Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels

Indeed, you might ask, what did I most enjoy while doing the 23 Things? It was fun looking at the blogs of the fine folks at PBCL. They often gave insight into the interests, hobbies, and pets of coworkers.

I'm glad I took another look at YouTube. It puts some good stuff right at your fingertips. Without it, I never would have had the chance to hear that British salesman/opera singer in his stunning tv debut. I like Bloglines, and plan to take another look at Delicious. While trying the various tools I came across a lot of serendipitous fun.

Overall, working through the 23 Things gave me the confidence and motivation to learn a bit about what everyone else (under fifty) is doing on the internet. Completing it took more time than I expected, certainly more than 60-90 minutes a week, but I'm glad I had that opportunity. Would I participate in another such program in the future? You betcha.

With so very much available online, and with so many new ways to access it, are we in danger of becoming a world of bloated, content-sucking blobs? (There are those who would say I'm close to that goal even now.) Will there be anyone left to generate content, or manufacture computers, or keep us fed??? Stay tuned, or better yet, back away from the computer and cook dinner.

Counting Our Blessings, with a Wimper, not a Bang

I've had several "lessons" in using OverDrive. Fortunately I have early-onset Alzheimer's, so I was still able to view this exercise as someone new to the process. Like most people, after creating an account I ignored the help screens and checked out a book. Next I downloaded it without too much trouble. Then I tried to play it on Media Player 11.0, without success. Then I thought, oh yeah, maybe I need something from OverDrive. Downloaded it. Still no success. And the error screens weren't that helpful. Finally, oh yean, that update for license management. Bingo! Success in downloading Jon Stewart's America. If I get up the nerve, I will try to download it to my mp3 player, which came with 45 pages of instructions, about one page per dollar I spent on it.

Actually, the Help screen, Help videos, etc. seemed useful once I looked at them. But who has that kind of time?

I searched for some audiobooks as a test. Author searches for Ruby Mae Brown, Andrew Holleran, Edmund White, Proust, Annie Proulx, Alan Hollinghurst, and E. Lynn Harris yielded zero hits. After several keyword searches yielded equally poor results I did some checking, and found that there are fewer than 700 titles in our library's audiobook collection! But, before getting all huffy I did some checking on Amazon.com and found that lots and lots of books are not readily available in an audio format. At least we have one audiobook by Ray Bradbury, and one by Kurt Vonnegut.

I think our downloadable audio collection is best considered as a browsing collection. In browsing the nonfiction I came across Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present, by Cynthia Stokes Brown. I listened to the excerpt (which was too short) and read the synopsis ("An epic history of human civilization and of the universe that we inhabit, stretching back to the limits of what is scientifically knowable."). I might enjoy listening to this book as a relatively painless way to update my knowledge on this subject.

Casting a Broad Net

I used Podcast Alley to look at some podcasts. Doing a search for "librarian" I ran across several, one of which, The Mr. Nice Guy Show, featured a radio personality turned reference librarian. His topics were mainly pop culture and news of the day, his approach a bit corny. Still, I did learn more about platypi than I ever expected. I subscribed to this weekly podcast on my Bloglines page, though don't expect that I'll listen to a whole lot of his shows.

It actually took me several days to remember my Bloglines password, but when I finally got to my page, I was pleased to see lots of new episodes of Fresh Air (on NPR) that I could listen to. Now if I could only teach the radio in my car to automatically archive these, so they would be ready whenever I want to listen to them...... But then I guess that's why God created mp3 players.

I also tried the suggestion of doing a search for a topic (in my case, using Google) adding the word "podcast". That yielded an interesting podcast on legal issues related to regulating offensive behavior by patrons. It was produced by a lawyer turned librarian turned library law consultant, so should be fairly authoritative. We as librarians tend to avoid dealing with offensive or illegal behavior by patrons because we aren't sure what our policies are, whether they are legally enforceable, and whether we will be supported by administration when the DVD thief or the urine-soaked patron complains to a higher authority.

In looking at what other libraries have done with podcasts, I saw that some are quite tech-savvy. The Kankakee Public Library has many podcasts available on their web site, with options for subscribing and for immediate listening to a streaming version. (Incidentally, many of the podcast sites I looked at made it easy to subscribe, but not so easy to just listen to one or more podcasts.) KPL has featured some well known authors and public figures, so I think their podcasts would have some lasting value.

The Denver Public Library offers podcasts of storytimes for children. I listened to small parts of several and found the quality of the narration to vary a bit. Without the presence of the story teller, children might lose interest unless the narrator is fairly skilled. Still, it's not a bad idea. My fourth grade teacher read A Wrinkle in Time to us, and I would be happy to hear that again while on a road trip.

