Second Life

I need to know a lot more before I can guess at the many uses of Second Life. It appears that it would be a good online venue for promtping students to interact with set tasks and learning about information that lecturers want students to cover at the same time. It is probable that once the online reading task has been done in Second Life the lecturer could recieve verification that each student has completed the task whereas at the moment the lecturer can only hope that students have done the required reading of certain text. Learning could take a whole new format with second Life. I look forward to learning more.

Podcasts

Through RSS feeds I subscribed to Philip Adams Late Night Live and listened to part of one program then had to work out how to turn it off. I have been wondering how to subscribe for a year or two. Now I know.

UTube

Todat I found two library UTube videos which I liked. The first from 'Discover a new eorld at Columbus Public Library' was very informative about the services at the library and visually innovative. 'Carl Sagan introduces the library of Alexandria' was an interesting hypothetical about the appearance of this long gone library

Uploaded photo of Billy

Today I uploaded a photo of my neighbours dog who visits for a pat, a talk or food!

Library 2.0

Found Michael Jensen's article (The Chronicle Rveiew 15 June 2007)
http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i41/41b00601.htm
revealing. He mentions the concern about biased content in social networks. He mentions that where peer reviewed articles were/are considered authoratative on a subject, the difficulty in deciding which sites are authoratative within social networking should be ironed out in the next 10-15 years. If people can get material through these networks that is soundly researched then social networking may provide a valuable source of information to students. It will certainly be a new way of communicating between students, lecturers and libraries. There is much scope for librarians to assist with the deciphering of what can be used and found through social networking

Social Bookmarking del.icio.us

Much impressed. This is a way of customising whats on the web to suit me. I can easily find material on Travel in Africa which has photos, tips etc. This could be a way of researching a trip or just armchair travel. Checking out who else likes the sites I search for and find can get off my main topic though. Otherwise it saves time instead of bookmarking pages on google or writing down favorite web pages.

Google gadgets

Have set up my google account with mao, Book, Doc and Spreadsheets gadgets. Was able to view in the Maps Gadget my exact address in this regional town! (this could also be done on the telphone directory homepage via Telstra Whitepages) It would be useful to group my information needs on one page. As mentioned above some of these funstions are available elsweher alos such as Amazon.com having the ability ot show us contents pages and full index to some books. I was unable in the time i had to find any interesting Library gadgets. Google could well be a good place to work with their own dentist and free healthy food and interesting projects to work on.

Google Book Search

I searched for two books, Out of Africa and Vanishing Africa. There was no option to view pages for either. However the ability to browse pages or snippets would be useful although Amazon.com allows browsing of contents, index etx which is also useful to look at before buying. The Find in a Library option linked to Libraries australia which is good. However to an untrained person they may look no further than the first search. In my case the book Vansihing Africa link in Libraries Australia showed only one holding but I selected the author and found that it was held at many more libraries than just the one shown.
http://books.google.com/

Google Docs

Have just shared a word document and a spreadsheet document. It appears that Microsoft Word is not as essential now.
http://docs.google.com

MySpace and Facebook

Have found some ways libraries use MySpace...to place new book titles, book reviews, to paste poems, to advertise special library activities like puppet making and to place patron photos...
Some ideas where MySpace would be useful are listed here but I must say that many of these elements are already covered by our library in different forms... Ask a librarian, Searching assistance in the use of databases, Feedback on how to improve library services or library website, Input from patrons or library staff of good websites for example for primary teacher undergrdautes...
On Facebook I found a colleague and sent a message. I set it up so that only with the Deakin Network could communicate with me.

RSS feeds

Cathcup after being away from work for nearly 3 weeks. RSS Feeds I subscribed to are ABC News Science and Technology, BBC News Asia Pacific, BBC News Frontpage, National Geographic News, and National Geographic Animals and Nature

Environment day digg.com

http://digg.com/environment/Tree_planting_worm_farming_on_World_Environment_Day/blog

LibraryThing test 2

http://www.librarything.com/title/out_of_Africa

Library Thing books selected

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

Image Chef picture 15/09/07

Mount Barker gum trees

Mount Barker, originally uploaded by mister bend.

Mist

Antarctic Beach Tree. Nothofagus moorei.

Antarctic Beach Tree. Nothofagus moorei., originally uploaded by JIGGS.

Flickr photo added 15/09/07

Drought

As a guide to the effects of the drought, gum trees have lush leaf growth in winter/spring but sparse leaf growth in summer months. 15/09/07

Flikcr group title

I joined the group IDENTIFYING AUSTRALIAN RAINFOREST PLANTS and TREES at http://www.flickr.com/groups/australianrainforestplants/

Nature Trail

Nature Trail, originally uploaded by tenserosie.

my utopian garden