This week, we have kept the activities to a minimum as we realise many of you are busy trying to catch up on previous weeks.
1. Gaming Activity
Find an online game, play it and blog about your experiences.
2. Virtual worlds and Second Life Activity
Attend the workshop or read through the handouts from the workshop. Create a Second Life account, download the software, create an avatar and explore Second Life.
3. Activity for whichever topic you choose
Finally – please also blog your thoughts on the possible applications in libraries and/or higher education.
Welcome to Week 10: Gaming and virtual worlds. This week we will be taking a look at gaming and virtual worlds.
Please note, you can choose to look at gaming or virtual worlds – you do not need to explore both of them.
1. Gaming
Due to the focus of this week’s workshop being virtual worlds and Second Life, we ask that you do some exploring of your own on the topic of gaming and libraries.
Ok, this weeks activities are fairly straightforward. The second one is optional.
1. Set up an account with Ning and join the Learning 2.0 Ning network
Create your own page. Try to build in some features you have discovered so far in the Learning 2.0 programme. You will receive an invitation to join the network via your hotmail address.
2. Create a Twitteraccount and tweet for a week (Optional activity)
Twitter is a social networking site (that is also referred to as a microblogging service) that enables you to update your contacts on what you are doing at any moment in time. It works in a very similar way to your status update in Facebook.
In this activity you are asked to post updates for a week and find some people to follow. Try different ways of using Twitter – from your personalised homepage (e.g. Netvibes), from your phone, from your desktop or from a Twitter client.
Well we have made it to Week 8 of the programme – this week we will be learning about and trying out social networking sites.
What is a social networking site?
Social networking as a broad term can refer to the entire ‘Web 2.0’ phenomenon, but what we will be focussing on this week are usually referred to as social networking sites.
Many of you will already using sites such as Facebook on a regular basis. Basically, they involve you setting up an online account, and then building a profile to reflect your interests. You then add friends or contacts who can see your profile and interests and vice versa. The next step is to add various applications and join various groups if you are interested in doing so.
Check out this Commoncraft video for a quick overview of social networking sites.
Features of social networks
1. Choose your social networking site
This often comes down to what your friends and/or colleagues are using. However each does have different features/strengths, for example if you are really into music then Myspace is more relevant. Facebook has a more generic appearance, where as Myspace enables you to customise your pages.
2. Sign up for an account, build your own profile, personalise your pages (depends on the service as to how much control you have over this)
As with most of these tools/services – you go to the web page of the service you want to use and sign up for an account (another password to add to your learning 2.0 collection).
3. Add friends/contacts, join a group and add any applications you like.
Some people like adding applications, join every group they can possibly find and send lots of invitations to you. Others just have their basic profile and don’t do much more with their account. It is completely up to you.
Each site has their advantages and disadvantages – if you are not using any of them at the moment, it’s worth taking a look at a couple to see what you think.
How libraries/universities are using social networking sites
There are loads of examples of libraries and higher education institutions using social networking sites in various ways. This could be to set up an institutional network, such as the University of Wales at Newport who have a Ning site up and running as do the University of Bradford, or creating a library catalogue search option, such as the World Cat search for their facebook application.
See the Imperial College Library del.icio.us account for more examples, try the tag socialnetworking or facebook. Or do some searching of your own and tag some good examples.
As the weeks go on we are discovering how many of the technologies featured in the programme can be integrated and enhanced by being used together. So in this activity you’ll be having a go at utilising the technologies from previous weeks (blogs, wikis and RSS) with podcasts and online video.
Activity #1 – Pick your podcatcher and subscribe to some podcasts
In Week 3 you will have created an account with Bloglines or Google Reader and both of these readers can be used to subscribe to podcasts using RSS.
Or try something new and download iTunes and use that as your podcatcher.
There are podcasts on just about every subject under the sun so try and find ones which are of personal or professional interest to you – that way you’ll enjoy listening to them!
