#11 WhoTube? YouTube!

Just about two years ago, Google bought a fairly new social networking site called YouTube for $1.65 billion dollars. Yep, $1.65 billion. Online video hosting websites have exploded in the past year allowed users to easily upload and share videos. YouTube is definitely the top dog in the video area, with users playing more than 100 million videos a day! (Holy cow!) YouTube also allows users to embed clips easily into their own sites.

Do some searching around YouTube and see what you can find. Be forewarned: it can be addicitive! You will find everything from 1970s commercials to library workout videos to Jonathan and his appreciation for turtles. Of course, like most of the internet you will also come across things that just aren’t worth watching. But still explore and discover what YouTube has to offer!

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore YouTube and find a video worth sharing as an entry on your blog.
2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Do you have many ideas about how these features might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?

   OPTIONAL: Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and past code for the “Emdebbable player: Note: You will need to use Blogger’s Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.

#10 Podcasts, Smodcasts!!

In 2005, the New Oxford American Dictionary named “podcast” the word of the year. The word podcast refers to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcast is often done automatically through RSS. (And we all know and love what RSS is!)

Podcasts can take many forms, from short 1-15 minute commentaries, shows, and snippets of information to much longer interviews, panel discussions, or shows. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you do not need an iPod or MP3 player to access them. Since Podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, all you need is a personal computer, or a portal device, with headphones or a speaker.

iTunes, one of the most popular online music stores and a free downloadable application created by Apple is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options available. (Also: download iTunes! It is fun and free!)

For this discovery exercise play with some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. And now that we have a Bloglines account, you can easily add the RSS feed and you will be automatically notified of new podcasts! (Neat, right?)

Discovery Resources:

• Podcast Tutorial by Common Craft
• There are many podcast finding tools and directories available. These are some of the more popular tools, and unlike iTunes, don’t require a software download.
  
  • Podcastalley.com
  • PodFeed
    
• So, you want to learn to be a podcaster too?
  (Optional resources for those who want to learn to create podcasts and want a challenge!)
  • Beginner’s guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts
  • How to podcast tutorial

Discovery Exercises:

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed above and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. Can you find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.
2. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account
3. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?

#9 AudioBooks!!

It’s time to take a look around at NetLibrary, and the media available for download.

For this discovery exercise, you merely need to familiarize yourself a bit with the structure of NetLibrary, and get an ideas of the types of titles you can find there. Take a look around and locate a few titles of interests, both in ebook and audiobook. Downloadable materials is a fast growing service offered by libraries, with some vendors releasing titles that are compatible with the ubiquitous iPod. With growing interest from the public, you definitely have a real reason to try out this popular library services.

Discovery Resources:

Create a Free Account with NetLibrary: This tutorial was created by North Metro Technical College Library, so the look of the site might be a little different, but the concepts are the same.

Discovery Exercise:

1. NetLibrary:
   • Establish a Netlibrary account for yourself by accessing NetLibrary through the New Canaan Library site. Note: Your not a member of the Ferguson Library staff or don’t have a New Cannan library card, full access to NetLibrary may not be available.
   • Once you have an account created, you can access NetLibrary directly at http://netlibrary.com
   • Click on the eAudiobooks link and explore some titles.
     OPTIONAL: Try downloading a title. You don’t need the MP3 player to listen to an audiobook. You can play it off your computer.
2. Create a blog post about your findings. Did you find any titles that you wanted to download once you have your player?
   

#8: Blogging about Technology!

Hello New Cannan Library Learning 2.0 participants!

How's everyone doing? Learning? Having fun?

For Thing 8, please write a blog entry on anything technology related ! That’s right, anything! Just share a few thoughts in your blog post. You could write about something you find in your feed or a recent news article about technology, a cool site you learned about recently. Anything!

Since online communities are about communication and connecting, be sure to take a look at The Participants page. Check out what your colleagues are blogging about and make at least one comment.

#7 More Flickr Fun

Part of the Web 2.0 philosophy encourages users to build their own applications using the data and information from a particular site. Flickr has encouraged others to build their own applications using images found on the site. Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups that use Flickr images. Here are just a sampling of a few…

• Flickr Colr Pickr - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.
• Montagr - create a photo mosaic from photos found on Flickr.
• 
  

Discover more mashups, web apps, and Flickr tools.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there.
2. Create a blog post about one that intrigues you.

So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat little apps. And if you’re up to the challenge while you’re at it, why not create a trading card of your own.

* Mashup note: Wikipedia offers some great articles that explain mashups. Basically they are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like a map).

# 6: Discover Flickr

Photosharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it look a small startup called Flickr to move the idea of sharing into a full blown online community. Within the past few years, Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web, and is also known as one of the first websites to use “tags”. Tags are keywords to create associations and connection between photos and users of the site.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a tour of Flick and discover what this site has to offer. Explore how tags work, what groups are for, and all the fun things people and libraries are using Flickr for.

Discovery Resources:

• Flickr Magical Feature Tour (six steps)
• Flickr: Popular Tags
  Interestingness- Last 7 Days
• Flickr Services (3rd party applications and mashup)
• Libraries on Flickr

Discovery Exercise:

1. 1. Take a good look around Flickr, and discover an interesting image that you want to blog about. Either include a link to the image, or if you create a Flickr account, you can use Flickr’s blogging tool to add the image in your post. Another option you have for including images in your post is to use Blogger’s photo upload tool.

   –OR–

2. If you are up to an easy challenge… create a free account in Flickr and upload a few images to your Flickr account. Tag at least one of the images “newcanaanlibrary” and mark it public. Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. Once you have a Flickr account, you have two options for doing this: through Flickr’s blogging tool or using Blogger’s photo upload feature.

So, explore and discover Flickr, and have some photo fun. If you are interested in exploring some other photo hosting sites, checkout Picasa or Photobucket. This Wired article reviews and compares some of the photosharing sites available.

PS. A quick word about photo posting etiquette- When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) it is advisable to get the person’s permission before posting their photo in a publicity accessible place like Flickr. Never upload pictures that were not taken by you, unless you have permission from the photographer, and always give credit when including other’s photos in you blog.

Photo from Paris2e on Flickr.

#5 Locating Useful Feeds

Congrats! You have mastered the hardest discovery exercise. Now that you have a Bloglines account, you can start adding other newsfeeds that interest you. There are a few ways you can locate newsfeeds:

• When you are visiting your favorite website, for for the news feed icons that indicate the website provides it. Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere on the navigation bar of the site. (Not seeing it? Check the bottom of the page, most blogs will display on the right or left.)
• Use Blogline’s Search tool - Bloglines search allows you to search for news feeds, as well as posts, citations and the web. Use the Search for Feeds option to locate RSS feeds you might be interested in.
• Other Seach tool that can help you find feeds:
  
  • Technorati - Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs you may be interest in.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore some of the search tools listed above that will assist you locate some news feeds.
2. Create a blog post about your experience. Not sure what to blog about? Here are some things to think about…
   • Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
     
   • Which Search tool was the easiest for you?
   • What was more confusing?
   • What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels?
     
   • Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
     
   • What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?