Blogger v WordPress

Aren't I the clever one? No sooner do I get to grips with Blogger than I'm off to WordPress to set up a new blog. What is the difference? Well Blogger is much easier to use - a child of 46 can quickly set up and run a new blog. As for WordPress, well I had to get my partner to lock me in my study for a weekend and not open the door until I had cracked their conventions and applications. I emerged into the sunlight on Sunday afternoon, dazed but happy.

The beauty of WordPress is that it allows you to place your articles in categories. This immediately counteracts the reverse chronological order of postings which you are resticted to on Blogger. I mean it would be a pretty poor library that arranged its books purely in the order of their acquisition.

Returning to Blogger after several days with WordPress, everything seem pretty basic - I suppose it is the same for a child having to play with Duplo after being set free on Lego. Having said all that, I really like Blogger. It doesn't put you off or assume anything and surely that is the real beauty of Web 2.0, that the content is the important part not the technology.

Anyway if anyone is interested in the goings on in further education in Wales and beyond my website is available here.

Web 2.0 book

Phil's book arrived through my letterbox last week. As you would expect, it is packed with explanations of the various elements which make up Web 2.0 and loads of hints and tips as to how these applications may be applied to libraries. I will be using this book in conjunction with the Five Weeks to a Social Library website which has already had enough publicity from me. Copies can be bought from Facet Publishing. It also gives me an excuse to add my first picture to my otherwise dull-looking blog.

del.icio.us

I've started dipping my toe into the ocean of social bookmarking. Jason Griffey has an excellent introduction to del.icio.us in the Five Weeks to a Social Library - week 2. There are a few ways of following the lectures on this site but my preferred method is to download the talk in mp3 and then follow the presentation slides. Jason's talk (it lasts over an hour) is slow to start but the last 25 minutes or so is packed with useful information.

Inspired, I set up a delicious account for my library or LRC (as we call them in further education) and have started to tag the websites catalogued on our OPAC. It even works for journal articles we've catalogued from our datasets such as InfoTrac.

Now that I've got this far, I don't know what to do next with it. No doubt Phil Bradley will have a few pointers in his book "How to use Web 2.0 in your Library". Unfortunatley for me, social bookmarking doesn't crop up until Chapter 6 and I'm only on Chapter 3. Come to think about it, I'm still on week 2 of the Five Weeks to a Social Library and I'm sure I started that last February!