Is it the end of the road or just the beginning?

25 Things has made me use some services which I’d registered for but hadn’t really looked at in any depth.

I’m still a bit dubious about the ‘wisdom of crowds’ stuff but I can see that some things like tagging will work  if enough people are involved and contributing.
At present, we don’t get many enquiries that directly relate to the Web2.0/Library2.0 type of stuff. Having a bit more idea about how things work though does help to understand where things might go.   The main use will be in communication with our users. RSS and some of the other services should be useful for work but I will need to have the details kept somewhere that I’ll find them again and remember to use them. 

I enjoyed using LibraryThing and may continue to use it – well I am a librarian aren’t I?

I’m OK with using Flickr but have difficulty understanding why so many people make their photos available for anyone to see so for that reason I find it a bit annoying to use.

I will try and keep devoting some of my time to keep up with Web2.0  and Library 2.0 related sites(and soon Web 3.0?).  25things has help me to do this and it has been a useful and enjoyable little course.

Podcasts – adding RSS feed

It’s taken me a while to work it out but I think I’ve finally managed to add the Guardian Tech Weekly podcast to my blog.

YouTube – the Cooling Towers

A YouTube video of the cooling towers next to the M1 coming down. After studying a map with the boundary between Rotherham and Sheffield marked I have to admit these were in Sheffield but only just!

This wasn’t really the one I wanted of the cooling towers but the other wouldn’t allow embedding.

Google docs

I’ve managed to share files on Google docs with someone else doing 25 things (Bryony). I think this could be useful and makes it easier even to share documents, even if only with yourself in different locations.

‘Dummies’ image generator

I’ve managed to play with the image generators but struggled to save the images.   I’ve found a ‘Dummies’ book cover generator and made a cover.

My own little library

I’ve added some books to my bit on LibraryThing. Found it a bit hard sometimes to find the ‘right’ edition – or perhaps I shouldn’t be worrying about that. Some of the books I’ve added which have been around a while do have discussions e.g. ‘Kestrel for a Knave’ but no-one else has ‘Discover inner peace with Shaun the Sheep’ listed which I think is a shame!

Twittering about Twitter

Find it difficult to see the point of this generally.  It could be useful in emergency situations where people need to keep in touch, or when travelling.   I can’t think that anyone really wants to know what I’m doing all the time who doesn’t already know!

Facing up to Facebook

Apparently I actually registered for Facebook in 2007!  Haven’t done much with it though and have only just added my photo.  I still find it all a bit unsettling and don’t really like the idea of putting much personal information up there. 

Being such a mix of personal information plus some work-related stuff could be useful sometimes but I think they may be better kept separate.

My Google map

I’ve done a Google map of the route from Barnsley Interchange to the University Centre with some of the buildings marked.

 My Barnsley map

Google Earth

I’ve used Google Earth to look at the locations of holiday cottages etc before we book them.  Sometimes it’s hard to work out just where the place you’re looking for is.  Sometimes if the images are from directly above you (well at least me!) can’t always notice churches etc.   Some images only made sense once I’d seen the place for real.  Some areas don’t yet have detailed views.

The privacy thing is a bit worrying as the images get more detailed and updated faster.  It’s a very useful tool to help you find your way around, but in the wrong hands and put together with other information could make protest about unpopular governments etc difficult.