You Tube

I have a love/hate relationship with You Tube. I've seen some funny and fascinating videos (i.e. the video of the baby water buffalo escaping a double attack by a lion and an alligator), but I've also seen some of the most juvenile and idiotic bull$#@% being caught on film. You Tube can be a great tool if used properly, or it can also be a total waste of time.

The video I'm including is of a stunt successfully pulled off by the Improv Everywhere troupe in Grand Central Station. Check it out.

Just lost the Web 2.0 awards pool at work...

I explored some of the winners of the Web 2.0 Awards. First I looked at Mango Languages, a program that enables users to learn a language including Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. Considering Rosetta Stone has discontinued it's remote access to its language programs, this might be a potential program for library patrons to try.

I also tried out My Heritage, a genealogy program that allows users to create their family tree. It doesn't provide the detail that you can get from the paid packages such as Family Treemaker or Reunion, but it's a good starting point for the amateur genealogist who wants a visual aid for the information they're collecting.

There are new programs being developed everyday so it's important for librarians to keep on top of the latest technology that could be useful for patrons (especially if it's free).

Zoho? Is that a neighborhood in New York?

So this week we're working with "online productivity applications". These can include word processing or project management applications. Quite useful for anyone who doesn't want to pay a few hundred to buy the Microsoft software package. I'm currently typing this document using Zoho writer; two seconds to sign up and I'm good to go. It has a lot of the features I can find on my Microsoft Word document. Is this something we can use in the library? Certainly. I've had plenty of patrons complain about being unable to bring up their documents on our computers due to incompatible software. If they used something like Zoho they could easily sign-in, open their resume or angry letter to Comcast, and print. It's definitely something worth exploring.

Wikity Wikity Wikity Wack

This week in the exciting world of Web 2.0 we learned a little something about wikis. My knowledge of wikis has been limited to Wikipedia of which I've always been a little wary. The idea that Joe Blo can go online and add his "knowledge" of...I don't know...the Battle of Gettysburg led me to believe that it was not a reliable source.

However, I do see the advantages of wikis as a collaborative tool. I'm moving into a new place next month with my boyfriend and asked him if we could start a wiki. I can add links to websites for furniture stores, add lists of things we need to do before we move in, etc. It's an easy way to communicate on projects for work, school, and home.

I played around a little with our library's wiki and added my blog and my favorite book (Of Human Bondage...if you haven't read it, do it now). So it's pretty cool.

Exercising in the Mind Gym

Web 2.0 - It's many things to many people. What does it mean to you?

I honestly don't know how to answer that question. When I was in library school we often talked about Library 2.0. And we talked. And we talked. And we talked. So I'm a little weary of any phrases ending in "2.0". As a library patron I've seen some definite changes in my library...downloadable audio books, "Ask a Librarian" live chatting, federated searching capabilities of library databases. The library is no longer a building but a 24-hour information center. That is what Library 2.0 really means for me: easy access to information.

Still, I'd like to see more interaction between my library and the patrons; either a presence in Facebook or a blog where they can get feedback. A collaborative partnership between the library and its users would ensure its place in the community for years to come.

The Technorati Monster escaped again...

Today I explored the world of Technorati, the social networking site that has its finger on the pulse of the world's "citizen media" (i.e. the stuff you and I post on the Internet). The last time I checked out Technorati it was mostly a search engine for blogs. You just type in a subject term and were given a list of blogs relating to that term. Now it is tracking "112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media." Pretty impressive. You can search blogs, videos, photos, and much more. You can track the topics that are most popular right now ("Barney in Outer Space"...my God, is that stupid dinosaur still around?). Plus you can create your own account to make a list of your favorite items.

I didn't get to explore the site that much because they appear to be having technical difficulties this week (I imagine the Technorati monster as some Godzilla-like creature terrorizing the blogsophere). I was supposed to go to the advanced search and see which blogs were linking to our library's website. Snore. I had much more fun seeing which blogs were referring to my friends' websites. So this is a handy tool to see how your blog is fairing in the blogosphere. Hopefully I can become more familiar with this site once they get their act together.

Mmmm...Del.icio.us

So this week we're diving a little deeper into how social networking sites impact librarians. Our job is to find information and social networking sites have redefined how information is classified and how we search for it. Instead of working within structured systems like the Dewey Decimal System, anyone and everyone is able to attach any tag they want to photos, bookmarks, blog posts, etc. While there's a certain freedom in these folksonomies it makes our job considerably harder.

A good example of a social networking site that goes crazy with the personal tagging is del.icio.us which allows its users to share their favorite bookmarks. As anyone can see from my del.icio.us page, I'm a huge fan of this site. I discovered del.icio.us about two years ago when I was taking a class on Information Sources in Science and Technology and I had to participate in a group presentation on reference sources for mechanical engineers (here's a tip for current students in library school: learn to say 'no' when you have an overbearing partner who insists on choosing a boring topic). When we started we kept e-mailing each other links to different websites we could use for our bibliography. Naturally, I began to cringe when I opened my e-mail to see the subject line: "Just one more thing..." several times a day. I told my partner about this great site, called del.icio.us, where we could easily share bookmarks without using e-mail. This site is essential for any reference librarian. You can easily access your bookmarks from any computer and classify them according to various subjects. I have tags for science, arts and humanities, ready reference, etc. Another great feature is the ability to type little notes to make it easy for me to remember why I saved the bookmark in the first place.

In the end, social networking sites like del.icio.us make it easier for us to not only find information but connect to people who have similar interests. These people then connect us to information that we may not have been able to find on our own (or even through a well-intentioned librarian). Serendipity is truly the key that makes this all work and we need to learn to maneuver within this less-structured system.

Library Thing

I've been a member of Library Thing for over two years now. My current space is so small that I've had to store many books with relatives across the country. It was like giving my children up for adoption. Library Thing enabled me to catalog my books so I could keep track of where they're located. At least, that's how my account started. Now it's more of a psychological profile that demonstrates how my personality has transformed over the years; from new age books to explorations in physics, I've definitely gone through some growth spurts.

I did learn about an interesting feature. Library Thing provides a "local" tab that allows you to learn about book fairs, bookstores, and libraries in your area. I travel a lot and I love checking out libraries wherever I go, so this feature is especially handy for me.

Feel free to check out my catalog. And don't forget to add the library widget to your blog so we can all take a peek at what you're reading.

Image Generators

I told my boyfriend to tattoo my name on his knuckles or else! Just kidding. Today we're playing with image generators. I went to Austin Skate Notes and found this knuckle tattoo image generator.