Wk 8 #18 Social Networking

I wandered through the various social networking sites, and I have to say that I believe My Space has the most interesting pages and people. Or should I say weirder. I myself have a My Space page, with 7 friends, and dont really use it much, except to put cute stuff, or tacky stuff on it. Its neat, but unless your are really in to the networking world, or youngish, I dont really find it of much use. Facebook looks a bit more "normal", and I don't have any desire to share blogs with a network. I did enjoy the Rate My Space website, since I am into decorating to some degree, it was fun. What a person can do with an old double-wide trailer is amazing. All in all, it was an informative experience, and a direction to go if at some point I need less people in my life, and more computer time.

Horizon is down!!!

Wk 7 #17 Technology

As we are doing these discovery exercises to learn more about technology and its use in the work-a-day world, I would like to comment on some of the problems I have been having with it. For one thing, Horizon was down today, proving that connections and machines don't always work well, and can leave our jobs in the lurch as far as getting anything done. I could not get into my blog yesterday, Blogger insisted that I didn't exist. My home computer, hooked up with Comcast, tells me most of the time when I try to get onto the internet that the server isn't available. Yet when I push the go button, google comes up. I don't understand, my settings are all correct, so I am assuming its a problem with Comcast. I placed my blog on the iHCPL wiki, and now my mailbox is full of notifications that someone has altered it. I find no use whatsoever for this. There is not a day that goes by that at some point I have a messed up machine, and I have to "turn it off and turn it back on." Now my cell phone is not receiving messages. Technology has brought alot into our lives, making it simpler, more information, and being more involved with the rest of the world. But I also think it has added a lot of frustration, confusion, hair pulling, frown lines, and general tension when your machine's technology, regardless of what it is, is not co-operating with you. Probably should add some stress relief along with all this technical know how.

Wk 7 #16 Wiki Wiki

Wiki's are kind of neat, the name is fun at least. I took a look at the different wikis that were offered, and it is an innovative way to share information, with the ability for everyone involved to get their two cents in. I don't personally think they are a good source of general information, like Wikipedia, because one isnt sure if the facts are correct, or something that Joe Schmo came up with and Esmarelda Irma Toot decided he was incorrect and made her own statement. I can see where they might be of use in the library world, communicating ideas amongst staff and other libraries. But to consider them factual? I would check a second or third source.

Wk 6, #15 Library 2.0

The library will change, it must be able to keep up with the technological world. However, in all these essays on services and librarianship, about "harnessing collective intelligence," and "lightweight programming models, not much was really said about people. We do need to simplify our catalogs and our databases, making them easier to use. There are many other search engines on the net that are easier to use then a libaray catalog. I have found, through some years of working in libraries, that many of our patrons want what they want, get it and leave. Whether its the latest John Grisham, or information for a child's report on bread mold. They need to be able to do this, either with our help, or a computer, quickly and efficiently. Do they really care how much metadata they can access, or the model being used? I personally don't think so.

I had to agree with much of the essay labeled "icebergs," stating that the library world must be careful in its desire and push to go completely hi-tech, because you forget about the people you are trying to help. If they dont know how to use these resources, and there isnt the staff to teach them, whats the point? I also agree with the idea of cutting back on huge print collections, many reference tools are now online, do we need all these large, dusty tomes? And do we really need 10 copies in one library of a Danielle Steele book? Libraries are now "community centers," loud, bustling, often filled with screaming children and cell phone talkers with the constant clackity-clack of keyboards in the background. This, in terms of clientle, is what libraries have become. More computers would help serve the millions of people who still don't have computers in their homes. More time and staff to teach computer classes on how to use one, let alone how to create a blog or make avatars.

The technology will and must come, but whether it actually helps patron's library experience remains to be seen. The libraries themselves may have access to this massive amount of information, but can it be accessed by our patrons?

wk 6 #14 Technorati and the like...

I can't imagine why people need to have so much to say about everything in the whole world. I did find some interesting blogs pertaining to learning 2.0, but to be honest, some of it was way over my head. Found a blog called librarygarden.blogspot.com, which made some thoughtful comments. In general, I found Technorati confusing to try to move around in, and I am not all that motivated to share my thoughts with the world. The voices in my head are telling me its not a good idea. I can see why people might like it, and it certainly has its uses. But not necessarily for me.

Wk 6 #13 Del.icio.us

I have to say I was really skeptical about this exercise, because I don't do bookmarking or tagging. However, when I discovered all the neat websites that I could feasibly put in one place and read and explore at my leisure, I decided to create my own account. So far, and with the help of a co-worker, I have learned to place links on my favorites from other accounts, but haven't quite figured out how to pull it off the web itself. Have to have a link to elizabethan insults! I will mostly like continue to play with it, and add to my favorites, its just very time consuming, and I am expected to do my job after all.

wk 5 #12 Library Elf...not Legolas

Library Elf looks to be a really interesting tool to use to keep track of your library stuff. It appeared to be easy to use, and had explanations for pretty much any questions that could arise, including privacy and the patriot act.

I opted not to sign up for this service, not wishing to have another username and password to have to remember,and, since I work in a library I have the access to my account on a daily basis. Had I other family accounts, I would have tried it.

Wk 5 #11 Library thing

This was great fun! I managed to put 34 books on the shelf, and should have no problem adding all the way up to 200.

wk 5 #10 Night job at the Moulin Rouge

Creating avatars was great fun and easy to do. I need to have the time to play with it more, but just kind of whipped this one up from Yahoo. Always wanted to be a can can dancer.

Its pumpkin time...

Week 4 #9 Feeder tools

I have been messing around with the four tools that were suggested by iHCPl, and found them all to be interesting. I have to say, I didn't care much for Feedster, just found it confusing and can't even explain why. I really liked Topix, it was easy to manuver around in, in fact, I pulled a feed to my bloglines account on all things Colin Firth. He is an exceedigly good looking and talented British actor, who is probably best known for his portrayal of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. The definitive portrayal according to most of the ladies who love Jane Austen. He is one of my favorite actors, and the fact that he looks fine in Edwardian attire is an added plus. Anyway, I digress. I didn't care for Syndic8, the blogs appeared to be older, and in alphbetical order. Technorati was fun, got caught up in reading all different kinds of blogs. All in all, it was a good experience, and I discovered all kinds of ways to find information. Now, where is that Colin Firth feed...

Week 4 #8 part 2

As I neglected to read the instructions correctly, I realised that I did not add my co-workers blogs to my bloglines account. So I added a few that I did know who they are, favorites all, and one whom I didn't know. Its funny that so many of my friends and co-workers keep the name of thier blog a state secret, of course, I dont advertise mine either. Nor did I put my own blog on my bloglines account, just not a really spectacular endeavor. I also noticed while scrolling through staff blogs, that many of them have only the first lesson on them, so it will be fascinating to see if there is a sudden bloom or technological artistry on them the week before iHCPL is due to finish.

Week 4 #8 RSS feeds

I managed to create a bloglines account, and chose 11 different feeds, mostly from the list offered on the page. Chose some world news, cat info, Quotes of the day,weather, of course, which were pretty interesting. All in all, it was probably the simplest thing I have done during all these exercises. Checked around for other websites with feeds, and had some problems subscribing to feeds that ended up on my browser rather than my account. Did find one blog that talked about Extreme Pumpkins, what with Fall and Halloween just around the corner, it was a good choice. Next time, its using tools to find feeds.