Alice's Adventures in Bloggerland

Hopefully not too late for a very important date!

2008-05-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

Well, i seem to have stumbled into the royal court of Bloggerland. Look! There is the Queen and King, and there is the white rabbit again! And there is the Mad Tagger, The Wiki'd Witch and the Cheshire Catalogue, and bookworm/caterpillar has transformed into a beautiful butterfly/paper-plane!

It seems like they are all happily communicating in their Bloggerland community. Butterfly/paper-plane is back on her computer looking up their MySpace page, and it looks like The Garden Library has it's own virtual version in Second Life!

Social networking online would be a good idea for libraries to pursue as a way of researching, marketing and creating a community, both for individual libraries and customers, as well as across all libraries like the 'Communities of Practice'. These types of tools are very popular around the world with many people so it only makes sense to utilise them through institutions such as museums, galleries and libraries.

Getting people talking about libraries would be made much easier through the online format. You could even say an online community could be an extension of the "Friends of Libraries" concept, but you would be able to have a much larger "fanbase". This sort of online marketing via social avenues would also appeal more to youth who have grown up with these technologies. The idea of "support forums", where customers in need can help other customers, could also be extremely helpful ( but of course would need moderation in certain instances, especially for libraries whose role it is to provide reliable/accurate information).

By being able to view these sorts of forums and networks in action, it would also help to better understand customers and what they are interested in, how and what they think, to enable libraries to provide better, more community-focused services and facilities, acting like a sort of suggestion box. It would also help customers to feel more connected to the library by being active members. Creating a network of libraries would also aid in the sharing of stories and the creation of better services through sharing knowledge and experience, while also creating a sense of fellowship.

Combining the old and new is definitely the way forward for libraries. And i think i see the way foward too!

A small portal peeled open in the side of a nearby hedge. I looked back at my Bloggerland friends.

"Goodbye, Alice! We know it's time for you to go now, but come and visit us again soon," cried the butterfly/paper-plane.

"Something tells me i'll never quite completely leave this place, or forget all of the new friends i've made here. My lifelong learning journey has only really just begun! Goodbye all!" I waved.

And with that, i stepped through the swirling portal, ready to take on another adventure.

Painting the Roses Yellow: A Collaborative Effort

2008-05-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

So that is what the paint was from! A group of bookmarks are standing around a rose bush with cans of yellow paint, and some are slathering the flowers with thick coats of colour.

"We couldn't have done it without online collaboration tools such as Google Docs," one said.
"Yes, we never would have finally decided on yellow otherwise!" Another exclaimed. "It made it so much easier to share our plans and ideas and to keep everyone up to date with what was going on. It really complements and helps limit the use of email or phone to communicate, much much easier i think, as well as saving file storage space. And it is also more easily accessible and available online for no cost."

Why that sounds lovely, I thought. Would save a lot of space and time sending things back and forth. This would be very useful in any work environment, including libraries, where procedures need to be approved or edited or commented on, or meeting minutes needed to be circulated. This could also override the restrictions of intranets or closed drives, so all staff could have access to important documents from home provided they have Internet access. Having a shared space is a great idea to enable sharing of information and ideas. Another very useful tool! And so many more online productivity tools are available as well, which makes collaborating and creating documents much easier and more accessible to all.

Oh i am learning so much in Bloggerland, and have had fun creating and exploring new ideas, but i think i see the way out... Hopefully not too long to go now!

Monster Mashups

2008-05-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Goodness! This garden is actually not a garden at all, but a collection of colourful pictures and collages and mashups. What a wide variation of different tools and applications that are available through the mashup concept.

There are various ways libraries could use mashups, mainly as a much easier publishing and marketing tool, as well as a way to have more fun involving customers and staff.

You could easily create a local calendar using historical pictures, posters featuring authors or upcoming events starring your local children's librarian. Or on a more simple level just creating enhanced pictures of the library for display or distribution. The map mashup could also be very useful following something like the London example, taking you through important locations linked to local history information. Staff could use mashups to create personalised newsletters and memos, or could involve patrons in creation of mashup documents to create a sense of community and contribution. Once again, with a tool like this which is so easy to use, the possibilities of application combinations and potential uses are endless.

While i am here, i may as well have a go. Wow, i just created a map of all the places i want to visit once i get out of Bloggerland, and a calendar with some of the beautiful singing yellow roses i saw as i came through the garden earlier today. What fun! But a curious thing...a trail of yellow paint? I wonder where it will lead to...

