Final Post

The Wrap Up

I think this assignment was extremely necessary for me to catch up on Web 2.0 technology. Of all the technology we looked at there were four that I had used before, Facebook, Youtube, Google maps and Wikis. Although I used all of these sites, I never bothered to stop and think how they worked, or how they could be put to use in a work setting. The social bookmarking sites, delicious, library thing and cite u like were completely new to me and I’d heard of RSS, blogs, podcasts, Flickr, Twitter and Mashups but had never been interested in using them.

However once I began looking into these technologies I’ve begun to see the benefits and potential use they can have for libraries and information professionals. I believe the social bookmarking sites, delicious, cite u like and library thing are extremely relevant to libraries. They help information professionals and their clients manage their information and make it easier to find the best possible information. I can also see Youtube and podcasts being very helpful for learning in the way of online tutorials. Wikis are also a great way of learning and contributing information, as are blogs but these are better suited for more informal chatting.

I haven’t been completely sold on the idea of libraries using Facebook, My Space , Flickr or Twitter. I don’t think it is necessary for them to have a presence in these areas but it is useful for them to know how to use them so they can relate to clients.

I don’t think I’ll be using all the technologies I’ve learnt about but I’m glad I’m not completely ignorant of them anymore. Having a good knowledge of Web 2.0 is also going to make it easier to keep up with new technology that is sure to develop.

On the negative side I did find this assignment very time consuming in that there are so many different sites for each kind of technology and its very easy to get lost in the information. I did not mind using a blog to record my assignment but it didn’t work that well for communication with my group members. We all left comments on each others pages but because we were working at different times it did not feel like proper discussion. However, it was nice to read their postings and get another persons perspective, especially when they chose to look at different sites to what I did.

On a whole, I feel this assignment has been a good learning experience for me and a good starting point for staying up to date with technology that I’m likely to use in my future career.

Google Maps

As you can see I discovered how to create my own map on google. It was relatively easy to do but I could not get my photo from flicka onto it. I'm not sure whether this was due to my own mistakes or if flickr is not compatible with google maps.
I have made use of google maps before, they are particularly useful for finding directions. They can also be used for advertising places and businesses and allow you to write reviews on places you've been as well as add videos and photos(apparently).

Google maps are not always accurate because their satelite images are several years old. There is also concern over their satelite images being used to spy. However google have blurred some images that are deemed a security risk.

Just a thought: Does the ability of anyone being able to write reviews on google maps allow businesses to attack their competitors? Any thoughts?

Google Maps

View Baw Baw Snow Resort in a larger map

Mash ups

To be honest, I must admit that most of the theory explaining how Mashups are created and work went completely over my head. I'm glad that it is left up to IT experts and not us. Despite my confusion concerning how they are created I didn't have any problem finding mashups that I enjoyed. I looked at several but thought that the postcode finder was really interesting. I entered in my own postcode and could immediately go to a link with all the census data concerning my area. For example the majority of people that live in my suburb are between 25 and 55, are mostly professionals and managers and the majority are women. Good to know. I can definitely see the benefits this site would offer when looking for a suitable place to live.

I also found a mashup that I thought was a really good idea. Its called Gigpig and its gets its data from LastFM, GoogleStaticMaps, GoogleMaps, GoogleChart and Discogs. Though after seraching for a few well known artists and bands I was very dissapointed. I couldn't find a lot of them and when I did the information concerning their upcoming gigs was wrong. Of course I could have gone ahead and added bands myself but Id rather be a user of a site like this rather than a contributer.

Flickr

So far I've found Flickr to be very slow in uploading my photos, one of which did not work! I've added Mei and Joel to a group I created on my flickr site and I called it Document Management. I eventually managed to create a link to my flickr site from my blog and from here you should be able to see my solitary photo.
Flickr allows you to upload profiles onto your own account and search for photos over the web. You can tag these photos and organise them. It also allows you to determine who you want to see the photos. Its system of filtering photos to stop innapropriate content getting through is stricter and more effective than that of Youtube.

I can see that Flickr would be an effective way to share your photos with friends and family, (something that I prefer to use facebook for). But I've also discovered that its a really great way to share photos of events you have attended with strangers. I've forgotten my camera on many occasions and I've been enjoying searching through flickr for events that I would have loved photos of.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

My Photo