Organising is fun?!!

At last, I'm almost finished my tapestry course. While I have loved every minute of it, life has been challenging with lots of unexpected experiences along the way. I guess that's what makes life so interesting. 6 years is a huge committment to make for me, but have learned heaps and been able to focus on just what it is I really want to do from this point onwards. And...this includes getting organised! I have a very small studio space which desperately needs more work area, a truckload of reference books and not enough shelving plus the mother of all stashes. Looking forward to finding solutions. I have submitted my first tapestry piece for selection in "Fibres of Life", will see how it goes. Not a lot of tapestry here in FNQ but fibrecraft is fairly well represented which is wonderful. Still in its infancy and great to see it develop.

The Dovecot Studios

More Google

多くのツールがGoogle経由で利用可能驚くほど使いやすいです。which translates to "The many tools available through Google are amazingly user friendly". I have used this tool already several times in the library situation and also myself when I was researching an French artist - I needed to know what the title of his works were in English. It is such a quick and easy tool for translations.
Google calendar can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Libraries could make use of this tool to create a central point to assist all staff keep track of meetings, emails and reminders too. Access is via your gmail a/c so it's free and very easy to set up and add to. Book Club groups could also use this feature, combined with Google maps if the meetings of the club were at various locations.

Web Browsers

Where would we be without Web Browsers? They are the software tools we use to connect to the internet. There are many free downloads available out there. Each company's browser offers slightly different (and sometimes radically different with advanced users). These features can save lots of time and frustration so taking the time to get to know your particular browser is well worth the exercies. Google Chrome shows a simple design with technology which makes it much faster than Internet Explorer which I am using at the moment. Security is always an issue and it appears that Firefox offers a very secure browser and their add-ons are amazing. However, Internet Eplorer is the most compatible browser so it is a matter of considering what options you want from your browser and go with that one. It is good to know we have lots of choices.

Podcasts & audio

The beauty of podcasts is that anyone who has access to a computer, mp3 or mobile phone can make use of them. Podcasts would be of particular value to our library service in the area of local history. We have a large collection of local history collections available. A podcast presentation about these collections would be of assistance to locals and visitors alike, who are searching for information and where to go to get it.

Browsing through the podcasts, the Meditation Podcasts available on meditation.org.au caught my eye. This is presented by the Meditation Assn of Australia and has a huge selection of free podcasts ranging in duration from 6 minutes to 30 minutes. There are even podcasts for children. We can choose to either download the file, usually mp3 or there is a 'listen now' option.

Mashups

Mashups appear to be useful when specific information needs to be combined eg. addresses, maps, photographs etc. Mashups can be created in Flickr, YouTube, eBay and many more. I went to Mashupwards.com - filtered by category, I chose 'Art" and checked out 'Gimme Shiny' which is a JavaScript slideshow of today's popular images from sources such as Flickr, deviantART and FFFFound. While I'm not sure I would make use of these images right now, I can see how useful and time saving having a mashup site like this would be when you can search by category and see what's available.

Gogole Docs

Google Docs is a very impressive online application which improves collaboration with others to allow access to a central point. This would be a wonderful tool which will save time and energy however I still believe there needs to be human contact and one-to-one contact between participants. This seems to create a personal bond and understanding. However, in the case of meeting agenda for example, Google Docs and Zoho both provide a simple, quick forum 'prior' to the actual meeting. In the case where distance is a factor, this tool would be invaluable.