One last thing to add. This wasn't part of CPL 2.0 per se, but I just figured out how to add a label to my blog posts!! It was so easy. I just went my dashboard, checked off each of my former posts, and then clicked "add label: CPL 2.0".
I feel quite clever right now.
;)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Hmmm. Well, I am definitely not signing up for Twitter. (Thank-you for not making that a necessary part of this assignment).
I did have a look at the main page of Twitter and saw some random postings by people. And I actually stumbled upon a good reason to follow someone's tweets. Stalking celebrities! If you were very obsessed with a certain actor or singer, you may be able to find out where they are in the world by paying attention to their tweets. Not that I'm condoning stalking behaviours, but Twitter would be a great tool for that! :)
Also, just in terms of being a good tweeter, I think it really needs to be used appropriately. After looking at the tweets from our CPL accounts, it seems that the best ones are tweeting about actual library events or news (or in the case of the TeenZone, tweeting about funny things in the news). If I was a customer following a CPL twitter account, I think I would find it useful to get a message saying "Remember to register for programs today!" or "Spaces still left in Babytime that starts tomorrow!". On the flip side, it would be annoying to receive a tweet everyday that simply advertised the Library in general (i.e. "Check out your library for all of your information needs!") That to me is boring. And pointless.
So like a good blog, if used appropriately, I concede that Twitter has its place. Just not in my life.
I did have a look at the main page of Twitter and saw some random postings by people. And I actually stumbled upon a good reason to follow someone's tweets. Stalking celebrities! If you were very obsessed with a certain actor or singer, you may be able to find out where they are in the world by paying attention to their tweets. Not that I'm condoning stalking behaviours, but Twitter would be a great tool for that! :)
Also, just in terms of being a good tweeter, I think it really needs to be used appropriately. After looking at the tweets from our CPL accounts, it seems that the best ones are tweeting about actual library events or news (or in the case of the TeenZone, tweeting about funny things in the news). If I was a customer following a CPL twitter account, I think I would find it useful to get a message saying "Remember to register for programs today!" or "Spaces still left in Babytime that starts tomorrow!". On the flip side, it would be annoying to receive a tweet everyday that simply advertised the Library in general (i.e. "Check out your library for all of your information needs!") That to me is boring. And pointless.
So like a good blog, if used appropriately, I concede that Twitter has its place. Just not in my life.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Library Thing
This is one that I've actually used before (though I have to admit, I've been delinquent as of late and haven't updated my bookshelf for quite awhile).
What I love the most about Library Thing however, is the fact that my friend uses the service, and links it through her blog. This is great because we have very similar reading tastes. If she recommends a book to me, chances are I will love it, and vice versa. So whenever I'm stuck for book suggestions, I just go to my personal referral service (a.k.a. Amanda's blog) and check out her Library Thing list. It's fantastic!
Now, my only challenge is to update mine more often so that I can reciprocate with my own reading suggestions for her.
What I love the most about Library Thing however, is the fact that my friend uses the service, and links it through her blog. This is great because we have very similar reading tastes. If she recommends a book to me, chances are I will love it, and vice versa. So whenever I'm stuck for book suggestions, I just go to my personal referral service (a.k.a. Amanda's blog) and check out her Library Thing list. It's fantastic!
Now, my only challenge is to update mine more often so that I can reciprocate with my own reading suggestions for her.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Google Docs
This is fabulous!!! I am actually really excited about this! Google docs will be perfect for those occasions (or those customers) who don't have a CD or a memory stick and want to type up a resume or a letter. Now we/they can create it in Google Docs, and save it for next time.
I'm also excited to try this at home. Our "free" trial of Microsoft has expired, and now we can no longer open up or edit things that we created before. Like our address spreadsheet from the wedding. All those addresses and postal codes and time spent typing them in.. I thought they were lost forever (or until we ponied up for a paid version of Microsoft). Maybe Google Docs is the answer and we can get these things again!
Yay Google Docs!
I'm also excited to try this at home. Our "free" trial of Microsoft has expired, and now we can no longer open up or edit things that we created before. Like our address spreadsheet from the wedding. All those addresses and postal codes and time spent typing them in.. I thought they were lost forever (or until we ponied up for a paid version of Microsoft). Maybe Google Docs is the answer and we can get these things again!
Yay Google Docs!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Flickr, Youtube, and Adobe
This week I was able to accomplish half of my tasks! I took the tour of Flickr, and explored through the photos and group. Very neat! This would be a great place to share photos with people without having to use facebook. I don't actually know anyone who uses Flickr, so I can't see an immediate use for it, but it does look to be very user-friendly. I also enjoyed that it allows users to link a photo to the place it was taken.
Youtube is something that I have used before, so I don't feel completely cheated about my experience with it through CPL 2.0. Or, I should say lack of experience through CPL 2.0. My computer wouldn't let me use it! I kept getting prompted to download the new Adobe thing-y.
