Step 23 - the final frontier

I am Very Happy to have reached the last step. The 23 Things program was difficult to fit into my workload. I was only able to do it by putting aside one hour a week each week since the program started in August and making sure I did nothing else for that hour. Some weeks I finished a step on the program in that hour and in other weeks I didn't and it had to be carried over to the next week. The other strategy I used to be able to get through the 23 steps was to ask some of my colleagues to put aside the same hour so that in fact we were tackling it together, even though we were out of sync in which step we were on it was the encouragement of my colleagues that stopped me from giving up. I would recommend that people have a 23 Things buddy or buddies that they do the program with.

As for what I learned, I was forced to explore new softwares and parts of the the web that I had not looked at before. This was a good thing. Having grown up, done all my schooling and my undergraduate degree before computers, has meant that I am naturally resistant to using computers and the web and unless I am told to do a program like 23 Things I will not go out and explore these new things on the web.

I can see the many Library applications for the 23 Things programs: like Meebo for communicating with the students, Blogs for individual units informing academic staff and students of tailored services for their study. Flickr & YuoTube to put up images of changes to the Library as with the Learning Commons project at Footscray Park and a VU Library presence on MySpace to promote our services where the students are spending time on the web.

Step 22 - Web based Communication Tools

I was so close to finishing the 23 Things program after yesterdays
steps 19 & 20 that today I'm pushing on to do steps 21 (done) and
22 (here it is) and give my feedback for step 23. I already use Skype at
home to communicate with my Dad in France and my brother in Queensland
and I must say it is a fantastic way to talk to and see people that I
may not meet in person for years. For Step 22 I thought I'd have a go
at Google Talk as I've seen Meebo in action on the VU Law Infolink page. I've now installed the Google Talk gadget on my blog and have added a colleague, Lou Connell, to the contacts, and have been able to 'chat' with her, even though she is in the next office. As with Skype & Meebo, this is a great way to interact with students, without them having to come into the Library and maybe without us having to leave home!
I'm looking forward to seeing these communication tools incorporated into our Information Service in the near future.

Podcasts

I love podcasts, whether I'm driving long distances in the car or just walking to work, I use podcasts to catch up with my favourite radio shows. I sometimes use the podcast directories to find podcasts in particular areas but mostly I go directly to the webpage of the producer of the podcasts like NPR in the US at: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php
This is a fantastic resource of podcasts in all subject areas. I particularly like the news analysis and arts podcasts but people have told me that the NPR car buff podcasts are the best! For local content I use the ABC webpage to get the podcasts of my shows, the Night Air: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nightair/default.htm
and Life Matters: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/

At VU I can see the application of podcasts for lectures.

Wiki & YouTube

Having completed the previous 18 steps, today I tackled steps 19 & 20 of the 23 Things program. Getting close to the end now!

WIKIS
I use wikis in my day-to-day work not only Wikipedia but I have participated in the wikis that the AEHD Faculty has created for 1st Year students and another temporary one for drafting the Faculty's 'Sustainability Guidelines'. Wikis have a big future in Academic life, whether it's to store collective knowledge or get quick feedback on an issue, they are a great way to communicate with the students and have applications for group assignment work as well. It was quick & easy to resize my cat, Frida's photo, and add it with some text to the Library Pet's page wiki.


YouTube
This year in the Knowing & Knowledge unit for first year students in the AEHD Faculty
I taught them in the Library tutorials how to embed TV News & YouTube videos into powerpoint. To do this I first had to teach myself. This made the 23 Things YouTube task quite a simple one for me. YouTube's widespread popularity an ease of use makes it an ideal forum for the Library to post short 'How to' videos on its services and
to promote changes to the Library. We could use YouTube video postings over the course of the Learning Commons building project at Footscray Park to keep our clients up-to-date with progress.

Cats in the Kitchen on a cold day.

Is this too many cats in one kitchen?

Delicious and Web 2.0

After a week off due to my annual leave, this week I tackled Delicious.
It was quite quick and easy to do. I was able to create a list of bookmarks on a topic that a student asked me about yesterday (it was Wellbeing) and I could email the Delicious list link to that student. While the Delicious list does not have the layout or parts of our Infolinks pages it's a good way to quickly put a list together for an assignment or as in this case an individual Reference query.

I read the Web 2.0, Encore, Library 2.0 and EBSCO 2.0 articles and feel I have a better understanding of the changes to Libraries that are here now and coming in the future.

iGoogle

This week I had a go at iGoogle.
It was a very quick and easy way to
create a customised Google homepage for my PC plus
create a tab page around one of my interests, film.
I was able to find and add the gadgets I needed.
I'll definitely adopt this new application as it is one that
will save me some time and improve the way I work.