The End of the Road

Wow, it’s a little hard to believe it, but it looks like we made it!  Twenty three “things” have come and gone and here we are.  I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel more knowledgeable about technology in general and Web 2.0 in particular.  Dare I say it?  I am richer for having participated in this program.  Before the workshop I attended last year, I never thought about Web 2.0 or Library 2.0.  I left that workshop with a renewed sense of how my library could present more information (thus more options) to the community.  I had so many ideas about things we could do, but I never got around to them.  While doing 23 Things though, I began to remember all the cool things I wanted to offer up all those months before.  Yes, we have a FaceBook and MySpace page, but I learned there were other ways to bring our services to the community.  I have to admit, there are a few “Things” that I just don’t get.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever understand the purpose of widgets or how Flickr mashups can help us, but they’re still cool and worth learning about.  I have gathered from reading some of the perspectives on Library 2.0, that a lot of people who work in libraries long for the good old days of library work and look with disdain and apprehension on the new services that exist.  But for me, the connection we make with our patrons is more important than my understanding of widgets or comfort level using social networking sites.  If many of our patrons are using MySpace to get information about new music and new books, shouldn’t we provide the same service through our MySpace page?  Many of us (patrons and staff) use Web 2.0 anyway, so why not fully embrace the idea?  I, for one, am dedicated to providing the best customer service I can to the community.  It’s time for all of us in Libraryland to get with the times and rush headlong into all that Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 have to offer.

Here a Podcast, There a Podcast…Everywhere a Podcast

It’s official: I’m a geek!  More on that later. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I once starred in a podcast.  Okay, well, “starred in” might be a bitof a stretch.  I had an integral role in the sketch; we’ll leave it at that.  Anyhoo, before the Library 2.0 workshop in went to, I had never really given much thought to podcasts.  Afterwards, I began to think of all the ways they could work for the library and for me, personally.  Oh, the possibilities!  I have to admit, however, that I never gave a thought to how people find podcasts.  This exercise gave me some insight.  I actually searched each site listed in the explanation of Thing 22, so here’s what I learned. 

• podcastalley.com: This is a pretty cool site, I found a few different types of podcasts, but to listen I had to download a podcast aggregator (whatever the heck that is!), so I just searched and left.
• getapodcast.com: as a search engine for podcasts, I was not impressed.  I kept getting irrelevant podcasts to my search queries.  Besides, I foud the site rather boring and bland.
• podscope.com: I didn’t get it. The sites tag line is: “Podscope lets you search the spoken word for audio and video that interests you.”  Okay, I’m not exactly sure what that means.  I searched for a few things and got zero results.
• podcast.com: WONDERFUL!!  I absolutely love this site.  You can listen to or watch podcasts directly on the site; no downloading necessary.  There are also instructions on how to load podcasts on your computer, mp3 player, or ipod.  And I was able to listen to a podcast without even being a member.  There is also a way to add your own podcasts to the site.  If you’re looking for podcasts, this is the site to use.

Now, back to me being a geek.  One of the things I searched for was Battlestar Galactica.  Why?  Well, it’s the best television on earth and I was just curious about why types of things would be found.  Imagine my surprise when I found a podcast of a commentary on episode 12 of season 4 (Revelations)!  I listened to the executive producer, two writers of the episode and the editor talk about how the episode was originally written, why it was shot a certain way and all that good stuff.  <sheepishly> I listened to almost the entire commentary.  But what can I say?  I love BSG!!  So now I know where I can go to listen to podcasts by fans like me, or podcasts featuring the cast of the show, or just about anything BSG.  Isn’t the internet great?