Watch this video: Wikis in Plain English [3:52]

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. With the benefits that wikis provide the use and popularity of these tools is exploding.

Some of the benefits that make 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 viewed and reinstated when needed.
And 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.

Things to Do:

1. Take a look at some of these resources to learn more about wikis:

Wiki, wiki, wiki - from Charlotte's Core Competency blog
Wiki’s: 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.

2. Check out some of these wikis:

Wikipedia - the most famous wiki so far!

SJCPL Subject Guides - a pathfinder wiki developed by the St. Joseph County Public Library system

Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Wiki - a wiki based on the Book Lust books
Library Success: A best practices wiki - a one-stop shop for great ideas and information for all types of librarians

ALA 2006 New Orleans wiki - a wiki created for a specific event

Durham County Library's Strategic Plan
- created to involve the community in the library's strategic planning efforts.

Library Instruction Wiki - a resource for librarians involved with or interested in instruction
WikiIndex - a wiki guide to wikis

3. Contribute to a wiki! "Sandbox" is the term that wikis often use to describe the area of the website that should be used for pure play. For this discovery and exploration exercise, we’ve set up a whole Learning 2.0 Favorites wiki that’s for nothing but play! This wiki was created using pbwiki.com, a wiki hosting site that is free for educational wikis.

For this “explore-and-play-with-wikis” exercise, you are asked to add an entry or two to the Learning 2.0 wiki sandbox. The theme of this wiki is simply “Favorites” : Favorite books, favorite vacation spots, favorite restaurants, favorite anything …all you need to do is play and add your thoughts.

To access the wiki sandbox, go to http://wcpl20.pbwiki.com. To log in, enter 4020carya for the invite key followed by your name and email address.

Editing is pretty simple. Click on the link for the page you want to edit (Favorite Blogs, for example). When you're on that page, click the Edit page button to begin. If you run into any questions or comments, just post a comment on this blog entry.

4. Want to start your own wiki? Try pbwiki.com, wetpaint.com, or check out this guide to wiki hosting sites.

5. Post a comment here to tell us about your experience exploring wikis. How do you think wikis might be useful in libraries?

#11 Learn about podcasts

2008-03-04T08:01:00.003-05:00

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting , it's easy to see why. 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.

Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries to much longer in person 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 with headphones or a speaker.

Now it's time for you to explore podcasts! For this discovery exercise you will learn a little more about podcasts and take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. 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.

Things to Do:

To find out more about podcasts, start with Your Guide to Podcasts from MediaShift.
If you haven't already, check out the podcasts on WCPL's website.
There are many, many podcast directories and finding tools out there. 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. Here are just three of the more popular ones that don't require a software download. Take a look at one or two and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. Not sure what to look for? See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts like book review podcasts or library news.
Try adding a podcast feed to your Bloglines account (remember Bloglines from Week 3?). If you can't find a feed to add, try the one from SirsiDynix Institute. Here's the URL you'll need to use: http://sirsidynixinstitute.com/podcast.xml

SirsiDynix Institute provides free web seminars intended to foster professional development in the library community. Even if you don't subscribe to the podcast feed, it's worth taking a look at their upcoming events and their archived events. Many of them are related to Web 2.0.
What? You want to learn how to be a podcaster, too? You can easily do it with a microphone and some free software. If you're interested, take a look at these instructions for creating your own podcast created by Heidi from WRL.
Add a comment to this post telling us about your podcasting experience. Did you find any interesting podcasts? Were you able to subscribe to a feed in Bloglines? Did you create a podcast of your own? Tell us all about it!

#10 Discover video sharing with YouTube

2008-03-04T08:00:00.005-05:00

Hello again! I am rubbing my hands with excitement and glee because you are about to discover YouTube, a video sharing site. And it is so fun! As long as you have a decent web connection on your computer, that is. If not, it’s just maddening, because the videos just stop and start, so find a fast computer, maybe close out your other applications (Lotus Notes and Horizon take a LOT of memory) before you dive in. Most WCPL ones should work fine. I’ll wait.

