MRRL Learning Library 2.0 - Lessons

Advanced Lessons

2007-05-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Flickr

Tagging

Tagging topics that will be covered:

Myspace

Topics that will be covered:

Getting Started with Your MP3 Player

2007-02-26T13:08:00.000-06:00

This is meant as Quick Start Guide only, please see the instruction manual for more information.

To get started
1. Put battery in MP3 player

2.0 Connect the MP3 player to your computer using the USB cable. Note USB ports may be found on the front or back of your computer.

3.0 Start Windows Explorer

Click on Start
All Programs
Accessories
Windows Explorer

4.0 Windows Explorer will recognize your MP3 player as a removable disk. Please note in the example it is Drive F, but the drive letter can vary

5.0 Music you've copied on to your computer should be in your "My Music" folder

6.0 Use copy and paste to move song files onto the MP3 player

Right click on a music folder

select "copy"

Right click on "Removable Disk"

select "paste"

7.0 To safely disconnect the MP3 player look at the lower right hand corner of your screen. Right click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon.

Click "Safely Remove Hardware"
A new window opens
USB Mass Storage Device should be highlights
Click the "Stop" button
Click "ok"

8.0 Press the play button to start listening.
Feel free to call, email, or stop by my (Bobbi) desk with questions!

Note: This MP3 player can do a LOT more - FM radio, voice recorder, take time to read your owners manual.

27. netLibrary

2007-02-05T11:42:00.000-06:00

Please feel free to wander around netLibrary - but right now the checkout feature is not available. Make yourself an account and look at some books, but don't worry about checking one out!

To create an account:
1. go to netLibrary and find the "create a free account" button on the top-right menu (from a computer in the library only).

2. fill out the form that is displayed

3. Start looking for books

Staff Prizes and Incentives

2006-11-28T15:11:00.000-06:00

We all know that learning itself should be the reward, but sometimes it's nice to have a little something extra! Every staff member who completes all 29 Things in the alloted time frame will receive an MP3 player. We've chose the Creative Zen Nano Plus 1 Gig size for the prize. The one gig player will hold approximately 16 hours of mp3 tracks. It also has an FM radio tuner and built in microphone to capture voice recordings.

To qualify for the mp3 player you must:

1. Complete the tutorial within 22 weeks of starting it

2. Start it no later than April 1st.

3. Enter your progress in the log, marking off all lessons.

4. Lessons that require a blog post should have a minimum of 150 words and have substance.

23. Explore the Web 2.0 awards site

2006-10-26T14:26:00.000-05:00

Throughout the course of this Learning 2.0 program we’ve explored just a small sampling of the these new internet technologies and websites that are empowering users with the ability to create and share content. But given time there are so many more we could explore. Current estimates place the number of web 2.0 tools at somewhere between 300 & 500 with only a handful emerging as market dominators. And although time will only tell which of these new collaborative, social networking and information tools will remain on top, one
thing is for sure, they're not going to go away (at least anytime soon).

For this discovery exercise, participants are asked to select any site from this list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees and explore it. With so many too choose from, it might be handy to first select a category that interests you (like Books or Personal Organization) and then simply select a tool/site to explore. Be careful to select a tool that is Free and that doesn't require a plug-in or download. The majority of these free, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Exercise:

Select any site/tool from the list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees (If you prefer to select from just the winners, here’s a link to the short list.)
Explore the site you selected.
Create a post about your discovery. What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any applications for its use in a library setting?

Web 2.0 – with so much to explore, just start with ONE. :)

22. Google Labs

2006-10-26T14:07:00.000-05:00

At the Google Labs, the bright minds of Google engineers are always at work. The Google Labs area is for ideas that Google employees have thought up, played with and put out for others to use. These little "toys" are not ready for prime-time yet, but they are a glimpse into what Google may be offering in the future! Google describes them as

Google labs showcases a few of our favorite ideas that aren't quite ready for prime time.

The tools that are listed on the left are the ones that are still in development. The right side of the page, however, lists tools that were at one time in the Google Labs, but are now available for the general public in Google.

Exercise

Go to Google Labs and play around with a couple of the tools listed on the left.
Blog about the tools you used and what you think about them:

Do you think the tool you are discussing will be useful to most Internet users?
Do you think it will eventually graduate from the Labs to the main Google site?
What did you enjoy most about the tool?
Did you have any problems working with it? (features not working right, etc.)

Enjoy playing with the new tools and toys that Google is "cooking up"!

