Week 24: The dark side of the web

Have you ever been the target of a phishing scam? Did you recognize it as a scam right away? What tipped you off? Blog about your experiences with malware or phishing attempts - do not provide any information which may lead to a phishing attempt.

I recently had a virus destroy my computer. It had attached it's self to Limewire, a music program a friend downloaded once and I never used! It sat on my computer for 5 years before it completely shut everything down. Hence I lost everything the week before an assignment was due.

What tipped us off towards the end was the 'Blue Screen' that would pop up followed by the entire computer shutting down in the middle of what ever you were doing, writing an email, Internet banking, facebook etc. I since heard other people have had the blue screen virus as well.

I hope these people get their kicks out of it because it's costing me a fortune in getting things checked out a $200 only to find out the whole thing needs replacing. . . grrrr.

Week 23: Mashup's revisited

I really like how easy and convenient mashups are to create, and how they enable software programs to comunicate with each other (something I wouldn't be able to do without web 2.0 tools even if I tried!!).

The mashup's I find most useful are thigs like Flickr feeding into social networking environments like Facebook. Also Google maps mashed up with real estate sites is very handy when house hunting.

Week 22 - Instant Communication

Instant messaging is currently a significant part of my life. I use skype, facebook chat and msn messenger on a regular basis to communicate with family and friends. I live away from my parents so communication through instant message is regular occurrence in our house if not daily. The ability to chat and see them at the same time makes it feel as if they are never to far away.
My sister and I often have our best conversations on facebook chat even though we live in the same town. My fiance also is a big user of instant communication, as president of his cricket club he uses facebook chat to contact and chat with players, in a space where they already are!

How would they be useful in a library?

Now this is the BIG question. We can all think of many reason (see below) to use instant messaging in libraries to engage with patrons and for staff communication. The problem is justifying these purposes to councils, who only have our best interests at heart, and are worried about exposure to viruses from external sources.

* Instant reference services from the comfort of your own home, regardless of location.
* Staff communication, as an alternative to email and the constant buzzing of ringing phones.

Week 21 - More with Google docs

Google docs is certainly another of the most useful Web 2 tools!! There are literally 100's of possibilities for its use, just as there are 100's of tips and tricks. I particularly found presentations to be the most exciting as I can envision there are many potential benefits such as collaboration over a large geographical area, access to your presentation regardless of location, no need to worry about compatibility with other programs and much more.

I have not yet used Google docs to create a working document but am intrigued by the prospect and have found myself thinking up excuses to use it :). I look forward to experimenting with Google docs and am pleased to discover that there are forums available to support me in my quest!

Week 20 - Event Management

I loved playing with all of these different tools, however I think Doodle is my favourite!

In doodle I created a poll to find out which date would best suit staff to celebrate the end of the uni semester, as there are a number of staff currently studying, and the end of another work week. I have had a great response with most people replying on the same day, a few the next day and others I'm still waiting to hear from, it has been so useful in organising this event and I can see it's benefits for arranging other event's such as staff meetings etc. I found it very easy to create an account in doodle, however I became a little confused after scheduling and event. After fiddling with it a bit more (I wasn't going to let if defeat me!) it made much more sense!!

Doodle is a very easy to use tool providing everyone invited is comfortable using the tool and responds by the required date, as setting reminders requires a paid subscription.

I also played with google calendar, it was so easy to set up!! Entering data was very simple and the instructions straight forward. Although I am unlikely to continue using google calendar, as I am already using the outlook calendar provided by the organisation, I can see it's importance for small business using google for business email transactions, student's studying, keeping a travel itinerary and much more!! (I have also added my calendar to my blog!!)

I experimented with Event brite in creating event and it is very well set out and easy to create. I have previously used event brite to book a place in a seminar, it was very simple and the instructions were great for a first time user. However I did have a small problem at the time, that being I submitted my request twice, as I wasn't sure if the first had worked and ended up with two tickets.

Week 19 - Productivity - doing more with rss

Initially I set up a google alert for wedding invitations as at the time I was getting frustrated searching the Internet for wedding invitation sites. The alert was so helpful in leading me to new sites not yet found in the original search. Thanks to one blog, sent in an alert, I found out that we are 'required to set the tone and etiquette of our wedding through the invitation' lol . . . who knew!!

I have now set up 6 more alerts for the module topics of the uni subject I have enrolled into this semester, Im looking forward to seeing the feeds come through, it's such a great way to get the information you need with out wasting your time searching for it. RSS is just like having my own little cyber librarian!!

Blog post from Twitter

"is writing a checklist for the bridal fair tomorrow . . . flowers, invitations, music, table decorations, suits and oh so much more!!"