How 2.0 R U Now?

Way back in January when we first got started on this blogging journey, many of you took a quiz -- How 2.0 R U? We'd like to see what kind of difference this training has made, so please give the quiz another try and let us know, How 2.0 R U Now?

Some of you followed the training all along, some of you participated every so often, some of you read along silently. We hope everyone found something interesting, something new, and something that will help you help our customers in the future if not now.

Please comment on this final post to let us know what you thought, what you liked, what you didn't, what could be done differently, better, or not at all. This is the feedback we will use to decide where we go next in the 2.0 world.

In the next day or so we'll put the names of those who completed the training in a hat and one lucky blogger will receive an iPod Shuffle. Look for the winner on your library news blog -- LibBlog.

Soon all the participant blogs will be detached from this training blog. If you have a blog it is yours to keep up with, or you can delete it. If you don't plan to use your blog you can go to the same screen you use to create a post, click the Settings tab at the top, scroll all the way to the bottom of the Settings screen and Delete your blog.

This hcplc = lib 2.0 training blog will stay here so you can read and work through the lessons and other posts and continue to learn.

So please, take the quiz, comment on the training, and enjoy the blogosphere!

2.0 Alphabet

is for Hype Machine. The Hype Machine is here to make music discovery fun and get artists paid. The Hype Machine tracks a variety of MP3 blogs. If a post contains MP3 links, it adds those links to its database and displays them on the front page.
Some of the frequently accessed tracks are cached by the Hype Machine server, much like Google Search caches web pages, to reduce load on the bloggers' servers and protect their bandwidth.
Those tracks are NOT available for download, but you can preview them via the play buttons that are next to each track.
The blog that posted a particular track is identified under every track by name so you can read more about why they posted it. If you enjoyed a track someone posted, stop by and let them know!

The Hype Machine is an MP3 blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin. It enables "one-stop shopping" of postings from thousands of MP3 blogs.[1] Volodkin created the website in 2005 while enrolled at Hunter College.[2]
Some MP3 bloggers have complained that aggregators (such as The Hype Machine) allow users to download music without taking in the entire experience of a music blog, such as its editorial content. [Wikipedia]

How about a Podcast about Blogs?

NPR has done a series of stories - now available as streaming audio (not really a podcast). The term "Web log," which was then shortened to "blog," was born 10 years ago. Blogs have made their mark on American culture, especially on politics. In this series, NPR looks at the blogosphere's evolution, as well as who blogs, the language and culture of blogs and how blogs are changing our lives.

IN THIS SERIES
Blogging Becomes More Mobile
December 28, 2007 · New "microblogging" tools give people the ability to post short blogs — just a sentence long. A new generation of tools lets users publish audio and video blogs simply by using their cell phones, which means people can blog from almost anywhere and at any time.

Blogs Scoured for Book Deals
December 27, 2007 · Blogs can rocket ordinary people into sudden notoriety and fame as some book and talent agents trawl blogland to find the next big thing. Dawn Meehan, a stay-at-home mom, started blogging about the everyday rigors of family life and got thousands of readers and a book deal.

Blogs Become Serious Business
December 26, 2007 · Blogs matter more than ever — to political candidates, to a colonel managing a war, to human-rights advocates trying to deliver their message. Two experts discuss the growing impact of blogs.

The Big Book of Blogs
December 25, 2007 · Are all blogs just scattered rantings and mundane diaries? Reporter and critic Sarah Boxer trawled the Web for solid examples of blog writing and assembled them in a book, Ultimate Blogs: Masterworks from the Wild Web.

'Web Log' Celebrates 10th Anniversary
December 24, 2007 · Ten years ago, the phrase "Web log" — which was then shortened to "blog" — was born. Now there are more than 100 million blogs, and about 100,000 new blogs are created daily.

Learning to Embrace My Inner Blogger
December 24, 2007 · Blogger Andy Carvin writes about his experience keeping an online journal, and how the tools have changed over the years, resulting in the explosive growth of the blogosphere.

Timeline: The Life of the Blog
December 24, 2007 · Personal journals and professional logs, concepts rooted in ancient times, are two types of precursors to the modern blog. Read a timeline tracking the development of the blog as we know it today.

Why Meebo?