Okay, good, you’re back. So here’s the scoop: Digital cameras all come equipped with the potential to make video. It’s different on every camera, but there is usually some kind of icon that looks like a movie camera or film strip. Set it to that and you aren’t taking pictures, you’re making a movie (you may need to read the camera’s instructions for more specific directions)! So, anyone with a digital camera can record and then upload to YouTube whatever they want to share with friends or the world. YouTube’s motto is “Broadcast Yourself”, and people are doing this en masse. YouTube is by far the most popular place to upload them. There are other sites: Funny or Die is one, but they are just imitators. YouTube does it best.

It used to be that if you wanted to be in movies or TV, you had to go to Hollywood and audition, audition, audition. Now, if you want to be in movies, you can write, direct, edit, and star in them yourself! A social site like YouTube democratizes film making, the way that blogs democratize publishing. And if something is good, it can catch on and get more and more popular until everyone in America is talking about it, such as the Thriller wedding dance.

The videos vary in length, from a few seconds to 30+ minutes, and they run the gamut of subjects. Some videos are just personal ramblings, some are amateur TV shows, some are people’s weddings, and most are just for fun. Basically, there is something for everyone, and you can search it just like Google to find something specific. It’s like TV, but with more channels, shorter shows, and fewer commercials. And, uh, less professionalism. Bear that in mind while watching videos.

So here’s the fun part. It’s time to watch some videos!
You might want to close everything else on your computer so that it functions at its fastest. Here are a few examples of the power of YouTube. Enjoy!

This is the most-watched video of all time. How many times was it viewed? Oh, only 76 million! So give The Evolution of Dance a try.
There are lots of music videos to watch. Try looking for you favorite artist. What’s that? You say you just loooooooove High School Musical? Don’t we all! Here’s a song from the first movie. (Is it there legally? I don’t know, actually, but most stuff up illegally gets taken down pretty quickly, so I would guess so.)
There are also videos of historical importance—they could help with homework assignments. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech, the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and Zapruder’s film of the Kennedy assassination are all there. YouTube might even help you quickly find famous scenes from movies, music performances, and comedy bits.
And finally, there are the personal videos that people upload to share with friends and family. Someone I know got married this past summer, and a guest with snappy editing skills put this video together using her digital camera: Hmm, okay, it’s no Thriller; maybe you had to be there.
And, last but not least, I followed my own advice and used ERL’s digital camera to make a video myself. This was my first time, too, and I promise that it was painless. Here is the famous Ms. Angie Stephens leading a raucous group of storytime kids in that old standby, Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. Look at those little tykes move!

Your tasks:

Watch a few (or all) of the clips linked to above. Now that you know how to comment, you comment on the clips at YouTube if you like.
Browse some of the videos suggested on the YouTube home page.
Search any topic that interests you and watch the videos that comes up.
Grab the branch digital camera and make a short movie about anything. Then upload it to the WCPL Learning 2.0 YouTube account! I created a generic account for this project. Here’s how you do it:
1. Record a video of anything, at home or at work. Remember to check your camera’s instructions for how to do it! And try not to make it too long (2-3 minutes is a good maximum).
2. Download the video from the camera onto a WCPL computer. Again, check the instructions on your camera—each camera is different so I can’t give universal instructions, sorry! Find someone to help if you need to.
3. In the top right-hand corner of any YouTube page, click on Log In. Username: wcpllearning Password: learning (all small letters)
4. Again, at the top right, click on “Account.”
5. Under “Manage My Videos”, click on “Videos, Favorites, and Playlists.”
6. On the left side of the screen, click on the “Upload a video” button.
7. Give it a title, description, etc., then click “Upload a video” again.
8. On the next screen, click “browse”, find your video on the S drive or your local computer, and upload it! It takes a few minutes for it to appear, but it surely will, and all of us (plus the world!) will be able to see your “vision.”
  
  Note: you can’t edit your movie on the digital camera. Separate software is required, and, unfortunately, that is outside the purview of Learning 2.0. If your curiosity is piqued, try here to learn for yourself.
Ready to branch out on your own and set your talent free? If you are feeling brave, why not go ahead and create your own YouTube account? Then you can share your videos with your friends, family, maybe even us!
Post a comment to this post to tell us what you thought of YouTube and share any interesting videos you might have found.