26. Locate Podcasts

2006-10-26T13:23:00.000-05:00

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 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.

Resources:

To find out more about podcasts start with Yahoo: What is a podcast tutorial
There are many, many podcast directory and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that don’t, like iTunes, require a software download:
What? You want to learn how to be a podcaster too?
(Optional Resources for those who want to learn create podcasts)
- Yahoo: Publish a podcast
- Odeo’s Studio – online recording studio.
- Beginners guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts
- How to podcast tutorial

Exercise:

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.
Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account
Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?

Optional: If you're ambitious, why not try out the Gabcast service and add audio post about your experience to your blog. (see Jamie's audiopost on Library 2.0 as an example)

24. Explore Online Video

2006-10-26T13:19:00.000-05:00

Within the past year 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 (source - Reuters) and allowing users to not only easily upload their own video content, but also easily embed clips into their own sites.

Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from 1970s TV commercials and 60s music videos to library dominos. 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 to offer. :)

Exercise:

Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
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.

Here’s a video (created by PLCMC's Web Services) that shows off ImaginOn’s Express Check.

Other popular video hosting sites:

NOTE: Videos, like music downloads are bandwidth hogs. It is recommeded that you complete this exercise during light internet usage times.

21. Online Applications and Tools

2006-10-26T09:19:00.000-05:00

The availability and use of web-based applications for productivity like word processing, spreadsheets and calendars has exploded over the past two years! These powerful applications provide users with the ability to create and share documents over the internet without the need of installed desktop applications.

One large benefit to web-based applications it that they eliminate the need to worry about different software versions or file types as you email documents of move from PC to PC. Another bonus is that they easy accommodate collaboration by allowing multiple users to edit the same file (with versioning) and provide users the ability to easily save and convert documents as multiple file types (including HTML and pdf). And, you can even use many of these tools, such as Zoho Writer and Google Docs (Formerly known as Writely) to author and publish posts to your blog. It’s this type of integration with other web 2.0 tools that also makes web-based apps so appealing.

Resources:

A short list of web-based productivity applications – Note: I created this list in Google Docs and published it, allowing anyone on the web to see it.

Exercise:

Take a look at the list of web-based apps about, take some time to play around with several of them. Compare features and usability
Sign in to your Gmail account
Click on "all my services" at the top.
Choose the "Docs and Spreadsheets" link (but notice all the other cool services available, too!)
Create a new document and write your post about today's exercise
Click "publish"
Click "post to blog" you'll need to enter your blog information

Some of the things that make Google docs cool:

Can save file as RTF, PDF, Word, OpenOffice, and HTML
Ability collaborate with others on a document and track revisions and changes by who made them
Documents are saved online and can be accessed from any computer with internet access- no need to carry disk or flash drives around.
You can write your post in Google docs then publish it to your blogger blog
No need to worry about applications or versions be compatible from computer to computer.

20 Read about Web 2.0, Library 2.0 & the futre

2006-10-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

Library 2.0 is term used to describe a new set of concepts for developing and delivering library services. The name is an extension of Web2.0 and shares many of its same philosophies and concepts including harnessing the user in both design and implementation of services, embracing constant change as a development cycle over the traditional notion of upgrades, and reworking library services to meet the users in their space, as opposed to ours (libraries).

Many have argued that the notion of Library 2.0 is more than just a term used to describe concepts that merely revolve around the use of technology, it also a term that can be used to describe both physical and mindset changes that are occurring within libraries to make our spaces and services more user-centric and inviting. Others within the profession have asserted that libraries have always been 2.0; collaborative, customer friendly and welcoming. But no matter which side of the debate proponents fall, both sides agree that libraries of tomorrow, even five or ten years from now, will look substantially different from libraries today.

Resources:

OCLC Next Space Newsletter – Web 2.0: Where will the next generation of the web it take libraries?

Five Perspectives:

Wikipedia – Library 2.0
Library 2.0 Discussions (list of great references from Wikipedia)
RedOrbit article on Web 2.0 and libraries

Exercise:

Read two or three of the perspectives on Library 2.0 from the list above.
Create blog post about your thoughts on any one of these? Library 2.0 - It many things to many people. What does it mean to you?

19. Explore different search engines

2006-10-26T08:28:00.000-05:00

How do Search Engines Work? From "The Best Search Engines" at UC Berkley

Search Engines for the general web (like all those listed below) do not really search the World Wide Web directly. Each one searches a database of the full text of web pages selected from the billions of web pages out there residing on servers. When you search the web using a search engine, you are always searching a somewhat stale copy of the real web page. When you click on links provided in a search engine's search results, you retrieve from the server the current version of the page.