A few weeks ago during the IM and Virtual Reference part of our training we were using a Meebo room to investigate the virtues of chat. Here's an interesting post from David Lee King's blog on how it works in his library. Don't forget to click on through to Helene Blower's post on her blog to see his inspiration. And Helene is quoting from yet another blog....

This Week's 2.0 Book

For more examples of how libraries are using blogs and RSS feeds, take a look at Blogging & RSS, a Librarian's Guide by Michael P. Sauers (Medford, N.J : Information Today, 2006).

Libraries increasingly use blogs and RSS feeds to reach out to users, while librarians blog daily on a range of personal and professional topics. The way has been paved by the tech-savvy and resource-rich, but any library or librarian can successfully create and syndicate a blog today. In this readable book, author, Internet trainer, and blogger Michael P. Sauers, M.L.S., shows how blogging and RSS technology can be easily and effectively used in the context of a library community. Sauers showcases interesting and useful blogs, shares insights from librarian bloggers, and offers step-by-step instructions for creating, publishing, and syndicating a blog using free Web-based services, software, RSS feeds, and aggregators.

Michael P. Sauers is the Internet trainer for BCR's Member Services Division, and a part time reference librarian for the Arapahoe County Library District. He is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Aurora Public Library and the board of the Friends of the Aurora Public Library. He is the author of seven books on technology for librarians and has written dozens of articles for library industry journals. [Amazon.com Review]

Icarus

This blog for customers of the Santa Fe Public Library has contributors from staff throughout the system. One of the nicest of its kind I have seen. And look how they put that catalog search box right there.

Blogging Journals

Following up on Andrew's post, quite a lot, maybe all, of the professional journals we read already have seriously invested in the 2.0 world. Blogs, and e-newsletters are common now, and so much more timely than the print journals, especially if you get them routed through the system. I often find that by the time I get a journal I have already read the news, and sometimes the articles, online. Lately even the reviews are becoming available. Lots of the content, however, is exclusive to the web. Book Group Buzz is a Booklist blog that is really valuable if you run, or participate in, a book club.

More than the Front Desk

Darien Library has lots of blogs, btw. They have a consistent look and are all for the public as well as staff. I particularly like their book blog, and the ones for children and young adults. And their community blog is a great service. Even their director blogs.

Blogs 4 U

Have you found lots of great blogs to read? In our next lesson we'll talk about how to keep all this good stuff under control, but for now, in case you have not yet found a few blogs of interest to you, let me tell you about Technorati. This is a website that tracks blogs, 112.8 million of them to date. Here's a bit about blogs in general from Technorati:
A blog, or weblog, is a regularly updated journal published on the web. Some blogs are intended for a small audience; others vie for readership with national newspapers. Blogs are influential, personal, or both, and they reflect as many topics and opinions as there are people writing them.
Blogs are powerful because they allow millions of people to easily publish and share their ideas, and millions more to read and respond. They engage the writer and reader in an open conversation, and are shifting the Internet paradigm as we know it.
On the World Live Web, bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, creating the type of immediate connection one would have in a conversation. Technorati tracks these links, and thus the relative relevance of blogs, photos, videos etc. We rapidly index tens of thousands of updates every hour, and so we monitor these live communities and the conversations they foster.
The World Live Web is incredibly active, and according to Technorati data, there are over 175,000 new blogs (that’s just blogs) every day. Bloggers update their blogs regularly to the tune of over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second.
You can take a look at the most popular blogs according to Technorati right here.

And here are just a couple of interesting blogs I am sharing today.
At the Darien Library, the public service staff have their own blog that they are encouraged to post to, The Front Desk Speaks. I love this recent post.
If you are having a stressful day, try a one minute meditation at this very unusual blog, Moments of Rest.

59 Blogs and counting...

Yes, that's right - there are already 59 blogs linked to hcplc=Lib 2.0! You still have until next Monday to get your blog created to be able to fully participate in the remaining training sessions - don't forget to send the URL in a comment to the workbook section #3 - Blogs & Blogging.


Do blogs really have global reach? Sure they do. Just check out a comment on Julie Troupe's very first blog posting on her Storytime Staples blog...she mentions using the book "One Frog Sang" and the author of the book - Shirley Parenteau -left a really great comment.


I guess you could say - "One Blog Sang."

