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...

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.

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.

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!

Posting Comments

Posting comments is easy if you remember what password goes with what logon...

Arg!

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!