My '2nd life'...at RMiT

My avatar roaming around a virtual RMIT design studio in '2nd Life'...

This photo (above) is a snapshot of my foray into the virtual 3D world of '2nd Life'. The use of this sort of technology in an educational setting is being promoted and utilised by academic institutions, including our own (as you can see in the picture above, I visited an RMIT design space in '2nd Life'). This video on Youtube (and this one) are quick introductions to the software's potential in an academic setting, as seen by converts. However, there are also parodies of the software (here) and a certain healthy scepticism within the real world of '1st Lifers' to keep things in perspective...

Regards the question of whether Web 3.0 is 'pie in the sky' or not...I would probably have to side with Tim Berners-Lee, simply because of his credentials ('founder of the World Wide Web', director of W3C)...here's his article if you want to read it. I think the 'semantic' web, and the ever greater pervasiveness of technology in our lives is pretty much inevitable...here's to the future!

Jay Walker's amazing personal library...

Just wanted to post the link to an article about this incredible personal library...

im, skype and voip...

I've used IM's in the past, but I think everyone just uses 'messenger' on their iphone these days don't they, or Facebook? In a recent 'livewire' (The Age) article, when asked which method of instant communication they prefer, most people still responded text/sms over chat. A recent 'Insight' (SBS television) episode touched on this: young MSN chat users complained of spending too much time online waiting for their friends to 'arrive'...however many companies are now utilising chat facilities to interact with customers (who don't want to waste time waiting in a telephone queue)...including RMIT University library.
I've used Skype to conference call with interstate colleagues (and VoIP is sort of ubiquitous now, as all the University telephones use it)...

thus 'Spoke' zarathustra...

Linked in is great...I searched for Obama...and some other candidates...
I ended up browsing on Spoke too because it had a good 'job search' option that gave results city by city...for example I searched 'Librarian' jobs within a 5 mile radius of New York City and got these results.
It's great that these sorts of professional networking sites exist now...it's really helpful to search for people within your industry...

Monkeys on a Picnik...

Survey Monkey is really worth a look...it's so easy to produce a professional looking survey...
Picnik (now 'Creative Kit' in Google+) is really good, too...I played around for a while and uploaded my finished product to Picasa...
Unfortunately I didn't really like the 'educational video' site Sclipo because

1) the sound was bad

2) the streaming was slow
3) the 'educational' content was mostly spruiking
4) nobody watches it (most of these videos have a total of 0 views)

I think Youtube does this sort of thing much better...and most educational institutions now have channels. If I were a prospective (or international) student that's where I'd be going to have a look at the campus, the city, the facilities or vox pops of other students talking about their courses...which is exactly what they're putting on the RMIT University channel. Individual departments are also creating channels so they can post student work (see the RMIT Animation and Interactive Media channel). It'd be good if the library could set up a channel too...

Flickr's Creative Commons...

The Creative Commons area of flickr is really interesting...there are different licensing agreements explained down the right-hand side of the page (that explain what the photographer is happy for you to do with their work) so you can feel confident that your not violating their copyright...

The photo I've included in this post is from the Creative Commons area, but I'm going to include the links to a photographer that I like (here)...

Maps and Mashups...

I think my choice of sources for a mashup would be flickr and a Youtube-type video embedder. You could create a map of the library and embed images so that patrons could view photos of an area in the library, and navigate around it in 3D (see NUS link below).  This would be particularly helpful in say, the Audio Visual area, where patrons could view information about the feature film collection, the music collection, or the viewing resources etc.
NUS University Library have just gone totally 3d with their collection guides (see here) and Google Earth is always good for inspiration (particularly their 'historical maps' idea)...

'The Hollywood Librarian' interview

I chose to embed a short grab of Ann Seidl, the director of 'The Hollywood Librarian'. The trailer for the film is restricted, but still viewable here.

Del.icio.us is delectable...

Having your links follow you wherever you go is a great idea, and I think the Delicious site is definitely the best of those on offer...
Having a system like this working for you as you browse a Library catalogue would be great...you 'd never have to chase up that lost reference again...

And I like how you can add a brief description about why you like the site you're tagging...so that others can benefit from the research you've already done...

Social Networking or running amok on Facebook

Facebook is fun...but I remember Gregor Kennedy (from the University of Melbourne) speaking at a CRIG Forum a few years back about his research on information literacy and the Google age; at that stage, he found that most Web 2.0 innovations were still more popular as social networking tools, rather than study tools. But this Mashable.com article recently listed some great ways for educators to utilise Facebook in an educational setting (basically set up a private group and post related educational links to your followers - most importantly, you can do this without having to be 'friends' with your group members)...

A Post about Podcasts...

Maybe the RMIT library 'subject guides' could include links to vodcasts/tutorials that give students a guided tour of resources in their study area...
Maybe student's could subscribe to rss feeds about 'new titles' in the library...or get updates about the latest material placed on 'reserve'...
Maybe RMIT Library Accounts will eventually look like 'Google Readers', where students can check rss feeds and watch lectures online....

Well, here goes nothing...

Wow, I can see how blogging can be addictive...it sort of satisfies your desire to write, publish and design all at the same time...
This image (left) is the interior of the Trinity College Library in Ireland, which was the first image that came up on 'Google Images' when I searched the term 'library'. Strangely enough, I've also been lucky enough to visit and it's a pretty stunning library.

I'm pretty sure Trinity is where they exhibit the Book of Kells too (if my memory serves me correctly), and that's why I ended up there that day. But of course, I was extremely pleased to stumble upon this library too.  I think they were also celebrating 100 years of 'women at Trinity' at the time, which was nice.  Well, I can see how I could be typing away here for hours before I look up, so I'm signing off!