New Year

Lot's of time to catch up on web 2.0 features, reading and sleep, aaah.

Online privacy

Whilst I was aware of most of this and how we need to educate trusting children and teens - I was very glad to find out about such services as Keepass - this may be the end of the nightmare of forgotten passwords - until now stored in an Outlook Express folder - not very cool!

Twitter

I just thought previously that this couldn't really do any more than emails could. However with mobile phones being internet linked and prices gradually coming down I can see the uses for quickly advertising something or informing customers/patrons of new features on a website, library services, overdues, etc.

Came across this intriguing new use!

Edinburgh International Book Festival News 27 November 2009 Electric Literature on Twitter Electric Literature, an American online literary magazine, will be breaking new ground next week by micro-serialising Rick Moody's new short story Some Contemporary Characters over Twitter. The story will be tweeted over the course of three days on Electric Literature's Twitter channel, @ElectricLit, from 10.00am on Monday 30 November. Moody's story is broken down into 153 sections of 140 characters or less. "It really was like writing Haiku," says Moody, who used the character limitation of Twitter as a source of inspiration. "Moody has taken something that could be seen as gimmicky - 'Twitter-fiction' - and created something transcendent," says Electric Literature's Editor, Scott Lindenbaum. Lindenbaum goes on to explain the unique challenges he faces in publishing to Twitter. "With thousands of tweets flying per second, and users logging on at unpredictable hours, it is impossible to capture a reader's uninterrupted attention. Rather than try, we are publishing in short intervals over a three-day period to ensure the maximum number of followers are exposed to the story. Rick has composed it so each tweet is strong enough to stand on its own." Sounds an intriguing project, doesn't it? I'll definitely be logging on to see how it works out. And this one: http://twitter.com/scottslastexp Cambridge University are retracing Scott's last expedition through Twitter. I think this is a really clever way of using social media to educate people about history. More info: http://www.3news.co.nz/Historic-explorer-tweets-from-beyond-the-grave-/tabid/423/articleID/131535/cat/525/Default.aspx And this : Twitter new, helpful tool for county libraries November 29th, 2009 Cumberland Times – “Interested in meeting the Allegany County Bookmobile at Hannah Plaza in Cresaptown but running late? Now you can simply log on to Twitter and see if the Bookmobile is on schedule. The Allegany County Library System is using Twitter and other social networking sites as yet another way to bring the library experience closer to patrons — wherever they may be.”

Creative commons

I have seen references to this on various blogs, especially Paul Reynolds' PEOPLEPOINTS but didn't fully understand it until now.

It does take some of the hassle out of the copyright laws.

Issues facing school librarians

Truly Deeply Insulted

Generally I feel we try to be dispassionate and professional on the school libraries' list serve with maybe the odd outburst of understandable frustration mixed with large doses of humour and humanity;- but over the last few months this coping mechanism has been disturbed by postings and by our continuing frustration with lack of progress in pay and recognition talks through NZEI and in other ways .

While many of the issues that were raised on the list serve are valid some come across as a strong criticism of those professional, adaptable and conscientious people who work at the coal face of our challenging, ever changing and underfunded environment. Those issues have been clarified by other well qualified, expressive and erudite list serve members but I would like to add the following:

Many school librarians, library assistants and tlrs [increasingly rare] are;

Unsupported in their workplace

Struggling to decipher the expectations of teaching staff who are themselves hampered by various conditions within their workplace and the education system,

Have little or no qualifications or experience in the library world

Are employed on limited hours just to process and circulate books

Are employed just to catalogue books

Are employed on a contract basis to sort out various problems

Are employed just to teach information literacy but are drawn into work in other library functions

Are not employed – volunteer many hours

Are expected to perform at a level which they are not qualified to deliver

Don’t know what the curriculum requirements are generally , let alone the prescription for ‘wide reading’ at level 1 NCEA [and apparently nor do many pupils or teachers].