#9 Discover tagging and social bookmarking with del.icio.us

2008-02-26T08:00:00.007-05:00

Watch this video: Social Bookmarking in Plain English [3:25]

Tagging is a very easy tool for library staff to start using. Much like subject headings, tags are just keywords assigned to something—website bookmarks, pictures, blog posts, news articles, etc. For example, a bookmark for the Wake County Public Library website might be tagged with the words “wake”, “raleigh”, “library”, and “books”:

This is a portion of a tagged list of bookmarks
on the social bookmarking site del.icio.us

Or an online photo from a community college library might be tagged with the words “library” and “communitycollege”. On their own, individual item tags are not useful aside from helping to describe the item. However, once multiple items are tagged with the same words, finding what you want becomes much easier. If I have a collection of 2,341 pictures of libraries but only 19 of them are of community college libraries, then I could search for the tag “communitycollege” as a simple way of pulling out just the community college library pictures.

This is a tagged image from the photo sharing site Flickr.

There are no rules for what tags to use (unlike subject headings). I might tag the WCPL site with “library” and “wakecounty”, while someone else might tag it with “Raleigh” and “research”. Tags are more useful when they are used consistently, but it is up to the individual to tag their collection.

Anyone can create a collection of tagged photos or websites. For example, I can create a list of website bookmarks on the social bookmarking site del.icio.us (“social bookmarking” simply refers to sharing your bookmarks with others). I put my website bookmarks on the site and tag them however I want. If multiple sites are tagged with the keyword “library”, then clicking that tag will show only the sites in my list that also use that tag. Using tags this way can be an easy way to organize large lists of sites. Since the list itself is just a website, I can also view the list from any computer—which is much easier than trying to keep traditional browser bookmarks synchronized between multiple computers.

While private collections of things can be tagged (e.g. a photo organizing program on a home computer might offer tagging as a way to sort photos), public collections can also be tagged. By searching del.icio.us for sites that others have tagged with the same keywords, I can also discover websites that interest me and that I might not have seen before. For example, I could tag the PC Magazine website with the keyword “tech”. By searching for bookmarks that others have tagged with the same keyword, I can find other tech related websites that I might not have seen before.

Social bookmarking also makes it possible to find popular sites—I can search for the tag “tech” and see which sites have been tagged with that keyword by the largest number of users. Another interesting feature is the ability to see what specific users have bookmarked. For example, if the Wake County Public Library (username: wcpl) has a list of bookmarks on del.icio.us, anyone can see the list of bookmarks just by adding the username after the url—e.g. http://del.icio.us/wcpl. Friends and family can share lists like this with each other and complete strangers with common interests can also share their lists.

Tags are usually public, but they can also be marked as private on many sites. If I am researching lung cancer and would rather not have the world know I am bookmarking cancer sites, I can mark those bookmarks private and I am the only one who will see them in my list.

In the example illustrated below, I have added 32 bookmarks to the WCPL account on del.icio.us. Each entry shows the name of the site (e.g. “Yahoo! Sports”) and its associated tags (“yahoo” and “sports”). I can add or delete tags by clicking the “edit” link next to the name of the site or I can remove the bookmark completely by clicking the “delete” link. By clicking a tag in the tags list on the right, I can see all of the bookmarks that have that particular tag (e.g. there are 11 bookmarks tagged with “news”).

Things to try:

Take a look at a short video (8 minutes) that explains how to use del.icio.us
Head on over to the website and read the Getting Started page: http://del.icio.us/help/getstarted
View the current list of bookmarks and tags for the WCPL account. Click the tags to see relevant bookmarks in the list.
While still looking at the WCPL account, click on the “cloud” link under the Tags list to see the tags in a new way. Tag clouds show the tags in ABC order and also adjust the size and weight of the font to show which tags are used more often.
Register for your own account and try adding some new bookmarks and tagging them. To add bookmarks, you will need to install the browser buttons for del.icio.us.

If you see these buttons in your browser,
the del.icio.us buttons have already been installed.

If the buttons are not already installed, go to the Help page - look for the install the tools for saving bookmarks section.

For Internet Explorer, click internet explorer buttons. For Firefox, click firefox extension. If you are an experienced Firefox user, try installing the *new* firefox bookmarks extension. All of the tags will then be conveniently listed in a sidebar on the left side of the browser.

