Mashups and API

Mashups are the first topic in this course that I had not previously explored. Hubmed looks fascinating and I will explore it in more depth. Most of what I am viewing in the mashup awards don't look very interesting to me. The concept of combining different data is cool but sites like Twitter Browser look like a waste of time. I played around with Pageflakes. It looks interesting, however I already use Google's customized home page. I found the web 2.0 toolbar kind of interesting. I might use this.

Rollyo looks like a site I will use. I loved creating a list of preferred URL's to search simultaneously. I will be using this feature for sure. What a time saver! When searching for privacy in this, articles like the eproblem that posted library patron information on the web are very scary. Most of these web 2.0 technologies bother me as they create comfortable situations for people to share personal information. If the world was 100% honest, these sites would be wonderful. I always am concerned about data mining and where some of this data ends up.

This was a wonderful course and I'd like to thank the MLA for providing it. I learned a lot and will follow up with more readling. I hope that the website stays up for at least a year. I'd like to go back and revisit some of the optional readings at a later date.

Podcasting and Online Hosted Video

I have been a user of iTunes as I have an iPod. I have subscribed to many radio programs. I tried subscribing to a few short library podcasts but I didn't enjoy listening to them. I am a visual learner and I don't learn as well from audio recordings. I will probably not use podcasting technology in my library but I can see the benefits.

I have been a YouTube user for personal use for a few months. My children convinced me that I was missing a lot. I have even found myself on YouTube. It means that Big Brother is always watching.

From a profesional view, there is some really good information on YouTube. I found the Cochrane Collaboration video. It was informative. I will add this link to my help files on my intranet website. Our CEO has just recommended the clip - Shift Happens and I have helped many users find this. I will explores this medium further. I see that some hospitals even promote themselves on YouTube.

Online Photo Sharing

This was another challenge for me. The technology was not the challenge, however, sharing photos with the world violates my sense of privacy. I have found pictures of myself on Facebook AND I cringe each time. I don't like that others can post these without my permission.

I opened a Flickr account and uploaded a single picture. It is of no significance so I felt comfortable doing it. I could not transfer this picture to Facebook. I did succeed in copying the same picture to Facebook.

I guess that I could use this process in my library in working and storing archival pictures. However, the privacy issue still bothers me so I won't do this. For buildings and scenery, it might be fun. I'm not eager to post pictures of real people.

I am experimenting with Picassa as a means of sharing family pictures. I would only share old pictures where the players are not alive anymore. The identification of the pictures would not be posted, only shared by email to specific individuals. I've purchased a scanner and will try this whnever I find the time.