confessions of a southside catatonic chataholic

Well, heck. No sooner do I decide on a 'plaction' (what our 4 yr old calls a plan of action) when I hafta go and change it. So, here's the deal for alternate posts: NZ public libraries implementing web 2.0 tools (till I run out of libraries), Learning 2.1 tutorial (till I finish the list), infodoodads Top 13 list (ditto), anything that catches my interest.

Learning 2.1 - Thing 25 : Newsletters in a Pop!: am having HUGE problems utilising Letterpop's site - and it's to do with our work settings on our pcs, rather than the site itself. From home it works not a problem - come here and I'm up the proverbial *sigh* It'll let me change settings, it won't, it will - it won't.

Anyway, the gist of it is that with LetterPop you can create newsletters etc. online (click here, drag template there, drop picture there) with relative ease (unless you're at work, like me). Once I'd done that I was meant to place a link for it in this post so you could get an idea of what it's like. Well, naff to that - cos it doesn't work for me here. So will instead point you to an item created by PLCMC's workshop participants here.

What I could get to work (before it started playing up and not working) was actually quite good - but realistically not so great for us here in Manukau Libraries. We have our own branding scheme that comes complete with associated templates, which means sites like LetterPop aren't our thing. Staff wise. But no reason why we can't send customers there if they're looking for something a little different than Word/Publisher.

Note 2: am also having HUGE problems trying to test Chatango and Meebo here at work - nothing to do with the programmes themselves. All to do with our work settings, methinks. At home, on my Firefox browser it's great (I harass the siblings into testing them with me, they make great guinea pigs - and they're free labour). Here at work - not so much. They show as greyed out boxes or I can never get a connection *sigh* For aesthetics I prefer Chatango, logistically I think Meebo might serve us better. Were we to head that way, that is! The Meebo picture provided is taken from their products page so feel free to check out what it is, and why we might benefit from it. Then, if you're still not convinced, check out other libraries that are utilising Meebo as an instant message reference service.

As an aside, was working on a Library Explorer programme (a Cubs group were coming to visit) and saved it here in the Learn.Net in Microsoft Word 2007. Didn't think at the time - emailed it to my work pc and then couldn't open it. Incompatible file! Ran it through Zamzar and voila - less than a minute and a doc I could open. YAY ME! Although the pop-ups are a tad bit annoying. Still, it's free. So much for my plaction - this post has turned into an amalgam of all 4 geez.

Technorati Tags: web2.0, learning2.1, Manukau, libraries, LetterPop, Zamzar