Social networking!

I just finished the training on social networking today. While I have not used the particular sites mentioned in the training, I do participate in social networking on other sites that are specific to the research and interests that I have. The one I am using alot right now is http://www.theaerodrome.com/ a website dedicated to those with an interest in World War One aviation. Many of the people who post on this site include some of my favorite authors, artists and historians. I am currently working on a research project and I am happy to say that I am using the web 2.0 training in my posts in inquiries. The thread that I have going now relates to a particular aircraft flown by Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. the Red Baron. If anyone wishes to see this thread, here is the link: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/camouflage-markings/40885-need-help-dr-1-477-17-mvr-aircraft-project.html

Gaming? At work? COOL!!!!!

I just finished reading through the gaming training and I am actually suprised to see this on a county training course. Gaming as a part of work training? Who'da thunk it? But seriously, there are some types of gaming that are educational and can be used in that capacity. However, I would tend to shy away from encouraging RPG and Shooter games at work as they can be very addictive and sometimes just trying to figure out the controls can take up hours. I also have trouble with the idea of people only networking through gaming. Actual face to face interaction is always the best way to teach children how to associate with others in the outside world. This is a section I probably will spend little time exploring myself.

Wicked Wikis

I just finished the wiki training on CHPL learning and this is another one of those items on the internet that I use quite frequently. In fact, I have been using Wikipedia quite frequently over the past few years. Wiki's are an excellent source for sharing information. However, the one thing that everyone needs to be aware of is that sites like Wikipedia can be written and modified by EVERYONE and not everyone will give accurate, or even factual, information. There has even been instances in the past few years of newscasters and news writers using blogs and wikis to base a particular news reports on and the information they used turned out to be false. A few of these newscasters and writers have even lost their jobs over these false stories. I have used this example to point out one of the hazzards of using wikis for research information. Unless you know the source, you need to check out the facts for yourself. Encyclopedia Wikis serve as good starting points, but it always pays to do your own research. Other types of wikis, such as our own CHPL wiki, are excellent sources for exchanging information and sharing technical details in a quick and easy manner. Others adding to the wiki contribute their own knowledge and experiences that can be shared with others. Adding lines in an wiki operations manual can be a good way for someone to shaer an easier procedure with others, or give helpful hints from their experiences.

Photo Sharing

This week we covered photo sharing in our training. This is something that I have been using for a good while now. I like to search photo sites on the web for museum collections and other research. This allows me to see photos from museums and other places that I may never be able to see myself due to distance or rarity. This could also be good for documenting events at the library. I know that when I worked at Glen Allen we kept an online photo journal of the progress being made on the expansion work being done. I use Flickr quite a bit along with some general search sites and some specific photo sharing pages as well. For those who are interested in aircraft two of my favorite photo sites are http://www.airliners.net/ and http://airfighters.com/. These two sites have thousands of photos of aircraft from around the world. The photo posted with this blog entry came from airliners.net. The photo is of Fokker Dr.1 replicas built by a flying museum in New Zealand. The Fokkers all accurately represent planes flown in Richthofen's Jasta 11 during the First World War. They literally fly an entire squadron of Fokkers for airshows and other occasions. An impressive sight that I did not even know about until I found it on a photo sharing site.

Pod People.

I have taken the training on podcasts today and I see some good applications for this. Training courses, instructional & informational, and other forms of useful information coud be of great benefit to users of podcasting. I have watched podcast instructional and news videos many times without actually labelling them as podcasts. I have found them very informative. This is one aspect of the training that I definately know I use on a regular basis and find informative. As far as making my own podcast, I probably won't delve into that end unless I find myself teaching a course on something on the internet someday.

In the meantime, I have been trying to apply the things that I have learned so far from this training. Outside of Twitter, most of the things I have seen so far seem like they could be useful for the exchange of nescessary information. As far as twitter, only myself and one other employee here at Tuckahoe using it and the infor we are passing back and forth is pretty mundane and has little bearing on what we do, even though most of it is in relation to our job.

Well, I'm off to experience more podcasts. Maybe watch Weird Al Yankovick's "White & Nerdy" on YouTube. :)

I came, I saw, I Twittered!

Today's web experience is Twitter. This system is seeming more and more about catering to information junkies. I'm not sure if Twitter is the best way to share work related information other than the mundane. I will try it for a while and see if it proves useful. I don't tend to hover around the computer that much so it may not be as useful as blogging to me.

RSS accomplished!

I have read and created an RSS feed for myself. I have included all the blogs of the employees that report to me as well as a news and a weather site. I am interested to see how this works for receiving information. There is a personal research project that I am working on that I had hoped to receive information on but I have not quite figured out how to get the RSS feed to get the information for me as the searches that I am entering are coming up with nothing. I may write more about this project in a future blog hoping that some of the librarians ou there may be able to connect me to information I don't have myself.

As far as RSS, it seems a good way to get up to date on news and other current events and opinions.