Flickr and Picasa

So much info here!!! Have had a browse through it all but must make more time to have a play and dig deeper. Have plans to make greater use of Picasa at least initially for my own photo collection

Social networks

Have done the reading on this topic - so many sites/groups you can belong to; how do they all exist? But then they do cover both one's professionall and social life! Despite some reservations I have joined Facebook but haven't contributed much yet! Also contributed to CCLlearn Ning and joined a sub Ning group.

Making connections

Well, I've got this far on this course! Now I know what the QS stands for next to the Library Catalogue links!
Have been using 'nice'URLs for some time in email communication to customers and have joined NZ-Libs Listserv (probably should have done so some time ago)
Can certainly appreciate the need to organise files - can soon get swamped with stuff!
Must have a closer look at Delicious and add more files to it, similarly with IGoogle.

More on RSS feeds

Have succesfully added a couple of feeds to my google reader. Must find out why I can't copy and paste some other RSS links in to the "add a subscription" box! Anybody have ideas?

RSS feeds and what's new

By locating one little orange symbol on web sites of interest I can receive news, sports results, travel deals, reviews and much more. straight to my computer and read at my leisure. Many of these can be tailored to my own requirements. I can keep up to date with professional work related happenimgs.

I could even create my own feeds by using the BBC News search engine!

NZ 2.0 and social networking

Note the increase in govt agencies using social networking in many and varied ways as a means of engaging with the public, ie their customers. The NZ Police were an early user in this way of communication. Other agencies have included the National Library of NZ; one of their projects has inclided posting images from its collection allowing people to discover new material. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Te Ara have added images to Flickr allowing users to comment and also post their own images. The Ministry for the Environment has introduced a number of sustainability forums and by using Facebook and You Tube hopes to attract feedback from a greater cross section of the population. The Wellington City Council are offering an e-petition service allowing anyone to comment on Council business via the Internet. There is also the possibility for residents to use this service to bring issues to the Council's attention and freely allow others to contribute to the debate. Not as much there as I would have thought, possibly needs more promotion! It is also used as an avenue for community news - often snippets of information rather than the meatier variety.
Organisations such as universities have used thjis technology as a way of allowing their communities to submit comment, receive feedback and generally open a dialogue. The entertainment industry can allow users to revisit a programme without the breaks.
Others demonstrate the ability of being able to collect information from a variety of sources in one place eg nzresearch.org and/or being able to search using some common starting points eg nzlive.com.

CCLlearn

Have just started the CCLlearn course; a lot to get used to! How is anybody else going?

Library 150th

Good to see all the people at the staff 150th party Sat evening