#23 Only the beginning

A TOAST to you and to me - "Yuuuuuummmmm Sennnnnnggggg" as I would toast Chinese style. The longer and the louder we say the 2 words, the more auspicious the occassion (especially in weddings)!

Time for a celebration. We're already planning our Christmas get-together....

What a technological journey - a learning curve - both educational and enjoyable.

Syabas/Congratulations to the Performance Development Coordinator and her team, and what a team effort, in creating and making this program a success, in encouraging me to burn the midnight oil for days on end, keyboarding and mousing away infront of my computer and exposing me to blogs and bloglines, social networking with Facebook,Flickering away, discovering wikis and the web 2.0 awards list and reading e books.

What I really need to know now is putting a face or a name to the person who walked through the journey with me and who read every inch of my mind through my blog.

Who are you? Where are you? :-))

#22 Week 9 NetLibrary

Created an account sometime back, but never followed up on it as it seemed too difficult. So have created a new account this time. After weeks of Web 2.0, getting into NetLibrary to read e-books now seems a breeze.

Came across Digital Photo Projects for Dummies and thought I might want to read up on this when I am more ready to absorb the info in the future and so it's been saved to Favourites.
Also saved is Going to Live in Australia : Your Practical Guide to Beginning a New Life Down Under, which could make an interesting read at a later date.
This title What Makes Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life is my latest addition.

The variety of titles available has improved immensely.

I like being able to sort e-books by Newest/Oldest first as that is always a handy option.
When searching for a particular subject, Related Topics appear on the right hand column instantly, which can be very helpful.

Overall,ACL's econtents have come a long way from the early days when ebooks were first introduced.

#21 Locating Podcasts

My first search in Yahoo Podcasts for book reviews took me back to 2001 which mentioned reducing book review sections as advertising revenue drops.
My next search lead me to www.pbs.org, which did not seem relevant at all.
Podcastalley.com offered 21 types of podcast genre, an excellent range. Discovered an interesting podcast Libraries across Cultures and it has been added to my Bloglines RSS feed.
Podcast.net also offers an exceedingly wide choice for anyone to listen or to learn.
Otherwise, at this stage, I must say podcasting is not something that I can fall in love with.

#20 Video...YouTube...

Charlie Brown Christmas - Linus explains what Christmas is all about


I thought this video is most apt since Christmas is just around the corner. Videos can entertain and can be most educational too. In the library context, an appropriate link to selected video broadcasts could be made on our library website, in this case, in the Teens/Kids website.
YouTube undeniably stands out in all ways. Searching is relatively easy by a direct search or through its 4 subsearches via Videos, Categories,Channel and Community. What follows is proof of what I've just said.
I managed to search and retrieve a long-lost video clip for my good friend nishneeth, by special request. This is for you, nishneeth - Hotel Keralafonia. Enjoy

#19 Web2.0 awards list

I was thrilled to see new terms like Technocrati, Bloglines, Library Thing, Google Docs, 43 Things, Google Maps, Frappr, Zoho, Flickr, Rollyo, Facebook, Del.icio.us, all introduced through ACL Learning 2.0 directly or indirectly, now seemingly more familiar in the Web 2.0 Awards list.
Being a self confessed on-off addict (off as in now because of current blogging) to online games, I chose Games2Web
It's unbelievable. Just look at these statistics:
Total Games: 8927
Total Plays: 5425304
Total Users: 3772
Played Today:1584
In my earlier life of online games, I was just happy and contented with MSN Games.
I'm now introduced to a whole new world! Where do I begin?
Just imagine how pleasurable this would be if all were made available to our library customers! Oops, it is free now to all though our free internet services. Let's see how quick they are at catching on to this website.

#18 Contd. through Google Docs

Am moving from Zoho Writer to Google Docs now. I am so pleased to discover these 2 online tools and Google Calendar and....I'm sure there's more, when I have time to look further into them.

You are now reading this on my favourite blog, brought to you by Google Docs!

(Kindly complete the Genius tick on Sandbox wiki, if you will and when you can. Also, don't miss out on my heartfelt comment on your comment in #17)

#18 Week 8 Online applications and Tools

Well, I do like an online word processor, cos this means I can be anywhere and all I do is to log on to Zoho Writer and  I'd be able to access my documents. Its Template Library covers a wide range from the ever popular cv templates to a concert ticket, student id card and even a recipe card. This document is written in Zoho Writer and I shall share this in my blog. 
Technorati Tags     zohowriter

#17 Week 7 Learning 2.0 Sandbox wiki

I had to log in and out of the homepage 3 times before it dawned on me that I could sign up and login at the same time!! That seemed too simple to be true.
Well, you can find my blog now in Favourite Blogs - ha! (am pleased with myself somehow).
It's quite interesting going into the other favourites too.
You must realise there is a duplicate of favourite holiday destinations. I'm about to edit one by cancelling/deleting/removing links of all its contents. Hmm..
And I had to list my favourite cookbook, Cook Malaysian to My Favourite Books. See the front cover of this book in the attached picture.

