eBooks, yeah!! (Week 9, Exercise 22)

I love eBooks. I happen to frequent a couple online publishers who specialize in eBook publishing. I have also given presentations on using San Jose Library's OverDrive Digital library. I love the convenience of getting a book at home without coming to the library, especially when I am working on homework. The annoying thing about digital libraries is the irregularity of access to eBooks. Sometimes you can download and check-out an item and other times you can view it online and other times you can do both. The types of items that fall into these different access situations makes little to no sense. Anyway, I wandered around the Gutenburg Project site and tried to get Shakespeare's Macbeth, but found that I had to be a member of the World eBook Library (which you have to pay for) or join Project Gutenburg (with a donation). I am not certain if I was in the right area or not, but having access to so much is pretty exciting.

Podcasting (Week 9, Exercise 21)

I searched around Podcast.net for library-related podcasts and found quite a few, like the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Video Library podcast (they already have over 300 episodes). I noticed quite a few podcasts related to author readings at libraries and the like. My first introduction to podcasts was the pretty well-known Mugglecast (devoted to the Harry Potter books). I thought it was amazing that a group of young adults were able to get together to discuss a topic and receive so much support for their efforts. They actually have sponsors, whom they promote during the episodes with quick commercial-like shout-outs. They are actually that popular. Unfortunately, Mugglecast does not have an RSS feed. Anyway, I enjoy podcasts mostly when the people actually get down to business and start the program (i.e. that commercials can be a little annoying). Anyway, using podcast.net is very beneficial in just showing the range of podcasts out there, and using the subject directories was pretty simple. I added the podcast Open Stacks to Bloglines.

YouTube (Week 9, Exercise 20)

I have frequented YouTube in the past as a great place to find TV and movie clips. Now that many of the media corps are busting down on YouTube, I have noticed that many of the videos there cannot be viewed anymore. Instead of choosing just any video, I decided to upload a short video of my apartment. (I hope this works) Here is the video:



I like that I can choose to make the videos public or private. With that option, I can choose who can view the vid. The site, however, does not search well.

Opps (Week 8, Exercise 19)

I just realized that I have already signed onto Library Thing, for exercise 11. I set up an account and browsed through the program (adding one book) but had yet to fully develop a personal library using it. Now I have.
I looked through the forums and I was reminded of the discussion forums on many authors' websites where people discuss anything and everything about that author's work and other related material. I did find quite a few mentions of one writer in my library, Laurell K Hamilton. Here is my catalog:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Kjale
Now I just need to start tagging to develop the sub-sections on series and such.

Injury

Employee's Report of Accident

REPORT OF JOB ACCIDENT: Employee’s preliminary report of work-related injury to employer.

Date of Report : _1-2-1933__________                     Rpt No. : __150267___________

Report filled out by __K J Ale_________[name]  

                     __14 Mont Ave. ___[address]  

The following employee reports an injury sustained in the work-related accident described below.

1. Employee name __Brian Lumley_____

2. Employee ID __1237BL__________

3. Designation __Lead Machinist_______

4. Employer Name __Nines Corporation_____

5. Employee address __4782 West Look St._

    City __San Jose______

    State __CA_____________

    Post Code __95126_________

    Phone _n/a_____________

6. Date & Time of Injury ___12-16-1932____________

7. Address/place where injury happened __Main Workshop-A1_______

8. Description of injury and part of body affected __Leg broken_______

9. Signature of the Employee ______________

Zoho (Week 8, Exercise 18)

After signing up with Zoho, I tried creating a Zoho Planner, for my work week. It turns out that the Planner software does not easily publish to a blog. I decided to try using the original Zoho Writer instead. I chose a template and created a fake document, which can be seen in the blog "Injury." I noticed that it did not export with the exact width settings of the original document. I had to play around with the document a little before I saw how to publish and export it. I have to say, after doing many strange things to the doc before finally figuring it out (with a librarian's help), this program is actually pretty cool. There is definitely a lot that can be done with the text.

Peanut Butter Wiki (Week 7, Exercise 17)

I have entered my blog to the SJLibrary's Learning 2.0 Wiki. I have also just entered a trip suggestion for anyone looking to go on a road trip through northern Arizona. It is listed under the Favorite Vacation Sites. I have to admit, however, that wikis can be a little disorganized, but fun at the same time. I enjoyed looking at some of my fellow co-workers' favorites, and all those movie posters.

Wikis (Week 7, Exercise 16)

I remember reading a news article about a guy who, as a joke, wrote a fake profile on wikipedia about his boss. He said some pretty ridiculus things. There was, of course, a great deal of backlash when something happened to the boss because of the negative wikipedia entry. The guy who wrote it ended up losing his job. I always think about that when I think of wikis. They are great when they are freely accessed. It is very easy to just jump over to wikipedia and grab quick facts, but you can never really be sure of the validity of the information. But in the end they are easy to use, but then...

Anyway, I took a look at some of the other wikis and it seemed pretty obvious that you can create a credible wiki and negate a lot of the content problems when you have professionals developing the content.

