Pondering about wikis

Wikipedia is the first word that comes to mind when I hear 'wiki'

I have mixed feelings about this term.For years I felt very reluctant to make use of wikis, but now I will admit that if there's anything I'm unsure about..probably the first place I will look it up for a quick explanation is Wikipedia.
During my University course..we were constantly cautioned against using it as a reference, which explains by initial reluctance to use it; however I do find it's easy to use to gain a quick understanding of something. Of course if I want to find more detail, I will look up other sources, but it's a place I like to check initially.

The trouble with having a page that anyone can edit..is that people can put anything on the pages..however incorrect! As a reference tool, it's probably not the best place to find quality information.

I'm an avid fan of many tv shows and movies..and often I've found that it's difficult to find detailed episode summaries, ratings and character profiles (and so on)and information anywhere else on the web, so fan made Wikis and wikipedia are what I go to.
Here's a link to the Harry Potter wiki, which is quite detailed (and I believe is also moderated, so information is generally quite accurate!)
harrypotter.wikia.com
This is just one of a myriad of other fan created wikis, where fans work together to create a database of information about their favourite shows, books or movies.

In a library setting, I've had a look at a few library wikis, and I can see how useful it can be. It comes across as being a lot more interactive than websites, where borrowers probably feel overwhelmed with all the information available.

I definitely think there is a lot of value in creating a wiki for our public libraries. It would be a great place to share information about what is happening in our libraries in a more modern take.

That ends week 5 of our learning..and It's almost Christmas time!
Will do my next post when I'm back from a holiday in a few weeks time :)

A mixed bag of RSS feeds

It was great to learn a bit more about RSS feeds..I knew they existed but I'll admit I never really made use of them, and now it's difficult to see why not. It's great to be able to have everything on one page, so I can just skim over my subscriptions to see if there is anything interesting without having to load each individual blog site.

Here are a number of feeds that I've decided to follow:

http://www.redcarpet-fashionawards.com/
I love looking at fashion..This blogger has made a site where she takes note of the clothes worn by stars on the red carpet, identifies the designer/collection and then posts a side by side comparison (and she makes note of the accessories and shoes as well). It must be incredibly time consuming to run this blog but it's always interesting to browse and I love checking the blog for new posts!

http://southerngothicproductions.blogspot.com/
I subscribed to this blog a while back, it hasn't really been active in a while as they now have their own website. The blog is run by a production company (they produce indie films and small productions in North Carolina). It's just fascinating to see the day to day things they do to keep the company running and all the projects they're working on.

http://feeds.wisegeek.com/learn-something-new-every-day-rss
Thinking back to my first post in this blog about always learning new things ; I came across this feed which is called 'WiseGeek ; Learning something new every day'. Each day, they post a question and answer on a random topic (Today's one is 'What is a flammulated owl?'), it's like the 'Burning Question' part of the West Australian newspaper or 'Did you know' oddspot facts found with Libra products!

http://feeds.news.com.au/public/rss/2.0/pnow_topstories_171.xml
This is an easy way to follow the breaking news headlines in Perth, just keep up to date with the latest headlines before they show up in the evening news or the following day's newspaper.

http://ampersand-design.blogspot.com/
My first blog mentioned a post on Penguin's Hardback classics done by this blogger. It's someone who has an interest in all things design and I've always found the posts interesting. Will admit I love looking at interior design and magazines but I've never been game enough to try it for myself. Who knows what the future holds!

Am keeping an eye out for some interesting library/book ones to also follow. Will definitely be making more use out of the RSS feeds in future :)

Carte Blanche's Blue nose friends.

Photo from Flickr

You may have seen these adorable and soft little plushes in gift stores. Introducing the Blue nose friends!
These are made by the same company as the grey 'Me to you' Tatty Teddy. The story for their creation is that the tatty teddy was lonely and dreamt of having a wardrobe of new friends, and so the blue nose friends were created!

When I was younger, I remember admiring the 'Me to you' bears but I couldn't afford them ;it wasn't something 'useful' so that ruled out asking my parents for it. When I turned 16, I finally got my first one as a birthday present, and the collection has steadily grown ever since. As soon as these blue nose friends were released a year or so ago, I knew that my collection would just keep growing.

The photo above is of someone else's collection which I just found on Flickr. There are just over 60 friends currently released and I have a selection of the cutest ones..there's just too many to collect all of them!

Learning never ends

"Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn..and you will "
- Vernon Howard, American philosopher.

I don't think learning ever ends ; It seems that every single day, we learn something new, and there is always more. I can not imagine any one being able to say that they have nothing more to learn. All the endless possibilities that are made available to us in various different areas are astounding.
In this scenario, we are all learning about Web 2.0. Blogs, wikis, social networking and podcasting are just some of the things we all hope to learn more about during this course.

I recently graduated from university, and many of these aspects of Web 2.0 were touched on in some of my units, however I don't think i really gathered a full understanding until I actually started using them all myself. Over the last couple of years, I have discovered just how much we are able to express ourselves online.
Of course, there is always more to learn, and I am eager to find out more, to see if there are things that I have missed or overlooked.


Blogs

There are a number of different blogs I currently follow in the areas of fashion and books. Some people post the most interesting things, and it's always a fascinating read.

This is one post I feel like I need to share with fellow lovers of books:
Ampersand beauty blog
This is a post that summarises some of the beautiful books released by Penguin. Penguin Hardback Classics ; books that I discovered online via a blog a couple of years back. They are gorgeous books in many classic titles, it was too hard to resist and most of the titles are now sitting on my bookshelf.


Happy learning!
I'm sure we will finish this course with lots of ideas of what we can do with Web 2.0 in our libraries and also the knowledge to help our patrons with their queries.