Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Week 10 #23 The End
Well, here we are. Frankly, I'm surprised that I finished. Thoughts on the journey: I knew less about some things and more out about other things than I anticipated. Zoho is my favorite new thing... I'm going to introduce Zoho to the high school and junior high students that come into our branch. I still prefer my Yahoo avatar but I'm glad to know about Meez. I'm still sorting through my issues and concerns about online privacy. Sometimes, I wish I could be more open on the web but I am afraid that I will inadvertently get myself in trouble.I'm glad I have a better understanding of new technologies...even only so I don't have to say "I have no idea what you are talking about!" to a patron who asks me for assistance with one of them. Thanks :-)
Week 9 #22 Downloadable Media
I investigated the Overdrive offerings several years ago when Overdrive first became available from HCPL. I downloaded an audio version of Fahrenheit 451 to the player provided to the branches and then I ended up reading the hard copy version anyway (I needed to reread it for Books on the Bayou). I don't think this service will be useful to me unless I purchase a device so that I hook an audio book player into the sound system in my car (if one is even available). I pretty much prefer to read using my eyes (& by turning pages) unless circumstances prevent me from doing so such as when I'm driving. That said, I love having audio books to listen to in the car and my eyesight may not enable me to read text formats forever. LibriVox is really interesting. If I had more time, I would love to volunteer to record for the project WOWIO I am unlikely to use unless I or a patron need to get a hold of something quickly that isn't available any other way.
Week 9 #21 Podcasts
I added feeds to my Bloglines account for http://www.hpprogs.com/ a Harry Potter discussion & news podcast and for http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ a National Public Radio show. I looked at the listed podcast directories and noticed that many of the podcasts I found using keywords seemed to have only 5 or 6 episodes created and then the creators stopped adding them. I think I'm more likely to find podcasts because of word of mouth referrals than I am by searching the directories. That said, I did stumble across the hpprogs podcast because I was searching the directories and I'm glad I did!
Week 9 #20 Discover YouTube
I really like YouTube. It would be easy to spend too much time exploring the site. I'm not sure what features could/would be effective on a library website. I'm including a video from Vanessa Paradis. I was introduced to this artist recently and I am turning into a rabid fan.
Vanessa Paradis "Divine Idylle" making-of Épisode 1 : Studio
The embedded clip is showing up when I look at this posting using a laptop set to nofilter. I'm not sure why it won't show up on my library staff computer but I know I'm not the only person who has encountered this glitch.
Vanessa Paradis "Divine Idylle" making-of Épisode 1 : Studio
The embedded clip is showing up when I look at this posting using a laptop set to nofilter. I'm not sure why it won't show up on my library staff computer but I know I'm not the only person who has encountered this glitch.
zoho blog post
I sure would have appreciated Zoho when I was in graduate school. I was using Juno's webmail to access my papers both at home, at work, and at the library so that I could add to documents wherever & whenever I had a chance to edit them. Once, while working on a particularly difficult project, a disaster occurred. I accidentally overwrote the "main document" e-mail in my draft folder instead of saving the new information in a separate "additional research" e-mail. I lost several days worth of work (during a summer session)!!! According to Helene Blowers' "Welcome to Zoho Writer" article, Zoho would have let me restore the information I accidentally saved over. Boy, that would have been handy. :-)
Week 8 #19 Web-based apps
I posted my comments on Zoho from Zoho after writing them down in Zoho. Pretty cool.
Week 8 #18 Social Networking part 2
Well, I've looked at several of the sites listed for discovery purposes. I think I like Yahoo 360 best. Ning is interesting because of its flexibility. I may look into creating a Ning page for EV's anime club. Linkedin frustrated me because payment is required fully use the site. I had hoped to find some of the people I worked with when I was in the MLS program I graduated from.
Update... It turns out I just had to click the link in my e-mail to use the Linkedin feature that I needed. :-)
Update... It turns out I just had to click the link in my e-mail to use the Linkedin feature that I needed. :-)
Monday, December 10, 2007
Week 8 exercise #18 Social Networking part 1
I had a MySpace page once upon a time. But I rarely visited it and it went away. It was very frustrating because, while my login still worked, all of my friend connections and my pictures and my profile went poof.
