Introducing the Book

The BOOK? On a site about Web 2.0? Before we get too serious on this site lets have some fun! This wonderful little video on YouTube is about the discovery of the book in medieval times and should be watched by all enquiry desk librarians. I'm wondering if I could get into one of my teaching sessions....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRjVeRbhtRU

Video about Web 2.0

A number of blogs are reporting on a very interesting and useful video hosted on YouTube, by Michael Wesch of Kansas State University. In a few minutes it manages to demonstrate the importance of how the web is developing in the Web 2.0 era. Find it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl=

Google Fun

For a bit of fun you can now compare the popularity of one keyword or phrase against another via GoogleFight http://www.googlefight.com/or GoogleBattle. http://www.googlebattle.com/The little graphics make this quite entertaining. Maybe we can use this to help students understand about use of different keywords to describe the same thing. e.g. murder versus homicide. Thanks to Miguel Guhlin for drawing attention to this.

DEMOS Report

The importance of the school sector in the changes being brought about by Web 2.0 is likely to be a recurrent thread in our discussions.
The influential thinktank DEMOS have recently published a pamphlet called Their Space : education for a digital generation. http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theirspace
Written from the perspective of the young learner the insights can inform us about the value of the new media, how they use them and, I guess, challenge us to adapt our teaching approaches in schools and throughout education.

Library Videos

I read in lauren's library blog about JumpCut, http://www.jumpcut.com/ a website that allows you to load your movies and audio and do editing yourself.This sounds like another great Web 2.0 application : a further case of something you may be able to do yourself rather than involve colleagues and expensive software. It all depends on time and your own enthusiasm!

I can also recommend Library Videos - the best of... http://libraryvideos.blogspot.com/
This is a new blog, begun by Nancy Dowd of Trenton, New Jersey. You are invited to submit the link to your video or comment on others. Many are using YouTube. Here is great new place for us to share new ideas and experiences.

Why does anyone read blogs? Perhaps some are unread, and they're just a therapy or an ego trip for the blogger! I have agonised too over whether this should be a blog or a wiki. I'm sure now that I have this right. This will be a place for tips, opinions and exchange. There are other places where useful lists, definitions and mateerials can be stored.