Del.icio.us and Technorati

It was interesting to explore del.icio.us and to read all the articles about its potential and possibilities. I can see that it would be helpful for someone doing extensive internet research or someone who has to move around to different computer terminals and wants to be able to save and access certain sites. In terms of library staff use, one possibility is making a "hard-to-find" answer file of internet sites that could be accessed on all the reference computers -- it would be much handier than the old card (and barely ever used now) card files.

I had alot of fun with Technorati! I can see I could waste many hours finding out what people have to say about all my favorite topics, although I didn't see too many immediate library applications. One feature I appreciate, which adds some means of narrowing and evaluating results, are the "authority" choices (any, some or alot). And, also, opening up one blog result, I got a warning that it might be a "phishing" site or a possible scam -- interesting feature.

(picture from typografica)

LibraryThing -- A Fun Discovery

For six years I have been keeping a notebook of all the books I read each month. I can see that now I could discontinue the notebook and just use LibraryThing. It is fun to see how many other people have read the books I have and what others think of them. And...not that I really need MORE book suggestions, but when I do, I can see that I will easily find them on LibraryThing!

My LibraryThing account is at:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=roguereader

Postscript: RSS

I have really been enjoying the RSS feeds I chose, mostly library-related items, cartoons, book reviews, veggie recipes and health news, plus of course, KCLS 27things and my fellow KCLS bloggers. And I have been helping other staff members now identify RSS feeds on websites..definitely feel like I've learned something!

MySpace Explorations

OK, I successfully created a MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/roguereader) although I am not really interested in having one. I am glad to see some of how MySpace worked and was glad to be able to have privacy options. I hate the advertising and I can't really see using the page, but never say never, I guess. As much as it seems I use computers, I still am not of the generation that link "computers" and "community". I think "Second Life", on the other hand, is a totally intriguing concept...the true merger of computer game and community interaction.

Thank you so much, Learning 2.0 crew, for referencing the readings from Libraryman, David Lee King, Stephen Abram and Librarian in Black. It was fascinating to read the variety of opinions about libraries' place/visibility on MySpace. I am being won over to the idea of library teen pages on MySpace...they are safe sites, with good stimulating connections for kids...and kids have the choice of connecting or ignoring library pages. And it does allow libraries to go where the kids are. I do wish MySpace would allow non-profit organizations to register as organizations, though, not as fictional individuals.

Feeding My Mind!

Wow! Learning about RSS feeds has been mind-expanding. It continues to amaze me how much information is available in the cyber-world. On the other hand, it is overwhelming how much information is available in the cyber-world. And the nagging thought, as I add feeds and explore everything I can tap into, is...how important is all of this information anyway? How much of it do we really take in and synthesize into knowledge or integrate into life wisdom?

Philosophy aside, it is good to know the meaning of "RSS" and "XML", it was fun to create a collection of feeds and it took alot more than 20 minutes to do either lessons #7 or #8. It will be interesting to see which RSS feeds continue to be useful and fun to keep up with and which I will eventually dump or replace.

I found it much easier to go to my favorite sites or to just do Google searches for interesting sites than to use the RSS search tools. I thought they all gave strange and unexpected results for my searches. And I did, finally, reach a saturation point in using the RSS search tools. I came to feel like there is alot of useless "information" out there and that there is a time for feeding my mind and a time for feeding my body and soul...so now it is time for some quiet music, playing with my kitty cat and clearing my mind so it doesn't get "overstuffed".

Flickr Mashups -- Amazing!

I am amazed at the technological creativity of people with Flickr connections. I looked at several different mashups; some I couldn't get to work (like "Mappr") but I thought "Spell with Flickr" was really fun! Now I just have to figure out how to print my picture-words. The learning continues...

My Hometown Library --Northampton MA

I found this image on Flickr, posted by Flickr user pinksnapper , of the library I grew up using in my hometown of Northampton Massachusetts. It looks alot like it did when I was little, although there were no gateposts by the driveway then. The entrance to the "children's room" is on the right-hand side of the photo near the driveway...I remember winning a summer reading award contest there. It was a big deal when I was old enough to use the main library and go in the front entrance...and in high school, I had to have my parents' permission to take D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover out of "the cage", a locked part of the stacks. I wonder if "the cage" still exists?!

Flickr seems like a lot of fun to use. I'm not a photographer and don't really like taking pictures, but I like to look at other people's photos. And I like the multiple ways of tagging, or indexing, in Flickr; there is the potential here to get lost here floating from one set of photos into another. This session took me alot longer than 20 minutes to complete...I'm going on an hour here, with exploring Flickr, listening to the podcast with Pam, figuring out how to upload a photo and now blogging. I am, however, enjoying myself and will undoubtedly come back to Flickr again.

"Podcasts" Article/Book Reference

Ths COSTCO magazine (March '07) features an article on the use of podcasts in marketing...interesting. And it references a book What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting: Real-Life Advice from 101 People Who Successfully Leverage the Power of the Blogosphere by Ted Demopoulos (Kaplan, 2006), which a quick look at the KCLS catalog reveals we do not own -- yet. This only caught my eye because I have started the 27Things! This is definitely launching me into new areas of learning.