Wrapup; social networks and catchup

Social networks
There are so many of the Web based applications that have a social networking component to them. Blogs, Flickr, Wikis, Tagging, answer boards, etc all have the ability to let people comment on a site, communicate or give feedback.
Social networks and libraries
As mentioned before, blogs can be a great way to get information out there about library services and to get invaluable feedback about services offered and a way to add information to an area such as the local history section. I believe that this is the best type of forum for a structured social networking starting point.
The only reason for going to some of the other more widely used social forums would be to reach a far larger audience and varied clientele.

Online applications and tools

Uses and advantages
To be able to search for any application on the web and just start using it without the expense usually associated with business type, software applications is a very useful discovery. I'm sure there are many people out there that would have a limited requirement for a slide show application for example. This new technology opens the opportunities for using this application up to a much broader audience.
In the library
Our library already has access to the types of software applications that are being provided online by GoogleDocs and Zoho etc. The real use in the library would be in using the collaborative tools where you can share the document.
Compare
Zoho seems much more comprehensive than GoogleDoc. It has all the tools that you could possibly need in a very comprehensive toolbar. GoogleDoc's has to rely on downloads from other applications in some instances. Zoho also seems quite user friendly and gives access to many different types of software applications in the one place.

Mashing it up

Discovering Mashups

Wow! Now we get to put together some of the applications we have learnt about so far. Music with the videos. Photo's and pictures with narratives and captions. Pointers with the maps. It all sounds great. Now I need to find out how user friendly these new applications are.

My Calender
Big huge labs did it all. It was just a matter of clicking on the calender icon, getting a photo from my adobe application and checking the size I wanted and the dates required. When the application was doing the mashing, I noticed it went to the flicr application for the calender.

Library uses

With the regional history material and photo's in particular you could use this type of applications add captions explaining more about the images or you could add a podcast telling about it. Storytime could add the voice and images together from a book, copyright permitting. As mentioned before, tutorials and virtual tours could be mashed up using captions and arrows on maps. Verbal explanations with images of different parts of the library etc.

Podcasts and Audio

Discovery

Podcasts is yet another application within 2.0 that makes the accessibility to otherwise very technical applications much more available to the average person. Looking at the different recommended sites with podcasts gives a good idea of how pod casting can be used in general. I was impressed with the ABC site and being able to look within a subject area and then a broadcast under the topic of interest. I like the ability, when you subscribe to a particular podcast, to continue to get updated RSS feeds.

Going to the Orange County Library Service, I noticed all the different ways to subscribe to the podcasts, eg. through RSS Subscribe, Bloglines, ITunes, my Yahoo, google etc.

Libraries and Podcasts
Looking at the examples, libraries are using podcasts in promoting story time and adding to their client base by making story telling available to the home user, and to make available special speeches and historical talks that have happened within a library. An example of a free down loadable file of a recording - (British Library) , extract from new CD introduced by the Curator of Drama, Steve Cleary called "The spoken word: Evelyn Waugh", with an exclusive clip from the CD of Waugh reading.

Podcasts and promotion
One really good way that my library could utilise this application, would be in promoting services to library clientele and the wider public. I can envisage work shops where staff could work on doing tutorials on the use of under used services like the subscription databases. To make people aware of these services, we could prepare podcasts of purely promotional material for local radio and to go over the loud speaker system in the library at certain times of the day eg. during after school hours, a podcast saying:- having trouble finding the right information for your assignment. Did you know that you can access twenty different databases on the libraries internet computers. We have comprehensive databases on science, health,newspaper articles etc. These promotional podcasts could be as specific or as general to meet the requirements at the time.