A lot of what was covered in this program, I was already familiar with to some extent. My favorite segment was, unsurprisingly, the games section. The one I surprisingly didn't quite get was Second Life. It just seemed like a time-waster to me, as I couldn't figure out how to get anyplace interesting/relevant.
Since this program was put in place, I started blogging fairly regularly on the Marysville blog, but I'm not really sure that it's related as I was already familiar w/ blogs.
On a somewhat side note, I just recently joined Facebook. Again, not necessarily as a result of this program, but because I found that several people close to me are on it. Facebook is merely an extension of my off-line life.
I think that the value in this program was thinking of these various Web 2.0 tools as a suite. In other words, putting them together in my mind and thinking of their value in librarianship.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Gaming in the library
Games online can be either pure entertainment, or somewhat educational. The ones that are more towards the educational, parentally-approved ones probably tend to be less entertaining, but not necessarily. And even the nominally purely entertaining games teach something. The question is, what? In a library setting, gaming can be a draw for those who wouldn't otherwise be interested in stepping foot in a library, whether it be for a formal gaming program put on by the teen librarian, or just to use the computers to play online, such as what we tried in this week's assignment. On the other hand, it can cause other patrons to get huffy when all of the computers are in use, when they have more "important" things to do on the computer than gaming. I even once read a magazine article to the effect that the reason students these days do so poorly on tests of geographic knowledge is that libraries are putting on fluff gaming programs. Of course, that argument supposes not only that games aren't educational at all, but that the poor, unsuspecting gamers would be in the library studying geography if it weren't for those pesky librarians' gaming programs.
One time I asked my son why he likes his video games so much, and he said that it's better than reading because in a game, he is an integral part of the story. If he wants to putz around in a particular area, he can, and if he wants to drive the story forward and have adventures, he can do that, too.
Then again, libraries have this faith that once we get someone in the door, we can interest them in reading. It would be very nice to see some empirical, even strong anecdotal evidence to that effect, and I haven't yet.
One time I asked my son why he likes his video games so much, and he said that it's better than reading because in a game, he is an integral part of the story. If he wants to putz around in a particular area, he can, and if he wants to drive the story forward and have adventures, he can do that, too.
Then again, libraries have this faith that once we get someone in the door, we can interest them in reading. It would be very nice to see some empirical, even strong anecdotal evidence to that effect, and I haven't yet.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Google Earth vs Google maps
This week I explored Google Earth. I downloaded the (free) program, and used it to see Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Tegucigalpa, Honduras (the Honduran capital), my parent's house in Colorado, and find directions to Neah Bay, WA from my house. Then I compared doing those same activities in the standard Google Maps available from the main Google page, both in the map view and in the satellite view. Both have their advantages and disadvantages:
- Google Earth gives a smooth "flying movie" look to traveling to a particular spot. It also offers a way to change the point of view. Google Maps is much jerkier, like a series of photographs.
- Google Earth gives great, building-level detail for Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and links to actual street-level photographs. Cool! Google Maps doesn't give nearly that level of detail and blanks out at a certain point. Neither one gave any detail for Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
- Both gave good directions from my house to Neah Bay, including the ferry ride, but Google Maps was easier to read by far than Google Earth.
- Both gave identical satellite photos of my house, late in the day in spring.
- Google Earth gives users a neat way of labeling personally important locations and sending them to or sharing them with other users.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Second life
Well, I created a Second life account: I'm KathyLynn Heliosense. I created my avatar and poked around a bit, and I guess I don't get it. Um, how am I supposed to find things? Walking around got boring after a while, and flying was faster but still seemed pointless. I've heard about an information island, but didn't know how to even start looking for it. I have seen an archived author interview on Second life, which was interesting. I guess it's great if you know the layout of where things are and can find interesting places quickly. Otherwise, it seems like a time-eater. Why would I spend time there? I didn't figure that out.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Online Applications and Tools
This week's assignment was to explore the available application webtools such as spreadsheets, documents, presentations, calendar, chat, and so forth. The advantage to them is that a) they're free, b) they're online so a person can access their documents, spreadsheets, etc from any web-accessible computer and c) they're shareable so they're ideal for group projects. Recently I did several school visits where I attempted to use a Powerpoint presentation. Unfortunately my version was incompatible with the computers in the schools, so I had to punt. Having my presentation available online would mean that I had both a backup and didn't have to worry about compatibility issues. I can see, however, that whatever computer I used for my presentation would have to access the web.
