Ciao 23Things!

I can't believe that this is it. I was so excited to hear Kate discuss this program in Sydney last year. Always wanted to do it - and now I have!

Kate...can't thank you enough. You have put so much work into creating this program suitable for us all. Your feedback and encouragement has meant a lot.

Too hard to put my finger on one particular THING that I thought was my favourite...although Twitter came close. Very addictive and brought us all a little closer.

I now have a better understanding of many of the Web 2.o technologies that are out there and that are possibly being used by our staff & students. Instead of having a "fair" idea about THINGS such as Flicka, I am a lot more confident. I have even advised my academics that I have completed the program and have offered to demonstrate to them any of the THINGS that they are interested in, particularly areas such as Flicka, YouTube & GoogleDocs.

I find myself being a lot more pro active in Web 2.0 programs. For example, whenever I bookmark a website I make sure I also add the site to Delicious. I am constantly thinking of how I can incorporate these into my position. I am still going to push for a Info Desk wiki!

The only thing that I have found difficult whilst completing this program is time. 15-20mins per THING wasn't enough - well for me anyhow. I found that by the time I read Kate's notes, watched the Commoncraft videos, learnt the task and then blogged about it...I was looking at about an hour per THING. As a part time worker I couldn't fit it into my working week. and did much of it at home (which wasn't a problem).

I will definately be promoting this program where possible. At the beginning of the program I discussed it with a couple of Library Techs and they were very interested in having a go. Not only would I promote this program to my colleagues at Banyo, but to others such as the QLD Chapter of ANZTLA.

I would definately be more than happy to participate in any other such similar program. Wow! Really? 70Things....where do I start?

Tweat for a Week

This was very interesting...although it would have been a lot more effective if we had more ACU 23Things participants. Having said that I found some days a lot easier to Tweat than others. I intend to keep on tweating and look forward to keeping in touch with more colleagues.

What was particularly interesting was to see was what my colleagues were up to during the day. What busy bees we all are! I liked the idea that we could post issues that arose for us and then have the opportunity to gain feedback from each other. Very helpful.

Tweating also provided yet another opportunity to get to know each other...

#22 - Second Life

Before attending the Web 2.0 symposium in early 2008 and I thought that I would try Second Life (as it was one of the topics to be discussed). It took a while to download the software from the net and then was quite slow when I used it (could be my home Internet connection). My avatar's name is Georgiana Wycliff. I found it interesting that you have to choose from a long list of already created surnames (still haven't met another "Wycliff" yet though). Again I found this quite addictive and spent way too much time on it (particularly with changing outfits and body styles, and then of course there is the flying!!!). I think that it is quite funny to observe my Avatar when she uses her hands to type in mid air when "talking" with another Avatar. I have met some interesting people in Second Life - from all around the world. One friend (from Holland) noticed quite early on that I was new and talked me through some of the features. This made it a lot easier, as there is so much to learn. Having said all that I haven't been on it for ages.


Couldn't believe it when I read on our 23Things blog that there are over 9.1 million residents and that the Maldives have an embassy...must look for this. I will have to seek out the Stars Wars world also.


Interesting that the Murdoch Uni Library had "Second Life" sessions, and even more so how they did them. I can only imagine how much time and effort has gone into setting up a Second Life presence, as well as the maintenance and classes involved - could this a specialist area for a LL position?

I can definately see Universities moving more towards the virutal world, and perhaps even moving beyond programs such as Second Life. Our online learning environment is constantly growing and evolving. Students want more flexiblity, and what better way to do it than learn in a virutal world. Sure we use software such as Blackboard but it is still quite impersonal and isolated. Virtual worlds are more appealing - well they are to me!

If ACU established a presence within Second Life I would think that it would be essential to establish a library component. We could look at incorpating our ebook collection into this virutal world, whereby students/staff can select titles from a virual bookshelf and read the item online. Databases and ejournals could be used in the same manner. The possibilites are endless. I am sure that there are a few of us out there that would be interested in becoming involved in such a project - I know that I would!

Number Twenty-One : PodCasting

I attended the Web 2.0 (Beyond the Hype) symposium in Brisbane early last year, and there was much discussion on whether libraries should use PodCasting. Many of the libraries at this forum had decided against it, as they thought that the time and effort that went into creating a PodCast was not worth the trouble. There were some libraries, nonetheless, that we using PodCasting to provide alternative means to reaching their clients e.g. students could download a PodCast on "How to Use the Library Catalogue", when clients weren't attending information literacy classes etc. I think it is a great idea. Especially if we are thinking of looking more into providing online library info lit programs.

When I took on this position I knew that I needed to keep up-to-date with what was happening in Australia and the world in regards to religion. What better way to start than to go on to the ABC website (http://www.abc.net.au/religion/) and see what was available. I particularly wanted to listen to the weekly program The Religion Report (which has sadly since been taken off air), however it was broadcast on a Wednesday morning and I believed that I wouldn't be able to listen to it. I soon realised that I could download the PodCast of this radio program (and access past programs I had missed) and listen to it whenever I liked. It was very simple to do and it certainly made my life easier. I could keep up-to-date!

I didn't realise that I could pull the RSS feed into my Google Reader - excellent! This will make it all a lot easier. (Again) Go Google! I have just added the Compass VodCast (video file) RSS to my Google Reader also. Nor did I realise that Google had a podcast directory!!! Wow - the GodCast 1000 is extensive.

#20 SHAREPOINT

I would have to say that this was the hardest THING I have had to do. There are so many options and it was very slow in uploading my image. Not "user-friendly".

I like SharePoint because it has all the news we need in the one spot. I have just read about NetLibrary timing out etc.. The Liaison Librarian area could be particularly useful, if only we all had the time to look at it in more detail. We could post PPT slides for info lit classes & handouts etc. Creating a wiki and/or blog could also be useful. I have suggested that the Banyo Library create a Help Desk Manual Wiki - perhaps one could be created on SharePoint for all campus libraries to use (with sub categories for the campus specific info)?

I have been interested in looking at the working documents page - have found some informative pieces of info.

Creating the calender in Outlook was quite straightforward.

It certainly is a good idea to set up alerts to the pages within SharePoint, so you know when something has been added or changed.

Someone also pointed out to me that SharePoint is a good place to find out information on what is happening in the Faculties, e.g. meetings. I agree - it has been very interesting looking at these pages.

I will be spending more time exploring SharePoint, as there is such a lot of information to get through. Not one of my favourite THINGS, but still interesting and useful all the same.

No.19 - YouTube & SlideShare

YouTube can be very entertaining and very addictive. Once I find one clip, more often than not I am on to another and another and another.

My husband took it a step further a few years ago and posted a clip. Yep, it is the very long one of our son playing cricket in our backyard (at the old house) in his Spiderman PJs. We think it is quite funny that it has now been viewed 447 times. Russell (husband) also uploaded our bumpy Sydney-Manly ferry ride. The third posting was the slide show Russell made a year ago for his father's funeral. We were asked by family members if they could have a copy, so instead of spending hours burning CDs...Russell uploaded it onto YouTube - easy.

I have never looked at SlideShare before. Like the browse tags on the right hand side! It could be very useful...perhaps for sharing PPTs for info lit classes?