Skype and instant messaging are a cheaper way for people to communicate with colleague; love ones and friends. Using Skype is just like talking to each other face to face and I use it to keep in touch with friends and family who live interstate.
I am an external student living in Melbourne so to communicate with my group members for assignment 2,  would be difficult. So to be able to use Skype as a way for us to communicate is fantastic. My group finally got together on Skype after we both recovered from illnesses.
Using Skype was very easy but we had technical issues with sound. It did not stop us discussing assignment 2 using the SMS section of Skype. The other advantage of Skype over emails is that you get to know your group members in a more informal setting. For example with both enjoy doing cross-stitch. The outcome of this is good cooperation for assignment 2 and friendship after Inn333 is over. Overall the experience of using Skype was very rewarding and at the end of the session we had the framework done for assignment 2.
I decided to write about the wonderful world of reading. To me reading empowers you and gives you access to the world of knowledge, imaginations and friendships.
Vocabulary – by reading you increase your vocabulary
Communicator – reading helps you be better communicator with friends, colleagues and family
Confidence – while you are reading you gain knowledge and therefore it leads you to be more confident
Concentration – helps the brain to focus.
KNOWLEDGE:
[Riley Johnson] Reading is important to everyone.  It empowers us with the knowledge that helps us in everyday life  in other words  you became better at conversing with family, colleagues and friends. For example when we all enrolled in INN333 my main criteria was to gain knowledge. Knowledge helps us to understand other people and their cultures and to engage with them as fellow human beings.
IMAGINATIONS:
[Riley Johnson] One of the great things about reading is that it allows us to go into the world of make believe.
“Imagination and reading actually complement each other. Imagination helps increase a person’s knowledge of things and knowledge helps increase a person’s imagination” [Riley Johnson]
For an  hour or two we can forget about all the problems of the world and become a character in a book. For example
  Â
[Riley Johnson] Reading also has health benefits for kids and adults. For example, when growing up Mum never was allowed to read, so when Mum had her nervous breakdown I introduced her to the wonderful world of reading.  Reading allowed Mum to sit down and forget about the world around her.
FRIENDSHIPS:
The love of reading  allows you to gain friends. You can find friends by joining your local monthly Public Library Book Club for example, Seaside Readers Book Club at Deception Bay. Other organisations that also provide’s book clubs are your local community organisations; universities (Australian Catholic University Book Club). With more and more people having access to the Internet there is really no reason for not participating in the wonderful world of reading. I have listed same examples of online websites:
Many libraries provide instant messaging and VoIP reference services, how would you feel about communicating with patrons this way? Do you think uses would have different service expectations when they use these tools?
[Skype] and instant messaging are a cheaper way for people to communicate with colleagues; loved ones and friends. Using Skype is just like talking to each other face to face and I use it to keep in touch with friends and family who live interstate.
VoIP
[Wikipedia] Is the voice over Internet Protocol that allows communication over the Internet.
Instant Messaging in Libraries:
[Educause]Â Instant messages is the way people can communicate through personal computers or mobile computing devices.
With the budgetary restraints and libraries having to justify themselves within an organization, the use of instant messaging and Skype would go long way to help them achieve this. It would allow communication between branch libraries to go more smoothly.
Communicating with patrons using instant messaging and VoIP reference tools would be a bit confronting for me at first. That is always the case when you learn to use new technologies in the work place for the first time. At first you always worry about being to slow or not providing the right information to the users.
If the user is not happy with the answer or the service provided they will not came back and use the service. Unhappy users would not recommend the service to others and this in the long run would affect the Library service has a whole.
On the other hand I would realize the benefit of instant messaging and VoIP to provide a more compressive library service to everyone including:
 House bound
External users
Interstate and overseas users
Library Help Desk – to be able call for assistance.
I do not think that users have different expectation using VoIP reference services or instant messaging over face to face encounters. All users expect great and prompt service from their Library and this will not change by using VoIP reference services and instant messaging  are just another way for Libraries to increase good quality services to users.
WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK BLOGGING AND TWEETING WILL HAVE IN YOUR LEARNING, BOTH IN THIS UNIT & BEYOND IT?
Before I enrolled in this unit I did not realize that blogging and Twitter will have so much influence in my present and future learning. I am so out of my comfort zone but the benefits I will get at the end, out ways all my sleepless nights. [Susan Gunelius] Blogs and Twitter have became part of every ones life due to the popularity of the Internet. Â Â The definitions of the main terms :
Blogging- The Physical act of writing a post
Blogger- Posts Author
Blogosphere – Online Community
In my research I found the following sites that were very helpful to me:
[Susan Gunelius] Blogs can also be called web log and are made up of different pages called posts.  Posts are were you can discuss issues that you are interested in and this encourages comment from your peers.  The following is a YouTube present to help you to understand about Blogs:
TWITTER:
[Lahle Wolfe] Twitter is a micro blogging tool that allows short messages to be sent over the Internet.  The short messages are called Tweets.  Twitter is great way for business  to communicate to a wider client base quickly. The following is a YouTube present to help you to understand about Twitter:
Blogging and tweeting will have a great role in my present and future learning and the reasons are:
I am an external student so at times I do feel isolated. To have access to the unit blog to ask questions of my peers and lecturers is a great way to learn
It is also a great way for me to learn, as an external student, to have access to my peer’s blogs. It is a way for me to see if I understand what I am reading by seeing what my peers are doing with their blogs
I also learn from my peers and lecturers when they leave comments on my blog
I am unable to support and encourage my peers face to face, but I can by using twitter, such by saying: “How you going”.
Blogging and tweeting are a great way for me to continue my professional learning in this course and following my lecturers such as @katiedatwork
CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF CONTINUING TO USE EITHER A BLOG OR TWITTER AFTER THIS SEMESTER?
Time is always an issue but I can see myself continuing to use Blogs and Twitter after this semester. The reason for this are:
My friends in Brisbane and I can continue our book club using a blog,
Blogs and twitter are also good tools for me to continue my professional development. On my blog I can link articles of interest, conferences I attended and copies of my assignments. On Twitter I can follow other organizations such as:
My name if Jenny Diggens I am new to the world of blogging and twitter. I am returning to study after looking after my parents to increase my knowledge and skills of technologies and libraries. I have recently moved to Melbourne from Brisbane to be closer to my brother and his family. I am starting to wonder if I am biting off more than I can handle but I do find it rewarding when something works on my blog or twitter. Good luck everyone I hope you all do well. I going out now to find a book “blogging for dummies” to help me to polish my blog, so happy blogging everyone and bye for now.
Jennifer Diggens 