I explored Google Docs and Zoho.com. Both offer the standard suite of applications: documents, spreadsheets, and "slide" presentations. Since I had a recently created presentation, I wondered if I could transfer it to either of these. Google docs was disappointing in that I couldn't upload my presentation directly. I also couldn't copy slides and paste them into my Google presentation. It didn't recognize my .tif files when I tried to insert a picture, but it did recognise the .jpg file. It also didn't like the fact that one picture I tried to insert was big. What Google did offer was basic presentation tools, which it did well.
Zoho.com offers a wider array of applications in addition to the standard suite, such as document management services, invoice tools (5 invoices for free), chat, wiki, webconferencing, and a database creation tool ($25 for 5 users). Obviously, they charge for some of these additional cool tools whereas Google docs was all free. When I tried out the presentation application, I was able to upload my file, but only after I changed the file format out of Windows Vista. It also had problems with pictures.
Both of these applications are wonderful ideas in the library setting where many of our patrons don't have access to their own computers. They will be able to save their stuff without having to buy or deal with disks or thumb drives. The downside is that they may not know about them, or have problems uploading pre-existing documents to the sites.
I explored Google Docs and Zoho.com. Both offer the standard suite of applications: documents, spreadsheets, and "slide" presentations. Since I had a recently created presentation, I wondered if I could transfer it to either of these. Google docs was disappointing in that I couldn't upload my presentation directly. I also couldn't copy slides and paste them into my Google presentation. It didn't recognize my .tif files when I tried to insert a picture, but it did recognise the .jpg file. It also didn't like the fact that one picture I tried to insert was big. What Google did offer was basic presentation tools, which it did well.
Zoho.com offers a wider array of applications in addition to the standard suite, such as document management services, invoice tools (5 invoices for free), chat, wiki, webconferencing, and a database creation tool ($25 for 5 users). Obviously, they charge for some of these additional cool tools whereas Google docs was all free. When I tried out the presentation application, I was able to upload my file, but only after I changed the file format out of Windows Vista. It also had problems with pictures.
Both of these applications are wonderful ideas in the library setting where many of our patrons don't have access to their own computers. They will be able to save their stuff without having to buy or deal with disks or thumb drives. The downside is that they may not know about them, or have problems uploading pre-existing documents to the sites.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Search Engines: comparison
This assignment really reminded me of a class assignment in the Information School. At least I don't have to write a 5-page paper on it! I was especially interested in the 2 meta search engines of www.dogpile.com and www.mamma.com, as I didn't have as much experience with them as with the other search engines. I searched for my name in both as the test. I had(somewhat) recently searched on my name in Google, and since I've graduated last year, it pulled up fewer results by far.
My results for the 2 meta search engines? I much prefer www.dogpile.com to www.mamma.com. Both sites pulled up 3 pages of results, and both sites listed which search engines they retrieved the links from. Both sites gave many more results than Google did alone.
But in spite of mamma.com boasting that it gives "intelligent" results, it gave links that only seemed to have "Kathy" in them as well as links that had "Smargiassi" in them. Even when I tried to force it to have an "AND" in the search so it would pull up only those sites with both terms, it appeared to use the "OR" boolean search. That was very annoying.
Dogpile.com on the other hand, gave 3 pages of relevant results. It even pulled up a site, webjunction.com, that had posted a literature pathfinder that I developed as a student. I didn't know that they had that document, but at least they cited me as its author. I was very pleased with the results it came up with. My only caveat is that dogpile is slower than mamma, but it isn't slow enough to be annoying and not worth the better results.
My results for the 2 meta search engines? I much prefer www.dogpile.com to www.mamma.com. Both sites pulled up 3 pages of results, and both sites listed which search engines they retrieved the links from. Both sites gave many more results than Google did alone.
But in spite of mamma.com boasting that it gives "intelligent" results, it gave links that only seemed to have "Kathy" in them as well as links that had "Smargiassi" in them. Even when I tried to force it to have an "AND" in the search so it would pull up only those sites with both terms, it appeared to use the "OR" boolean search. That was very annoying.