In checking out the Library of Congress podcast site, I found some of author talks at the annual National Book Festival. Take a look at this utterly charming, witty webcast of Alexander McCall Smith from 2006.

A Series of Tubes

When I first became aware of YouTube, I thought (with my usual lack of imagination), why on earth would people post their home movies, or watch videos of other people's vacations?

But, of course, YouTube is kind of cool. Many videos are rather well done. Some are amusing, poignant, or educational.

I'm surprised at how many clips from classic tv programs are available. If you want to relive the magic moment when Keith Olbermann made Ann Coulter a new one, there it is on YouTube. If you aren't sure if the Chuckles the Clown episode of Mary Tyler Moore was as funny as you remember, yes, it was.

Linking to a video on YouTube can be a useful addition to one's web site or blog. I noticed on the PBCL web an imbedded video from YouTube on how to use the self-serve checkout service. That was clever, and I can see many similar uses. I bet there are patron service videos available too, as well as examples of "the patron from Heck".

While trying some searches, I came across a music clip from 1975. I had never seen this performance of The Way We Were.

Lots of noodles

I spent some time looking through winners of the Web 2.0 Awards. Overall it was a bit disappointing. I enjoyed looking through the widgets, but didn't find any that really grabbed me.

My favorite site is oodle.com. I've used Craigslist a fair amount, and oodle is similar in listing classified advertisements for jobs, pets, cars, etc. The interface is easy to use. Since I had never heard of oodle, I assumed it would not have many listings. However, it collects listings from other web sites to expand its reach. For example, a search for pets pulled listings from the Palm Beach Post as well as some breed rescue organizations. A search for a riding lawn mower pulled an item being auctioned on ebay. There were thousands of personal ads pulled from various sites I was not familiar with. I don't have any idea how effective oodle is at aggregating these listings from other sites, but it's a nice idea.

I don't see many library applications for this site. Sometimes patrons ask for suggestions for web sites for finding employment, romance, etc. Oodle.com would be a site I could recommend.

Zulu Rider

I think Zoho Writer is a bit quirky.  I chose a font size and color several times, but my choices were "lost" when I started typing.  Did I wait too long?  There are disturbing flashes of tool bar buttons while I'm typing.  What's with that?  And I don't get capital letters in my document unless I hold the shift key down for a couple seconds before I type the letter that I want capitalized.  This may be a function of our wireless connection, which is kind of slow and weak.

 

Still, the Zoho suite of tools seems quite useful, and you can't beat the price.  I wonder if Zoho or similar tools were online back before we had Microsoft Office on our public computers.  It could have helped some patrons, I believe.  My laptop is not connected to a printer, so I can't test whether this document, when printed, would have a web address printed at the bottom, which is typical of web-generated prints.

 

I'm going to explore Zoho notebook a bit also.  Years ago I tried some software that allowed one to keep a kind of free-form database on the fly.  I could highlight anything on a web page that I wanted to save and with one click zap it into the database.  The database was keyword searchable.  This was an easy way to keep little scraps of information that I might want to reference later.    Will Notebook be as convenient?

 

Well, it's time to see if I can publish this Zoho document to my blog.

The Sandbox, not just for kids any more

The PBCLS wiki is kind of fun. I enjoyed seeing fellow employees write about favored movies, books, and restaurants. I added my blog to the Favorite Blog list, though I was appropriately chagrined at my hubris in doing so.
Also contributed to a couple lists of favorites, most notably Favorite Mangos. In doing so, I found someone working at another branch who shares my affection for the king of fruits. Sadly she was unable to accept my posted offer of a free mango tree.

Wiki Watchee

So, you may ask, how is a wiki different from other sorts of websites? Well, unlike a blog, a wiki is a collaborative website. It is designed for the easy sharing of knowledge/plans etc. by anyone who wishes to contribute. Unlike a message board / bulletin board, people can edit contributions made by others. That is good for some applications, not so good for others. I guess there is an ethereal version of a paper trail to track changes, though I'm not sure how that works.

I followed a few of the library wiki links, and came across some interesting stuff. There was a good article about why cell phones are so annoying; it included an actual study with data. I don't remember what trail of links I followed, but later found it again through a Google search. There was a good article about Wiki etiquette. Also enjoyed the Ann Arbor wiki, which brought back memories of Shakey Jake, and the annual Hash Bash (though why anyone would want to criticize a plate of steaming hot, delicious corned beef hash is beyond me).