(sheepishly:)**But then I couldn't figure out how to download it**
I think while my 2.0 skills are fairly decent, its my 1.0 skills that could use some tutoring. If someone would like to walk me through how to download Adobe or Flash or Shockwave or whatever, I would be eternally grateful!!
Youtube is something that I have used before, so I don't feel completely cheated about my experience with it through CPL 2.0. Or, I should say lack of experience through CPL 2.0. My computer wouldn't let me use it! I kept getting prompted to download the new Adobe thing-y.
(sheepishly:)**But then I couldn't figure out how to download it**
I think while my 2.0 skills are fairly decent, its my 1.0 skills that could use some tutoring. If someone would like to walk me through how to download Adobe or Flash or Shockwave or whatever, I would be eternally grateful!!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
NRSS
Yeah.
Not Really Simple Syndication.
I had problems this week. I REALLY wanted to get it. I REALLY did. I thought RSS was going to be the best thing I learned through all of this. But all I REALLY wanted to do was pull my hair out.
However, I did learn a few things. Such as:
1) You have to sign out when you are using a public computer, otherwise everyone else will get confused when they try to log in and just keep getting you. Oops!
2) Not every website has RSS. And even if they do, its not always easy to find their little &$% link. (sorry)
3) Linda is the queen of RSS on the 2nd floor, and we all have her to thank for helping us finish our assignments this week. Thanks Linda!!
4) That it's basically like my "favourites" list on my internet explorer window. And yeah, I get that I can get to my favourite websites from any computer if I use bloglines, but still... I don't know.
5) The one real advantage that I see is that I can save "clips". This might be useful for when I write my Youth Trends report for the InService packages. That is, if I can remember to login and check my bloglines account on a regular basis enough that it actually becomes useful. Time shall tell!
So yay or nay for RSS?
Nay for now.
Yay maybe later??
Not Really Simple Syndication.
I had problems this week. I REALLY wanted to get it. I REALLY did. I thought RSS was going to be the best thing I learned through all of this. But all I REALLY wanted to do was pull my hair out.
However, I did learn a few things. Such as:
1) You have to sign out when you are using a public computer, otherwise everyone else will get confused when they try to log in and just keep getting you. Oops!
2) Not every website has RSS. And even if they do, its not always easy to find their little &$% link. (sorry)
3) Linda is the queen of RSS on the 2nd floor, and we all have her to thank for helping us finish our assignments this week. Thanks Linda!!
4) That it's basically like my "favourites" list on my internet explorer window. And yeah, I get that I can get to my favourite websites from any computer if I use bloglines, but still... I don't know.
5) The one real advantage that I see is that I can save "clips". This might be useful for when I write my Youth Trends report for the InService packages. That is, if I can remember to login and check my bloglines account on a regular basis enough that it actually becomes useful. Time shall tell!
So yay or nay for RSS?
Nay for now.
Yay maybe later??
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Google 2.0
For this part of the assignment, I had a hard time choosing a Google product to try out because I didn't know how they worked! It seemed like they all wanted me to download something (which is next to impossible on a CPL computer, coupled with the fact that I'm terrible at it). Not having the patience to figure this out, I abandoned several interesting options, such as the 3D thing, Google Earth, and Google Trends.
Finally, I picked a boring sounding one: Google News. And I was surprised to find... not so boring! It was neat that it categorized subjects together with articles from all over the world. It was like having a super newspaper. Now I'm intrigued, so I read the "about Google news" section to find out how they are doing this. At first glance it sounds great, stating:
"Our articles are selected and ranked by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online. As a result, stories are sorted without regard to political viewpoint or idealogy and you can choose from a wide variety or perspectives on any given story".
Sounds great, doesn't it? No regard to politics or idealogy. We get to choose from this wide variety of perspectives. Great.
Except.
The way that google chooses the stories is by how often it appears or is linked online, which essentially means that only mainstream media will be pulled from. And with the media ownership world getting smaller and smaller, this so called variety of perspectives isn't as "wide" as they claim. And though I'm sure they mean well, and it's the system that they're drawing from that's broken, they're claims become false.
But aside from that... I thought it was a very convenient tool for a quick catch up on the days events. I just couldn't recommend it for anything meaningful.
Finally, I picked a boring sounding one: Google News. And I was surprised to find... not so boring! It was neat that it categorized subjects together with articles from all over the world. It was like having a super newspaper. Now I'm intrigued, so I read the "about Google news" section to find out how they are doing this. At first glance it sounds great, stating:
"Our articles are selected and ranked by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online. As a result, stories are sorted without regard to political viewpoint or idealogy and you can choose from a wide variety or perspectives on any given story".
Sounds great, doesn't it? No regard to politics or idealogy. We get to choose from this wide variety of perspectives. Great.
Except.
