Youtube...

I LOVE youtube. Sometimes. This can be misused like anything else but when you want to watch that really old video one more time you can usually find it. Want to peek at some really cute kitty pics? Youtube. Want to watch some homemade WoW vids? Youtube! I have even found some excellent science vids on here that are very hard to come by. In any case, I have seen some really creative youtube videos especially by YA groups. Take offs on Harry Potter books and library grand openings. Really neat stuff! I was thinking how fun it would be to make a youtube about the services of the library and how everything works. Sort of a how to for new users. "Please step to the red computer on your left. If you have any questions after watching the Youtube video please either visit the information desk or the circulation desk. After watching the instructional video you will be able to tell which is which!"

This one is for fun...




"Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it because you're not really looking. You don't really want to know the secret... You want to be fooled." Cutter in The Prestige

A Thankyou, An Apology, and A Cat...

Thanks to the Learning 2.0 staff for all your hard work on this really cool but important project. You are changing the face of KCLS!

I apologize that my posts have been rather long. I know you guys probably have to read them all. I hope mine haven't given you a headache!

It's almost over....

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/

Choosing my own Adventure...

The list was huge. I was surprised at the amount of websites on the list and I am sure it was the tip of the ice berg.

I tried UpTo11 (upto11.net) it's a music website and it looked fun and interesting until I tried to use it and I couldn't make it work. I wasn't even sure what it's supposed to do. I thought it would link me up with other users playlists or recomendations. I put in Third Day though and it came up with Pink Floyd??? Eah??

Next HipCal. (hipcal.com) This is a personal organization website. I liked the calendar. They also have todo lists, Alerts, and address books. This would be useful for KCLS if we didn't already have so many other programs keeping track of this information.

Onto digital storage and remote sites...Yousendit.com very nice! I thought this could seriously be helpful for KCLS patrons, staff and for businesses. "Never worry about size limits on attachments again. With YouSendIt, you can mail up to 1GB in files (which are hosted on YouSendIt's servers) to as many recipients as you please. " Ever had trouble sending a huage attachment that doesn't want to go? This might be a solution!

Over to Webware...
I liked the reviews and rants, they are super funny! First, they pointed to the AOL webpage that was a "blatant rip off of Yahoo" and then I got to learn about Wipbox which apparently is a craigslist/ebay for dummies!! ...flightware in 3D, this is cool! You can track a flight in the air in 3D. I'm going to be on here forevah!....oh wait I am supposed to be looking at the right hand categories....

30 boxes is the one I liked the most. I found it under posts in productivity and business. "30 Boxes is more than an events calendar with a rudimentary understanding of scheduling grammar. It's also an aggregation service for time-based updates from your social sites and for those of your friends. For example, 30 Boxes will put your blog updates, Twitter messages, Upcoming.org calendar items, and Flickr photos on your calendar, as well as those from your friends." "Everyone who uses 30 Boxes, and everyone who is added into a 30 Boxes stream, gets their own profile page. All you need to know is a person's email address to add them in to your calendar. The system will find their updates on Twitter and other services, and add them to your calendar." Sounds cool huh!!

A side note...

Teresa, I miss you...in the mayhem of the carpet and the paint on the hill...you are missed...hope you're enjoying yourself but come back soon!

**sniff**

http://www.flickr.com/photos/beeep/


"I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long. " Marie Antoinette from Marie Antoinette.

Google Labs...

Oh what fun!

First I went to Mars...well Google Mars. They are created detailed maps of Mars made by NASA scientists! It was fun to play with.

I headed over to Google Trends. It was interesting but I don't know how I would use this in a library setting. Hopefully more people will post on this and give me some ideas!

I enjoyed Google Suggest. You start typing in the search box and a drop down menu appears that gives suggestions. The cool part is along with the suggestions it also gives you how many hits you're going to get if you choose the suggestion. I thought that was neat. The hits aren't any more relevant than a regular search on Google but I found it hinted with words I hadn't thought of to get to what I was exactly searching for. I could see this being used in a library setting. In fact I would rather search this way then in regular Google.

Soon, Web 3.0 and the semantic web!! :} Ok sort of...

"I'm blind, and I see more than any of you, because I don't look. " Stick in Elektra

and now for a Spring break...

http://flickr.com/photos/allmxdup1980/

"Whatever happened to playing a hunch, Scully? The element of surprise, random acts of unpredictability? If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced. " Mulder in the X-files: Fight the Future

Sodo, Mojo, Zoho...

