#23 - Summary

My favorite discovery exercises in 23 Things had to do with photo sharing, online productivity, and digital music (no surprise). Professionally and personally, I like to keep up with things be it technology or anything else, so 23 Things definitely has focused me on doing just that when I may not have necessarily made time for it otherwise. I don't know if there was anything unexepected, but I definitely picked some new tools that might useful in day-to-day life. I still am concerned that many, many staff members felt unable to participate, especially the non-librarians. Workloads and staff loads at most branches are such that people cannot eke out the time during the workday, and financially, these are the same staff members who may be less likely to have good internet connections and/or home PCs. I think ultimately, regardless of format and concept, it will always come back to staffing issues. I would participate in a program like this again.

#22 - Podcasts

Podcasts offer a great way to keep up-to-date in a subject area, listen to a radio broadcast later (when your child never stops talking and you can't hear it originally - or when you are doing something else) or even to attend a lecture or a conference. A chat or chat log is not as effective especially if everyone is shouting out their two cents and you can't keep track of what the speaker is saying. Also, there's a lot of information conveyed in the voice and the body and the way something is not said, as well. Ideally, in this situation, the podcast would be accompained by visual aids and handout-type materials as welll as a transcript. Even meetings like Weight Watchers could be done in podcasts - there's a lot of potential for information dissemination here!

#21 - Online Video

I think there's a lot of wasted bandwidth out there! That said, online videos are also a lot of fun! I love the historical stuff, especially the ads (I remember the Slinky ad from 1970 all too well!). Also from a historical cultural standpoint, it's fascinating to see when ideas and concepts began to be accepted. I think this opens up a lot of information that was nearly impossible to find before. The 1967 video showing the precursor of the Internet that was all the range a month or so ago, is an example of that. Also, I can see how useful this can be as a teaching tool. But I definitely think between databases, music, movies, tv shows, etc. we definitely need to come up with new definitions of copyright and ownership. I embedded a somewhat funny video about Peeps and genealogy - I remember early on when there was an "academic study" of Peeps and this just reminded me of that.

#20 - Machine is Us/ing Us (Special Treat)

First, this is cool video. My initial reaction to this is a feeling of I was onboard and in-sync with this technology in the beginning and as the video went on, I started to feel as if I might be falling behind. This is probably because - as the video moving so fast demonstrates - it's overwhelming at times to try to keep up as things change so fast. I think that this video was not aimed at a wide general audience, but I do think it is aimed at a narrower general audience - those interested in technology and culture.

#19 - Digital Music

Who knew? I love digital music. We have had a XM Radio for some time and when I got a free trial to Napster, I thought I would give it a try and I love it, love it, love it. Ironically, I hate iTunes because I have never had anything but technical problems with it. I also should try eMusic and Rhapsody, and I love the fact that Amazon has DRM-free music, but what I like most about Napster is that I can put as much music on my mp3 player or computer for a monthly subscription fee so I can try music without buying it. I used to listen to the radio on the Internet all the time, especially when I lived out of state, but I find that it's almost impossible to find stations on the Internet now. I do listen to XM Radio on the Internet though.

#18 - Social Networking

I think social networking has a lot of potential to distribute information, but I'm not sure what kind of information. Unfortunately, all I ever see of social network sites is teenagers in the library so my opionion isn't inclined to be positive. I think my two biggest problems with this type of interaction is: how do you know what this person really is and my personality isn't necessarily the type that connects to people in this anonymous way. Having said that, I certainly learn about a lot of ideas and other things from blogs I read and that is a form (obviously) of social networking - it just seems to be one sided - to me rather than an interaction.

#17 - Wikis

I think wikis are very intersting because creating one is like creating a web page without so much of the quirkiness of creating a web page. It could work as the main page for a library, but it could also be great for a special collection, a book club, or for teaching courses. Personally, I think it would be fun to create a wiki for a group of friends and/or family for a reunion or to highlight personal interests. It's like a blog, but "more".

#16 - Technorati and Blog Tagging

The results for Learning 2.0 were definitely different depending on where the keyword search was - no surprise there. I actually would have thought there would be more hits (though the number was still overwhelming), and the tagged hits seemed most relevant. I was surprised that so many of the popular searches were for very specific people. I looked at "the most popular blog in the world" !! but I wasn't that excited about it. But I find some interesting stuff the further down I looked!

