I usually like to complain about things but I have to admit that my only problem with 23 Things was in finding the time to work on it. Other than that, I had a ball.
I would highly recommend that other programs of this sort be developed and implemented. Our staffs are all over the map when it comes to technology - from technophobes to propeller heads. With 23 Things, I believe, we were presented with something useful and approachable to both extremes.
I could write several pages to address the other questions in exercise number 23. However, if you glance down the list of the blog postings that I've made, you will notice that I already have. So I'll wrap it up here. Thank you very much.
Friday, November 2, 2007
#22 Downloadable Audiobooks
I established accounts to Overdrive and NetLibrary/Recorded Books a couple of years ago and have actually done online selection for Overdrive on several occasions. In 2005 I also bought myself an MP3 player and switched from listening to audiobooks on CD Rom to downloadable audiobooks when I bought it. So I'm the rare instance of someone who has a lot of experience with these things.
Actually, I think in five or ten years, downloadable audiobooks will entirely replace books on CD. It will take some time, though. The technology works but it is still clunky and confusing.
Actually, I think in five or ten years, downloadable audiobooks will entirely replace books on CD. It will take some time, though. The technology works but it is still clunky and confusing.
#21 Podcasts
I looked at the podcast directories and selected an RSS feed from the PodcastAlley.com directory - their top 10 podcasts feed. I then subscribed to it via Bloglines.
However sometimes the way you respond to the, " What did you find that was most useful here?" kind of question is to say that you learned that something might not necessarily be very useful.
For library purposes I'm a bit dubious about podcasts. Audio visual production is not really our business and (except for the occasional director's message type podcast on our website) I doubt we could do it well without taking too much in the way of time and resources from things that have a higher priority.
However, I'd love to find an outside vendor that would (at a reasonable price) produce these things for libraries and let libraries brand them as their own. Booktalk podcasts, storytime podcasts, tutorial podcasts, etc. all could be enormously useful if we could subscribe to a service that would produce them for libraries.
However sometimes the way you respond to the, " What did you find that was most useful here?" kind of question is to say that you learned that something might not necessarily be very useful.
For library purposes I'm a bit dubious about podcasts. Audio visual production is not really our business and (except for the occasional director's message type podcast on our website) I doubt we could do it well without taking too much in the way of time and resources from things that have a higher priority.
However, I'd love to find an outside vendor that would (at a reasonable price) produce these things for libraries and let libraries brand them as their own. Booktalk podcasts, storytime podcasts, tutorial podcasts, etc. all could be enormously useful if we could subscribe to a service that would produce them for libraries.
#20 YouTube
I LOVE YouTube. Last year I was buying opera DVDs and was able to use it to look over operas (though not particular performances) to see if they were good enough to be worth buying. I do have to admit that I often found myself doing more looking than buying.
I've included two clips below. They're from the Russian version of War and Peace. This film was made about forty years ago but it still looks spectacular. The clips I've included are two parts of one battle - a rearguard action fought in 1805, shortly before the great French victory at Austerlitz.
As for library uses just for starters tutorials come to mind, along with book talks.
I've included two clips below. They're from the Russian version of War and Peace. This film was made about forty years ago but it still looks spectacular. The clips I've included are two parts of one battle - a rearguard action fought in 1805, shortly before the great French victory at Austerlitz.
As for library uses just for starters tutorials come to mind, along with book talks.
#19 The Web 2.9 Awards List
This was a dangerous question. I could spend something like the next year playing with this stuff.
Just to move things along, though, I got arbitrary and looked at a service called www.yelp.com. This site is billed as "the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what's great -and not so great- in your area."
Well, not my area. It's a new service and it is clearly based in California. How can I tell?
The service gives you a hint. Something like 75 California cities are profiled compared to one (Baltimore) in Maryland. So, if you want to find information about Albany, it better be the Albany that's in California. The Albany in New York is nowhere to be found.