Search engine databases are selected and built by computer robot programs called spiders. Although it is said they "crawl" the web in their hunt for pages to include, in truth they stay in one place. They find the pages for potential inclusion by following the links in the pages they already have in their database (i.e., already "know about"). They cannot think or type a URL or use judgment to "decide" to go look something up and see what's on the web about it. (Computers are getting more sophisticated all the time, but they are still brainless.)

If a web page is never linked to in any other page, search engine spiders cannot find it. The only way a brand new page - one that no other page has ever linked to - can get into a search engine is for its URL to be sent by some human to the search engine companies as a request that the new page be included. All search engine companies offer ways to do this.

After spiders find pages, they pass them on to another computer program for "indexing." This program identifies the text, links, and other content in the page and stores it in the search engine database's files so that the database can be searched by keyword and whatever more advanced approaches are offered, and the page will be found if your search matches its content.

Some types of pages and links are excluded from most search engines by policy. Others are excluded because search engine spiders cannot access them. Pages that are excluded are referred to as the "Invisible Web" -- what you don't see in search engine results. The Invisible Web is estimated to be two to three or more times bigger than the visible web.

Exercise:
Pick three of the search engines below, do the same search on each one, compare your results and blog about the findings.

Were the top 5 results for each the same? Did you find one of them easier to use or harder to use than the others?

12. LibraryThing

2006-10-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

Are you book lover or cataloger at heart? Or do you enjoy finding lost and forgotten gems on the shelf to read? Then LibraryThing may be just the tool for you. Developed for booklovers, this online tool not only allows you to easily create an online catalog of your own it also connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes. Add a book to your catalog by just entering the title -- It’s so easy that you don’t even need MARC record training to do it – or connect with other users through your similar reading tastes. There are lots of ways to use LibraryThing. You can even view your books on a virtual shelf, add a widget to display titles that are in your catalog or install a LT Search box on your blog.

So why join the ranks and create your own library online. With over 65,000 registered (BTW: LibraryThing also has group forum for librarians users and 4.7 million catalog books, your bound to discover something new.

Resources:

About LibraryThing
Library Thing tour
MoBuzzTV Review (3rd story in the 5 min broadcast)
LibraryThing blog (updates & news)

Exercise:

Take a look around LibraryThing and create an account.
Add a least 5 books to your library.
Blog about your findings and be sure to link to your LibraryThing catalog

Technorati Tag: MRRL2.0

11. Technorati and blog tags

2006-10-24T15:53:00.000-05:00

So now that you’ve been blogging for awhile, you might be wondering just how big the blogosphere is? Well according to Technorati, the leading search tool and authority for blogs, the number of blogs doubles just about every 6 months with over 51 million blogs currently being tracked by the site. If the blogging trend continues, it is estimated that Technorati will tracked its 100 millionth blog in just 5 months.

Yes, these numbers are astounding, but as you’ve already seen for yourselves, blogging is so easy that these publishing tools are being taken advantage of by almost every industry, including libraries.

So how does a person get their blog listed as part of the blogosphere and how can you tag your posts with keywords to make them more findable through a Technorati search? The answer to the first question is that you’re blog is probably already being captured by Technorati due to the fact that your already using Blogger, the most popular blogging tool. But if you want to join the party and have your blog officially listed on Technorati and also take advantage of the watchlist and other features, you’ll need to claim your blog yourself. As for tagging posts with Technorati tags? This is easy too. All you need to do is add a little bit of HTML code to the bottom of your post (see me example below) and Technorati will pick up these tags when it spiders (or web crawls) your site.

There’s a lot of new features that have been added to Technorati this past summer including new ways to search for blogs. You can search for keywords in blog posts, search for entire blog posts that have been tagged with a certain keyword, or search for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject (like photography or libraries).

Discovery Resources:

Technorati Tour – videocast of new features & new look
Technorati Discover & Popular features

Discovery Exercise:

Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?
Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?
Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.

OPTIONAL: If you're up for a challenge, learn how tag your posts by with Technorati tags so they can join tag searches. Create a post about something. It can be anything you want and add the HTML code to the bottom to tag it as “MRRL2.0” You may also want to consider claiming your blog and creating a watchlist.
NOTE: When adding HTML code, you'll want to make sure you're in Blogger's Edit HTML window.

