SLCPL Learning Library 2.0

There have been several people that have inquired about how to remove their MySpace account after completing the Learning Library 2.0 exercises. Here is a link with instructions on how to remove your account:

• How to Delete MySpace Accounts

Those of you who have been waiting with bated breath for exercise six can breathe easy once again! With the inauguration of the SLCPL Staff Wiki, we’ve now update the exercise so that all participants can complete the program! Note that we’ve changed the exercise title. No longer are you expected to add your your blog to our wiki. For details, go to Exercise 6: Enter Some information on the SLCPL Wiki.

We have created a page addressing many people’s questions about usernames and passwords. You can find it here:

Managing passwords and accounts

While we’re on this subject, we would encourage everybody to read the “internet safety” page on this blog (in the top menu). We’ve placed advice on internet privacy and identity issues on it to help anyone who might be concerned about safety issues, including password information.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding with some of the bugs in the Learning Library 2.0 program. This is, of course, the first time we’ve run a program like this, and so we’re still figuring things out. We apologize for the confusion regarding registration. There was the need to sign in on the blog so that you could comment, to register your blog so that we could track participation, and the need to comment on exercise 04 “Leave a Comment” so that everyone participating could see each others’ blogs (and learn to comment). We understand that this was confusing. Our bad! We’ve added some new information to exercise 04, for those who have not registered their blogs, so if there is any question about whether you have registered, go back and check it out.

Thanks!

Well, we are certainly excited to see the activity we’re seeing in the program! Thanks for your enthusiasm and your interaction.

We did want to clarify the requirements regarding your blogs. At the end of a number of exercises, you are asked to blog about the topic of the exercise (for example, on exercise 3: Create a Blog, exercise 5: Learn about Wikis, and exercise 7: Libraries and Myspace). This means write a post on your own blog (around 100 words) about the experience. Explain what you like about the web 2.0 tool you learned about in the exercise, and what you didn’t like. Discuss how the tool could relate to our library services—or how the tool doesn’t relate. Be honest, and be constructively critical. The most important thing is that you think and write.

It is wonderful that people have been active in commenting on this blog. The interaction has been great! But those comments do not substitute for posting on your own blog, and they do not fulfill the requirements of the program if you want to collect the booty.

Keep up the great work!

This blog has been set-up as part of SLCPL’s Learning 2.0 project to encourage staff to experiment and learn about the new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet today. The objectives of this program are to:

• Encourage exploration of Web 2.0 and new technologies by SLCPL staff.
• Provide staff with new tools (that are freely available on the Internet) to better support SLCPL’s mission:

The Salt Lake City Public Library is a dynamic civic resource that promotes free and open access to information, materials and services to all members of the community to advance knowledge, foster creativity, encourage the exchange of ideas, strengthen community and enhance the quality of life.

The Learning 2.0 program originated with Helene Blowers, former PLCMC Technology Director, and has been modified for use at SLCPL by the Learning Library 2.0 Task Force. The original program is loosely based upon Stephen Abram’s article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006) and the website 43Things. The design of this online program was completely built on Web 2.0 technologies that are freely available on the Internet. These sites include: Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, PBWiki and WordPress.

During the 11 week course, participants will perform 29 exercises to help them become familiar with the web 2.0 technologies. Each exercise will take approximately ½ hour, and should be done on work time. Additionally, participants will be encouraged to interact with each other online. There will be a number of incentives for those who complete the course.

The Agenda

Week 1. Blogging

1. Read our introduction to the program.
2. Create a gmail account, a free web-based email.
3. Set up your own blog and add your first post about the process.
4. Leave a comment with your blog’s name and address.

Week 2. Wikis

5. Learn about wikis.
6. Add your blog to the SLCPL wiki.

Week 3. Myspace

7. Read about Libraries and Myspace. Post your thoughts to your blog.
8. Set up your own Myspace account.
9. Comment on the SLCPL myspace account.

Week 4. Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati

10. Learn about tagging and Del.icio.us.
11. Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blogs.
12. Look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books.

Week 5. Photos & Images

13. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.
14. Have fun with Flickr, explore mashups and 3rd party sites. Create some Mashups.

Week 6. RSS & Newreaders

15. Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Bloglines account.
16. Locate a few useful library related blogs and add to your Bloglines account.

Week 7. Play Week

17. Play with an online image generator.
18. Make a map of all the states and/or countries you’ve been to on Travelblog’s visited counties or visited states.
19. Put the map on your blog.

Week 8. Search Engines, Web 2.0, & Library 2.0

20. Read some perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the future.
21. Explore different search engines and compare results for the same search.

Week 9. Online Applications & Tools

22. Look at some online productivity tools (word processing, spreadsheets, calenders).
23. Explore Google labs, blog about one of the developing tools you discover.
24. Explore any site from the Web 2.0 Awards list. Play with it, and blog about it.

Week 10. Podcasts, Videos & Downloadable Audio

25. Explore Youtube and other sites that allow users to share videos.
26. Discover some useful tools for locating podcasts.
27. Check out an ebook from the SLCPL accessible Netlibrary collection.

Week 11. Summary

28. Summarize your thoughts abut this program on your blog.
29. Suggest one thing you’d like to learn more about that we didn’t cover, or one way we could use one of the Library 2.0 tools to enhance the SLCPL services.

Incentives

All participants will receive an usb flash drive after finishing the activities through week 4.

All participants will receive an 1 gb mp3 player after completing all activities through week 9.

Upon completing the program, each participant will be entered to win a laptop computer.