Web 2.0 Strikes Again!

Did the last round of 2.0 come at a bad time? Did you participate but still need a brush up. Join us on our next journey into 2.0.

The DCPL Staff goes 2.0 is a self-directed independent study course in social web tools and technologies. We will be learning 20 2.0 technologies. The Every week, participants are asked to try out 2 Things, each one a different piece of the 2.0 world -- blogs, wikis, RSS, photo & video tools, comments, tagging, online applications and more.

The objectives of this program are to:

1. Encourage staff to learn more about emerging technologies on the web that are changing the way people, society and libraries access information and communicate with each other.

2. Give participants a structure in which they can play with these tools supported by their peers.
3.Support the Daviess County Public Library missions of improved customer service by helping staff become more familiar with the web tools their patrons use.

4. Allow staff to have time to stay abreast of in new technologies. By engaging in the same tools used by our customers we will be able to help in new ways.

This site will serve as an information archive for administrative notices, detailed instructions and other extra bits linked to from the main program blog as needed.

DCPL Staff goes 2.0 is not the first library to experiment with 2.0 technology. This program is modeled on the Learning 2.0 Program from the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County. Visit the original site for examples of similar programs.Over the course of the next ten weeks, this website will highlight “20 Things” and discovery exercises to help staff become familiar with blogging, RSS news feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting, online applications, and video and image hosting sites.

To familiarize yourself with this project, be sure to read the About page. The FAQs should answer most of your questions about this program. If not, then please add your question to the FAQ page as a comment. A note about the date on this post: Blogs are designed to display entries in reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry on top. I am trying to figure out how to keep this post on the top. Until then, Try the archives.

Survey available!

I have completed the survey. This can be done online and results are sent anonymously to Zoomerang web site. So your answers can only be seen by you. Just click on the word
SURVEY to complete.

If you have any trouble with the link- here is the web address. Cut and paste this address into your browser window.

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB22956DUENR9

I really have enjoyed reading all the blogs. The DCPL has a great staff and your willingness to learn continues to astound me.
Thanks for being the first in Daviess County to participate.

I am trying to find a way to show my appreciation. If you can think of a way just blog it and I will get more ideas.
Thanks again, Alicia

Week 9 COMING TO A CLOSE!

Don't let your excitement get the best of you. There are exercises this week. But they are easy.
Also don't get real worried if you have not completed every exercise. There are catch up weeks built into the program. Officially the program ends May 1st, 2009.

Some weeks we investigated 3 different 2.0 products and that has allowed us to post exercises in 9 weeks.

Discovery Resource:

1. Library Myspace account
2. Library Facebook account- requires you to have an account and log in.

Discovery Exercises:

1. Visit the Library Myspace account.
2. Browse what you find on the site.
3. Blog about how the site could be used in marketing our services or books.

Next week you will recieve a survey via the department mailboxes. After you complete the program please fill out the survey and place in mailbox marked Alicia in the mailroom or the office.

Thanks for going on this journey of discovery. I have enjoyed myself, learned a whole bunch, been burnt out and found the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope you enjoyed yourself too.

Week 8 ! Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio

Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.

Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.

Follow the Instructions in the links and post accordingly.

Learn to Podcast!

OPTIONAL! OPTIONAL! OPTIONAL!

So in your spare time you want to podcast? Here are some resources that will help you get started.

(Optional Resources for those who want to learn create podcasts)

• Beginner's guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts

Once you have done a podcast- you can post it to the DCPLSandbox Wiki. That way everyone can listen.

Podcasts, Smodcasts!

The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS.

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the last 24 months, it's easy to see why.

Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries (like the ones used in this Learning 2.0 program) to much longer in person interviews or panel group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portal device) with headphones or a speaker.

iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.

For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Once found, you can easily pull the RSS feed into your Bloglines account as well, so that when new casts become available you’ll be automatically notified of their existence.

Discovery Resources:
To find out more about podcasts start with Podcastalley: What is a podcast tutorial

There are many, many podcast directories and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that, unlike iTunes, don't require a software download:

• Podcastalley.com



• Yahoo Podcasts

Discovery Exercise:

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.


2. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account.


3. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?

OPTIONAL What? You want to learn how to be a podcaster too? Click Here!

You too can YouTube

Online video hosting sites have exploded allowing users to easily to upload and share videos on the web. Among all the web 2.0 players in this area, YouTube is currently top dog serving up over 1 million video views a day and allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily, but also embed clips into their own sites easily. Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from 1970s TV commercials and 80's Music to library dominos and kids singing about bloopers here. Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has too offer. :)

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or componets of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?

OPTIONAL: Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and paste code for the for "Embeddable Player.” Note: you'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.

Other popular video hosting sites:
Yahoo Videos
Google videos

NOTE: Videos, like music downloads, are bandwidth hogs. It is recommended that you complete this exercise during light internet usage times. So I wouldn't recommend after 3 pm to try this exercise.