Thing 23 Done and Undone

Good project. Would I do it again—probably. I do feel much more knowledgeable about current topics and trends. I have a better sense of the way in which more technologically oriented people work and entertain themselves on the Internet. As time passes, I am sure I’ll find ways to use some of the tools I’ve experienced. How can you make this learning experience better? My concerns are very branch specific so I need to address them at that level. Thanks for bringing Learning 2.0 to LCPL.

Thing 12 Rollyo

At last, I'm doing #12. What I really wanted to do was to be able to search several library catalogs at one time. If I could search one time for a title and have the results from Fairfax, Loudoun and Frederick (MD) Counties together, that would be great. I couldn't figure it out. Perhaps someone else can do it. However, I did put together a search for artists supplies from a half dozen internet catalogs.

http://rollyo.com/1beeannie/artists_supplies/

This could be fun!

Thing 22 EBooks

I help the public use NetLibrary and Overdrive all the time. So there isn’t much new here for me. It will be nice to experience the audiobooks download so I can explain that part of the process more exactly to the patrons who ask.

Thing 21 Podcasts

It’s not that some of them aren’t interesting—it’s that some people have full lives and don’t really have time to sit in their chair and listen. There’s some really creative work on the internet. There’s a lot of people just passing other people’s creative stuff around and that makes me sad. I’d rather have a two sentence message from a friend than a forwarded “thing” from the internet, no matter how interesting/creative/surprising it is. So, here’s another category of internet thing.

The podcast from the Chicago art museum sounds good and the aggregation of book reviews and author interviews from a variety of NPR programs is a great idea.

Thing 20--Video Smideo

Videos—OK, OK, the cute cats and funny dogs are fairly entertaining, if there’s nothing else to do, if I’ve read every book in the house, if I’ve run out of all my art supplies, if there’s nothing in the kitchen to bake, if there’s not even a dirty bathtub to clean. What can I say—I’m just not taken with the whole video thing. Sure, I can image that making one yourself is interesting, but just sitting around and watching a few gets real tiring, real soon.

None the less, I did find the following video from a museum that shows a model of a Da Vinci invention—a good way to show what would normally have been a stiff, silent, immobile object in motion.

Leonardo’s Automobile, Institute and Museum of the History of Science. Florence, Italy

Thing 19 Millionmasterpiece.com

This is a visual equivalent to the Farm Aid concerts and the money raising events that followed. Millionmasterpiece.com was an Honorable Mention in the Visual Arts category of the Web 2.0 awards for 2007. The creators are from Great Britain and their intention is to raise money for three children’s charities and to enter the Guinness Book of world records. Everyone, artist or not, is encouraged to register and create a graphic square using simple drawing/painting tools at the website. Obviously, the creators hope to put a million little images together and make one enormous picture. The result will be 81 meters wide by 30 meters high and will be exhibited in London in 2008. People may make one image for free. For a donation, one may make numerous images and gain other benefits. Not particularly useful for libraries, but an interesting project for schools and church groups.

Thing 17 PBWiki

This could be a great time saver for coordinating and communicating with two groups in which I participate. I like the easy ability to grant access to a select group of people. What's next?

Thing 16

I really loved Princeton Public Library's Book Lovers' Wiki. Now that the Discussion Group Leaders have a Blog, I would enjoy a venue for the public to write reviews of their favorites. Perhaps this could happen in conjunction with Summer Reading. Yes?

Thing 15

The article that I found really useful in thinking about Web2.0 and Library 2.0 is—

“What is Web 2.0, Design patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software” by Tim O’Reilly Published on O’Reilly http://www.oreilly.com 09/30/2005
http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/6228

