http://kcls27things.blogspot.com/2007/05/25-something-to-do-with-that-mp3-player.html
I could play on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ all day! I found quite a few library postings, many of them hilarious. And people certainly love to post about their pets. I also enjoyed finding so many old TV commercials (boy, they made me feel old, especially when I shared them with my younger co-workers!).
YouTube has serious stuff in addition to all the funny/outrageous postings. I was pleased to find a video posted by Adam D. Vasquez, a Mt. Rainier High School student. "With Sympathy" was featured in the Images of Youth 2007 Video Festival, April 20, 2007 and depicts a teen fed up with all the violence around him. Check it out. Well done Adam!
With the popularity of YouTube, and it's use by many facets of today's society, I can see an enormous potential for use by KCLS. What a great way to promote programs, services offered by the library system, and even some "helpful hints" about how to use those services. And with inventive tagging, it's easy to target those groups that might be interested in specific services. I look forward to the time when my searches turn up lots of KCLS related videos.
KCLS Post: Sunday, April 29, 2007
#23 - Video In The Post-Betamax World
We've come a long way since the Betamax-VHS format wars of the 1980s. It's no longer about the shape of your video cassette. No, it's about how easily you can copy your files to your computer and save them to your preferred video sharing site.Online video has improved by leaps and bounds in the last few years - there's more of it, for sure, but the quality is much much higher (bigger screen sizes, fewer pauses when watching). This change is largely about improvements in technology - digital video cameras are much more common (including on standard digitial cameras and cell phones), highspeed internet access is much more common (important for watching videos but also for uploading them to the internet), video editing software has become far less expensive (often free online or pre-installed on newly purchased computers), and online storage (server space) has dropped dramatically in price.That last one, the price of online storage, has been revolutionary - without it, companies like YouTube would not be able to host videos from millions of users without charging them a dime.The (relative) ease of creating video, uploading it to the web, and storing it in an easy-to-access environment is starting to impact the way our society gets its news. Think about it - anyone with a digital camera can capture a news event on their cell phone video camera and save it to a YouTube account. Anyone remember the 2006 senate race in Virginia? The popular incumbent running for re-election started to lose steam after a YouTube video showed him insulting his oponent's campaign worker. He later lost the election. The video spread like wildfire in large part because of YouTube's video embedding function.Video EmbeddingAll YouTube videos offer code that allow you to embed a video (it doesn't have to be yours - you can embed any video you find on YouTube) on your website or blog. Look below where I've embedded an outstanding video on Web 2.0 - click on the play icon to start it up, press pause to make it stop.
ContentNow, please understand that it's not just serious stuff - reporting, politics, web 2.0. There's thousands and thousands of fun, even useless, videos on YouTube for your watching pleasure. Me, I'm big on nostalgia and found some old commercials (Life Cereal, Colgate Toothpaste), local history (anyone remember the Kingdome?), and a bit of classic Seattle hip-hop before I even ate breakfast today.But what about public libraries?How about showcasing the opening of new facilities? Or storytimes? Author interviews? There are many opportunities to use video out there. There's even library dominoes...Social Networking?YouTube employs many of the social networking components we've seen in previous Learning 2.0 lessons - all videos are tagged (you can't upload a video without adding at least one) and video watchers are able to comment on what they've watched (they can type their comments or leave a video response). YouTube has also introduced an online video editor which is perfect for making simple edits to cell phone videos.Google. Again.YouTube is no longer the fresh-faced start-up company it was two years ago - they become part of the Google empire in 2006. Google paid $1.6 billion (yes, billion) for the company. You see, even Google slips up sometimes - they got into the video game too late and decided it was smarter business to acquire their main competitor.Enough about Google, though. Time to search YouTube.Discovery Exercise.
Look for something that interests you on YouTube - spend a few minutes (and we mean just a few - it can get addictive) exploring.
Write a blog posting about your experience - what's your take on YouTube? Do you see any other possible uses for YouTube at KCLS?
Optional Last Step: try embedding the video you found in your blog. You'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.That's it for today, everyone, thanks for reading and doing.Next up - podcasts...
