POST-COURSE THOUGHTS

Oh what a great relief that I am going to come out of the tunnel of Web 2.0, having crossed the final hurdle on Geocaching.

My personal post-course review now?     Well, I have some personal viewpoints, some positive, but I think more negative ones, but before I present my viewpoints, I take this opportunity to thank the course administrators for their hard work in giving me an insight into many of the things I was either not aware of or never used on the Internet. So a good eye opener for me to come to know a bit of  the power of Web 2.0 

The positive viewpoints for me is I believe I have learnt from this DIY online course some of the intricacies of Web 2.0…at least when someone mentions now on his/her   Blogging, Wikis, RSS Aggregators/Feeds, Twittering, Facebook, Delicious and Tagging and Library Thing, Online Video, Podcast, Geocaching, I can at least associate in my mind what they are from the little I have learnt.  To me what I have learnt is just the tip of  big iceberg, because I read from some "for dummies" web books,  I noted with  amazement there are much much more to learn to use all these high-tech stuff professionally. Well,  at  least I can share a bit of my  experience with others in my  plunging into the deep blue sea of Web 2.0, climbing the small peaks and wandering through the meandering webbed paths. Certainly what I have gone through are no loss to my gain as they are added colours to my tapestry -- see why I have named my Blog "Stitch to  Patch" with the the url: http://amazetapestry/!!!  I  also wish to thank many blogger friends who gave me helping hands, and some have given  me much encouragement   with nice compliments on what I have written in my blogs...such gesture truly gave me the fuel and   aspire me  to persevere and continue to  run the "amazing race".  I felt consoled  that at least there are  people who spent their precious time in bothering   to read   what I have put down in writing - I still  remember I was always on the borderline when it comes to passing the English and literature exams in school! So the blog writing  gave me an opportunity to improve my communication skill in  expressing myself in English, which is not my mother tongue and a second language I had to learn  when I was young. 

Regarding my negative viewpoints? Because  time is the major hindrance for  me, I found the course too lengthy and too cramped with too much "Discover" and "Explorer" examples  and too little step-by-step guidelines in doing the actual lesson. Also too many sign-in passwords to remember! Hilariously I used wrong password once and ended redoing the particular lesson.   I still have very strong reservation against  Facebook and Twittering.  I  believe it is my own personal bias and prejudices as I found them they too open and transparent in social networking, and Twittering is so "chatty" when I noticed the endless tweets of many twitters!

In my final analysis, the sky is the limit if one really wants to apply fully all these high-tech tools

and one may become "slave to high-tech" web  stuff if one  goes overboard in using them.

Before I bid farewell to blogger friends, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and may 2011 be a more  peaceful year in the world. Once again, I   would like to share the following passage that was found in Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore, Dated 1692:

Go Placidly

Amid The Noise and Haste

& remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly & clearly: & listen to others,

even the dull & ignorant; they too have their story

Avoid loud & aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become  vain & bitter;

for always there will be greater & lesser persons than you.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own careers, however humble:

it is a real possession  in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in our business affairs;

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals;

& everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity

& disenchantment, it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the council of the years,

gracefully surrounding the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune

But do not distress  yourself  with imaginings

Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe; no less than the trees

& the stars; you have a right to be here.

& whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,  whatever you conceive HIM to be,

& whatever your labours & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life

keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be careful;

Strive to be happy

GEOCACHING: TREASURE HUNTING

Geocaching, the innovative   high tech-based "treasure hunting" "digital game" in the web world has opened another door for libraries to meet the demands as a social, educational and cultural centre in information acquisition, exchange and dissemination beyond the four walls of a library.  There are much behind-the-scene hard work   in the planning, designing and implementation stages to create  the hub of geocaches, depending on the goals and objectives of libraries concerned.   The so-called "scavenger hunt" activities can ignite and strengthen competitive team spirit between  participant groups.   It may be used  as an educational tool, training the  treasure hunters to become more alert and patient in following instructions, analyzing given instructions to scout around from clues kept in obscurity, thus sharpening one's mind while on the trails of hunting;  cultivating a person to develop his or her potentials to become either a leader or a follower in the course geocaching. Hence through  the fun way, geocaching is a way to test a  person's  ability and endurance, thus helping to  develop  one's mindset and  attitude to face their own challenges in life. All in all, if geocaches are well designed, there are  endless benefits including gain of knowledge, interaction with people,  character building of participants  engaged in the geocaching treasure hunt.

