Method 8
I started off looking at the Facebook and MySpace pages of the Library of Congress. The Facebook page was informative in that it included information about several events that the LOC was sponsoring. Also, there were some links to some interesting Flickr photos. The LOC MySpace page had very little to offer. The Texas Tech MySpace and Facebook pages both had interesting and useful information and links on their respective sites.
I have never sent out a twitter message, but in looking at some of the sites that distribute twitter messages, I can see how they can be used to reach people that don't normally use the library. Also, to reach library users to help make them aware of certain library events, or new books, or programs, etc. In some of the material that I have looked at, someone made the comment that keeping a Twitter page current and interesting could take a lot of time. If it is not being updated, library patrons and other people will stop visiting that library's Twitter page. Operating a Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook page is definitely something that needs to constantly be updated and kept current and relevant, in order to keep people coming back. One thing that I noticed is that several of the sites, whether Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace kept material on their pages long after it was no longer relevent and current. I don't know how easy it is to remove messages, but I would think that should be part of the process in running this type of Social Network.
I have decided not to create a MySpace or Facebook page at this time, but I realize that in order to really understand how a Social Network works, I may have to sign up for one or the other or both, in order to better understand how they work. I don't know if I would worry about privacy or not. Probably not too much, but I wouldn't really know until I had a Facebook or MySpace account. Our library has a MySpace page, but not a lot of information is on there. Several of the links to other information do not work. There have been a lot of changes here at the Amarillo Public Library with some staff reorganization and an extensive remodeling project, which may explain why the MySpace page isn't being used to its full potential yet, but I suspect that in time, it will become a more useful and interesting site.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Method 7
Method 7
The use of Tags in an interesting concept. I had heard of tags, and had come across them in several different places, but had not explored the concept on my own. I had already opened a Delicious.com account several months ago, and had bookmarked several Internet sites, mainly articles that I wanted to come back to read at a later time. The idea of bookmarking different web sites through delicious and organizing them in the same way that I have organized web sites in folders on my home and work pc did not occur to me, at least not in a well thought out manner. This is something that I will try. I am also looking to see how other libraries are using Delicious. San Mateo Public Library's way of organizing bookmarks by Dewey order is an interesting concept. Some libraries arrange the bookmarks by many specific topics. Grouping topics into Tag Bundles, or some other grouping, seems to be a better use of tagging.
The use of Tags in an interesting concept. I had heard of tags, and had come across them in several different places, but had not explored the concept on my own. I had already opened a Delicious.com account several months ago, and had bookmarked several Internet sites, mainly articles that I wanted to come back to read at a later time. The idea of bookmarking different web sites through delicious and organizing them in the same way that I have organized web sites in folders on my home and work pc did not occur to me, at least not in a well thought out manner. This is something that I will try. I am also looking to see how other libraries are using Delicious. San Mateo Public Library's way of organizing bookmarks by Dewey order is an interesting concept. Some libraries arrange the bookmarks by many specific topics. Grouping topics into Tag Bundles, or some other grouping, seems to be a better use of tagging.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Method 6
Method 6
The YouTube video on the New York Public Library is an excellent video. It brings out information about the library and all that it has to offer [http://www.youtube.com/user/NewYorkPublicLibrary] to individuals, young and old, who come through it's doors. It is difficult to compare the relatively small library I work at, the Amarillo Public Library, to the huge New York Public Library, with all that it contains. My library is like a microcosm of what the NYPL is. But the YouTube video brought to my mind the realization that even if we cannot offer to our patrons all that the New York Public can offer, the Amarillo Public Library, and indeed all public libraries to some extent, can offer to our patrons the same types of services that the NYPL offers to it's patrons on a larger scale. We can offer reference and research services, books to children and adults, a variety of programs that meets the needs and desires of different groups of people, genealogy services, and many other library related services, programs and events. And while, most other public libraries throughout the nation, (probably all actually) cannot offer the incredible research and reference sources that the NYPL has, nearly every public library across the United States probably has some unique reference source, unique to that library, that cannot be found in the New York Public Library, or in any other library. What I mainly got out of the video was that we must work with what we have, and offer our patrons the same enthusiastic and caring services that the librarians and staff of the New York Public Library offer, as is shown in their YouTube video.
