YouTube

The question for this thing is how could you/do you use YouTube in your work, as a library assistant there has not been any need for me to use YouTube.  I looked at a few clips and at our website and the advantages are obvious especially to people like me who prefer to watch demonstrational videos about how to use tools. A good example of this is the extranormal clip for leap into learning for ACU.

I chose the video below because it is a bit different and not your traditional form of information delivery for a library.

 The video below is by   Athenasbanquet (2011)

Students and faculty from the University of Washington's Information School get their groove on.
Directed, edited, and produced by Sarah Wachter. 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a_uzUh1VT98" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

Even thought I had heard of ted I don’t think I looked at it yet but I found a couple of interesting talks.  TED could be a good research tool, I have an interest in science and I looked at a couple of the new releases.  One of the ones I watched was  Skylar Tibbits talk on 4D printing.  During the talk he mentioned Cadnano which is a tool for designing three-dimensional DNA origami nanostructures.  He also mentioned Project Cyborg and although these are not library related I think it is a good example of the potential to discover and learn about new technologies.

SlideShare and Prezi

For this thing we have Slideshare and Prezi.

Slideshare was interesting to look at because you have access to many different types of presentations.  Most of my working life has not involved the kind of work that might require me to use tools like this, so having others to look at is beneficial.

Prezi is a great tool that I used to do a small presentation when it first came out but I have not used since.  It looks like it has improved since then and I like their homepage, there are multiple short videos on how to Prezi and the explore tab allow you to see other presentation.  I like Prezi’s ability to zoom in and out allowing you to focus the viewer’s attention during a presentation.  If I ever need to do a presentation in the future I would definitely use Prezi.

Collaboration Tools

This thing is on collaboration tools, I choose to look at Mind Meister and Conceptboard.

The first one I looked at was Mind Meister, I accessed the live demo and spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to use it but I found it difficult and not very intuitive.  The tutorial was not very useful either it seems not to allow for the complete novice, but I like the concept which is why I looked at it.

 Conceptboard was more interesting I like there video even though it was a bit quick it showed what was possible, I can see how useful this tool would be for people to collaborate on something when they are at different locations.  It is much easier to work on something in real time than it is to work on a project through an email chain.

Facebook

Facebook, I have never signed up and I can’t imagine that I ever will but from a work point of view I can see the potential.  I looked at the ACU library page and the National Library page and I can its potential for the promotion of collections, I particularly liked the picture of the Queensland fire fighters from 1972 who saved their pub.

I think that it would be a great tool for special events and if your library had any special collections.  A nice example of this was the pictures on the State Library page from the John Oxley Library collection of the 120 anniversary of the destruction of the Victoria Bridge in the 1893 flood.  Overall I feel that Facebook is a tool worthwhile embracing for any library.

Tablets and mobile apps

For me personally tablets are not going to affect my work too much.  I have never had a smartphone so I cannot comment on them.  As a library assistant my use of mobile devices is limited to handing out IPads at the loans desk, I do realise however that the Librarians use them a lot I know that for example they use their IPads to access tools like Prezi.

 

 I did pick 2 comments from the report that I thought were good indicators of the effect of Tablets in relation to education.  That was The University of Adelaide replacing textbooks with Apple IPads for first year students in its Science program and Penn State Universities developing a mobile video app for video ethnographers to record and annotate video in the field.  This is a long way from how things were done when I was in school and reflects the flexibility of today’s technology and the expanding access to resources.

Productivity Tool

The first tool that I looked at is Dropbox, reading through the getting started pdf and the help pages I can see how this would be useful.  However I cannot figure out how to sync my Ipad and my work computer, I am obviously missing something but I just don’t have the time to figure it out right now, maybe later.

The second tool I looked at was Doodle, it is interesting the things that are available now.  Although I probably might not use Doodle it is a great idea especially if you are in a large organisation.

Diigo

For thing 10 I looked at Diigo, for me it is not something that i would ever need.  Outside of work I do not use the Internet that much and I think it would mostly be a waste from a personnel point of view.  From a work point of view I can see the benefit particularly from a research point of view to share information.

At present i keep track of any regularly visited websites the way that i have always done (through my web browser), given that there isn't that many of them I don't even have to do much organising and i don't tag or share them.

On the Diigo homepage there are feature tools for Ipad, Iphone, Android and web browsers but i did not see any on Delicious, not to say that they are not there but I could see them straight away on Diigo. ( whose website i preferred)