There's a lot to explore.

Technorati Tag: MRRL2.0
(created by entering <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/MRRL2.0" rel="tag">MRRL2.0</a> into the Edit HTML pane in Blogger - try it yourself!)

10. Tagging

2006-10-24T14:21:00.000-05:00

Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts). Unlike library subject cataloging, which follows a strict set of guidelines (i.e.Library of Congress subject headings), tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data anyway they want.

This week, in addition to exploring Technorati and LibraryThing tagging, we want to also take at popular social bookmarking site called Del.icio.us (typed in as http://del.icio.us/).

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking manager which allows you to bookmark a web page add tags to categorize your bookmarks. MRRL uses de.icio.us to manage the Reference Links section of our website, so MRRL has a del.icio.us account that you can use to explore the social networking parts of the site.

Many users find that real power of Del.icio.us is in the social network aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. You can think of it as peering into another users’ filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network.

For this exercise, you are asked to take a look at Del.icio.us and learn about this popular bookmarking tool.

Resources:

Otter Group Del.icio.us tutorial (12 min video) - Highly recommended!!!
Us.ef.ul: A beginners guide to Del.icio.us
Several Habits of wildly successful Del.icio.us users

Exercise:

View the 12 minute Del.icio.us tutorial to get a good overview of its features.
Take a look around Del.icio.us using the MRRL2 account that was created for this course (notice the links to the sites used in this course!)
Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by a lot of other users. Can you see the comments they added about this bookmark or the tags that they used to catgorized this reference by?
Create a blog post about your experience and thoughts about this tool.
Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance? Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?

19. Map your travels

2006-10-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

For this exercise, I'd like to see what states and/or countries you have visited. Head over to either one of the sites in the Resources section of this post and create your map. Post it and maybe start a conversation!

Resources

Exercises

Choose one of the links, click the checkboxes of the states or countries you have visited and click the "Go" button
Copy the HTML into your blog (use the "Edit HTML" pane in blogger) so that we can all see where you have been!

17. Play with an online image generator

2006-10-24T13:59:00.000-05:00

Generators? No, I’m not talking about those gas powered back-up things. The generators I’m talking about allow you to easily manipulate image and graphics to create fun images like these:

For this exercise, I just want you to have fun. Find a few fun image or text generators to play around with and write post in your blog about on of your favorites and the display the result. Often adding the image you mocked up to your blog is as simple as copying and pasting code that the page provides. If not, you may just need to right click on the image and then save it to your hard drive before using Blogger’s image button to add it to your post.

If you’re having difficulty getting your image added to a post in your blog, ask a co-worker for help. In looking at several staff blogs, it’s easy too that we have lots of people in the system who have figured out how easy it is to add images to their blog.

Resources:

The Generator Blog
Letter James
FD Toys
Also try searching for online generators, text generators or image generators

Exercise:

1. Play around with some image generators and find one that you like.
2. Post the result of your discovery process in your blog.
Note: Be sure to include a link to the image generator itself, so other participants can discover it too.

So take some time and have fun with this exercise. And remember to be tasteful too!

16. Locate a few Library related blogs

2006-10-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

Now that you have a newsreader (your Bloglines account), you can begin adding other newsfeeds that interest you. There are several ways you can locate newsfeeds:

When visiting your favorite websites -- look for news feed icons that indicate the website provides it.

Often an a feed icon will be diplayed somewhere in the navigation of the site. (Here's an image that contains a sampling of several feed icons).

Use Blogline's Search tool - Bloglines recently expanded search tool lets you search for news feeds in addition to posts, citations and the web. Use the Search for Feeds option to locate RSS feeds you might be interested in.

Other Search tools that can help you find feeds:

Feedster - One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets you search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts

Topix.net - This search tool allows you to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlets RSS feeds for information, not weblogs

Syndic8.com - Syndic8 is an open directory of RSS feeds that contains thousands of RSS feeds that users have submitted.

Technorati - Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs you may be interested in. Additonal Resource:

Technorati Tutorial on finding and adding your blog

Excercise:
1. Explore some of the search tools noted above that can help you locate some news feeds.