Are not qualified in anything in any shape or form

Don’t belong to a union

Are not paid the correct rate for the job description and /or the subsequent unexpected job requirements

Don’t know there is a list serve

Don’t know SLANZA exists

Don’t know there’s a SLANZA wiki

Don’t know they can access OPACs online

Don’t urge teaching staff to use National Library Reference Librarians or converse with their teaching colleagues

But who generally try to help and are intelligent and conscientious.

They are faced with:

Teachers who have no idea how to use a library search function or catalogue, therefore cannot help themselves even at an elementary level

Teachers who do not realize that there are some librarians who have incredible skills

Teachers who do not express their requirements clearly

Children who need extra levels of help because of the above or because they have inadequate levels of English language or have special needs or didn’t bring the written assignment with them.

High cost of text resources which younger children need

High cost or lack of knowledge of online resources which older children need or do not know how to use effectively

Lack of adequate curriculum support in NZ education system contrasted with that provided by IB or similar education systems

Children who have appalling communication skills

Lack of inclusion of library staff in the school and teaching community

No budgets

Appallingly low budgets

Less help from agencies that were once wonderful i.e. National Library

No longer aided by recognised school library and teacher librarian qualifications

Lack of awareness/commitment by politicians, Ministry of Education of what is needed to support and fund their jobs.

General poverty of resources in the Education sector.

General levels of poverty

Lack of expectations of delivery of needs throughout the system – last week I was given the staff award of thanks for providing a link to National Library’s “Hot topics” which helped staff with work on recycling and kites/wind. I thought that was elementary stuff expected of me.!!!

I count myself in the [relatively small] group of school librarians who are well qualified, able to weather the economic vicissitudes of part time hours and who have mostly rewarding work in a busy school which has high standards, and an interesting, reasonably well behaved [ sometimes challenging] clientele. I am also able to pleasantly coexist with mostly collegial, supportive, committed and professional colleagues, where PD is offered or insisted upon, and where there’s a more or less adequate budget. I am treated with respect and given a high degree of independence. I meet often with fellow librarians, other school support staff, booksellers, literature enthusiasts, activists, and well rounded aware people.[and probably not often enough in a planning capacity with teaching staff.]

Despite that I often find myself having tearful or worrying moments about the success or otherwise of my work and the pressure it creates.

By contrast, - as pointed out by another contributor, I do not experience that kind of emotional crisis or feelings of isolation in my other part time job with a Public Library. There I have ongoing high quality training,[including Web 2.0 and communication aids], challenges that can be handled - with the help of a team and management; and decent remuneration according to my qualifications [without struggle], and constant recognition that I am doing a good job.

The conditions as outlined above [and no doubt there are a few I have missed ] will not be ameliorated by us , our angst, and activism alone – they need partnership, cooperation, inventiveness and collegiality to overcome; --- kia kaha ---and don’t let negative outlooks beat us down.

My personal conviction is that these difficulties and inequalities will never be assuaged until the Ministry and ERO issue and enforce meaningful plain language guidelines to schools on standards in our libraries and library staff qualifications - and funds are available centrally to pay librarians and provide resources.

Imagine:

- the satisfaction of providing the great service you feel the children and teachers deserve

– if we were given a regular update from the Ministry or National Library on the resources we should all hold [or access online] to support each curriculum area at each age level - and had the money to buy them or they were supplied free of charge without having to put in a request.

No longer:

• the request to support an area of learning that can’t be supplied until another teacher has returned it to National Library
• the unsuccessful, time consuming quest to find an item which is known to exist and is perfect for the topic,
• the annual charges to search School Journal and Connected resources [and a solution to the lack of search guidelines].
• the guessing game about what requests will arrive next term from teaching staff.
• The realization from teaching staff that they should expect excellent support from information professionals – not limited to someone who mends books.