Dogpile.com on the other hand, gave 3 pages of relevant results. It even pulled up a site, webjunction.com, that had posted a literature pathfinder that I developed as a student. I didn't know that they had that document, but at least they cited me as its author. I was very pleased with the results it came up with. My only caveat is that dogpile is slower than mamma, but it isn't slow enough to be annoying and not worth the better results.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Podcasts
I started off this exploration of podcasts by going to Podcast Alley. When I 1st decided on a particular podcast to try out, it took me to a place where I could download a podcast feed, which seems to be like an RSS feed for audio. Since I don't have an MP3 player, and don't plan on downloading enough podcasts for me to need a program to manage them all, I went on without downloading a program. I still hadn't listened to one from this exploration, though.
Then I found that I could copy a link to a podcasting site from my Google reader. Cool! I found one that sounded library-related, loaded it into my reader, and found that all it really was, was a blog. Delete.
The next one I found ended up being really interesting. It was an audiobook about a time-traveling librarian being published in serial form by Podiobooks. I could listen to it straight through my reader, and actually sounded interesting enough that if I did have an MP3 player, I would be interested in downloading it on a regular basis to listen to where ever I happened to be.
Finally, I found a library in Sunnyvale, CA that does podcasts of many of its programs, including a puppet performance of "Peter and the wolf", several business research programs, and a bi-lingual Russian/English storytime. I could listen to the straight audio podcasts from the Reader itself, but they also offered videos, where I had to click through to the site to get. From there I could also access an audio-only version.
If Sno-Isle were to think about doing regular podcasts of its programs, we would need to invest in recording equipment, and librarians in the system would need to be willing to get, setup, and run the equipment for the programs they wanted to post. Considering the resistance to mere blogging in our branch alone, I would anticipate even more resistance to this extra effort. If someone wanted to champion an effort in this area, they should investigate how much traffic a site such as Sunnyvale's gets. I know that we already do podcasts of children's librarians reading picture books, and if we already get lots of traffic it would be a good place to gradually expand our offerings to events.
Then I found that I could copy a link to a podcasting site from my Google reader. Cool! I found one that sounded library-related, loaded it into my reader, and found that all it really was, was a blog. Delete.
The next one I found ended up being really interesting. It was an audiobook about a time-traveling librarian being published in serial form by Podiobooks. I could listen to it straight through my reader, and actually sounded interesting enough that if I did have an MP3 player, I would be interested in downloading it on a regular basis to listen to where ever I happened to be.
Finally, I found a library in Sunnyvale, CA that does podcasts of many of its programs, including a puppet performance of "Peter and the wolf", several business research programs, and a bi-lingual Russian/English storytime. I could listen to the straight audio podcasts from the Reader itself, but they also offered videos, where I had to click through to the site to get. From there I could also access an audio-only version.
If Sno-Isle were to think about doing regular podcasts of its programs, we would need to invest in recording equipment, and librarians in the system would need to be willing to get, setup, and run the equipment for the programs they wanted to post. Considering the resistance to mere blogging in our branch alone, I would anticipate even more resistance to this extra effort. If someone wanted to champion an effort in this area, they should investigate how much traffic a site such as Sunnyvale's gets. I know that we already do podcasts of children's librarians reading picture books, and if we already get lots of traffic it would be a good place to gradually expand our offerings to events.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Online image generators
Online image generators are a very cool tool for those who are creative, or who take lots of pictures. I thought the alternative hairstyles were neat. I suppose this would be useful for publicity, but I'm probably not going to use them very much.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Overdrive
Jim,
You asked for comments on Overdrive, and I have 3:
1) I tried to download “The Count of Monte Cristo”, but it said my computer has a problem with the DRM. Overdrive says that I’ve checked it out, but I can’t listen to it. I clicked on the “Help” button which brought up an email to the webmaster, but it’s been several hours and I haven’t gotten a response back at all (not even a “I’ve received your request and will get to it as soon as possible”)
2) I noticed some holes in the collection. For instance, in the “Teen” collection, it had the 1st and 3rd of Stephenie Meyer’s trilogy available, but not the 2nd. I also noticed that even though that trilogy is definitely fantasy (enjoyed by both adults and tee, it doesn’t come up in the fantasy list, only in the teen list. I noticed holes in other books that came in series, too.