When you’ve found your podcast you need to subscribe to it. Look for the familiar orange RSS logo, or you may even see a handy button saying ‘Subscribe using iTunes, GoogleReader, Bloglines etc. Alternatively look for the RSS feed URL and copy and paste that into your chosen podcatcher.
If you need a refresher on RSS then head back to the Week 3 post and activities on RSS, or contact the Learning 2.0 team.
Subscribe to at least 3 podcasts and then get your headphones on and have a listen to a couple.
If you’ve previously created an account with Google Reader then Google Video should recognise and you’re good to go. Registering with YouTube just takes a few seconds.
Step 2 – search for some videos
Both Google Video and YouTube allow you to search for videos using keywords. Have a go and see if you can find anything of interest. Try searching for ‘libraries’ and see what happens!
Step 3 – add some favourites and RSS feeds
Once you’ve found some videos you like try and make them a favourite, or set up an RSS feed so you’ll know when videos featuring similar content is added.
To find out more about these features go to the YouTube or Google Video help pages.
Activity #3 – Add media to your blog and wiki page
If you haven’t done this already try adding a video to your blog and your wiki page.
Activity #4 – Become a podcaster! (Entirely optional)
If you think this podcasting lark sound easy then why not try it for yourself!
Step 1 – find out what you need to do
Try these quick tutorials which provide a good overview of the equipment and software you need to podcast, as well as tips on how to make your podcast great!
Step 2 – get some software
Audacity is free audio software for recording and editing your podcast. It’s easy to use but these tutorials will help get you started.
Step 3 – podcast!
If you do podcast please let your fellow participants know and let them listen to your masterpiece.
This week we’ll be looking at podcasts and online video.
What is a podcast?
The exact origins of the term podcast are shrouded in mystery, although podcasting started to catch on around the same time as the iPod so there may be a connection!
A podcast is an audio file (usually MP3) which is distributed over the web. A podcast may contain music, or not. It may be just a few minutes long, or last hours. It may feature one person, a conversation or a panel discussion. It may be recorded ‘live’ or carefully scripted and edited. It may be professionally produced or made by you and me on our PC (or Mac).
The term podcast is now often also used to describe an online video or ‘vodcast’. So you may find yourself watching a podcast, as well as listening to it. In this post we’ll stick to a podcast being audio only to avoid confusion.
How do I listen to podcasts?
The variety of ways you can listen to podcasts is one of the reasons why this technology has become so popular. You can listen to a podcast on your PC, or download it to an MP3 player/iPod and listen on the move.
How do I find podcasts?
Like blogs and RSS feeds, podcasts have their own search engines so you can easily find the podcasts you want. iTunes, Podcastalley, Podcastdirectory, Everyzing and Podomatic among others all offer the facility to search for podcasts, and may also host them as well. But you can just as easily use Google or Yahoo; just add ‘podcast’ as a keyword in your search.
One key feature of podcasts is the ability to subscribe to a series. You can download an aggregator, or podcatcher like iTunes or Juice. Alternatively, because serial podcasts have RSS feeds, you can utilise an RSS reader like Bloglines or Google Reader to subscribe to podcasts.
Can I podcast?
Yes you can! Podcasting, like blogging, is open to everyone as the equipment required is minimal. Got a PC? Got a microphone? Got something to say? Then you can be a podcaster. If you want to know more, check out the activities for this week.
Enough with the audio – what about online video?
The availability of faster and better internet connections, low cost online storage, cheap digital camcorders and home editing software has resulted in an explosion of video online. Content may be professionally produced, like the programmes you can watch or download from BBC iPlayer. But all it takes is a quick glance at video hosting sites like YouTube and Google Video to see that we’re all getting in the act. In fact YouTube’s slogan is ‘Broadcast yourself’ and we do, in our millions.
How do I find online video?
We’ve already mentioned YouTube and Google Video, but other search engines like Blinkx, Exalead and Yahoo offer video searching options. Or you can just add ‘video’ as a keyword in your search on most engines to get results.
Can I YouTube?
