Podcasts and Wikis

Podcasts - are they free or what?

Well the podcast is something I stumbled across quite a while back now. I knew they were audio recordings that could be downloaded but there were only a couple I had listened to.

The first was a podcast from a radio program called The Ricky Gervais Show. Having watched The Office (written by Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant)
I was keen to experience what happens when Ricky Gervais, Steven Merchant and (friend) Karl Pilkington trap themselves in a studio together to do a weekly radio show. I had heard that the podcasts of the show were for sale from ABC stores and from iTunes etc. but there was also another option. I found that YouTube had many of the podcasts, all of which can be listened to for free. What I discovered by listening to the show is that the content of podcasts can range from formal radio programs, to others bordering on complete and utter chaos such as this one - I guess that is part of its appeal.

On looking into podcasts further, I realised how easy it is to subscribe to free podcasts via your iTunes software. Within minutes iTunes had downloaded and stored the latest podcast of The Book Show (broadcast on Radio National). The next time there is a new podcast available it will be automatically downloaded and appear in the 'podcasts' section of iTunes. Couldn't be easier really

World of Wikis

Well I had used Wikipedia quite a bit, so I'm guessing a look of confusion appeared on my face when people started talking about setting up their own 'Wikis'. Thankfully the short video sums it up nicely, it all makes perfect sense now.

I can see how usefull it must be for a group of people to all have a single webpage to log onto and communicate through. It's like having an online whiteboard that everyone can contribute to and edit at any time. No more lost emails, everyone can go to the one location to see what the latest is.

Here is a really interesting presentation by Brion Vibber who has seen the growth of MediaWiki and Wikipedia over the last four years. He describes some of the challenges he faces through his work for MediaWiki.

RSS Feeds ... Feeding Us What Exactly??

It's interesting to see how quickly things develop in the realm of the web. I have known about an enigmatic thing called the RSS for a while now. I knew that it basically brings you information somehow, however through researching it further I can now see the huge potential it has for gathering useful information.

RSS feeds are much like having your newspaper delivered to your door, except in an electronic sense. You don't have to continually look for news on websites in the hope that there will be something that interests you. Instead you can reverse the flow of the traffic by requesting that the information that matches your interests arrives instantly at your digital doorstep. When you log onto your RSS reader it is all there waiting for you!

In the video posted below there is a great demonstration on how this tool can be used to gain information of all sorts. From tracking ebay for that particular item you are looking to buy, to getting updates about who is subscribing to you blogs. The video even shows us how to subscribe to torrents of media that have been uploaded to the web.

So in a nutshell, RSS feeds can get us with pretty much any type of information that we require, and hopefully it can help us avoid consuming the mindless information we don't need.

'Browser browser on the screen, who's the fairest you have seen?'

The Librarian In Black has included a useful link to an article exploring the role of web browsers in libraries. Seeing as the internet has become such an integral part of the modern library, the way web browsers allow us to gather information online will be crucial stuff to know when providing the public with advice.
How to Turn a Browser into a Reader and a Librarian gives an in depth look at the development of browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer. It has helped me to understand some of the major differences between them, not only how they were developed but more importantly how they function in a practical sense.
One interesting aspect of Firefox that makes it so user friendly, is that it is what they call "open source" software. That is anyone can contribute to its development. This has the huge advantage in that the people who are out there using this software (if they have the coding skills) can simply create new add ons for Firefox to suit their needs. Making software available as open source widens the knowledge base considerably and embraces the user much more than a typical commercial release, mainly focussing on profits.

Where did all the books go?

Firstly, I must admit that I am not experienced with the realm of blogs - but don't get me wrong , I do know that blogs exist, that they are hovering around out there in cyberspace, however until now there hasn't been any obvious reason to investigate this phenomenon.
I like to think I don't have an aversion to the blog, I just seem to have an aversion to becoming a blogger ... but maybe that could change if it agrees with me.
One thing that is completely new to me is the fact that there are many people out there cataloging and reviewing books plus other media through online social cataloging networks. This shouldn't surprise me as much as it did, since the net is a big place and there's alot of people out there.
iLibrarian has made it easy to see the tip of this online ice berg with its list of Ten Websites For Book Lovers. It assumes that the reader is already familiar with LibraryThing and other popular social sites, going for some of the lesser knowns. Many of them share similar features such as cataloging, writing book reviews, creating book clubs and having meetings.
Funnily enough it was number 10 on the list that really jumped out at me. PaperBack Swap is all about swapping real books. Actually sending them by post ... no not an attachment in an email, the real thing - snail mail. Anyone feeling nostalgic right now?
To signup there is an annual fee of $20, but I imagine it would be well worth it if you happen to be situated in the US. I'm guessing that there are similar networks for swapping books in the Southern Hemisphere.

Will keep you posted...