The wonderful world of

I'm in two minds about wikis. Having experimented with wordpress, it's clear that it isn't WYSIWYG and it is a little bit like the early days of the net with html, i.e. you still have to learn a bit about formatting. We were hoping to create a procedure manual, (like the Antioch University one) and spread the load of creation amongst many people rather than having one person do the lot, but wordpress was a little hard to use and the help files weren't that helpful. I'll download mediawiki, have a play with it, and see if that's better, more user friendly for the work context.

PB Wiki is pretty user friendly. I've just setup one fairly quickly and simply for my TAFE Consumer Behaviour students so they can access documents, links etc relevant to the course. However, it only allows 10mb of space. Wetpaint has a bit too much advertising. Wikispaces has 100mb of space for your wiki and docs. Zoho has the best interface and toolbars but the help page has tons of unanswered questions dating back months so that doesn't auger well for the future.

St Joseph County Public Library Subject Guides is a neat idea.

If you want to collaborate (with the public or colleagues or both), then a wiki looks like the way to go. If you want to do it cheaply, then a wiki is also the way to go. Website management software is not cheap. If you want to do it and bypass your Council IT people, then a wikispace could also be the way to go.

Like the ask a librarian instant messaging service using the various free messaging services, though. What a simple and direct solution.

Wookiepedia!!! Boom. Boom. Love it. Check out whiskipedia, too.

Feeding my RSS habit

Tried bloglines. OK site. I've been using IE7 for my feeds but having them available anywhere thru a web based account is better than only having them available at one desktop or having to set them up on every desktop or laptop that I use. I think I'll stick with Google reader, though. I've got the email account now and the blog. I don't really want to use a different service for each function. Gotta keep it simple. So Google will be my one stop shop for a while till something better comes along.

Flickr finds from Penriff

Wow! What a photo.

Found 11,280 photos on Flickr under "Penrith". This also includes our sister city in Cumbria, UK. This is the first photo that comes up under the Penrith tag. Penrith NSW gets 6,696 photos. Penrith Australia gets 7,144 photos.

The NLA Picture Australia use of Flickr is a great idea.

I'm a bit concerned about the privacy issue. I am now checking all the permissions pages on these accounts that I'm setting up, i.e. Google (for Blogger), Yahoo (for Flickr). Caveat emptor I suppose. The ramifications of the privacy issue on these types of websites and its relation to identity theft is covered in an article in MASHUP, With online friends like these and In your Facebook.

Interesting reading.

Convergence and the grand unifying theory of everything

Remember the grand unifying theory of everything? That quixotic, chimerical, wonderful attempt to integrate all the known physical forces into one neat package?

The whole trend towards the convergence of electronic devices reminds me of that a bit. All those electronic devices in one..... my phone, PC, PDA, camera, video camera, TV, remote, car key, front door key, light switch, coffee machine, beer can opener, wallet etc etc etc all the essentials of life merged into portable, flexible, expandable, shrinkable oneness.....

Einstein'd have one, don't ya reckon?

But I digress.

In my blissful contemplation of this nerd nirvana, I must acknowledge that there are some who are not worshipping at this Uniting Church of Technology. Some are resisting the siren song of synthesis. Unfortunately, they have some good reasons for this. Check out "Convergence is a crock" from the SMH technology blog "MASHUP". While I dream of the ultimate device, I still don't use half the functions on my phone and often forget to take it with me anyway.

Maybe Einstein wouldn't have one after all. Bit hard to get the quiet time to yourself to think up the theory of relativity when your girlfriends and mates are texting you every ten seconds.

Waddayarekkun?

ebooks, ebooks, wherefore art thou ebooks?

Or perhaps what art thou ebooks? Ever wondered about how we haven't been swamped by the tide of ebooks that techies have been threatening us with for years?

Apart from the fact that most predictions about things electronic are made by techies (and/or futurists [whatever they might be]) who extrapolate trends from the thinking and behaviour of a small segment of society (i.e. techies) to the thinking and behaviour of the rest of us (who don't think or behave like techies), what is it about ebooks that has made them so wonderfully resistable to the great majority of us?

An article in the Herald's "Gadgets on the go" blog called "ebook fact or fiction" provides some interesting answers with some down to earth practical ideas and advice from both adopters and non adopters alike.

The day of the ebook (what a title for a book?) will come when it can do all the things that its champions claim for it in a simple, uncomplicated, user friendly way. As soon as digital rights management, standardizing of formats and devices and competitively low pricing appears, I'll be on board.

What about you?

First past the post

Well they're racing, as Ken Howard would say.

And its "London to a brick on" that librarians will be a winner with Learning 2.0.

Like the format of the course. Simple, easy to follow, interesting.

Stephen Fry fascinating as usual. I can't help thinking of him as Charles Prentiss from "Absolute power", though. Adds another dimension to his video. I keep remembering one of his comments to his business partner. Something along the lines of "If I didn't exist, Martin, you would have to invent me." Web 2.0 seems the perfect vehicle for inventing the indispensable character.

I thought the blog examples provided were very useful. Loved the blog for the WW1 soldier with posts matching the dates of his letters from the front. What a great idea! Blogs could be huuuuuge for local studies.

The effectiveness of social networking sites on the Alternative teen services blog was very pertinent. With a mania for measurement myself, it was good to read someone examining the measurability of some web 2.0 stuff and giving suggestions for how to do it meaningfully.

OK. Now I'm Gmailed, RSSfed and blogged up ready to sally forth on the Web 2.0 adventure. Roll on Week 3.