It’s a joke really – in my other life/lives I review books, have a BA in Education, a teaching diploma, an Open Polytechnic Library and Information Studies Diploma, read a lot, have a wider knowledge of life and education than most teachers , have taught under fives, worked in community organizations and taught in gritty areas of London, coordinated 100 plus volunteers for Storylines Family Day in Auckland, coordinate drama groups ditto , work in a public library and casually for School Services National Library , travelled all over the world and now I work in a decile 7 school where I use some of that experience but feel as if I was a teacher aide – it’s a bonus if you’ve got it and that’s how one gets a job, but it isn’t fully recognized. E.g. 58 cents per hour for having a degree.

• ne the prescription for ‘wide reading’ at level 1 NCEA [and apparently nor do the pupils or teachers].

Are not qualified in anything in any shape or form

Don’t belong to a union

Are not paid the correct rate for the job description and /or the subsequent unexpected job requirements

Don’t know there is a list serve

Don’t know SLANZA exists

Don’t know there’s a SLANZA wiki

Don’t know they can access OPACs online

Don’t urge teaching staff to use National Library Reference Librarians or converse with their teaching colleagues

But who generally try to help and are intelligent and conscientious.

They are faced with:

Teachers who have no idea how to use a library search function or catalogue, therefore cannot help themselves even at an elementary level

Teachers who do not realize that there are some librarians who have incredible skills

Teachers who do not express their requirements clearly

Children who need extra levels of help because of the above or because they have inadequate levels of English language or have special needs or didn’t bring the written assignment with them.

High cost of text resources which younger children need

High cost or lack of knowledge of online resources which older children need or do not know how to use effectively

Lack of adequate curriculum support in NZ education system contrasted with that provided by IB or similar education systems

Children who have appalling communication skills

Lack of inclusion of library staff in the school and teaching community

No budgets

Appallingly low budgets

Less help from agencies that were once wonderful i.e. National Library

No longer aided by recognised school library and teacher librarian qualifications

Lack of awareness/commitment by politicians, Ministry of Education of what is needed to support and fund their jobs.

General poverty of resources in the Education sector.

General levels of poverty

Lack of expectations of delivery of needs throughout the system – last week I was given the staff award of thanks for providing a link to National Library’s “Hot topics” which helped staff with work on recycling and kites/wind. I thought that was elementary stuff expected of me.!!!

I count myself in the [relatively small] group of school librarians who are well qualified, able to weather the economic vicissitudes of part time hours and who have mostly rewarding work in a busy school which has high standards, and an interesting, reasonably well behaved [ sometimes challenging] clientele. I am also able to pleasantly coexist with mostly collegial, supportive, committed and professional colleagues, where PD is offered or insisted upon, and where there’s a more or less adequate budget. I am treated with respect and given a high degree of independence. I meet often with fellow librarians, other school support staff, booksellers, literature enthusiasts, activists, and well rounded aware people.[and probably not often enough in a planning capacity with teaching staff.]

Despite that I often find myself having tearful or worrying moments about the success or otherwise of my work and the pressure it creates.

By contrast, - as pointed out by another contributor, I do not experience that kind of emotional crisis or feelings of isolation in my other part time job with North Shore Public Libraries. There I have ongoing high quality training,[including Web 2.0 and communication aids], challenges that can be handled - with the help of a team and management; and decent remuneration according to my qualifications [without struggle], and constant recognition that I am doing a good job.

The conditions as outlined above [and no doubt there are a few I have missed ] will not be ameliorated by us , our angst, and activism alone – they need partnership, cooperation, inventiveness and collegiality to overcome; --- kia kaha ---and don’t let negative outlooks beat us down.

My personal conviction is that these difficulties and inequalities will never be assuaged until the Ministry and ERO issue and enforce meaningful plain language guidelines to schools on standards in our libraries and library staff qualifications - and funds are available centrally to pay librarians and provide resources.

Imagine:

- the satisfaction of providing the great service you feel the children and teachers deserve

– if we were given a regular update from the Ministry or National Library on the resources we should all hold [or access online] to support each curriculum area at each age level - and had the money to buy them or they were supplied free of charge without having to put in a request.

