technorati

This is another site I became rather impatient with. Looked at one of the "top 5" popular blogs, and I guess my tastes and interests are not "with it." Too much show-off, too much "cuteness" of a technical nature, emphasizing just how ignorant and "not with it" I am. In the 15 -20 minutes a couple times a week that I can spend going through this tutorial, I have no time to really delve into subjects that might be of interest and use to me. I did 3 searches using "Learning 2.0" and each brought up different, though related results. Several teachers, some preparing online courses, an academic or two, some who had just attended tech conferences, I could not find it inspiring or useful. When I tried to look at some of the political blogs, thinking "aha--someone with insider info, this should be good" I did not find content, just brevity. Are the blogs cut off, or somehow connected to a full article? Why am I so bogged down in the REAL world!

del.icio.us

I don't use our IS delicious listings often, probably because the same question seldom comes up more than once in Reference work, unless it is something like "when are the tax helpers coming?" Looking through it again, and exploring some of the linked postings from others, I find that it is a great source for booklists. However, spotting the "hierarchy" from the list is not always apparent, "book" coming some way down the list. I rather hate the "cuteness" of breaking up the word with periods, dots or whatever new term applies. Yes, it is fun to wander off and explore what others are doing or consider important, but sometimes I just want to get to the point quickly. Having it available as a website is great, and not tied to just this machine. "In the old days" Amy had to update everything individually.

Fortune Cookie generator

I was disappointed with the fortune cookie. I thought it would supply something snappy to complete a couple random lines. Then it was very difficult to get it to copy into this blog. Tried copying the image in various ways to no avail. So here is my little image url to prove I did try the website. My blog is rather imageless, as I am missing steps or don't have the software to go through to make it work. On the good news side, I am now getting emails from Google alerting me to mentions of Takashi Nagai. Some readers have been finishing his book and posting blogs about it. I wasn't sure when I signed up for this alert as part of the rss feed, what would happen, but it comes as an email rather than rss. And it is something I care about.

http://www.redkid.net/generator/fortune/newsign.php?line1=the+day+will+come&line2=friends+are+everywhere&Crack+Me+Open=Crack+Me+Open

Social networking and the library

Looked at some of the libraries' myspace. FVRL has done a good job. It is a good way to advertise our YAAB activities. Then I read "The Other Librarian" --"Facebook and rapport" which seems to say "don't bother" unless you're young and into it. Kids don't want librarians on "their" social sites. However, if young adults are using these sites and not the newspaper, not tv or radio, (and of course we have no public relations outlet with broadcasting here in southwest Washington anyway) then they should expect to get some news about "real" opportunities in their communities. There are "real" people hovering around out there who may at some point be helpful to them. And maybe find something enjoyable to read or listen to as well. I think the YAAB groups have given quite a few kids a place to "be" and enjoy some positive after-school time, and they have given back in return. So let them have a social network connection with the virtual group as well.

IM and Reference Service

IM would have greater application with members of the public connecting with us from our website than the existing staff-only IM. However, "instant" messaging is that--instant, so unless we were to go with an international consortium of wide-awake staff people around the time zones, a great many hours we would be unavailable for "instant."
The current use among staff members has proven to be not popular. Many of the busy conditions limit finding a free computer with an even freer, quiet moment to sit and compose a message. It is so much easier to hit a programmed phone button and talk to someone. No logon, no icon to locate. But since we are getting a fair number of email requests for help, instant messaging by the public would be a more popular use of this technology.

Searching for good RSS feeds

I have subscribed to a Google blogs feed for anyone mentioning Takashi Nagai, the person I hope to see canonized as a Saint. Here is a recent blog I found with this search, and so I know that some people are still discovering his books and message of "war never again.":
http://dolcebellezza.blogspot.com/2008/01/state-of-challenge-address.html

By the way, Nagai's books and Glynn's biography of him were dumped out of our library collection. So goes some of the "primary eyewitness" history of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. I hope other libraries aren't doing the same. With President Bush seeking a confrontation with Iran, we need Nagai's story more than ever.
However, although Google says I have created the update feed, I'm not sure where that will be appearing. It is not on my bloglines list. Confusing.

I also added this science feed, very easy since the website had a link for doing:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/newsfeed.xml

Well now I have to do a library feed (boring):
http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/

To be honest, unless a blogger really has an unusual postion, such as a BBC reporter in a world hotspot, blogs are just anyone's opinion. Yes, it is nice to express ourselves, but what do we really add to the knowledge of the world? Just so many more letters to the editor.
I do appreciate news feeds, and I may tolerate those that maybe connect with all my many scattered and dilletante interests

RSS feeds

For me, the news feeds will probably be the best part of this exercise. I am something of a world news junkie, and also enjoy science news, just in case the San Andreas stretches the Basin & Range a bit. Refdesk.com is also a great website for updating news, but this button may be more personalized for me. Another blog participant and I are frequently trading news about police activities in our neighborhood. This definitely needs to be hot-breaking news/gossip sharing as it is becoming a bit unnerving for us. No place on earth is "quiet" these days, which is part of the allure of cell phones and all their spin-offs for instant communication. With no control over events, we can at least share our presence and news.

Colors for the Zero Artist

The mashup applications are colorful and fun. I experimented with Colr Pickr "flowers" since I am a gardenaholic. Nice pictures. However, they didn't link to the original post on Flickr. And there seems to be little tracking back to the source with Flickr. One library design featured on Flickr that I adored--I couldn't find where or whose library it is. Am I missing something? Great sharing, but not a good Reference source. A couple pictures I found of my favorite place in the world were "doctored." I recognized some cliffs and crags had been added that are not there in the "real world". Guess I am just a realist at heart. Not much artistic imagination. However, I am going to share the trading card mashup with someone who really enjoys putting stuff like this together and has been struggling with photoshop. This might be a good alternative.

Here is the url of the favorite colr pickr: http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/index.php?group=flowers