3) It would be nice to have a little button that lets a patron know if a particular title is immediately available. It was very nice to have buttons that let the patron know whether a title could be burned to a CD or placed on hold, but there’s no easy way of sorting for or seeing if something is available for immediate checkout.
Hope this helps,
-Kathy
What surprised me? I didn't expect any books could be burned to CD! So to have at least some of them available that way startled me pleasantly.
You asked for comments on Overdrive, and I have 3:
1) I tried to download “The Count of Monte Cristo”, but it said my computer has a problem with the DRM. Overdrive says that I’ve checked it out, but I can’t listen to it. I clicked on the “Help” button which brought up an email to the webmaster, but it’s been several hours and I haven’t gotten a response back at all (not even a “I’ve received your request and will get to it as soon as possible”)
2) I noticed some holes in the collection. For instance, in the “Teen” collection, it had the 1st and 3rd of Stephenie Meyer’s trilogy available, but not the 2nd. I also noticed that even though that trilogy is definitely fantasy (enjoyed by both adults and tee, it doesn’t come up in the fantasy list, only in the teen list. I noticed holes in other books that came in series, too.
3) It would be nice to have a little button that lets a patron know if a particular title is immediately available. It was very nice to have buttons that let the patron know whether a title could be burned to a CD or placed on hold, but there’s no easy way of sorting for or seeing if something is available for immediate checkout.
Hope this helps,
-Kathy
What surprised me? I didn't expect any books could be burned to CD! So to have at least some of them available that way startled me pleasantly.
del.icio.us and tagging
I have already been using del.icio.us before this "20 for 2.0" module. My story: MacAfee updated my virus software without notice or my permission, and the update disabled my Internet connection. My computer could see the connection, but couldn't connect, and I couldn't figure out why. I tried everything, including paying for a customer support call. In desperation, I ended up completely reformatting my computer. Of course, I backed up my files, but when it came to load everything back, I realized I hadn't backed up my favorites. This was NOT GOOD, as I had been collecting good sites throughout my years as a MLIS student, and they were now gone-kaput-vanished. When I finally figured out what MacAfee had done because I saw the charge on my Visa bill, I was irate but the damage had been done. I figured that there had to be a better way, and that is when I decided to try del.icio.us.
It is great! I can mark cool sites, label them, and I can access it all from multiple locations. Best of all, if my computer crashes again, I won't lose my collected favorite sites. The disadvantage is that I need to remember to consult my favorite sites rather than default to Google.
One aspect that I hadn't used at all before was the social networking aspect. If I'm looking for resources for my storytime, I don't have to rely just on my sites. I can see what others have bookmarked as good storytime resources. This means my resources have expanded so I can see what others think are good resources, and I can access them, too. Cool!
It is great! I can mark cool sites, label them, and I can access it all from multiple locations. Best of all, if my computer crashes again, I won't lose my collected favorite sites. The disadvantage is that I need to remember to consult my favorite sites rather than default to Google.
One aspect that I hadn't used at all before was the social networking aspect. If I'm looking for resources for my storytime, I don't have to rely just on my sites. I can see what others have bookmarked as good storytime resources. This means my resources have expanded so I can see what others think are good resources, and I can access them, too. Cool!
Friday, May 16, 2008
2.0 Overview in LJ article
I just read an article by Mike Eisenberg, retired dean of the UW iSchool, in Library Journal (Library Journal; 5/1/2008, Vol. 133 Issue 8, p22-25) that does a SWOT analysis of various library 2.0 tools. SWOT is an analysis of the "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats". That's kind of what I've been aiming to do with Sno-Isle's "20 for 2.0" program, but he does it much more elegantly than I've been doing it. Check it out!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Wikis
I love wikis! My family goes on an annual ski trip/family reunion, and when I started Library school and learned html, I became the family webmaster. Email just hadn't been working very well when it came to planning our vacation with multiple people coming from multiple places. Me as webmaster was better, but it meant I had to go in and code all the changes as people emailed them to me. I was the one doing all the work, which was difficult when I was going to school while working full time and taking care of family. Plus, once I graduated we were going to have to find a new Webhost. Wikis are the best solution! I used the wikimatrix to decide that PBWiki would be the best wiki program for us. It was amazing how fast the site came together with lots of people contributing their efforts! My elderly mother even figured out how to edit a page, it is that easy. We have never had a problem with malicious editing, but our group is small, and I assume no one is interested enough in our little wiki to find it.
