Fun for Halloween

Fun little game for Halloween.

Week 8: #18 The Social Web

Visit my family

Join the Dogster community

I've been checking out some social networking sites recently. I can't say I'm overly enamored of them, but they are interesting. Honestly, I think a lot of it is I'm just out of the age range it really appeals to. What I have found is the niche sites are more appealing to me. I love Dogster & Catster - all of my dogs and cats have their own page and friends.

LinkedIn is interesting as it is business oriented. It looks like it might be a great way to network with people. I've been on it for a couple months - someone invited me to join. I like that you can tie in with current and past work colleagues and other people who might "relate" to you.

Of the big services, I honestly can't stand MySpace. Many of the spaces I've seen are just plain gaudy and it just doesn't appeal to me. Again, I think I'm too old.

Facebook, on the other hand, I've been fiddling with for about a month. I do find it appealing and could see it being potentially useful at work. Groups are still new to me, but it might be useful for some projects. I say this because I wish Ning worked at the library. It's a way to form your own social network, but we have yet to make it work in the library.

I do think Social Networking is something all libraries need to pay attention to. I don't think it's going away any time soon, it's simply too popular and a new way for people to communicate. Using proper safety measures, it can be a safe experience. That's one of the reasons I like trying it out with Dogster or Catster. Your dogs and cats are on stage, rather than you.

Week 7: #17 Looking Back at Technology

Since I'm generally knee deep in technology, I thought I'd talk a little about how I got to where I am in terms of technology. I am not a digital native, I'm just a bit too old (36) to have grown up with computers, although I had access at various times. When I was in elementary school, my best friend Cheryl had an Atari computer. Her mom used to type in programs she found in books and record them to cassette tape. We played games on the computer, but that was about it.

At home we had a TI99-4A, which hooked up to the TV. Again, just played games. When I was about 13, we bought an IBM PC jr. Frankly, it was too difficult to use, so we just didn't do much with it except use it for a word processor.

In high school and then in college, rather than use the computer to type papers, I used a typewriter, because...I was afraid of computers. I know, that may be a bit hard to believe now, but I really was. It took needing to write a resume in my 3rd year of college to get me on a computer in the library's computer lab. I had to have a friend of mine show me how to use WordPerfect (in DOS). After that, I wrote the rest of my papers using a computer, because it was a lot easier.

My point is, that anyone can learn. I am advanced in terms of technology now, but this wasn't always the case.

Week 7: #16 Wiki Space

So I added a couple of favorite books and restaurants. Since I set up the Wiki initially, I figured I could get by with that. I used a Wiki previously for a project I worked on for TLA's ATRT committee. I found that it was a great way to do collaborative work with people spread out around Texas.

We're exploring the use of Wikis in the eBranch. We'd like to see about changing the links section of the website over to a Wiki and also perhaps Harriet. If we do so, it probably won't be quite so open.

Information R/evolution

Michael Wesch, who also did the amazing The Machine is Using Us video, has come out with a new video called Information R/evolution, which I think ties many of the things we have been doing with iHCPL together. It gives a good explanation of how information is now coming to us rather than us seeking out the information that online, information is not limited to shelves but can be "put" in numerous different places. Well worth a look.



Link via the Shifted Librarian.

DIY Fairy Wings

This is a cool video I came across. I have some fairy wings I bought a few years ago for Halloween, but don't really like them. Perhaps I'll try these at some point, although this year I'm going as a witch.

Mr. Jefferson on LibraryThing

How cool is this? Thomas Jefferson is on LibraryThing, or at least his library is. I have long admired Mr. Jefferson since he founded the University of Virginia, my Alma Mater.

Grace Notes in Neon

Found this through the Generator blog. It's actually a company that makes neon signs, and you can preview your text in a variety of sign formats. I thought the snorting bull was appropriate for Texas.

Librarian Hell

One of my favorite online comics is Savage Chickens. I subscribe to it through Bloglines. The guy who writes it does one comic a day on a Post-it-Note featuring chickens. He has done a couple of library oriented strips. The strip for Thursday 10/18

Week 6: #15 The Future of Libraries & the Web

I have read a lot about Web 2.0 & Library 2.0 prior to iHCPL and fell that I have fully embraced both concepts. I really liked the iceberg article. I think Anderson makes some good points. One of the things that we're doing with iHCPL is training our customers as well as our staff, which I think is what we need to do more of. While we need to learn these tools, our customers do as well. We also need to go to them. In a Web 2.0 sense this is using social tools such as Flickr, YouTube, IM, etc. rather than making them use library geared services.

I also really like the Librarian 2.0 Manifesto. I think we should adopt something like this within HPCL. iHCPL is a great beginning to this type of thinking and what I've seen on other blogs, this is beginning to happen, we just need it to continue.