NYPL
The YouTube video on the New York Public Library is an excellent video. It brings out information about the library and all that it has to offer [http://www.youtube.com/user/NewYorkPublicLibrary] to individuals, young and old, who come through it's doors. It is difficult to compare the relatively small library I work at, the Amarillo Public Library, to the huge New York Public Library, with all that it contains. My library is like a microcosm of what the NYPL is. But the YouTube video brought to my mind the realization that even if we cannot offer to our patrons all that the New York Public can offer, the Amarillo Public Library, and indeed all public libraries to some extent, can offer to our patrons the same types of services that the NYPL offers to it's patrons on a larger scale. We can offer reference and research services, books to children and adults, a variety of programs that meets the needs and desires of different groups of people, genealogy services, and many other library related services, programs and events. And while, most other public libraries throughout the nation, (probably all actually) cannot offer the incredible research and reference sources that the NYPL has, nearly every public library across the United States probably has some unique reference source, unique to that library, that cannot be found in the New York Public Library, or in any other library. What I mainly got out of the video was that we must work with what we have, and offer our patrons the same enthusiastic and caring services that the librarians and staff of the New York Public Library offer, as is shown in their YouTube video.
NYPL
Monday, November 9, 2009
Method 5
Method 5
First Impression. Overwhelming, as in the number of photos uploaded to Flickr is overwhelming. Or, here is another thing that I need to keep up with -uploading my photos to Flickr, adding comments and tags, grouping them, editing them, sharing them, etc, etc. But I suppose I am not obligated to do so.
I have looked at what libraries are doing on Flickr, but was not really drawn to any of the sites I looked at. I looked at several, and didn't find any of them very interesting or informative. I may not be looking at the better ones, or more likely, I am not looking with the right set of eyes and the right mindset.
I can see the advantage of sharing certain photos of a personal or family orientation with others in a private group. This might be easier than trying to share them via Facebook or MySpace. Also, it would be a way to have photos backed up in case something were to happen to one's home computer.
Something is not adding up for me. First I tried to find images of New Mexico. Many images that had been tagged "New Mexico" showed up. Being too broad I tried to narrow it. An option presented on each page of images was to click "New Mexico Clusters". This brought up what seemed to be other tags that would still be New Mexico but would narrow down the number of images by narrowing down the topic. I was presented with tags such as, Albuquerque, route66, clouds, mountains, adobe, Santa Fe, Taos, whitesands, etc. I chose mountains and assumed that I would get just images of New Mexico mountains. But instead, I got pictures of mountains from Scotland, Austria, France, Wyoming, but not New Mexico. I tried New Mexico Mountains as a tag search and got some hits, but not very good ones. I feel that there are more images out there that are better than what I brought up.
Image to include in my blogpost:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maximalideal/3934015809/
First Impression. Overwhelming, as in the number of photos uploaded to Flickr is overwhelming. Or, here is another thing that I need to keep up with -uploading my photos to Flickr, adding comments and tags, grouping them, editing them, sharing them, etc, etc. But I suppose I am not obligated to do so.
I have looked at what libraries are doing on Flickr, but was not really drawn to any of the sites I looked at. I looked at several, and didn't find any of them very interesting or informative. I may not be looking at the better ones, or more likely, I am not looking with the right set of eyes and the right mindset.
I can see the advantage of sharing certain photos of a personal or family orientation with others in a private group. This might be easier than trying to share them via Facebook or MySpace. Also, it would be a way to have photos backed up in case something were to happen to one's home computer.
Something is not adding up for me. First I tried to find images of New Mexico. Many images that had been tagged "New Mexico" showed up. Being too broad I tried to narrow it. An option presented on each page of images was to click "New Mexico Clusters". This brought up what seemed to be other tags that would still be New Mexico but would narrow down the number of images by narrowing down the topic. I was presented with tags such as, Albuquerque, route66, clouds, mountains, adobe, Santa Fe, Taos, whitesands, etc. I chose mountains and assumed that I would get just images of New Mexico mountains. But instead, I got pictures of mountains from Scotland, Austria, France, Wyoming, but not New Mexico. I tried New Mexico Mountains as a tag search and got some hits, but not very good ones. I feel that there are more images out there that are better than what I brought up.
Image to include in my blogpost:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maximalideal/3934015809/
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Method 4
Method 4
I signed up for six feeds, but will probably drop some or maybe all of them. Three of the feeds that I signed up for were
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
http://labs.familysearch.org/blog/
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/opera/index.html?
