Thing 23- Finally!

Overall, I found the Web Challenge to be interesting. Although, being 24 and fresh out of library school, I was aware of many of the included technologies, it did remind me about incorporating these things into my job. I like Web 2.0 because it is fresh. It is up to date and helps us really meet up with the new generation. However, I dislike when organizations use 2.0 technologies where they are not appropriate or practical just for the sake of using them. I don't see this as a problem at OCL- if anything I would like us to be more active. As a YA librarian, there are so many applications, but we are very rigid in what we can do, how, and when. I understand this as someone who was once studying business law (we live in a completely sue-happy society) but I think that being rigid is incongruous with Web 2.0. You need to be constantly up to date and changing with the trends to reach your target users. We need more blogs, more interactivity, more social networking! That is how we will get ourselves really involved with the community as time goes on. My generation will always be online, and we expect all of our services to know this and cater to us. We don't want to make that phone call because we shouldn't have to. It's a totally selfish perspective, but I don't think it's one that will be going away anytime soon! This is what I think Web 3.0 will be- think of a real virtual library- e-books with a shelf-browsing interface (and I mean the full experience, cover art included!). I'm not very imaginative, but we will be living in a more digital world for sure.

As far as what I have shared with others- ListenNJ, LibraryThing, and PBWiki would be my top three.

Thing 22- ListenNJ

ListenNJ is nothing new to me! As a person with an hour long commute each way, I use ListenNJ to catch up on YA lit in the car. I don't find ListenNJ hard to use, though I'm not terribly fond the OverDrive console. I always use the MP3 option because the burn to CD function is not very practical (so few titles offer that anyway). I do wish ListenNJ had more in the way of selection but I understand that not all publishers see the value in downloadables or fear a way around the digital distribution protections.

Despite its limitations, I like ListenNJ and have recommended it several times. In particular, I have found it to be useful for special needs groups whose members may not be readers or may not connect well with text-based literature.

Thing 21- Podcasts

I like podcasts, but I don't think I'm as keen on them as most 2.0'ers are. I actually used to transcribe podcasts on the side for a pittance, so maybe I just got sick of listening to them over and over! The way I see it, they need to be handled very professionally and be very high quality to be useful. I also prefer podcasts that are intended to be podcasts as opposed to recordings of lectures or interviews that are just incidentally recorded.

For your review, I post this podcast from Odeo:
http://odeo.com/audio/18157623/view

I'm a 360 gamer (PS3 sucks!!! :) ) so I'm always interested in gaming news and rumors regarding my favorite non-Nintendo console (Nintendo is so totally separate). I also love Engagdget and turn to them frequently for technology news. Of course, to be honest this podcast didn't tell me anything new! Since I always keep up with the news, I already knew pretty much everything that was discussed. The Q&A was interesting, but it's still not my favorite way to get news, call me old fashioned!

Thing 20- YouTube

I love YouTube! As a 24 year old, YouTube has long been a part of my life (albeit mostly for useless little internet memes and videos and the occasional Rickroll). However, it really has been used for some interesting viral marketing campaigns and I totally see its value for advertising, especially to the YA and younger adult crowds.

As far as videos go, this was one of my favorites all though library school:


I can definitely say I have some days where I feel like I need this (especially as the warm weather comes around!!!!). All in all, I just like it because its funny, and I think our profession needs more humor in it.

Thing 19- Web 2.0 Awards

Although it was mentioned in the main blog post, I would like to talk about Color Blender. I just bought a house in January, and we are redoing all the rooms one by one. Color Blender will be very useful to me now that I know about it! Previous to this I was using the websites of individual paint companies, but that limits you exclusively to their pre-produced colors. Color Blender allows me to make the exact shades that I want to see on my walls. It seems like something so simple, but it really is a useful tool for helping you visualize what colors will look like when put together. Not to mention with modern tools at hardware stores you can print the exact colors you come up with and use them to get a can of paint! I love that the internet has made simple little tools like this so widely available.

Thing 18- Docs and Apps online

I'm familiar with Google Docs having used it before, and funny enough we have already used it at OCL for work. YA used a Google Docs spreadsheet in order to coordinate our orders for SAIL and Reading Buddies materials. It was very easy this way and you knew who you needed to still contribute with a single glance.

As far as what I'm currently working on, it could be useful for a proposal I'm working on with another YA. We'd be writing it together, and this way we'd be able to work on the actually written document without e-mailing it back and forth. I like that it is real-time, that means you don't get any time lapse overlap in what you're working on.

Thing 17: PBWiki

PB Wiki really wasn't a challenge to me- I have used it previously and will use it many times in the future! It's so ridiculously easy to use it isn't even funny... they made it so people without website experience can't get lost.

As far as practical work applications- I think they're endless. They would be good to use for committees to put together information on progress during even planning or to share ideas. They would work to use for TAB groups who want to share information and ideas between meetings. They would work just to keep your branch up to date with what is going on all in one place instead of a string of e-mails!