My first day as facilitator at Web 2.0 training session

Nervous and Gittery. LE was indeed professional in delivering the opening. I wish I was confident as she was in doing openings. As I recall, I tend to laugh and mumble at best of times. Practice make perfect. Some learners were keen to link pictures to their post already, whether it be their profile, embed pictures from websites. While others got curious as how to add a gadget, change display name for each blog they had under their account, and one asked if Google Toolbar bar can be embedded to their blog. Well, not by a simple click at this stage maybe by code and html editing, but that is too advanced for lesson one.

Although they do need to focus on several key objectives:

• Actively entrying post to their blog;
• Tagging and doing search around folksomonies;
• Participation in Web 2.0 products and services;

Overall interesting session.

Last update on our team wiki meetings

12 June

• Calendar use from Google to 30 Boxes Co. Daily view: both of them were unable to set calendar to show daily view by default. Data backup: there is no way of backing up data for 30 boxes Co. calendar, so if somebody deletes the plugin while editing the front page, the data is lost and there is no reassurance of tracing them. Window: Google calendar requires you to login in order to make entries and it is done in another window. We do not want team members to mind blogged by more u/p. Conclusion is for the time being the calendar is removed until we can find a more suitable plugin product.

19 June

• MP and RC had proof read the Wiki DSS procedure document. There were quite a few typo errors which were easily sorted out. However, the general overall bigger picture is the wiki is mainly for sharing information and act as our team’s scapbook. We came to the same idea that immediate and temporary notes are for the Stickies application to handle, whereas permanent or ongoing issues be typed up in the wiki.

• The style of “welcome page” on the wiki (aka Front page) will be kept free of notes, only hold key important links, and a general ‘how to use wiki’ be found on the “welcome page”.

• DSS wiki meeting has been concluded till major changes are needed after team members trialled the wiki.

Progress report on wiki testing - part 2

Just as we were testing it, pbwiki decided to do a server maintenance, and changed its domain name to pbworks.

We are close to being ready to deploy the wiki to be use by the rest of our team mates and see how they feel about the product. We can't wait to see the end user reports.

1st May

• The wiki doesn’t do exact title search as desired when looking up ‘a title from Loose Leaf Titles’. You will have to break it down to two or three keywords maximum.
  
• If the procedure either ILL or CI contains unique words and it is short then yes, we were able to get a good result and narrow it down to the actual procedure we intended to seek. Otherwise same result as previous statement mentioned above.
  
• To look up an attachment file using the default search box on main page is not the best way, as it will ask you to download the file instead of listing it or displaying it. Better off clicking on ‘pages & files’ which will direct you to a directory and you have the choice to look at all files, unfiled items, or DSS attachment folder.
  
• When searching for a team mate’s name for test purposes we came back with positive results.
  

11^th May

• RC reports: it was easy to navigate to the copyright page and finding individual copyright sections. For example: S50, S183, etc.
  
• The BookEye pdf document was uploaded onto the wiki since last meeting. Both RC and MP tested it and were able to open it without hassle. Overall smooth viewing. 
  
• We all have tried to move pages from one folder and to another were done easily and simple to execute on the wiki.
  
• Our cheat sheet will consist of FINDING, ADDING, UPLOADING. We were weary of overloading new users with too much information at this stage. Perhaps we might warn them of slow loading at times, think outside of the square and use keywords and avoid sentences or titles.
  

22^nd May

• We decided that the basics of how to use the wiki will be found on the front page under the calendar. Listing ‘Find’, ‘Add’, and ‘Upload’.

Topics arise from Wednesday meeting with the rest of DSS team.

• Too many attachments in one area, can we make sub folders? PBworks is unable to have subfolders. For ease of navigation, as noted from discussion on Wednesday with the rest of DSS team members. We will devise folders for BookEye doc, Public comment, and Error messages as examples.

• Is there a naming convention for picture attachment? Naming attachment convention have date + keyword + staff initials with underscore separating the elements. For example, 20090522_Copyright_MN.jpg

• Can we have documents viewed in the browser? I have checked the Adobe reader program and the option ‘display in browser’ ticked. I believe this is a ‘Adobe plugin’ problem which needs further research

• Can the calendar display Today’s day [daily] instead of monthly without too much trouble? Further investigation required.

29 January 2009 Ex Libris Digital Preservation System session

A long overdue blog post indeed. ha ha. That is what you get when you have too many 'To do' lists. 

I have cut down by jumping from and to:

[a] Post-It notes (2006-07). However, i found myself doubling up and ignoring them when once the stickiness lackluster and fallen off to oblivion, preferably the floor and sucked up by the vacuum.

