Podcasts

I had never taken the time or interest in exploring or subscribing to any podcasts prior to this exercise. My son has lots of music in his MP3 player and then iphone, but I’ve never even bothered to ask him how and where he got all the songs.

I’ve checked out all the four podcast directories, downloaded iTunes, and subscribed to Games in libraries by Scott Nicholson. I also subscribed to Book Talk on npr.org.

TCCL can definitely use podcasts on the homepage to publicize all the interviews, programs and events.

YouTube



I am a visual person. Maps always help me better than verbal directions. After watching this clip, I think I might have the guts to change my flat tire some day. I like the features available on YouTube such as rating, duration, time posted, number of viewing, and esp. closed caption. The only downside is that you have to watch some commercials, but it's reasonable considering the fact that everything is free.

TCCL may use online video to show users how to use some online databases or self-checkout machines.

Discovering Web 2.0 tools

I finally set up an account in Twitter. The thing I did not like about Twitter is that I had to disclose my password for my email. So I had to switch from my primary yahoo address to the secondary gmail one. Of course I forgot about the password, and to retrieve it I had to type the letters in the distorted picture five times for Google to confirm I was a human being instead of a dog, or fake or something. Thank goodness, I only got 5 friends to invite to Twitter rather than 50 if I gave out my yahoo email.

Then I could not access my blogger account this morning although I had no problem yesterday with the same username & password. So I had to reset a new password for it.

Web-based applications

Since I don't have Publisher on my home computer, I find Google Docs extremely helpful. I like the feature that you can invite people to view or edit your files. I sure wish that more templates would be available in the future.

PBWiki

I felt more comfortable posting in TCCL wiki than in Wikipedia simply because the former is my pond while the latter is the vast ocean.

Wiki

Wikipedia is often my first and sometimes only source of information although sadly I have never cited it for my papers or reference questions. Actually, once upon a time I did tell a customer that “according to Wikipedia…”

It was several years ago when I was working in a branch one evening I got a call from a guy who would like me to look up a Japanese movie star for him. So he spelled out her name and I googled it. To my surprise, all the websites about her were blocked except Wikipedia (the only site without pictures, that’s why), which introduced her as a Japanese porn star. So I asked the guy what he wanted to know about her as a porn star, and he said that he was not sure whether she was animated or a real person. “Well, according to Wikipedia, she was born in blah blah, Japan, on blah blah 19xx, and her height and weight are blah blah blah…”

I found Wikis in Plain English on YouTube interesting. I think collaboration and collective wisdom are the main reasons that wikis are so popular now.

When I was the YA person in the branch, I always thought it would be so cool if we had a wiki for Teen Team Volunteers so that they could talk about their stories, feelings, tips, etc. One girl from the library school created a wiki about OU SLIS Comps, and I benefited a lot from various Survivors’ Stories.

Libraries can use wikis to get staff and users more involved in library operation and programs. Recently Sarah created one for floating collection so that everyone interested/concerned can contribute thoughts and comments.