How, then, might wikis be used in a library environment? They could be a good tool for sharing information within a branch, especially if easily searchable by keywords. Any business open as many hours as we are, with staff on different schedules, has a problem keeping everyone current on everything going on.

A wiki could also help with collaberation among staff at various levels in the organization. Many library systems have an overly "top-down" management style. Decisions are made at upper levels without any input from the worker bees as to the ramifications for staff and patrons. It would be so much better to discuss policy issues and changes on a wiki long before final decisions are made.

Web 2.0 vs. Brain 1.0

Am I the only one having trouble keeping all of these internet tools straight in my head? They all jumble into one massive keyword search in my head.

But speaking of Library 2.0, does the library really have anything to do with the WWW? Nahhh, most of our patrons have full access to that without coming to the library. It's our books and databases and our amazingly personable service they look for in the library.

But, getting back to Rick Anderson's article about staying "Away from the 'icebergs'" :

I'm not ready to completely give up the "just in case" collection. In some cases books are a heck of a lot easier to use than web-based sources. This is gradually changing, though, as developers struggle to find intuitive interfaces for their electronic resources.

Versatile software is by nature more complicated to use. When you attempt to dumb it down you tend to lose something in efficiency or accuracy. This too is certainly subject to improvement as time goes on.

As we give up the "come to us" model will we be giving up libraries as an institution?

Among the Technorati Illuminati, or not

The Technorati web site is designed to help us find other folks who are blathering on about "virtually" nothing on the WWW. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

I did manage to "claim" my blog so that Technorati is aware of it. Then I went back and added labels to my posts, so that my blog could be found via searches for tags. That didn't work, though. A search for one of my posts based on its tags yielded nothing. Likewise my keyword search for all of the blog posts that include Samuel Johnson and Alec Baldwin failed to bring up my post. The instructions for helping Technorati find labels for my blog posts were confusing. They did mention something about "Atom" so I clicked on the Atom link at the bottom of my blog. I tried that several times but got only error messages.

So far I can't say that Technorati would be especially useful to me. I don't mind reading intelligent political commentary from well-read liberals, but I'm not convinced that a keyword or tag search would help me locate these.

Searching for blogs that link to the library's home page yielded mostly dead links, a bit of a frustration, but understandable.

I did a tag search for web 2.0, narrowed it to English, and got lots of hits but little of interest. Clicking on the thumbnail of the hits I wanted to see yielded error messages. Clicking the URL, which was small and greyed out, sometimes did get me somewhere.

Deliciousness

I know, it's just so easy to be cynical about trying new things. So, shall we get started?

Actually, I liked using del.icio.us. I think it may be handy to be able to access favorite sites from any computer. As far as using it to find other web sites on topics of interest, I had mixed results. First I tried searching for mango cultivars, with poor results. I got similarly scant results with mango varieties. However, searches for curry recipes, and peanut dressing recipes yielded some tasty hits. And the home page, with its recent/popular listings, yielded a good web site for making Windows Vista less annoying.

Voting Republican?

A friend sent me a link to a good video on YouTube, so I thought I'd see if I can figure out how to include it on my blog.

Minor Feat

I've used WebFeat in answering reference questions, but today tried a subject search for my hometown of Sandusky, Michigan. A few postcards exist featuring Sandusky's older buildings. Over a thousand residents of the town have died through the years. Sadly, nothing else of note has happened there, at least according to WebFeat. I'm convinced that a murder did occur some time during the fifties, but this may pre-date the databases.

I also tried looking up a steroid drug that may be useful in reducing territorial marking by male dogs and cats. No good hits came up, so good old Google won the prize for this search.

The Next Generation

With apologies to Samuel Johnson.

I tried a fair number of image generators, with varying degrees of success. My animated gif would not display properly on this blog, so I did the banner above instead. I used the banner tool at imagegenerator.org. There was a nice generator for putting one's face on a different body. Sadly I didn't find a suitable picture of Alec Baldwin.

Library Thingy

I had a chance to try LibraryThing, and added some books to "my library." I also was able to add book cover illustrations for some of my titles. The link is: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mangomandan

I'm not at all sure this is something I will use. I do wonder if it would be useful for a project I've had in mind. I would like a small catalog of the piano music books we have at home. However, it would only be worthwhile if LibraryThing included the song titles that each book contains. Also, I would want to then use LibraryThing to create an alphabetical list of song titles, giving the book title and the page number for each song.

Bloglines, eh?