How's your blogging?

Blogs: Sources of Social Knowledge

This past week we’ve read posts and articles which have discussed the many varieties of blogs and how they fit into the landscape of social networking. David Weinberger mentions in his article, Libraries in the Age of Social Knowledge, that successful social networking sites provide social objects, items that the group can share, talk about and build relationships around. Blogs can be included in the discussion of social knowledge even though they tend to be written by one person because they still offer the social functionality of comment fields. The social object Weinberger refers to in this article is knowledge. Yes, we could start a totally new discussion on whether people are sharing information or knowledge, but for the sake of this post I will refer to the social objects being shared as knowledge.

Weinberger goes on to say that libraries have many virtues but treating books as social objects is not one of them. A library book is passed from one person to another, in serial fashion, intact. You are penalized for making the book your own by, say, highlighting passages or writing in the margins, no matter how smart your annotations are…Because libraries have been physical spaces, this has made perfect sense. Your book mark-up, no matter how smart, distracts others. Your jabbering away in one of the library’s reading room disturbs other. That’s just how space and matter work.

How can libraries compete or even keep up with the social exchange of knowledge? Should we even compare our printed materials to blogs and other knowledge sharing tools? I don’t think we have a choice. Libraries will have to continually examine their role in the exchange of knowledge if we are to remain relevant in this digitized, networked world.

Weinberger ends on a very positive and encouraging note when he asserts: As works of knowledge become more and more social, we will still need humans staying one step ahead, guiding us with greater wisdom than the works themselves can muster. Those are our librarians.

2.0 on the Book Shelf

Here's two books that should get you thinking about blogs:

Blogging for Dummies by Susannah Gardiner (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley Pub., c2008. )

* In Part I, readers learn what a blog is, why they might want to create one, and what they need to get started.

* Part II gets readers up and running with their first blog.

* Part III shows readers how to make their blog stand out in a crowd.

* Part IV teaches readers how to customize their blog by adding eye-catching features like expanding a blog's sidebar (where bloggers are able to post personal recommendations, surveys, etc.), adding photos or even delving into podcasting and videoblogging.

* Part V shows readers how to get the word out about their blog and maybe make some money at the same time.

* Part VI discusses how to keep a blog's comments useful and on topic, ten cool tricks tools to make a blog shine, and examples of successful blogs.

How To Do Everything with your Web2.0 Blog by Todd Stauffer (New York : McGraw-Hill, c2008. )

Incorporate the hottest new Web technologies into your blog! How to Do Everything with Your Web 2.0 Blog makes it easy to choose the blogging tools that are best for you and master the basics of blog design and template manipulation. You'll learn how to add different Web 2.0 services to your blog, including images, video, audio, forums, tags, wikis, and even money-making features. It's time to take your blog to the next level and get more hits, more fans, more friends, and more customers.
*Learn about different blogging tools, including Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, and ExpressionEngine
*Customize your blog's design by editing templates and style sheets
*Share your blog headlines and story feeds via RSS and Atom
*Add photos, video, and audio--including podcasts--to your blog
*Drive traffic to your site with tagging, social bookmarking, and ranking services
*Collaborate with users through wikis
*Promote visitor participation using forums, community blogs, and newsletters
*Make money through your blog with Google AdSense, Amazon, and other affiliate programs
*Track, optimize, maintain, and back up your blog.

Blogs, blogs, everywhere

Maybe you have started your own blog (lots of you have, congratulations!), or maybe you are just thinking about it. One way to get started is by reading other blogs. Certainly read those of your friends and colleagues, but there are so many more you might want to take a look at, visit regularly, add to a newsreader. (I know, I know, that's the next lesson.)
Anyway, here are some blogs for you to consider reading, commenting on, subscribing to.

It's official, libraries and blogging go together. Check out the Library of Congress blog.

The librarians aren't the only ones in Washington blogging. Yes indeed, here is The Hill's Congress Blog (where lawmakers come to blog).

This one is a wiki, but I just want to point out that lots of public libraries are blogging away.

Since you work in the library there is a good chance you love books. Even if you aren't into creating your own personal library on LibraryThing, you may want to get into the LibraryThing blog.

Stay on top of local happenings with Sticks of Fire.