#15 - Tagging

I have had a Del.icio.us account for some time now, and I use it all the time. Unfortunately, it is becoming a bit unwieldy so it probably needs weeding and better tagging. I can see the great potential for this tool both for research and as a way to create bookmarks that can be accessed anywhere - this is especially useful for those of us who use multiple computers. I also like this is an alternative to printing - often, I would print page one of a website to remember it.

#14 - Best of Web 2.0

I decided to try Esnips, and it was really cool. You get 5GB of free storage! 5GB! And it creates an email account that you can send your camera phone pictures too! I wasn't really look for a site that would necessarily be useful for a library, but it would be great for collaborative work and file sharing. I am really excited about trying this tool. I like the idea of being able to share information and files with friends and family without them having to go to Flickr or Photobucket (which sometimes have questionable pictures on the main page!)

#13 - Online Productivity

I was wondering about how Zoho and Google Docs would work. I think our patrons could use this (Zoho) very easily. Though I might still prefer Office, I think that this is truly bringing the world to everyone, not just those that can afford it and that is very exciting. It's amazing how similar it looks to Office; I am surprised there isn't some sort of copyright infrigement going on. I think that this could also be really helpful to distance ed students who need to collaborate on projects. Also, I can definitely see how people who publish extensive or daily blogs would prefer this because of the extensive editing features. (If it is indeed easy to publish from here to your blog - we'll see!)

 

Later -- Yes, it was EXTREMELY easy to post this to the blog. Woo hoo!

Even later --
Google Docs reminds me more of WordPerfect with its stark screen and that might put a lot of people off. (On the other hand, some people might like it better.) I think I like Zoho Writer more! So much for Google's world domination! AND it was more difficult trying to figure how to paste into this blog.

#12 - Customized Search Engines

I tried Rollyo and looked at Google Co-Op. This is an interesting concept, and I definitely can see potential use for it in a library, especially Google Co-Op. It would be nice to create a search engine on a library web site that searches only web sites that have been identified as useful and relevant. I could see using it personally too (espcially since you can create a roll from your bookmarks), but I like it better for less sophisticated users and kids. Teachers could really use it to create a list of acceptable websites. I wonder, too, how useful it might be to search the library's website itself? I know in past jobs that has been something we've really struggled with.

#11 - Library Thing

I think Library Thing is an interesting premise, especially for the general reading public. I actually have a program, Book Collectorz, that is more involved than Library Thing but lacks the social networking aspect which is fine with me. I have some technical issues with Library Thing in that I have deleted and deleted and deleted books out of it that I had added, and they do NOT go away! I do want to know what I have read and feel very limited by the 200 book limit (for free) and I want more functionality for a fee-based product. I do like the recommendations and the anti-recommendations, though.

This is fun and I think would be a way for me to keep up with the reading interests of friends and family, but I'm keeping my other program too! For now.

I've put a catalog of books I'm reading soon here on my blog from Library Thing.

#10 - Web 2.0 and Libraries

Library 2.0 - what does it mean to me? I'm conflicted over Library 2.0 for - perhaps - two reasons. I'm not sure what my role is going to end up being in libraries as we go forward with technology. I love technology, but sometimes I do worry that we are throwing our core values overboard in an attempt to be popular and well-liked by the public. Obviously, we need to be well-liked by the public, but what do we lose in the process? The Radical Trust article struck a nerve with me. We want and need to trust the online community to give us helpful feedback that can then be used in management decisions, but I have grave concerns about building an organization without an end result in mind.

#9 - Library Blogs

How do I locate feeds? Usually I just add ones that I have discovered along the way rather than seeking them out. I did try a couple for this exercise though.

Feedster - I could never get it to connect even after a couple of days of trying
Topix - I liked the look of Topix but as for finding RSS feeds, I found it difficult. I did like how it focused right in on GR - I will have to explore this one further.
Technorati - I will need to look at more. It had promise.
Syndic8 - I didn't like this one at all!

#8 - RSS Feeds

I've had a bloglines account for some time now. I like it because I can easily keep up with changes on websites that I like to visit regularly. I have my feeds grouped into broad categories, and some I check everyday and some I almost never go to. (I should probably delete those!)

I couldn't figure out how to make my blog-roll public until someone here at KDL posted those great instructions, so here it is:

http://www.bloglines.com/public/almaalum