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VoiceThread is a really cool web 2.0 tool that we did not get to explore in our Learning to Play the 2.0 Way program last year. It allows users to have a conversation around media – photos, images, video, screenshots, etc. Anyone can participate in the conversation by adding comments in text, audio, or video format.

Now Texas librarian, Tracy Mapus from San Antonio, has taken VoiceThread and introduced it to the Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees for 08-09. Take a look at her creation, and in the collaborative spirit of web 2.0, leave her a comment.

(via Around the Corner – McGuhlin.net)

As librarians, we sometimes get really caught up in the research and technology aspects of our jobs. After all, everybody knows that librarians are proponents of reading, so we don’t have to talk about that much. Reading promotion, however, is still one of the most important things that we do.

You may have read my recent posting about the NECC session that I attended called School Library 2.5. Embedded in that post were some fabulous ideas from Anita Beaman, librarian at Illinois State University’s laboratory high school, about promoting reading using web 2.0 tools. While everyone that presented had fantastic ideas to share, Anita’s were the biggest “a-ha” for me.

Take some time to look at her wiki and this article she wrote for Knowledge Quest, then try a couple of her strategies to reach your readers the 2.0 way. Let us know how you did in the comments.

Image citation: 2008-01-03 020. Uploaded by acpl on January 8, 2008. Attribution-noncommercial-no derivative works license.