Week 2 - Instant Messaging

Welcome to Week 2 of Ezra Edition
Instant Messaging
(Using AIM – same as ShipLibrary reference chat, meebo, and more)

Instant Messaging, or Chat, is a quick substitute for a private conversation or an email when there may be a lot of back-and-forth in a discussion. Quick Reference qiuestions are a good examples of chat in libraries. The Library Success Wiki has a good page on which libraries are using what kinds of chat service(s) to provide quick answers to library users and patrons.

Some of my friends in the computer use chat in their libraries to facilitate internal communication. For example, if everyone were to have a chat application open on their workstation questions and discussions could happen without the interruption of a phone call. If someone were busy, the question would be waiting on the chat application (similar to an unread email) and a quick reply could be dashed off by the recipient as time and workflow allows.

Discovery Exercises:

• Chat with the person monitoring the ShipLibrary AIM Chat? 
• Create an AIM handle (aim.com or aol.com?)
• Try out AIM Chat (and/or other options like Meebo, Pudgin, gTalk, etc.)
• Some libraries use Chat to replace quick emails back and forth, do you think doing this would work for you?

Week 1 - Blogs and Blogging

Welcome to Week 1 of Ezra Edition

Blogs and Blogging
(Using Blogspot – same service as Ship Library Blog)

The purpose of this exploration is to go through the process of creating content to share with others online. We're not here to turn everyone into an A-List Blogger, just to get our feet wet and share ideas and/or feedback about our jobs and our interests.

• Create your own blog to track your impressions while doing this activity
  
• Have fun, find things which will help you with your job as well as away from work 

More blogs have been started and abandoned than all the books in the world ever written (I made that up). Thinking about it, I know I've started several blogs and cannot remember where they (the URLs) are or under which pseudonym(s) I've written.

One of the reasons (given by my friends in the computer) for starting a blog is to keep track of a particular project, another is to keep track of thoughts on particular topics.

Another thing to remember as you create blog content, phrasing things with a positive tone can generate informative discussions. Informative and helpful is the tone and purpose I aim for in my (sporadic) blogging.

Discovery Exercises:

• Create a blog (use a pseudonym if you wish) to track your impressions and ideas for this week
• Reply to this Blog Post with a link to your Blog
• Review what we did last week with Google Reader
• Does your organization of feeds make sense?
• Skim through your new items in Google Reader and write a blog post on something which catches your interest
• As a Work-related-wise example: "eBooks" is a very hot topic in libraryland right now (see the Harper Collins 26 circs and you're done brouhaha) - if this touches on what you do at work (or as a library user) maybe toss out an idea or two on how to address this event and discussion.
• If this seems artificial, feel free to write about something that interests you (gardening, knotting, good books, motocross, Bourbon, whatever. The idea here is to go through the process of putting something online which others might find and/or read. It's not as easy as it sounds.
• Another idea could be to respond to the reasons given by my friends in the computer (which I referenced above)
• If you track what you are thinking while you're participating in this program, we could take the feedback and use that to tailor future activities, too :)

Week 0 - Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to Week 0 of Ezra Edition.

The format for future weeks of Ezra Edition will be a blog post similar to this one.
The Topics page gives an overview of what tools and/or technologies be covered for that week - the topic details will be shared in a blog post.
When you have an idea for how to apply one of the tools or technologies we explore to processes in the library, feel free to add it to the Tips page.

• Introduction to the tools and technology (f2f meeting)
• Original "Learning 2.0" introduction:
  
  7.5 habits of highly successful lifelong learners – from the original PLCMC slideshow
• RSS {Really Simple Syndication}
  
  • What it is. What it does. How to leverage it.
    
    
• Suggestions for using RSS readers as part of job
  • Set up personal account in Google Reader
    
    
  • Find and follow interesting blogs (work or personal)
  • 1.Catalogablog and many others in the biblioblogosphere
  • 2.LOLcats/ LOLdogs (Laugh Out Loud Funny -- or maybe not, sometimes)

Once you have your Google account and Google Reader setup, it's time to find blogs and other websites which provide feeds to make keeping up easier.

Discovery Exercises:

• Create a Google Reader account (which we did together)
• Add the Ship Library Blog to Google Reader
• Find blogs which cover what you do in the library
• Add some to Google Reader
• Find blogs which interest you
• Add some to Google Reader
• Organize your Google Reader into logical groups