It's probably just as well. In truth, I am afraid to have a recognizable profile on the web. Working as a public librarian, I interact with all sorts of people. I have had to deal with a couple of minor stalking situations. And, because I work in a small community, everywhere I go I'm recognized.
There is always a small risk in sharing private details in a public forum. I think that risk is magnified significantly when you work directly and intimately with the public. And that is the nature of our work. There is nothing we can do to change it.
It's probably just as well. In truth, I am afraid to have a recognizable profile on the web. Working as a public librarian, I interact with all sorts of people. I have had to deal with a couple of minor stalking situations. And, because I work in a small community, everywhere I go I'm recognized.
There is always a small risk in sharing private details in a public forum. I think that risk is magnified significantly when you work directly and intimately with the public. And that is the nature of our work. There is nothing we can do to change it.
Week 7 #17 Technology
We learned during the horrible week when our systems were down that technology is something of an Achilles' heel. When it works it's great. When it doesn't it's tragic. Or can be tragic. I tend to be melodramatic. :-) All of my life, I have heard my father say that technology doesn't make our lives easier, it just increases the standards we are expected to live up to. Before indoor plumbing, bathing once a week was perfectly acceptable. Before automated washing machines, clothes could be worn more than once before washing. When most clothes were "homemade" rather than "store-bought" a little girl would wear the same dress every Sunday to church until she outgrew it and then it would be passed down to her little sister to wear. Now, there are whispers of negligent parenting if a child is seen wearing the same outfit several weeks in a row. (OK, maybe that last one was a little melodramatic too.)
Now, cell phones are so prevalent that pay phones are disappearing. E-mail is so common it can be nearly impossible to find a customer service phone number on a company's website. "Don't call us. Just send us an e-mail." Some magazines and journals are only available electronically because they are no longer published in a text format.
I know that economics plays a huge role in determining what happens in our society. Payphones are no longer a profitable venture. Providing phone accessabile customer service requires employing more people so that someone is available to answer the phone. Effective E-mail customer service probably requires a smaller staff to provide the same quality of service as the phone version. I can't argue that paper is not expensive. But, not everyone can afford a cell phone, not everyone has access to the Internet (libraries are limited in the quantity of access they can provide) and sometimes the power goes out during the block of time you have scheduled to do your research for a paper.
My point is that our society is structured in such a way that if someone doesn't have access to things that many take for granted, such as a telephone or a car, many(if not most) people will be unwilling to make accommodations for that person and may think less of them; may even judge that person as inferior or unworthy. MLK Jr. had a dream that his children would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. While we work to eliminate racism I hope we don't allow classism to creep in and take racism's place.
Now, cell phones are so prevalent that pay phones are disappearing. E-mail is so common it can be nearly impossible to find a customer service phone number on a company's website. "Don't call us. Just send us an e-mail." Some magazines and journals are only available electronically because they are no longer published in a text format.
I know that economics plays a huge role in determining what happens in our society. Payphones are no longer a profitable venture. Providing phone accessabile customer service requires employing more people so that someone is available to answer the phone. Effective E-mail customer service probably requires a smaller staff to provide the same quality of service as the phone version. I can't argue that paper is not expensive. But, not everyone can afford a cell phone, not everyone has access to the Internet (libraries are limited in the quantity of access they can provide) and sometimes the power goes out during the block of time you have scheduled to do your research for a paper.
My point is that our society is structured in such a way that if someone doesn't have access to things that many take for granted, such as a telephone or a car, many(if not most) people will be unwilling to make accommodations for that person and may think less of them; may even judge that person as inferior or unworthy. MLK Jr. had a dream that his children would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. While we work to eliminate racism I hope we don't allow classism to creep in and take racism's place.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Week 7 # 16 Wiki Wiki
It was cool to learn that wiki means quick. I was curious before, but never took the time to find out where the term came from. I've added my blog to the iHCPL sandbox. My thoughts on wikis: It's obvious that the quality of a wiki is dependent on the efforts of the contributors. Garbage in = Garbage out One of the things that I like about Wikipedia is its focus on popular culture. It might be fun to start a wiki to share horror stories, humorous reference questions, and touching moments in the library.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Week 6 # 15 Library 2.0
It's slow so I'm attempting to do this at the circ. desk. Hopefully I can keep my thoughts straight because an interruption or 5 is likely.