The problem for me is that in signing up for these feeds, I am presented with an overwhelming number of articles that I can read, but don't have the time for. There is a guilt trip associated with seeing all the articles that have come to me, but which I cannot keep up with. I have enough problem feeling guilty about all the books and movies I am not getting to read or watch. Before I signed up for these feeds, I didn't know what I was missing, and wasn't missing it all that much. There were times when I went directly to a blog, to see if there was any earth shattering news, but that was as far as I went. Now all the earth shattering news, and alot that isn't, comes to me whether I want it to or not. Of course, I don't have to read everything, and I haven't. But there is more than enough that interests me, that I can spend quite a bit of work time (not that I would) and time outside of work, reading articles of interest just because they are there. I can see the importance of blogs and newsfeeds coming directy to you. If an organization uses blogs to impart important information to its employees, it would behoove the employees to sign up for automatic feeds of whatever important information the higher-ups wanted to impart. And definitely, if someone has a great interest in something for which there are good blogs or newsfeeds that cover that interest, it would be useful for that person to be able to receive information about it on a continuing basis, rather than having to go out to find the information. So I don't know if I will stay signed in to all the blogs and feeds I signed up for. At least now I know how to subscribe to different sites, if I feel the need to do so in the future.
I signed up for six feeds, but will probably drop some or maybe all of them. Three of the feeds that I signed up for were
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
http://labs.familysearch.org/blog/
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/opera/index.html?
The problem for me is that in signing up for these feeds, I am presented with an overwhelming number of articles that I can read, but don't have the time for. There is a guilt trip associated with seeing all the articles that have come to me, but which I cannot keep up with. I have enough problem feeling guilty about all the books and movies I am not getting to read or watch. Before I signed up for these feeds, I didn't know what I was missing, and wasn't missing it all that much. There were times when I went directly to a blog, to see if there was any earth shattering news, but that was as far as I went. Now all the earth shattering news, and alot that isn't, comes to me whether I want it to or not. Of course, I don't have to read everything, and I haven't. But there is more than enough that interests me, that I can spend quite a bit of work time (not that I would) and time outside of work, reading articles of interest just because they are there. I can see the importance of blogs and newsfeeds coming directy to you. If an organization uses blogs to impart important information to its employees, it would behoove the employees to sign up for automatic feeds of whatever important information the higher-ups wanted to impart. And definitely, if someone has a great interest in something for which there are good blogs or newsfeeds that cover that interest, it would be useful for that person to be able to receive information about it on a continuing basis, rather than having to go out to find the information. So I don't know if I will stay signed in to all the blogs and feeds I signed up for. At least now I know how to subscribe to different sites, if I feel the need to do so in the future.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Method 3
I have logged into Zoho using my gmail account. I will try this, and see if it is better than Google Docs, which I did not like too much, but don't remember why.
Lesson 3: Thoughts on Cloud Computing [written using Zoho Writer]
I am slowly grasping the concept of cloud computing. Much of what is done with a pc can be done by accessing different online programs and doing and completing work via those programs. Word Processing can be achieved with programs such as Google Docs, Zoho Writer, or some other like program. The documents don’t even need to be stored on the pc but can be stored on an offline server, housed who knows where in some part of the world. Personal E-mail, such as that stored in Yahoo mail, was probably among the first applications to be a part of the cloud computing concept. [Thoughts in this paragraph are incomplete. I should think them out more carefully and then rewrite them, but I probably won’t.]
One of the responses to Could You Live in the Clouds said, "If it's on my system, I'm responsible for it and keeping it private, safe and available. If it's on Google's or Microsoft's systems, who's responsible for it? Not that these companies would let my data out in the public, but who can be sure? What happens when the cloud begins costing? Are you willing to pay the price; and can you get your information off if you can't afford it?" These are good questions to be asking, although the answers probably won't become apparent for many years. Only as people, over time, make use of the processes that make up "cloud computing" will more of the problems and positive aspects come to light. Many years ago, I believe it was pre-web Internet, a man gave a talk on what the Internet at the time contained and how it could best be used. He stated in the talk that the information found on the Internet would always be free and available to everyone. As it turned out, that is not the case. But it took several years from the time he made that statement for individuals and entities to start charging for their web information. So who knows what Cloud Computing will look like in a few years. Paying for the right to store files, pictures, e-mail, documents, etc, and other features of Cloud Computing isn't necessarily a bad thing, if there are only a few negative downsides. But it will be interesting to see how it all plays out in a few years.