Relating wikis to libraries, I thought it was interesting that the example link to the Princeton Public library wiki hadn't been updated since 2006. Evidently it was used for a summer reading program where adults could post reviews of books they read to the wiki, but since that time they post directly to the library website. One way that our library has discussed using a wiki is as a readers advisory tool for putting together good bibliographies for various interests. Like my family's wiki use, it would involve only a small group of participants rather than be open to the general public.
Speaking to this wider issue of audience size, it seems like small groups that know each other are good candidates for wikis. This can even be enforced by making them officially private with password entry for editing. Huge wikis also seem to work, such as wikipedia. Enough people are interested enough to keep on top of any changes and change anything malicious. I wonder if medium sized groups such as the patrons of a particular library system are too annonymous for social checks, yet too small for enough people to keep track of changes. If you have a moderator, doesn't that just negate the benefits of wikis?
Relating wikis to libraries, I thought it was interesting that the example link to the Princeton Public library wiki hadn't been updated since 2006. Evidently it was used for a summer reading program where adults could post reviews of books they read to the wiki, but since that time they post directly to the library website. One way that our library has discussed using a wiki is as a readers advisory tool for putting together good bibliographies for various interests. Like my family's wiki use, it would involve only a small group of participants rather than be open to the general public.
Speaking to this wider issue of audience size, it seems like small groups that know each other are good candidates for wikis. This can even be enforced by making them officially private with password entry for editing. Huge wikis also seem to work, such as wikipedia. Enough people are interested enough to keep on top of any changes and change anything malicious. I wonder if medium sized groups such as the patrons of a particular library system are too annonymous for social checks, yet too small for enough people to keep track of changes. If you have a moderator, doesn't that just negate the benefits of wikis?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
On-line streaming videos:YouTube, Hulu and Fancast
This section of the "Sno-Isle library's 20 for 2.0" was certainly the most fun, most like not working at all section so far. I am familiar with YouTube, having watched multiple clips in the past, including such classics as "The march of the librarians", "The super-librarian" and the spot where a librarian interview committee interviewing a gorilla for the open librarian position. Just the other day I suggested my daughter post the video of her winning race on YouTube so that her grandparents and other interested family members could see it as well-though admittedly I have not posted a video myself yet.
What was new to me were the Hulu and Fancast sites. Now having poked around them a bit, I was pleasantly surprised. Both of them provided good sized screens of the shows I decided to watch, and advertising was amazingly light. Hulu showed a short commercial before the movie started (I chose to watch "Iceage"), but Fancast didn't show even that. I didn't watch enough to see if commercials popped up further into the show, but I wouldn't imagine so since users could just scroll past any such interruptions. I have been totally turned off of watching TV because the shows don't make the commercials worth my time-sometimes even when I watch good movies I get frustrated by having to wait through all the commercials. Hulu and Fancast are excellent alternatives. Two caveats: sitting in front of my computer screen isn't as comfortable an experience as sitting on my couch watching the TV screen (old and smaller than currently standard though it is), and so the experience isn't as sharable. The second caveat is that I don't know how extensive their offerings are. If I heard of a show or movie that sounded enjoyable, I have no way of knowing whether it would be available on one of these sites. On the other hand, I don't get cable anyway so these sites would be an excellent way of watching a particular interesting option without going through the hassle of getting cable just for that one show.
