Week 9: Podcasts

Podcasts are very user-friendly and useful tools to entertain and inform. My experience with them came from downloading onto my iPod several Civil War--related guided tours from iTunes. These were free of charge and produced by CivilWarTraveler.com. The beauty is that now I can walk the Gaines' Mill battlefield while listening to a park historian describe the fighting that took place there in June 1862. In terms of the VHS, it seems like the perfect tool to use for guided tours of new exhibitions. A podcast could effectively serve as a personal gallery walk. The VHS web site could have a podcast page where interested patrons could very easily download onto their computers and then onto their device a tour.

Now that we are at the end of "23 Things," I would like to say how useful this excercise has been for me personally. I did not know of most of the web 2.0 applications that are out there. In many ways I now look at the internet in a different way. Now I see it as something I can control a little bit more and that can supply me with the information I want in ways that I want it.

Week 8: Google Documents

This week's Web 2.0 application, Google Docs, is perhaps the most useful for what I do as an editor. Keeping track of changes to documents throughout the editing process can be confusing, but I can see how using Google Docs would help eliminate (or at least minimize) potential issues. Having control over who has access to certain documents is an excellent tool. The application is easy to use and I hope it catches on at the VHS. Until next time . . .

Week 7: Wikis

This week we got to experience the Wonderful World of Wikis. Of the past several web 2.0 applications, I think this one may be the most useful to the VHS. The idea of every staff member who participates having the ability to create and edit pages relating to VHS policies, activities, schedules, etc., is a great one and could prove helpful. I noticed the Saturday library schedule for example. That is always a fluid thing and being able to check the up-to-the-minute changes is an excellent tool. With a little help from our fearless leader, I was able to create a page listing the VHS's annual William Rachal award winners. Now I can go into the page next year and simply update the list. Very easy-to-use interface. I see great potential for the VHS wiki. Until next week . . .

Week 6: Social Networking

I recently signed up for a Facebook account and have truly enjoyed the experience. Though it can be addictive and a great way to spend a lot of time at the computer, I find it most useful in keeping up with people from all over and with institutions that I have an interest in. The VHS's Facebook page (of which I am a fan) is an excellent tool for getting the word out about the society. I have also looked at MySpace and LinkidIn but don't plan to set up a MySpace account at the moment, though I can see that both are useful tools for engaging in social interaction. MySpace does offer more visual potential than Facebook. The VHS's page is eye-catching and in this day and age that can be a great advantage to draw people's attention. I did setup a LinkedIn account and can definitely see the advantage to individual employees and the institution as a whole. Networking is always a great way to get the word out about our great staff and the VHS's activities.

I also signed up for a Meebo account. I have never done instant messaging so I can't speak to its use. Although I can imagine that if you want to get the word out about something you or your institution is doing than instant messaging would be a great tool for that. I will explore the possibilities more in the future. Unitl next time . . .

Delicious web tools

What makes the web such a fantastic resource is the incredible amount of information available to anyone who ventures into its many sites. With tools such as Delicious.com and Technorati.com, organizing web sites and searching for relevant blogs is much easier.

I found Delicious.com to be very easy to use. The idea that my bookmarks can follow me wherever I go is fantastic. Also, the use of tags to automatically organize bookmarks by subjects is so much better than creating individual folders. Many times the same web site relates to several different categories that I might have created. Now with tags I can get to the same site through different search strategies. The set up of Delicious.com is also very user friendly and the Firefox add on makes the process even more efficient.

For those who love searching for blogs, I think that Technorati.com is a wonderful tool. Like Delicious.com, it is easy to set up and use and offers a great way to find blogs of interest or that relate to specific search terms through tags.

Mashups

I neglected to comment about Mashups in my earlier blog entry. I can see how great a tool Mashups can be. Combining different applications to allow the user to search for information is an excellent way to give more comprehensive search results. I tried the Flickr picker color search interface and found some great images with particular color shades. I am not certain how that specific tool would be of use by the VHS but then I am not a web designer. I can imagine how you could somehow combine our membership database with a google map application to fond out all sorts of accurate demographic information (all done in-house of course). I can definitely see how combining applications by Mashups provides users with a much-improved search capabilities.

Week 4 -- For fun

I enjoyed this weeks exercise because it offered a nice variety of Web 2.0 applications.

I checked out the society's page on Library Thing and saw how great a resource that could be for others in the library world. All of our recent and future library accessions available for the searching public in one easy-to-use site. Nothing like improving access to the VHS's collections.

Rollyo is a great idea! Being able to search my own custom-made list of sites from one simple search engine is a wonderful idea. The convenience of one-stop shopping for information rather than going to each and every site individually is very attractive.

For the person who had trouble remembering what errand they need to run on their way home or what they need to pick up at the grocery store, Jott.com is a great tool. I even added it to my iPhone for free. For me it is trying to remember the author of a book that I need to find at the bookstore. Now that won't be a problem anymore.

I also ventured into FD's Flickr Toys and created a jigsaw puzzle out of a photograph I took while on vacation in England. Again, I found the application easy to use and am sure there are alot more things I could do with images.

Livemocha.com looks like a great way to learn a foreign language. I should try out my Spanish to see how much I have forgotten since college.

RSS feeds part two

I forgot to mention that using Topix.net was an easy way to see what is out there in the world of RSS feeds. I know I will be using that some more to find interesting feeds to add to my Google Reader page.

RSS feeds

I just successfully registered with Google Reader so that I can now follow several RSS feeds. The nice thing about Google Reader, aside from its easy-to-use interface, is that because of my preexisting Google account it automatically brought over the two blogs I am following on Blogger.com (k8wilkins and Gardener's Rant). From there it was a snap for me to add 23 Things at the VHS and, for fun, the sports section of the New York Times (go Giants!). I can see how easy it would be for institutions to get the word out about their news and events by setting up RSS feeds and letting a ton of people know what they are up to. No such thing as reaching too many people with your news and upcoming events information.

Flickr

Well I have created my very first Flickr page and it was very simple to do. I uploaded two photographs from my digital collection with ease and even noted which cat is which. I can see how easy it would be for individuals and institutions to share images of anything and everything. I searched "Library of Virginia" and saw that someone had posted Civil War photographs and on one placed notes on the image identifying everything in the scene. That was really interesting. I will continue to play with Flickr to see what else it can do.

Twitter

I have just set up a Twitter account and need to play with it some more before I can truly understand what it is all about. Like setting up my blog, it was very easy to get up and running. I imagine it would be a quick way to communicate with a single person or a large group. I will have to see how things progress from here.

Opening Act part two

Now that I have joined the blogging world, which was very easy to do by the way, I have nothing profound to say at the moment. Hopefully, as I progress through future assignments from The 23 Things @ the VHS, I will learn more about Web 2.0 and its many uses. Until then . . .

Opening Act

Well, here I am.