Library Podcasting

I visited several library websites and tried to access their podcasts. I was blocked many times by Websense and was unable to listen or view any of the information on the site.
I did, however, find some booktalks on one of the sites I visited and was finally able to listen to a book talk on John Lithgow's Mahalia Mouse Goes to College and others.
I was frustrated by my inability to access the podcasts and was really interested in hearing some of them. I noticed some of the library sites also had songs available for the patrons to enjoy. I believe podcasts by a library can be a valuable tool for providing patrons with information and booktalks on new books, etc.

Podcasts

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1032

The above address is for an NPR podcast of their book review selection. NPR book reviews, news and author interviews are found at this site. The NPR Podcast Directory is very well organized and easy to navigate. It covers a wide range of topics and can easily be downloaded on to any number of listening devices.
I have added the podcast of the NPR book reviews to my reader and now have easy access to them. I listened to Richard Russo discuss his latest book 'Bridge of Sighs' and found NPR's interview of Mr. Russo very interesting and informative.

YouTube

The YouTube video site is an new and interesting way to share videos that might not have been shared just a couple years ago. There are so many videos that the user could easily be inundated with possibilities. I decided to view some of the more popular sites just to get an idea of what people are finding noteworthy.
One could spend many hours just watching videos.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.
The trading card feature on Flickr was interesting to me so I decided to make a trading card with a picture taken by a digital camera at work.
It was pretty easy. I had a little trouble loading the picture but once that was accomplished I was able to continue on and finish the trading card. I then connected my 2.0 blog and flickr which was also fairly straight forward.
I'm sure there are many more things I could have done with the options available but that's for another time.

Flickr and Tags

The use of tags for the images on the Flickr website are important because they allow you to share your photos in many different ways.
One article I came across subdivided the tags into different categories:
-'medium' tags - ex.-photos, drawings, paintings
-'genre' tags - ex.-cameraphones, comics, landscapes
-'subject' tags - ex.-live music, animals, "me"
-'name' tags - ex.-name of the person in the photo
-'location' tags - ex.-New York, Los Angeles
A common knowledge of tag categories allows users to more easily and accurately search and share themes and genres. This enhances the social networking capabilities of a photo sharing site such as Flickr

Flickr

I created a Flickr account and uploaded some pictures taken on a digital camera. Creating the account and uploading the pictures was easy. I can understand why the Flickr service is so popular.
By using Flickr you can save, organize and share photos with relative ease.
Using Flickr in the workplace makes it convenient for various groups to share photos when needed.

Web 2.0 Awards List

I explored the LinkedIn website who's main purpose is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The list of users are called Connections who can invite anyone (member or not) to become a connection. There are first, second and third degree connections on the list who might want to gain an introduction to someone they wish to know through a mutual contact.
These contacts can be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Job seekers and use the site to review profiles of hiring managers and discover which of their contacts can introduce them.
This site could be used by library personnel to "link up" with other library professionals (or nonprofessionals) to explore job opportunities as well as maintain a contact with others in a similar field.
I didn't really find anything particularly negative about this site. The one drawback that I found is that there is no automated way to remove yourself from the site. A customer support ticket must be filed.