I didn't expect to like RSS. For some reason I envisioned stock quotes and other useless news taking over my desktop. But Bloglines, with its web-based interface, wasn't so bad. It was easy to choose some interesting blogs to subscribe to. I immediately found a book to recommend to the good folks in Youth Services, something about a brave pony with an artificial leg. Sadly, YS won't buy the book till I can write a favorable review of it. Since I don't plan to buy the book, this is an obstacle.

I tried a couple other ways to subscribe to blogs and podcasts. Sometimes the Bloglines tool worked well, sometimes not. As it turned out, copying and pasting the URL worked just fine. Internet Explorer 7 also makes it easy to subscribe to feeds. It kind of reminds me of uploading photos from my camera onto my computer. Three or four different software programs compete for the chance to do the uploading for me.

Speaking of anal retention, I'm not sure if I should feel guilty when opening my Bloglines page. If I were to derive personal enjoyment from one of the blogs, would that violate the County's internet access policy?

As far as library applications, I can't think of a way the library as an institution would benefit from RSS feeds. Obviously, individual librarians and paraprofessionals could use something like Bloglines to facilitate keeping abreast of what's happening in the library world.

BTW, is there a way to access my Bloglines page other than going to Bloglines and then logging on? Something instantaneous?

Speaking of Technology

My younger brother emailed me that I should look into magicJack. This device uses your computer's broadband connection to make phone calls over the internet. The price was reasonable, and it has gotten some favorable reviews in magazine articles, so I gave it a try.

I first connected it to my laptop, which connects to the internet through a wireless home network. That didn't work so well. Tech support was friendly and tried to be helpful, but we both got exhausted. I'll do some googling, and try again.

Then I connected it to my desktop pc, which is connected to our DSL via an ethernet connection. (Why does an amorphous word like "ether" end up describing a hardwire connection?)

At any rate, it seems to work okay. The sound quality is a bit better than a typical cell phone (which isn't saying much). I don't necessarily see it replacing our landline, as I'm not sure I want to leave my PC running 24 hours a day. Still, it should be nice to have unlimited nationwide calls for a low flat rate.

Puppy Thoughts

captioner6539930
Originally uploaded by dannyduprey

I added the canine commentary using one of flickr's tools, or "mashups." (What an ugly word....now "mashed potatoes' -- that has a nicer ring to it.)

Molly's puppies were born during a time I was having some nasty health issues. As the puppies came into their own, they really helped me get through the unpleasantness.

Summer of Love

Originally uploaded by ಌ♥Jewellove♥ಌ

Does anyone remember paisley designs, back in the late sixties? Did you know that the paisley motif is based on the mangos of India? This photo by the talented Jewellove at Flickr may help you remember.

Buster at Attention

Buster at Attention
Originally uploaded by dannyduprey

I posted this to my Flickr account in April of 2007. Today Buster is full-grown, but just as cute, gosh darn it.

Libraries? Blogs?

I have to wonder. How might blogs be used in a library environment?

Perhaps a blog done by a library head honcho, e.g. director, could be a good way to share news in a timely manner, and seek contributions from staff. Communication is always a problem in work settings as large as PBCLS. Would blogs for each branch be useful? Do branch managers really have time for yet another responsibility?

Staff members with a strong interest in a particular author or genre might create blogs to share ideas with like-minded patrons.

Should there be PBCLS blogs created by patrons for patrons? I don't know. They might inspire so-called "adult" content that would offend other patrons. Maybe an old fashioned bulletin board (you know, Web 1.0 technology) would work better?

Read the screen, gosh darn it.

Oooops. I've just been made aware* that my first couple posts could have pertained to the 23 Things of Library 2.0.

Ah, thinking back on the video about lifelong learning, I am reminded of the many self-help books that libraries and bookstores stock. People glance through them, but does anyone ever do exactly what they say? That said, if nothing else, the video did begin to persuade me that old farts actually can learn new things.

Other than habitual procrastination, I see one difficulty in applying myself to doing the 23 Things. That is finding the time, of course. I can give myself permission to use some of my time away from the Reference Desk for this project. Other projects will suffer, inevitably. But that's not the end of the world, is it?

*Thank you Aramis. No, really.

A Poor Year for Mangos

My mango trees have not done well this year. They set a very few fruit from the first bloom last fall. With luck I may even get to eat one or two this year. Sadly the later blooms did not do so well. I think a combination of cold and wet weather at the worst times may be the culprit. I have friends further south, or closer to the ocean, who have fared better.

One has to start somewhere

Greetings and Salutations, Library Folk:

I've never considered my thoughts to be worthy of space on the internet. The coming weeks may confirm this.