Playing Around With Wikis

Wikis can be a very important tool in libraries. I saw different ways some libraries are using wikis, such as book discussions, community events, etc... I believe they could also be used by committees. Time spent scheduling meetings would be reduced by posting the information on a wiki and having committee members input their information as they had time.

Wikis

I can see many uses for Wikis. The two I use on a regular basis are Wikipedia and WikiHow. Most people know about Wikipedia, however, I'm not sure if most know about WikiHow. WikiHow instructs you on how to do just about anything and everything. You can learn to lay brick or knit a plastic bag made of plastic grocery bags. There are even instructions on how to cut the bags to prepare them for knitting. Here is the link for preparing the bags for knitting or crocheting http://www.wikihow.com/Prepare-Plastic-Bags-for-Knitting-or-Crochet and the link to actually knit the bag. http://www.wikihow.com/Knit-a-Bag-from-Plastic-Bags

Some of the instructions even include a video to assist you.

As far as libraries are concerned, I noticed using wikis were great for book discussions, current events, community activities, etc... I am interested in wikis and will create one some day.

Library 2.0

Library 2.0 does not come as a surprise to me. I have always believed that the focus should be on the user and how we can enhance the library experience for them. It is surprising how many useful tools we have access to that greatly improves the quality of service provided to the customer. By using services like blogs, flickr, wikis, etc., the number of customers is not limited to those in our locale. We can easily serve users in California or another country.


Library 2.0 is just the beginning of many new possibilities.

Del.icio.us

I can't believe how many useful websites I have found since I have started using Del.icio.us. This is definitely one of my favorite things. I am amazed at the number of educational websites that provide free information.

I had decided I wanted to reacquaint with the French language and found plenty of sites that I can use. Shorthand is another skill I have not used in years and I will pick that up as well.

The beauty of this is that when I am visiting my parents and am bored, I can simply go on the Internet and access those sites. I don't have to take my computer with me.

Explore Twitter

Twitter, what can I say? I don't think it will be a favorite. I am not the type of person to call someone to see what they are doing. I have never liked idle chit chat. I now have an account and sent a tweet. I will have to continue to investigate Twitter to see how I can best use it.

Once I began following CML's Twitter, I can now see a use for it. I saw the blurb about how read2akid resolved a problem by Tweeting to someone. I have reconsidered and will attempt to use Twitter. I hear it is addictive.

LibraryThing

What a great tool! I plan to add all of my books to LibraryThing. I have a book that is out-of-print and hard to find and I could not find it on LibraryThing. I will have to create a record for it. I like a lot of non-fiction and am hoping there will be others who share my interests.

I only have a few book cataloged, but, here's my link.



http://www.librarything.com/catalog/JessEd68

Image Generators

I selected Photofunia as my image generator because it seems to the easiest to use. I happened to have my camera here, too my picture, transfered it to my folder and converted it using Photofunia.
I can see many uses for this generator.

Below is my attempt to use Webfetti.com. BOOtylicious has nothing to do with me, but it is close to Halloween and BOOtylicious is a ghost.