Thing 28: Well we're big rock singers...

Have tried the "Wired" magazine front cover generator....
allowed me to create a magnificently witty front cover but wouldn't let me copy it......

Ah well.... here's a picture of one of my favourite Rock and Roll singers... the incomparable Mojo Nixon.....go immediately to mojonixon.com and watch the "Elvis is Everywhere" video.....
enjoy.

L2.0 - The ERL Blogbusters

Recently released records from the War Office in London have revealed the existence of a secret plan to win the War In Killing Ignorance (WIKI)and the crack squadron formed to bring about that victory..... Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Blogbusters!

Prime Minister Winnie Churchill can be seen here giving the super secret L2.0 salute that acknowledges the existence and contribution of the Blogbusters to the WIKI....

L for Library

V for Two and Victory

O for OK

Winnie was heard to say - "I have nothing to offer you but blog, toil, tears and sweat". The ERL Blogbusters have certainly toiled, cried and sweated (yuk!) writing their blogs.
May I say that it has been a privilege to have served with such a wonderful group of chaps, chappesses and chappettes.....



Flight Lieutenant Paul "Bunty Bozo Biggles Bomber" Burden (retd. ht.)

Thing 26: Little bits of the Internet, on your desktop

I thought that widgets weren't all that useful until I came across this..... the Chuck Norris Facts Generator..... available for Mac OS X at the moment....... will go and load it now...... yes I do have a Mac just like Webgurl.

If you need more Chuck Norris wisdom go and check out the Uncyclopedia ("The content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit")


Even ninjas are scared of the Chuckmeister!!!

Thing 25: Newsletters in a Pop!

Sorry but LetterPop just doesn't do it for me.... all looks a bit too uniform and clunky although I'm sure that some of the 13 "Christmas" templates will be coming my way in the festive season.

Thing 24: Got file conversion issues?

This from Chris Whyley who co-founded Zamzar with his brother Mike:

"The name that we chose for the company - "Zamzar" - is based on a character from the German author Franz Kafka's book "The Metamorphosis". In the novel Kafka describes the extraordinary story of a young man who is transformed overnight whilst sleeping into a gigantic beetle. The man's name - Gregor Samsa - was used as the basis for our company name because of its' powerful association with change & transformation."

Not only IT wizards but literate as well! This is a really nifty tool for converting files from one format to another. Covers Image, Doc, Music and Video formats. Will be particularly useful converting Word to PDF files...... must go and play some more.

#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning ...

Having finished the programme I now feel like I have to go back and really get a handle on some of the tools/toys we have been playing with. It has been very useful as an introduction to what is out there in the Wired World and how folks in Library Land are using the newish technologies. It has got several of us at ERL seriously looking at what ideas we have seen that we can pinch/adapt/utilise/creatively plagiarise in order to add to or improve our services to our customers. We are currently looking at wikis for both staff and customer use; blogs for the branches as well as specialised uses such as reader's advisory and a possible notification service.

A big shout out to Helene Blowers for devising the programme, Melanie McCarten for co-ordinating the State Library's side of things and to Lynette Lewis and Leslie Sharples for jollying us along. Of course I shouldn't forget Stephen Abram who provided the spark. I went back and read his blog posts from 2006 and found the following which I think is sooooooo appropriate:

I've been asked a load of times how library workers can learn all these newish technologies. I don't know why it's easy for me and difficult for others. I do a few things.

1. I play.
2. I surf sites, blogs, and articles that friends recommend.
3. I schedule it.
4. I don't stay committed if it isn't fun or engaging.
5. I don't feel the need to learn every feature and nook and cranny of the site.
6. I share. I don't feel guilty is it isn't directly applicable today to my current needs.

See you in the sandpit.
Cheers, Paul.

PS: If you feel like carrying on with the concept of Learning 2.0 check out the sequel Learning 2.1 - more toys to play with.........

#22 Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight ")

According to a report in "The Australian" iPods command more than 70% of the MP3 market worldwide - estimates put the total number of iPods sold since 2001 as being between 80 and 100 million. Another article based on a Credit Suisse report states that by 2009 there will be over 300 million iPods floating around the world. In a word, or rather a couple of words, that is an awful large slice of the MP3 pie (an Apple pie of course!!). So what I hear you ask..... well OverDrive are one of the largest companies supplying digital e-books, audio books, music and videos to libraries BUT (and yes it is a BIG BUT) you find this information on their website:

Why can't I use my iPod with this service? Our audio titles use Windows Media DRM copyright protection technology from Microsoft Corporation. Unfortunately the iPod does not currently support copyright-protected Windows Media Audio (.wma) and video (.wmv) files. OverDrive, along with hundreds of online music and audio book providers, is hopeful that Apple and Microsoft can reach an agreement that would enable support for Microsoft-based copyright-protected materials on the iPod. To repeat, OverDrive would love nothing more than to provide content for your iPod. We urge you to contact Apple and request that they open the iPod to other copy-protected formats or license their propriety copy-protection method to third-party vendors.

And therein lies the problem - the service provided by OverDrive looks terrific, the products are up to date and it seems relatively easy to actually download an audio book once you have typed in library card and PIN numbers BUT (there's that BIG BUT again) until Mr Gates and Mr Jobs have decided how many squillions of dollars they are going to exchange it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to pay for a service that 70% of your customers are never going to utilise because they own an iPod only. The ACT Public Library and a couple of Queensland Public Libraries have signed up with OverDrive, probably in the hope that the problem of DRM will be resolved in the near future..... but until then I can't see too many other libraries signing up just yet.

I also checked out World eBook Fair but the majority of the titles I looked at were either old and out of copyright or were being narrated by well meaning amateurs - not quite as flash as having the latest Harry Potter audio book read to you by Stephen Fry ........ but then World eBook Fair is free and as my old mum always says "You get what you pay for".

We await further developments.........