You can also stay current on Tampa, and the world at large, by reading newspaper blogs. There are so many to choose from, here are blogs from The St. Petersburg Times, The Tampa Tribune, and the newspaper of record, The New York Times. What a wealth of information and conversation! More opinionated, and often more interesting, than the articles in the newspapers.

If you still want to know some more about this blog stuff, here are a couple of blog entries you can read.
How Blogs Work is an entry on a blog called How Stuff Works.
And you can Learn More about Blogs and Blogging on this entry into the Discovery Series on a blog called Library Stream.

Now get blogging!

Intro to Blogging

Today we are starting workbook section #3 - Blogs & Blogging in the hcplc=Lib 2.0 training.

During this two week period, you will be:

• exploring library & non-library blogs,
• learning how blogs are being used in libraries (and maybe adding to the list of possibilities yourself),
• posting on a few comments on a few blogs,
• creating a blog of your own that will be your 2.0 workbooks through the rest of the training.

Don't worry if you haven't created your blog yet, you have another two weeks. Take a look at the "hcplc=Lib 2.0 Participants" area on the training blog - 48 of your eager colleagues have already created a blog and are posting.

Here's some links to get you started exploring blogs:

• Top 10 Library Blogs to watch in 2008, from LIS News
• Top 10 non-Library Blogs to watch (see comments to post), also from LIS News

Here are the Top Blogging sites in December, 2007 (from Nielsen Media Research):

Web 2.0 and the presidential election process

Web 2.0 is becoming an integral part of how we communicate and has been very evident during the current 2008 presidential election campaign. As I take time to think about it, the candidates and their supporters have been using many of the web 2.0 technologies included in our training.

We've seen presidential candidates declare their candidacy via YouTube and raise incredible sums of money thru online fundraising. Candidates have official blogs and social networking site profiles. Analysts are creating mashups with interactive maps that show dollars raised in specific communities. Supporters have wikis and blogs to discuss their views with embedded videos while others are creating their own campaign ads. Many supporters are adding candidates to their list of social network friends indicating their support and in a sense, displaying a new style of “bumper sticker.” Surely one of the most memorable events has been the CNN YouTube debate with the presidential hopefuls fielding questions from a snowman.

Will it make a difference? Perhaps only time will tell but there is no question that we have come a long way since the fire side chat!

Radio when you want it

National Public Radio has lots of interesting coverage of timely topics. This week, for example, they have been marking the 10th anniversary of the first weblogs with daily stories; this morning's story is about people whose blogs brought them attention from publishers who noticed not only their popularity but the fact that they have something to say and know how to write. So, from 2.0 to print they go!
The great thing about NPR, and other radio as well, is that you can actually listen whenever you like, and that is 2.0. Do what you like when you like. So you can subscribe to podcasts and download them from iTunes to your iPod and listen when you have time, while you are out for a walk, cleaning the house, etc. Or you can go to the station's website and download just the shows you want to hear to your mp3 player, or you can listen to what you want right on your computer.
On Saturday's edition of All Things Considered I heard a 20 something woman explain why she had dropped out of Facebook. You can hear that story right here.
And just because it is wonderful, listen to this story about a bat in winter.
By the way, our community radio station, WMNF, offers podcasts of their locally produced shows; you can see the list and an explanation of podcasting right here.

Bet you can't read just one

There are so many interesting and informative blogs out there. One way to find blogs that you want to read is through the blogs you already read. Many blogs include a list of recommended sites along the side (see our blogroll over there on the right), and often you'll find bloggers mentioning each other in their posts.
For example, I like to look at Book By Its Cover, a blog that celebrates the art of all kinds of books, including picture books, graphic novels, and handmade books.
And speaking of beautiful books, you can view a slide show of The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books 2007.

Even non-librarians are impressed by Helene!

Wired published this article about PLCMC's Helene Blowers and now I'm really excited about the possibility of getting her down here for our kickoff! Plus her blog is very cool.

From the Bloggers: A New Book Award

Unlike other awards for children's books, the Cybils consider both literary merit and kid appeal. Read more about this award that children's literature bloggers came up with in School Library Journal.

Story times on a blog

Miss B, children's librarian at Palos Verdes Library District in California, blogs her story times so that anyone can replicate her themes and activities. Save yourself some time this week by pulling a program right off her Story Time blog!