Friday, April 11, 2008

23 things to do

Welcome to NSL's Learning 2.0 program & blog.

Chances are if you've found your way here you're either:


  • A member of NSL staff who is participating in the Learning 2.0 Challenge.

  • Interested in learning about and playing around (yes, playing is allowed in libraries) with some new web 2.0 tools that will help you expand your information literacy toolbox - or -

  • Are just interested in earning a cool USB MP3 player or Kingston 8GB Data Traveler! (Each participant must register to be eligible for the incentive.)
Either way… I'm glad you're here!!

Learning 2.0 is an online learning program that encourages staff to learn more about emerging technologies on the web that are changing the way people, society and libraries access information and communicate with each other.

Over the course of the next ten weeks, this website will highlight “23 Things” and discovery exercises to help staff become familiar with blogging, RSS news feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting, online applications, and video and image hosting sites.

To familiarize yourself with this project, be sure to read the
About page. The FAQs should answer most of your questions about this program. If not, then please add your question to the FAQ page as a comment.

So fasten your seat belts, grab your mouse and get ready for a discovery adventure… and remember, it's OK to play in the library and have fun!


Be sure to tune in Monday, 20th July 2009 for the next "thing" or discovery item.

Listed below are the 23 things (or small exercises) that you can do on the web to explore and expand your knowledge of Web 2.0 tools freely available on the Internet. Click on the links under each thing to find out about the discovery exercises for you to do. Employees are encouraged to complete all 23 items on this list by Monday 29 September 2008 in order to receive your prize.


Web 2.0 - Learn through play -
23 things to do*

Before you start the programme, discover a few
pointers from lifelong learners and learn how to nurture your own learning process.

Note: # represents each of the 23 things to do


Registration

# 1: Register for the NSL 2.0 Learning programme. Creating a gmail account.

Week 1: Blogging

# 2: Set up your own blog. Introduce yourself and record what you hope to learn from this programme. Send us the link to your blog.

# 3: Make a comment on a colleague's blog.


Week 2: Photos and Images

# 4: Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.

# 5: Have some Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & 3rd party sites.

# 6: Create a blog post about anything technology related that interests you this week


Week 3: RSS & Newsreaders

# 7: Learn about RSS feeds and setup your own Bloglines newsreader account. Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds.


Week 4: Social Bookmarking and Library 2.0

# 8: Learn about tagging and discover a Del.icio.us (a social bookmarking site).

# 9: Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.

#10: Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries
and blog your thoughts.



Week 5: Explore Wikis

#11: Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them.

#12: Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki.


Week 6: Play Week

#13: Play around with an online image generator.

#14: Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books.

#15: Roll your own search tool with Rollyo.


Week 7: Online Applications & Tools

#16: Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.

#17: Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list, play with it and write a blog post about
your findings.



Week 8: Podcasts, Video & ebooks

#18: Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.

#19: Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.

#20: Take a look at the titles available on NetLibrary and look at ebooks.


Week 9: Social Networking

#21: Take a look at the various sites such as Bebo, MySpace, FaceBook.

#22 Read some articles on social networking and libraries and write a post with your thoughts on social networkings.


Week 10: Play Week and Catchup

#23: Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog and complete the survey.

* This list of "things" can also be found on the 43Things website. Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006).

Recording Progress:

You can view the progress for NSL staff in the NSL learn 2.0 Tracking Log.
First you'll need to register your blog - this will be covered in # 2 Week 1 of the programme.

PS: If you're not a NSL staff member, you can follow along as well. Just use the list discovery items found on the 43Things website to record your progress.

Note: non staff are not eligible for prizes.