You can create accounts with YouTube and Google Video (in fact, if you set up an account with Google Reader in Week 3: RSS, you can use the same username and password to access Google Video.)
An account allows you to upload your own videos to these services, as well as create favourite lists, set up RSS feeds etc.
If you’ve bought a PC or a Mac recently you’ll probably find digital video editing software like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker pre-loaded; ready and waiting for you to create your masterpiece.
The L20 team has a YouTube account and we’ve loaded the short video tutorial we made on setting up your blog.
As you can see the quality isn’t great as the tutorial wasn’t created for YouTube – but it demonstrates how easy it is to join the online video club.
What’s in it for libraries?
Podcasts and online video provide a new medium for libraries in teaching, learning and marketing services to students and staff. Libraries are increasingly using these technologies to complement and supplement printed guides or face to face contact.
Take a look at the Imperial College online lecture page. By using podcasts and video the College is opening up these lectures to everyone – not just the people sitting in the lecture theatre. Many departments are now recording lectures and making them available as podcasts.
The library dipped its toe into the podcast waters last summer and created an audio library induction.
Click play to listen.
More podcasts are planned for the new academic year; there are more details about this on the intranet.
To see how other libraries are using podcasting visit the Library Success Wiki which has a long (mostly US based) list of library podcasts.
Over this side of the pond Cardiff University Information Services worked with the student radio station to produce a six part series on essay writing.
Librarians are also using online video, mainly in the form of screencasts which capture the activity on your PC monitor. Screencasts are particularly useful for demonstrating online resources such as databases. The L20 video mentioned above is an example of screencasting.
As there’s such a variety of options this week – we haven’t always given you more than one activity in each section, as there will be enough there to keep you going and hope that this may give you time to explore some other areas too.
Set up your own personalised homepage in iGoogle, MyYahoo, Netvibes or Pageflakes. Add some (gadgets, widgets, flakes, modules) including (if possible) one of the tools you have discovered so far in the Learning 2.0 programme (such as an RSS feed, your email account, your del.icio.us bookmarks, your Flickr photos).
If you want some extra guidance on setting up your homepage check out these videos:
1. Blog about what you think the potential is for providing services via mobile phones to library users in the next couple of years. Next, find out about how one of the technologies you have learned about so far in the Learning 2.0 programme is being provided via mobile phone.
2. Take a photo with your mobile phone and upload it to your blog. As an optional extra try looking at a website via your mobile phone and blog about the experience (and it’s success or failure).
1. Go to Google docs and sign in with your Google account details (if you haven’t already got a Google account, you will need to create one).
2. Create a new document or upload an existing document.
3. Share this document with others – ask them to make changes to the document.
This week you get to choose what you explore. Please pick three of the following applications and tools to explore further. Feel free to do more than this if you want to. Remember to blog about your experiences!
Personalised homepages (also known as start pages or personal portals) allow you to create your own web page/s.
They are made up of a number of customizable pages including a main ‘home page’ where you can add blocks of content (known as flakes, widgets, gadgets or modules depending on which one you use).This could be anything from your Facebook account to an email account to a newsfeed from your favourite television station.They can be personal, or you can make them publicly available to other people.
If you have the technical skill you can even write gadgets/widgets/flakes to put into yours and other pages.
The fun (and quite useful) thing about these is that you can collect together some/all of the tools you have learned about/used so far in the Learning 2.0 programme into one place, for example your RSS feeds, your Flickr photos, your Facebook account, your email account.They can be used for your own personal online information, for information focussed on a particular group of people or as a public facing website.
Choosing which one to use is the fun bit. This is usually determined by what you like the look of, and which other web services you use. For example if you use loads of other Google services, then iGoogle may make the most sense. Each of them has a different look, with the basic features being very similar.
You may wonder why we have included mobile phones in the online tools and applications section of the Learning 2.0 programme.
