Reflecting back over the past six weeks, I feel as though I have achieved at least some of the goals I set for myself in Week 1. I have explored with some new things, programs such as Endnote and Twitter.
While I learnt that Twitter does have some advantages, I don't think I will ever be an avid user of it. I just can't see myself ever getting into Twitter.
I was able to edit some newspaper articles which I found on Trove, and also looked at some other databases in the tutorial when dealing with Endnote - databases such as Web Science and Proquest.
Creating a blog in the first place was a new thing for me, along with creating an HTML document.
I actually like blogging - being able to express all my thoughts and ideas, and record what I have found interesting and struggles that I've had. These sorts of things I would find difficult to express in person, but it is easy for me to communicate all of it in blog form. I like the fact that I can be creative with blogs, being able to embed images, links and videos to make it visually appealing.
One thing which I think I could have had a go at is editing a Wikipedia article, but other than that I am happy with what I've learnt and been able to accomplish through this blog assignment.

In week 5, I had my first go at creating an HTML document which involved typing out a copious amount of coding into "Notepad," saving it then viewing the document as a web page. I found it quite straightforward - it was fairly time consuming typing out all the coding but it worked. I now have a deeper understanding into how web pages, HTMLs in particular, are created. I learnt that inserting certain characters into the coding creates a paragraph or a break in the text etc. For example:
<p> indicates insertion of a new paragraph
<a> means "anchor" which is inserted after a link is posted within the coding
<li> indicates a list (a bullet point)
<hr> creates a divide between sections of text, like in the form of an invisible horizontal line
<b> makes the text bold
However, I also learnt that, when it comes to creating an HTML document, making it presentable is difficult. For example, in HTML coding there is an emphasis on 'structural' as opposed to 'presentational.'
In my spare time, I decided to explore mashups. I've already done things within Google maps, so I decided to look at Yahoo! Pipes and learn how to create basic mashups using this application. First I created a Yahoo account, then created a 'pipe.' I selected the module 'Fetch feed' out of the list of modules. After dragging this into the central graphic idea, I entered a few URLs (links to blogs about movie posters because that's something I'm interested in). Then I connected the fetch feed to the module to the Pipe output, but when I clicked to look at my pipe it didn't display correctly and wouldn't work - there was something wrong with the URL links. I wasn't really sure how to fix it. I don't really see the point of creating a pipe after all that.
I went and looked at Libraryhack and looked at some of the mashup entries which were submitted as part of the competition. I liked the range of mashup formats eg. some of the entries were in video format, some were an amalgamation of images put together, sound wave files, and others consisted of one image that had been edited. Some of them have important messages attached to them (eg. this one about global warming):
"Early Evidence of Global Warming"

Here is the link to the entries:
http://libraryhack.org/mix-mash-win/hack-entries/

These are the ones which I found the most interesting out of all the entries:

In this first one on the left I like how they've combined a whole series of propaganda, old advertisements, to form one big poster. The second is a mashup of three photos combined to create the effect of a 'ghostly train ride.' I like the contrast between the old historical black and white images of the woman and motor car interior, with the bright modern and colourful Ferris wheel. There were so many entries, many of which I found a bit strange, but I would recommend looking at the site.
.

"Ghost Train"

"Seaside mishmashed"

"Ready for Service"

"Hidden Theatres beneath the River City"

"Reflection of Time" - a photograph of a 1920's Australian street

interposed with a glimpse of the future

In week 4, we continued experimenting further with Endnote. I had a few difficulties with inserting the right reference into the article at first but was able to work it out. I think I would actually find it easier to just do the in-text references and bibliography manually without the aid of Endnote - maybe it's because I've written so many essays that I'm used to referencing and don't find it too challenging.
Anyway, I looked at some social bookmarking sites. I created accounts with 'Delicious' and also 'Diigo' last year for Information Provision 1 but didn't really explore the sites very much. I decided to revisit the sites and have a further explore at their features and what they had to offer.
http://delicious.com is a little bit confusing to begin with - I was trying to work out what the primary purpose of the website was and the function of a 'stack.' One of the purposes for the website is to share links to interesting sites with other people - these sites are sometimes in the form of blogs. Rather than sharing my stuff with other people, I have only used the site so far to link pre-existing blogs set up by other people to my page as a "bookmark," for my viewing. After creating a couple of stacks, I added a couple of links to pages on children's literature, and found it relatively easy to select which 'stack' I wanted the links to go in. Watching the video posted on blackboard about social bookmarking, it talked about 'tags.' As I added links to my stacks, a list of tags was created on the site.
When I went to the homepage for Delicious it came up with other people's stacks for viewing, which had links to fascinating blogs such as one on contemporary movie posters, which I linked to my page. This blog featured movie posters, including Alfred Hitchcock, with clever simple designs. Here is a link to the blog:
http://brickhut.wordpress.com
Certain aspects of Diigo are similar to Delicious although there are some differences. I was able to become a member of groups such as 'Art.In.General,' a group for those interested in art. I found the site a little bit similar to Facebook in this way.
Members of the group can share bookmarks with each other and write reviews. On both pages Diigo and Delicious you are able to create networks with people and create bookmarks. On Diigo there is a series of "Hot tags" on various topics and when you click on a topic it provides a list of sites relevant to that topic.
By following people through 'My network' on Diigo it allows you to see updates from them and invite friends (in this way it's a little bit like Twitter). By adding Diigo as a bookmark so it becomes 'Diigolet,' you can write sticky notes and highlight passages to create annotations which I experimented with. You can also view the most popular bookmarks that have been added to Diigo by other people. I didn't find the website Diigo really helpful and applicable to me (eg. it contains tools for saving tweets which are posted on Twitter) but I can see how it would help certain people to store and save information and network with others.

