Zamzar Revisited

Nope I didn't suddenly realise that I was made to blog but I thought before I abandoned blogging I should share the first question I got asked relevant to the web 2.0…..Strangely enough it was to do with Zamzar (Who saw this coming I was almost sure it would be Facebook ^_^ )

I had a customer ask me to help her convert an Open Office file (a free downloadable alternative to Microsoft Office) to a .doc so she could make changes before printing. The customer suggested the Zamzar website and was quite willing to pay for email to retrieve the document.

After several attempts to upload files onto Zamzar I stumbled onto http://www.freefileconvert.com/. Not only did it work faster but you don’t need email to download the converted file.

I don’t know what to write my final post, although that’s mainly my fault because I am doing the final post a week later instead of immediately after finishing.

So here goes

The Good

This web 2.0 was blissfully short….thanks for that ^_^

I found the instructions easy to follow and it was well organised (Thanks, made life very much easier)

The lessons were varied and definitely included things that I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t been forced to for example Twitter (Is that a good thing thou?)

I know at least 2 people read my posts which was nice even if they were both from Manukau Libraries and sorta had to (my blogging was not in vain)….Thanks Tosca and Zoe

The Bad

I only have 2 followers in a library filled with staff (How sad is that???)

Some of tasks I felt weren’t as relevant for example I have never been asked about Twitter (nope not once but hey it could happen)

It was annoyingly hard for me to find the Manukau Libraries web 2.0 blog address

And The Ugly

Nothing that bad really….no really ^_^

And my 2 cents I am really glad that I didn’t drag out this lot of tasks for web 2.0 learning (made me whinge a whole bunch less) and it would be really useful to look at online sharing websites.

Okay will see everyone in blogging world next time I am forced to ^_^

Bye

Facebook...... even I am a member and I am slightly paranoid when it comes to sharing all the teeny tiny details of my oh not so exciting life with the world at large. Being a member helped because of course I didn’t have to go through the signing up process. I had a slightly harder time trying to find a library to check out their updates (shows how much time I spend on Facebook :)). The Library of Congress basically updates different events taking place at certain times at the library and some additions. Some libraries also had links to free downloadable ebooks.

Facebook is one of the sites that customers use daily. Having a Facebook account for Manukau Libraries makes us more connected with patrons, definitely worth promoting :).

Hi......almost done, made it to the fifth week task and without too much frustration. This week we have to explore the best kind of music and mp3’s..... the free kind. The first website I looked at was MP3Raid.com which I have to admit I really didn’t like. The website was too busy without a clear layout and just made me annoyed. I couldn’t leave it at such a bad note so I looked at another few including Amazon MP3 Store and Purevolume.com both of which I quite liked. Purevolume.com was especially great mainly because I didn’t have to sign up to listen to free mp3’s and I even managed to find a Paramore track on it.

There is a wide variety of websites on the list ......many of which i didn’t know about. Ease of use for customers depends on individual websites and it’s good to know a couple in order to make recommendations. Onward to week 6

I think good reads is a really good concept....It a formalised version of what I generally do when I am trying to find new authors to read “see what other titles people with a similar taste to mine are reading”. I did take the tour but I decided not sign up for it, at least not yet (will decide in another week). Something I particularly liked about the website was the popular lists which included “Best Teen Vampire Fiction” (we all could have done with this one) which was compiled from votes of more than 1000 members. Conclusion: a useful website for readers’ advisory.

This is probably one of the websites I would recommend to customers for not only finding new authors to read but also keeping track of the books which they have read and which they are looking forward to reading. I do think that this website has many similarities with the new Manukau Libaries websites which is a great direction for us.

I clicked....I signed up and I tweeted. Also I may never tweet again. Don’t get me wrong I amazed by the enormity of twitter and the sheer amount of stuff that can be shared through twittering but I personally don’t want to share everything that happens in my life with everyone else. I am also pretty sure that I am not alone in this sentiment or that everyone else feels the same. That is not to say that I won’t use twitter..... I have actually quite enjoyed reading the tweets of the people and organisations I am following.

Twitter was easy to use and I don’t regret signing up it (in case a patron asks not that anyone has yet). I have to admit I like the concept of micro blogging (all the power with fewer words).Manukau libraries is already promoting the newish website and posting links of reviews on the library website. It would also be really great for notices such as vacancies and changes in opening hours during public holidays. That’s it for week 3 ^_^

Zamzar, I really like the name....apparently it based on the name of the main character of a novel. As for the website itself....it was very easy to use. The conversion was on the home page and it took approximately 3 minutes to convert and receive it in my email address. I think it would be useful in our workrooms but perhaps not as much in our learn nets as you have to receive the document link in your email.

I probably would use it again and promote it and similar sites such as http://www.youconvertit.com/ to customers willing to use email to get the converted document