As mobile phone technologies develop further and mobile phone service providers provide more affordable mobile broadband, they become more likely to be used for internet browsing, in addition to more traditional uses of text messaging, picture messaging, taking photos and listening to music. This will also have an impact on how we provide services to our staff and students. Many of the tools we have talked about during the Learning 2.0 programme can be accessed via your mobile phone, though often there is a pared down version of the desktop/web based application. The plus is that they are portable, practically everyone has one and costs are going down.
Many people use Internet Explorer (IE) as this is the browser that comes with Windows. However it is worth noting that there are a number of other browsers out there that are better/different alternatives to IE.
Each browser has it’s good points and bad points – often it comes down to personal preference and how much flexibility you want. See Web Browser Reviews from Consumer Search for a good overview of the main browsers available. or the Wikipedia entry on Comparison of web browsers for more information than you ever wanted to know about browsers
The joy is that it is possible to customise your browser so that you get the most out of it.
Is a customisable open source browser from Mozilla. See Add-ons and extensions for further information on customising Firefox.
For a quick overview, see this promotional video of the latest release.
See this Screencast – LibEx for staff and students (from Kathryn Greenhill at Murdoch University) – for an example of a Firefox extension that puts the Library into the users space
One of the key features we have mentioned about Web 2.0 tools is the fact that they use the web as a platform. Rather than you having to download software onto a particular pc/laptop – you can access them anywhere, any time.
Google documents is a basic word processing, spreadsheet and presentation package that you can access via the web. You do not need to download it – you can access it as you would your email or RSS reader. It enables you to upload and work with Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents and other file types as well as download them back into the various programmes. It is great for collaborating with people in different places.
Watch this video for an overview of Google documents
A toolbar is a horizontal or vertical row of icons/buttons that enable you to easily click on/link to features of a particular programme, service or tool. It sits either within the programme, such as your browser or floast at the the top or on the side of your screen. The most obvious toolbar is the one that is located along the top of your browser/programme screen.
You can customise toolbars within your browser or programme, such as Firefox or IE or you can download or create toolbars for a variety of resources, for example the My Athens toolbar.
Customisable toolbars are becoming more popular, and libraries are using them more to get into the user’s workspace. For more library related toolbars than you ever thought could exist, see the Library Success wiki toolbars and extensions
The term widget has a variety of meanings depending on where it is used. Basically, a widget is a piece of code that can be embedded into any html page that allows a user to do stuff. For a simple explanation of what a widget is, see What is a web widget? from Widgets for Web 2.0.
See also this great 5 part video series on widgets
In the Learning 2.0 programme you will have encountered widgets in web applications such as WordPress and Wetpaint. As you may recall, they enable you to display content from other sources, such as embedding a YouTube video on your wiki page or you may have added widgets to your Word Press blog to enable the display of recent posts or your blogroll.
Put simply, a mashup is what you create when you take data from various sources and put them together. A very popular current use of mashups is integrating some kind of data with Google maps, for example creating a map of the location of restaurants in your area.
YouTube also has a good visual overview in this video
The fun thing about mashups is that you do not have to be an expert programmer/developer to build them. There are a number of tools available to create mashups including Yahoo Pipes and Google’s Mashup Editor to name a couple.
Activity #1 – navigating Imperial Library’s del.icio.us page
Spend 5-10 minutes looking around the Imperial Library del.icio.us page. To get there, follow these steps:
1. Go to the del.icio.us homepage and click on the ‘Sign In’ link on the top right of the page.
2. Log in using the following details: username: imperiallibrary password: icl
3. After you’ve logged in, take a look at some of the tags on the right-hand side of the page. When you click on a tag, the websites that have been classified or ‘tagged’ using it will be displayed to the left of the page.
4. Near the top of the page you’ll also see a ‘Tag’ link (it’s located underneath the imperiallibrary’s Tags heading). Click on this link to open up a ‘tag cloud’.
A tag cloud or word cloud is a visual depiction of user-generated tags. The larger and bolder the tag the more websites have been bookmarked using it.