If you have any problems installing the buttons, check with your ERL or LIT or post a comment here.
Try searching on some of the tags that you assigned to your new bookmarks to see what sites other people have applied those same tags.
Don't forget to log out of your account when you are finished adding bookmarks. One way to do that is to go to the main del.icio.us page and click logout on the top right part of the screen.
Post a comment telling us about your experience with del.icio.us. Did you find any interesting new sites? Do you think you will continue to use del.icio.us? And if you're willing, tell us where to find your del.ico.us account (e.g. http://del.icio.us/wcpl). Remember, you can choose to make any bookmarks private if you prefer not to have anyone else see them.

#8 Explore Some Fun Web Tools & Toys

2008-02-19T08:00:00.018-05:00

Take a look at some or all of these toys and tools and then create a comment on this post to tell us about your experience.

Give LibraryThing a try
Are you book lover or cataloger at heart? Then LibraryThing may be just the tool for you. Developed for booklovers, this online tool not only allows you to easily create an online catalog of your own book collection but also connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes. Wanna little help getting started? Take the LibraryThing Tour or read some LibraryThing Haikus.

In addition to LibraryThing for individuals, LibraryThing can also be purchased to add functionality to library catalogs. In fact, WCPL began a trial of this service just last week! (Thanks Lynn from LIT for getting this working for us!). Click on one of the titles below and check out the new "Similar Books" and "Tags" sections on the left part of the screen.

Have more image fun
Did you have enjoy playing with photos and images in Week 4? Then you may want to explore some more image-related tools:
- Flickr Toys Here's a long list of tools that let you play with your Flickr images or images just saved on your PC
- The Generator Blog Each entry in this blog is a cool "generator" to try (most but not all are for images).
Express yourself on Yahoo
Do you use Yahoo for email, IM, or games? Create your own unique online persona with Yahoo Avatars. You will need a Yahoo account for this one.

Listen to the music.
Love music? Create your own personal radio station with Pandora.
See what else is out there
See what other Web 2.0 tools interest you from this list of SEOMoz's Web 2.0 Award Winners in many categories, including some we won't get to for Learning 2.0.

Don't forget to post a comment to tell us what you tried!

#7 Explore Flickr and Picnik

2008-02-12T08:00:00.001-05:00

Watch this video: Online Photo Sharing in Plain English [2:50]

Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of "sharing" into a full blown online community. Within the past couple of years, Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword "tags" to create associations and connections between photos and users of the site.

One can also search all those pictures for pictures of a certain color, geo-tagged location, taken by a certain camera model, taken during a certain time period, creative commons or copyright status, and/or type of shot (macro, portrait, etc.). One of my favorites is the Flickr map search. I often use this to help patrons find pictures of places all over the world.

Sidenote: I was able to make the sign above with this online letter finding tool.

Picnik is an online image editing site that works well with image hosting sites like Flickr or uploading pictures straight from your computer. With Picnik you can adjust your colors contrast, sizes, and create new images using some of their different effects. You don't have to sign up if you don't want to and it's all free.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a good look at Flickr and Picnik and discover what these sites have to offer. You will find out how tags work, what groups are, and all the neat things that people and other libraries (additional libraries listed here) are using Flickr for.

Discovery Resources:
Take a look at some of these resources to learn more about Flickr and Picnik

Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps)
Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials
Popular tags or Interesting pictures taken in the Last 7 days
Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups)
Picnik FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Discovery Exercises:

Find Stuff:
In this exercise you're going to see what Flickr has to offer and see what other people are doing with it.

Go to Flickr and search for things like "libraries" or some other interest you may have. If you find something really interesting, post a comment about it.
Go to Flickr/maps and search for your hometown or some place you would like to go. If you find something noteworthy, tell us about it in a comment.
If your branch has a digital camera or if you have access to a personal camera, locate the camera brand and model #. Then search for pictures posted taken with that camera model. You can search for macro, portrait, landscape, etc. If you find an amazing picture, post a comment on it.

Check out some of these library and librarian flickr accounts to see what fellow librarians are doing:

Do Stuff:
In this exercise you'll take a couple of pictures of things and people/events in your library and make a Flickr account to host them. For the more adventurous, you'll then edit these photos using free online editing at www.picnik.com.