[b]  Created memo on mobile phone (2006-08). Yet I was unable to get it sort alphabetically or by priority on some hand sets. Also I tend to delete out of frustration.

[c] Emailed myself notes (2006-09) and ended up with lots of emails. Heaps of information which had no where to go and was shared at a delayed time frame. Now I move them to blogs and Twitter.

[d] I now sync everything that is a 'To do' thing onto my Google calendar. 

One of those 'To do' thing was clear out 'notes of thoughts' from events especially related to work.

29 January 2009 

Ex Libris' digital preservation system session @ SLV. 

Topic by Yaniv Levi, Ex Libris DSPS Product manager.

To store a digital file is more than saving onto an external hard drive in libraries.

To make it available online for eternity is a big challenge. There are heaps of criteria that ensues, such as mechanism used, embrace open language or classic choice coding that costs, how to link meta data so that it stays with the digital file. Before you get too cosy about how you want things stored, you need to consider retrieving methods and can the formatted data be transfered over to newer platforms in the near future.  The dilemma is can an ideal electronic architecture for archiving purpose be made workable in software programs. Ex Libris has attempted this with their product called 'digital preservation system' with the help of development partners, peer social interaction, based on international standards, and research & collaboration. 

In the session, they used National Library of New Zealand in regards to legal deposits and function specialisation to demonstrate 'digital preservation system' . There were points made about acquiring, authenticity, validating, storage, disseminate, manual assurance of digital born material against physical material scanned into the system. They mentioned use of SIP protocol to share access between devices and use of cloud computing for storage, especially small libraries with limited space capacity, and the risk in depending on cloud computing servers. 

The product looks well thought out and put together. Not that I have tested it or seen how a digital file was retrieved via DPS. It was an overall interesting session. I never thought about log files to go with my photographs I normally upload online. So I guess, a lot of meta data such as caption and tags that once went with the photograph is lost on cyberspace and not archived. So when people go to download my photograph they will not get the meta data that was added onto it. Curious. Maybe it ain't no big deal on an individual level but that is information libraries want to be able to retain for future and futures onward.

Progress report on wiki testing - Part 1

We choose pbwiki as our desire wiki to test out and add our contents to it. 

19th March

• 1st meeting
  
• Distributed login details to the wiki
  
• Ideas of what we want to test and have the wiki do

26th March

• Each person is to create a page and upload a file and report back.
  
• Distributed test to be on searching and sampling BookEye page (MP) and Copyright page (RC).
  
• Discussed about the use of ‘Heading 3’ before each paragraph and then use pbwiki magic table of contents plug to instant create one without extra typing.

9th April

• Creation of sub folder was not applicable.
  
• Power point file of 13MB is too big to upload (max is 2MB).
  
• Pbwiki cannot search SLV network drives for files, therefore we advise we copy pathways into address bar in IE and access the file that way.
  
• MP reported on BookEye page experiencing typo error other than that no problem in navigating to it or looking up information from it. The default font was legible.
  
• RC have not yet tested copyright page.
  
• Next goals for next few weeks is to search for a title from loose leaf titles, find a procedure, file an attachment, search by person name to see if they are in the procedure.

Evaluating multiple Wiki(s) for my team.

Main interests in this evaulation:
[1] Create and navigate
[2] Uploading files
[3] Permissions
[4] Embed/plug-in
[5] Cost

PB Wiki
[1] Create and navigate
Yes. Click on edit tab. Also from home to each pages are clean without no advertisements. Also Sort by folders available

[2] Uploading files
On the right side is 'upload files and images' button.Instantly open to Window Explorer then you can add & double click it to add to the page.

[3] Permissions
Extensive control (down to which page to share for a person).

[4] Embed/Plug-in
3rd party software and publicly accessible. Also easy to insert Calender and add/edit events to it and set to private.

[5] Cost
Free + private + no back up offered


Wikispaces.com
[1] Create and navigate
Yes. Edit button on the side of page.

[2] Uploading files
Not for photos, as there is quite a few steps to take.

[3] Permissions
N/A for free accounts.

[4] Embed/plug-in
3rd party software and publicly accessible. No plug-in and widgets only.

[5] Cost
Free but it needs to be open to the public + no back up offered


Zoho.wiki.com
[1] Create and navigate
Yes. It has a edit button on top of each. Also paragraphs are not aligned most times

[2] Uploading files
Okay but slow.

[3] Permissions
Good. Permission can be limited by domain/group users who are registered with Zoho.

[4] Embed/plug-in
No calendar plug-in support

[5] Cost
Free + Private + back up offered


Wetpaint.com
[1] Create and navigate
Yes. Use EasyEdit button which brings up a toolbar.

[2] Uploading files
There are a few hoops to pass when Uploading photos.