Library 2.0... First impressions. I have always been extremely customer oriented. Often, the amount of time I will spend with a customer to ensure they have not "an answer" but the "right answer" annoys and frustrates my coworkers. Anything that makes it easier for me (us) to give the customer what they need quickly is a good, no, is a great thing.
I'm concerned that the line between my job and my personal life may disappear if I jump too enthusiastically into the world of reference MySpace pages and librarian avatars. I don't particularly wish to be collected as a resource and I already have trouble leaving my job at "the office".
Giving up "just in case" collection development terrifies me. Maybe I should have been an archivist.
I'm all for implementing the Web 2.0 concepts delineated by Tom Storey: simplicity, rich interactivity, user participation, collective intelligence, self-service, novel and remixed content. I believe the most important of these is simplicity. I also believe simplicity is the concept which is most easily overlooked when people or organizations allow themselves to get caught in the grip of what Michael Stephens calls technolust.
I also fear a tendency to patronize (in the condescending sense) the patron. Just as adults, without checking with children first, will design or buy toys they believe children should like... I'm concerned libraries are spending resources to implement technologies and trends that they believe patrons should want and need without a thorough understanding of the actual needs of the local community. This can lead to frustrated patrons as well as wasted time and money.
Of course, providing services for a diverse community requires balancing the needs of the elderly with the needs of the young and driven... balancing the needs of the wealthy with the needs of the impoverished, etc. It's hard. It's very hard. Perfectionists like, well me, need to avoid getting stuck because of our fear of screwing up.
I like the idea of content as conversation, the concept of permanent beta, and the belief that patrons should have a big role in determining new directions for their community libraries.
So, I'm afraid of bad changes and wrong guesses but I approve of the core values of Library 2.0
Library 2.0... First impressions. I have always been extremely customer oriented. Often, the amount of time I will spend with a customer to ensure they have not "an answer" but the "right answer" annoys and frustrates my coworkers. Anything that makes it easier for me (us) to give the customer what they need quickly is a good, no, is a great thing.
I'm concerned that the line between my job and my personal life may disappear if I jump too enthusiastically into the world of reference MySpace pages and librarian avatars. I don't particularly wish to be collected as a resource and I already have trouble leaving my job at "the office".
Giving up "just in case" collection development terrifies me. Maybe I should have been an archivist.
I'm all for implementing the Web 2.0 concepts delineated by Tom Storey: simplicity, rich interactivity, user participation, collective intelligence, self-service, novel and remixed content. I believe the most important of these is simplicity. I also believe simplicity is the concept which is most easily overlooked when people or organizations allow themselves to get caught in the grip of what Michael Stephens calls technolust.
I also fear a tendency to patronize (in the condescending sense) the patron. Just as adults, without checking with children first, will design or buy toys they believe children should like... I'm concerned libraries are spending resources to implement technologies and trends that they believe patrons should want and need without a thorough understanding of the actual needs of the local community. This can lead to frustrated patrons as well as wasted time and money.
Of course, providing services for a diverse community requires balancing the needs of the elderly with the needs of the young and driven... balancing the needs of the wealthy with the needs of the impoverished, etc. It's hard. It's very hard. Perfectionists like, well me, need to avoid getting stuck because of our fear of screwing up.
I like the idea of content as conversation, the concept of permanent beta, and the belief that patrons should have a big role in determining new directions for their community libraries.
