The Final Post

Firstly, this programme was noticeably shorter than the one offered last year. In one sense this is a good thing: no time to get bogged down, just some snappy exercises to keep us interested in the internets. The problem arose when I was simply unable to spend any time at work on the programme for a couple of weeks. By the time I was able to sit down and catch up with was the last day. So, I caught up anyway.

What really stood out for me was the Go Animate task, which had me laughing out loud and annoying everyone for the time I worked on it. My animation was almost a collaborative creation, too, until I ignored everyone's advice and created my masterwork.

Not much of the programme is directly useful in my role, but I think it's worthwhile having a broad overview of the options available in whatever role in the library. I may not recommend any of these tools to a customer this week, but I may mention them to another staff member, who may find they're exactly what they need.

Also: I like fun.

Socially thinging

I figured I'd check out Newsvine, as it was the only link that I had had no experience with in the past. My initial impression of the site was that it didn't have particularly many articles on the front page that were of interest to me, but I can only assume that as I submitted more articles to Newsvine it would give me back things of a similar nature.

The first article I commented on was 'Watchmen' conquers box office with $55.7 million. It spoke about the sales figures of Watchmen in its opening weekend, and compared it to director Zack Snyder's 300. I should totes see this film.

The second article I commented on was Five consoles that crashed and burned, and article about just that - gaming systems that didn't take off by any stretch. I've had no experience with ay of the consoles mentioned, but since when did that stop anyone on the internet from saying something?

Animotivation

Hello, we are going for broke! I must finish all the tasks that remain tonight, or I am ineligible for prizes! Imagine life without prizes.

Stop imagining now, it's too scary (I got told I was already ineligible but blow that).

Had a bit of a fish around Animoto, but lacking any photos to upload I didn't really get to have a play. I can see this coming in handy around the library in a couple of ways. Firstly it could be used as a way to sex up features on the library website. Where we might have previously shown some images with an event, using Animoto we could be all wizz bang check it out animated and musicified storytime! There will be queues out the door.

It could also be a handy resource for Akozone classes. Like a flash version of the old 'what I did on my holidays' story, kids could use Animoto to show what they did. Or even better, explain something else using images rather than words. [soapbox] It's becoming more and more common for younger generations to communicated, in quite sophisticated ways, in forms other than the written word. This means image and video, primarily, but also in sound, and in the combining of media. Reading/writing is still important to education, but not just reading/writing texts. The reading and writing of visual material should also be taught, and Animoto offers a free to cheap way of doing this. [/soapbox]

Go Animate Thing

The tools on Go Animate look like a clever way to put together instructional clips for the library website. I can imagine clips on things 'what really happens in the basement?' and 'what really really happens in the basement?' And just like I said in my post about Animoto, this would be an excellent tool for pupils in Akozone classes to play around with.

Here's my clip for you, internet:

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Week 3:3; BookJetty

I threw together a quick catalogue at BookJetty, please check it out.

I think it's taken me three weeks to get Week 3 done. You call this play? There was no playing. If there was a ball it was dropped. By me? Almost always.

I think BookJetty would be the most useful of all the tools, and one I might recommend to a customer. Customers often like to keep track of what they've read, and this service allows you to do so in a very visual way. Plus, the sharing of tags and reviews means they can quickly browse through other people's bookshelves and find items that suit their tastes. And they get to feel a little like a librarian (not that I do any cataloguing. Isn't that done by trolls?)

Finding the right author for the job

I checked out Author Yellowpages (AY) this week and had a bit of a browse around its directory. Ordinarily I'd do a google search for something like an author's website, but this page is quite handy for two reasons. Firstly it groups relevant links together under the author's name, including things like publisher links and media coverage. Can't always trust google, now, can we (they've come for your data!). Secondly, sometimes I don't even know I'm looking for Meg Cabot's website and then, BAM! Seventh most popular search on AY is good enough for me.

Are you thinking of a book?

Think of a book that would be a good one to discuss in a book club.

Thinking on demand is really hard. I tried to pass this task off to someone else on the course, cause we're supposed to be sharing and all, but this didn't go too well: there was no one around! So much for team players. Am I the only one who's always hanging round the workroom waiting for Web 2.0 tasks? I know that can't be true.

So I decided to just dig in and think of a book. I furrowed my brow and squinted and tried to remember if I'd ever read anything that I'd call a book. Success! I jumped straight into Lit Lovers' books by title and found nothing. The book wasn't there. Frustrated, I figured I'd try the other two books I'd read. It felt like one of them just had to be on there, but neither of them were.

The good news: there's a bunch of books on there that I can choose from. I haven't read any of them, sure, but that wasn't even in the instructions. It just said think of a book. This totally counts.

I chose The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Lit Lovers' page on the book has a little bit of author info, a synopsis, some critical quotes and eight discussion questions to take to a group. Or you could do them on your own if you're afraid of getting caught (don't get caught). If I had any idea how book clubs functioned I'd let you know how useful these questions are, but my book club never functioned. Such a shame.