#12 Technorati, etc.

In looking at Technorati, I was overwhelmed by the number of people who have something to say about anything you can think of. I was even more amazed at those who have the time to read them and then feel compelled to comment. What appears to be important to bloggers is that it is a connection to finding like-thinking people. We are now in a world that no longer provides reality based social settings (friends' homes, family gatherings, etc.) to provide that conversational interaction that makes us learn and think about the world around us. I found the Technoratie tags amusing because the tagging possibilities seemed to be endless. Everything that could be "tagged" within a blog seemed to be addressed.

I know that Technorati is a place that won't be a daily visit for me, but having discovered it, I will look at it occasionally in the future because it does have an excited "buzz' about it!
It was an interesting aspect of the blogging world.

del.icio.us and Tagging

Last summer an article in LJ had mentioned del.icio.us as a fun site and I had looked at it then . I even bookmarked it on the computer that I use in the Youth Services Dept., but did not opt to get an account because I knew it wasn't a site that I would use on a regular basis. It does have library value for when I am stuck looking for "see also" ideas in a search, so I kept it.
I don't really use the computer at home in the same way that I do in the library, so my bookmarks are very different from place to place. For those who find themselves going back to the same sites on different computers I can see why it is worthwhile. The tags are helpful, and for the ones that I used (quilts, beach glass) I found it to be of little interest because it didn't bring me to anything unique or amazing.

Become a Podperson

I have used podcasts in the past and if I find one that I like, I share it with friends.
I've previously used the NPR site for podcasts and now that the RSS feed is on my e-mail, it's even easier! For fun in doing this exercise, I looked at podcast.net, looked at their selection of music podcasts. I picked one and enjoyed listening to a Beatles Chronicles podcast. I saw that a special download was necessary to tune into these podcasts as a permanent arrange ment. Since I am a wary techno phobic person and don't want to have computer problems and repercussions at home or at work, I will pass on the actual downloading exercise!

Rockin' with YouTube

Just a little something for a cold day - I have used YouTube in the past...it is addictive and not to viewed on a day when you have things to do. I chose this video because the guitar mastery of this group, The Hellecasters, is incredible!



In addition to iTunes, I found another really fun music website called "finetune". If you like listening to music, this is a great website. Aren't we lucky to working in a place where you can actually listen to things on the computer (not too loudly, of course!). If interested, you can check it out.
It's very easy, and the options for artists, songs, albums to put on a personal playlist is almost endless. There were so many songs and artists that I liked, that my playlist started to look schizophrenic! I was spanning the decades of my musical taste in one fell swoop. The only downside is that you have no control over what is played while you're listening. It starts and keeps going through your list so it makes for very entertaining and surprising background music while you're doing something near a computer.

wiki waki

Finally, a Lib. 2.0 exercise that didn't give me a headache!
I do confess to the guilty pleasure of having used Wikipedia on a few occasions for quick information. I have not run into any blatant misinformation that I know of, and if it is something "important", I will look for verification elsewhere.
I guess you can say that the fact that it is "democratic" is both appealing and appalling.
I do agree with Big Ooey, the various wiki templates would be good ones for NFL to use in reader advisory ways.

I also was amused to see that "Library Success: a best practices wiki" now has this beginning statement: "Because of vandalism problems, e-mail confirmation is now required. Please enter your e-mail address when you create an account and you will be sent a link to confirm your address (after which you will be able to edit the wiki). For those who already have an account, click on user preferences (while logged in) and under "e-mail" click on the Confirm your e-mail address link. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Are the LIBRARIANS misbehaving?

Library thing

I thought Library Thing was the most interesting site and exercise on Lib. 2.0 so far because of its bibliophile focus. Anyone who loves to read always enjoys the suggestions by others, especially of similar books within a genre. The tags that Library Thing uses makes it helpful and very easy to use. The opportunity of having in one place (other than a scrap of paper that invariably gets misplaced) favorite authors and titles is wonderful. I will even get my husband, Tim, to start his own account because he can never remember what book he last read in a series - somehow it became MY job....Um, not anymore, sweetie!

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php

becoming an Avatar

I returned to the Yahoo avatar site to create the "other" me and explore its image generator capabilities. It was fun once again to play with the possibilites, and the one that I eventually was happy with became a postcard to send to Jeannie. I then deleted it from my e-mail because it was still winking!