Back already!

I found out this interesting historical fact today and wanted to share it. On the 28 January 1958 the Lego company patented their design of Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today (source http://www.historyorb.com/date/1958/january/28). Pretty cool huh?

So in honour of this anniversary it may be time to embrace or even find that stash you had as a kid and make something.
It could be something small

or big 

or amazingly creative

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See more of Nathan Sawaya's work here.

 

And all this with these bricks

TTFN

This is the last official blog post for the web 2.0 course but I'm sure I'll still share some of the interesting things I find in the world of heritage and museums. So stay tuned if you've been enjoying the posts.

I've really enjoyed the course and finding out about all these different ways to communicate with the world. I've learnt so much each week about things I didn't know anything about and it was great to get some hands on experience with the services that I knew about but hadn't actually used. I'm so grateful to City of Swan libraries for setting this up and inviting us all to participate.

The videos were really useful in explaining how and why you would want to use the technology in a fun and informative way. Now I just need to keep using them and finding out what else is out there. I would encourage my workplace, when/if we're able, to use various services such as podcasting, wikis and blogs. I would love to say we'll use them all but if we could even get one going it would be great.

TTFN

Geocaching

Well this is the one activity I've just researched, until I can get my hands on a GPS or smartphone (hmmm). Looking into geocaching, it sounds like a really fun activity to explore familiar and maybe some not so familiar places. I really liked the Scoot game using locations around Melbourne to encourage people to explore their city. 
I have also found another geocaching based game developed by the Powerhouse Museum around Chinatown in Sydney. It's called China Heart and uses four objects from their collection as well as locations to tell a story.  While not strictly geocaching where you go to a location to find a secret cache, you go to a location to get more or understand more of the story.


I definitely think that geocaching could be used in libraries, museums or even as part of a heritage trail. The caches could be part of a holiday activity or as a theme to get visitors thinking about a different angle to the collection or place.

Podcasting

Well I haven't been very successful in my search of favorite podcasts which is why I've delayed posting this blog. I subscribed to a couple on the ABC's site but no new material arrived :-( 
Hopefully with the start of regular programs this week they might come through.


However I looked up the other ones suggested and liked the 60 second scientist but didn't really want to listen to an hour long lecture at home as per the other sites and some museum sites I went exploring on. However I have listened to lectures via podcast for uni which was very useful. Also very useful is Meet Me At Mikes vodcast of how to crochet (I tried teaching myself by pics in a book unsuccessfully) and with the video I know where I was going wrong (yay) - too few pics in the instructions.


The best thing about podcasts is you can listen/watch them via phone or MP3 player (if you load them onto it) anywhere you like. Recent heritage trails are taking advantage of this technology and designing podcasts for people to access via their mobiles. Heritage Perth has one for some of the buildings in the CBD using wifi spots. Another example is the tree museum along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, however you have to phone a number to get the info. This trail has recorded the living heritage as well as historical sites along a four and half mile road. 100 trees were chosen by the artist Katie Holten and each tree has a linked oral history audiences can listen to.


So on the whole podcasts are pretty useful things.

online video

Looking at the examples given I liked the way the libraries were using a video to provide more information about a particular topic such as the Topeka Public Library or the National Library providing the audio from a book launch. These are really good ways to utilise you tube for public libraries, however I do like it when information can be given with a bit of flair. For example the Goggle Vision: using electronic resources  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5slpJMRWKA8&feature=player_embedded which I found on Make, Collect and Do's blog in the early days of this training. And of course I love Lee LeFever's in plain English videos each week.

As someone else has suggested using videos like the one above as a short tutorial on various topics would benefit library users, although I'm not sure how effective videos would be for museums other than in a documentary style. Not that that's a bad thing, the UK National Trust use you tube to showcase conservation projects, properties and past events. So to summarise there are some pretty interesting things being put on You Tube amidst all the rubbish.

Now for the video I chose. Rather than something a bit academic I thought of a fun song that you can get stuck in your head :-)
Its a blast from the past - The Monster Mash. Hope you enjoy it.

facebook and twitter

I have used Facebook for a few years now, but am usually an observer of friends lives than actively posting about my life. I guess I like to only share some things online and am really pretty private. As part of this week's exercise I had a look at how libraries and museums are using Facebook which I was pretty interested in. Like blogs Facebook is a good way to give information to a target audience and hope that others will discover what you're doing. For example the State Library's posts of the Library of Lost Moments exhibition and the National Museum of Australia's page. So it looks like a good way of advertising what's on and showing some images to draw people into the physical site.

Twitter was something I hadn't used before as I couldn't really see the point of posting what I was doing all the time. I liked Adam Hills summary of it on the recent Very Specky Christmas when he said that Twitter was like everyone shouting about whatever they liked, all at the same time around the world ( I may have paraphrased this slightly wrong but the sentiment is correct). Like Facebook my initial reaction is who cares what I'm doing unless they actually know me, and even then I think there's some disinterest. And yes I know this is exactly what I'm doing writing this blog, even though its for training purposes.

However I'll keep using twitter to educate myself and I have found a monthly book group thanks to Saire and the Swan Libraries tweets, and who knows what else I'll find. For example here's how  the JFK museum and library and the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge are using Twitter to make the past come alive.

@JBK1960 Follow Jacqueline Kennedy's Campaign Wife newspaper column -- 50 years later. Constructed by the JFK Library from transcripts of the 7 syndicated articles.

@scottslastexp Follow Scott's last polar expedition

a new future for our past?

I came across this today from one of my RSS feeds and thought it posed some interesting questions relating to the use and reuse of heritage buildings. The Michigan Theatre, built in 1926, was once an impressive building on the site of the garage where Ford built his first car prototype, according to www.detriotfunk.com . It was saved from demolition in the 1970s but was gutted and is now used as a car park. Looking at the pictures on either website you can see the amazing interiors and details of the former theatre which was described as a jewel and had 10 foot chandeliers.
While the reuse of a building deemed to have heritage significance is best practice, I don't think this is what any professional in the heritage industry would like to see.  Ironically there is now probably greater access to this building than there would have been when it was a theatre. I have such mixed feelings about this building and its treatment, but it is an interesting urban environment to explore so I thought I'd share it.

(from Wikipedia)