Geochaching can be beneficial to libraries that have the resources (manpower, facilities, time and dollars and sense all inclusive) to design  and implement geocaches. e.g.  in academic libraries, freshman orientation is one area that that notably use geocaching to ease  the problem of limited manpower to conduct the orientation programs in universities with high-intake of new students. Also libraries can coordinate with teaching staff to help design a meaningful course program  for the students  with multiple end results to all parties concerned:- gearing participants to learn how to  use either the in-house library resources or off campus via geocaching,  educators can design   their lessons with the help of librarians   to guide students towards more independent studies and undertaking research projects and not be spoon fed by just handout notes etc. thus, enhancing the teaching-learning experience.

Public libraries can also design geocaching programs to induct participants to  know on how to use the libraries' facilities and services effectively in their pursuit for information.  Perhaps public libraries may form partnership with  schools,  associations, sport clubs etc to organize  some civic education activities to kindle interests and  awareness of participants on social responsibility, a way to help them become more  responsible citizens. Activities  can be beyond the four walls of libraries with co-operative programs between libraries, schools, museums, cultural groups etc tapping available resources when faced with financial constraints.  The important underlying factors are the necessary manpower, time, and dollars and sense required to   cash on the available high-tech information hunting vehicles to make teaching and learning fun for all.  Sometimes it is not necessary to even re-invent the wheels, co-operation between libraries and other organisations, sharing respective resources  is a way  in some cost-saving for some geocaching projects rather than creating the new geocaches  in  solo when there are   manpower or financial constraints. Judging from  the geocachings websites, I came to the conclusionI that the trend is there for lmany libraries to catch up.

Enough thoughts on this geocaching topic. Now I have to swing to do the "Wrap Up" section now. Some food for thoughts below:

Saying of Confucius:

He who aims to be a man of complete virtue,

does not seek his food to gratify his appetite,

nor in his dwelling-place does he seek his ease;

he is earnest in what he is doing,

and careful in his speech;

he frequents the company of men of principle that he may be kept upright. 

Such a person may be said indeed to love to learn.

Saying of Mencius:

To dwell in the wide house of the world;

to stand in true attitude therein;

to walk in the wide path of men;

in success, to share one's principles with the people;

in failure, to live them out alone;

\to be incorruptible by riches or honors,

unchangeable by poverty,

unmoved by perils or power, --

these I call the qualities of great man.

LEARNING PODCAST

On Sat, I started the 2nd last lesson of Web 2.0 on podcast.  Managed to listen to the first pilot podcast put up by Cockburn Library's team on Mike Murray's talk on how to begin researching your family history - a hot topic for nowadays for  enthusiasts  interestered in finding their roots in the area of genealogy.  Wanted to also access British Library's exhibition podcasts, I was given the  "access denial" message when I clicked  the BBC's  podcasts on Exhibition in the first attempt, went on to another one.  I  congratulate the Cockburn Library energetic podcast team who has successfully and tirelessly mounted the  first pilot podcast programme for the library. A job well done for in upholding the image of Cockburn Library! May the team gain from strength to strength to continue with their good work. I also thank them for widening my horizon to come to know at least a little bit of podcast.,