Perhaps I needed to understand Web 2.0 first before I could think about Library 2.0. I am struck by the democratization of the information/research/publication/communication world that Web 2.0 represents and all the ways in which the public, the lay person and the non-expert are enabled and encouraged to participate. One of the seven principles that distinguish Web 2.0 from Web 1.0 that O’Reilly lists is the “Harnessing [of] Collective Intelligence—The central principle behind the success of the giants born in the Web 1.0 era who have survived to lead the Web 2.0 era appears to be this, that they have embraced the power of the web to harness collective intelligence.” Examples of this process include wikis, blogs, Amazon customer reviews and lists, data gathered as a customer uses an application whether they intentionally contribute information or not.
The article by Michael Stephens, “Into a new world of librarianship” begins with “Librarians 2.0 plan for their users…This librarian bases all planning and proposals for services, materials and outreach on user needs and wants…This involves users from the get go in planning and launching services based on their needs.” Stephen continues to list the ways in which Librarian 2.0 involves the user in planning and decision making-a process that makes the user a trusted collaborator. I wonder how LCPL might gather and use more public input from all of the diverse communities in Loudoun County.

Thing 14 Technorati

I’ve claimed my blog and I’ve created a watchlist. That’s seems a little like an updating service or an RSS feed that you have to go to Technorati to see. I tried all the search modes—the blog directory is the most focused search or at least it returns the smallest number of hits. I really like the URL search. It’s similar to the (Science…) Citation Abstracts, for blogs instead of for article citations. That search deserves more investigation. The tag search seems to be the same search as the search box on the home page. The blog post search is most broad and hardly seems useful. I’ll use Technorati from time to time. I found a great design/creativity blog—check it out http://www.core77.com

Thing 18

Finally, here's something that I can use immediatly. I'm looking forward to introducing Zoho Writer to a committee on which I am a member. We've had to write an SOP manual and it would have been so much easier to share the work and edit the results with Zoho.

Thing 13 (I'll get to 12 later-I couldn't get it to do what I wanted)

Aw-w-w right! The old dog is willing to learn a few new tricks. Del.icio.us is OK. Looking at the Blogging Librarians Wiki and the Shifted Librarian was eye-opening. It’s not so much that I’d tell someone to use Del.icio.us as an answer to a reference question, but roaming around the tasty world would provide background that would help me find sources and leads.

Thing 11

Let's see, my garden is overgrown, there are piles of books on the floor to read, the cat hair dust bunnies are growing alarmingly and I really want to get to the gym and most of all, I want to paint pictures. There isn't time enough in the day to spend it playing cataloger.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=windriverraven

Thing 10

My free card can be seen at:

http://grusskarten.freenet.de/showcard_new.php?id=z.1172263665-pA3LM4

There are a lot of ways to entertain yourself with the generators--I liked my pirate name and some of my friends will find that they are the target of a Biblical curse--Oh, camel breath.

Thing 9

My favorite way to find newsfeeds and blogs is to identify them on websites that I frequent or on sites that I find while surfing the web. Bloglines search retreived some interesting things, one of which I added to my list, the Painting Journalist. Feedster, Topix.net, Syndic8.com and Technorati were very disappointing. From Feedster, one topic was "Life Experiences from people around the world to give you a glimpse inside their lives. " Brief descriptions of the ten blogs listed were anything but inviting--complaints about a former boss, contents of a storage shed, harried mothers, writing while under the influence...and none seemed to be anything but American.

