Folksonomies & Tagging

L2TD#6, at the 11th hour...yes, understood the video which was very clear on the difference between a folksonomy (an unstructured categorization scheme), as opposed to a taxonomy (formalised tagging such as that used in Library of Congress subject headings).
I agree tagging is a great way of finding resources, and the cloud method which highlights the most popular tags is especially useful for browsing purposes.
I have set up a Del.ici.ous account - the frustrating part of that was trying to decipher the security code, which took about 6 goes!!! Time will tell if it will prove useful to me; I think it will be a matter of changing my habits, which are well entrenched in "favourites". I am definitely in favour of being able to apply your own tags to websites.
I like the look of Technorati, and will investigate it when I have more time up my sleeve. I was interested in the number of hits on "singing"...
LibraryThing has been around for quite a while now, and has become HUGE since its inception, and obviously a great vehicle for the burgeoning number of bookclubs and book groups around the globe. Maybe PLS could post its bookclub titles on LibraryThing the way Noosa has done; a great way for those keen rural bookclubbers to chat. I was disappointed that I was unable to link to any member reviews to titles on the NoosaBookClubs site.

A dose of Dilbert

This actually relates to Test Drive #5, but I only thought about including it after I had posted the blog.
Anyway, it seems timely for a Friday afternoon, with the disclaimer that of course, I worked my fingers to the bone :)

RSS Feeds

AKA everything you always wanted to know about rss feeds but were too afraid to ask...although I could not actually get the video about feeds to play!
Some time later...aargh...TGIF...ok, I managed the part about creating the account in Bloglines; also added a number of feeds to my account - a combination of library and literary stuff, but balanced by a daily Dilbert comic strip (surely he has worked for the government!). When it came to add the OPAL training blog, I shall simply say I had an immense amount of trouble figuring out how to do that, but persistence (and no small amount of cursing) paid off eventually (plus Mary K did not answer her phone), and now I have added it twice, BUT I DON'T CARE.
I imagine RSS feeds will work for me in a similar way as following various institutions on Twitter does - saving time logging into a whole lot of different websites - as long as I remember to log in to Bloglines regularly.
Thus endeth the 5 th lesson. Amen to that.

Social Networking

I'm way behind the 8ball in terms of keeping up with the L2TD "lessons". Maybe I can squeeze the last 3 into a Friday afternoon (well, it is nice and quiet at Cannon Hill today). Ok, social networking...I am a regular Facebook user, which I find a great way of keeping in touch with friends and family (have "rediscovered" some Danish cousins this way). It probably suits me better than some of the other sites such as MySpace or Bebo (I didn't like that one at all, it seems to be designed for 15 year olds). I am also a Twitter follower (or "tweeter", now that I have discovered more about how to use it) - I use it socially, as well as following news items and publishers (so it is handy for my job).
The most effective examples of libraries & organisations using social networking in the examples in Test Drive #4 - in my humble opinion - were BIFF's use of MySpace (great spot to pick up their target audience), and the National Library of NZ on Twitter. I really do think Twitter is an effective way of getting snippets of info across to people on a regular basis, as I know I log in to Twitter every day in preference to umpteen websites I might have an interest in.

Wikis

I subscribe to a number of WetPaint wikis; namely Booklust (inspired by Nancy Pearl's visit to SLQ in 2006), and a couple related to rhyme time matters - CSWyong, and Sturgis Kids. I often pick up good ideas for my singing repetoire on these wikis, and I actually contributed to Sturgis Kids recently with some suggestions for suitable songs for "signing". I might not have done that without the prompt of L2TD.
I checked out several of the suggested wikis; my favourite was Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. It is an excellent resource for public librarians, with information ranging from collection management to readers advisory. I was interested to see that Queensland author Karen Foxlee's "The Anatomy of Wings" was one of the most requested titles for book discussion groups.
After looking at the SLQ wiki, I signed up to Delicious, which in turn led me to some useful information about the uses of Twitter, which I have passed on to some friends and colleagues.

Auslan Rhyme Time

Almost two years after the inception of the Rhyme Time program at The Corner, an exciting new phase in this early literacy program began in late February 2009. The Auslan Rhyme Time pilot project was initiated by a former SLQ hearing impaired staff member (one of our original Rhyme Time presenters). It is aimed at children and their parents/carers in the deaf/hearing impaired/intellectually impaired communities. Auslan Rhyme Time takes place in the usual Rhyme Time slot of 10-10:30 a.m. on the last Thursday of every month. In these sessions, Rhyme Time presenters perform their usual repetoire of rhymes and songs, with the assistance of an Auslan interpreter from Deaf Services Queensland. The first two Auslan Rhyme Time sessions have been well-attended, thanks to a marketing campaign targeted at the deaf, hearing impaired and intellectually impaired communities at the beginning of the year. The pilot project- which will continue until the end of June (and hopefully beyond)- demonstrates that disability access can be successfully integrated within the State Library's early childhood programs.