Do I like podcasts?  A mix of "Yes" and "No". The "Yes" feeling   is IF, a big IF,  I have the time and easy Internet access facility, I may start to use podcasts to listen to podcasts of world news...My "No" feeling is stronger than the "Yes" because basically I don't have Internet at home to surf any time I like. All these years,  I have relied on the daily maximum 2-hour free Internet service offered by Cockburn Library, and out of the 2-hour time limit, I set top priorities to use the Internet to  my get connected  with folks faraway to let them know that I am still alive away from home and to be comforted to know that they are also coping well at the other end of the globe. There is unavoidable stress and strains on me at times whenever  I lost precious  time in searching in the fast forward lanes of  doing the "Discover" and "Explore" exercises, sometimes they caused  me sleepless nights when I could not get things right straight away.   I am leaving podcast with a very strong sentiment that it is "Not my cup of tea"  as I discover that it is again "the sky is the limit" arena. I don't think I would become a follower "fan" of podcasts because I'll be "drown" with such overwhelming numerous podcasts mushrooming daily on the congested Internet "hideaway". Already I hardly have the time to read from page-to-page the daily print newspapers, no time to listen to all the radio programmes, I can only selectively tune to the BBC world news and the ABC or SBC channels to listen to or watch the world news to know what is going on beyond the shore, so little time for me to finish reading a book I borrow from the libraries and embarrassingly got overdue notice to jolt me to quicken my speed  of reading, I have so little time to do my passion needlework as the Web 2.0 online course has eaten much into my leisure time that I have not even started to address my once-a-year Xmas cards as I want to put a more personal touch in my annual greetings, making my own cards and write a few lines to prove to friends that I am still kicking away, striving to stay afloat in this push-button fast forward tricky Web world. Indeed admittedly podcasts offer "fun" and I must be gracious to thank the people who work behind the scene to put up so many interesting podcasts. But I am reminded by my former English and Literature teacher, who  taught the class how to appreciate a particular poem on the wonders of Automation, ended up by giving us her parting advice: "One can use wisely the machine, but never let one become slave to the machine". This guiding principle has taught me not to allow myself to become so obsessed with the new technologies, but to use technologies wisely ie. what I can use the technologies to enrich my life and I now exercise with self discipline not to go overboard in using podcasts unnecessarily as the sky is the limit in the way podcasts are mushrooming everywhere in the web world.

With respect to whether libraries ought to have podcasts, again in my personal opinion, the sky is the limit, to know realistically that today podcasts may become the past very fast with the advancement of technologies when one looks at the changing scenes in the ever changing computer world. I feel rather  "breathless" in trying to run faster in order to keep up with the changing tides  even during the course of trying as best and I could doing this 10-lesson Web 2.0  course because I have found in growing old that I seem to keep on having to chase after TIME, that has mercilessly marched on day by day. Christmas is around the corner and soon the singing of " Auld Lang Syne to bid farewell to 2010 and I truly look forward to coming  Christmas public holidays to catch up with my breathe,  to recharge my battery to run the 2011 time-chasing race in my life. 

From my collection of  cross-stitch pattern books, I came across the following words of two designs:

"Monday's job is hard to face,

Tuesday's job is like a race

Wednesday's job is hard and long

Thursday's job is done and wrong

Friday's job is just a waste

Saturday's job is all home-based

And he who lives to see Sunday

will rest and wish his job away"

"I am here to work and so I do

God grant me strength to see it through

To face each task with a smiling face

To end the day with little waste

To say with truth a job well done

To love this day at setting sun"



FJORDS Norway - Views from Hardanger.

I was interested to get a Teach-yourself online video clip on learning the Hardanger needlework as part of the Web 2.0 Lesson on Online Video. Then my search for a video clip to be embedded, I came across this video clip Fjords Norway - Views from Hardanger  with soothing music. It has nothing to do with the needlework I was keen to have, relating to my passion in needlework, but I was enchanted by the views and the background music that   I decided to download it.  It reminded me my very short sojourn to Norway in my youth some  decades ago, when I was too poor to join any conducted tours, let alone on a luxurious cruise trip when I mapped my home trip from USA with 2-day stopover in Oslo, holding the then US$5 dollar-a-day type of travel guidebook in hand, finding my way to the famous   Winter Olympic sky spot, listed as must not miss landmark for tourists! Now with this free online video clip, I can enjoy seeing the scenes of Norway in the air con. Library, far far away from the actual spot of Norway, better still without having to spend  a penny to fly to such faraway beautiful country! Yes, online videos are useful to allow people to  imagine they are in fairylands at times, especially for many house-bound less fortunate people, young and old, who can't afford to make on site visits owing to many limitations in their lives.  I have to thank the generosity of many many contributors who  have kind hearts to make them available to the world to see.  Free educational online videos can enrich a person's life depending on one's interests.  