5. Click on some of the tags in the tag cloud to see what websites (and other resources) have been classified using it. Do you find these resources useful? Can you think of any other useful websites that could be added? If so, once you’ve completed Activity 2 you’ll be able to upload links and tags to websites you want to store on the Imperial Library del.icio.us page!
Activity #2 – setting up your own del.icio.us account and bookmarking/tagging some sites.
This activity has several steps:
Step 1. Set up an account with del.icio.us. But remember to do the following during the registration process!
pay attention to the password requirements, and check your email inbox to complete the registration.
download the delicious toolbar widget into your Internet browser when prompted. This is very important!
Tip: Watch the YouTube clip in this week’s readings page to get a quick overview of how to set up a del.icio.us account. Please note: del.icio.us very recently changed its interface & this clip refers to the previous version of del.icio.us – but it’ll give you a good general idea of how to set up an account and to start bookmarking.
Step 2. Once you’ve set up your account, bookmark and tag the Imperial Library homepage by using either one of these options:
a) Go to the Library homepage and then in your browser click on the deli.cio.us ‘Tag’ widget you installed when registering. (This is the widget you downloaded in Step 1.)
OR
b) Go to your account on del.icio.us, click on the ‘Save a new bookmark’ link to the top right of the screen and paste in the URL. Click on ‘Next’.
Step 3.
Add a description to your bookmark. Often cutting and pasting a paragraph from the page saved is useful.
Step 4. Add some tags and click on then ‘Save’ button.
Step 5. Bookmark at least 10 other websites of your choice to your delicious account. Add descriptions and tags to each one of them. Remember: when adding tags, chocolate_chip_cookies and ChocolateChipCookies are both one tag, while chocolate chip cookies is three tags! So if your tag is a phrase and therefore has more than one word you need to make sure there are no spaces between the words.
Activity #3 (optional) – setting up your own Flickr account This activity has several steps. It requires you to set up an account in Flickr, upload a photo and add tags to it. Before you start, you may want to take a look at some of the resources outlined below.
Step 1. Go to Flickr. Familiarise yourself with the site by searching for some photographs. Have a go at searching on ‘Imperial College London’ & see what you find.
Step 2.
For the purposes of this activity, you need to have access to a photo. If you don’t have access to a photo, this is what you need to do:
Go to FlickrCC (Flickr photos available for use under a Creative Commons licence).
Find a photo you like by searching for it. (You just click on a small version of the photo on the left-hand side of the screen and a larger version of it will display to the right of the screen.)
When you see a photo you like on Flickr, right-click on it.
Select ‘Save Picture As…’ from the menu which pops up
Save the photo to your Desktop so that you can easily find it.
Step 3.
Now that you’ve surfed Flickr and also saved a photo, it’s time you set up a Flickr account.
a) Go to the Flickr homepage. Select ‘Create Your Account’ (NB: if you are not already a member of Yahoo!, then select ‘Sign up’ at the bottom of the ‘Sign in to Yahoo!’ box to join Yahoo! Enter the required data and select ‘Create my Account’)
b) When you have successfully signed up, you will see a screen that asks ‘Ready to experience Flickr?’. Select ‘Continue’.
Step 4.
Now you need to upload your photo.
a) Select ‘Upload your first photo’
b) Select ‘Choose photos’. When you select this button, you will immediately be given the option to browse the files on your PC. Browse to the photo you saved previously to the Desktop.
c) Double-click on the image you want, then select ‘Upload photos’.
Step 5.
Finally, you need to describe your photo so that you (and everyone else!) can find it.
a) Select ‘Describe your photos’
b) Add a title, description and some tags.
c) Select ‘Save this batch’
Resources 1. Take a look at this clip created by the CommonCraft team and made available via YouTube. It explains photo sharing really well. (Please note: You’ll need headphones to vie this YouTube clip)
This week we’re looking at social bookmarking & tagging. Once you’ve read this information, have a go at the activities we’ve organised for you. You’ll see there are 3 activities listed, but you only have to complete 2 of them. If you get time, have a go at the optional activity.
Remember to add a post to your blog about this week’s activity!
