Oh boy, where do I start?! This has been an enormous learning curve for me. I'll start with blogging, of course I had heard of blogs but never realised that they were easy to do and what an impact they can make. Now I know what a QR code is (or rather boxes with squiggles in them!). I managed to add a page to a Wiki and know what they are for and how to add pages/comments. I've read about posting photos on Flickr and embedding virtual tours of the library. Of course there is Twitter and I enjoy following some of the big names I have chosen but as yet have not tweeted myself. I must not forget Facebook where we would have a page. There are other Web 2.0 technologies that have been touched on but I have enough coping with the ones above. I would love to be able to use these within our organisation, particularly for the library. I would be able to make the library blog fun and interesting for the public to follow us and learn about the whole organisation.
I am particularly interested in our archival material and showing it off to the general public. These give a look at Australia through the photos and paper memorabilia that is unknown to Generation X. They show a slice of life including fashions, attitudes and needs of Australia and Australians in different eras. As an aside, it is such a shame that nowadays I find there seems to be little interest in keeping material for the future, especially photos as no one keeps digital images. They could be copied onto a CD and then kept in the archives. I found this article on that exact point The decaying web and our disappearing history http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120927-the-decaying-web/1
To go on with how I can use Web 2.0 techologies within the library. As I mentioned we would keep an up-to-date library blog which would involve news and views from the library and it's users; a virtual library tour; ask a Librarian; new material in the library - week by week; a link onto our home webpage; a QR code containing the archive exhibition and each month an article with photos of a particular year starting at the beginning 1939. I would open a Twitter account to augment the library blog and a Facebook page.
Something I will have to investigate is Flickr to post some of our archival photos and possibly a Wiki inviting readers to add their own comments etc. I would love to become more involved with our members, library users and people just interested in what we do.
I am sure that if we started using the above Web 2.0 technologies the benefit to the library and the organisation in general would be tenfold.
Go Susan!! Which of these projects is going to be your first? It is so encouraging to see such enthusiasm and that our 6 week course is partially responsible for this :)
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion - start with the easiest and less time consuming first:
1. set up FB and twitter accounts
2. create a library blog - you have this skill and to this you can add links to library webpage, FB and twitter
3. create a wiki using wikispaces - great place to store and share articles, links etc.
4. to the BIG job - getting the photos online - Flickr or Pinterest.
Post script - keep adding to this blog as a personal log of your achievements - you can add links to all of the above :)