Talking about kind hearts, I can't help to quote   Helen Steiner Rice's beautiful poem:

"Heart Gifts": -

It's not the things that can be bought

that are life's richest treasure,

It's just the little "heart gifts"

that money cannot measure...

A cheerful smile, a friendly word,

a sympathetic  nod

Are priceless little treasures

from the storehouse of our God...

They are the things that can't be bought

with silver or with gold,

For  thoughtfulness and kindness

and love are never sold...

They are the priceless things in life

for which no one can  pay,

And the giver finds such recompense

in giving them away.



With Christmas just around the corner, many people are soaked up in the spirit of Christmas shopping sprees, hunting for presents to be given to family members and friends, some even beautify their houses, inside and outside, with bright   sparkling  decorative lighting, whipping up Christmas goodies... There is nothing wrong with all these activities, after all it is  once a year celebration, especially for those who can well afford to usher in a new year. Still I hope that  we can   remember this "cheerful smile, friendly word, sympathetic  nod" to be given to  those  who need our "heart gifts" !  May this Christmas be the start of  our giving them away  without reservation.

FACEBOOK TWITTERING

Faces, Faces, Everywhere


Before I started the lesson Web 2.0 on Facebook and Twittering, I have personal pre-conceived bias and prejudice against them because of much publicized media reports of many innocent users of social networking websites ended up as victims of web scams, so I signed up with some reservations. I faced the task of finding "friends".  Keyed in a few names, no match to my first few searches - guess they are not Facebook members or they used other names I know not, or have de-listed themselves from Facebook.  The search by name can at times throw up dozens "hits", and narrower search by name plus image of the face may not be easy to identify the real right face on Facebook especially some have creatively and cheekily put on unusual head wears to camouflage their real  true face!  It is fun though to see faces, faces, everywhere and who is the right "Friend of all" for me message  for my Facebook lesson???


"Twitteratis" on Twittering Trails


As on the Twittering lesson, I  preconceived it to be a chattering channel and true to my expectation, after signing up, I landed in the tweety  tweety tweety Twitteratisland filled with Twiterratis engaging in their less than 140-character tweeting and re-tweetering per tweet ritual dances (oh last night happened to watch a TV program on how some very rare and real colourful beautiful male birds found  deep in the thick forests of PNG performing their  unique ritual dances to attract the attention of the female) .  Having followed the trails of some Twitteratis, I can now understand more fully the worldwide scenario of seeing more and more people, young and old, on buses, trains, along pedestrian crossing paths, in shopping malls/supermarkets, are always looking down, more than looking up nowadays, I fear for them to drop accidentally into the manhole along the way so immersed in their tweeting mood. Back home, I watched with wonders how  these Twitteratis have so much energy and time to tweet and re-tweet, with smiles on their faces, some tweeting lasting throughout their bus or train journeys!


Personal Post-lesson Thoughts


The brief Web 2.0 lessons  gave me an insight (tip of the iceberg?) to both Facebook and Twittering.  Both serve as powerful useful tools for social networking in the Web world such as in encouraging people to stay connected, thus enhancing family closeness and unity; improving information exchange and dissemination timely especially application in life-saving situation where quick instantaneous communication can activate faster decision-making issues for necessary actions to be taken at personal, local, national or even international levels; and they can be used effectively for the marketing purposes, publicising merchandise and services in competitive commercial sector where time- and cost-saving are very essential to reach targetted potential customers, PROVIDED all users of Facebook and Twittering do not misuse or abuse such social networking system by abiding the necessary codes of conduct and practice.. Libraries can further promote and enhance their information services in the use of the social networking system PROVIDED there is a sustainable resourceful manpower to administer and oversee the implementation and maintenance of the system within its whole automation system, subject to funding availability.
　

Food for Thoughts

*Confucius said:

"It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you,

but rather your failure to appreciate theirs"

"He stands to benefit who makes friends with three kinds of people.