So, I'm afraid of bad changes and wrong guesses but I approve of the core values of Library 2.0
Week 6 # 14 Technorati
Can you say overwhelmed? I am overwhelmed. And underwhelmed in some ways. I read an opinion piece recently that said if everyone is a writer than the work of one who earns their living with words is devalued. Some blogs are just equivalent to reality TV shows for me. I'm not interested in The Bachelor or Big Brother... Give me Pushing Daisies or I Love Lucy or All in the Family. I just don't have time to dig for the buried gems in the vast mine of the blogosphere. I find myself wasting hours of my life reading the thoughts of random strangers much as I have wasted hours watching a bad but not bad enough to be good movie on the late show because I keep hoping it will turn the corner and be entertaining. Sigh. Forgive my puncuation in this post. I'm tired. And whiney.
Discovery exercise: Learning 2.0-- 835 hits in the blog directory, 1164 hits in both tag and URL search, & 1126 hits when searched as an exact phrase in keyword search.
Discovery exercise: Learning 2.0-- 835 hits in the blog directory, 1164 hits in both tag and URL search, & 1126 hits when searched as an exact phrase in keyword search.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Week 6 #13
Del.icio.us
I really like the concept of multiple tags to describe a bookmark. I also think this will be fairly useful for answering reference questions. I don't really like the look and feel of the site...It "feels" awkward, but, I think I can get past that. I read somewhere ( I think at one of the discovery resources) that gmail also allows you to put multiple tags on your e-mail messages. I'm going to experiment with my new gmail account and see if it's true.
I really like the concept of multiple tags to describe a bookmark. I also think this will be fairly useful for answering reference questions. I don't really like the look and feel of the site...It "feels" awkward, but, I think I can get past that. I read somewhere ( I think at one of the discovery resources) that gmail also allows you to put multiple tags on your e-mail messages. I'm going to experiment with my new gmail account and see if it's true.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Week 5 #12
Library Elf
Sign up was easy. This service is great for households with multiple card holders. Since I don't really monitor my e-mail notices from HCPL I think it will be of limited use to me. But, I might start a family someday.
Sign up was easy. This service is great for households with multiple card holders. Since I don't really monitor my e-mail notices from HCPL I think it will be of limited use to me. But, I might start a family someday.
Week 5 #11
Library Thing
OK, I actually am spending a lot of time learning about the :CueCat which is mentioned on Library thing as a way to scan usbn's directly into their system. Fascinating story about a company (digital convergence) that went belly up because of privacy concerns. The tech savvy market these devices were created for was far more savvy about privacy in the early 00's then the average CVS card user. If you are curious there is information about :cuecats in wikipedia and at http://cexx.org/cuecat.htm and at http://www.digitalconvergence.com/products/index.html and at
http://www.crq.com/ and, of course, at Library Thing.
But... I am actually supposed to talk about Library Thing. ;-)
So, here are the 5 books I added to my library in Library Thing:
Yeah, I kinda like John Steinbeck... People seem to love or hate his work. You know which camp I'm in now.
I may continue to use Library Thing for my personal library. I think I'm going to find it more useful, though, as a way to keep track of the books my book club at the branch covers.
OK, I actually am spending a lot of time learning about the :CueCat which is mentioned on Library thing as a way to scan usbn's directly into their system. Fascinating story about a company (digital convergence) that went belly up because of privacy concerns. The tech savvy market these devices were created for was far more savvy about privacy in the early 00's then the average CVS card user. If you are curious there is information about :cuecats in wikipedia and at http://cexx.org/cuecat.htm and at http://www.digitalconvergence.com/products/index.html and at
http://www.crq.com/ and, of course, at Library Thing.
But... I am actually supposed to talk about Library Thing. ;-)
So, here are the 5 books I added to my library in Library Thing:
Yeah, I kinda like John Steinbeck... People seem to love or hate his work. You know which camp I'm in now.
I may continue to use Library Thing for my personal library. I think I'm going to find it more useful, though, as a way to keep track of the books my book club at the branch covers.
