Thursday, September 13, 2007

#14 - Best of Web 2.0

I went to the music category and chose last.fm. In some sense it's scary what they can do - tell me things I might like based on what I listen to or download from the site, but on the other hand it's great. There's no way to keep up with all the artists out there, so getting other people to help and recommend is a good way to discover new musicians I might like. Again, there is the choice to just do your own thing or join the group and interact online with other people. That increases my comfort level. There's a wealth of information on artists, bands, schedules, and albums as well as the option to read what everyone else likes and why.

I think this is a great idea for any group of people who have a common interest - libraries included. The information sharing is great. Especially in a business environment, it is probably a good idea to have some instruction on how to post because it is easy to get a lot of useless information.
#13 - Online Productivity

I can Zoho's uses -for one it's free - for an individual. With the things I checked, I felt there was plenty of functionality in the Zoho (even some neat stuff), but I question if it is worth it in a work environment, especially one like ours where so many things need to be accessible to many people. It's not that complicated to export, but I see a huge learning curve in how documents are handled. Not something to be done lightly.
#12 - Customized Search Engines

I can see the use if I have a topic I use a lot, or a topic so common that there are hundreds of webpages relating to it. In those situations, this would be helpful. For example, the guitar chords searchroll is a great idea. Otherwise it seems to me that Google does a decent job of sorting.

http://www.rollyo.com/search.html?q=michigan+lighthouses&sid=314155
#11 - LibraryThing

I could play around this site for a loooong time. It is easy to use; I got the things I looked for near the top of the list, and I searched in different ways. When I did the book suggestion option, it did give me some things I have not read but know they are in the same vein as the books I put in my library. I think this could be a great site for readers to get ideas, but it's not necessarily a good reader's advisory tool for libraries because we get too many different kinds of requests. You can just use it simply for yourself or engage with the wider web world - it's good to have that choice.


http://www.librarything.com/catalog/avidnewsreader
#10 - Web 2.0 and libraries

I see a theme in the articles about librarians adapting to fast changes in order to better serve patrons. There is also a number of mentions of breaking down barriers for patrons, and I include our ability to understand that the library needs to be user-centered. I see our library and public libraries in general making more progress in working with these changes than academic libraries. Also, the public library will always have a social aspect to it - friends and acquaintances run into each other in the library (the third place idea).

We understand the need for teaching patrons how to get what they need; sometimes we lack the resources or do not allocate the resources to accomplish this, but librarians do it everyday one-on-one with patrons. We need to keep moving down the road of helping people learn the technology they need. I believe patrons are generally happy to learn how to do things themselves. Think of where we started with the online catalog and where we are now with it - people place holds, pick them up, check them out on the self check and never interact with a library staff member. Is this good or bad? I don't think it matters because it just is.

We do a decent job of providing a balance of options, where people who want to can work with us and if they don't want to, they don't have to. Give evenybody what they want :)
#9 - Library Blogs

I think if I were more focused on a topic, this section would feel more helpful. Right now it feels overwhelming. There are so many options and so much information and searching produces massive numbers of hits. I think I need to work with them more, and I'll find the ones that suit me best. I didn't like the feel and look of Syndic8.com, but feedster and Technorati worked better for me. Going about it this way seems unnecessary as I have plenty of things on the blogline site without having to work very hard at it. Still, it is always interesting to see the multitude of options out there.
#8 - RSS Feeds

The most challenging thing was figuring out how to make it public, but the actual creating of the blog wasn't bad. I haven't used blogs before, but this is a great way to gather all the sites I like to check in one place.

Cool stuff!

http://www.bloglines.com/public/avidnewsreader

#7 - Image Generators



Oh, the things you can do!

http://www.addletters.com/fridge-generator.htm

#6 - Mash-ups

This is a ton of fun, and I could spend many hours messing around with all this stuff - I am well on my way now! I see that a digital camera is crucial. I spent some time in the Trip Planner as I have one coming up. The useful thing is that all the information is right in front of you with ratings and links. I find it hard to let go of the books entirely, but I did find the Planner helpful as it has all aspects of the trip in one place. It does have everything the books talk about too. Sometimes I find restaurant recommendations are few in the travel books, and the Trip Planner has many.
#5 - Photo Sharing. Not too much trouble with this one, although sometimes when I click to do something, I get the "page cannot display" page and I'm not sure if it worked.
#4 - Register your blog

I need to know what a mash-up is because it's a great name for something. Potatoes? Cars? Beer ingredient?

Step 3!

#3 - 7 1/2 habits

Most challenging: choosing something - there are so many choices!
Least challenging: finding resources

It begins. Not too bad so far, but I'm sure more coffee is necessary!