Equally, he stands to lose who make friends with three other kinds of people.

To make friends with the straight, the trustworthy in word

and the well-informed is to benefit.

To make friends with the ingratiating in action,

the pleasant in appearance and the plausible in speech is to lose"

(*Source: Confucius Says…/edited and translated from classical Chinese into modern Chinese by Keong Tow Ying, English translation by D. C.Lau. Federal Publications, 1982. First published 1979 by Penguin Books Ltd.)

SEAMLESS RESOURCE SHARING

The Web 2.0 Week 6 title interested me more than the previous lessons probably because the words Tagging, Delicious and LibraryThing (TDL) have psychologically created a friendly impression on me because I could connect to the meaning of the words easily, unlike the terms Blog, Wiki, RSS which sounded so alien or unfriendly to me at first sight. For example, the word Tagging conjures up the image of an object for identification purpose such as magnetic tags fixed on endangered species that environmental conservationists practice in their scientific studies, the common  price tags found on  commodities that serve to alert potential buyers the freshness of the goods as well as to prompt to people who have budgetary restrictions to spend wisely looking at the price tages first before heading to the cashier counter, or even the concept  of one tagging along/behind/closely a person for a reason... Delicious brings us the sense of “good aroma, taste” to our senses of smelling and   tasting like the judges in the TV  program “Iron Chef” often commented on the dishes they tasted “mmmm…it’s so delicious like swimming in the mouth” and LibraryThing inescapably gives us (or at least to me being a server in libraries for decades) the familiar concrete images of a physical structural building, different types of visible shelves of collections including nowadays the invisible e-collections on the Internet as invaluable sources of information, the services provided by the people manning the service points etc.  Perhaps with such familiarity of the words to me, comparatively I found the exercises were more user-friendly, more interesting and easier to do compared to that RSS feeds  lesson. In this TDL exercise, I could at least equate mentally to some of the actual practices known in library science  e.g. tagging is equivalent to assigning meaningful useful subject headings (keywords) in cataloguing to facilitate searchers in the use of library catalogues, the key to the treasures in their  treasure hunts;  Delicious is truly the fun part for me to search, identify, and bookmark many interesting web sites that hold the titles close to my heart, an overwehlming rich pool of resources from which I can draw up my own acquisitions or reading lists for my very own little Library, to be able to note like-minded people who also have selected the titles I have identified is a useful barometer for me to gauge the readership. Certainly in my opinion, Library Thing is a useful tool for libraries to structure into their system with the primary  objective in promoting the true spirit of sharing their special delicious resources seamlessly with all other libraries and interested users of libraries.

Food for thoughts:

"We can recycle things but cannot recycle our wasted time"

THERE IS SUNSHINE IN A SMILE

By Helen Steiner Rice

"Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain,

Laughter and pleasure, teardrops and pain,

All days can't be bright, but it's certainly true,

There was never a cloud the sun didn't get through -

So just keep on smiling whatever betide you,

Secure in the knowledge God is always beside you,

And you'll find when you smile your day will be brighter

And all of your burdens will seem much lighter--

For each time you smile you will find it is true

Somebody, somewhere will smile back at you,

And nothing on earth can make life more worthwhile

Than the sunshine and warmth of a beautiful smile"

Wikis Sharing Time

To me, discovering, exploring and doing the Really Simple Syndicate (RSS)  lesson was like going through a lesson of Reviving Survival Skill in the share well I was thrown into I was relieved that I managed to survive after the meandering through the cobweb Web2.0 thick forest and caught up with a few  fast-footed bloggers, who shared sympathetically with my viewpoint that it was “not an easy” RSS journey 

Emerging from the RSS tunnel, seeing  the clear blue sky, hearing the birds singing,  my spirit was lifted up once more.  Saw the signpost: Common Craft Show : Wikis in Plain English. Curiosity drew me to view the show…Ooops, it was like the silence movie of Sir Charlie Chaplin – so full of actions but no sound! something was not right for me!  Explored, explored... looking  for every hole to plug in and out my earphone, SOS  blogger Margaret a stone throw away, who readily came to help this poor deaf soul, still no-sound but actions on the screen...SOS via email to trainer-cum-supervisor Lawley, who as usual as a gentle-man, never failed to respond speedily even on  his off-duty day,  providing the tips to check all the gears are in proper place. Voila! finally the synchronization of sound and actions now for me to enjoy the video clip.