Wow! This looks pretty fancy! I have moved over to Zoho writer. Another free writer on the Internet. I can't decide which one I like better. I guess they both do the trick. This one seems to have more bells and whistles. Emoticons are always fun! This one also Auto-saves. Nice. Ωα special characters.

OK I am having to much fun with all the editing features!! Although I just attempted to use the spell check and it changed my special characters. Now I am mad!!

I am going to cut and paste this over to blogger...here goes...

OK, I am at Blogger now and it did not copy over my emoticons. That's no fun! Now I am sad! :(

"Oh yeah, the Great Bambino. Of course! I thought you said the Great Bambi." Smalls in Sandlot

Google rules the world...

So, here I am in the Google (who owns the world) Docs and spreadsheets. I thought I would write my bog post here and then move it over to Blogger. I liked in the 'quick tour' the quotes by people who use this service and like it. There was an author who said he can quickley write ideas, there was the business person who had people work on a letter, there was a sports person who kept scheduling updatd for something (now I can't remember what it was) and there was the student who writes their blog posts here and then posts them. I liked that you control who sees the pages. One person, many people or no one.

I like this idea. I like that if my computer crashes, which has happened to me before, my document is safely stored.

I see that this just automatically saved this document. Nice, in case I forget.

Since this is on the Internet and free I thought this would be clunky. It's not...so far. I wonder how we get patrons, who can't even open Word, to use this? I am starting to think maybe we need to teach a patron class called Learning 2.0! It would be a series. It would be for the patron who already has an idea how to use the computer and the Internet.

And just because you or I might not be able to think of any reason we would use this, you never know who is out there right now saying "Wow, I sure wish I had Word on my computer so I could write letters. Oh well, I guess I am just out of luck!"

"But I like the cookie" Hammy in Over the Hedge

Web 2.0

I found all the articles very interesting.

My favorite article was "to more powerful ways to cooperate" I think the collective (not the Borg) is always going to be better and more exciting than one person calling the shots. I liked the idea of "Harnassing Collective Intelligence".

"This means expanding our definition of “collective intelligence” beyond the library professional to faculty, researchers, library patrons and others by building into our systems services that encourage these users contribute their expertise to the cooperative."

Very cool stuff!! This is an exciting time for librarians!!

Side Note-there is an interesting article about Web 3.0 in PC Magazine April 10, 2007 issue. It talks about the semantic web/the 3D web/the media-centric web/and the pervasive web.

"Do you know what I am doing, Miss Kenton? I am placing my mind elsewhere while you chatter away." Mr. Stevens in Remains of the Day

Roll-Y-O and Google search...

I really LOVE the idea of this especially for libraries. Every community Library making their own search engines sounds wonderful. I can imagine a sub that doesn't live here being able to look up on Google Search or Rollyo for instance what's going on at the Parks Department. Other examples come to mind also. We all have had to wade through tons and tons of irrelevant sites to find what we are looking for. So this sounds good to me.

I thought I would really like Rollyo (it just sounded so darn cute) but when I searched using it I was horrified to discover, yes...you guessed it...junk! There were ad sites along with the chosen sites. Blech! So although Google seems to be getting everything from everyone lately I headed over there and it was not only much nicer to look at but it looked familiar and so I chose to make a google search engine. I have linked to it below this post.

side note-I was pondering where they got the word Rollyo. It dawned on me being a child that not only grew up in the 60/70's but born in Eureka, California that it might mean
RollY(our)O(wn). hehehe

From Daddy Day Care -
The Flash: We need more chasing bad guys!
Marvin: Hey, that's an excellent idea!
The Flash: Like the Joker!
Marvin: No, you see, buddy, that's Batman's bad guy. You're the Flash, you need to be fighting...
The Flash: Lex Luthor?
Marvin: No, that's Superman. You need to be fighting Captain Boomerang, Gorilla Grod, the Reverse Flash...
The Flash: How about the Riddler?
Marvin: [to Charlie and Phil] What are you doing to these kids?

Entertainment Search

To all my display buddies...

http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/

Gone to the dogs...

I was getting really burnt out on cute kitten pics. (sorry T) Anyway, I figured a good puppy picture was in order. I actually had trouble finding one. But I liked this one, it reminds me of when my cat has his tongue sort of hanging out...back to cats I guess.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyttinen/

"He has a client now who shot his wife in the head six times. Six times! Can you imagine it? I mean, even twice would be overdoing it, don't you think?" Cathy in The Birds

Patrick when he was young...