The way that google chooses the stories is by how often it appears or is linked online, which essentially means that only mainstream media will be pulled from. And with the media ownership world getting smaller and smaller, this so called variety of perspectives isn't as "wide" as they claim. And though I'm sure they mean well, and it's the system that they're drawing from that's broken, they're claims become false.
But aside from that... I thought it was a very convenient tool for a quick catch up on the days events. I just couldn't recommend it for anything meaningful.
Monday, April 12, 2010
facebook: useful or time-waster?
I'm going to be annoying and not come down on either side of the debate on this one. I think it can be both things.
Useful: keeping up with friends' lives, knowing what's going on, what people are doing, seeing others' photos, etc. It has also become extremely useful for organizing events with friends. Instead of a million emails clogging up your inbox, you can login to facebook and check one wall or message string.
Time-waster: it is incredibly easy to lose track of time while keeping up with friends' lives, finding out what's going on, what people are doing, seeing others' photos, etc. You log on with the intention of messaging one friend when suddenly a whole hour has gone by and you can't account for it.
Useful: keeping up with friends' lives, knowing what's going on, what people are doing, seeing others' photos, etc. It has also become extremely useful for organizing events with friends. Instead of a million emails clogging up your inbox, you can login to facebook and check one wall or message string.
Time-waster: it is incredibly easy to lose track of time while keeping up with friends' lives, finding out what's going on, what people are doing, seeing others' photos, etc. You log on with the intention of messaging one friend when suddenly a whole hour has gone by and you can't account for it.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Wikipedia, here i come!
Wikipedia is not new to me, but writing in it sure is! I can't believe how easy it was to add information to a page. I mean, I know we tell kids all the time that it isn't reliable for homework, etc etc. But I didn't even need to log in, or give my name or email or anything!!
I wasn't sure if I felt expert enough to edit information, so for this exercise, I went to my home town's wikipedia article (which was described as a "stub" in Wikipedia due to the lack of content), and added a sentence. And while I knew the information was correct, as I pulled it off of the town website, I still felt nervous making the change. I was almost fearful that the mayor was going to come after me and scold me for messing with their page, or something. (Of course, being a good librarian, I included the footnote and cited my source, so hopefully that should curb any suspicion from town council). Below is the link to the article (I wrote the "Poplar Grove" sentence).
Innisfail, ALBERTA
Wow. I'm published.
I wasn't sure if I felt expert enough to edit information, so for this exercise, I went to my home town's wikipedia article (which was described as a "stub" in Wikipedia due to the lack of content), and added a sentence. And while I knew the information was correct, as I pulled it off of the town website, I still felt nervous making the change. I was almost fearful that the mayor was going to come after me and scold me for messing with their page, or something. (Of course, being a good librarian, I included the footnote and cited my source, so hopefully that should curb any suspicion from town council). Below is the link to the article (I wrote the "Poplar Grove" sentence).
Innisfail, ALBERTA
Wow. I'm published.
Monday, March 29, 2010
How comfortable am I using Best Websites?
Bucketloads more comfortable!! Though not because of this practice, but very recently some lovely fellow staff members showed me how it all works. I had no idea how to use Delicious before then, and had been avoiding it, but I can see now how it is set-up. I'm not sure if it is the best way to arrange a directory (as I think that is what our aim is, really), but for ease of creation, use, and maintenance, I can see its advantages.
All that aside, however, I'm still not sold that it's the best technology for listing our children's sites. There's a little too much going on, it's not exactly kid-friendly, and it's quite ugly to look at!
As far as tips go, I don't have much experience yet using them, but I did find the help tool at the top of the page that tells you how tags and bundles work!
All that aside, however, I'm still not sold that it's the best technology for listing our children's sites. There's a little too much going on, it's not exactly kid-friendly, and it's quite ugly to look at!
As far as tips go, I don't have much experience yet using them, but I did find the help tool at the top of the page that tells you how tags and bundles work!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Which aspect of Web 2.0 am I the most scared of?
Easy.
Twitter.
Why? I'll give you three reasons:
1) Personally, I think the whole premise is ridiculous. And I'm afraid of signing up for something I hate.
2) That I won't be able to figure out how to use it, and will discover that the "tweeters" that I have been secretly snickering at will have a reason to snicker right back.
3) I will end up loving it. This is what happened with my experiences on facebook, afterall. I resisted for months, saying I thought it was dumb. And then I tried it, just to see what it was like. And then I got hooked.
Twitter.
Why? I'll give you three reasons:
1) Personally, I think the whole premise is ridiculous. And I'm afraid of signing up for something I hate.
2) That I won't be able to figure out how to use it, and will discover that the "tweeters" that I have been secretly snickering at will have a reason to snicker right back.
3) I will end up loving it. This is what happened with my experiences on facebook, afterall. I resisted for months, saying I thought it was dumb. And then I tried it, just to see what it was like. And then I got hooked.
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