This week (Week 3) in class we looked at the program Endnote. I had some difficulty first downloading it on my iPad then opening it on the Dell laptop provided by RMIT but I managed in the end. I found it relatively easy to search for articles on databases "Web of Science" and "Proquest" and to then export them to Endote to create a list of references. I was able to add eight articles to the list. Despite having to uncapitalise one of the titles, there didn't seem to be any problems with the details listed in Endnote. I think I would have found it useful in compiling the biography of my Honours thesis last year.
I decided to have a go at editing an article online. I created a Trove account - username "asben2" - and went to Trove Digitised Newspapers. I typed in a subject of interest "art gallery" and found this small newspaper article from "The Inquirer & Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901) Friday 17 September 1897, page 6."

This was the original text:

AKJ' GALLLKY.

The Art Gallery has been -»n- riehc-d by tlie addition of two paiuilngs — ?' LVqciescat,' by Briio.n Riviere, and a water-color paiating by J. 31. Swan, and en titled, ' Leopards in Repose.'

This is the fixed text after I changed it:

ART GALLERY:

The Art Gallery has been enriched by the addition of two paintings — "Requiescat," by Briton Riviere, and a water-color painting by J. M. Swan, and entitled, "Leopards in Repose." 

After doing a google search on 'Riviere' artist I was able to find the British artist Briton Riviere (1840-1920) and his artwork "Requiescat." The water-color painting "Leopards in Repose" described in the article was harder to find but I did find a list of drawings by John M. Swan, one of which was called "The Leopardess in Repose."
I also added some tags to the article - "art gallery" "paintings" "Briton Riviere" "requiescat" "water-color" which might help people to find it.

This is a link to the correction I made.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/correction/66523210

And this is a link to the original article:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/66523210?searchTerm=art gallery&searchLimits=#blob

This is the painting "Requiescat" by Briton Riviere that was added to the Art Gallery in 1897:



I also edited another article, this one being from the Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Friday 25 January 1924 Edition: DAILY, page 4 - this is the link before it was edited:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/51288943?searchTerm=art gallery&searchLimits=

Original text:
ART GATJLERY. Tlie Art Gallery has betni enriched by the gift of an oil painting entitled "A Northern Lagoon in New South Wales." The picture is' a' sunny little morceau from the brush of the well known artist Piguenit. It will be found upon one of the screens in the Art Gallery. The donor is Mr. Ger ald H. Halligan, of this, city, who in cidentally was a eat ersona friend I dfu rtr IIYPU

Fixed text: (the last sentence I couldn't make out)

ART GALLERY
The Art Gallery has been enriched by the gift of an oil painting entitled "A Northern Lagoon" in New South Wales. The picture is a sunny little morceau from the brush of the well known artist Piguenit. It will be found upon one of the screens in the Art Gallery. The donor is Mr. Gerald H. Halligan, of this city, who incidentally was a great personal friend I dfu rtr IIYPU

Link to changed article:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/51288943?searchTerm=art gallery&searchLimits=#pstart3218662

Link which shows correction by asben2:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/correction/51288943

I found this process of editing Trove digitised newspaper articles actually relatively easy, and I'm glad that I was able to make some changes, even if they're small, to some articles.

This week (Week 2) I created a Twitter account for the first time. As I wrote in my first blog entry, I had previously never really understood the point of Twitter - in comparison to Facebook it seemed uninteresting and kinda pointless. However, I found that there are some beneficial aspects, some pros, to Twitter that I didn't know:
- I think it is good for following academics and celebrities who may post interesting links
- It is less complex than Facebook
- it still allows you to communicate with people, and post photos
- it allowed me specifically to follow a good friend of mine who lives in the UK and to see what he has been up to

So after my first experience with Twitter, my opinion of it has slightly changed and is less negative. I did some research into Twitter and found some interesting facts which I hadn't known before:
- it was created in March 2006 
- It was initially known as "twttr" (after the website Flickr)
- the first tweet ever posted was by Twitter co-creator Dom Sagolla and it read 'oh this is going to be addictive'

I'm not sure whether I will use my Twitter page that much, but I will probably continue to check it and look at people's tweets, and find more people to follow. I was looking up some statistics on Twitter, and found this video which just shows how popular it has become since 2006 worldwide. Also the fact that the Library of Congress has recently archived more than 170 billion tweets (as of January 2013) shows how important tweets can be, to the extent of preservation.

