Task 19 – You to can You Tube

You Tube is a fun site and it is amazing what you can come across. And it’s not just home videos that are on there; I’ve come across entire movies on this site, highly illegal as that may be. I was going to include an amusing clip for the Ellen Show but then wondered if I would be infringing copyright? So instead I’ve included a rather lame video called Super Librarian.

It’s interesting to see the number of UQ videos that are now available on You Tube. At a glance, there even seem to be some official type videos put out my various departments/centres. I guess that would be another way of getting exposure to the public. .

 

Task 18 – iGoogle

I wasn’t that enamoured with this application. By the time I added a few gadgets to the page it was looking rather cluttered. And the Facebook gadget I selected – from the oddles available – didn’t work properly. I doubt that I would use iGoogle again.

 

Task 17 – Google

Google maps was fun to play with although I’m not sure of some of the directions it gave.   I guess when you know the shortcuts of getting from one place to another you forget that it’s not the most direct route in terms of main roads etc.   With this application I got to see a photo of one of my previous residences and even managed to see my car again (it’s recently deceased).  Ah, memories!

I’ve used Google docs before when collaborating on a conference paper but confess I haven’t really had the need to use it since.  It certainly proved useful when we all wanted to work on the document at the same time and being able to access it from any computer was also very handy.

 

Task 15 & 16 – Wiki and Wiki Collaboration

Task 16 – Having completed the Library Wiki training this was an easy one to complete. I just added some random quotes that I like.

Task 15 – It was interesting to see what some libraries are doing with wikis. They certainly have their place.

 

Task 13 – Del.icio.us

I’ve previously used del.iciou.us while collaborating with colleagues on a conference paper earlier this year.   Of course, since then, I’ve completely forgotten how to use the site!

I think this would definitely come in handy if you were using a number of different computers and wanted to make sure you could access your bookmarks from anywhere.

 

Task 12 – Listen up to LibriVox

I’ve listened to audiobooks in the past but it has been awhile since I’ve had the pleasure. I don’t find city driving very conducive to concentrating on a good story!

I tried a sample of chapters from Little Women and found the quality to be pretty good.

It was refreshing to find I could simply search for a book, or browse, and then download the files without needing to login and register.

 

Task 11 – Google Books

I think it is important to be aware that Google books exists and that we might be able to use it to find the full text of out-of-print, public domain books.

As someone else mentioned, I don’t think I could really spend my time reading a book online.  I would miss the tangible experience of holding the book and curling up somewhere comfy to absorb it.    Given its age, I found a copy of Pride and Prejudice on Google Books but don’t imagine I would ever sit down and read it on a computer.

 

Task 10 – LibraryThing

Setting up an account in LibraryThing was very easy to do.  I only added my five most recent reads to my library since most of my books are in storage.   I don’t think I would take the time to add all my other books to LibraryThing though.

 

Tasks 8 & 9 – RSS feeds

Well, as it turns out, I already have a Bloglines account. But it’s been so long since I’ve used it I had to get the password emailed to me. I’m pretty sure I also have a Google reader account but the same problem applies. I really like the idea of RSS feeds but I find that I just never really get around to reading the feeds – which kind of defeats the purpose!

I signed up to various feeds that appealed to me. One that I subscribed to was “The Hot Librarian” – which didn’t really seem to involve many items about hotness or librarians. I’d provide a link but some of the posts are not really work appropriate. Nevertheless, kind of interesting.

 

Task 7 – Comment on blogs and blog

For some reason I find reading other people’s blogs and commenting far more interesting than bothering to do my own blog posts.  I no longer have the energy to be witty (I’m sure I once was) and interesting (really, I am!) in my own blog.  Come to think of it, the comments I made on some other people’s blogs weren’t exactly witty or interesting so it’s possible I am somewhat delusional.  Although, if I confess to being delusional does that mean I’m no longer delusional?