Thanks for the experience

For the past 8 weeks, I was emerged with learning the Web 2.0 and found it fascinating to learn all the new technologies. Not only I discovered the new terms to be friendly, I can even check out what is intersting, be it ideas, pictures, right at the fingertips. Just like we empower our library users with health information to take control of their health, it empowers us to do our job better. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn without leaving our library. Thanks for all involved in making it possible.

Mashups and API

With all the new technologies on the web, someone will eventually combine two or more existing programs to produce a third program. And they did. As I checked out the winners of Mashups of the day's Mashup awards at http://mashupawards.com/ I was amazed to find some really good and innovative idea making the search 2 dimensional and intersting. I was especially impressed with a few of the library Mashups:
Umlaut- a very cool open source mashup for finding full text articles, books, and information. It combines information from an OpenURL Link Resolver program with web content from Amzaon.com and WorldCat.org.
Boor Nurro -Web 2.0 extension for Firefox and Flock. When it finds out you are looking at a page that contains a book, it will show you the lists prices at online bookstores such as Amazon, Buy etc and it also will show you if the book is available at your library.
Go-go Google Gadget - Using Google Gadgets API, it allows you to put customizable panels on Google's personalized home page containing library OPAC information such as new arrival, requested material etc.
And of course with all the information freely displaying on the web, it raises the concern about privacy. I went ahead to the "Explore Searchrolls" page and typed "Librarianblogs" and read a lot about the privacy issue. I enjoyed reading Scott Mace's Turstworthy Internet, K.G. Schneider's blog on Soft privacy and many issues of Krafy Librarian. After much reading, I came away with a few points to remember, namely, we need to educate ourselves in using the technologies, be conscious of web security, examine privacy policies and seals, remember that you decide what information about yourself to reveal, when , why and to whom.
I found the Mashups opens the whole new horizon for the library. It blurred the boundary of the library. I found it very exciting to be able to possibly develop some application that will make our library collection more fluid and seamless for our users.

Podcasting and Online Hosted Video

When I browse through the Podcast.net I discovered a lot of interesting topics available. When I narrowed down to Health I still found numerous site to draw my attention. Among other sites, I checked out the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Calude Moore Health Sciences Library podcasts which are quite innovative and enlightening.
I think one of the largest advantages of using YouTube is the ability to upload videos of anything you like in any format. We want to convey to people that libraries are exciting places and people are putting them in the movies, not just for instructional purposes but for fun events and happenings in the library. It can help you promote your library, in addition, anytime you add any new material to your YouTube site, it can be set up to notify the patron of your new material immediately. There is also an RSS feed to notify patrons of content.
I think we can use YouTube as a storhouse for instructional videos with a link that could take the viewer to the library's Web site for more information.
We can store all our Community Health Programs so if someone missed the particular program, they can check it out in our website to view it at their convenience.
We can also use YouTube as a method of introducing resources that are available in the library. I think it can direct the patron back to the main resources we provide for them, letting them know that the library is keeping up with the 21st century.

Week 6 : Online Photo Sharing

As I look through the many wonderful photos from the public, I was amazed to find the richness and variety of their creativity. I can also see the power of photo sharing. People can tag, comment and make notes on the images, which will benefit not only the community but also the collection themselves. Libraries can use this function to share photes from library events, exhibits amd more to reach out to patrons and keep as archives for future references. I collected some of our Health Fair photos so when we need to to future Health Fair, we can pull it out for references.
In online communties, our patrons are not only sharing information, but creating and publishing it. These are new times. Internet users once aggregated solely around text but now there is an array of multimedia choices such as photos, videocasts, games, music, etc. Librarians can play a major role as infomraiton filters in today's online communities. We can help the users sift through the vast infomration out there to find what they really enjoy.

Health Fair Photos

I went into my picture file and using the Flickr account I just created and uploaded some of the Health Fair Pictures. Whenever we have future Health Fair coming up we can easily take out this file and see what we have done before. It is really neat.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3287/2419467862_24fee0be25_m.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2418648229_f46d930658_m.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3155/2418633333_d6461133ed_m.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/2418618935_d4c80c24a2_m.jpg

Week 5 - Web Office Tools

Since I already have a google account, it is very easy to create and save a document in Google Docs. I am pleasantly surprised to know it is quite easy to navigate the spread sheet and edit it. It took me a bit longer to creat a presentation. But it is fun to insert an image to the presentation.
After using the Google Docs and checking out Microsoft Office Live, I found
athough it's very close when it comes to basic features of the two services, each stands out in its own way. They both allow for sharing of a file by checking
the "share" from the menu.
Google Docs, although limited in its capabilities, offers real-time collaboration. Office Live Workspace, on the other hand, may not have the collaboration features of Google Docs, but the workspaces feature is unique. From within the workspace, you can click "edit" to open the file with the Microsoft office program.

Social Networking

I signed up to del.icio.us and explore the social networking experience. It is quite fun to see how people are using the network to link similar topic of interest. I was also amazed at how easy it is to organize things together in one central location to view it any time.
You are welcome to view my choice in http://del.icio.us/Mhsieh