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Book snobbery in BritainTuesday 23 January 2007
A third of British adults have lied about reading a book to appear more intelligent according to a new survey.
A cunning 33 per cent of adults have confessed to reading challenging literature to appear well-read, when in fact they haven’t a clue what the book is about.
But 40 per cent of people said they lied about reading certain books just so they could join in with conversation.
One in ten men said they would fib about reading a certain book to impress the opposite sex according to the poll of over 4000 bookworms conducted by the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council (MLA).
Most people expand on their literary repertoire to impress a new date, 15 per cent have lied about the books they have read to a new colleague and five per cent have told porkies about their reading habits to their employer.
The younger generation is out to impress the most – with more than half of 19 – 21 year olds expanding the truth about the books they read.
But they are also most likely to get caught out – with one in ten 19 – 21 year olds tripping up when quizzed about a book they lied about reading.
But the book we all lie about reading is the bestselling Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien.
The epic trilogy took 11 years to complete and 14 per cent of those who started the book with good intentions never managed to finish it.
John Dolan, Head of Library Policy at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council said: ”It’s fascinating to see that so many people are trying to impress others with the books they haven’t actually read.
‘’Talking about books and literature is an obvious conversation starter and certain authors and titles often get strangers chatting. Some titles do have a certain kudos and it’s often nice to drop into conversation our knowledge of well-known writers and books.’’
‘’For those wanting to expand their knowledge, libraries offer lots of different ways to engage with books. You can listen to the audio book or explore titles and authors online. Many libraries offer reading recommendations, run author events and other activities, and most have a cosy relaxation area perfect for catching up with the classics. Or you could join a reading group and discover new books in the company of others. Libraries make it easy to read those books you’ve always meant to get around to reading.’’
One in twenty men who took part in the poll said they would lie about reading Harry Potter to give the illusion they’re in touch with the latest trends.
And almost half of respondents said that reading classic titles like Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice makes you appear more intelligent.
Top ten books we lie about reading
1. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R Tolkien2. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy3. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte 4. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus – John Gray5. 1984 – George Orwell6. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone – J.K Rowling7. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens8. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte9. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown10. Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank
Ends
Notes to Editors
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and the nine regional agencies work in partnership to provide strategic direction and leadership for museums, libraries and archives across England. Together we work to improve people’s lives by building knowledge, supporting learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity. The Partnership acts collectively for the benefit of the sector and the public, leading the transformation of museums, libraries and archives for the future. Visit: www.mla.gov.uk

Thing 8

SomeTHING under the bed is drooling and someTHING in the closet is trying to get out. After struggling with Thing 8, I am imaginging little wiggling wild THINGS with numbers on their T-shirts. Thing 8 was a devil, so I hope that it really was the worst of the 23. Let's move on.

On Technology or why I love radio on Sunday nights

I look forward to Sunday evenings. Whenever I’m at home I listen to old time radio on WAMU. I am transported to the first half of the twentieth century—Johnny Diamond, better than Guy Noir, Joe Friday on the streets of LA and Marshall Dillon enlivened by Robert Conrad. A few weeks ago, some friends from out of town visited. Since it was a Sunday and they were house sitting near by, I suggested that they might like listening to 88.5FM. When I explained about the old radio programs they told me that they’d installed one of the new subscription radio services in their car and home, so they can listen to these programs all day long, any day of the week.

I suppose that some people see this as a great thing—it means that my friends can have what they want at the moment they want it. Isn’t that an underlying motif of most consumer technology? There seems to be a general belief in the life improving qualities of having our own way, now. The most plugged in people I see do not have smiles on their faces. So, what is it that we need? I think it’s the week long anticipation of hearing a voice roll out the words “Hi ho, Silver, away.”

RetrievR-Sounds like a big yellow dog!

I've been intrigued by RetrieveR. I made a few scribbles and now I'm trying a systematic approach to determine how this tool works. This is the one in which you can draw a little something and similar images from Flicker will be found. Obviously color is the first filter, but after that, what's going on? With apologies to Albers, Rothko and Newman, I colored the bottom half of the rectangle hot pink and then switched the composition-pink on top and white on the bottom. Next I colored a flamingo square in the middle of a white ground and again, I reversed it. Finally I used black to draw on top of the colored areas. From my "research" there are three filters or indexes--color, placement and shape which includes line.

Some retrieved images leave the viewer wondering, "Why in the world..." With other retrieved images it's possible to see that placement matters. They contain an area on the side or top or bottom that matches the drawn image. The addition of lines on top of the colored areas appears to read more as a change of color and as a shape in the retrieved photographs. I am left wondering whether there is a strict order in which the attributes of the drawn image are evaluated or if the sequence of evaluation changes. I question, too, whether the images are evaluated from a few select spots or from the entire image. A fairly amusing half hour, although, I can't yet envision a use for this tool.

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SIX
Originally uploaded by helen.2007.

Fantastic photo-wish it were mine. Apparently, some folks play "where is it?" with their photos.