On the other hand, I was in Albany, New York, a few years back. I had pneumonia at the time and had to drive about seven hours to get there. Looking around when I arrived at my destination, I realized that having pneumonia would probably be the high point of the trip.
Anyway, to get back to what I'm supposed to be talking about, yelp looks like a fairly good piece of directory software. It arrests all the usual suspects - restaurants, hotels, shopping, etc. - plus some less usual (but still common enough) suspects such as education. Unfortunately I didn't see libraries listed in the education category but I was able to do a search in the directory's search window. When I did, Enoch Pratt popped up pretty quickly.
The role of a service like yelp as far as libraries are concerned is, at the very least, to make sure they are included in the local yelp directory. Also, though, if yelp ever decided that (even though it isn't in California) Howard County is worth a directory, this could be an extremely useful source of local directory information. Of course, the big search engines are already pretty good at providing local directory information but, as they say, the more the merrier.
Just to move things along, though, I got arbitrary and looked at a service called www.yelp.com. This site is billed as "the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what's great -and not so great- in your area."
Well, not my area. It's a new service and it is clearly based in California. How can I tell?
The service gives you a hint. Something like 75 California cities are profiled compared to one (Baltimore) in Maryland. So, if you want to find information about Albany, it better be the Albany that's in California. The Albany in New York is nowhere to be found.
On the other hand, I was in Albany, New York, a few years back. I had pneumonia at the time and had to drive about seven hours to get there. Looking around when I arrived at my destination, I realized that having pneumonia would probably be the high point of the trip.
Anyway, to get back to what I'm supposed to be talking about, yelp looks like a fairly good piece of directory software. It arrests all the usual suspects - restaurants, hotels, shopping, etc. - plus some less usual (but still common enough) suspects such as education. Unfortunately I didn't see libraries listed in the education category but I was able to do a search in the directory's search window. When I did, Enoch Pratt popped up pretty quickly.
The role of a service like yelp as far as libraries are concerned is, at the very least, to make sure they are included in the local yelp directory. Also, though, if yelp ever decided that (even though it isn't in California) Howard County is worth a directory, this could be an extremely useful source of local directory information. Of course, the big search engines are already pretty good at providing local directory information but, as they say, the more the merrier.
# 18 Online Productivity Tools
I could just as easily write this blog post directly onto my blog. Just for form's sake, though, I'm going to write it in Zoho Writer. I'm not going to be stupid about it, though. Since I want to finish 23 Things sometime in the current century, I'm just going to write it in Zoho and then cut and paste it into my blog (Note - I tried this after finishing this and it didn't work too well. Turned out that I needed to export what I had written and then cut and paste it.)
The above wasn't a complaint about 23 Things, by the way. The program is an absolute blast. I do have other things that need doing, though, and need some time to devote to them.
So anyway, just in case I don't have enough accounts in enough web based services, I established a Zoho writer account and started writing this missive.
In the course of writing I fiddled with a few of the program's features. It all seems pretty straightforward. Still, I'd be reluctant to use this program if I had any other options. Web services can be absolutely wonderful but they have a bad habit of being here today and gone tomorrow. Who needs to wake up some day in November of the year 2017 and discover that ten years of correspondence has just disappeared?
The above wasn't a complaint about 23 Things, by the way. The program is an absolute blast. I do have other things that need doing, though, and need some time to devote to them.
So anyway, just in case I don't have enough accounts in enough web based services, I established a Zoho writer account and started writing this missive.
In the course of writing I fiddled with a few of the program's features. It all seems pretty straightforward. Still, I'd be reluctant to use this program if I had any other options. Web services can be absolutely wonderful but they have a bad habit of being here today and gone tomorrow. Who needs to wake up some day in November of the year 2017 and discover that ten years of correspondence has just disappeared?
#17 Add an entry to the Sandbox Wiki
First I did what I was told and created an account in the Sandbox Wiki. Does anybody have any notion of how many accounts to how many services this 23 Things program has caused us to establish?
