Thing # 7: Anything Technology

Ok, this is the easy one. The only trick was figuring out which bit of technology in my life I wanted to write about. I guess I'll go with my new computer. My old PC just wouldn't play the games I wanted it to, so I started the long search online for something I could actually afford. I finally found a refurbished model for about $300 with a good processor and motherboard, and enough other bits and pieces to get me started. But it didn't stay in its original form for too long, as I cannibalized my old CPUs and created a franken-puter which will hopefully last me for a few years to come. I cracked open my old PCs and tore out a few sticks of RAM, a graphics card, a DVD ROM, and a DVD burner. Getting all of these new bits working together and happy was quite the chore. My computer still has some problems playing videos. But largely things are cruising along now, and I can play a number of games I couldn't have access to before. The fact I went to so much effort for games is proof that I am, in fact, a dork.

Thing # 17: 2.0 Sandbox

This was another activity that I completed but never bothered to blog about. Man, I'm lazy! Anyway I found it kinda fun and light, obviously not anything serious, but it did show how the wiki process would work. I see, you made us learn something while we had fun. Very sneaky. But yeah, it was nice to see everyone's favorite foods and books and what not, and be able to add to that list. Just an enjoyable little exercise.

Thing # 9: MERLIN

Oh yeah. Now I remember why I never blogged about this, even after I did all the work. It was boring. Real boring. We had already worked with RSS feeds and I had explored many of the options for locating feeds in previous Things. Merlin didn't offer a whole lot in the way of interesting content, although I could see it being a great resource in terms of local librarians being able to communicate and share resources. With some more content added, it certainly has potential.

Thing #23: Summin' it up

I currently can't really feel too much of a sense of accomplishment over the fact that I'm finally working on the final Thing. I know that after #23 is written, I'll have to go back and fix several blogs that I didn't do properly, or maybe that I did the work for but never actually blogged about. So there's still work to go. With that said, it's still nice to know that I've finally managed to work my way to the end. This project certainly offered more challenges than I had anticipated. I went into my first Thing with an undeserved sense of arrogance, thinking that the internet couldn't possibly hold any real surprises for me and I'd breeze right through. In alot of cases, this was true, but along the way I found some Things that confounded and perplexed me, and others that were unexpectedly fun and fresh. I'm pleased with alot of my progress, especially today when I decided to add a few RSS feeds (previously quite the challenge) and had no trouble at all. This is juxtaposed with yesterday when it took me 2 hours to get a YouTube video posted into my blog. The 23 Things were a mixed bag of fun, boredom, challenge, and ease. Somewhere around thing 10 or 11, I totally burned out. I had done several Things in a row that just bored me senseless and I didn't even look at my blog again for several weeks. But upon my return, there were some fun exercises awaiting me and I'm glad for the experience.
I can't say that I'd really be eager to do a program like 23 Things again. It presented far more challenge and a much greater investment of time than I had originally expected. I would have thought I'd be finished months ago, but even after today I'm sure I'll be making corrections and additions. But this is the kind of work that really will be important as libraries become more and more technologically dependant. Gone are the days of us being able to rely on our reference books to "completely answer" a question. These days we have to at least have a working knowledge of many of the online components of our patron's lives. I'm not sure how many of these Things will continue to be popular in years to come and how many will be eclipsed by new and better programs, but at least now I have a firmer grasp of which direction the internet is headed.

Thing #22: Online Books

Luckily this was a resource I had already experimented with a few years ago when I first started dealing with the online sources for downloadable books. Going back and looking at the sites again made me reaffirm my initial conception that this was a very neat idea that would inevitably catch on. I'm just not sure that its time has yet come. While it's very convenient to have the availability to easily download an audio book from home, the selection still isn't terrific. This is a frustrating situation though, as the service isn't popular due to the lack of titles, and they can't afford to get more titles unless the service is popular. I'm sure in time this dilemma will be resolved. However the problem also exists that some of the files are very large, and would take a significant amount of time to download, even with a fast connection. Then of course only part of the book will fit onto most portable devices, requiring the patron to listen to the book in chunks rather than being able to put the whole item onto their device. Of course they could always sit at their computer to listen to the complete work, but that just sounds dreadful. I really do think this is a service that will be quite popular in the future, once all of the technological quirks are moved past. As things stand, it's only now starting to be convenient for those who can afford the fast internet connection and portable device necessary to make it practical.

