Week 6 : EnCompassCulture - the global bookclub

EnCompassCulture is a worldwide reading group, where you can find recommendations about the next book you may like to read and talk about books with other readers around the world. It has full details of over 11,000 books, representing the best of UK, Ireland and Commonwealth writing. The site has recommended reading for all age ranges and is very user friendly. I personally thought the site was somewhat limited, i.e. Bryce Courtenay and Colleen McCullough did not appear in the 'Author' list as commonwealth writers. It would be useful for age group reading recommendations although some of the 'rating comments' written by other readers can be somewhat 'colourful'! I think there are better sites and our own libraries offer a more comprehensive package. But in saying that, the site is definitely worth a peep.

Week 5: SlideShare - online pesentations

Although I can see the benefits that this site offers, I could not in all honesty recommend it to anyone else.
I have tried on numerous different occassions and from different access points (e.g. learn.net, workroom p.c.) to log into the slide shows and have had no success at all. I am waiting for the slide show "Happy 4th birthday" to download as I edit this post!
In answer to your questions

• No, it is not easy for staff to use.
• No, customers would not find it easy to use.
• It does not download easily on the learn.nets or workroom p.c.'s (still waiting....)
• No, I probably wouldn't bother with this site again.
• For all of the above reasons I probably wouldn't recommend it to customers.

Week 4: TasteSpotting

http://www.tastespotting.com/

Oooohhhhhh yeeessss!

Now this is my sort of site!

I love foody sites. I will definitely use this site again and again and again. Maybe I will be able to finally declutter all those recipes I have cut out over a period of years and never made. And all those recipe books that are gathering dust in my book case!

This site is very easy to access and use.

I would recommend this site to customers looking for something for a special occassion and haven't been able to find it in our stock for whatever reason. Customers are notorious for leaving things to the last minute and this site would satisfy anyone who was looking for any recipe for any occassion.

Week 3: FeedMyInbox - RSS made simple

Feedmyinbox is a very simple RSS-to-email tool that allows users to subscribe to their favourite blogs, feeds and news in seconds. Previously users were able to add as many feeds/sites as they wanted to receive updates for, nowadays users can subscribe up to 5 sites for free before they need to look at pricing plans. For RSS newbies this is a very non-threatening way to keep up to date with your favourite blog or news site. Update alerts will be sent straight to your email inbox.
Mmmmmm.... I can't say that I found this site easy to use. I don't think that I personally would use this site as I'm not really an internet junkie. I already have trouble keeping abreast of my emails let alone reading 'update alerts'.

For people who use computers all the time this site will be great as their favourite sites will be quickly at hand.
A student remarked to me that they found the site excellent as they could access their favourite sites quickly. For example when they are doing an assignment on the computer and need to have a break, they can quickly access updated information on their favourite topics, to just chill for a bit.

Week 2: Picapp

Wow! That was impressive.
I chose Mr Richard Kahui, because his image on my blog will make it look good!!! And All Black rugby is awesome, bring on the World Cup.
This is a free-to-use website that offers over 20 million images for people to use in their own blogs. It is FREE, LEGAL and, best of all, does not require users to create an account.
Lots of people would use this site to jazz up their website, school projects just to name two.
Once you have used this, I am sure you will be a fan!
Very simple to download.

http://www.picapp.com/

Week 1: Box.net - online file storage

Some of our customers would find this site especially useful as they often do not have a USB with them when they are creating, for example, a C.V. This site will enable them to save their work and download it from any computer site when it is convenient.
Personally, there would be occassions when I would use this site myself.
It is quite slow to download, but this could just be because our internet is experiencing access problems?

web 2.0 experience

On the whole I have enjoyed the web 2.0 experience. It is frustrating not being able to get access (i.e. we have ONE computer in the whole of the workroom that has internet access) and then when you do get access it is sooooooo slooooowww!
But, being given the opportunity to look at these sites is an advantage in so many ways.