2. Create a blog post about your experience. Don't know what to blog about? Here some questions to think about ...

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use? Which Search tool was the easiest for you? Which was more confusing? What kind of unuseful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find? What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

EXTRA STUFF -- Feed icon information: In Febuary of this year, the adoption of standard feed icon among websites and browsers finally began helping to stop the madness and confusion caused by so many variations. So far this icon has been adopted by many websites and browers, including Opera and FireFox, where it displays in the address bar: The next release of Internet Explorer is suppose to have this as well. For more information about this emerging new standard, see Feedicons.com

15. Learn about RSS Feeds

2006-10-24T10:33:00.000-05:00

You’ve heard of RSS? You’ve seen those small funny tags on websites? You’ve heard co-workers and acquaintances swear by it, but still have no idea what RSS is? Well don’t worry, according to a recent survey you’re still in the majority, but this is changing rapidly. In the information world, RSS is not only revolutionalizing the way news, media and content creators share information, but it also is swiftly changing the way everyday users are consuming information.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web.

Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit everyday. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

This week’s discovery exercises focus on learning about RSS news feeds and setting up a Bloglines account (a free online newsreader) for yourself to bring your feeds together

Resources:

CNET Video: RSS – Feel the Need for Feeds (3:32) – a good over view of what RSS is and the benefits to users.
Feed Me: A gentle introduction to Internet feeds - a good tutorial from Palinet, a library cooperative
Using Bloglines Tutorial (how to Keep up with dozens of blogs everyday) – This online tutorial walks you through how to setup a Bloglines account and add newsfeeds. Follow Steps 1 to 3 to set up your Bloglines account. Steps 4 – 9 are optional and cover how to subscribe to different types of feeds (podcasts, Flickr albums, etc)
Your co-workers - tap into their knowledge or work through your discovery process together.

Exercise:

1. Follow the resources above to learn more about RSS and newsreaders.

2. Create a free online Bloglines account for yourself and subscribe to at least 10 newsfeeds to your reader. See Using Bloglines Tutorial steps 1-3 for instructions

Newsfeeds:
Subscribe to several of your co-workers feeds. This is as easy as typing the blog URL into the subscribe field in Bloglines. Try it, it's easy!
Then try adding a few other types of feeds from other sites. Go to the pages below, locate teh feed and subscribe. (Select at least 3 to subscribe to)

Columbia Daily Tribune

MRRL's phote feed from Flickr

Librarian's Internet Index

Librarian in Black

BBC News Front Page World Edition

Google News - Sports Section

Create a post in your blog about this exercise.

14. More Flickr - Mash-ups and 3rd Party Sites

2006-10-24T10:06:00.000-05:00

Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications using images found on the site. Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups* that use Flickr images. Here are just a sampling of a few …

Mappr - take Flickr images and allows you to paste them on a map
Flickr Color Pickr - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.
Montagr – create a photo mosaics from photos found on Flickr.

Discover more mashups, web apps, and Flickr tools.

Exercise:
Explore some of the Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there.
Create a blog post about one that intrigues you.

One fun tool is FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. And there’s a ton of librarians out there that have created their own Librarian Trading Card.So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat little apps. And if you up to the challenge while you’re add it, why not create a trading card of your own. :)

* Mashup Note: Wikipedia offers some great articles that explain mashups. Basically they are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like a map) In this example, you get Mappr (http://mappr.com)

13. Explore Flickr

2006-10-24T09:52:00.000-05:00

Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Within the past year, Flickr has becoming the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword “tags” to create associations and connections between photos and users of the site.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer. Find out how tags work, what groups are, and all the neat things that people and other libraries (list also here) are using Flickr for. Don't forget MRRL has a flickr account, take some time to explore it.

Resources:
Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps)
Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials
Flickr: Popular tags Interesting- Last 7 days
Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups) and let’s not forget to look at some other libraries the Flickr

Exercise:
In this exercise, you have two options…
1. Take a good look around Flickr and discover an interesting image that you want to blog about. Be sure to include either a link to the image or if you create an Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool to add the image in your post. Another option you have for including images in your post is to use Blogger's photo upload tool.

2. Of if you're up to an easy challenge... If You have a digital camera or can borrow one... OR if you have pictures on a CD - Create a Free account in Flickr, and take few pictures. Upload these to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images and mark it public. Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. Once you have a Flickr account, you have two options for doing this; through Flickr's blogging tool or using Blogger's photo upload feature.

So go ahead, explore the site and have some Flickr photo fun and if you're interested in looking at some photo hosting sites, then why not check out this blog for recommendations & this Wired story.

PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) it is advisable to get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog.