#16 Week 7 Wikis

Came across a wiki on Wedding celebrations in the Subject guide of SJCPL. How could I not take a closer look through this blog of mine. The subject was clearly subdivided and covered a whole range of books from cakes to vows, through to photography and the honeymoon and included the books’ call nos..
A Deakin University paper also states that selecting a wiki that is easy to use is important. Authentication and tracking secures wiki content against misuse. It concludes that wiki technology can be used to enhance social interaction, disseminate info, build info repositories and collaboratively produce documents.
Peter Blake’s paper on Using a Wiki for InformationServices and Library Success: A best practices wiki were most useful and made me think of having an online community wiki for info services, which will be a bane to one and all. The public expects general info on things local from their library by way of a board to display public notices for the community. This way, those wanting to put up their notices can do so through the wiki.

#15 Week 6 LIb 2.0 and Web 2.0

OCLC (Online Computer Library Centre)
Rick Anderson, Reno Libraries, says we need less printed matter with the current emergence of things digital and to have less reliance on user education, which could be replaced by online easy-to-use programs. He recommends placing library services and content in the customer’s preferred environment (the Web).

Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, New Services, expands on Tim O’ Reilly’s principles of Web 2.0 in a terribly wordy manner. I gather he's saying this is a new world of librarianship where all can cooperate on cataloging and sharing resources virtually, in particular through the huge network of library content and services of WorldCat.

I am inclined to think along the lines of Dr Wendy Schulz (Infinite Futures) where she mentions Libraries 2.0 (Web 2.0) evolving to Web 4.0.
Beginning with Library 1.0, which are basically books, she moves onto Library 2.0 which require people to provide the infrastructure.
This collaboration develops into Library 3.0 where librarians turn ‘superstars’ providing premium service in a virtual world.
Library 4.0 becomes an aesthetic experience, a form of retreat space.
I agree with all comments, only in the future years to come.
In reality, my thought is that with time, there will be a need for just a smaller number of specialized librarians, the rest being made redundant by smart machines and technology.
For now, we still have to serve as is, a current generation of existing not-so- computer-literate users.

#14 Week 6 Technorati

At this point of time, came up with 4589 results searching "Learning 2.0" in blog posts.There are videos and learnt a new word 'heutagogy' which is the process of allowing learners to decide what they want to learn, how they want to learn it and when they want to learn it. Came across a free web 2.0 atomic learning workshop.
A keyword search for the same in Tags only came up with 101 entries. Again the same videos about "Learning 2.0" came up.
There were 371 hits, including a German site, with a search in the Blog Directory.
Exploring popular blogs, searches and tags did not create any impression on me at all, as the top videos, movies, news etc seemed very remote.

#13 Week 6 Tagging

Del.icio.us is another form of Favourites, but instead of using folders, makes use of tags.
The NZ Herald online is one of several websites to offer these buttons or bookmarklets at the end of their newsprint.
I have bookmarked 2 of my favourite collections for sharing. Will want to add
more as they could act as a backup to my Favourites.

RSS Tools contd from #9

There are 21 newsfeeds to my bloglines at the moment. Think that's 1 too many to keep track of.
Went in search of Chinese New Year in Bloglines Search Tool and ended up in a forum discussing safety in Shenzen over the Chinese New Year period. Quite interesting to read points of view of the various contributors.
With Feedster it times out constantly and it has heaps of sponsored links/advertising and I find results not relevant to my search.
Topix covers heaps of international news. However I could not find blogs/news on the coming Chinese New Year 2008. I did venture into Topix - Directory through its link 'All topics'. It's a huge directory list of A - Z. Pick any subject of your choice and you shall find updates from heaps of sources. Really makes interesting reading if you have time for it. Topix stands out from all the rest!
It's taking ages for Syndic8 to download my search - have given up on it!
Searched for blogs on Technorati on the same theme. Did not find any relevant material for my purposes.

# 12 Week 5 Rollyo

I find Rollyo useful in work where various references have to be made for a particular project. For my purposes where I have to put up a display for public viewing, being able to place various websites together under 1 search engine is a tremendous help. For example, nearly every year, I have to go to several websites to access info for a Chinese New Year display. From now onwards, I can easily go to my Rollyo search engine for all the info. Yay!!
You can view my searchroll for Chinese New Year in the link to the right.

#11 Library thing

Wow, never knew this existed! Gosh, imagine knowing how many (or little) other people have similar libraries or taste! I like the way each book in my library is connected to others in Library Thing. Tagging the books will come in very useful as I add more books to my virtual libary. Library Thing is quite easy to use.

#10 Week 5 Image Generator

I liked FD Toys. In it, I discovered generating different Posters, Badge Maker, various Covers, Mosaic Maker, Framer, an ever changing Wallpaper, an arty Palette generator, Bead Art, Billboard, Stream(an everlasting flow of digital photos) and adding comic style captions to photos. I created a Word Press Blog header of the 2 wedding bands.