What was new to me were the Hulu and Fancast sites. Now having poked around them a bit, I was pleasantly surprised. Both of them provided good sized screens of the shows I decided to watch, and advertising was amazingly light. Hulu showed a short commercial before the movie started (I chose to watch "Iceage"), but Fancast didn't show even that. I didn't watch enough to see if commercials popped up further into the show, but I wouldn't imagine so since users could just scroll past any such interruptions. I have been totally turned off of watching TV because the shows don't make the commercials worth my time-sometimes even when I watch good movies I get frustrated by having to wait through all the commercials. Hulu and Fancast are excellent alternatives. Two caveats: sitting in front of my computer screen isn't as comfortable an experience as sitting on my couch watching the TV screen (old and smaller than currently standard though it is), and so the experience isn't as sharable. The second caveat is that I don't know how extensive their offerings are. If I heard of a show or movie that sounded enjoyable, I have no way of knowing whether it would be available on one of these sites. On the other hand, I don't get cable anyway so these sites would be an excellent way of watching a particular interesting option without going through the hassle of getting cable just for that one show.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
MySpace
MySpace seems like a big timewaster to me. Ok, it has games. It has applications that you can play with your friends. Big whoop. I have better things to do than hang out on the web twiddling my toes. Maybe I don't get it. I mean, I know that the Marysville library has a MySpace account, and I looked to link to it, but I couldn't find it. I could find the various schools in Marysville, but not the library. I could only find friends that had specific email acounts (eg, with Google, hotmail, etc), not with any email accounts that I might know (eg, sno-isle.org). I'm not looking for a mate. I'm not exactly sure how this would help with a job search, either, as it seems too frivolous and amorphous to me. I'd rather be more specific with my networking, such as with the Washington Library Association or the local Special Library Association. I guess I just don't get why I would visit on any regular basis.
On the other hand, I do use a networking site for sharing books I've read: Goodreads.com. I use it both for my own benefit by keeping track of what I've read and organizing them for use in Reader's Advisory, and for sharing with others who have similar reading tastes so we can share our opinions on new reads, both good and bad. Now this networking site, since it is more specific to my needs, I use almost every day. I even recommend it to patrons to help them keep track of books that they want to read, or have read in the past since their library account doesn't keep track of what they've checked out in the past.
On the other hand, I do use a networking site for sharing books I've read: Goodreads.com. I use it both for my own benefit by keeping track of what I've read and organizing them for use in Reader's Advisory, and for sharing with others who have similar reading tastes so we can share our opinions on new reads, both good and bad. Now this networking site, since it is more specific to my needs, I use almost every day. I even recommend it to patrons to help them keep track of books that they want to read, or have read in the past since their library account doesn't keep track of what they've checked out in the past.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Flickr
I'm thinking of taking the family to Ireland this summer, so I looked up pictures of Irish libraries on Flickr. Some modern buildings, some buildings that look like Gothic churches. Some pictures just looked like generic libraries. But my favorite didn't look like a library at all, but almost artistic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr0zek/2301240848/in/pool-irishlibraries
Here's my attempt at embedding the image in my blog:
OK, so I'm a little behind on my tasks such as blogging, but I'm gradually getting back into the swing of things. The WLA/OLA conference was absolutely great and highly useful, with topics such as jazzing up my storytimes, excellent first readers, and good ways to present the "Catch the Reading Bug@ Your Library" Summer reading theme. Continuing education and all that, now I just have to put it all into practice...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Streaming music
I had heard of Pandora, so for this Sno-Isle 20 for 2.0 project, I tried it out. Pandora is a site that has human-sorted, professionally tagged music, which appeals to me after the useless automated recommendations of sites like amazon.com. They analyze the music for all sorts of qualities beyond the usual genres. With Pandora, I can put in an artist or song title, and they will play music similar to it. I tried it with Tito Puente, since I like his music, and the several songs I listened to did match it in feel. You can also pick a "station" by genre (e.g., "latin american pop" or "New Orleans jazz"). I liked the songs they picked for the "latin american pop" station. I tried typing in a genre that they don't already have, "World music" to see what I would get. In reality I got a song with a title similar to "world music" in the reggae genre, so even though I didn't get exactly what I was asking for, it was close. For each song that plays, I can give it a thumbs up, thumbs down, or a "I'm tired of this song", and Pandora will adjust the playlist accordingly.
Okay, so I've given this site a generally positive vote. Will I actually use it? Well, the place I usually listen to music isn't in front of the computer but in the car and secondarily while I'm doing housework or cooking. If I could download the songs and burn a CD, then I could listen to the music when and where I liked, but due to licensing issues you're only allowed to listen to the songs through the Pandora website. This does mean that artists get paid for their artistry every time I listen to them, which isn't a bad thing itself, but does mean it's more like listening to a radio than purchasing a song.