9. Comment on MRRL's Myspace Account

2006-10-23T19:54:00.000-05:00

Exercise

1. Add MRRL as a friend

Go to MRRL's Myspace Account while logged into your Myspace account
Click on Add Me

Click the Add To Friends button

Wait until Robin adds you as a Myspace Friend - she'll email you to let you know she's done it

2. Leave a comment

Scroll down to the bottom of the page, below all of the other comments, and click the Add Comment link

Enter your comment in the "Body" box
Click Post a Comment

Click Post a Comment again

You are done! Go on to Lesson 9

8. Set up your own Myspace account

2006-10-23T19:32:00.000-05:00

Exercise

1. Go to myspace.com

2. Click the "Sign Up" button

3. Fill in the account information

4. Upload a photo or skip that step (bottom of the page)

5. Invite friends or skip this step

6 . Start customizing your Myspace page - click on Edit Profile to begin

7. Libraries and MySpace

2006-10-23T18:19:00.000-05:00

Libraries have begun using Myspace to market to their teenaged patrons. Despite a lot of controversy over the issue of Myspace in libraries, the idea of creating Library spaces in Myspace is really taking off. Read through the links below to get an idea of what different libraries are doing in Myspace and what librarians are saying about Myspace!

Resources
Libraries using Myspace

Library Success Wiki list of Library Myspaces
Yalsa's list of Library Myspaces

Librarians discussing Myspace

David Lee King's thoughts on Myspace
What I Learned Today's Myspace Rant
The Librarian In Black's ideas about Myspace

Media mentions of Myspace

US News and World Report - Decoding Myspace
Wired Magazine's Social Networking Safety Pages

Exercise

After reading through these articles, blog postings and lists, what do you think about libraries using Myspace?
Post on your blog answering this question and add any other thoughts you might have about Myspace and social networking in general.

4. Let us know where your blog is in the comments to this blog

2006-10-23T18:10:00.000-05:00

Now that you have your blog all set up, leave a comment on this post with your blog's address and name.

6. Add your blog to MRRL's Wiki

2006-10-23T17:49:00.000-05:00

In this exercise, you will add your blog information to the Participants page of MRRL's IntraWiki.

1. Go to the MRRL IntraWiki Participants page

2. Find the "Edit" Link at the top of the page

3. Find the "Participants" heading (surrounded by 3 equal signs ===)

4. Under that last persons entry enter your blog's URL by

typing opening bracket ([),
the URL of your blog (including the http:// part),
a space
the name of your blog.
the closing bracket (]),
click the "Save Page" button.

Example: [http://bobbiblogs.blogspot.com/ Bobbi]

5. Check the page to make sure your blog's title is in the list of Participants, and click the link to make sure it goes to your blog. If you've mistyped something, click the Edit link again to make your changes.

That's it - you've added your information to the MRRL IntraWiki!

5. Learn About Wikis

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A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well known of these knowledge sharing tools. With the benefits that wikis provide the use and popularity of these tools is exploding.

Some of the benefits that make the use of wikis so attractive are:

Anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content.
Tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom.
Earlier versions of a page can be rolled back and viewed when needed.
And users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases simple syntax structure is used.

As the use of wikis has grown over the last few years, libraries all over the country have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge. Among their applications are pathfinder or subject guide wikis, book review wikis, ALA conference wikis and even library best practices wikis.

Resources

Use these resources to learn more aboout wikis:

Wiki, wiki, wiki - from PLCMC's Core Compentency blog
Wiki’s: A Beginner’s Look – an excellent short slide presentation that offers a short introduction and examples.
What is a Wiki? – Library Success wiki presentation
Using Wikis to Create Online Communities – a good overview of what a wiki is and how it can be used in libraries.

Extra "credit" resources

Why Wiki? - This online video course will introduce you to the benefits and disadvantages of wikis. Each of the 4 sections is between 10 and 20 minutes long - feel free to just watch part of the sessions if time is an issue!

Exercise

For this exercise, you are asked to take a look at some library wikis and blog about your findings.

Here are a few examples to get you started:

SJCPL Subject Guides – a pathfinder wiki developed by the St. Joseph County Public Library system
Book Lovers Wiki - developed by the Princeton Public Library
Library Success: A best practices wiki
ALA 2006 New Orleans wiki – an example of a wiki created to support a specific event
The Bull Run Library wiki - a public library wiki and also a Learning 2.0 participant
iRead wiki - a reader's advisory wiki from some Iowa librarians
Other library wiki examples

Create a blog post about your findings. What did you find interesting? What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?

