Final thoughts

When I completed the survey, I made a recommendation that both parts of the Web2 training be made available to our customers via the library website. The internet is such an integral part of society nowadays that a structured overview such as this is particularly welcome.

I personally have discovered a wealth of resources that I would otherwise probably never have "stumbled upon."

Social networking

Since the first web2 training I've used Facebook and flickr regularly. These sites were particulary useful for reporting on my overseas trip last year.

Although I signed up for delicious.com during the initial training I haven't actually used the site since then. I've found it simpler to add bookmarks to folders in Internet Explorer.

Still, I'll admit the organising functionality on delicious is rather enticing. So I've added the button to my links bar and started adding tags to websites.

Browsing through other people's bookmarks, I came across a few gems I wasn't familiar with. So, all told, I'll leave the delicious button on my already crowded toolbar (which is quite an endorsement from me).

I had a browse through a few other social networking sites - all variations on the same basic theme.

Stumbleupon http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Reddit http://www.reddit.com/

I signed up for digg http://digg.com/ and just for fun did a search on a rival site, Reddit.

As I predicted, there's some pretty intense gang warfare going on here.

The article "How internet fanboys see the world" attempts to define the opposing camps with visual images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47595300@N00/3294603967/sizes/l/

And this post has fun with the reddit logo:

http://www.bountyfishing.com/blog/2007/08/08/our-last-post-on-amazing-fish-changed-the-reddit-logo/

Animoto & Goanimate

GoAnimate.com: only's Animation


I used photos sourced from Wikipedia to create this animation of Henry IV of France and his family.

http://animoto.com/play/F4J8NZhN0Jglybt7tf5Bug?autostart=true

I enjoyed using animoto, even though it was excruciatingly slow at times.
I managed to source an appropriate music track in Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Ideally, I'd prefer more control over the animation process. Computer-generated results are often rather lacking in subtlety.

I had more fun with Goanimate.
http://goanimate.com/go/studio

I created the attached animation showing Kirk teasing Spock (and Spock's revenge).

http://goanimate.com/go/user/0ec5spp2QJtw

The application was very easy to use. I particularly liked its flexibility in enabling artistic creativity.
It would be good to include appropriate animations on the library website. A bit of lively movement is fast becoming the standard for an appealing webpage.

From Litlovers to Bookjetty

I checked out http://www.litlovers.com/ - an attractive website, especially good for reading groups. It seems to favour literary fiction. (No Angels & Demons, but The Da Vinci Code squeezes in! A good range of reviews and discussion questions.)

Authors on the web http://authorsontheweb.com/websites.php has a very limited selection so far.

I much preferred http://www.bookreporter.com/ - particularly the handy comprehensive lists of award winners.

But for anyone wanting to organise or even keep track of their reading, you can't beat Book Jetty. http://www.bookjetty.com/

I easily found my 5 books on the link through to Amazon.

http://www.bookjetty.com/people/onlyme/books

Genealogy

I explored My Heritage and compiled part of my family tree. The site scores highly for ease of use and clarity of layout. But on the whole I preferred the flexibility and range of options offered by the Geni site.

I had a lot of fun creating a family tree for Louis XIII of France, using Geni. I chose him so I could make sense of all the early seventeenth century intermarriages between the royal families of France, Spain and Great Britain.

It was easy to insert images from Wikipedia. The only thing I haven't managed to figure out is how to link a person on one side of the tree to the same person who appears on the other side. In my tree the marriage of the cousins, Louis XIV and Maria Theresa, appears twice.

http://www.geni.com/tree/index/6000000002797845159

License to Play (Week 1)

I've resurrected my Web 2 blog, to keep all the training in one place. But to celebrate the new year I've chosen a new template with a plainer, cleaner look to match my simple-minded personality.

I created a second blog for my overseas trip last year http://08t.blogspot.com/ and I'll create further blogs for future trips. I was pleasantly surprised to see the template update has been automatically applied to my travel blog as well as my Web 2 one. Don't you just love it when technology does things for you even without asking?

I've set up an anonymous Gmail account with a login based on my blog name. Gmail looks like a good service for anyone wanting a new email account - lots of storage space and well-organised (even boasting it "organises itself!") I note that "chats are saved and searchable". That must be like having a super-efficient personal assistant who remembers everything and doesn't miss a thing.

Now I have three email accounts, including @xtra.co.nz for home and @aucklandcity.govt.nz for work. I see it's easy to switch from xtra to Gmail, but I don't feel tempted to do so.

Interestingly, when I tried to link my new Gmail address to my existing Google account I got the following error message: "You can not associate a Gmail address with your Google Account."

I occasionally dip into blogs as I come across them. What appeals to me most about blogs is their informality and immediacy. I've yet to use them as a serious work-related tool, but it's early days yet.

#23 Thumbs up for Learning 2.0

I've learnt a great deal from the Learning 2.0 training programme. The single biggest lesson was blogging. Without this programme I may never have actually taken the plunge.

With the abundance of Web 2.0 options I realise I'll only have the time to use a select few of them on a regular basis: Blogger, YouTube, and RSS feeds. More occasionally I'll dip into Flickr & mashups, online image generators, Facebook and Rollyo.

Other features that I was interested in sampling but may not have time to further explore include del.icio.us, technorati and podcasts.

Overall, the programme offers an excellent introduction to the new technology. I particularly enjoyed the exercises that focussed on fun and creativity.