2008-05-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

2008-05-21T07:59:00.001-07:00

Dream Magic Carpet Ride- Places i want to visit one day

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

A spell is Podcast

2008-05-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

As I began walking further into the garden of books, I could hear a tiny squeaking voice. I wondered: where is that coming from? I then realised it was coming from bookworm/caterpillar’s computer. What magic is this? But it was no magic, simply technology (which may be indeed some kind of magic). Podcasts of speeches, lectures, dramatic dialogues, conversations, radio programmes… voices captured and broadcasting anytime or place…

Suddenly the realisation dawned of how wonderful a tool this may be… Could the important speeches and conversations of our time and beyond be broadcast around the world and made so much more accessible? Could I hear the dream of Dr. King? Do I not have to wait for a documentary or radio broadcast to have access to dialogues and informed observations? What about Shakespeare? Can I hear Hamlet’s soliloquy when I am studying the HSC and need to hear the text spoken? Can I hear other texts spoken and freely available, important literature and contemporary and historical texts? Can we have all of this, available to library patrons and staff and anyone else who cares?

If not now then I am sure they will be, not just as a way of accessing texts but as a way of preserving them.

Podcasts created by libraries are of equal relevance, both audio and video versions. You can have oral histories and guided historical tours (has been done), recordings of author talks, book club meetings, children’s story times, latest news. You can even most simply have opening hours and the like- one could listen to their mp3 player on the way to the library and double check times to make sure, without sifting through ten million pamphlets that litter the bottom of their bag. Podcasts could help with the vision impaired as well, giving them more available options.

It seems a spell has been podcasted over me. I will definitely want to do more exploring in this area and must remember to come back and visit soon. Possibilities endless! But for now, I must move on. It looks like something is going on beyond the garden…

The Garden Library (or Meeting the Caterpillar/Bookworm)

2008-05-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

While the land of Del.icio.us clouds had been quite interesting, it was time for me to move on. It seemed as if I would never get out of Bloggerland. Just as I was shaking the trails of puffy wisps from my feet and clothing, I came across another curious sight. It was a large garden filled with towers of books, literature and manuscripts alongside rose bushes and leafy vines. The stacks were so tall that you could hardly see anything of the purple-blue sky.

In the middle of the sky-high heaps sat a caterpillar (or was it a bookworm?) at a small desk. She was furiously tapping away at the keyboard of a desktop computer. I walked closer and asked

"Who are you?"

She suddenly looked up at me over her rose-rimmed, diamante-encrusted glasses.

“Who ARE you?!” she boomed. Then she blushed, which made her blue cheeks turn purple. “Oh I am sorry, where are my manners, I mean how can I help you?” She smiled encouragingly.

“Well, I am trying to find my way through Bloggerland, hopefully gathering some new knowledge and skills before I leave. By the way, how do I leave? And what exactly are you doing?”

“Well, that is really two questions. Firstly, to leave Bloggerland you must complete all set activities and meet all pre-ordained, un-plagiarised characters. You will know when you are ready. As for me, I am slamming the boards of course.”

The bookworm/caterpillar then proceeded to explain what “slamming the boards” was and why she was doing it, as well as other tools that libraries could use to further expand their customer base, promote the usage of library services and allow customers to actively participate in information presented about library collections. After pondering these ideas i exclaimed:

“Why, board slamming is a great idea! It enables people who are used to getting instantaneous answers from random people to get a little piece of reliable information to come to them, even if they aren’t willing to go to it. And in future they may realise that the library is a good place to find answers, just like I have here today! On a smaller scale individual libraries can provide a similar service, and some have already, where people can ask questions and know that a librarian can at least give them a basic, trustworthy answer. It is also more likely to be a researched answer rather than based on experience or opinion, yet sometimes people might be actually looking for personal anecdotes, depending on the request of course.

“And I especially like the idea of people being able to comment and add to a library catalogue for example. It would be great if you could look up a book, see how many other people have read it, read any opinions on the text, refer to any related links, and see any similar books and what other books people have also read or recommended to read. Similar to Amazon or Taste, you could observe recipe/book satisfaction, and instead of “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought”, you could replace bought with borrowed. It would be another way to share and expand our knowledge base, both of the customers and staff.”