I also can't listen to music at work. At work, my computer is separated from the public area by only a short wall, so I listen via earbuds - but the cord isn't long enough and I have to hunch over to keep them in my ear. I listen to short, necessary things, but there's no way I could easily work on my computer and listen to Pandora for any length of time because of the discomfort in my neck.
If I were a real music nut, I'm sure I could overcome these minor, personal technical issues, like I could keep a laptop in my kitchen, or somehow connect my computer with the good stereo speakers at home, or I could get a longer cord for my earbuds at work. I still wouldn't be able to bring it with me in the car for long trips. I like music, but it isn't important enough for me to overcome these issues on a regular basis.
Okay, so I've given this site a generally positive vote. Will I actually use it? Well, the place I usually listen to music isn't in front of the computer but in the car and secondarily while I'm doing housework or cooking. If I could download the songs and burn a CD, then I could listen to the music when and where I liked, but due to licensing issues you're only allowed to listen to the songs through the Pandora website. This does mean that artists get paid for their artistry every time I listen to them, which isn't a bad thing itself, but does mean it's more like listening to a radio than purchasing a song.
I also can't listen to music at work. At work, my computer is separated from the public area by only a short wall, so I listen via earbuds - but the cord isn't long enough and I have to hunch over to keep them in my ear. I listen to short, necessary things, but there's no way I could easily work on my computer and listen to Pandora for any length of time because of the discomfort in my neck.
If I were a real music nut, I'm sure I could overcome these minor, personal technical issues, like I could keep a laptop in my kitchen, or somehow connect my computer with the good stereo speakers at home, or I could get a longer cord for my earbuds at work. I still wouldn't be able to bring it with me in the car for long trips. I like music, but it isn't important enough for me to overcome these issues on a regular basis.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
RSS feeds
I already use the Google reader at home, and I love it! Just like the video from the Common Craft Show says, I can see at a glance which blogs that I follow have posts that I haven’t read yet. I am able to skim through multiple posts on very active blogs to quickly find interesting topics. Like I stated in my criteria in my original blog, it saves me time and helps me manage my information flow. I just started a Google reader account here at work as well.
Most of the blogs that I cover are library-related somehow: LibrarianInBlack is great for finding useful websites, LISNews is great for keeping up with library news and issues throughout the North American continent, and I follow The Annoyed Librarian for her caustic commentaries, among others. But I also follow a humorous political blog and a favorite author’s blog.
Because my RSS blog reader keeps me well plugged in to the library world, I have decided to let my membership in ALA lapse: I never end up reading the printed journal they send out, and the weekly email is annoying. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m staying connected through my membership in my local Library Association for networking purposes, but following blogs through my reader is my favorite way of keeping connected to the broader library world.
Most of the blogs that I cover are library-related somehow: LibrarianInBlack is great for finding useful websites, LISNews is great for keeping up with library news and issues throughout the North American continent, and I follow The Annoyed Librarian for her caustic commentaries, among others. But I also follow a humorous political blog and a favorite author’s blog.
Because my RSS blog reader keeps me well plugged in to the library world, I have decided to let my membership in ALA lapse: I never end up reading the printed journal they send out, and the weekly email is annoying. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m staying connected through my membership in my local Library Association for networking purposes, but following blogs through my reader is my favorite way of keeping connected to the broader library world.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
IMing
I have had experience with IMing at 2 other places: Rockwell Automation as an employee and the University of Washington as a distance Library student.
My experience with IMing at Rockwell was very positive. If I had a quick question for any of the other admins in our group, no matter where they were physically, I could just pop them a note. I didn't have to worry whether they were on the phone with a customer or distributor, or if they were away from their desk momentarily. We didn't even always stick to business matters, sometimes joking around.
My experience IMing using MSN Messenger at the University of Washington was not nearly so positive. I could see if others in my cohort were also online, but when I went to pop them a message, five minutes later I would get a message saying that the message wasn't sent since I wasn't logged on. It would do this even if I had checked to make sure that yes, I was logged on. I would then have to logon and re-type and re-send the message. Many times I would go through this and start a conversation, but then I would get logged off again. It was VERY frustrating. By the end of the program when I was working on a group projecs and someone wanted to IM, I would always push the group to chat instead, as it was much more stable.
I haven't tried Meebo yet, but the concept is great! It totally fills a need!
