Online video

I was quite excited to watch those videos from British Library. They bring back memory of my adventure there and how I could not get in the reading rooms. The videos of the staff X'mas party are quite boring. Definitely not as much fun as us in here. One of the things about video or picture is they look very real and you have a 'first person' feel of the whole experience. It is also more fun to watch a video than to read a pamphlet. They certainly get my attention and I always love the music. Using cartoon is extremely popular with younger audience and I incline to watch it till the end especially if it got good graphic.







I think the possibilities of using short video in library website are unlimited. You can use it as an ad for any service promotion, tour, training, function, exhibition etc. The short video can go on any media eg. YouTube, train, plane, TV, mobile phone, library webpage etc. You can even get an advertising company to do some very professional jobs for you. Just not too sure about the cost of production.

RSS (Part II)

OK, so I need to tell you what is important for the SLNSW RSS feed. I suppose it need to be fun, useful and has topics related to SLNSW/libraries/librarians/information/information technology/community of NSW/Australia. Our client groups are so diversed that it is important for us to consider to have different RSS for different clients. I think I saw the different client groups setup in Tate and may be in NYPL. We then can have one for MPLA, CPLA, other state libraries, library students etc. All depends on our resources.



I think there are a lot of good writers in the Library who like to communicate to our clients. May be there is another issue we need to consider - how to manage all the comments and replies.

RSS

I have set up 5 different RSS feeds on my Google readers. They are 1) Powerhouse Museum Picture of the Day (as recommended) 2) Sky News (UK) 3) Tate Modern 4) LibraryBytes 5) Design Hub (Powerhouse Museum). There are more that I would like to set up but I am already on their mailing lists and it would be a duplicate to get their RSS again. I have also tried to set up a news feed in my own blog and only discovered that it will give away my identity! I got rid of it straight away.









1 thing that I like about RSS is I got to have all my news in 1 place and don't need to worry about the limit of my mail box. However, I don't always get to look at the page everyday. I think it would be fun to share the news with my friends and I would like to do that for non-work stuff.







Another interesting thing about RSS is not every website has the service! I am surprised some well known organizations do not have RSS but just mailing list. I suppose it still serves the purpose of spreading the news.

In regard to using RSS for work, I think it would be good for notifying clients of our new exhibitions, new books, new services or any news (including conducting surveys or user groups). The little booklet that we got (I think it is called @ the Library) can be distributed as RSS. However, there is always the concern of the age groups of our clients. Not everyone is using RSS yet. Internally, we can also set up the RSS for Newsbreak or branch news.

I quite like the NLB Blog from the National library of Singapore. It got an interesting 'loose-leaf' design and very chatty and casual. The graphic and photos are quite funky too. I found a lot of funny blogs from librarians over the world but not that much from libraries.

Wiki

I like wiki and I like the concept of 'group editing'. It works very well with work procedures or anything that has a wide spead interest/knowledge by more than 1 audience and would like to share with others. The NZ Police Act Review is a good example and the Book Lovers Wiki from Princeton Library is excellent. Everyone has their opinion and idea on the subject and the subject is common interest/useful to a lot of audience. The Wookieepedia for Star Wars fans is a fantastic idea as there are a lot of very dedicated fans out there and dying to share. They are happy to write and share without feeling inadequate and stupid because a) they know the subject very well and b) they are passionated about the subject and c) there are a lot of them out there!




However, not all subjects work well with wiki. The Lib Labs from NLA does not create much interest from a big group except from internal staff. I think a blog will be more appropriate for that kind of content rather than a wiki. The subject is too narrow and specialized. It is not an interesting/common interest topic. I think most people will be happier just to put in a comment.