Then I added my blog to the "favorite blogs" list, which seems kind of dishonest since it absolutely is not one of my favorite blogs. Orders is orders, though.
Then I added my blog to the "favorite blogs" list, which seems kind of dishonest since it absolutely is not one of my favorite blogs. Orders is orders, though.
# 16 Wikis
I love Wikipedia and use it all the time. That's not to say that it doesn't need to be used with a good deal of care. It is to say that for a lot of routine information it is a useful, reliable, and (most important) massively comprehensive resource.
Other wikis I've seen also have their uses, even library wikis. For instance, I could easily see the Howard County Library and the Howard County Historical Society collaborating on a wiki that focuses on the history of Howard County.
However, there is a catch.
Anybody who sets up a wiki has to look beyond how cool the end product can be and take a cold hard look at how much work is involved in creating and maintaining a wiki.
A good rule of thumb is to set up wikis when you're going to have to do the work anyway. For instance most libraries need a staff procedures manual. Since you need this anyway a wiki is a good way to create it. Once created, it is also much easier to update and disseminate than a paper manual could ever hope to be.
Another catch, though. Make sure you always keep and disseminate a paper based manual that will tell you what to do when the computers go down.
Other wikis I've seen also have their uses, even library wikis. For instance, I could easily see the Howard County Library and the Howard County Historical Society collaborating on a wiki that focuses on the history of Howard County.
However, there is a catch.
Anybody who sets up a wiki has to look beyond how cool the end product can be and take a cold hard look at how much work is involved in creating and maintaining a wiki.
A good rule of thumb is to set up wikis when you're going to have to do the work anyway. For instance most libraries need a staff procedures manual. Since you need this anyway a wiki is a good way to create it. Once created, it is also much easier to update and disseminate than a paper manual could ever hope to be.
Another catch, though. Make sure you always keep and disseminate a paper based manual that will tell you what to do when the computers go down.
#15 Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0...
I read Away from the “icebergs” and Into a new world of librarianship and took a quick glance at the others.
They're all about what Web 2.0 is, what this new iteration of the web will mean and how librarians need to adapt to the changes we see around us.
As far as it goes, this is all very good. The catch is that we are now in the very early stages of what will probably be the wildest professional roller coaster ride of our lifetimes.
Each of the writings in this group of writings tries to nudge in the "right" direction. The observations they make and the advice they give are useful. The catch is that none of us knows our ultimate destination - including the writers of these articles, You cannot really know "the way" unless you know where you are planning to go. Still, you've got to start somewhere and these articles are helpful as far as they go.
The web, including Web 2.0 is a profoundly transformative technology. It's up there with the invention of printing and the development of the steam engine. Can you imagine that, when people were tinkering with the earliest steam engines back in the 18th Century, they had any way of imagining a civilization run by electricity that is generated by steam turbines?
They hadn't a clue - and neither do we.
Transformative technologies create new industries and institutions. They also destroy old ones. Will libraries as we know them survive what's coming? Not a chance. Will libraries, vastly changed by the new technologies, survive at all? Interesting question.
They're all about what Web 2.0 is, what this new iteration of the web will mean and how librarians need to adapt to the changes we see around us.
As far as it goes, this is all very good. The catch is that we are now in the very early stages of what will probably be the wildest professional roller coaster ride of our lifetimes.
Each of the writings in this group of writings tries to nudge in the "right" direction. The observations they make and the advice they give are useful. The catch is that none of us knows our ultimate destination - including the writers of these articles, You cannot really know "the way" unless you know where you are planning to go. Still, you've got to start somewhere and these articles are helpful as far as they go.
The web, including Web 2.0 is a profoundly transformative technology. It's up there with the invention of printing and the development of the steam engine. Can you imagine that, when people were tinkering with the earliest steam engines back in the 18th Century, they had any way of imagining a civilization run by electricity that is generated by steam turbines?