I couldn't help it. I have been looking at to many kitten pics lately.

"You're not the devil. You're practice" Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins

One More...

Get Your Cyborg Name

How could I resist...

The "Chick-fil-Air" Lurker

Cyberpunk 2020, Netrunner, Trading card generator...

In the 90's I had a lot of fun playing a game called Netrunner. It's a card game sort of like Magic from Wizards of the Coast. "Netrunner depicts cyberspace combat between a global mega-corporation (the Corp) and a hacker (the Runner). The Corp's goal is to complete their secret agendas before the Runner can hack in and spoil their secret plans for world domination. It isn't easy, though, as the Corp has strong defensive data forts protected by malevolent computer programs known as ICE (short for Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics). The Runner must use special programs of their own (called Icebreakers) to break through and steal the hidden plans - to keep the Corp from taking over completely. All this is paid for in the game by a system of resources called bits (representing currency), which are earned and spent during the course of play." It is loosely based on Cyberpunk 2020 and it's one heck of a lot of fun.

So, with the trading card generator I decided to make a few cards. I have copied the text of the cards but inserted my own pictures.

"Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you" Puppetmaster in Ghost in the Shell.

Bunny Trail in Library Thing...

I am rambling along minding my own bunny business when I stumbled onto another unique use for Librarything...

A person tagged their books "box64". So basically this person boxed up their books and put tags on them in Librarything so all they have to do is find the number on the box and look at that tag and know what is in there. You have to admit it's pretty creative. In my house we call that 'doin' a Monk' (after the TV show).

"You're gonna need a bigger boat." Brody from Jaws

Coming Attractions...

From Cute overload.. http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/

Mutes Photos...

I found this guys Flickr account while looking for cool pics about a month ago. I added his account to my bloglines and I haven't been disappointed. This guy takes the most amazing pics ever!! Lots of black and white and lots of super macro up close flowers and bugs!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mutephotoblog/

"The '60s weren't good to you, were they?" Sarge from Cars

The Home Stretch...

We are on #15 and #16 in our Learning 2.0 lessons and this one, for me, was very interesting. I find I like the idea of a collaborative web project as opposed to some of the "Me" centered other web projects. The online social community was starting to sound quite self-centered so this was a breath of fresh air. In Wiki land I like the idea that everyone can contribute and so it's a group effort. I find when in groups I am inspired, get great energy and wonderful artistic ideas, much more so than when I am by myself. So...

I really liked this particular podcast and enjoyed listening to some practical applications for the Wiki from Sarah Hunt. As I was moving through the different Wikis for the discovery exercise I found all kinds of interesting info and great ideas for Wikis to be used in Library settings.

At the SJCPL Wiki I ran the bunny trail and found the computer classes had posted the handouts for the class in PDF format right on the Wiki. What a great idea to have something to look at before you go to the class or even after if you have lost your papers. Nice practical application. As a side note a co-worker and I are responsible for the display in August. We are trying to make people aware of the databases and other webservices available in the library. We are making book lists and I found some great titles on this Wiki. Now, I hope we have the books in our system!

I visited the Wiki for the ALA in Seattle and found a link to an article in the Seattle Times about "Ordering coffee, masters degree required?". I found out that the Macchiato I always order has nothing to do with not being stirred or the caramel that all of them seem to have but is actually a espresso with a dollop of foam. Apparently this drink can cause quite a bit of grief in coffee houses where people are expecting the Starbucks, Tullys variety.

I went to the Booklovers Wiki which I thought was just alright.

The idea I liked best was annotating the catalog. So many times I am browsing in OPAC for a patron and there is nothing written about the item, I have to jump over to Amazon. How wonderful it would be to have a wiki capabilitiy in the catalog, with careful supervision, so people could comment on books or other items that they are familiar with. A quote I liked "The wiki will develop organically to reflect the interests and the needs of the group who worked on it." I know I have already stated I like the energy from a group but again I also like the idea that you don't have to be a programmer to be able to write to one of these. It definitely "levels the playing field".

I also found out that Wiki means quick in Hawaiian.

This red balloon was a fun one to chase.

"What kind of place is this? It's beautiful: Pigeons fly, women fall from the sky! I'm moving here!" Guido from La Vita e Bella