Here's the link:

http://bighugelabs.com/photos/922e98771980ff989be892f597645479/blogheader7934465

# 9

As usual, in line with my blog theme, here is another photo of the wedding, in addition to others posted here n there.

Well, have added newsfeed from Bloglines/News and Librarians Internet Index, amongst others. With the latter, it's an American website updated weekly and I like it as info is mainly summarised into a paragraph with their individual subject headings. Therefore, I can skim through them relatively quickly.

I just have to add this latest newsfeed:

USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories
USATODAY.com Books - Top Stories (USA TODAY)

1 Item
Updated: Fri, Oct 26 2007 7:27 PM

Harry Potter first edition auctioned
A copy of J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter novel sold at auction Thursday for almost $41,000.

Week 4 Thing 8

Well, all under control so far. Have created a link to my blogline a/c below and that's where you'll find all 21 feeds. Hard to believe I ended up subscribing to that many. RSS feeds are meant to save time but ... there's even more to catch up on now!
Have settled back very happily to my second day of being back to work after spending Labour w/end over in Sydney. I was given the choice of doing what I wanted to do. First thing arriving on Saturday morning was to (window)shop. I had not slept all night the Friday before. Fatigue took over in the late afternoon and I had to take a quick short nap so that I could keep myself awake to watch the musical Miss Saigon at the Lyric Theatre, after a delicious yet unusual set menu of food tasting at Essence Restaurant by Darling Harbour. At the end of the day, I was disappointed for not finding anything I liked while out shopping earlier. Sunday was at Taronga, the zoo with a view (of the city and the harbour and lovely blue waters). Cruised over by ferry and went up by cable car. Monday took us North past a few towns and beaches and creeks to Palm Beach. Stopped at Wahroonga Mall on the way home and - success - found a few things I really liked! Happiness. Satisfaction. And so, I've come home a very contented person.

Bloglines

http://www.bloglines.com/public/lwoty

Come and visit me (and all of my fellow bloggers)...

This is the toughest so far! Has taken up days of my time. And I'm not the only one. (Thank goodness). We're all struggling here. Am trying to subscribe to RSS feeds on each of us blogging out here, by the waters.

At last, With Princess Tianme's guidance, created this link to my blogline feeds.

What a time-saver - RSS feeds!

Discovery exercise 7

To me, being able to chat nearly daily with my 81 year old mother on the phone is the best thing in technoloy.
Quite often, she's alone and feels scared(only a little) at night even though she lives with my sister overseas. Since my sister and her husband retired, they've really caught the travel bug and are away alot and that's when mum starts to feel alittle lonely and that's when I come into the picture, with the PHONE - indispensable!

I must add that as of now, 3 other bloggers are busily typing in my links to SH bloggers so that they also can have a list of all of SH bloggers! Beena printed the list from my comment in her blog. We couldn't be any less connected.

Discovery exercise 6

Have taken a look at Flickr, Montagr, Trading Card Maker and LibrarianTrading Card...
and liked Trading Card Maker the best!

Take a look at my blog's trading card:

http://bighugelabs.com/photos/922e98771980ff989be892f597645479/deck3246466

8 Oct 2007

Here's a link to a few photos in facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5364&l=9601f&id=546048749

Social networking

Bebo was mentioned in the Libraries before Web 2.0 came along.
Now I must say Web 2.0 has given me the excuse and opportunity to go into Bebo, Facebook and MySpace for the very first time, knowing that support is out there at anytime.
Bebo doesn’t seem to be my kind of thing. Guess it’s a personal choice and would be excellent for say Mike Hogan in mikehoganworldtour, a young 25 yr old traveling the world and keeping in touch with his other young friends who all have online access .
With MySpace, the different categories can be quite mind-boggling.
However, I am very impressed with Facebook. Have signed up and downloaded several pictures which have not been made public. Downloading photos in Facebook is real quick and easy. Shall download more, time permitting and share them later.

Week 2 at Flickr

Well, back again but this time am physically away somewhere..
Hint - go into Flickr - look for babester9. See if the photo's any help.

(Thought I'd better repeat the photo right here to make things simpler!)

And to the librarians at SH - uv all gone nuts Japanese style - totally into the kimonos as well!
Must admit all look glamorously Asian, especially u, my mentor.

Week 1

Week 1

Success! My very first blog. I am doing this a week early 'cos I shall be away the next 2 weeks to attend Marianne's wedding of the year event end of this month. It was hard work acquiring annual leave and timing it early to get the best value tickets. But I have done it and I am all ready to fly - not exactly - there's the last minute packing to do..have done some shopping for things to take over like biscuits and chocs and vitamin supplements. The last is the 'hot' one. Most people are now so health conscious that nothing else can be any better!