Leader Test

I came across this interesting test while I was playing around on the Internet this weekend trying to find some information on personality tests. An interesting take on leadership in a not-so-serious manner. I took a couple versions of the test. In one, it said I was like Gandhi (morals matter to you; you like to lead by example; perfection is important to you). Two others both pegged me as like Abe Lincoln.

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Week 6: #14 Technorati

This is a tool that I should like - a lot. But, it just doesn't do much for me. I had even forgotten that I had claimed my blog a while back until I was about to register. I can see where this could be useful, I guess I just find enough information in other places at the moment.

While I'm no prude, Where's the Fire made me want to get an extinguisher. This is not what I want to spend my time reading. I did create a watchlist with iHCPL. There's a few items on it right now, and we'll see what else comes up.

I realized as I was doing the exercise that the since most of us are using Blogger, Technorati no longer seems to require special code to capture tags. Interesting.

Week 6: #13 Yummy!

I adore del.icio.us. I've had an account for several years now and use it for most of my bookmarks at work and at home. The only thing I don't put on del.icio.us are administrative accounts that I use every day on the job. Since I set up the iHCPL del.icio.us I didn't go back to explore it this time. I would like to see about putting in the sites for the rest of the program at some point, as well as additional sites.

One of the ways I use del.icio.us is when I'm searching for sites on a topic, I'll see what I have and then look at some of the other sites listed, especially those linked to by a lot of people. Our communal use of del.icio.us is still beginning, but I'd like to see where we as a system can go with it.

I've heard that a lot of people are having problems viewing the tutorial, which is too bad. I did like the video that someone sent me that was put in the comments of the post and which is below.

View @ Yahoo Video

Week 5: #12 Helpful Elf

I signed up for Library Elf several years ago before the library started sending out reminder notices. I am still signed up and like getting reminders of holds and books due. One of the more recent features they added is recommendations based on your items out and/or holds.

While we have a wonderful service for reminders through the library, one of the benefits of Library Elf for our customers is that they can opt to get reminders via text message. An interesting service.

Week 5: #11 Library Thing

LibraryThing is nothing new to me. I have been a member since September 8, 2005 and have been keeping track of books I read even longer than that - since around 1998/1999. I moved online to using AllConsuming in 2003 or 2004. I decided to switch to LibraryThing because I like the book management better than AllConsuming; I also don't have an interest in tracking movies, music or food. I also like that you can friend people and see what you have in common with other users.

I only added two more books today - Woman Who Rides Like a Man & Cave of the Dark Wind - since I already have 499 and only add books when I've finished them. I also have had a LibraryThing widget on my blog - see sidebar - pretty much since I started the blog.

My Profile
My Library

Week 5: #10 I'm a Meez!

OK, so this is one of the "things" I've been waiting for. I LOVE image generators. I just think they are too cool. A while back, I fooled around with Meez, but this gave me a chance to customize it more. So, I made myself a vampire, warrior librarian.

Blog Posts

I am not a fan of writing. That is one of the reasons that I have never kept up a blog before now - I never knew what to write about. I like that iHCPL gives us things to think about and post. Well, on the topic of what to write, I came across a list of 18 Different Kinds of Blog Posts on iLibrarian. It's an interesting exploration of a variety of different blog post styles, with examples.

One of the styles listed was an Aggregate List/Guide, which linked to an example post about Twitter. Now I'll have to do another post - at some point - about Twitter and how we're using it to capture quotes from iHCPL participants. How cool, I have a topic.

Link via Stephen's Lighthouse

Week 4: #9 Too Many Feeds Already

Since I already enough feeds to keep up with, I decided to check out Feedster's widget tool. It's pretty nifty. I did a search on iHCPL, then clicked Create Widget, added my information, and got HTML code to add to my blog. I now have a widget on my sidebar that will show me new posts made that mention iHCPL. How cool is that. I can see using this in a variety of ways for myself and for the library.

Week 4: #8 Bloglines, How I Do Love Thee

This is a particularly easy exercise for me. I have been using Bloglines for several years now to keep up with library news, general news, and topics of general interest to me. I try to read my Bloglines feeds every day, which I sometimes achieve, but more realistically I read them 2-3 times a week. I have also been an advocate for the use of Bloglines to keep up with what's going on in libraries and the world with staff. I hope everyone takes this opportunity to try out Bloglines or another feed reader (both Google and Yahoo have feed readers) to keep up with things.

I've subscribe to a few of the participants blogs, but since I'm tracking a bunch for iHCPL, I'm not going to subscribe to very many. If you want to see the feeds I subscribe to, check out my Blogroll.