Thing 23: Is this really the end? Or just the beginning ...

Congratulations! You’ve reached the 23rd thing. Be sure to give yourself a pat on the back for completing the program. But before concluding, I ask for one last discovery post.

For your last and final exercise for this program please reflect on your learning journey and post a few thoughts to your blog. Here are some questions to prompt you if you're drawing a blank ...

• What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
  


• How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
  


• Were there any take-away memories or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
  


• What could be done differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
  
  And last but not least…
  


• If your were offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

In closing, thank you to everyone for joining me on this journey. My greatest hope is that this not the end of our learning journey together, but rather it’s just the start of something amazing …

Thank you, Helene

UPDATE: Interested in other Learning 2.0 participants final thoughts? I've tagged some in Del.icio.us.

Thing 22: Audiobooks (or "the end is in sight")

It’s time to take a look at the ACT Public Library's downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks web site. This downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks service is provided by Overdrive Digital Library Reserve and is available through the library’s web site.

To download eBooks and eAudiobooks you will need to be a member of the ACT Public Library. If you are not already a member (and you live work or study in the ACT region) you can join online via the ACT Public Library web site. Once you have a library membership number and PIN you can download eBooks and eAudiobooks. You don't need to be a member if you just want to browse the site.

For this discovery exercise, you merely need to familiarize yourself a bit with the structure of the downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks site and get an idea of the types of titles you can find here. Take a look around and locate a few titles of interest. You can also try locating other eBook and eAudiobook resources.

Discovery Resources

Download Digital Media Guided Tour - this tour provides step by step tutorials on a range of topics such as browsing, selecting and downloading titles, installing the free software, and transfering audio to a portable device (be patient, it may take a few minutes to load).



Discovery Exercise

1. If you are not already a member, join the ACT Public Library! Note: If you don't have a library card and PIN, you will not be able to download.


2. Go to the eBooks and eAudiobooks web site. Click on the Featured Collections link and explore some of the 1300 + titles.


3. Create a blog post about your findings. Did you locate a title that you might want to try out and download?

OPTIONAL: Try downloading a title from the site. You don’t have to have a portable player to listen to audiobooks, you can also listen to it from a computer.

Thing 21: Podcasts!

Listen to this podcast [2:17]-->powered by ODEO

The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS.

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting, it's easy to see why.

Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries (like the ones used in this Learning 2.0 program) to much longer in person interviews or panel group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portal device) with headphones or a speaker.

iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.

For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Once found, you can easily pull the RSS feed into your Bloglines account as well, so that when new casts become available you’ll be automatically notified of their existence.

Discovery Resources

• To find out more about podcasts start with Yahoo: What is a podcast tutorial
  
  
• There are many, many podcast directories and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that, unlike iTunes, don't require a software download:
  • Podcast.net
    
  • Podcastalley.com
    
  • Yahoo Podcasts
  
  
• What? You want to learn how to be a podcaster too?
  (Optional Resources for those who want to learn create podcasts)
  
  • Yahoo: Publish a podcast
    
  • Odeo’s Studio – online recording studio.
    
  • Beginner's guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts
    
  • How to podcast tutorial

Discovery Exercise

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.
   
2. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account
   
3. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?

Optional: If you're ambitious, why not try out the Audioblogger service and add an audio post about your experience to your blog. (see Jamie's audiopost on Library 2.0 as an example)

Thing 20: You too can YouTube

Listen to this podcast [1:58]-->powered by ODEO


Within the past year online video hosting sites have exploded allowing users to easily to upload and share videos on the web. Among all the web 2.0 players in this area, YouTube is currently top dog serving up over 1 million video views a day and allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily, but also embed clips into their own sites easily.

Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from 1970s TV commercials and 60s music videos to library dominos and kids singing about bloopers here. Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has too offer. :)

Discovery Exercise

1. Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
   
2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
   
   OPTIONAL: Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and paste code for the for "Embeddable Player.” Note: you'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.
   

Other popular video hosting sites:

• Yahoo Videos
  
• Google Videos
  
• Others - top video site list

NOTE: Videos, like music downloads, are bandwidth hogs. It is recommended that you complete this exercise during light internet usage times.

Thing 19: Discovering Web 2.0 tools

Throughout the course of this Learning 2.0 program we’ve explored just a small sampling of these new internet technologies and websites that are empowering users with the ability to create and share content. But given time there are so many more we could explore. Current estimates place the number of web 2.0 tools at somewhere between 300 & 500 with only a handful emerging as market dominators. And although time will only tell which of these new collaborative, social networking and information tools will remain on top, one
thing is for sure, they're not going to go away (at least anytime soon).

For this discovery exercise, participants are asked to select any site from this list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees and explore it. With so many to choose from, it might be handy to first select a category that interests you (like Books or Personal Organization) and then simply select a tool/site to explore. Be careful to select a tool that is Free and that doesn't require a plug-in or download. The majority of these free, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Discovery Exercise

1. Select any site/tool from the list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees. (If you prefer to select from just the winners, here’s a link to the short list.)
   
2. Explore the site you selected.
   
3. Create a post about your discovery. What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features? Could you see any applications for its use in a library setting?

Web 2.0 – with so much to explore, just start with ONE. :)