#18 Web-based apps

Zoho Blog trial
Today I took part in the Melbourne Walk Against Warming. Police estimates put the crowd at around 30,000 which isn't too bad, although I've been in much larger peace rallies and anti-Work "Choices" rallies in the past.

Ironically, it was so hot we had to use our placards as umbrellas to keep the sun off.

The above was written using the Zoho site which I think is a brilliantly useful web application. I'll tell my Dad about it: he doesn't have any word processing program installed on his computer.

Unfortunately the cute little picture I inserted didn't come across and the emoticon ended up with a border! I'll assume I did something wrong. I can live without smileys anyway.

#17 PB Wiki

To bracket or not to bracket that is the question. Whatever. I added my blog and had a look around.

The "favourite" pages were a bit too haphazard for me - a lot of scrolling required, but I guess that's the nature of a "sandbox".

There's a lot of stuff on the web that has novelty value for me at the moment. For example, I followed a "favourite website" link to bookcrossing http://www.bookcrossing.com/home

I've heard about this before but hadn't gotten around to checking it out. It's a great idea and I've signed up (yet another screen name and password to keep track of) but I'm not sure how often I'll log in in practice.

#16 So what's in a wiki?

A few of my favourite things about wikis:

• When done well they can really help the newcomer around an issue, a topic, a site. For example the wiki at the K12online conference (see post #13) http://k12online07.wikispaces.com/ really does assist a first-timer like myself to navigate the array of links without making me feel like an idiot (wikis often seem to have an enthusiastic, empowering tone to them: I guess because they are driven by enthusiasts).
• Wikis are great for reader-to-reader recommendations and reader community-building. I can see lots of potential for C&YS applications.
• What a great tool for collaboration and knowledge-sharing! I had a look at things like "unattended children policies" on the best-practice wiki and found some food for thought.

Now we have something else to talk to our council web boffins about!

#15 Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

I looked at the Discovery Resources a while ago and found them quite interesting but I've been putting off this blog post. I don't feel like I have much to add to discussions that hasn't already been said.
Here's a random thought that may or may not be relevant: one of the few amusing moments in the recent "The Librarians" premiere was the shot of the front door with the sign with all the modern jargon for what the place was and a blu-tacked notice underneath saying "Library". It seems like a bit of a metaphor for not getting so carried away with the latest and greatest that we forget to deliver what real people need and want to know.
Web 2.0 is a brilliant tool. It is changing the library world as we know it. But it is going to take some effort to sort out what's going to be of the most long term benefit. And it's going to need some top-level commitment and cooperation to get the best results for our users. We can introduce elements of what we learn at all sorts of basic levels but it still takes staff time and technology that we may not have.
It is impossible for me to keep my moral/political views out of this and I probably don't have to seeing it's my blog (and very few people will read it anyway!). Perhaps its just the election, global warming etc. etc. but I'm feeling very anxious about the huge divisions in our society and if Web 2.0 can't help deliver equity of access, empowerment to those most in need, global co-operation and understanding, then it ain't much use to us.

#14 Technorati

I had a look around Technorati but don't have much to say about it except phew!!! that's a lot of blogs to search. I'm certainly not ready to take the "claiming" step.
I've added a couple of green blogs to my deli. bookmarks (couldn't see the point of setting up Technorati favourites at this stage - just one more place to remember to go).
In my blog travels I discovered 24th November is "Buy Nothing Day". http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/I will try to observe this day and combine it with "Kick Howard Out Day". The two are not inherently incompatible: unless they have a fund-raising sausage sizzle at my local polling booth.

Are we lemmings?

Beware: rant follows

I'm getting a bit sick of humankind's obession with knowing what is the coolest, latest, most popular thing on the internet. Ok so tag clouds and "saved by x number of people x number of hours ago" and "most popular" listings may have a legitimate role to play but they also feed our inherent competiveness and/or conformity.

So what if millions of people have clicked on the You Tube video ad of the i-pod blender? Does that make it important? profound? vital? Am I a lesser being for not having gone there - or worse, gone there too late, when it's old news?

Jeez, get a life people! So what if you miss something? Or, heaven forbid, visit a site that only 2 other people have tagged. Popular doesn't necessarily = good.

Excuse me now while I go change out of my hair-shirt.

(Actually the i-pod blender could be kind of funny)