This learning 2.0 journey has been a long but extremely useful one. Some of the weekly exercises could have been shorter as many became very time consuming. This is probably why many of my workmates have not completed all their tasks - they are in one person libraries and even though offered extra time when the library was closed, some activities were just too time consuming. I have to admit some of the early instructions were not clear and this was disheartening. Attaching bloglines to the blog was the stumbling block for a lot of people and I can believe that many felt it was beyond their capabilities. The feeling was that if they were stuck so early on, the rest of the program would be too difficult. Trying to help staff over the phone is not the same as assisting in person.

This is a shame, because overall the program exposed me to many areas that I had read about but never experienced firsthand. There are some I will probably go back to and spend more time exploring and some I hope never to see again! I was annoyed at the American content at times and felt that some of it needed to be adapted to provide more relevance to Australia.

This program has provided an avenue for all of us to think about how we currently deliver library services and what we should be considering for the very near future and, in the words of Buzz Lightyear - to infinity and beyond! We have to remain relevant to all of the community and often libraries are the first point of call for much related to the internet. For me this program, while somewhat frustrating at times, has assisted in exciting me to embrace newer technologies and adapt some of them for library and personal use.

World EBook Fair had mainly classics and no Australian content that I could find. Over time I am sure this site will develop and grow, matching the growth in popularity of MP3 players and podcasts. Audiobooks will be another format that libraries will be able to offer to attract a wider audience and I can see it as extremely useful for smaller branches who don't have the space to retain everything.

Podcasts allow access to a wide range of subjects. Just as YouTube is visual, podcasts are audio, which makes them another practical tool to assist in lifelong learning. Both have a practical use in a library environment and would encourage independent learning. I'm sure the portability of podcasts are a major factor in their popularity and no-one need know that you are not being "cool" and listening to music! However, I am a little disappointed about the lack of Australian content. Perhaps there are Australian sites and I have yet to uncover them.

I could spend all day exploring this. I have listened to all the hype but never experienced it firsthand. So many practical demonstrations that make learning easy, not to mention all the comedy and lighthearted clips. Many of the clips step the viewer through things page by page, which is just like having a teacher with you. This would be great for those who have literacy difficulties or just like to learn through visual instruction. Training on how to use the internet/computers may have just become that little bit easier as some of these clips could be incorporated into a practical session. This would save staff time and could be linked to the homepage to highlight the ability for self instruction.

Quite a range of wonderful sites to search. I will have to come back to this site when I have lots of time to play. The site http://www.biblio.com/ was listed as a winner in the "books" section, but found this very similar to http://www.abebooks.com/ that I use frequently to locate out of print books. Both sites can limit to Australian booksellers which is a useful tool.


There are a broad spectrum of categories from business to retail, events to philanthropy and lists and polls, which makes this site useful for just about everyone. Most of them appear to be American based, so be would be interesting to see if Australia has something of a similar nature. I particularly enjoyed http://www.etsy.com/, a site displaying handmade articles for sale. Some people are so innovative and creative.

Zoho writer is very similar to other word processing applications and I can see a number of uses. It is versatile and can see a number of people editing a document easily without the hassle of emailing it back and forth. Any changes would be immediate and apparent to others. The only issue I can see is that relies on an internet connection - contrary to popular belief, some regions in Victoria do not have access to a reliable service. How frustrating would it be to have the internet time out in the middle of a document?!

Another useful tool that has many applications in a library environment. But which is the best way to disseminate information to our public? Blogs or wikis or both? Wikis are definitely more interactive and easy to change. This is something our library staff will have to examine shortly, as we are in the process of completely redeveloping our website.

After playing in the sandbox, adding or altering an entry is just like editing a normal word document. Extremely flexible and a great way to have people from all over the world contributing their collective knowledge. I can see a wiki being very useful in gathering local history information, as it will not just be restricted to people living in one particular area. Collecting memories internationally would provide unique insights to perceptions of an area.

I have been using the library success wiki (www.libsuccess.org) for over 12 months and have found it a great resource and it even has some Australian content appearing now. A little disappointing that now an email confirmation is now required because of vandalism and this is obviously a negative of utilising a wiki. I can see that wikis would be extremely additive for family history reserachers and would like to see one develop for this library service. I must admit most of my time was spent looking at the SJCPL Subject Guide Wiki under genealogy/family history and imagining what could be achieved!