No longer:

• the request to support an area of learning that can’t be supplied until another teacher has returned it to National Library
• the unsuccessful, time consuming quest to find an item which is known to exist and is perfect for the topic,
• the annual charges to search School Journal and Connected resources [and a solution to the lack of search guidelines].
• the guessing game about what requests will arrive next term from teaching staff.
• The realization from teaching staff that they should expect excellent support from information professionals – not limited to someone who mends books.

It’s a joke really – in my other life/lives I review books, have a BA in Education, a teaching diploma, an Open Poly Library and Information studies diploma, read a lot, have a wider knowledge of life and education than most teachers , have taught under fives, worked in community organizations and taught in gritty areas of London, coordinate volunteers for Storylines Family Day in Auckland, coordinate drama groups ditto , work in a public library and casually for School Services National Library , travelled all over the world and now I work in a decile 7 school where I use some of that experience but much as if I was a teacher aide – it’s a bonus if you’ve got it and that’s how one gets a job, but it isn’t fully recognized. E.g. 58 cents per hour for having a degree.

Truly Deeply Insulted

Generally I feel we try to be dispassionate and professional on the list serve with maybe the odd outburst of understandable frustration mixed with large doses of humour and humanity;- but over the last few days this coping mechanism has been disturbed by Jill Stotter’s post [via Vicki Baas].

While many of the issues raised are valid they come across as a strong criticism of those professional, adaptable and conscientious people who work in the coal face of our challenging, ever changing and underfunded environment. Those issues have been clarified by other well qualified, expressive and erudite list serve members but I would like to add the following:

Many school librarians, library assistants and tlrs [a mostly unpaid and rare breed] are;

Unsupported in their workplace

Struggling to decipher the expectations of teaching staff who are themselves hampered by various conditions within their workplace and the education system,

Have little or no qualifications or experience in the library world

Are employed on limited hours just to process and circulate books

Are employed just to catalogue books

Are employed on a contract basis to sort out various problems

Are employed just to teach information literacy but are drawn into work in other library functions

Are not employed – volunteer many hours

Are expected to perform at a level which they are not qualified to deliver

Don’t know what the curriculum requirements are generally , let alone the prescription for ‘wide reading’ at level 1 NCEA [and apparently nor do the pupils or teachers].

Are not qualified in anything in any shape or form

Don’t belong to a union

Are not paid the correct rate for the job description and /or the subsequent unexpected job requirements

Don’t know there is a list serve

Don’t know SLANZA exists

Don’t know there’s a SLANZA wiki

Don’t know they can access OPACs online

Don’t urge teaching staff to use National Library Reference Librarians or converse with their teaching colleagues

But who generally try to help and are intelligent and conscientious.

They are faced with:

Teachers who have no idea how to use a library search function or catalogue, therefore cannot help themselves even at an elementary level

Teachers who do not realize that there are some librarians who have incredible skills

Teachers who do not express their requirements clearly

Children who need extra levels of help because of the above or because they have inadequate levels of English language or have special needs or didn’t bring the written assignment with them.

High cost of text resources which younger children need

High cost or lack of knowledge of online resources which older children need or do not know how to use effectively

Lack of adequate curriculum support in NZ education system contrasted with that provided by IB or similar education systems

Children who have appalling communication skills

Lack of inclusion of library staff in the school and teaching community

No budgets

Appallingly low budgets

Less help from agencies that were once wonderful i.e. National Library

No longer aided by recognised school library and teacher librarian qualifications

Lack of awareness/commitment by politicians, Ministry of Education of what is needed to support and fund their jobs.

General poverty of resources in the Education sector.

General levels of poverty

Lack of expectations of delivery of needs throughout the system – last week I was given the staff award of thanks for providing a link to National Library’s “Hot topics” which helped staff with work on recycling and kites/wind. I thought that was elementary stuff expected of me.!!!

