Blogger Addiction

45%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

How the heck did I get to be 45% addicted after such a short time???? This is scary. Time to put the computer down and get back to watching tv. lol

I found this survey on Tim's blog and thought I would give it a try. He's got some cool widgets on his site. I'm going to have to go back and try some more.

This is the end!

I have mixed feelings about coming to the end of this program. I have had some struggles, but I have really enjoyed it, and I have learned a lot. I am almost sad to see it end (the nightmare of weeks 5 & 6 seems to have faded with time). It seemed that the more I discovered, the more I realized how much I don't know! I am amazed at how many things are out there that I hadn't even dreamed existed. One thing is for sure - I am motivated to continue learning and discovering as much as I can in the future. I have also learned to blog, which I am really enjoying. I might actually keep this up in the future, and actually share the address with people outside of work.

I would absolutely participate in any other programs offered. I have only 2 suggestions:

1. I know a lot of people struggled to keep up due to holidays and busy summer schedules. I would suggest the depths of winter would be a better time of year to do another similar program.

2. I had a really hard time understanding the basic concepts for some of the more technical sites, i.e. Technorati & Rollyo. I didn't find the tutorials that we were provided with terribly helpful. They seemed directed towards people who already understood the subject matter and just needed help navigating the site. I had no trouble at all navigating and following the instructions for the exercises, but I had no real understanding of what I was doing, let alone the benefits and potential uses for the average user. I don't know if there are any out there, but think some more user friendly, plain english tutorials would have helped me to understand.

Overall, I found the experience very positive, and am grateful to have had the opportunity. I look forward to playing with some of the tools we have discovered over the last couple of months.

NetLibrary

I have had a NetLibrary account for a long time now, and have read a few books online. It does take some getting used to, and reading in bed is a bit awkward ;-). I checked out the e-audio books for the first time tonight and it looks like there is a great selection of novels in there. I found a few that I might listen to on my brand spankin' new mp3 player. I haven't really gotten into audio books as a rule, but I have always played them on my stereo at home and I get bored staring into space while listening to them. Putting them on an mp3 player makes them much more portable. I can listen to them when I am out walking, or driving, or wherever I want to, without having to deal with cumbersome cds. I am looking forward to checking them out.

Podcasts

I was searching for book review podcasts when I came across LibVibe - a library news podcast. I chose to listen to this particular "episode??" since it said in the summary that it was covering how users felt about new technology in libraries. There is some pretty interesting stuff in there. Take a listen if you like.

http://podigree.com/LibVibe102_20070813.mp3

This is my first real experience with searching for podcasts. I have seen the odd one on various websites - particularly if I am looking up a movie or television show. Often the producers, directors or stars will have podcasts posted on the site. Yahoo Podcasts is very simple to use, and definitely warrants further investigation.

YouTube

I have been hooked on YouTube for a long time now. It is so easy to get carried away and just jump from video to video for hours, if I am not careful. I have posted 2 of my favourites below.
I really enjoyed the web 2.0 video. I particularly enjoyed the fact that, now that I have gone through the program, I actually knew what was going on when they were jumping from program to program. The library 2.0 video was also very well done. It really did encompass everything that I understood this program to be about. Not to mention, the photos were quite spectacular.

Madtv - Apple I-rack

No matter how you feel about the war, I think you will find this funny - at least I hope so.

Dick in the box - Justin Timberlake

This one might be a bit inappropriate for a work based blog, but it is too funny to be missed. Watch at your own risk - there is some language that had to be bleeped when it was broadcast at SNL. I find it particularly funny that Justin Timberlake is doing this considering his boy band roots.

New Template

I had to change my template so my widget would show in full. I kind of like it, but I'm just playing around with the colours. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Widgits & Other Award Winning Stuff

I was playing around with the award winning stuff, and at first it seemed like everything I might be interested in is stuff that we have already worked on during the Library 2.0 program. So... I went into the games area and played for a while. There are some great games in there - Guess the Google for one. I got hooked on that one pretty quickly. My only complaint is that there was a lot of repetition after the first or second time through it.

I figured it didn't really count if all I did was play games, so I checked out the widgits on Yourminis http://www.yourminis.com/main. They seem like a lot of fun. Of course, I was drawn to the fun section, and the games section. I thought about putting the Family Guy widget on my blog, but there was some stuff that might not be exactly appropriate for a work related site. So, I checked out the games area and found Simon!! of all things. I actually had a Simon when I was a kid (I'm dating myself), and I was really good at it. All of you guys who are too young to remember Simon - check it out.

