The End

This is it. Last post. I can’t believe It’s been nine weeks…well maybe ten or twelve, but that’s besides the point. We have finished. We have survived 23 Things and lived to tell the tale. I tried to find a clip of Chris Isaak’s “End of Everything” video on YouTube, but apparently no one loves song but me. It would have been absolutely perfect for the post. Alas.

I’m glad I sucked it up and did this. I’m a techno-phobe. It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s true – so this gave me a real excuse to swallow the bile and venture into blogland. Three cheers. I’m also not afraid to cut and paste html now. Impressive, hmmm? Who gets a blue star (they look cooler than the gold ones)? I do! I do! I can already see where all this Web 2.0 stuff is going to come in handy. It’s nice to be able to have conversations with folks when they ask, “So what is this Two Lives I keep hearing so much about?” I guess it’s an improvement over, “So, there was this mystery where someone dies. It was written in 1975. It had a blue cover. Can you help me?”

I won’t say goodbye. Season finales tend to be so overrated, just ta for now.

PS - Picture by Pingüino

3-2-1!

This week we were to check-out and download videos and podcasts. This is VERY exciting since that means I got to meander through YouTube. Anybody remember the old show 3-2-1-Contact?! I used to LOVE IT!!! What about the Bloudhound Gang mystery show? What a hoot. The best episode was when they went to that spooky house that had the train going around with the cardboad sillhoutes attached to make it look like there were people inside. So very clever...

Anyway. Been having some troubles loading stuff directly to my blog. I keep getting a nice red FORBIDDEN message when I type in my username and password (which are actually valid). I've been able to get around them by just copying and pasting the HTML code. Don't I feel all geeked out.

Lots of potential for this technology for the library. I can just see a video tour of the facilities that folks can download, tutorials, etc. Now, if we could just find the time.

Who Knew

So our researchers are hard at work and one of them sends me a personality test to see of I'm Rock, Paper, or Scissors:

You Are Paper

Crafty and creative, you are able to adapt freely to almost any situation. People tend to underestimate you, unless they've truly seen what you are capable of. Deep down, you're always scheming and thinking up new plans. Your mind is constantly active. You are quite capable of anything you dream of. You can always figure out a way to get what you want. You can wrap a rock person up in your sheet of trickery. A scissor person can sneak up and cut you to pieces. When you fight: No one can anticipate your next move If someone makes you mad: You'll attack them mercilessly when they're unprepared

Are You Rock, Paper, or Scissors?

The One Where Some Things Work and Others Don't

Shiver me timbers. The sheer delight I felt at plucking away at my ol' keyboard. Who knew that word processing could be so... Oh. Oh. Wait...I can't do this. I can't fake it over web based apps (Zoho Writer)- no matter how versatile it is. I'm sorry.

However, I can see where it might be useful for folks who are collaborating on a document. Plus, how nice is it for me to write-up my blog post and then just upload it right from here?! (Yes, I love re-entering my username and password to no avail. I prefer cutting and pasting, really.) That's convenient. Bah-humbug.

Now, onto the Web 2.0 Awards. There were some mighty fine contenders listed here. I'm going to mention two. Working in the Outback, it gets mighty lonesome. One might find themselves speaking to imaginary friends or humming little ditties while they rock back in forth snacking on locks of my their hair. But never fear, Pandora.com has come to my the rescue. This lovely site allows you to create your VERY OWN RADIO station - commercial free. You simply type in a song or band you like, and they play somthing they think is along that genre. You can then give it a thumbs up or down. Because of licensing issues, you're limited to the number of vetoes you can give in an hour. In addition, rate hikes suggested in the Internet Radio Equality Act may impact the site in the future.

One other site I liked was RealTravel.com. Love the fact I can search by activity, and then drill down by place AND read blogs of folks who have actually been there. Can we say, practical?!

Wikid Wikis

Whenever I see the word wiki I think of the Wizard of Oz and the Winkies. Who knows, right? Anyway, this week’s assignment was to explore wikis and all their wonderful wikidness.

We’ve been talking about them for years, even played around with our own last year with a subscription from a certain vendor that I believe started with a jot and ended with a spot – but don’t quote me on that. The problem was it was a bit clunky for us and no one wanted to add anything. You have to have a good foundation product before you can get buy-in from the staff and public, yes?

I checked out a couple of examples that were provided at 23 Things. Most of the library wikis tend to catalog and sort books (just a rehash of what they do already – boring), but Book Lovers Wiki was nice and different and actually had some book reviews with star ratings. Big thumbs up on that. I also liked the theory behind Library Success: A best practices wiki, but again, you run into the problem of folks not populating. So while it looks pretty and there is some real implications for knowledge sharing there, this is a case where if you build it - it doesn’t neccesarily mean they’ll come.

