To be honest, I had previously used many of the technologies covered in this course. However, I found the lessons to be very informative and effective in filling-in the gaps in my knowledge of new technologies and services available.

Most importantly this course has renewed my confidence and raised risk tolerance when approaching Web 2.0 technologies in my endeavors.

I do not own a portable mp3 player so my need for Podcasts is somewhat limited. However I do enjoy listening to NPR news programs from their website. I use this to listen to programs that I missed or to re-listen to parts that I didn’t catch the first time. This is especially nice because I travel a lot and have a very demanding schedule, and I can catch up on it later. I do not, however, consider myself to be a dedicated, loyal follower of much of anything on TV, radio, or the web.

I feel for podcasts about what I feel for blogs. There are so many of them online that it would be impossible to keep up with them all, even with a computer program that fetches them automatically. Sifting through so much material to find things that I like, seems like a waste of my limited free time. Don’t get me wrong I am not opposed to the idea, and I certainly see the value.

One value that I see is that of an educational setting. I work in a educational library and I think it would be very effective to create podcast training for conducting tutorials and orientation. I have already done this with Camtasia and Screencast.com (see my Method #6 – Redux

I think the podcast medium is most effectively used when you know of a reputable or interesting source (like NPR) and are aware that their material is available in podcast form. In an educational setting, acting as that reputable source allows you to enhance the academic experience, and create meaningful interactive content.

Wikipedia has polarized the world either for or against Wiki’s. People who think Wikipedia is a terrible waste of time generally think that all Wiki’s are too. This is a shame.

The time when I have used a Wiki was during the planning of the 2009 Texas Library Association Annual Conference as part of the Local Arrangements Committee. Our group of about 50 planners shared a Wiki to assist in coordinating our efforts. My working group, Entertainment, made excellent use of this resource. Each of us posted our information there so that everyone remained informed about different aspects of our various tasks. Other working groups and individuals did not take to the Wiki, however. I think the problem was a reluctance toward the technology and an anti-wikipedia attitude.

What the anti-wikipedians fail to realize is that it feels really good to see your ideas in print, see how your ideas intermingle with the ideas of others, and how a difficult task can be completed in a virtual space.

I thought it worked great.

One thing that I would like to add here is the advent of another new technology from Google. This came to mind as I was watching the “In Plain English” clip in this module. Google has developed a new technology called “Wave.” Google Wave (GW) is a combination of email, chat, and Wiki. It allows users to do more than just send email, you initiate a collaborative document that can be edited by all participants separately or in real time. I was lucky enough to get a preview account for GW and my mind is effectively blown. The technology is being developed as an open-platform, meaning that developers can take the technology and create products for individual servers, or for sale commercially. I can envision a time when, instead of an Outlook mail server, libraries and other institutions have a Wave server. See more information here: http://wave.google.com.

One of the nice things about chat is that companies are using it to provide customer service via their website. Although the chat customer service is not always instant, I think it is much faster than traditional phone service where you have to navigate phone trees and spend minutes or hours on hold waiting for someone. Chat customer service works well because the “next available agent” can be assisting several customers at once with no interruption of service. Many libraries are utilizing chat reference service such as AnswerZone and Question Point. I have had the opportunity to provide reference service using a couple of these, and I think it is a wonderful way to provide service to virtual customers.

For the sake of full disclosure, I use chat a lot, and now that I have a Blackberry, I am available for chat anywhere and any time. I have Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk installed on my BB, and it remains online whenever my phone is on. I generally keep the setting set to “busy” to remind people that I am probably working. It is a easy way to stay in touch with friends and family. I do use the chat feature to conduct business. Many of my business contacts have Google Talk and we use it constantly to stay in touch. Recently Google added audio and video functionality, which makes the experience even more realistic.

The international organization that I webmaster for, Librarians Without Borders, uses Skype for their monthly meetings. For the sake of reliability we use the audio-only function to ward off possible network crashes. Skype is a great way to conduct these meetings because our board members are spread all over the world, and Skype is free. It also is useful because there are generally only 5-6 of us at a meeting.

However LWB has an upcoming Annual General Meeting where we expect 40 or so people to attend. One of the drawbacks to Skype or any not face-to-face medium is that it is hard to speak in-turn or not talk over each other. When working face-to-face, one can read body language to judge the other person’s reactions and see when someone is ready to speak. Over a virtual medium like Skype (or the good old telephone, for that matter) it is hard to maintain order. Skype can only handle so many participants before the connection becomes hard to maintain. For this reason I am planning to use a webinar to conduct the AGM. For this participants call in using a toll-free number, and also see streaming PowerPoint-like images broadcast over the internet. During most webinars there are semi-strict rules for non-speakers to keep their phones muted, and links on the screen to tell the moderator(s) that you wish to speak.

See my video here:

LIRN

My favorite of all the social websites is Facebook. My FB profile is: loren.zawodny

The organization that I webmaster for, Librarians without Borders, has a Twitter account that is linked to the WordPress-based website. Every time some posts something new to the website, it generates a Twitter post. It is a very effective and completely automated way to cover a lot of cyber ground.

I like Facebook because I can use it from my Blackberry. This is especially nice because I travel a lot.

OK now the library part. Why do libraries and institutions still block the most common social networking sites with their web filters? My best guess is that administrators and lawyers not connected to education and information are out of touch with the new technologies and are too easily lured into the negative press that the platforms receive.

A library where I used to work had a Twitter account and did a halfway job at maintaining it. However, the site continued to be blocked, making unusable within the library walls. News outlets that broadcast unbalanced negative press about social networks, themselves maintain accounts on those very pages.

I think the real problem with social networks in libraries and educational environments is that there is a gross lack of oversight by people who are supposed to supervise behavior. If people are looking at inappropriate materials on the internet that mistakenly pass through the filter, it is still their responsibility to neutralize the negative behavior. A filter is not an excuse to not provide oversight. Plus the most common social network sites implement strict controls regarding the material that can be posted to accounts. Facebook and MySpace require that people register and verify their age. I would argue that more offensive material could be viewed on basic cable TV any time of day.

There is also a great divide between the users of the technology (mostly young people) and the people providing oversight (mostly old people). This divide is marked by a lack of communication and interaction about these subjects. It is for this reason that librarians should embrace these new technologies. It creates a common bond, and an understanding.

I am also excited about the possibilities of using del.icio.us for organizing external links for our various academic areas. Faculty members in a given subject area at different campuses could create and share individual web pathfinders to external information sources. Each of the bookmark lists with tags could be linked and then used to create a collaborative information source that could be used by students.

My brain is buzzing with the possibilities. Very timely information for me.

Sign the Confession….

“The Landlord”

I totally love YouTube. I have never posted any video, as I do not own a camera. However as a part of my new job with ATI I am going to be creating Screencast training modules using Jing (See www.jingproject.com). Jing is an application that allows you to either capture screenshots from your computer screen, or record the actions on your computer screen with optional narration. If all goes well I plan to upgrade to Jing Pro or Camtasia, also from Techsmith. The pro tools allow you to upload directly to online video sites like YouTube. The free version is linked with Screencast.com to allow easy sharing of video over the web. This will be the way we will provide library orientation and instruction for distance education students.

Check out this trial video that I made just now using Jing. Very basic.

CLICK HERE –>Sample Video

Note that WordPress does not allow me to embed a Screencast video, so I have linked it here. Hmmmm….