I count myself in the [relatively small] group of school librarians who are well qualified, able to weather the economic vicissitudes of part time hours and who have mostly rewarding work in a busy school which has high standards, and an interesting, reasonably well behaved [ sometimes challenging] clientele. I am also able to pleasantly coexist with mostly collegial, supportive, committed and professional colleagues, where PD is offered or insisted upon, and where there’s a more or less adequate budget. I am treated with respect and given a high degree of independence. I meet often with fellow librarians, other school support staff, booksellers, literature enthusiasts, activists, and well rounded aware people.[and probably not often enough in a planning capacity with teaching staff.]

Despite that I often find myself having tearful or worrying moments about the success or otherwise of my work and the pressure it creates.

By contrast, - as pointed out by another contributor, I do not experience that kind of emotional crisis or feelings of isolation in my other part time job with North Shore Public Libraries. There I have ongoing high quality training,[including Web 2.0 and communication aids], challenges that can be handled - with the help of a team and management; and decent remuneration according to my qualifications [without struggle], and constant recognition that I am doing a good job.

The conditions as outlined above [and no doubt there are a few I have missed ] will not be ameliorated by us , our angst, and activism alone – they need partnership, cooperation, inventiveness and collegiality to overcome; --- kia kaha ---and don’t let negative outlooks beat us down.

My personal conviction is that these difficulties and inequalities will never be assuaged until the Ministry and ERO issue and enforce meaningful plain language guidelines to schools on standards in our libraries and library staff qualifications - and funds are available centrally to pay librarians and provide resources.

Imagine:

- the satisfaction of providing the great service you feel the children and teachers deserve

– if we were given a regular update from the Ministry or National Library on the resources we should all hold [or access online] to support each curriculum area at each age level - and had the money to buy them or they were supplied free of charge without having to put in a request.

No longer:

• the request to support an area of learning that can’t be supplied until another teacher has returned it to National Library
• the unsuccessful, time consuming quest to find an item which is known to exist and is perfect for the topic,
• the annual charges to search School Journal and Connected resources [and a solution to the lack of search guidelines].
• the guessing game about what requests will arrive next term from teaching staff.
• The realization from teaching staff that they should expect excellent support from information professionals – not limited to someone who mends books.

It’s a joke really – in my other life/lives I review books, have a BA in Education, a teaching diploma, an Open Poly Library and Information studies diploma, read a lot, have a wider knowledge of life and education than most teachers , have taught under fives, worked in community organizations and taught in gritty areas of London, coordinate volunteers for Storylines Family Day in Auckland, coordinate drama groups ditto , work in a public library and casually for School Services National Library , travelled all over the world and now I work in a decile 7 school where I use some of that experience but much as if I was a teacher aide – it’s a bonus if you’ve got it and that’s how one gets a job, but it isn’t fully recognized. E.g. 58 cents per hour for having a degree.

Maria Gill event

Thursday June 11th 6.00pm - we'll be launching 'Rangitoto'at Takapuna Libraryon Auckland's North Shore. 
Come to hear a reading of the book with Rangitoto in the background. 
Make a volcano! 
Draw a kaka bird! 
Eat some volcano cake! 
Sip some magma juice! 
Meet the author (me again) and illustrator(Heather again) and buy a signed copy of the book with a giveaway. 
A free event – bring the parents, siblings and teachers with you...

Almost finished

About to post the last two and then it becomes a diary.

Exercise #21 Facebook, etc

I have had a facebook spot for a few months - mainly set up so people who want to can look at my photos, i.e. I don't have to send them whopping great folders by email or force them to look at my computer screen and admire my handiwork when it is mostly average!
I can see from younger people who are my friends though that they use it to organise gatherings and invites to parties/gigs/clubs/exhibitions, all sorts - which is brilliant - like your own personalised social club. So I can see if you check it every day or so you would be reaching a lot of people - and the link to community and library events is logical for those who are into it. I suppose there are the rest of us though who would prefer email notifications or google searches.