Posted by KCLS Learning 2.0 at 10:23 PM 7 comments
Tags: video, youtube
(#24 Podcast, Podcasts) http://kcls27things.blogspot.com/2007/05/24-podcast-podcasts.html
I enjoyed finding different library-related podcasts, however, I found it very frustrating to find the time to listen to the many items I discovered! I did try to listen to several of the podcasts from http://mrniceguy.org/ and plan to try more later. http://feeds.feedburner.com/MrNiceGuyShow
KCLS Post:
#24 - Podcast, Podcasts
Today we look at podcasts and podcasting.If these words are new to you, let me back up - a 'podcast' is a non-music audio or video recording that is distributed over the internet. The distribution is what makes a podcast unique. It's also what makes a podcast powerful - interested listeners or watchers can receive updates through RSS when new content is posted.VarietyPodcasts come in many shapes and sizes. They can be brief (like those you've seen in Learning 2.0) or considerably longer (interviews, panel discussions, radio shows, etc). They can be slickly produced radio broadcasts or home-grown recordings done with a $30 microphone and free software.And, despite the name, you don't need an iPod or a MP3 player to listen or watch - all you need is a computer with headphones or speakers.Find a podcastiTunes, free software from Apple, is the directory finding service most commonly associated with podcasts. It's tied to their online store but everything is free - you can browse by topic or search by keyword. iTunes also includes an amazing capacity for actually downloading the content you subscribe to automatically. And anyone can submit content for inclusion.But what if you don't use iTunes? There are plenty of other options.Podcast.net is one - try a search on 'library.'Podcastalley.com is another - try a search on 'library 2.0.'Yahoo Podcasts is still another - try a search on something that has nothing to do with libraries.Many podcast creators also post links to their podcasts on their websites. The NPR radio show Radio Open Source, for example, just featured an excellent program on web 2.0 tagging, classification schemes, and libraries. I missed the show but downloaded and listened to the podcast.Be the podcasterThe first thing I noticed when producing the first Learning 2.0 podcast was how remarkably simple it all was - all I needed was a microphone, some free editing software (I've been using Audacity), and a site to host the finished product (I've been using Twango).Don't believe me? Or do you want to learn more? Take a look at these links solely if you are interested - a Beginner's guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts or a 'How to podcast tutorial.'But now to the doing - today's Discovery Exercise.
Take a look at one of the three podcast directories:- Podcast.net- Podcastalley.com- Yahoo Podcasts
Take a look around
Locate some interesting library-related podcasts
Add the RSS feed for the one you like best to your Bloglines accountDid you see any library podcast ideas that would be worth trying at KCLS?Next up - ebooks, yes, KCLS ebooks...
Posted by KCLS Learning 2.0 at 7:30 AM 4 comments
Tags: audio, itunes, podcasting, podcasts, video
(#25 Something to do with that MP3 Player) http://kcls27things.blogspot.com/2007/05/25-something-to-do-with-that-mp3-player.html
I am pleased with the variety of ebooks available through the KCLS catalog. I look forward to trying out some of them! Thanks!
KCLS Post:
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
#25 - Something To Do With That MP3 Player
To my surprise, we're almost done - today's lesson marks the end of our next-to-last week of Learning 2.0. This also means it's time to go mp3 player shopping. Thanks again to the KCLS foundation for funding this program completion reward.But with mp3 players on the brain, mine at least, today's lesson offers a perfect excuse to focus on our most popular free Audio eBook service, the OverDrive Audio Book collection.Ladies and Gentlemen, the Overdrive Download CollectionThere's a wonderfully wide range of audio books in the Overdrive Download Collection. Popular fiction, history, young adult, you name it.Overdrive, though, isn't just audio ebooks. Keep an eye out for different formats (text ebooks, video, classical music) in your search results - some of your favorite titles will not be available as audio downloads.You should also know that most downloads (all but the text ebooks) ask you to install the Overdrive Media Console. This is free software, worry not, but you're not going to be able to install it on a KCLS staff computer.How, then, do you download audio books?If you've got a computer and high speed internet at home, it's easy - install the Overdrive software and have at it.And if you don't have a computer and high speed internet at home? You'll be able to use one of the new public PCs (the thin client replacements) in our branches. Talk to your LTA to find out if your branch has added one or more of these new computers.Explore the collectionOkay, so where do you find Overdrive downloadable audio books?First off, there's an Overdrive catalog on our website - ebooks.kcls.org will take you straight in. You can also get there via the ebooks-Audio link found on our main website menu.Overdrive titles are also in our OPAC and in Catalog Explorer. It's especially easy to limit your search results in Catalog Explorer - choose 'e-book - audio' from the format refinement option on the right side of the screen.Today we'd like you to focus on the Overdrive catalog - get a feel for the collection and get ready to download ebooks on your new mp3 player in just a few weeks' time.So, straight off, to our low-key Discovery Excercise
Head over to our Overdrive Catalog
Explore - search for your favorite authors
Explore some more - browse a few subjects that interest you
Make a mental list of the titles you'd like to listen to once you get your mp3 player
That's all.Or, unless you need a visual kick-start - should you be having trouble making sense of our ebook site, feel free to take a look at this hastily-produced 3 and a half minute demonstrationPost-script: a number of you have run into error messages when installing the Overdrive software on your home computers. Read the comments to this posting for suggestions on dealing with 'parameter' and 'security upgrade' problems.Next up - the wrap up...
Posted by KCLS Learning 2.0 at 4:20 PM 9 comments
Tags: ebooks, mp3 player, overdrive
KCLS Post:
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
an Update on Learning 2.0 Presentations
For those of you who were not able to attend or for those of you who want to relive the experience, the slides from both of our Learning 2.0 guest speakers are now online - Stephen Abram's February Talk and Aaron Schmidt's April Talks.
Posted by KCLS Learning 2.0 at 10:16 AM 1 comments
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