Use a digital camera to take a picture of something (some object) in your library. It can be a picture of a piece of art, some furniture, a meeting room, etc.
Take a picture of staff or an event in the library you want to share. Remember, these pictures will be made public for the whole world!
Create a Free account in Flickr.
Upload your two pictures to your new Flickr account and tag at least one of the images "wcpll20" and mark it public. If you want, post a comment about your photo and experience.
Once people start uploading their pictures and tagging them with "wcpll20," you'll be able to see other people's photos by searching for "wcpll20" at Flickr.
A quick word about photo posting etiquette - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) is it advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog.

For the more adventurous:

Go to Picnik and upload one of your pictures.
Play around with the automatic contrast and colors.
Play around with the effects under the "Create" tab.
Save your new photo and post it to Flickr for all to see your graphic genius!

To get credit for this week: At a minimum, post a comment telling us about something interesting you found at Flickr. Hopefully many of you will have access to a digital camera and will be able to upload photos to Flickr and tell us all about them!

[Update 2/28: At least a couple of people uploaded and tagged their photos with wcpll20, but they don't up when you search for this tag. Jason contacted flickr and learned that you have to have at least 5 photos in your account for them to be available in searches. ]

#6 Find some intereresting feeds

2008-02-05T08:01:00.001-05:00

Now that you have a newsreader (your Bloglines account), you can begin adding newsfeeds that interest you, either library-related or not. There are several ways you can locate newsfeeds:

When visiting your favorite websites -- look for news feed icons that indicate the website provides it. Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere in the navigation bar of the site. You can click on the icon to add the feed.
Use Bloglines' Search tool - Bloglines' search tool lets you search for news feeds in addition to posts, citations and the web. Use the Search for Feeds option to locate RSS feeds you might be interested in.
Other Search tools that can help you find feeds:

Topix.net - This search tool allows you to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlet RSS feeds for information, not blogs.
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 you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs you may be interested in.
Additonal Resource: Technorati Tutorial on finding and adding your blog

Your to-do list:

1. Explore some of the search tools noted above. Try to add a few feeds that you find interesting to your Bloglines account. You can make them either Public or Private feeds when you add them to Bloglines.

2. Post a comment about your experience on this blog entry. Don't know what to say? Think about these questions:

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
Which Search tool was the easiest for you? Which was more confusing?
What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

Also, if you have any thoughts about whether RSS will be useful to you or how it might be useful to libraries then please share them!

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

2008-02-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

Watch this video: RSS in Plain English [3:43]

You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small funny tags on websites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is? Don’t worry, you’re still in the majority, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionizing the way news, media and content creators share information, but it also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

Your discovery exercises focus on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account for yourself to bring your feeds together. Bloglines is a free, web-based newsreader. There are other ways to read RSS feeds besides Bloglines, such as GoogleReader. If you use Firefox or Internet Explorer 7, you can also subscribe to RSS feeds within your Internet browser. Or you can take a look at this review of 20 free RSS readers. Some are web services; others require downloading and installing software.

Now let's get started!

1. Check out some of these resources to learn about RSS:

CNET Video: RSS – Feel the Need for Feeds [3:32] – a good overview of what RSS is and the benefits to users
RSS : Because Fresh Tastes Best This text-based tutorial was created by Luke Rosenberger, Technology Librarian for the Lone Star College System
How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way A fun explanation of RSS from a non-techie blog
RSS Unleashed [4:34] A humorous video explanation of RSS, complete with an RSS costume

2. Take a look at this shared Bloglines account. The user, wcpl20, has chosen to make some of his/her feeds visible to the public. When you set up your own account, it will look much like this. Each of the folders on the left part of the Bloglines page contains several RSS feeds. Be sure to open each folder to see what's inside. Recognize any of the blogs? Click on a feed to see the latest updates. Be sure to take a look at the Libraries Use 2.o folder to see how some other libraries are making use of blogs and RSS.

3. Set up your own Bloglines account! Go to www.bloglines.com/register and fill in the information. Be sure to remember the email address and password that you use. If you have any trouble getting registered, watch this tutorial: Bloglines Registration [1:09]. After you register, Bloglines will send an email to the address you register with. Be sure to log in to that email account and follow the directions in the email from Bloglines to validate your Bloglines account.

