Week 10: #23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...

Please click here if you are unable to view the video.

Wow! Congratulations!! You've reached the 23rd thing. Be sure to give yourself a pat on the back for completing the program. Just one last discovery post.

For your last and final exercise for this program please reflect on your learning journey and post a few thoughts. Here are some questions to prompt you if you're drawing a blank.

• What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?



• How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?



• Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?



• What ideas do you have for using these technologies at Harris County Public Library?



• What else do you want to learn about? What other web 2.0 applications are you interested in?

• Submit your week 9 & 10 exercises for credit and bling.
  

iStar would like to thank everyone who helped put together the iHCPL program and everyone who participated. Stay tuned...there's more to come!

Week 9: #22 Downloadable Media

Now it's time to take a look around OverDrive and downloadable content.

Downloadable eAudio, music, e-books and video are provided by a company called OverDrive and made available after being purchased by the library. There is no need to set up a separate login and password for this service. You simply use your library card at the HCPL digital media site. You will have to perform a one time download of software for the type of item you are interested in. eAudio, music and video use the OverDrive Media Console. Adobe Reader and Mobipocket Reader are the two different types of e-book software.

For this discovery exercise, you merely need to familiarize yourself a bit with the structure of HCPL's digital media site and get an idea of the types of titles you can find here. Take a look around and locate a few titles of interest to mention in your blog post.

Some sites offer audiobook downloading for free, like LibriVox. Other sites, like Wowio, offer free e-books. Take a look at these sites and compare them to what is offered by the library.

Discovery Resources:

Digital Media Guided Tour - Tutorial that offers step-by-step instructions for checking out and downloading digital media.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Visit HCPL's digital site and explore the different types of materials available.
2. Create a blog post about your findings. Did you locate a title that you might want to check out? Were there any differences between the library site and the free sites?

Try downloading a title from the library's collection. You don't have to have a portable player, you can also listen/read/watch on a computer. (Only the designated OverDrive terminal in your branch will have the software installed. Ask a colleague if you are not sure which computer this is.) (optional)

Week 9: #21 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS.

In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting it's easy to see why.

Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minute commentaries to much longer in person interviews or panel group discussions. There's a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don't have to have an iPod or MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portable device) with headphones or a speaker.

iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple, is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don't have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.

For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Once found, you can easily pull the RSS feed into your Bloglines account as well, so that when new casts become available you'll be automatically notified of their existence.

Discovery Resources:

• Wikipedia explains the history of the podcast.
• There are many, many podcast directories and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that, unlike iTunes, don't require a software download: Podcast.net, Podcastalley.com, and Yahoo podcasts.

What? You want to learn how to be a podcaster too? (Optional resources for those who want to learn to create podcasts)

• Publish a podcast on Blogger
• Odeo's online recording studio
• Tutorial on how to podcast

Discovery Exercise:

1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.
2. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your Bloglines account.
3. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?

Week 9: #20 Discover YouTube and other video sharing sites

If you aren't able to view the embedded video, click here.

Within the past couple of years online video hosting sites have exploded, allowing users to easily upload and share videos on the web. Among all the players in this area, YouTube is currently top dog, allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily, but also embed clips into their own sites easily. With this year's presidential debates, YouTube has even managed to affect the political process.

Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from piano playing cats and dancing comedians to a librarian career video from 1946 and many, many music videos. Of course, like any free site you'll also find a lot of stuff not worth watching too. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't explore and see for yourself what the site has to offer.

When creating a video to post on YouTube, music and images do need to have copyright clearance or be licensed under creative commons. YouTube has a contract with Warner Music that allows users to play Warner (including Atlantic, Asylum, Elektra and Rhino) songs in their videos.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore YouTube and find a video worth noting as an entry in your blog.


2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?

Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and past code for the "Embeddable Player." Note: you'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code. Added: If you have trouble seeing the embedded video, put in a ticket with the Help Desk. (optional)

Other popular video hosting sites:

• Yahoo! videos


• Google videos


• MSN videos

NOTE: Videos, like music downloads, are bandwidth hogs. It is recommended that you complete this exercise during light internet usage times.

Become a Video Producer

If you aren't able to view the embedded video, click here.

In this optional activity, we'll look at Animoto, which can be used to mashup your Flickr photos - or other images - to create your own 30 second music video. This can have a variety of uses such as promoting new titles, highlighting programs, or just using it for fun. This example uses it to promote new Lone Star list titles.

To use Animoto, you'll need to:

1. Create an account
2. Upload pictures or select them from your Flickr account.
Make sure you're logged into your Flickr account.
You can only select 15 pictures.
Be patient if you're uploading from Flickr, it can take a few minutes to connect.

3. Select Music.
4. Create your video.

Videos can be shared via email or embedded in blogs.

Parade of Avatars

Can't see the slide show? Check out the Avatars on Flickr. Click the audio icon in the lower left of the slide show to turn off on the sound.

Want to join the parade of Avatars? Put your's in the iHCPL Avatars folder on the S drive by Friday, November 9. If you aren't able to access the S drive, email Grace (grace AT hcpl.net - replace AT with @ and remove the spaces).
Thanks to everyone who submitted their avatars. Enjoy!

Just for fun, try and guess to whom each Avatar belongs. Post your guess in the comments.

Added: This is OPTIONAL. If you don't have time, or don't want to do this, you will not be penalized in any way.