If, and I do mean IF our library were to try its hand at wikis again, I see them as more of an internal use. A place to post instructional and proceedural manuals – you know, as a centralized place to update and access. If we were to open it to the public (as in Center public), then we might convert the KAs to wiki format (which won’t happen) to allow everyone the ability to update.

It’s exciting to finally get to folksomonies, or tagging. This is something I’ve been hearing about off on about for years and have felt has been needed within the library. Yeah, we need to have authority and control over subject keywords; however, there’s something to be said for this layman’s tool. Let’s face it, not everyone has had a chance to curl-up with the big red LCSH books, nor do they intend to. This is a way of putting some power back in the people’s hands.

And how cool is del.icio.us ? I would love to see us create some sort of reading lists up there. At least the Center is up there. Did you notice? So many new and exciting tools!! Just wish we had more hands and time!

Cut and Paste

Gots to love image generators, eh? Do you suppose they were created to full-fill the urge to paste unsuspecting heads to unsuspecting bodies? I liked RedKid.Net, which offered a myriad of pasting and generating choices.

I also played a bit with LibraryThing. LT – where were you when I was a child, alphabetizing and categorizing by subject? Where were you when I needed someone to turn to for book recommendations and the stupid school librarian kept pointing me to the baby books when really I wanted Lord of the Rings? Oh, how I love thee. How I want to just catalog all weekend long and be a Peeping Tom into everyone’s reading bookstands. How I dance around and relish in your promiscuity.

Then of course there is Rollyo. I was recently at SLA and the Google rep discussed their version. I thought I got the concept there, and I kind of get it now - or at least the first half of it anyway. So I had Rollyo search some of my favorite blogs...you know, the ones that make me wish I was as handy with a needle and thread as these ladies. Anyway, it's the second half of the concept that gets mushy for me. I assigned the keywords that I thought might apply (i.e. sewing, quilting, crafts, etc.), but what happens if you don't search with one of these tags? Does the whole Creative Inspiration Rollyo universerve begin to fold in on itself? Just something to ponder. Frankly, it's making my head swim and I think I may swoon. Best go lay down with a cool cloth...

Ok. I have created my RSS feed for Bloglines. Once I wandered around lost a bit our Kind Weaver took me by the hand and said “Look, you just cut and paste.” Where then I replied, “Oh.” I confess it is much nicer than the yucky Active Web Reader and it will actually let me edit my feeds (oh, how I love to alphabetize). AND, I can hyperlink directly from the link. No more extra step for my press summary. Oh, if only I could cuddle and caress you my sweet Bloglines.

I have a confession. I have not created a Bloglines account. I know, I know. Go ahead and whip me with a wet noodle. I just figured that since we use RSS feeds for our GPS, there were better uses for my time than reinventing the wheel... yes?

But true enough. Feeds are handy little devils when they work right. As we've all noted before they can be a bit devisome - giving us false links and there's no way to resort previously read articles (at least on our subscribed reader). Still, it does save us a bit of time.

Well ladies (and gent) - I must get some caffeine if I'm going to survive the rest of the morning. Ta Squared.

This week’s assignment, should I choose to accept it – write about technology. That’s rather broad don’t you think? Technically speaking, I could write about a toaster or my Venus shaver but I think the idea was to expound upon what we learned this week. So, toasters and vibrating razors are out, flickr, in.

We read a lot about mash-ups and whatnot and I figured what better way to prove that I actually did the lesson than to create my very own mish-mash, ay? So here she is folks, my very own librarian’s trading card, hot off the presses. That’s right, I found the image on flickr and then put the creative juices to work at Trading Card Maker. Oo la la.

It helps to read the fine print sometimes. In my first post I was supposed to write about my learning habits. Grr. Aargh. Generally my learning habits will depend if I have my work or home face on; however, the one that I generally get stuck on is “having confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.” It’s not that I don’t think I can do it…it’s just that I want it picture-perfect, Martha-Stewart-style the first time I try. I’m not a perfectionist…noooooooo. As far as a strength: teach/mentor others. ‘Tis what I do almost on a daily basis and I enjoy doing it. M’kay. Done. The real homework is done.

23 Things

So this is my first post. I feel like there should be some sort of drum-roll or something - but then again, why let the little people down? The whole reason this thing got started is because my library is participating in PLCMC's 23 Things program. It allows the average Joe to become more tech savvy...Lord knows I need it. In any case, y'all are now subject to my ramblings on the topic (I apologize in advance, of course).