Thoughts and Opinions (Week 6, Exercise 15)

After reading a few of the articles on Library 2.0, I believe that Michael Stephens's Into a New World of Librarianship stood out the most, mainly because of his presentation. He writes the article as a list of things he does, the ultimate example of a great 2.0 Librarian. Perhaps he is only being humble, listing his suggestions? Anyway, he does have some great ideas (I love the control technolust idea), but at the same time he is completely biased. On the subject of Library 2.0, I believe that many of the web sites and programs are pretty awesome, if you know what you are doing. Is this how we knit the digital divide?

The Thing About Tagging

The thing about tagging blog posts is that in the end everyone is coming up with these tags. That is both a strength and a weakness. There is no controlled vocabulary.

Technorati (Week 6, Exercise 14)

As I am sure you can see, I went to Technorati and did an advanced claim for my blog. I now have the Technorati search box and links on my side bar. I have yet to start tagging my posts, but I feel that tagging will be the next step. I have to admit, however, that I have no idea why Kathy Sierra is the top search. Anyway, the thing about searching for blogs is that the search capabilities are pretty weak when you first jump into it. Just choosing a tag to search brings up a pretty motley group of blogs. With just current-events as a search term, I get blogs about anything from farming to DVDs.

Rosegarden Library

I would just like to state for the record that I was able to write up quite a few of my posts at the Rosegarden Branch Library. In fact all of my posts written on March 28, were completed there (though I forget to write it in every post). I was able to work on several of the exercises while working there. I found that the branch was particularly dedicated to completing the 2.0 program. I am very grateful to them for providing the opportunity, even though I was only there a few hours at a time.

Del.icio.us (Week 6, Exercise 13)

Del.icio.us (apart from being very annoying to type out) is pretty fun to use, once you actually get started. I had a hard time figuring out how to set up my tool bar to get del.icio.us to work optimally (there just never seems to be enough room). One of my co-works had the same problem, so I was able to see how she corrected it. That helped.
I also went through the Library's del.icio.us favorites and found it funny that the top two are a site about living with cats and another about Children's literature. The latter I can understand and the former, well, I can understand that one too. I miss my cat. But it is really amazing the things you find just by collecting all the "health" items. I doubt a google search would come up with a death count generator.

(Post completed at the Rosegarden Branch Library.)

Rollyo for Dodo (Week 5, Exercise 12)

Now I am feeling like a dodo. I signed up for Rollyo and created a searchroll, but I have not been able to find out how to link to it the way the 2.0 examples do. I tried searching for my searchroll but was unable to find it. I'm not sure if I have to wait a while before it is up or what. I can't exactly link to my Rollyo dashboard, so I wasn't sure how to link to it. I just figured it out, I hadn't made the roll public. Here is the link: http://rollyo.com/nanook/paranormal_novels/

I like that I can reach all of these sites with one engine. I feel like I need to work through all the tools before I start a new searchroll.

Award Winner (Week 5, Exercise 11)

So I got the picture up, which is excellent. Now moving on to the award list. I was drawn to Library Thing, because I had recently heard about it from one of my co-workers. She told me I could create my own little database of books I own and the program would add cover images (if they have them) and link me to people who read similar items. After working through the site, I can understand her admiration.

I think it is interesting that it is linked to Amazon.com, but I suppose it makes the most sense (where else would they get all those cover images). hehehe. Anyway, I love the idea of getting book recommendations, since I love reading. I set up an account and added the book I am currently reading. I read through a few reviews and found out how many people have the same item. It is quite fun.

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by Nanook155.

I am trying to do this from Flickr, so I hope this works!!! I am definitely going to have to retry the magazine cover maker, because my coloring is a little off, but I will save that for another day. The fun factor, however, will lead me back to it. I like producing fun articles about people I know (but only as a good joke I know they will understand).

Magazine Covers (Week 5, Exercise 10)

I really hope my cover actually shows up when I publish this post. As of right now, I just have a blank spot (with the red x) where the picture should be. I may have to do this again.

(Post completed at the Rosegarden Branch Library.)

Library Feeds (Week 4, Exercise 9)

I used Feedster to grab news information about libraries, but it was pretty general information. I haven't tried a really refined search, but Feedster seemed like a great source for just quick links to general info. I started running around on the internet looking for RSS feeds from reliable sources. I was surprised that the ALA's main site does not have a feed, while the SAA site does. (Again I notice which sites have them and which ones don't.)


(Post completed at the Rosegarden Branch Libary.)

RSS Feeds (Week 4, Exercise 8)

I had set up a Bloglines account for my website design course, but I had no idea what to do with it. After reading through the Bloglines tutorials, I greatly appreciate the program. To have everything in one place makes life a little easier. (And it's easy to use.) What I have particularly noticed is which sites have feeds and which don't. I was surprised, for example, that mugglenet.com (a major Harry Potter fan site) did not have a feed while something like pajiba.com (a movie review blog) did.

(Post completed at the Rosegarden Branch Library.)

Anything about technology (Week 3, Exercise 6 and 7)

I happen to be taking a course in school (for Library Science) on building websites. Having Flickr (and finally figuring out how it works) has improved a great deal my ability to design websites. They may not be the prettiest things, but I am still trying. Using Montagr and the Flickr Color Pickr makes things just that little bit easier. I have been able to color coordinate my sites a little better now and come up with interesting ideas on what to "montage". I have been greatly enjoying the combination of technology and creativity that website design affords me.

(Blog completed at the Rosegarden Branch Library.)