big kids’ stuff

What a fantastic journey. One of the best learning experiences I have ever had, and certainly the most comprehensive since finishing my studies. Also the most challenging and enjoyable.

Where to from here? Certainly a more Web 2.0 focussed library after lots of thinking and planning and implementing what we have learned. Blogs, Wikis, MySpace to communicate, and all the other tools coming in to play within those potential pages.

I loved: MyLibrary, Flickr, ebooks, rollyo, del.icio.us, iGoogle, google applications and creating my own blog. I loved exploring and managing the tools and using them both in my blog and in my personal life. My iGoogle page is my favourite place to visit as soon as I log in.

I didn’t feel comfortable with Facebook because it became too big too quickly, and people were wanting access to my life for no other reason than to add another friend to their list. And that is safer than MySpace! These will remain Library applications.

A huge thank you to Leslie and Lynette and Yarra Plenty Library for such a wonderful time.

I am now going to tick off web 2.0 in my “things to do” list in iGoogle, and when I return from London I am going to PLAY!!! (with web 2.0 tools).

This has been so enormous. What a fantastic array of ebooks and downloadable podcasts of books. If ever I thought I needed an MP3 player and a palm pilot (is that right?), now is the time. It became overwhelming when looking for books I would like to download, and so many alternatives came up. A long plane, train or automobile trip suddenly has interest. For school applications, some of the ones that caught my eye were Beowulf, Sense and Sensibility, The Prince by Machiavelli. Ebooks would bring a new focus and a lot more interest to learning by providing alternatives to the traditional book. Many of the publishers had their books available as ebooks for a price, but the free ones will have more appeal. Because of the tie in to texts studied by our students, this seems a really interesting possibility to include in our resources, and at the same cost as a hard copy.

I was intrigued to find a needlework book which seems incongruous - combining the traditional with the technological. Maybe I will have to check it out. This is definitely something to continue exploring, and incorporating into our library as another alternative to enthuse the kids - Big kids’ Stuff.

Second Life would be a huge inclusion in my educational journey. I can see so much learning and interaction happening and it seems to have an island or an educational institution for every interest. I was amazed that Harvard, Stanford, Deakin and other very reputable institutions are using Second Life to promote online learning. Who needs U3A? What was especially intriguing was the idea of virtual tours for all aspects of Literature. Following Alice down the rabbit hole, while not unique, would be fun. Reading a Gothic Novel in a Gothic castle would be amazingly atmospheric and a wonderful learning tool.

BigPond invites its subscribers to join in and use its islands, even providing a BigPond mascot to show you around to make your second life easier. The user forum includes a person wanting to set up a Writers’ Guild and offering to provide land and funding. They obviously have an interest that could be developed in the virtual world. And no, I am not in any way connected to BigPond, or a subscriber.

My concern is that second Life would become a huge focus and I do not want to be sucked in like I was with the Sims several years ago! The opportunities for learning are huge, but setting up your life and creating the content to surround you would dominate the initial journey into Second Life. Another option to explore is Google’s new virtual world, and there is a Library creation there ready for us. I need more time!

The explorations of You Tube and Teacher Tube have been so much fun and have been part of my researching for quite a while. Our VCE teachers have been including YouTube and TeacherTube footage in their lessons for quite a while, so these are obviously fabulous resources. The kids need to be managed but maybe the staff needs censoring too.

The Yr 12 Drama stimulus “The Prisoner” was perfect for the prisoner in the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian”. He is moaning that Brian has been favored by the jailers, and that he, The Prisoner, has only just been turned right way up.

It is titled: locked in Cell. it is very funny.

Zoot Suit Riot on You Tube

This has to be the first “YouTube” inclusion into my Blog.

It is for Kate.

I took your advice and looked up Radio National Podcasts first, then followed up with Educational Podcast Directory and Yahoo Podcasts. My favourite podcast site was the Book Club on ABC, so it has been added to my iGoogle homepage as a RSS feed - a permanent literary fix. The address is also in my weblog so I have 2 points of contact now.

At this stage I don’t think the life of creating podcasts is for me but it could be for kids to create them as part of an ongoing wiki, or myspace page.

I have played with Rollyo for a couple of weeks now, and looked at the suggested search rolls. I like the idea that you can create a specialised search based on particular topic websites - like beaucoup, which I have used a lot.

I created my first Rollyo search roll to search current affairs. I used the NLA newspapers site and the AGE as well as several other additions from the Rollyo suggestions to create my search roll. It searches and locates information, so all good so far. The next one will be to search Australian Children’s Literature sites for book reviews, author information etc.

I have tried to add the search roll icon into my blog but it doesn’t appear to have been successful. it worked in edit mode but not in the actual post that is visible to others. I did try to find a better place than a post, but couldn’t.


Select…current issuesSearch The Web

I have read and looked at and explored a wide range of wikis over the past few days. I had a few misconceptions fixed through this exploration.

Wikis are not all like wikipedia, which most people use only as a source of information. They need feeding.

Wikis need a dedicated band of contributors to keep them alive, otherwise they are static, out-of-date entities that are clogging up the internet.

Wikis give access to links, forums, advertising, pictures, web applications.

Wikis have enormous potential if you have that dedicated band of contributors. They allow people to share interests, hobbies and passions in an environment that gives scope to include lots of Web2.0 applications to support their interests.

Will I use them? Possibly, but it would require publicity, encouragement and an enthusiastic audience who wants to add their thoughts to keep them viable. YPRL seems to be a great example of setting up a Wiki and inviting people to become part of their online community. Schools libraries have the advantage of a captive audience who can be constantly invited and persuaded to join in the fun through their interests in Literature, IT, hobbies, clubs such as chess, etc or to promote information literacy through wikis. Hhmmmm… I can also see classes or subjects creating some amazing wikis with the leadership of an inspiring teacher

I am going to check out Will’s Richardson’s wiki for some more inspiration.

Well, I worked it out! I am now connected to Del.icio.us through the widget and should be able to use it very productively. I was trying to tell the widget where to go, but it already knew. I just had to add my login, not the whole address. Again I should have been more perceptive. (see previous posts).

I have added a couple of websites from the article on Library 2.0 from wikipedia (recommended reading from this week’s discovery). One is Ning which I had been planning to add to my blog because it is such a good discussion, and the other is Library 2.0 so I can investigate other websites. I can now access these during quiet times in the Library. All good.

It is amazing to see how far Libraries have evolved since internet became so accessible and the possibilities overwhelm me sometimes. What I would like is a month to explore the possibilities without kids, teachers and parents interrupting my learning.

I have created my del.icio.us account and had a fun time adding all my favourites to my new bookmarking site. The use of the buttons made it SOOO easy to add every website I have ever found useful, and the tags were great for separating personal from work from web 2.0. The sites we were asked to visit were really good to learn from, particularly the use of the tagging.

I have added del.icio.us to my iGoogle homepage with no trouble, although I chose to use my bookmarking gadget rather than the del.icio.us gadgets available. Why? Not sure. I will have to check out the gadgets again because I think I chose the wrong one, which wasn’t my list but a list of favourites.

Where I have come into some problems is putting the URL into the del.icio.us widget in my blog. I have come up with some difficulty in actually getting my list to load. I will persist, but if anyone reads this, I would love some help!