My experience with IMing at Rockwell was very positive. If I had a quick question for any of the other admins in our group, no matter where they were physically, I could just pop them a note. I didn't have to worry whether they were on the phone with a customer or distributor, or if they were away from their desk momentarily. We didn't even always stick to business matters, sometimes joking around.
My experience IMing using MSN Messenger at the University of Washington was not nearly so positive. I could see if others in my cohort were also online, but when I went to pop them a message, five minutes later I would get a message saying that the message wasn't sent since I wasn't logged on. It would do this even if I had checked to make sure that yes, I was logged on. I would then have to logon and re-type and re-send the message. Many times I would go through this and start a conversation, but then I would get logged off again. It was VERY frustrating. By the end of the program when I was working on a group projecs and someone wanted to IM, I would always push the group to chat instead, as it was much more stable.
I haven't tried Meebo yet, but the concept is great! It totally fills a need!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
20 for 2.0 confusion?
Now that the official Sno-Isle "20 for 2.0" has officially started, I find one thing already that complicates my life. I have a home email address, a work email address, and now a Gmail address. I also have a Google account using my old Univeristy of Washington email that I still use for my RSS feed. I have 3 different passwords, and I have a hard time remembering which email account goes with which application goes with which password. Ack!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
New Technology Philosophy
I am starting this blog as part of Sno-Isle Library System's "20 for 2.0" program, a program to get us to try new Library 2.0 (or Web 2.0 technologies). So my first thoughts are, I'm already using some technologies, I've heard of others but don't use, and still others may be completely new to me. Among all of these ideas, what criteria do I use in evaluating them? I need to articulate what I think about when deciding whether or not to adopt a particular technology, so here goes:
Does the new technology solve a problem? What are its advantages?
Is it a problem that needs a solution?
Is there a prior solution at all?
Is a new technology better than the non-techie or prior technical solution to a problem? In other words, does it offer a solution that is better than what I have currently? Does it make finding information faster, easier, more convenient, when and where I need it?
What are the disadvantages? What makes it annoying or difficult to use? In other words, do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? If not, I won't bother using the new technology.
So, taking my evlauation criteria, what about this blogging idea? Well, I already read a number of blogs, both library and non-library related. The library blogs keep me up-to-date on what's going on in libraries around the US, and current issues librarians are talking about. They help me keep up on the profession. This is faster than the ALA magazine alternative. I also follow a favorite author's blog, which I like because it really becomes a two-way conversation with the author, rather than just reading her books, which is just one way communication. Does blogging make all this faster, easier and more convenient? Yes! The two-way communication with the author doesn't have much of a prior solution at all. The disadvantages are that it does take time every day to glance through the blogs, but this is out-weighed by the convenience: it's when I want to. The disadvantage of writing my own blog is that I would have to keep coming up with valuable ideas of what I want to say long-term. Will that happen? Will anybody besides me care? Will even I care enough to keep it up after this initial impetus? That isn't something I can predict.
Does the new technology solve a problem? What are its advantages?
Is it a problem that needs a solution?
Is there a prior solution at all?
Is a new technology better than the non-techie or prior technical solution to a problem? In other words, does it offer a solution that is better than what I have currently? Does it make finding information faster, easier, more convenient, when and where I need it?
What are the disadvantages? What makes it annoying or difficult to use? In other words, do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? If not, I won't bother using the new technology.
So, taking my evlauation criteria, what about this blogging idea? Well, I already read a number of blogs, both library and non-library related. The library blogs keep me up-to-date on what's going on in libraries around the US, and current issues librarians are talking about. They help me keep up on the profession. This is faster than the ALA magazine alternative. I also follow a favorite author's blog, which I like because it really becomes a two-way conversation with the author, rather than just reading her books, which is just one way communication. Does blogging make all this faster, easier and more convenient? Yes! The two-way communication with the author doesn't have much of a prior solution at all. The disadvantages are that it does take time every day to glance through the blogs, but this is out-weighed by the convenience: it's when I want to. The disadvantage of writing my own blog is that I would have to keep coming up with valuable ideas of what I want to say long-term. Will that happen? Will anybody besides me care? Will even I care enough to keep it up after this initial impetus? That isn't something I can predict.
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