Rollyo exercise

I enjoyed doing this exercise. Found very interesting, useful information and pictures on some of the sites, choosing to look at bird migration and volcanoes and then Barack Obama. Found an amazing sequence of videos of flocks of birds.

Library thing

http://www.librarything.com/home/reynoldsdebbie8

Had a quick look only because I'm scooting to catch up with my exercises. Looks like fun, and I will return to it later.

playing around

Generators, exercise # 13

I added a most unoriginal picture to my site because I'm rushing to get through the exercises. I can see how exciting it would be to create posters, letter heads, make personal greeting cards, etc, and for libraries it is brilliant - the uses are endless - for displays, posters competitions.

message in the sand

Playing with paintbox

I've just spent an enjoyable half hour looking at other people's favourites, and have added one myself, on New Zealand birds.

Tui

Tui
Originally uploaded by Steinychris

Tui feeding in Kowhai tree

Birds

Birds of New Zealand
About a year ago a friend and I volunteered to do a regular bird count in our local park. Initially we were accompanied by an expert bird watcher, but lately we have been on our own. Once a month at (or near) dawn we walk through the park, which encompasses open meadows with exotic trees, up tracks through regenerating native bush, to a golf course in which there is a small pond. We then skirt around the margins of the bush on the golf course before plunging back onto a track leading eventually through an avenue of pohutukawas, past tennis courts and back onto the road through the park. Many private properties back onto the park, and so we are counting birds we see and hear ( the varieties and the numbers of each) both within the park and on the neighbouring properties. The bird life changes over the course of a year. When we started a year ago we could hear shining cuckoos, which overwinter in the Islands, and we are now waiting to hear our first shining cuckoo this year. So far we have sighted or heard 26 different types of bird, mostly introduced, but we are hoping as we clear out the exotic weeds in the park and the native plants with berries for food become established, more native birds will be attracted to the area. We hope that our bird count will provide valuable information about bird populations over the years.

Looking at Wikis

I very much enjoyed this exercise. In the book lover's wiki I instantly saw books that I would love to read, and plan to have a look on our catalogue to see if we already have them - if not, I will put in a recommendation to buy. The utube video gave a very clear and helpful example of how a wiki functions. Some of the wikis for libraries and librarians seemed quite technical, but I could see how useful they would be, making it a useful tool for sharing information and processes so that one doesn't need to keep on reinventing the wheel. I could see many ways that our library could benefit from other's expertise, for instance in branding and promoting services and in the reader's advisory service.

Having read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0

The reading that most spoke to me was Wendy Shultz's "To a temporary place in time". She feels people will still need experienced tour guides to help them navigate through the information sources and expostulates that libraries (librarians) must offer a compelling experience - authentic, humane, experiential, impassioned, relevant and participatory. She sounds a very passionate advocate and certainly enthused me with her thoughts. Library 4.0 sounds wonderful, providing a stillness, a retreat.

I enjoyed the other readings and the video and again looked at North Shore Library's Mission Statement, and found it still keeps the core values and recognises how important is is to be relevant and at the cutting edge.

Technorati

Finally can see the point of this exercise. Have been into Technorati, found 732 posts tagged" 2.0 learning", there were 932 blogs and 8,218 posts tagged with "2.0". I found the site very busy and can't see that I will use it, but good to know what its all about. It is all adding to my knowledge of the interactive information that's available.

del.icio.us

Have had a look around some of the sites recommended and can see what a wonderful idea it is to use tags in a library - it doesn't feel stuffy and controlled, it is more a case of using everyday language. Many people have preconceived ideas about libraries, andtagging could pick up those who think that libraries are outdated and behind the times and show them that libraries and librarians (some) are techni-savvy. I'm working on it!