Thing 12 - Do you Digg?

Evidently people have nothing better to do than spend all day on the computer looking for stories, videos, podcasts, etc. to share with other people. I definitely think this is a productivity detractor. Add a few graphics and what you basically have are "ads" or "commercials" on the Internet that someone wants you to take the time to look at.

I myself am always "tempted" to click on the link "giant beetle found in McDonald's hamburger" when I log on to AOL. These are all like tabloid tidbits trying to grab your attention. There will always be something to entice the user to click on the link.

I don't see any use for these sites for public libraries from my point of view. But if someone finds them worthy, I'd be willing to listen.

Thing 11 - Tagging and Del.icio.us

I have lots of experience tagging in Flickr and tagging in del.icio.us is pretty much the same thing. I think del.icio.us would be great when you are doing a research paper, planning a vacation, even putting together a presentation.

I love the idea that you can have access to the site from any computer - that's a big plus!
I'm not sure how the public library would use it other than internally. I don't quite see the connection with del.icio.us and the patrons we serve, however.

Thing 10 - Wikis

Wiki's are still a hard concept for me to wrap my mind around. I have a hard time with something that anyone can go into and change. If a library was going to start their own wiki, I would want to make sure that there were controls on who could edit and to make sure someone was checking the validity of the edits.

I think it is a good idea that many teachers have banned the use of wikis for research. Although I'm sure not all wikis are the same, how could a student distinguish between a "good" and "bad" wiki with valid information or invalid information.

Thing 9. Online Collaboration Tools

Google Docs sounds like a great tool. I, however, use MS publisher quite frequently and even have some old Microsoft Works documents on my computer at home. I was disappointed that I could not upload those files on Google Docs. It would be wonderful to work on my MS Publisher files from any computer at anytime.

Thing #8 -Share Your Creations

How do you like the Carousel I made with Picture Trail below? It was easy and fun ....so many choices to choose from. As usual, there a wealth of ideas amongst all of these tools to use on a library website.

I have not used any of the other tools and look forward to having some time to try them all. There are just so many and so little time....you could literally spend hours and hours learning and playing with each of them.

Carousel Picture Trail

Thing #7 - Communication - Web 2.0 tools

We have used email at our library for many years. I think using email to communicate with staff and co-workers that are not in my building is great. It is also usally more reliable than phone messages when trying to conduct other library business. I do, however, think it is used way too much to conduct communication with co-workers or staff that are 4 feet away from my cubicle. It becomes too easy to email and too hard to just walk 4 feet and talk to a person eye to eye. People say things in an email they would not dare say to your face.

I think using some of the Web 2.0 tools to conduct online reference would be great if you had enough staff to handle it and it you had set up parameters for its use. I can, however, see several of the reference staff from my library not being comfortable with it.

I currently do not use IM or SMS - never had the desire or the need for it, so far. I'm much more prefer the face to face or at least voice to voice communication. I'm sure that once I started using it, I would, however, find it as easy as email.

I took a look at an Opal program called Virtual Worlds for Kids, Tweens and Teens. I listened to about 10 minutes of the program. It included an audio presentation with slide presentations. The program was 60 minutes long. I don't know if I could have sat in front of my computer for 60 minutes just listening to someone talk without seeing an actual person. I think this type of web conferencing is great for extended learning (just want to know a little bit more about something). I've taken several computer training sessions via web conferencing and found them to be lacking to a live person.