What is social bookmarking?
Social bookmarking enables you to store and share websites, photos and other resources within an online community and is a way to help you stay up-to-date. It enables you to organise and file websites, photos & articles for future reference, and to also browse other’s bookmarks to discover resources they may never have found using a search engine.
There are several freely available social bookmarking tools including del.icio.us and furl. CiteULike is another social bookmarking tool which is primarily used to bookmark scholarly articles. You must first register for these services and you may then be given the option to download a ‘bookmarklet’ in the toolbar of their browser. When you find a site you like, you just need to click on a ‘bookmarklet’ widget within your Internet browser to assign tags & add the link to your social bookmarking tool.
What is tagging?
If you’ve ever used a subject heading in a library catalogue or a descriptor in a database you’re already familiar with tagging.
A tag is just a keyword or term, and tagging is the process of assigning or associating a tag to something. We usually talk about tagging with online content like websites, digital photos, or blog posts, but the concept is the same as your handwritten notes on the family snapshots.
Tags are completely unstructured and freeform. You choose terms that are meaningful for you, so if “cooking” makes more sense to you than “cookery”, you’re free to use it.
Tags are therefore used as a means of finding the websites, photos etc. you have stored in your social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us.
Just keep in mind that tags which have two or more words to them need to be joined together so that there are no spaces between the words e.g. chocolate_chip_cookies and ChocolateChipCookies are both one tag, while chocolate chip cookies is three tags.
A short video clip
Take a look at this clip created by the CommonCraft team and made available via YouTube.It explains social bookmarking really well.Plus it’ll give you a break from reading! Please note: You’ll need headphones to listen to it.
Folksonomies? What are they?
Anyone who’s used UDC to catalogue a book knows that there are pages (and pages and pages…) of rules for how it should be used. You are also required to use the exact terms specified. With a structured system like UDC, the rules are essential to keep everyone using it consistently. UDC is a taxonomy, a professionally developed system in which a controlled vocabulary is used to categorize materials.
A folksonomy is like a taxonomy, but without all the rules. Unlike taxonomies, folksonomies are created from the bottom up by anyone who wishes to tag an object. It is classification by people – hence folksonomy. Folksonomies grow from the tags that users apply on bookmarking sites like del.icio.us. As you add bookmarks to del.icio.us or photos to Flickr, you see the tags that other users have associated with similar items. You might even like some of them and decide to apply the tag to your own bookmarks.
Folksonomies are not hierarchical, meaning they lack the “Broader Term, Narrower Term, Related Term” structure often seen in taxonomies. Also, because they do not use a controlled vocabulary, terms can change quickly, there can be multiple tags for the same concept (library, libraries), and the same tag may be used for different concepts.
del.icio.us lets you see the bookmarks that other users have added and how they are tagged. This open sharing of links is called social bookmarking. As bookmarks are added and tagged, a folksonomy emerges. Just as you might click a subject heading in Unicorn to see what the library has on a particular topic, clicking a tag in del.icio.us shows you all the bookmarks with that tag. And in the same way that using a subject heading can narrow a catalogue search, using a folksonomy tag can save you from sorting through 2 million Google hits by showing you what other people have found useful on that topic.
Clear as mud? Don’t worry, this week’s activities will help you understand what tagging and social bookmarking are.
What are you doing this week?
This week, you’ll be exploring a couple of popular social bookmarking resources that use tagging: del.icio.us and Flickr.
del.icio.us is a site that lets you save and organize links to web content. It’s kind of like the ‘Bookmarks’ or ‘Favorites’ folders in Firefox or Internet Explorer. Only better. With del.icio.us, you never have to remember which computer you saved that link on. So if you’re going from work to home, or to different computers around the library, all of your bookmarks are always available.
Flickr is specifically for digital photographs and images. Like del.icio.us, once you’ve saved an image in Flickr it’s accessible from where ever you happen to be. It’s easy to share your photos, too.
Learning 2.0 @ Imperial College London Library 