23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning ...

I have finally reached the end of the learning 2.0 program.
It was a magnificent effort by the organisers to provide a practical way for staff to participate and create in the web 2.0 world. At times it seems that the online experience is taking over the world but, it cannot be ignored and a wide base knowledge of what the internet has to offer is essential.
My criticisms of the program are a reflection of how the program impacted on my time. As much of the program was new to me I found it at times to be a lot of reading, going between numerous links and following with exercises that may lead you to go back and forth over the material looking for the next step you had to take. It was not possible for me to work some sections of the program out in 10 or 15 minute bursts and required a block of quiet time. I did the majority of the program at home and was therefore able to study the information in a way that I felt I was learning and gathering an understanding of the tasks I was performing.
The program could have been more time effective if it had been conducted in smalll groups under the guidence of a knowledgable leader.
However, there was much gained by giving it a go and exposing so many of the library world at the one time. I have gained enormously from the experience and it has provided a step forward for us all and it is now up to us to expand on the good work that has been put in place.

22 Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight ")

I have just spent some time trawling around http://worldebookfair.org The direct link to audiobooks as well as the link on the site did not go through. Project Gutengurg looked interesting and provides a plain text file of titles or a search page at http://gutenberg.org/find
You can search via Author, title,or ebook number.
Made a brief stop at http://worldlibrary.net and this included a mass of collections including everything from Classic Literature, to the CIA's reading room and last in the list is a lot of not in print work from somebody I don't know called Dr Widger.
It seems that almost everything you want is probably floating around the net as an ebook. One of the top choices from the last 30 days from Gutenberg was "The illustrated history of furniture by Frederick Litchfield"
It is great particularly for students to have access to ebooks and many of the sites are free or minimal subscription(donation) but, for a novel I will always go the hard copy.

21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I began by shuffling around www.podcastalley.com as got nowhere on the links for the other 2 directories, but there is no shortage of them on the net. I added one to my bloglines from their latest addition called "letters vs numbers" new and classic songs. Moved onto the ultimate in boredom which was the "Great book audio-a chapter a day". I am not overly excited by podcasts as I find I am too easily distracted from audio without an accompnying visual effect. I suppose they could be used in libraries to provide something instructional to the customer. Bombard their eardrums until they give in and join in the activity or club oreganised to meet on a particular day. But, make sure whoever does the talking passes the no mumble/squeaky voice test.

20 You too can YouTube

Found on You Tube and earlier on the Today Show

Possibly not OH&S compliant but, what a saving for libraries. No more expensive trolleys just employ staff with flat heads and super strong necks. You Tube has stuff on just about anything. Found a some live footage of Neil Young singing "Heart of Gold" from 1971.

Enjoy some music from the decade that was music.

19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

I started with travel in the hope that Farecast was going to provide a a cheap ticket to Cairns. The best it could do was $574 so i will try again another day.
next was Fun stuff and One Sentance failed to provide any interesting sentances but Comiq could be a bit of fun if you ever feel creative enough to make a comic strip. Understandable that tools such as Google Docs, Flickr, Del.icio.us rate so highly. I finished with a look at Lulu as it was number one. It was frustratingly slow and didn't have any Australian sports artwork but seemed to have a great range of information and tools for assisting those able to put a manuscript together and actually want to market it. Also, interesting top one hundred titles number one this week is "A collective history of Linthicum Heights".

18 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

Zoho Writer is a simplified version of microsoft word set into the web environment. It has a good range of functions but, I couldn't make the table size I wanted, adding a layer to the document is handy but couldn't find a way of moving it from front to back of text. The help functions are non existent. When posting my document of useless bit and pieces it rejected my attempts. Google docs seems more inviting. The useful application of these documents is the fact that they can be emailed, recieved and opened without caring if its a doc, docx, odt or whatever.

17. Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki.

My entry appears on the "favorite vacation spots" page and reflects on my disappointment at not returning to a small Island off Thailand called Koh Samat. The history of the page shows prior to me it was updated by Peta on september 19 2008. It was easy to add to the wiki and look forward more wiki fun.