Week 9 #21 - Searching and downloading a podcast

I tend to stumble across podcasts while surfing, so I haven't often done a lot of searches for podcasts. Seeing as though I have iTunes on my Mac I thought I'd download onet from there.

I did a power search and found one called Library Geeks. The following is the description I found on PodcastAlley for this episode:

"Gary Price joins Dan to discuss his work of politely getting in people's faces to share the best of what's on the web at his job at ask.com and through his other sites like ResourceShelf and Docuticker."

I hadn't come across ResourceShelf before so this was interesting. Gary said he made sure not to include the word 'library' into the blog name as this tended to scare people off. The site also goes beyond libraries. It's basically a site where Librarians and researchers share the results of web searches for information requests.

He says the number one thing to get people through the door is to show them how they can save more time. They'll come back to you for other things. He stressed that the main ingredient of a good information librarian is knowing the collection and what make one resource better than another.

Gary also urges library students to take a cataloguing course. It is still relevant. When people ask him what do we need Librarians for, we've got Google, he explains about controlled vocabulary and how this knowledge can improve your search results.

I found the interview really interesting and would probably look at the sites mentioned as well as search for other podcasts to subscribe. I would also encourage my colleagues to subscribe to library-related podcasts as this keeps them up-to-date with what's happening in the library industry.

Cheers, webgurl

Week 9 #21 - I created a podcast!

I guess I skipped ahead a little here, but it was just what I was up to doing at work.

Some of our staff at Eastern Regional do a radio show every Wednesday and we finally managed to obtain a recording of some of the shows.

Cathy in IT edited out the ads and music for me and I've joined a site called Twango. It's a site for hosting and sharing audio, video and images. (I had a look at Odeo but from what I could see they wouldn't let me upload podcasts).

So here's my public channel. At present there are 3 radio shows available. July's show features an interview with children's author Hazel Edwards.

Cheers, webgurl

p.s. I just read that Nokia have acquired Twango. Interesting.

Week 1 #1 - Podcast

I listened to the podcast last week, only getting around to blogging about it now. What a slacker! It's so important to take control of your own learning after all you know your preferred way of learning new things. For me it's mostly visual. I like going through tutorials and I'm curious enough to wonder "what would happen if I clicked that" and bold enough to do it.

It's often easy to make excuses and say you're too busy or you'll get around to it. I occasionally fall into that trap. Sometimes you might feel guilty for "playing" but really I think it is the best way to learn.

Cheers, webgurl

Week 1 #2 Introduction - Learning contract

I created my learning contract today. I'm going to be setting up podcasts of the library radio show and vidcasts of author interviews for the main library blog. It's a perfect opportunity while I'm exploring 2.0 technology to learn how to create a podcast and practice on 23squared without embarrassing myself.

Goal: Learn to create a podcast and upload it to my Blogger blog.

I'll keep you all entertained with my progress.

Cheers, webgurl