Sketch

Just playing around - I wanted to try that sketcher thingy. http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php

Google Docs

I really, really am glad that I have discovered Google docs. I thought I would have to buy Office if I wanted to use a good word processor or spreadsheet program. This is very exciting. It is pretty easy to use if you are already comfortable with word processors. The only problem I had was when I tried to post it on my blog. Remember way back when when I mentioned that I used to have a blog? Well, it was in fact with Blogger, so it is still attached to my account. I didn't specify the correct blog, so it posted to my old one. It took me a while to get it deleted then added to the correct one, but I finally figured it out.

So far, I would have to say that this week has been the most useful to me personally, since I can see a definite use for this in my future.

Here is my first attempt at a google doc. I didn't even know that this existed. I thought that I needed to buy office in order to get access to a word processor.

I'm going to try to play with fonts and stuff. Here it goes.

BOLD

Italics

My favourite font - comic sans ms

My Simpsonized photo...

This is cool. I'm going to try posting it to my blog. Let's see what happens.

Activity #17 - Sandbox

I might have to go back and check out this sandbox again after everyone has had a chance to add their stuff. It's fun to check out other people's favourites. I added a favourite place, favourite books and a favourite website.

Wikis

I like the idea of the wiki for many reasons, but I am not sure about it as a reliable source of information. Here is an example of what I mean:
http://spring.newsvine.com/_news/2006/08/01/307864-stephen-colbert-causes-chaos-on-wikipedia-gets-blocked-from-site

A harmless prank that demonstrates the vulnerability of information on wikis. This was an extremely public event, and was caught and corrected very quickly. What about the ones that aren't so public?

Having said that, though, I love the idea for many other applications. I saw a couple of examples in the suggested wikis - specifically the book review wiki and the library conferences. What a great way to organize an event! I found another cool tutorial on wikis that also used an event as an example, but it was a much simpler one - a group of friends organizing a camping trip. I have added the link to my list on the side.

I can certainly see many, many exciting uses for wikis, but I don't think I would rely on one if I was doing a research paper.

Library 2.0

I read several of the suggested perspectives and they all seemed to have a common thread. Libraries need to use technology to adapt to the changing needs of their patrons, rather than expect the patrons to stick to traditional means for information gathering.

It is fascinating to think of how some of the sites we have visited over the last few weeks could be used to this end. I never realized how many tools were out there. I have said it a few times, and it is true that much of what we have seen is not practical for my own use, but I am very glad to have seen it and learned a bit about it.

I think the Library 2.0 program allows us to see how much technology is becoming a part of our day to day lives. It allows us to have more of an idea about what our patrons are doing and what their needs are.

Irony in Technorati

So, I am flailing about uselessly in Technorati, trying to find my way around and perhaps find a use for this so I don't have to add yet another entry saying that it looks cool, but I'll probably never use it, when something kind of funny happens. I don't remember exactly how it happened, only that I was goofing around in the the WTF area (I can only guess what that stands for). I found a link to a blog that had a video on social bookmarking. It turned out to be a really great tutorial on del.icio.us. It was short, and didn't have a lot of detail on the technicalities, but there was a lot of user friendly information about how it works and what the benefits are. Check it out at the link on the side.

I think I have not only found out some more great information on an earlier exercise, but I have now discovered that I might be able to find a use for Technorati after all. Sometimes perseverance does pay off.

Del.icio.us

Well, once again I see great potential for this site. But again, I don't really see a practical use for myself. I do see this would be extremely helpful for researchers and/or students (Jennifer, you might want to check this one out). It's good to know that this is there though. It certainly could come in handy one day. I did set up an account (what was I thinking - the last thing I need is another account id to remember!), and I might just try to find some time to play with it. You never know...

Well, I can definitely see the appeal of Rollyo, but it isn't very useful to me for my own use. I might send the info. to my sister though. She is starting her masters degree next month and would probably find it useful. She lives to research.

I did set up a link to my searchbox, and I also tried to create a searchbox on my blog, but I kept getting an html error when I tried to publish the post. I thought I was following the instructions to the letter, but maybe I was making an error. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.

I love Library Thing!

What a cool program. I have to admit though, that I blanked when the pressure was on. I really have read some great books lately, but I couldn't come up with anything other than Harry Potter. The Jasper Fforde books were fantastic, but I read them a couple of years ago. In addition to all of the other things I have learned, I found out that there is a new book in the series that has just been released. My holds list is seriously getting out of control. Anyway, check out my link if you like. I'll try to update it soon.

Week 5 fun

Well, I Simpsonized myself at www.simpsonizeme.com since it looked like too much fun. Here I am.














I also played with the text generator my Alpha Picture www.myAlphaPicture.com . Forgive the threatening nature of the note, but it looked like fun to do a ransom note and I had to keep to the spirit - you understand...

I found this exercise to be tons of fun, but I really have to get a faster computer. Even just searching through pictures and uploading them takes forever. I have high-speed internet, but sometimes I wonder why I bother. Maybe my note should have said something about the laptop....