Thing #21: Locating Podcasts

Well my ignorance was quickly and brutally exposed when I began work on this Thing. For as long as I've heard the word "podcast" I thought that a podcast was an audio file available online for those who owned an IPod. Not owning one myself, I totally ignored every mention of a podcast as soon as it entered my ears. Well, I guess that was silly. Armed with the knowledge that I could actually make use of these resources, I eagerly began to explore the various podcasting directory sites that were suggested. At first I was a bit disappointed. I had hoped to find podcasts from some of my favorite political commentators, but came up empty. Discouraged, I continued looking and was pleased to find podcasts dealing with some of my favorite topics. I was interested to see the ways in which different directories organized their listings. Happily, each method was familiar from other online directories, and I was pleased that they decided to use tried and true methods rather than experimenting with untested and needlessly complex organizational schemes.

Thing #20: YouTube

I've had some experience in the past with youtube, so I went into this Thing thinking that it would just be a casual stroll around the site to find some new videos and refresh my memory about the various features that were offered. And so it was, until the time came to post a video of my choice to my blog. I'll come back to that.
YouTube really does offer a great selection of videos. Of course most of them are quite dumb, or poorly filmed, or too short, or too long. Putting it bluntly, most of the content is junk. But for virtually any topic you could think of, there are some really great gems to be found. This is really true of the internet as a whole. If you have the time and skill to pan through raging rivers of crap, there's gold to be found.
Such was the case for me today when I found a very nicely done video of an emperor scorpion eating what appears to be a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. This was quite an interesting video for me (i have a sweet lil' scorpion of my own at home) since it's rare to see such clear footage of a scorpion as it feeds. They tend to be reclusive and like to enjoy their meals in secluded areas. This video was just great though. The picture was clear and there were interesting facts interspersed with the footage for those new to the species.
However, getting this video to load into my blog proved to be quite a chore. After struggling with it for about an hour, I enlisted the help of 2 fellow librarians (who had already made it work on their own blogs) and they couldn't remember how it was done either. I finally made it work, but it seems that all 3 of us stumbled across the correct steps on our own, without the process being clearly laid out for us. There should really be a better set of instructions for this. But, now that I've done it once, I imagine that I'll be able to do it in the future. Then again...

Scorpion Science

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards

Ok, so I might have cheated a bit on this one. When I initially looked at the categories for the awards, my heart sunk. Business, marketing, and networking are not my favorite things and I anticipated a long dull session of trying to force myself to be interested in a topic that bored me. Then I found the "games" heading. Hot damn. I was pretty happy. The top award winner was a site called arcaplay, and it was great. The site features games that are played in flash, and some of them are strangely addictive for such simple programs. Granted these gaming sites are purely for pleasure and seem to hold very little in the way of help for productivity, but that's not really a bad thing. So much of our 23 Things have focussed on how to use the internet more effectively as a tool. That's all fine, but I'm glad to have found a good site that will help me during the down time. I'm often looking for a simple game to play to help me relax, and this provides me with nearly limitless options. I've found alot of gaming sites in the past that were disappointing, but finally the web 2.0 awards seem to have pointed me in the right directions.

Thing #18: Zoho Writer

I really very high hopes for this "Thing" as Microsoft Word is a terrible program and I was eager to see something better. Sadly that didn't happen. Zoho's screen is small and cramped, the icons aren't easy to identify instinctively, and navigation is a bit awkward. Plus I wasn't allowed to type in Times New Roman 12 pt font. I could use that font or that size, but not both together. If I were in high school, where that was the only acceptable style and size to use, I'd have been totally out of luck. Even after logging out and going back in, this problem wasn't truly fixed. I could use the typeset I wanted, but random elements of the page flashed into and out of existence with each letter I typed. I would have been on the floor with a seizure if I had actually been forced to type a full document. My word processing woes seem to continue. I guess I'm doomed to live out my days without a program that will simply do exactly what I tell it, without guessing about my formatting preferences, denying me the ability to use the font of my choosing, or harrassing me with a winking talking paper clip.

Thing #16: Wikis

I first encountered wikis while working at the reference desk of an academic library. Initially, I absolutely despised the idea, as it provided a false sense of authority to articles that could be complete bunk (such as can be said for the internet as a whole, I guess). I frequently heard students (these were college students keep in mind) say that wikipedia must be accurate because it was just like an online encyclopedia. The similar names meant that veracity must also be similar. This was several years ago, and since then the general public's knowledge of wikis has improved, but also it seems to me the content available has also come a long way. From my initial distaste for the concept, I now frequently find myself happily finding information on wikipedia. I usually only use the site to satisfy personal curiosity on a topic, and would still never point a student towards it as a resource for school. But still, it seems that the quality of writing and the accuracy in place has truly made great strides. I now enjoy them (wikipedia specifically) a great deal and often use the site when I seek an answer simply for my own edification. I guess the way I look at it at this point is as a kind of online encyclopedia specifically for odd topics. I'll often look up a character from a book, movie, or comic and find where fans have researched every appearance of that figure, read interviews with the creators, and really provided a nice bit of background information that would have otherwise taken significant leg work to track down. So as I said, great for personal curiosity, not so good for scholarly research.