Anyway I have recently discovered also that you can store or link to your favourite music, books, etc and build up collections ..... so given a bit more development it could probably take over from some of the other applications like Library Thing [oh wash your mouth out].
I am wary of revealing too much about myself of course and of how there are limits to what one communicates to others.
The North Shore Library group required me to ask to join so I didn't carry on with it but it would be a great way to share general news that wasn't just the official stuff. Yes, I really would like to hear what some of the sessions at the LIANZA conference were like - not just look at the endless flickr photos which really didn't tell me anything much. [In the end I did join and there were a few comments posted about maybe 2 sessions at the LIANZA conference but then they petered out - so I assume people were only impressed by those 2 or that's all they had time to comment on.]
So my conclusion is - along with my next post- that we and the public still depend on [and value highly] person to person contact- it takes up less of our time and doesn't require us to become journalists. Patrons can take advantage of it while they are in the library picking up books - so there can be a combination of checking a website for recommendations, reserving online but still having human contact. If someone asks me to provide a book recommendation or review I can do that at the drop of a hat as I have worked on this for many years but not everyone is comfortable in doing this in public or in writing. Lots of librarians can do this verbally on a one to one basis with no problem at all and library users feel comfortable with this as it is an individual service, i.e. they can interpret body language and work out whether you are someone who might have similar tastes to them. It also means that anyone on a counter , doing shelving or working on a desk in the library needs to be versatile and to be able to switch from reference type queries to issuing a book, to accessing internet facilites when the queues allow.

[Still working on this]

Auckland Library's bebo looked like a good experiment but you do get some really irrelevant comments on the friends page. A nicer way to get feedback on library services eventually!

E-books

My browsing of the suggested sites and reading about the different ways to access an ebook made me think that it is all very much in its infancy. I don't know anyone who has purchased an ebook reader and North Shore Libraries has still not purchased them despite the hype from Geoff Chamberlain about 2 years ago.
It seems logical but somehow totally unappealing. It will take us many years before we can browse an internet site the way we do a bookshop to find out about the equivalent of the latest fiction paperbacks. However, I was impressed to find that Terry Pratchett's latest, "Nation" is available on Kindle Bookstore. However at $10 US, although it is cheaper than a hardback book it is not particularly cheap considering it is downloadable by wireless connection and one would be paying for the download access time as well. In a few months it will be available in paperback at around $14 US [at today's exchange rates!].
Some of the sites did not have acceptable search mechanisms either.
I do like them for the possibility offered of browsing a limited number of pages to see if it is what you want but then I found a Margaret Mahy title where most of the illustrations had been pixellated out due to copyright issues - so what would be the point of browsing it.
Anyway I'm sure if I was into reading some classics that I'd never got around to it would be useful if a really good reader device became available.
Considering all the wonderful things I am storing on my computer I guess the odd novel could be acceptable - but not a preferred option. Could be quite useful for sections of works that one wants to refer to later.
And there's a new one [21/11/08] http://tech.yahoo.com/news/zd/20081120/tc_zd/234209

Podcasts

Had a look for what could be found in the first 2 directories.
In the end I went back to my favourite one which is Point England School. They are up to episode 195 in their book reviews which they have been doing for 3 years. This could be useful for adult viewers/library users too but probably not worth their while by the time they've downloaded itunes and quicktime - just as easy for them to read a review on a website. It may appeal to teens though because of the enhanced visuals.
While browsing that one I found another Auckland school Glenbrae had also set up podcasts - one on the subject of Preserving Culture was very well done so I will be able to preserve the link to that as well.
I am working on getting them linked to my Netvibes setup. Bloglines didn't seem to want me! So, still learning but am on the whole attracted to them and want to learn how to set them up.

Attempting photo link

Just trying out speed of photo upload. Uploaded old photo quickly - doesn't upload new ones at all.

You tube

Many wonderful things can be discovered here. I would have like to import the library students' Rock and roll presentation into my facebook but I needed to allow cookies and that escaped me. At least i have put the link up here. The useage to promote library services seems specially useful.

