Discovery Exercise #23 Is This Really The End?

And so the journey ends. This part of the journey, anyway. It's been a valuable experience for me; I've learned a lot. I was impressed with the power of RSS feeds and enjoyed seeing word processing from a different angle with Zoho Writer. Library 2.0 provided a glimpse of the library of tomorrow; Overdrive might be a precursor of what's to come on a much larger scale. My favorites were the visual sites Flickr and YouTube.
As for lifelong learning goals, I could use a number of these tools to locate and better manage information and thus use technology to my advantage. And, as I've worked through the exercises, there's been the opportunity to view problems as challenges.
I didn't expect the wide range of interactive sites that are available. I'd be interested in participating in another discovery program like this one. To answer the question in the title of this exercise, I don't think this is the end at all. This program is really part of an ongoing process of learning that helps us follow our fundamental value of service to library users. As long as technology is advancing, we need to keep learning.

Discovery Exercise #22 Audio Books (or "The end is near")

I established an OverDrive account. I found an audio book that looked interesting, 13 Things That Don't Make Sense. The Most Bafflng Scientific Mysteries of Our Time by Michael Brooks. There was also a video I liked called The Great Transatlantic Cable by WGBH. I thought it was an attractive and useful site, and also might be the forerunner of things to come.

Discovery Exercise #21 Podcasts, Smodcasts

I tried the various podcast directories listed and found a podcast in Podcast Alley. I selected a podcast called "Nova Vodcast/PBS" and added the feed to my Bloglines account. Like YouTube, Podcast Alley gives you some guidance or at least a starting point by giving you lists such as Top 10 Podcasts, Featured Podcasts, and Newest Podcasts. There's a wealth of information available here.

Discovery Exercise #20 You Too Can YouTube

I enjoyed YouTube. It's very easy to use and the featured videos allows for some quick browsing among the multitude of videos available. I liked the Quicklist feature that lets you quickly get back to videos you liked.
I found a video called "Space Shuttle" that shows a shuttle launch. It's a spectacular video: you can practically feel the heat from the flames as the shuttle lifts off. The shot shifts to a downward-facing camera and you can watch the ground rapidly falling away. This is video at its best; you almost feel like you're there.
A library website might use something like the Community tab which contains discussions, feedback and suggestions.

Discovery Exercise #19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

From the Web 2.0 awards list I chose the category of health and selected the third place winner, iMedix. The site is very easy to use. You can get started instantly; there's a search box right next to the title. When you enter a search term you get a drop down list of more specific similar terms. I liked the fact that you get a combination of authoritative sources like the University of Maryland Medical Center and personal experiences. I didn't find anything to dislike; the site is very successful in managing a huge amount of information. Useful features include help in making your search more specific and what are called communities. Communities are focused on specific health topics and include, for each topic, a box where you can ask questions, information on people interested in this topic, related videos, and links. This could be useful in a library to help answer reference questions on health, provide library users with the opportunity to ask questions online, and provide personal experiences. The site is easy to use and provides a lot of information from different kinds of sources.

Discovery Exercise #18 Web-Based Apps

I tried out some of Zoho Writer's features and created several test documents. I thought it was quick and simple to use. I used bold, italicize, underline, centering, changed margins, fonts, and type size, and created a bulleted list. I liked all the functions being on the toolbar. It's handy to have documents accessible from anywhere.

Discovery Exercise #17 Playing Around with PB Wiki

The sandbox was interesting. I thought the Favorites list was fun -- it was a good index. I added a comment under Favorite TV Shows.