I looked at some of the suggested wikis and wasn't too sure about the purpose of the sites. The Book Lover's Wiki just seemed like a review site, which we've already seen throughout the 23 things. The Bull Run Library wiki just seems like a crummy web page. It's not so much a true wiki, so much as it is (the site admits) just a place on the internet where one patron updates info about programs and the library. I think the concept of wikis has alot of potential, but there is still quite a bit of thought necessary as to how they should be properly employed in our profession. Just how they'll influence libraries in the future remains to be seen.

Thing #15: Library 2.0

I read through the top two of the suggested articles, and quickly realized that there were issues I wanted to address, so it seemed logical to simply go ahead and blog on those before continuing on with my reading. In the "iceberg" article, the section on user education struck me. I completely understand the author's attitude that we need to make information more accessible to the general public, since it would be virtually impossible for us to train every patron on the proper formation of a precise Boolean search string. At the same time, I fear for our society. A large part of me wonders why we shouldn't expect (or at least hope for) the majority of users to be able to make use of library resources. Far too often, I'm asked by patrons what the difference is between fiction and non-fiction. Or why can't we call a branch for them instead of "making" them use the book quick phone. Or I'll face yet another parent asking me for the shortest book possible so that their non-reading child can drift through their summer reading assignment. Yes, I understand that it is important for libraries to make our services accessible to patrons. But on another level, I rebel against our emergent culture of proud ignorance and unrepentant sloth. In some halcyon world, at least the library could remain as a bastion of academic honesty and intellectual effort. Our nation includes far too many universities where "The History of Baseball" and "Rock and Roll Appreciation" are honor's classes. It pains me to think that libraries would be just another link in the chain of society's intellectual devolution.

Thing # 14: Technorati

With the enormous number of blogs being registered each day, I can really see this site being of great value for those who want to locate blogs of worth. Having experience with myspace, I see the worthless blogs that are written every day. It takes a special kind of vanity to assume that the world cares about what kind of Pop Tart you had for breakfast. Luckily Technorati allows users to see which blogs are the most popular and which topics are most in demand. I was not really surprised to see that the most popular were focussed on either technology or politics. I do find myself reading political blogs on a fairly regular basis, and can see the appeal of technical blogs for those hoping to keep up with the constantly evolving world of electronics. I think that for those who seek the opinions and advice of bloggers, this site could be very useful.

Thing #13: Mmmm... Del.icio.us

The worst part of this "thing" was definitely the video posted from the Otter Group, describing what Delicious was and how it could be used. I'm sure the narrator is a fine woman, but she should never ever be allowed to speak again. Her voice is quite capable of putting a charging rhino into a coma. I'm not even sure what she talked about, I only seem to remember it being very very dull.
But once I was done yawning my way thru the presentation, I was quickly impressed with the site itself. I of course visisted the PLCMCL2 delicious page and was impressed with what I found. The categorical breakdown of their bookmarked sites made it very easy to see what items were found to be of value by the administrators, and some of it did seem to be quite useful. I was especially happy to see a "parent's guide to myspace" on the homepage, which is of course a current hot topic.
I'm sure there are some very silly delicious sites out there, but in the right hands, I can really see this being a useful tool.

(that's how i) Rollyo

I can see Rollyo.com being a handy site for those people who have specific information or entertainment needs and only want their answers from a certain set of trusted sites. Again, I really don't see myself using this site. The internet is vast, and while that can be daunting, I also don't want to limit my results severely by only requesting hits from a select group of sites. I'd rather make use of more complex boolean terms or more specific search strings in order to find precisely what I want.
I also wasn't sure how to link to my specific Rollyo searchroll. Going to rollyo.com allows me to log in, and at that point I have the option to search using my specific roll. But that url comes up as just being rollyo.com/index/html. The address doesn't come up as being specific to me. Oh well.