Web 2.0 awards

In the short lists for Web 2.0 awards I picked Events first place getter 'Upcoming.' [The first event quite neatly focussed on a conference for developers of social network applications on the internet, with a special focus on building a layered identity - if I understood it right.]
This seemed to me to be a wonderful facility, i.e. the events lister/booker to bring communities together at little or no cost for publicity - once everyone has learned to use them that is. Assuming anyone can contribute to the listings it could make it easy to add to the events listed on the NS Libraries' website or the same section on the Council website.
Another site I visited allowed employees who produced a graghic design magazine to work from anywhere they could locate an internet connection and retrieve and contribute to common files - which they were very thrilled about.
Some of the other sites I visited seemed to have nothing much in them despite being prizewinners - I wonder how they are all going to get our attention?

Zoho writer/google docs

I had already been using google docs before this exercise, which worked well in a collaborative sense. I have also used it to store documents I can't afford to lose.
I set up a Zoho writer a/c and at the first 2 visits it looks like it might have more features than google. However when trying to store documents the save function wasn't working within an acceptable time so I gave up.

Library thing[ out of order]

I have 2 Library Things I contribute to; it took me a while to realize that if I don't sign out of one of them then that will be the one which comes up each time, and I won't be able to get into the other one even though I can see it. The old bad dream thing where you are in a cage and can't get out.
Or like my friend who I recently visited who has only just realized after 8 months that she has 6 gears on her car!! Well, she's never had a car with overdrive before!

Anyway, they make it very easy for you and it's been especially useful for a book group I belong to. We don't have to email a list out any more and if someone is away from the meeting they can still enter reviews. I may suggest starting one for the other book club I belong to but probably not to cover the backlog.

Rollyo ho ho

Really liked the idea - but the practice revealed that it searched and found mainly American sites - well in my case 'children's book reviews" it seemed to be all American.
It also didn't say how many it had found which was annoying as I trolled through page after page.
So I'm not sure yet how different it is from doing a google search.

When I registered I was then invited me to enter the url s of the ones I preferred - too much work! May as well just keep them on another site I've already established ..........
Still I will go back and fiddle with it later as there do seem to be some useful features -like being able to attach urls to your own scroll bar and to do it from anywhere - just too complicated for me to absorb all at once at this time of night.

Oh dear, could now become an image freak.

Image generators

http://www.letterjames.com/start.php?d02KXCd0v98PTr5Olpb518YI29eBah&c=1

Above is the link to the site I used - these could be nice eye catching devices to liven up a notice or a communication with fellow workers.

Using Wiki Sandbox

I have no idea what happened but I reinforced my blog link which was already visible!
I tried to join and then thought maybe we didn't have to .....................
Maybe I'll go back later, I thought this would be easy..
I added a photo but in the process messed up someone else's entry, and the text I added and saved does not seem to be there.
This does not live up to the hype of how easy it is.

Wikis

I love wikis- easy to understand the concept ; most can have relatively simple layout, can be easy to keep confidential and easy to contribute to.
I especially like the opportunity for library users to contribute to book reviews and enhance the service the library can offer - librarians would never be able to keep up the quantity.
Great potential for guidance for parents regarding reading suggestions, high school students for resources and suggestions for study and of course their very own wiki for reading recommendations. http://thepulse.org.nz/Read/

Another way of using them which seems to work well is for consultation,e.g.

http://wiki.archives.govt.nz

on digital strategy.

Of course there is an assumption that contributors have a certain level of expertise - there can be the downside of a variation in knowledge and presentation and it would be a better service if it was mediated.

Blogs I'm following

Some of the worthy ones I intended are now visible, and a few frivolous ones too. A never ending business if you explore the links from one to another and come across intriguing people [who on the whole seem quite amazed that other people are interested in the same pursuits and like to read their blogs regularly.]

At one stage I thought I was being stalked online as there was a list of blogs forming which were not inserted by me - 'sit down man' was an entertaining one - I think they were just the ones highlighted by blogger.com across the top of the screen. Maybe I will eventually remember how to retrieve them.