Week 3 SLQ Licence to Test Drive Part B

This week I reviewed Podcasts and Audio as part of the State Library of Queensland's Licence to Test Drive Part B.  

A podcast is a non-music audio or video recording that is distributed over the internet. The word “podcasts” is derived from Personal On Demand broadcast – hence podcast. You can listen to a podcast anytime, anywhere. The distribution is what makes a podcast unique. It's also what makes a podcast powerful. Interested listeners can receive updates through RSS feeds when new content is posted.

I enjoyed this post, and was amazed at the variety of institutions podcasting, especially the State Libraries of NSW and VIC and the Powerhouse Museum.


I personally have tried Audacity, though have mainly used it for capturing music.  As I have said before, I have an iphone which I love, and have applications on it which I use for podcasting and listening to podcasts.

The first is Audioboo, an iphone app that allows anyone with an iphone to record and publish themselves.  I have used audioboo to interview parents attending storytime at our library, members of our young writers group, staff members who are participating in this learning program, and to record random bits of information, documenting a specific time or place.  I have also used it to capture an interview to use in a conference presentation.

I also have another application on my iphone called TED, which allows me to watch small video clips about technology, entertainment and design.  I can also listen to podcasts of talks as well.

The mobile device makes creating and listening to podcasts amazingly easy, and this has huge ramifications for libraries.  Capturing family histories, sharing stories and explaining new happenings are just some of the things that could be done.

On my holidays I.....

On the first day of my holidays, I attended two library conferences, participated in a presentation, cleaned my house and sewed a quilt top.  In my trackies.  From the comfort of my lounge.  And loved every minute of it!  How and why I can hear you asking.....

Over the last few weeks, I have been co creating/co editing a conference paper that Gill Hallam was to present at LIANZA 09, in Christchurch.  The paper was on the use of eportfolios as a tool for professional development within the library industry.  My partner in crime Rebecca and I finished editing the paper last week, and Gill presented the paper on Monday lunchtime.  Our paper can also be viewed using the following tiny URL:  http://tiny.cc/ALIAeportfolio .

I had hoped to be able to attend the QPLA conference in Townsville this week, and asked for holidays accordingly. The conference themes of technology, challenge and change appealed to me, and I would have loved another chance to hear Michael Stephens's talk. Unfortunately, I didn't have quite enough $$$, and I didn't win the free conference package, thus not being able to attend.  So, I decided to spend my hols at home, catching up on some things around the house.

Sunday evening, I changed the settings on my Tweetdeck, and added two hashtags to the deck - #QPLA09 and LIANZA09.  I was then able to follow in real time - via twitter - the conversations and presentations from people actually attending the conference, and from other twerps (twitterers) who were participating virtually as well.

This worked out really well for me, and I was able to follow all the conversations surrounding both conferences, as well as ask questions, receive responses, and answer comments about the eportfolio presentation, all via twitter.

At one stage I was sewing and watching the conversation flow at the same time!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22229268@N05/4010002499/

I am so grateful that there are technological tools that allows me to participate in conversations that are happening all over the globe.  I am also grateful that I know about them, and can use them to enrich both my professional and personal life.

Good News

I am currently sitting in my local cafe Star gardentown, opposite my work.  I am having morning tea and enjoying using their wifi for the cost of a cup of coffee. My car is in getting serviced, and I had an hour or so before work to fill in.  I am using the time to catch up on emails, RSS feeds and blogging.

I can't believe that I have not blogged about this as yet, but I have a Librarian's job!! Whoo Hooo!!  I am now the Young People's Librarian at the Toowoomba City Library.  It is only two days/week, for a three month contract, but it is my first job!  And so far I love it.  I have worked some reference counters, ordered some books, went through the mending pile to see what can be mended, discarded or reordered, weeded some books, played hopscotch with some kids and begged our council IT guy for help as I stuffed up trying to add an image to our council's webpage.  In my defense, I had a bad head cold, forgot to resize the image and it was my first go.....

Our school holiday library programs were awesome once again, with great feedback from children, teenagers and parents alike.  I created another Animoto of our program, and I know its long, but it was really hard to cull such great photos of the kids enjoying themselves!



So, there you go. A quick catch up on what's been happening in my life lately.