Things 14 & 15...Technorati and Library & Web 2.0

Technorati -- "Currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...Technorati is the recognized authority on what's happening on the World Live Web, right now."

Another interesting resource -- I hadn't looked at it before, so new knowledge is always good. Will I use it again? Maybe...but my brain is quickly approaching the fill point for the "daily" tools, vs the "these are interesting" tools -- how many things do I use in a day? Good question ... maybe reprioritizing is needed as to what's cool, vs. what really helps me stay caught up and organized??

Library and Web 2.0 -- these are certainly the current buzzwords...talking about new technologies and uses of the web and how libraries interact in all of it...some of it is I think a little of the "new terms" to describe what's already been going on...

Some interesting quotes from the articles to think about:

From "An Academic's Perspective: Snake Oil, Bandwagons, and Library 2.0" -- http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2008/01/snake_oil_bandwagons_and_library.html#comments: "I think it's important to understand that we can't expect students to envision how every new technology in the library might benefit them."

"Library 2.0: Service for the Next Generation" - http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html:
"Many tools and ideas will come from the world of Web 2.0, and many will have nothing to do with technology."

del.icio.us -- My 13th Thing...

del.icio.us -- I had set up an account before arriving here and tried it out, but like so many other "things" -- it had been put aside without really using it.

http://del.icio.us/cwittig

I dumped all my bookmarks into it initially, so it really needs a good cleaning out, but I think it has potential. I've used the idea of bookmarks in a class, but not where students can add to them and they've always been static links, so seeing how other people use the resources has been interesting. Tagging is still the "new" aspect for me to remember to do when I save links -- and the visual clouds, like Wordle usually don't grab me as much, although it's probably just a lack of experience and practice with them.

Overall -- another tool to remember to use more with great benefits!

Rollyo - Thing 12 and counting...

Here's the link to my search on Rollyo for books -- I started with a list of top sites recommended by http://books.nettop20.com/and it's "vendor" heavy -- so if I was to edit it, I'd add more review sites and less commercial -- although when I tried a search in it, sponsored sites were added anyways...but an interesting premise nonetheless.

http://rollyo.com/cwittig/carols_book_search/

Overall--this reminds me of the specialty search engines and the "vertical" searching that was touted a few years ago -- but with the new 2.0 "create your own" aspect. Interesting, but would I actually use it? I doubt it -- it's one more site to bookmark, tweak, and personalize; but I'm about personalized out at many of the sites I visit and like the old, anonymous experience once in awhile! But that's my Monday personality coming out, so we'll see come the end of the week how I feel...

Thing 11 -- Library Thing --- Let me count the ways I love THIS!!!

LOVE Library Thing....
I discovered it in Belgium when I had about 100 scraps of paper on my desk and the daughter of a patron came in telling me about her daughter's new "catalog" system online --- so I was introduced to my fave thing of the year by a 12 year old...go figure.



Carol

Thing 10 - Image Generators

This week I experimented with Flickr Toys -- the goal is to eventually mashup the map with my photos and create an online scrapbook that's linked -- but for now, that's more time and energy than I have!

bighugelabs.com/flickr/


My Europe Adventures...

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Here's the few at Flickr that I added to the map:
www.flickr.com/photos/28459312@N08/

Blogging About Technology - "Thing 7"

I somehow missed this one last week, so let me gush a bit how much I love the 1 piece phone/browser/email technology -- I wish I had selected an IPhone when I arrived instead of my T-Mobile Dash -- but alas...that's a whole different blog of woe, but I do LOVE the technology of it all...and when I discovered what Bluetooth actually meant to me -- and that my steering wheel now answers the telephone in my purse...I was smitten.

And now that the new IPhone is out...I have to find a reason to convince Allen that he needs my Dash, so I can have the new toy on the shelf...hmmm...but how do I convince him that I also need a Kindle book reader too?? :)

A girl and her tech toys...

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds and Me...The GOOD: I've been using RSS feeds for quite awhile. I started with Bloglines and found it was an easy way to go "to" the information, rather than have a bunch of emails coming in everyday from listservs. I could read when I had time -- not clutter up my email and also quickly scan a list of feeds.

The BAD: I have a tendency to sign up for more than I can read...so every couple of weeks, I do a purge and just mark "all read" and move on...kind of like a refrigerator dump on garbage day.


The UGLY? Hmmm...Only the inability of finding that "one" feed that will catch me up on all the important stuff without having to subscribe to a bunch of them, just in case...

?? Do you find yourself using these feeds for your personal interests, work, both??

Yes, yes, and yes...I have the library feeds, which led to the book feeds, which led to the news feeds, which led to the ... well, you get the picture... Andy was right in that it can become "the" place to lose an hour easily as you're just catching up -- and of course, finding out the latest gossip from People ...

?? Evaluate the UR Libraries RSS feeds. Do you find them useful? Do you think they are useful to library users?
What other ways can we utilize RSS in a library setting??

I think it's a useful way to present information -- it does need to be visible -- so I think ours might benefit from actually having some of the news right there, like is on the main website -- maybe in some of that unused white space to the right? :) -- ok, just kidding...

Other ways to utilize...hmmmm...definitely try to branch out with subject guides into blogging and offering feeds to current information posted and updates -- the feeds for new library books is a great offering. On the Art page, there were a couple of feeds to both current news and podcasts, so offering those as feeds is an interesting option.

My links on the right are feeds I'm pulling from NPR and other sources -- I'm a book review junkie, so I love to read about what others are reading and what new books are up and coming.

Mappr - Mashup

http://stamen.com/projects/mappr

Linking photos to a map -- much as Andy did with Jim's travels sounds like a very cool way to show my travels while I was in Europe -- so Mappr sounded intriguing -- but alas, their message states:

Note: As of 2007, Mappr is no longer processing images from flickr. Take a look at flickr to find images on maps.

So...I'll keep working on it...maybe even try the Google route and set the darned thing up myself...

C

An Irish Carriage Ride

An Irish Carriage Ride, originally uploaded by librarycarol08.

Part of our Killarney, Ireland trip, this was a carriage ride through the Killarney National Park. It was a misty day, perfect to be riding through a foggy, moorish Irish landscape.

Week 3 with TechLearning: Flickr

I've set up a Flickr account and am working to include some pictures on this blog -- for now, see some of my Europe pictures at Flickr! I'm librarycarol08.