It's all about image

Christmas is almost here and the goose is getting fat. Time to finish these 23 things to learn with web 2.0. It's been a month since I have had time to play around and discover what can be done.

Image is everything. Yes think about it, the old saying a single picture is better than a thousand words. Well it was a bit of fun playing around making up images. I used Generator blog http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/ to turn myself into a graphic artist. I wouldn't say i was completely happy, but for very little effort, I made this

card

The hardest part was not making the image, but learning how to save it to picture file on my computer, Now I'm aware of all the marvellous things that can be done to edit a picture, there will be no stopping me.

To begin with I was unsuccessful, but found if I had saved to pdf format I could include in the blog. This one here was a practise image and

Meanderings about technology

The rate of learning has definitely sped up. Aspects of web 2.0 were familiar before I started on this adventure. At first the new territories were rather daunting, but exploring from the end backwards has been rewarding.

I can see that web 2.0 can be a very poswerful promotional tool.
Today we had a meeting of the Friends of the Sargeson House (FOSH). I was very impressed to learn that FOSH has established a blogspot FriendsofSargesonhouse@gmail.com

One of the main drivers for establishing a bogspot was the development of North Shore City's arts' portal Shorespace. http://www.northshorecity.govt.nz/?src=/community-services/arts-culture/shorespace.html Shorespace is to be officiallly launched at the Bruce Mason Centre at the end of October. This will offer a wide range of groups and individuals an umbrella web space. It made me think that the Friends of the Takapuna Library could well do a blogspot and be part of Shorespace.

WIld Thing, I think I love You, Library Thing

I must be a librarian at heart. I simply loved Library Thing. What a marvellous invention. I want to keep on going cataloguing all my books. However, I have catalogued my little desktop collection. I was really surprised some of the books were to be found on Library Thing.

If you want to see what an eclectic mix I keep within reach of my desk, please visit http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ValettaForest



I really would have loved to have had a tool like this when I set up the little library for the Accident Compensation Commission in 1973. It makes me realise what an incredible thing the internet is and how we are now able to do so much from whatever 'isolated' corner of the world.

WIld Think I think I love You Library Thing

I must be a librarian at heart. I simply loved Library Thing. What a marvellous invention. I don't want to keep on going cataloguing all my books. However, I have catalogued my little desktop collection. I was really surprised some of the books were to be found on Library Thing.
If you want to see what an eclectic mix I keep within reach of my desk, please visit http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ValettaForest

I really would have loved to have had a tool like this when I set up the little library for the Accident Compensation Commission in 1973. It makes me realise what an incredible thing the internet is and how we are now able to do so much from whatever 'isolated' corner of the world.

Rolling Home with Rollyo

What an interesting concept! And what fun to be able to develop a set of favourite searches which can be searched concurrently via Rollyo. To think that today I have built my very own mini search engine, called Validities http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=Search+for...&sid=468811.
I can see that the possibility for North Shore Libraries staff to create an uber rollyo search train using all their favourite sites.

Oh ho Zoho

The Magnificence of the Mountains

Take a stroll to the letterbox
Set the red flag upright
There's mail to collect
At Forest Park
No.1 RD
Ashburton

Above
all observe
the magnificence
of the mountains and breathe
in the alpine air. Do you hear
the wind soughing
in the pines?

These few lines are dedicated to my grandparents Sally and Thomas Taylor who bought their farm, Forest Park', in the 1920's and lived there until 1988. This year, 2008, our family lost the link with the farm as my cousin Martin sold up and moved to Nelson. Papa, my Grandfather would be appalled to know his beloved mixed grain and sheep farm had been converted to a dairy farm. With a mean annual rainfall of about 25 inches I can hear Papa muttering 'fools'.

This little piece of writing using Zoho Writer, was not so oh ho easy as at first it seemed. The importation as html was a bit of a tease. However, it was realativley easy to do things differently. I would love to become better at using the Zho software as it was great fun.

Web 2.0 What makes an award winning site?

The web 2.0 Awards showcase the best of innovative applications of web 2.0 technology.
For example, Villanova University was third placed in the books category, with Vufind: http://www.vufind.org/
Vufind has been developed specifically for libraries. It uses open source technology. Initially, it does not look too different from the tradional opac cataloue. However, it enables the user to search or browse through all the libraries' resources simultaneously.
If this was applied to North Shore Libraries, it would mean, for eaxample, that a search on Takapuna Library would pick up items in the local history collection in a single search. ALthough the eLGAR Libraries are getting something similar with the development of , as far as I could ascertain, Vufind seemed a more user friendly solution.
The biggest drawback for me, was that it is very boring looking, typical of university software applications. Still a little prettying up shouldn't be too hard.