The caterpillar/bookworm smiled again.

“Very good! And now you see it is time for you to move on. You’ve finished this task, and you’re almost at your journey’s end.”

And with that, she disappeared in a puff of golden smoke.

*Cough* Cough* Goodness! Hmm… maybe I am getting somewhere at last. Onwards from here!

The Land of Del.icio.us Clouds

2008-05-19T23:16:00.000-07:00

Well, you will never guess what happened to me! I fell down another hole, and then i kept falling and falling and falling, it seems like i was falling for weeks and of course could not write anything of my adventures in Bloggerland! Finally, i landed on a soft bed of delicious clouds of all flavours like cherry tart, custard and even hot buttered toast!

As i was exploring this land of clouds, words upon words floated around outside and inside of my head, and i was led down many dreamy paths filled with cupcakes and trips to museums...

I was just thinking that this place seemed ideal for holding a tea party, when i stumbled across a a bunch of strange looking characters, one who called themself "The Mad Tagger". Well, i just had to sit down for a cup of tea and a cupcake and listen to what he had to say, which was precisely this:

"Tools such as Del.icio.us are a great addition to library services as demonstrated through the Cleveland and Sutherland Shire examples. Particularly in this day and age, where the internet is regarded as a primary resource for information, it is helpful to know that institutions such as libraries are guiding users to useful and tried and tested websites and sources. This sort of tagging tool definitely will complement more traditional reference techniques and become part of the normal functions and services of libraries in the future.

"The result of all of the bookmarking and tagging is the creation of an organic and evolving resource pile, leading to a wealth of information for the researchers to share and to use. The use of clouds instead of simply lists also emphasises and adds to this freeform approach. Looking at the ways other people have used and catergorized sources of information, as well as having them readily available and accessible, can help in the decision making process, help make research more comprehensive, yet also easier."

Well, all of those words sounded like a lot of nonsense to me, and not a lot of fun at all for a party. As i was about to leave i he said quietly

"...But i can't help but feel that all of this could lead to information overload and a lot of frazzling if people don't have the right approach, clarity of question and tools to help sift through and create order, both outside and inside the mind."

What a strange person! Hmmpf! Mad Tagger indeed!

http://del.icio.us/alicefrombloggerland

...and starlight to go with the moon...

2008-04-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

It would be nice to help fill the world with more cheshire-style grins.

sourced from Starlight Day website http://www.starlight.org.au/News/Pages/StarlightDayCampaign.aspx

Search for a Cheshire Cat-alogue

2008-03-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

What a curious looking moon!

"But i'm not a moon at all," said a sly voice. "I'm actually a Cheshire Catalogue."

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Why, i'm everywhere of course, and then again, i'm really nowhere."

What nonsense could be found in Bloggerland. I could not see who was talking to me, all i could see was that bright grinning moon high in the sky.

"It doesn't matter if you can see me or not. However, seeing is very important when you are watching online videos."

"Yes, i agree with that. I just did some searching on Google videos and there were a plethora of videos about whosits and whatsits and Lego animations, and many many author talks from Mosman Library. What an ingenious idea i thought. As someone who is never able to attend talks such as these but with great interest in them, being able to go online and watch it from home later on is ideal and a great service that this and other libraries provide. You could also see this as a promotional tool, showing people what this library offers to encourage membership and attendance.

"But online videos aren't limited to just talks, you can have tours and orientations (which would be an excellent idea to provide when recruiting staff or volunteers to give a glimpse of what they can expect). Procedure videos would also be great so staff can be sure they all follow the same practices and can refresh themselves when necessary, as well as documentation of other library events. You could have mini documentaries on local history topics, showing real places of interest, which would be especially handy for those who could not visit in person. You could even document kid's activities so they could relive and recreate them at home. So many possibilities.

"Videos wouldn't only provide access to materials in another format. Videos would also perform other functions: it would be creating a record of an event which could be used to basically inform, but also to preserve part of the library's history and heritage by capturing a small part of it, as well as being able to advertise what services and facilities the library has to offer. The online accessibility through Youtube and Google also means they can reach a much wider audience of viewers."

There was no response from the Cheshire Catalogue. How rude, I thought, to engage one in conversation only to leave one talking to oneself! Hmmpf! I looked up at the moon one last time. I could swear that grin just got bigger!