Week 5 #10 part 3
Wow, I'm really feeling behind now. I'm glad we have until mid-December to complete everything. So, to finish this exercise, I looked at FDtoys but had difficulty figuring out how the site worked. Maybe I'll look at it again when I'm feeling more patient. I also looked at the comic generating site but the creative juices are trickling rather than flowing right now so I don't have anything to post. I will file it away to use in the future. I think it would be fun to create comics for family and friends for birthdays, etc.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Week 5 #10 part 2
Queen Bee? This avatar refers to an inside joke. I created her on Meez. I think I'm finally turning into an un-hip old lady... 'cause none of the outfits on Meez were conservative enough to suit my fashion sense. :0)
Queen Bee? This avatar refers to an inside joke. I created her on Meez. I think I'm finally turning into an un-hip old lady... 'cause none of the outfits on Meez were conservative enough to suit my fashion sense. :0)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Week 5 #10 part 1.
Ok, Beth's High Toon actually made me chuckle out loud. Just my flavor of goofy humor.
I created a Yahoo avatar about 2 years ago and play around with her from time to time. I don't use Messenger as often as I used to... I just don't have time to sit at the computer and chat for hours on end.
I created a Yahoo avatar about 2 years ago and play around with her from time to time. I don't use Messenger as often as I used to... I just don't have time to sit at the computer and chat for hours on end.
I'll play with some of the other avatar tools but I'm pretty attached to the one I have.
Here she is in the rain with my cat's avatar. His name is Mr. Kitty. I got lucky, as this cat which is available in Yahoo's extras for avatars looks alot like the cat I actually have. :-)
Here's my avatar at work. And uh, hmm... Yahoo won't let me change the flip flops out on this outfit. ;-) This kitty is the closest I can find on Yahoo to my other cat (Calypso or Caly for short). She's a calico so imagine a little orange in her fur and you'll get the idea. And no, I don't bring her to work and let her roam the library freely!!!Week 4 #9
OK, I'm subscribed to 18 feeds now. The button that I added to my favorites to help me add feeds to bloglines is awesome. It makes it so much easier. Now I'm just getting frustrated with sites that I want to keep up with that aren't offering feeds. I guess ya just can't make some people happy. :-)
I looked at the different feed searching tools... for right now, I think I'm doing better just adding sites I already know I want to keep up with. However, I did use the Bloglines feed searching tool to set up most of my political feeds so... For now I think I will only use a feed searching tool when there is a specific broad topic I want to gather more info on. (I'm not sure if that makes sense but there it is.) Otherwise, I'm going to suffer from information overload. There are too many possibilities out there for my little ADHD-addled brain to handle.
Ooops, I almost forgot to tell you that I added 3 ihcpl blogs to my feeds and I did set up folders to organize. Sample folder titles: Political, library humour, ihcpl blogs, etc.
I looked at the different feed searching tools... for right now, I think I'm doing better just adding sites I already know I want to keep up with. However, I did use the Bloglines feed searching tool to set up most of my political feeds so... For now I think I will only use a feed searching tool when there is a specific broad topic I want to gather more info on. (I'm not sure if that makes sense but there it is.) Otherwise, I'm going to suffer from information overload. There are too many possibilities out there for my little ADHD-addled brain to handle.
Ooops, I almost forgot to tell you that I added 3 ihcpl blogs to my feeds and I did set up folders to organize. Sample folder titles: Political, library humour, ihcpl blogs, etc.
Week 4 #8
Well, I worked on this stuff last week but I'm just now getting around to posting. I think I've been making this exercise harder than it really is. I've subscribed to 12 or so feeds in my bloglines account. At the moment, I'm not really saving time with this tool because I keep exploring the sites I've subscribed to! After awhile that should change. I've added feeds from both sides of the political spectrum (Far Right & Far Left) because I think that the truth is somewhere in the "moderate" middle and that excellent points are made by speakers on both sides of the debate. Plus, sometimes stuff is just so loony and "out there" it becomes quite entertaining. I've also added some purely for fun things like a daily horoscope and daily cartoons.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Week 3 #7
Well, here's the last exercise for week 3. It's easier to tell the difference from the original photo when the image is larger. Interestingly, the original was blurrier than the altered photo. I used the textile special effect from pixer.us.
