Circ Meeting Notes – Mon 23 Feb 09

Mon 2/23 3 pm Lib 145
Present: Brendan Owens, Dan, Rachel, Lexa, Todd, Nancy, Kellam, Maura, Elin
Agenda
Brendan from the Media Lab presented a workshop on blogs, wikis, RSS, and Google Reader. The Media Lab is there to help – feel free to drop in with questions and to learn more about any of these tools.

WIKI
Intro to MediaWiki – used by Midd and Circ – uses WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor
Tips:
Use the search function to find what you are looking for and to check for an existing page before creating a new page
The Main Midd Wiki page has links to help, FAQ’s and documentation and some simple mark-up codes
Option to use Word-like function eliminates for the most part the need to know mark-up and makes editing and creating easy
Log in with your username/password if editing/creating pages
Dan, Joanne, Kellam, Joanne and Elin can help with basic guidelines of creating and editing a page; Media Lab is available for support
Creating a page – use hierarchy/headings to make navigating pages easier – max 6 levels – acts like the anchor tag on a web page
You can add images; create links to internal and external sites
Click on “printable version” if you need a print-out of the page (remember that content changes)
Click on “watch page” to be alerted to updates and to stay current with procedures
Click on “minor edit” if no major changes to content
Write a short summary of changes as a courtesy to co-workers who are watching a page
Please check the “Guidelines for Use” page on the Circ Wiki
RSS and BlOGS
Really Simple Syndication – a great way to follow blogs; have the info come to you, rather than you having to go out to get the info; pulls the blogs you read into 1 place for easy access
Midd – blogs – use WordPress; authentication required to comment and post
CommonCraft RSS in Plain English – quick and easy explanation of the concept of RSS
GOOGLE READER
Crate gmail account to set up the Google Reader (you can even take it one step further and customize your own iGoogle home page)
Easy to add “subscriptions” to blogs
Easy to search for blogs and add to the reader
There are other readers out there – Blogger, Awasu, FeedDemon, NewsGator, Pluck…
Here is a link to Alex’s presentation on Google Reader last fall at one of the brown bag tech sessions.
Have fun!

Dan will present a repeat of the workshop at the Thursday evening Circ meeting

Equipment Q&A
Brendan will create a FAQ tips page for the new HD cameras to assist with user support. Kellam will be scheduling a hands-on workshop with Media Lab on HD cams. Please refer questions about downloading content from the HD cams to the Media Lab – they are there to help.

Present at Thursday 2/26 meeting:
Dan, Phil, Joanne, Steve and Karin.