2. Create a gmail account

2006-10-23T15:47:00.000-05:00

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Gmail is a free web-based email service similar to Yahoo mail or Hotmail. You will need a Gmail account to sign up for your Blogger Beta account in the next lesson and for several other lessons. Gmail will require you to get an invitation from an existing user, because it is still - officially at least - in it's beta version. This means that it is still in development (though it is a fully functional email service already) and that it isn't quite ready to open up to the general web. Bobbi and Robin, however, have plenty of invitations to go around!

Exercise
1. You can sign up on your own now! Go to Google and click on the "sign in" link at the top right of the screen.
2. Click on "Create An Account Now" below the sign in box
3. Fill out the form, then go into the "My Account" link that is now on the Google home page.
4. Click the "More >>" link and choose "Gmail".
5. Sign in using your new Google Account. You can sign into Blogger using the same account later on in this week's lessons.
4. Take some time to learn a little about your Gmail account. You can also find out more by clicking "Help" topic at the top right corner of your screen (after you log into Gmail)4. Accept terms and you're ready to go. Take some time to learn a little about your Gmail account - check out the "Help" topic at the top right corner of your screen (after you log into Gmail)

1. Learning Library 2.0

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Welcome to MRRL's Learning Library 2.0 program and blog. Chances are if you have found your way here you are :

a member of MRRL's staff who's participating in the Learning 2.0 Challenge.
interested in learning more about web 2.0 and the tools that you have been hearing so much about lately such as Myspace, Flickr, blogs, LibraryThing, wikis and many more
interested in learning about and playing around with some new web 2.0 tools

No matter what your reason, we are glad you're here!! Learning Library 2.0 is online learning program that encourages 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.

Over the course of the next 11 weeks, this website will highlight “29 Things”, using reading and exercises to help staff become familiar with blogging, RSS news feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting, online applications, video and image hosting sites and more.

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.

Important : Create an account for yourself in the Learning 2.0 Log by entering your first name and last initial into the text box. Use the log to keep track of your progress through the program. You must enter your progress for each lesson in order to recieve your mp3 player

FAQs

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Frequently Asked Questions:
How does this online learning program work?
This is a self-discovery program which encourages staff to take control of their own learning and to utilize their lifelong learning skills through exploration and PLAY. There will be no classes or workshops offered to support this program. Instead, staff are encouraged to work together and share with each other their discoveries, techniques and "how to's" both in person and through their blogs.

Is this program open to all MRRL staff or just some?
This program is open to ALL MRRL staff regardless of position and status (full and part time).

How long do I have to complete the program?
You have 22 weeks to complete the lessons from the time you start.

How soon do I have to start the program?
The program kicks off November 27th, 2006 and the last start date is April 1st, 2007.

How do I track my progress for each of the 29 Things?
Each staff member that chooses to participate in this program will be required to keep a blog to track their progress and will also need to register each item completed in the Learning 2.0 Log found on the MRRL Wiki (private).

Why 29 things instead of 23 things like the original website?
We looked over the 23 things and Stephen Abram's article about 43 things and pulled together list we thought would be most helpful to MRRL staff.

Why 29 things instead of having participants do 43 things like the website?
Given the timeframe of the program (11 weeks), the number of "things" was reduced so that staff already burdened with busy work schedules wouldn't feel overwhelmed by having too many discovery exercises to complete in a week.

Will there be any training classes offered to show staff how to do this?
No, this is a self-directed learning program. If you feel you need assistance with an exercise, you are encouraged to be resourceful and to find a co-worker or another staff member who can help. Reading other staff member's blogs (private wiki) can help, too.

I've seen the list of 29 Things on the website, but how do I know what to do with them?
Each week you'll work through the discovery reading and exercises for that week. The reason for this staggered approach is to allow participants the ability to focus each week on a different area without feeling overwhelmed.

Can I work ahead through the list of items on my own?
Yes, of course. You are encouraged to self-direct your discovery process, especially by working ahead on your own!! However, if you do work ahead on some items, be sure to check back on for coworkers comments and blog posts about that week.

What if I need help - who can I call?
Since this program is self-directed and is being completed by many staff members throughout the system simultaneously, you are encouraged to work with colleagues along your discovery journey. To find a list of staff participating see The Participants (private).

What's in this for me?
The joy of learning, the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing a project, the ability to answer questions from our patrons about our services and - last, but not least, an MP3 player of your own. Finish all 29 "things" and you will get an MP3 (music) player that you can use as well as a certificate of accomplishment and the respect and admiration of your peers.