Below is a youtube clip that shows statistics about Twitter's worldwide use and popularity. Originally I just coped the .html link and pasted it below but I just learnt how to embed a youtube clip into a blog. I learnt that you go to the youtube clip and press 'Share' then click on 'Embed.' Then you copy the embed code and paste it into the blog while on the 'Edit HTML' tab as opposed to the 'Composed' tab. So the embed code is pasted along with the   other coding for the blog entry.

I looked at some of the blogs on information management and technology that were listed on Blackboard. One blog that interested me in particular was Helene Blowers' blog 'LibraryBytes.'
http://www.heleneblowers.info/
I was most interested in this blog because she developed the initial 2.0 Learning program which I learnt about in depth last semester. Before discovering Helene's blog I found an article through Trove titled 'Virtual Services on the edge: innovative use of Web tools in public libraries' by Michelle McLean.
Here's a link to the article I read:
http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/fullText;dn=417912633373199;res=IELHSS;org=rmit
It discusses how successful the Learning 2.0 program 23 Things was in training staff in the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County in using Web 2.0 tools. Staff were exposed to a range of these tools over a nine week span, some of which included RSS and blogging. The program inspired other libraries to draw on the program to the extent that by 2008, 200 libraries had adopted it.
Reading some of Helene Blowers' blog entries I was interested in finding out the aftermath of this program - how much it has developed since 2009, the year of Michelle McLean's article.
On the homepage it had a link to this blog which details more about the Learning 2.0 program: http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com.au/ I don't think the blog has been updated since 2007 though. According to one of Helene's blog entries, where she gives an update on this program 23 Things, the program has impacted on a global level, being replicated worldwide, in 15 different languages and across over 700 organisations. Her blog contains embedded links to presentations she has given which feature an array of fascinating quotes and statistics. In particular, one presentation features many quotes by various famous people on what their definitions of a library are. Going through each slide, here are some of my favourites:

"A library is not simply a repository of books, it is the symbol and center of our culture - a door and a window for those who might not otherwise have such doors and windows" - Amy Tan, author
- For me, this quote really encapsulates a sense of the library as a place which is able to open up opportunities for people - opportunities for people to experience culture through reading. Author Judy Strong encapsulates a similar idea in this definition:
"A library is both comfort food and inspiration, opportunity for growth, and the place where anyone can come for personal enrichment." 

"Libraries: cafeterias for food that feeds the mind." - Louise Yelin, author.

"Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination" - Sidney Sheldon, author
On a similar note, there is this quote by author Heather Barbieri:
"Libraries are places where the imagination begins."

"A library is a true fairyland, a very palace of delight, a haven of repose from the storms and troubles of the world." - Avebury

"A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas - a place where history comes to life." Norman Cousins, political journalist and author

"A good library is a place, a place where the lofty spirits of all nations and generations meet." - Samuel Nig. From this quote I get a sense of the library as being a communal environment which brings people from across all nations together.

And then there's this quote by Melvil Dewey, inventer of the Dewey Decimal System: "A library's function is to give the public in the quickest and cheapest way information, inspiration, and recreation. If a better way than a book can be found, we should use it."

I enjoyed reading these quotes which were outlined on the presentation embedded on her blog. They gave a sense of libraries as being sources of information and providers of opportunities, and places where imagination and creative ideas are born.

Hi, I'm Alister. I come from an art history background, having completed an Arts/Visual Arts double degree at Monash and then Honours which involved the hefty task of writing a thesis. I'm currently in my second semester of Masters of Information Management.
I must admit that coming back to uni from holidays I have felt a bit nervous and a slight sense of dread. Even though I have done one semester of this already, I'm feeling a bit anxious about the amount of work that will be required of me during this semester and how much I will understand.
I think this blog assignment is a good idea which will help me to explore some new tools and technologies. Creating this blog has been my first step to learning and creating something new.
Beginning to undertake this project, I'm going to try and push myself and do things out of my comfort zone.
Over the next six weeks my goal is to achieve, or at least have a go, at some things which I haven't done before. One of my skills is proof reading so editing some online journal articles could be something worth doing.
After this course I hope to pursue a career in something like archiving, so I would also be interested in investigating into online databases and how they function - having an understanding of these would help me in the future. Last semester I used the National Library of Australia's database Trove a fair bit to find journal articles. Over the next weeks I hope to explore other online databases.
I'm also interested in social media tools. Facebook is one that I'm very familiar with, but I've never used Twitter. I've never understood the fascination that some people have with it.
I am interested in finding out more about Twitter, just how popular it is and why this is the case.