4. Now you're going to add some feeds to your account. To learn how to do this, watch this video: Adding RSS Feeds to Bloglines [1:15] (created by Helene Blowers of PLCMC).

5. Now add these 5 feeds to your account. If you watched the Adding RSS Feeds to Bloglines video, you know what to do with the links below. When you add the feeds, be sure to choose Public for the Access option.

WCPL Learning 2.0: wcpllearning20.blogspot.com

Wake Reads Together Blog:http://wakereads08.wordpress.com/

Flip the Switch - WCPL Teen Blog: http://wakecounty.wordpress.com/

PLCMC Reader’s Club new review feeds: http://www.readersclub.org/rss/newreviews.aspx

Unshelved (library cartoons): http://www.unshelved.com/rss.aspx

6. Set your account to be shared. While logged into Bloglines, click on the Account link on the top right part of the screen. Go to the Blog Settings section and enter a User Name. For Show My Blogroll; select Yes, publish my Blogroll. Click the Save Changes button.

Now anyone can see your list of feeds at this address: http://www.bloglines.com/public/username (substitute your user name on the end).

7. One last thing: create a comment for this post which includes the link to your public Bloglines page.

Did you get all that? If so, you should definitely feel proud of yourself. This is probably the longest, most difficult section of Learning 2.0.

If you're struggling with any of the exercises above, try asking your co-workers for help. Or post a comment here. Don't be shy; if you have a question someone else probably does, too.

When you're ready, go on to Thing #6.

#4 Explore some blogs ...

2008-01-29T08:01:00.000-05:00

By now you know what blogs are. Here are a few blogs that are either astoundingly popular, or of possible interest to you:

BoingBoing: The most widely-read blog, it chronicles lots of the weird and wacky, as well as tech/gadget/web stuff.

The Budget Fashionista is a very popular fashion blog, with daily deals and trendy tips. See Jack Shop is the men’s version of the site, and they just launched The Budget Casa for home goods.

Librarian.net is a blog about being a librarian. Like what you see? Check out a slew of more library blogs here.
There are also blogs dedicated to children’s literature and librarianship. Probably the most widely-read one is Fuse #8, which started out as independent but is now published by School Library Journal. She gets paid to blog!

brotherhood2.com: A video blog! In which 2 brothers (one of whom is YA author John Green communicated via video for a full year. Very funny.

That’s just a teeny sample of the smorgasbord that’s out there. You can see the most popular blogs right now, according to Technorati. Scroll through the list, see if anything sounds interesting, and click on it!

So here’s the fun part, where you get to play around with blogs! Don’t be scared—it’s just reading. And we all like to read, right? Here are your tasks:

Click on one (or all) of the above blogs and read a few posts. Notice the layout of the pages, the other links and info along the sides, and how the posts go from newest to oldest. Poke around the archives and see if you can find the first post on that blog. When was that blog born?
Nothing up there calling to you? Search Technorati for a subject that does interest you. Believe me, there is a blog about everything under the sun! Still can’t find anything? Google what you are interested in plus the word ‘blog’ (e.g. “fishing blog”, “knitting blog”, “music blog”) and see what comes up. I highly recommend this blog if you want to laugh.
If you are feeling really brave, leave a comment on one of the blogs you read! Not all blogs allow anonymous comments, so you might have to join and/or sign in first. Most blog services protect the privacy of those who comment, but if you are at all concerned, just don’t do it. No big deal.
Write to me! In the comments field of this post, tell me what blog you liked or didn’t like. Tell me something that you learned from reading that blog. Tell me that after looking, you decided that you hate blogs. Just tell me something, so I know you know your way around blogs and comments now. Be sure to identify yourself so you get credit for participating this week - see the About WCPL Learning 2.0 section for a reminder of how to do that.
Are you really really brave? Do you have something you don’t mind sharing with the world? You don’t have to create a blog for this segment, but if you want to (it’s really easy!), Blogger, WordPress, and LiveJournal are some easy, free ways to express yourself virtually.

Knock yourself out! And if you do make a blog, and aren’t too shy about it, put the address in a comment here so we can read all about you!