They hadn't a clue - and neither do we.
Transformative technologies create new industries and institutions. They also destroy old ones. Will libraries as we know them survive what's coming? Not a chance. Will libraries, vastly changed by the new technologies, survive at all? Interesting question.
#14 Discover Technorati
I started my search for Learning 2.0 with the typical boneheaded Google approach. I put Learning 2.0 in the search window. Bad idea. I got well over 5,000 hits. Though a scattering of them were on target I pulled up more junk than I wanted.
Then I put Learning 2.0 in quotations marks. The results were much better - only 400 plus hits - and many of them mentioned (and even linked to) Learning 2.0. Finally I added the word "Maryland." My results here were actually too narrowly focused, since I only located a few blogs that contained links to Learning 2.0.
I then went into the Advanced Search mode and put Learning 2.0 into the Tag Search Box. I got about 625 hits. I did pick up a fair amount of junk. On the other hand, I also picked up a bunch of videos which (I am sure) I would never have located without tags.
A Blog Directory search raised the number of hits to nearly 750, though the quality of the hits was erratic.
When I went on to look at the Top Favorited Blogs, it was interesting to note that intellectual navel contemplating seemed to be a common thread running through them. Most seemed to address the interests of techno dweebs.
Looking at Top Searches, I found that few of them interested me. That's not surprising, actually. The whole thrust of the web is to satisfy the interests and needs of countless millions of people niche audience by niche audience. So a top search can be a top search without needing the ratings of a top network television show.
As for Top Blogs, some are favorites of mine and have been for a long time. Most I've never heard of.
Then I put Learning 2.0 in quotations marks. The results were much better - only 400 plus hits - and many of them mentioned (and even linked to) Learning 2.0. Finally I added the word "Maryland." My results here were actually too narrowly focused, since I only located a few blogs that contained links to Learning 2.0.
I then went into the Advanced Search mode and put Learning 2.0 into the Tag Search Box. I got about 625 hits. I did pick up a fair amount of junk. On the other hand, I also picked up a bunch of videos which (I am sure) I would never have located without tags.
A Blog Directory search raised the number of hits to nearly 750, though the quality of the hits was erratic.
When I went on to look at the Top Favorited Blogs, it was interesting to note that intellectual navel contemplating seemed to be a common thread running through them. Most seemed to address the interests of techno dweebs.
Looking at Top Searches, I found that few of them interested me. That's not surprising, actually. The whole thrust of the web is to satisfy the interests and needs of countless millions of people niche audience by niche audience. So a top search can be a top search without needing the ratings of a top network television show.
As for Top Blogs, some are favorites of mine and have been for a long time. Most I've never heard of.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
#13 del.icio.us
I started to set up an account with this tool but (breaking the rules) I did this exercise from home and wanted to go through the button setup phase on my work machine rather than my home machine. Some of these programs only let you do a setup in one place. So it is best to do the setup in the place where it will be most needed.
Anyway, this is a tool that I SERIOUSLY LIKE.
Is this why:
"Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?"
To a point, you bet! Having all your bookmarks at your fingertips is a little bit more than "just an easy way...." For instance, this tool gives you an easy way to get a new computer without risking the loss of all your bookmarks in the process of switching machines.
More important from the Howard County Library standpoint, each information desk in the system has a collection of bookmarks - relatively few of which are shared. Not only are they not shared from branch to branch. It can be iffy that they will even be shared by information desk machines that sit two feet away from each other. del.icio.us gives us a WONDERFUL way of making sure that all the nifty stuff a branch manager (or other august personage) wants his/her staff to have at their fingertips will actually be at their fingertips.
Anyway, this is a tool that I SERIOUSLY LIKE.
Is this why:
"Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?"
To a point, you bet! Having all your bookmarks at your fingertips is a little bit more than "just an easy way...." For instance, this tool gives you an easy way to get a new computer without risking the loss of all your bookmarks in the process of switching machines.