Week 3 #6
I'm back to my original opinion about Flickr... After looking at all the available tools I'm feeling overwhelmed. :-( That said, the tool that I find most interesting is Trippermap. One of our patrons does a lot and I mean a lot of traveling. I helped her create a powerpoint for a presentation she made at our branch about her trip to Morocco. I can't wait to show her this tool. It will be a lot of work, but she can post her favorite pics from all of her trips and create a map showing everywhere she's been. I also want to tell my good friends, who just completed a trip around the world on the QE II, about this tool.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Dallas Family sues Virgin Mobile over ad
There was an article in today's Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/5153037.html
Here is the first section of the story:
DALLAS — A Dallas family charges that Australia's Virgin Mobile phone company caused their teenage daughter grief and humiliation by plastering her photo on billboards and Web site advertisements without consent.
The family of Alison Chang says Virgin Mobile grabbed the picture from Flickr, Yahoo Inc.'s popular photo-sharing Web site.
Here is the first section of the story:
DALLAS — A Dallas family charges that Australia's Virgin Mobile phone company caused their teenage daughter grief and humiliation by plastering her photo on billboards and Web site advertisements without consent.
The family of Alison Chang says Virgin Mobile grabbed the picture from Flickr, Yahoo Inc.'s popular photo-sharing Web site.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
23 things what's easy / what's gonna be hard...
I think the blogging aspect of this is quite easy. I am having no trouble with this activity although I have to be sure to read the directions throughly so that I don't misunderstand what the content of my posts must include.
I think Flickr is going to be tough for me to use. I've tried online photo posting before and, in the past, the process has been counter-intuitive to me.
I think Flickr is going to be tough for me to use. I've tried online photo posting before and, in the past, the process has been counter-intuitive to me.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Thoughts on online safety...
It's funny that this is the first "real" topic we are musing about in our blogs.
Just last week, I scared my pilates instructor when I explained to her how easy it can be to find information about people online. I shared with her my strategy of changing my log-in name and associated e-mail addresses when I join groups or "sign up" for anything online. It can be a pain to keep track of the different user names and passwords but it helps keep details about my ENTIRE life from being a google search away. She had never thought about it and shared with me that she had used the same e-mail address for everything for years.
I told her to be sure to search her name in google's phonebook and to ask them to remove her phone # and address if it is listed. When one works with the public (as both she and I do) it is so easy to acquire "admirers" who see something more meaningful in a courteous and friendly business transaction than was intended.
On two occasions I have been found at my branch by old aquaintances who searched for my name online and found it because the organizers of several training conferences posted the names and workplaces of attendees to the internet. I was happy to hear from one of these people... the other not so much. Since I work with the public this is unavoidable but I can and do take steps to protect my private life.
Just last week, I scared my pilates instructor when I explained to her how easy it can be to find information about people online. I shared with her my strategy of changing my log-in name and associated e-mail addresses when I join groups or "sign up" for anything online. It can be a pain to keep track of the different user names and passwords but it helps keep details about my ENTIRE life from being a google search away. She had never thought about it and shared with me that she had used the same e-mail address for everything for years.
I told her to be sure to search her name in google's phonebook and to ask them to remove her phone # and address if it is listed. When one works with the public (as both she and I do) it is so easy to acquire "admirers" who see something more meaningful in a courteous and friendly business transaction than was intended.
On two occasions I have been found at my branch by old aquaintances who searched for my name online and found it because the organizers of several training conferences posted the names and workplaces of attendees to the internet. I was happy to hear from one of these people... the other not so much. Since I work with the public this is unavoidable but I can and do take steps to protect my private life.
First Post
Well here we are. Finding time to concentrate on this is not easy but it should be a good way to build discipline.
I think my biggest challenge will be a tendency to rush the process. I tend to get impatient and that means I sometimes don't read things thoroughly enough.
I think the easiest thing for me to do will be to take advantage of the opportunity to play.
I think my biggest challenge will be a tendency to rush the process. I tend to get impatient and that means I sometimes don't read things thoroughly enough.
I think the easiest thing for me to do will be to take advantage of the opportunity to play.
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