One last thing to know about blogs, which hopefully won't put a damper on all the blog fun: Any blogs or other web presences created for WCPL need to be done through official county channels. Contact your branch or region's representative to the library web team for more information.

#3 Discover what blogs are

2008-01-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

Watch this video: Blogs in Plain English [2:58]

Begin at the beginning, that’s what I always say!

Derivation of the word blog:

internet = world wide web = web
diary = journal = log
web log = weblog = blog

Voila!

People built blogs to broadcast opinions and news of a personal, national, international, or whatever variety, to friends, family, and whoever else is out there. Blogs have since evolved to become a blank slate – they can be whatever the user wants. So just think of a blog as a website, like any other. You can also see pictures, videos, songs, etc. on blogs. This blog is meant to teach you about web 2.0 stuff, so you can see that blogs can be instructional as well.

Blogs are usually updated often, if not daily. The most popular blogs are constantly updated, every hour of the day. These constant updates mean that there is the potential for new information all the time. When people say that they “read blogs,” it means that they read them regularly—daily, hourly, through an RSS reader, whatever—because there is always new information there (as long as the blog writer puts it on the blog). Think of it like a newspaper. People read that every day, right?

Another great thing about blogs is that they invite people to comment on what the writer or writers have said. Old “1.0” websites didn’t have that capability. Comments are an integral part of blogs; it’s how they build communities. Readers post comments, others respond, and a conversation occurs. It’s a very democratic medium where anyone can be published. How many blogs are there? No one knows exactly, since they are created (and, sadly, abandoned) all the time, but let’s just say: a lot. Like, more than 50 million.

In 2006 Technorati.com, a website that tracks blog popularity, was saying there were 50 million blogs, and that was 2 years ago. So you get the picture. That’s a lot of people, a lot of diverse interests, and a lot of reading material.

I think I’ve hit you with enough information for now. You can read lots and lots more about blogs at Wikipedia, everyone’s favorite not-quite-encyclopedia.

#2 Discover a few pointers from lifelong learners

2008-01-09T21:46:00.001-05:00

Among libraries, lifelong learning is one of those core values we shelve our books by. So it makes sense that before we embark on this new online learning and discovery journey that we should take a few minutes to review a few habits that can assist in creating lifelong learners.

These habits, which we’ve called the Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, will provide you with a refresher on what it means to be a lifelong learner.

Discovery Exercise:

Make sure you have headphones or speakers attached to your computer. Open and view the 7 & 1/2 Habits online tutorial, which runs about 15 minutes long. Please note that if you learn better by reading than listening, it is possible to read the transcript portion and use the Next button to proceed at your own pace.

As you go through the tutorial, think about which habit among the 7 & 1/2 is easiest for you and which is hardest.
If choose to create a Learning Contract as described in the tutorial but have trouble accessing the tutorial attachments, you can find them on the shared drive at S:\wcpl_SHARED\How-to & Training\Learning 2.0.

Have fun! If you haven't jumped on board yet, it's never too late to become a lifelong learner.

#1 Read about this program to learn what it is and why we're doing it.

2008-01-09T21:45:00.001-05:00

Read about this program to learn what it is and why we're doing it.

Learning 2.0 Things

2008-01-09T20:41:00.014-05:00

Listed below are some Things (or small exercises) that you can do on the web to explore and expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0. Each week a few new Things will be added.

Week 1 : Introduction

#1 Read about this program to learn what it is and why we're doing it.

#2 Discover a few pointers from lifelong learners and learn how to nurture your own learning process.

Week 2 : Blogs

#3 Discover what blogs are.

#4 Explore some blogs and post your first comments! Maybe even create your own blog...

Week 3 : RSS and News Readers

#5 Make life "really simple" with RSS & a newsreader.

#6 Find some interesting feeds.

Week 4: Photos and Images

#7 Explore Flickr and Picnik.

Week 5: Play Week

#8 Explore some fun web tools & toys.

Week 6: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

#9 Discover tagging and social bookmarking with del.icio.us

Week 7: Videos & Podcasts

#10 Discover video sharing with YouTube

#11 Learn about podcasts

Week 8: Wikis

#12 Discover wikis

Week 9: Wrap Up

#13 What have we learned and where can we go?