More important from the Howard County Library standpoint, each information desk in the system has a collection of bookmarks - relatively few of which are shared. Not only are they not shared from branch to branch. It can be iffy that they will even be shared by information desk machines that sit two feet away from each other. del.icio.us gives us a WONDERFUL way of making sure that all the nifty stuff a branch manager (or other august personage) wants his/her staff to have at their fingertips will actually be at their fingertips.
#12 - Rollyo
While I have known for years that institutions could make use of commercial search engines to search their own web sites, this one was a new one for me.
It should be extremely useful. At work, I can use it (in some cases) to group vendors together and search their products. At home, I can search a group of my favorite cabinetry sites all at the same time. This is the Rollyo search roll I created. It's called Wood Finishes Tools and is located at:
http://rollyo.com/mchughj/wood_finishes_tools/
It should be extremely useful. At work, I can use it (in some cases) to group vendors together and search their products. At home, I can search a group of my favorite cabinetry sites all at the same time. This is the Rollyo search roll I created. It's called Wood Finishes Tools and is located at:
http://rollyo.com/mchughj/wood_finishes_tools/
#11 Library Thing
I learned about the Library Thing this past spring. It's got it's uses. In particular I'd love to be able to see library users supplement our LC Subject Headings in the online catalog with tags. Hopefully, when Koha comes up they will be able to do this - eventually, if not immediately.
Anyway, I set up a Library Thing account and stuck the first five books I could think of into it, adding a bunch of tags for each. Here is the URL:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mchughj
Anyway, I set up a Library Thing account and stuck the first five books I could think of into it, adding a bunch of tags for each. Here is the URL:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mchughj
#10 - Image Generators
This was a new one on me. The only thing that puzzles me about it is why our employers ever let us see these things. Don't they ever want to get any work out of us?
Anyway, I played with the magazine cover image generator at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/magazine.php. What I generated was a magazine with myself and my wife Linda on the cover. It was taken at Evening in the Stacks - just last winter, I believe.
#9 Son of RSS Feeds
I started this section by playing around with the Bloglines feed search. I searched for feeds on the current rivalry between the Airbus A380 and the Boeing Dreamliner, found what I was looking for, and subscribed to them. I did the same for Feedster, Topix,Syndic8 (which seemed a bit cryptic for my tastes) and Technorati. Interestingly in most of them I found an interesting item titled, Airline bans A380 mile-high club and/or Singapore Airlines Forbids Passengers From Doing Hanky Panky In Their New A380 Planes Who says computers are dull?
Finally, I subscribed to the Merlin RSS feed. It was a piece of cake to do so.
Finally, I subscribed to the Merlin RSS feed. It was a piece of cake to do so.
# 8 - RSS feeds
I've dealt with RSS feeds before, when they became an AquaBrowser feature. They were useful for getting notification that one of my wife's favorite authors had just written a new book and that the library had placed it on order.
Once I set up my account I set up a feed with a political blog I rather like to look at. It's written by an old curmudgeon - in other words, a person I can identify with. I also set up feeds from three of my fellow staffers. These shall remain nameless.
As for the "select three from below" part of the assignment, I subscribed to the Unshelved Librarian feed, one graphic novel reviews feed from Library Journal and two graphic novels feeds (one adult and one teen) from the Reader's Club. Since I'm buying graphic novels these days, these should prove quite useful.
Once I set up my account I set up a feed with a political blog I rather like to look at. It's written by an old curmudgeon - in other words, a person I can identify with. I also set up feeds from three of my fellow staffers. These shall remain nameless.
As for the "select three from below" part of the assignment, I subscribed to the Unshelved Librarian feed, one graphic novel reviews feed from Library Journal and two graphic novels feeds (one adult and one teen) from the Reader's Club. Since I'm buying graphic novels these days, these should prove quite useful.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)