What exactly do I have to do to get that MP3 player?
Post in your blog each week to answer the questions in the exercises and to show off your newly found skills in the week's topic. We do require a post of some substance each week - at least 100 to 150 words - to get "credit" for that week and to ensure that you get your MP3 player.

About

2006-10-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

This blog has been set-up as part of MRRL's Learning 2.0 project to encourage staff to experiment and learn about the new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet today. The objectives of this program are to:

encourage exploration of Web 2.0 and new technologies by MRRL staff.
provide staff with new tools (that are freely available on the Internet) to better support MRRL's mission: The library makes accessible and promotes the use of informative and creative resources.

The Learning 2.0 program originated with Helene Blowers, PLCMC Technology Director, and has been modified for use at MRRL by Bobbi and Robin. The original program is loosely based upon Stephen Abram's article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006) and the website 43Things. The design of this online program was completely built on Web 2.0 technologies that are freely available on the Internet. These sites include: Blogger, Flickr, Odeo, YouTube, PBWiki & Bloglines. There is more information on the (private) MRRL Staff Wiki.

3. Create a blog

2006-10-21T16:05:00.000-05:00

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The first step is to set up your own blog to record your thoughts, discoveries and exercises in.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Your blog should be work friendly. For the duration of this tutorial there will be work related content on it and your coworkers may read it. After the tutorial is over, it doesn't have to be about work, but readers should be comfortable reading it at work.

2. Your blog posts should be at least 100-150 words each week - we'd like to have a conversation and the more you post, the better the conversation will be

3. How you choose to identity yourself on your blog is your choice. You can blog under a screen name, anonymously, or as yourself.

For this exercise I am recommending you use Blogger, a popular free online blog hosting service that is easy to use. Creating a blog using Blogger takes just a few easy steps:

Exercise

1. Go to http://www.blogger.com/

2. Click on "New Blogger using your Google Account"

Click on image for larger view

3. Your sign in name is your gmail address, without the @gmail.com for example yourname
your password is the same one you use for your gmail account
Click on image for larger view

3. Your sign in name is your gmail address, your complete address, for example yourname@gmail.com
your password is the same one you use for your gmail account

4. You'll be taken to this screen, click on "Create blog now"

Click on image for larger view

5. Select a display name.

6. Name your blog and choose an address.

The name is the title that displays at the top. For example, Bobbi's Thoughts or Bobbi's Babbling
Your address is the URL people will type into go to go your blog, they do not have to match. For example your address could be bobbi123.blogspot.com
It may be hard to find an address that's available, you may have to try several and use the "check availability" button
Be sure to also write down your blog address.

Click on image for larger view

7. Select your template.

8. You're ready to start blogging! Create your first post, even if it's just a test post.

9. Email me with the address.

Once you’ve created your blog here are a couple important things to know:

1. To add posts: Log into your account at http://www.blogger.com/
2. Click on the Blogger Beta sign in
3. Use your gmail address and password to sign in

4. To view your blog: type in your URL from step 6.

Resources

If you run into problems or would like more information about blogs and using Blogger here are some discovery resources you can use:
Freevlog’s Quicktime Tutorial: Setup a Free Blogger Blog Note: Ignore the opening comments about downloading Firefox if your PC doesn’t have it. This will work in Explorer just fine.
Blogger’s Quick Tutorial

MRRL Learning *Library* 2.0 - Lessons

Advanced Lessons

Flickr

Tagging

Myspace

Getting Started with Your MP3 Player

27. netLibrary

Staff Prizes and Incentives

23. Explore the Web 2.0 awards site

22. Google Labs

26. Locate Podcasts

24. Explore Online Video

21. Online Applications and Tools

20 Read about Web 2.0, Library 2.0 & the futre

19. Explore different search engines

12. LibraryThing

11. Technorati and blog tags

10. Tagging

19. Map your travels

17. Play with an online image generator

16. Locate a few Library related blogs

15. Learn about RSS Feeds

14. More Flickr - Mash-ups and 3rd Party Sites

13. Explore Flickr

9. Comment on MRRL's Myspace Account

8. Set up your own Myspace account

7. Libraries and MySpace

4. Let us know where your blog is in the comments to this blog

6. Add your blog to MRRL's Wiki

5. Learn About Wikis

2. Create a gmail account

1. Learning Library 2.0

FAQs

About

3. Create a blog

MRRL Learning Library 2.0 - Lessons