#23 This is the end.....

Well, it seems I've made it! I must confess it's been hard trying to fit it in with normal work, going overseas and now moving house..But I've found it interesting, have learned a lot, and can see many of these new technologies having applications for libraries. I caught the end of an interview on the radio (no, not a podcast!) with writer Andrew Keen. His new book "The cult of the amateur : how the democratization of the digital world is destroying our economy, our culture, and our values" (Doubleday 2007) presented a rather more negative view. But maybe this guy is just an elitist? Anyway, like most new technology, like the internet itself, Web 2.0 will no doubt have its critics and its enthusiasts.
Thanks to everyone who organised the training - now I can go back to reading a book when I get home in the evenings!

#20, 21, 22

I really enjoyed looking at some of these sites. The "Gorilla Librarian" is a good oldie, of course, and I loved the Melbourne walking tour. Being a bit of a radio junkie, I've often been tempted to listen to all those programs I've missed, but have never before had any idea how to go about getting them. And I'm sure these new technoogies can have a useful application in libraries. As for audiobooks and ebooks, I can see myself enjoying them when I can't see the print any more (in the meantime I'll just purchase stronger glasses!). I listened to a couple of the poems on WorldeBookFair, but couldn't stand the voice of the person reading them - perhaps they just sound better in my head?

#18 and 19 Online application tools

Certainly seems like a great idea to have these applications freely available online. No need to keep installing new versions of software, and like most of these things we've been looking at, good for collaboration and -I guess this is the new buzzword - social networking!

#16 and 17 Wikis

I'm attracted to the democratic nature of wikis - "with a wiki, everyone is the final arbiter". But I guess that as with most of the new communication technologies they are both good and bad. It's a bit like having a referendum on every issue (true democracy perhaps?). But I can see their value for libraries, especially public libraries, with users being able to add book reviews, contributing to subject guides etc.

#15

I read some of the articles about Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries. It occurred to me that we've been hearing about the "future of libraries" (generally predictions of their imminent demise) for the last 30 years, but I guess the pace of change has increased somewhat recently! A brave new world indeed.

I was interested in the article from Wikipedia on tags, folksonomies and social bookmarking, and how items are still being sorted into broad categories before using tags for the finer classification distinctions - seems we can't really escape hierarchical systems altogether?

#12 Rollyo

http://www.rollyo.com/dashboard.html

I can see this being very useful - and time-saving.

#11 LibraryThing

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

Now this I really liked (of course), though as a cataloguer I may be feeling a little threatened!