ninth post - social networks, wrap-up

My library is just starting to starting to use web based social networking, particularly in the area of local history.  I'm sure this will be further developed as both our library and community IT improve.

I'd especially like to see networking forums for library users to be able to add their own tags to resources in the catalogue  and to have greater involvement in collection development and purchasing.

Online collaborative tutorials could be a fun activity.  Something like a small course on taking digital photos and adding them to Flickr and our Local History Collection.

eighth post - online applications

These week #11 activities really did capture my imagination.

I can see a future where our computers are really slim, cheap and robust with all the software and storage applications being out there on the web.  Our money goes into providing fast broadband infrastructure and we truly do have one laptop per child.  

I love the possibilities of collaborating on line all using the same software and seeing the results simultaneously but I wonder about the speed restrictions.  Even fast broadband can't compete with  a fast office computer on larger applications.

seventh post - mashup

Six more sleeps!

sixth post - social bookmarking

I can see that a social bookmarking tool such as Del.icio.us is great for sharing bookmarks and even storing you own bookmarks for easy access from any internet enabled computer.  A link to such a site from our library web page could be useful.  

But how does searching for useful information amongst the clouds of links compare with using one of the search engines?  Sure you get access to some of the invisible web but you have the hassle of remembering passwords and logging in and then the search hits are very restricted.  At this stage I'd try a couple of search engines first then look sites like del.icio.us.

My bookmarks

fifth post -videos online

The possibilities of online video are fantastic but I just can't get excited about the existing delivery.  The tiny screen, poor resolution and hopelessly slow download rate leave me frustrated.  It's like standing in a 15 minute queue  for a Macdonalds burger.  Give me a higher resolution still image and an interesting read any time. 

Overly complex web site downloads and video being offered as standard delivery just add to the general obesity of the web and further disadvantage those with simple computers and slower download times.  Where's the equity of access in that?

fourth post - wikis

An intranet wiki could be a great way for us to manage and develop our procedures manual.

An open wiki would be a great way for us to get involvement in readers suggestions, reviews and requests for purchase.  

 I think I'm attracted to the collaborative approach of wikis rather than the backchat response to blogs.

third post

Looking at RSS feeds.

Sounds like a great tool and I'm looking forward to receiving an alert to show it works.  How come, if it's such a great tool for keeping abreast of breaking news more web sites don't seem to include access to the RSS feature (ie  the organisation I work for)? 

Question:  How come developers of on-line training programs and taxi meters use such different time measuring systems?  15 minutes for one is a very different length of time to the other.