A Cheshire Moon

2008-03-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

Previously in Bloggerland: The Wiki'd witch flew off to find more wiki'd witches, revealing a sparkling night sky...and a curious looking moon...
(Taken from the Sydney Observatory blog, originally Published by Geoff Wyatt March 6th, 2008 in Observations )

Bad Wiki! (a side note)

2008-03-18T00:32:00.000-07:00

Try to find some useful and accurate information on this wiki.

Try looking up "librarian" or "library".

And keep in mind some people may not be as discerning as you are.

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

The Wiki'd Witch

2008-03-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, so there are no witches in Bloggerland usually, but i have once again diverted down a strange path and have found an Endless Cavern where the Wiki'd witch hovers on her broom, maintaining wikis and monitoring contributions. This is what the Wiki'd Witch said to me:

"Wiki's i think are good in general provided you understand their purposes.

Wiki's, i believe (at least for now, maybe society will change in future), due to their very nature, should not seriously be used as a source of reliable, accurate and up-to-date information. Despite rigorous reviewing to try to maintain the integrity of the Wiki's information, with so many contributors, all with their own subjective viewpoints and opinions, the information provided can never be considered a solid resource, at least, as i said before, for the moment.

"However, they are still very useful and good and an important part of online communication and community. The Internet in general has seen the move away from traditional resources, and this should be embraced, with more information being available than ever before ( how useful or reliable this information actually is, is another matter ). With the input of several people with various knowledge areas, instead of a singular academic, information is broader and more inclusive. But i believe that we should always keep in mind what we are dealing with essentially: people's various and varying opinions.

"I think wiki's would be excellent for use in libraries as a book club/ review feature (as Miztres said in their post), allowing staff and borrowers to comment, provide links, etc. However, i think most people would also like their contributions to stay intact, instead of being edited by someone else, as they are opinions not textbooks. Perhaps it would be best used as an internal source of information, for describing procedures and policies and what-to-dos, which can be edited and reviewed as necessary. I have seen many libraries taking up this option. As long as the contributors are registered and controlled, and people understand how to use them, wiki use for any use should be fine."

And with that, the witch flew up high into the sky, laughing a hearty laugh, and vanished into the night where the stars sparkled and the wiki's remained in need of more wiki'd witches.

Feeding a hungry blogzit

2008-03-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

I seem to have gone down another crazy path, with more of those crazy characters that i have encountered before. This time zillions of RockySludgeSlugs (RSSs for short) also came slithering down from the branches and some landed on my blog. Now they are oozing gooey information that changes every now and then when it feels like, sort of like a chameleon changing colours (i did say sort of). Their presence has intrigued me and sparked my curiosity about the functions and purposes and uses of such entities. I can imagine they are very useful when it comes to important things where you need the most current and up to date information. Also fun to keep abreast of your favourite topics of interest. I think both uses are legitimate and could be a useful feature on library websites, or within intranets so every one is on top of those last minute changes. Overall, RSS feeds are a great alternative to constantly checking sites for information: who wants to go anywhere when somewhere can come to you, unless of course you want to go anywhere which is fine, better than going nowhere, and RSS doesn't really replace it accentuates. Oh dear, i seem to be making less and less sense, i must try to get back to the main path where i saw the rabbit disappear. What's this, eh? I wonder...Maybe they can help me...

Finding the white rabbit

2008-03-11T00:02:00.001-07:00

Cute Little White Bunny
Originally uploaded by -kirra-

I finally found the white rabbit, but it was quite a tricky journey. Well, blogging a picture from Flickr is quite a long winding path through the woods if you ask me. Strange creatures like the secretive "passwords" and zany "logins" are around every bend, in fact i am completely surrounded! Look, there's another account to create behind that tree! I better get out of here (and get more practice)... oh that rabbit has disappeared again. Hmmm, this could be the way he went...

Down the Rabbit Hole

2008-03-04T22:50:00.001-08:00

Falling, falling , falling into the magical realms of cyberspace.

How Curious! I've created a blog, how splendid, how exciting!

Lets see, how about a nice poem to begin with:

Blogging seems like fun,
you can do it together or alone.
Inside or under the sun,
in a library or at home.

I've always thought it was a good idea
to have blogs in libraries, and now its clear
That others feel the same way too
For book clubs, discussions, and online courses too!

Hurrah! I'll write more soon.

Love Alice