Library Thing

I have a similar application to Library Thing on my Facebook profile, so I've already added a lot of my books to that. However, I think Library Thing is a great tool and again like sandbox wiki very easy to navigate. Here is my library: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/_sarah_
I even managed to add a "widget" to my blog showing off my Library Thing library (look to the right of this post >>>>)

Image Generators

Wow! I'm amazed by the huge number of image generators out there, and this was just from the list provided for this exercise. I could create my own 'Miss Frazzled' chocolate bar, I found out that apparently my future husbands name is going to 'Adrian Francis' (so if you meet him first, hands off, cause he's mine!) but here is something to add sparkle to my page:

http://www.GlitterMaker.com/ - Glitter Graphics - MySpace Layouts - Find Sports Online

Sandbox wiki

Ahhhh, nothing to do but play! Now this is my kind of exercise! :p
Well, added my blog to the NSL sandbox wiki which I found was very easy, 3 clicks and it was done! Then I had fun adding my favourite books, TV shows, etc to the pages. I thought it was good because you could contribute but still remain annonymous if you wish- (don't want everyone to know I'm the *cough*TV addict*cough* for example!) I found the sandbox wiki very user-friendly as it has a clear layout, the page isn't cluttered and the controls are self-explanatory.

Wikis

So I've had a look around some of the library blogs listed. Interesting to see that they had all used wikis for different purposes- one library had used it for book reviews, another was one any librarians worldwide could contribute to. The Fitch is a type of wiki. I think having an in-house wiki would be good to go alongside the intranet- that way everyone can contribute.

Library 2.0

Web 2.0- well to me it seems it is all about letting everyone upload content to the web- whether it be blogs, pictures, videos, etc. On this programme so far one thing I have learnt so far while working through the exercises is Bloglines and RSS feeds. It's something I hadn't really had much experience with before and it took me awhile to get my head around, but after my initial feeling that I wouldn't use it much, I have to say I'm now checking my Bloglines account everyday! It's really handy to have everything come to me in one place and not have to visit some sites because I know they have no news updates. And I thought it was great that we had RSS feeds from the Olympics on our website, it showed one example of how we can incorporate Web 2.0 into our work.

Technorati

Had a look around Technorati and the first thing that struck me was that I found the site too busy and messy- too much clutter for my liking. The headings and search box don't stand out enough, and there are ads everywhere- I guess this is how they can run the site for free. And it must be an American site- the front page was covered with headlines about the election! Nothing wrong with that but I'd prefer more worldwide headlines. Searching via 'blog posts' seemed to bring up mostly unrelated hits but searching via 'tags' was useful. Though searching via 'blog directory' I liked best- very ordered and I found it gave me the best results. However, my experience so far is that I have found plenty of blogs to read on my own and overall I wasn't fond of the site so I don't think I'll be going back.

del.icio.us

The Olympics are over, my first assignment is handed in and spring has arrived to remind me I have to hit the 'go' button again for Web 2.0!

So, on to the next task- del.icio.us. I've had a del.icio.us account for awhile so I've had some experience using it before. I like that I can access my bookmarks from any computer, and I think this is why it could be a useful tool in the future for librarians- you don't need to be on a staff PC, or even at work to view your bookmarks. I like that I can bookmark articles I read online, so that I don't have to save them as favourites on IE- I prefer to just save websites to my favourites.