[3] Permissions
Good. Invite only limits access by users and you can set users to read-only, writer, etc.

[4] Embed/plug-in
3rd party software and publicly accessible. Also easy to insert Calender and add/edit events to it and set to private.

[5] Cost
Free + private + back up offered

Http://www.wikimatrix.org/compare/Pbwiki+Wetpaint+Wikispaces+Zoho-wiki

Unconference web 2.0 "learning through play" 26 September 2008

26th September, Unconfence web 2.0 "Learn through play".

Upon entry is registration of name and sign permission to have your picture taken during this conference. In the foyer you can see Wii Sports was setup for use and so wasWii fit in another section of the foyer. We all congregated in the community room, here we were introduced to the concept of unconferenceand the general principles.

We had to sort our selves into a group of 10 people and everyone in that group must not know each other. Then we told to allocate a person from our group to be the pilot. hee hee. in my group there was only 1 guy and we all instant named him our pilot. Each group was given paper, elastic bands, and sticky tape. The goal was make a missile and see which one flew the most furthest. The group that made the big paper ball flew the furthest. Our group got noted for looking most anaesthetic of all missiles. hee hee. While those who threw the sticky tape was ingenious but was disqualified. After that butcher paper (big white post it notes) was laidon the ground with colour markers. We are all asked to write down topics of interest which is related to Internet and library. Bold and not knowingly I wrote down "information overload and that we need to keep it simple for staff and patron" in this modernity. Once all the topics are hung up in the window and being rearranged, they were allocated into time slots, and you who wrote the topic was to mediate the session. Quite the shock. I have not prepared anything nor was i ready to wing it. Luckily for me I had Zoe help me out and we co-host mediated the session.

The session opened with too much online products, Internet progression drives the change of services, then organisational change is bound to follow suit. But we are more or less not prepared for the change of our traditional roles. Just because patrons have expectation of us should we bow down or should we be more diplomatic and be selective of what we should be expected to skilled in. Many patrons seem to treat us like computer technicians than librarians when it comes to Internet and computer problems. Many of the queries are not about the library website or online services. Also other organisations such as Tax Office and Immigration Office has pointed citizens to their local library to download or fill out forms online. However, library staff are not trained to do that due to privacy reasons and out of library services scope. Also people see the library not as the place to ask reference questions but a recreational place orInternet cafe.

Morning tea break with cookies and Wii.

I chose to attend MLC Skoolaboratesession conducted by Mr. Westly (my bad spelling). Schools from all over the world come together online in Second Life environment yetSkoolaborate's portal to learn from each other or undertake educational units or explore or collaborate on projects or create online teams. Second Life uses PDT time (pacific daylight time). Skoolaborate aim to collaborate globally with other schools. He also showed us the potential future ways interaction in education and beyond.

QR code used in UK, Japan, and Telstra. Allows mobile customers to use their camera phones as barcode readers. Check out these websites for information:

http://www.qmcodes.com/

http://www.qrme.co.uk/

Tactile Google Earth. 3D image if combined with touch screen screen it becomes interactive. see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLconRxEyzc

mybusuu.com language garden website where students from overseas can teach localaussie students their language and we teach them English in return.

Teachers still have a role in class, they act as mentors, guiding students at the beginning and assisting where necessary but ultimately students in class are expected to self educate and have initiative to google and search for more materials online while in class.

Lunch break.

PLCMC now Charlotte Mecklenburg library showed us how public library operated in the USA, in their state anyway. 24+ branches, 1.5 million floating collection, partnership with high schools and companies in the area. Lots of community support and donation to the library. Not too far from the library is Imagine On library only for children and no adults. Here kids and teens can explore reading material, computers, gaming zone, make their own stories or music videos, etc. Also two theatres dedicated to showing plays for children. All round full on interaction for the young ones.

Afternoon tea.

Mp3 and mobile computing session. More and more people are owning a mobile phone or a mp3 player, we question how can libraries supply to these audiences and communicate with them. Audio book is one, Overdrive the American company supplies plenty of titles but not many Australian titled books. We question about patrons copying these mp3s (against copyright regulations) and also that we cannot bookmark them as we can easily do with a printed version of the book. We talked of the Daisy format which VisionAustralia is currently using which requires a Dairy reader device. Sms overdue notices especially for teenagers. Cable issues with mp3 players and itune required for ipods,bluetooth enabled computers for mobile phone which can read mp3 files. Should library be considering these technical problems with gadgets when targeting younger patrons who are gadget obsessed? To what extent should a library commit to these formats and gadgets when they phase our in quick successions?

Overall an interesting unconference experience.

To see the medium size version of the photographs please go to this photo album online.