Well, the Wikis in Plain English preview was quite simple enough for me  to grasp  conceptually Wikis usefulness in the world of Web 2.0;  so curiosity adventurous spirit drew me to sign up for this exploration trip, but I was inwardly curious why called Wiki or Wikis? My own small renown  Oxford dictionary does not give a clue. May be the well-known MacQuarie Dictionary currently advertised now over the Monday-Friday TV LettersandNumbers Program will be the source of information to satisfy my curiosity to trace the root of this word

I signed up to get the Wetpaint, under the impression that  probably it must a super duper high quality wet paint, better than the Nippon paint,  that will help bloggers to paint the town red wherever they venture to!  Or at least be it may be  a safety aid for me to mark carefully the routes I would be taking, and just in case I lost my way , the  spots I mark along the unknown Wiki way may help me to retrace  my steps to return safely where I started this mysterious Wiki journey, since I think I have equipped myself with some  of the   basic knowledge of the Reviving Survival Skill in the RSS expedition taken by bring along  this bucket of wet paint highly recommended.

So I tried  the Wiki waltzing steps  of 1,2,3, “Edit, Write, Save” and was led to all the Wetpaint campsites of bloggers, who have certainly  left their distinctive trail marks behind, some even boldly signed their names, some were left anonymous. Actually I found out that it is more like the  1,2,3,4 Foxtrot steps that I have to do, becasue I have to Read first the voluminous writings of those who were before me, then continue more gracefully the next steps of  Edit, Write and Save in this new Wiki dance.  Neverthless, it was  interesting to read whatever  written on the big canvas ,  but oh, time is  needed to finish reading every one and I was hard pressed for more time as the merciless Internet Police Consable timer staring at my crazy dance, is ticking faster than I could twirl, warning me I had  barely a minute left to turn.  How I wished that I had taken a course on speed reading before!   From what I remember from the Wikis show, the wet paint can be very effectively applied  to erase  all the trail marks created by others if I dislike them.  One can also add more trail marks to or correct the existing ones with the rule of the game of to  “play nice”.   Frankly ,  I simply  don’t have the heart to erase all the colorful trail marks left by Wiki pioneers before me because,  they are HISTORIES, representing the tapestries  stitched and patched by fellow more seasoned Wiki travelers,   reflecting their  team spirit of co-operation to share with me  what they know and they deserve to be  retained for  their originalities.  A question crossed my mind: will or has Wiki become an avenue for copycats to engage in  online plagiarism practice e..g. in the Publish or Perish academic world with the increasing Wikis users?

Now I better now stop my rambling and go and find  five more bloggers, who can give me more tips and encouragements  to help sharpen my Revival Survival Skill for the next journey ahead. 

Some food for thoughts;  I came  across the following Helen Steiner Rice's beautiful poem Trouble  is a Stepping Stone  to Growth that I often read and re-read:

Trouble  is something no one can escape,

Everyone has it in some form or shape -

Some people hide it way down deep inside,

Some people bear it with gallant-like pride,

Some people worry and complain of their lot,

Some people cover what they havn't got,

While others rebel become  bitter and  old

With hopes that are dead and hearts that are cold...

But the wise man accepts whatever God sends,

Willing  to yield like a storm-tossed tree bends,

Knowing that God never makes mistake

So whatever He sends they are willing to take--

For trouble is part and parcel of life

And no man can grow without  trouble and strife,

And the steep hills ahead and high mountain peaks

Afford man at least the peace that he seeks --

So blest are the people who learn to accept

The trouble men try to escape and reject

For in our acceptance

 we're given great grace

And courage and faith and the strength to face

The daily troubles that come  to us all

So we may learn to stand "straight and tall" --

For the grandeur of life is born of defeat

For in overcoming we make life complete.