LibraryThing

At least this site was easy to use. It serves as an easy place to keep track of the books that you've read. There is even provided space to track how long it took you to read, how much you enjoyed it, and so on. I could see this being of use to some of our patrons who come in regularly and can't remember if they've read certain titles, or which authors they enjoy. Alternately, it's a fine way to see what books are favorites of those with similar taste. Sadly, I'm not really certain how I'll make use of LibraryThing after this program. I can't really say that this will be one of my go-to sites in the future. If you get the urge to check out my awesome page, on which I did the absolute bare minimum of work, head on over to http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=lupus706&shelf=list

Online image generators

Ok, these were fun. I started out the day being very frustrated the the "meez" site, because it just wouldn't load for me, and then when it finally did, everything I tried to do came up as an error. But now I've gone back to the exercise and tried a few more sites with much greater success. The Generator Blog had so many interesting places to visit. I really enjoyed playing around with those. The first I visited was the sketch generator, where you upload a photograph and it converts the image so it looks like a pencil sketch. After that, I tried the ASCII generator, which, again, converts images, but this time into a series of 0's, 1's, or whatever characters you choose. It's well worth checking out. The problem I encountered however was that there was no good way to save the converted image, or else I would have pasted one here for you to see. But it's well worth visiting at http://www.text-image.com/convert/ . Also be sure to check out the "pirate name generator", the "romance cover generator", and a favorite of mine for years... "The Wu Name Generator" for those of you who just have to feel a part of the Wu Tang Clan. Old Dirty Bastard... you'll be missed.

RSS Feeds

Well I sure did not enjoy this assignment. At first setting up the RSS feeds seemed simple. I visited Bloglines, made an account, and was able to find quite a few topics that were of interest to me. However, after selecting my topics of interest, I was informed that there weren't any RSS feeds available for those selections. Why would Bloglines include them as options if they wouldn't actually provide a feed? So in the end, I got only one of the feeds that I wanted and had to scour the net looking for more. It would have just been easier to go to each individual site that I wanted and read the most up to date news. I really didn't find this useful at all. I will continue to explore the options though, as I do know that some people have had great success with RSS feeds. I'll be sure to keep at it.

Flickr mashups

This was actually a very cool assignment. Flickr offered a number of different ways to play with photos, such as the movie poster or playing card or magazine cover. One application that appealed to me was one that did "beading". This allowed you to upload a picture, which would then be reformatted and displayed as a series of small colored "beads". Looking at these closely, it appears as a random series of dots. From a distance it takes form, and if you blur your eyes, the details are actually in place. Just amazing. I included one I created from a picture of a statue I've always liked "The Dying Gaul" from 3rd century BC Pergamum.

Flickr photos

Flickr actually had a large selection of images from Dumbarton Oaks, which is the first academic library at which I worked. It was a fantastic place in the heart of Georgetown, with acres of world class gardens and classically inspired statuary and stonework. In addition to housing one of the world's foremost Byzantine libraries, it's also home to 2 separate museums and an extensive pre-columbian library. It was the site of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, which laid the groundwork for the formation of the United Nations.

7.5 lifelong learning habits

It seems that one area that I need to work on while learning is patience. It was nearly impossible not to hit the fast forward button as the narrator for the " 7.5 things" spoke in her painfully slow, deliberate manner. Her calm, non regional dialect seemed more appropriate for a hypnotist's office than as a narrator. But in the end (in addition to thinking I'm a chicken) I feel that the learning habits could be a useful tool to use.
The hardest for me must be habit 3-- view problems as challenges. It's far too easy to feel overwhelmed as the enormity of a task looms ahead of you. Something like the summer reading club seemed like a task that could never be handled. So many problems would arise that it appeared as an impossible chore. But when each bump was taken by itself, a simple solution could often be found. It will be important for me to work in the future to ensure that I look for creative and effective solutions to problems, rather than allow myself to be overwhelmed.
I think two habits come easiest to me. The first is 6- use technology to your advantage. I graduated college in '02, and so the internet was already a vital tool during my collegiate career. But this can also provide a danger, as it becomes too easy to simply "Google" something rather than take the time to search out a more appropritate source. Technology can be a great help, but we also need to keep its limitations in mind.
The other habit I feel comfortable with is 7- teach/mentor others. As an academic librarian, part of my job was teaching Information Literacy classes to community college students. I also served as a teaching assistant for art history classes while in college. This process instilled in me a great love of passing on skills and knowledge to a willing audience. To this day I find it to be alot of fun to sit down with a person and empower them with the ability to use a database or find books on a library shelf, or even navigate the internet. The sharing of knowledge and skills can be a powerful interaction.

New blog

Wow, who'd have thought that picking a "handle" and name for a blog would be so hard. I just spent about 20 minutes of county time sitting at a desk and staring at the screen, totally flumoxed by what names and titles to use.
But I guess now I'm up and running and it's time to jump back to the 23 things page to see what's next. As long as it doesn't involve renaming myself, I think I'll be ok.