As for uses in libraries, I don't have enough of a grasp of it all and haven't used the resources enough yet to see the larger picture of how it would be used in libraries on a large scale. In our library, when someone comes in to use the computer for online access, one of the options besides Interent is access to Microsoft Word for those needing a word processor. Online usage is restricted to a limit of an hour per day, which is often not enough time for someone to complete what they are writing. Showing them how to access Google Docs or Zoho Writer would be very helpful for library patrons such as these.
I am trying Zoho Sheet spreadsheet program to keep track of a schedule of events I want to attend. What I am doing is pretty basic, and so far no problems.
Lesson 3: Thoughts on Cloud Computing [written using Zoho Writer]
I am slowly grasping the concept of cloud computing. Much of what is done with a pc can be done by accessing different online programs and doing and completing work via those programs. Word Processing can be achieved with programs such as Google Docs, Zoho Writer, or some other like program. The documents don’t even need to be stored on the pc but can be stored on an offline server, housed who knows where in some part of the world. Personal E-mail, such as that stored in Yahoo mail, was probably among the first applications to be a part of the cloud computing concept. [Thoughts in this paragraph are incomplete. I should think them out more carefully and then rewrite them, but I probably won’t.]
One of the responses to Could You Live in the Clouds said, "If it's on my system, I'm responsible for it and keeping it private, safe and available. If it's on Google's or Microsoft's systems, who's responsible for it? Not that these companies would let my data out in the public, but who can be sure? What happens when the cloud begins costing? Are you willing to pay the price; and can you get your information off if you can't afford it?" These are good questions to be asking, although the answers probably won't become apparent for many years. Only as people, over time, make use of the processes that make up "cloud computing" will more of the problems and positive aspects come to light. Many years ago, I believe it was pre-web Internet, a man gave a talk on what the Internet at the time contained and how it could best be used. He stated in the talk that the information found on the Internet would always be free and available to everyone. As it turned out, that is not the case. But it took several years from the time he made that statement for individuals and entities to start charging for their web information. So who knows what Cloud Computing will look like in a few years. Paying for the right to store files, pictures, e-mail, documents, etc, and other features of Cloud Computing isn't necessarily a bad thing, if there are only a few negative downsides. But it will be interesting to see how it all plays out in a few years.
As for uses in libraries, I don't have enough of a grasp of it all and haven't used the resources enough yet to see the larger picture of how it would be used in libraries on a large scale. In our library, when someone comes in to use the computer for online access, one of the options besides Interent is access to Microsoft Word for those needing a word processor. Online usage is restricted to a limit of an hour per day, which is often not enough time for someone to complete what they are writing. Showing them how to access Google Docs or Zoho Writer would be very helpful for library patrons such as these.
I am trying Zoho Sheet spreadsheet program to keep track of a schedule of events I want to attend. What I am doing is pretty basic, and so far no problems.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Methods 1 and 2
12 Ways to 2 Step
Lesson 1:
Web 2.0 is not a standard. It will have a profound effect on our lives, personally, socially, and for libraries.
After just reading the first few pages of the article by Stephen Abram, I feel overwhelmed by the new Web 2.0 technologies that are out there, but which I haven’t used. And I am not someone who is afraid of technology. This online learning process (12 Ways to 2 Step) will I’m sure be useful in helping me become somewhat more familiar with some of the aspects of Web 2.0.
It is hard for me to understand how, as Abram says, “plain intranets and plain HTML Web sites are fast becoming old stuff, so last century”, when these are still processes I use on a daily basis, both personally and at work. When I am asked to understand the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, my brain fogs up.
Stephen Abram video: You learn by doing. Starting a blog will help you understand blogs, starting a Facebook page will help to understand Facebook, etc. Using an RSS aggregator will help you understand it better.
Beth Evans article on The Consumer as Producer was not convincing. As she pointed out, there is a big difference between a museum asking the public to submit content, and a library asking the public to do the same or become involved in some other aspect of the library’s daily workings. Her examples of how libraries can ask the public to submit content to the library did not seem pursuasive.
Professor Wesch’s YouTube video on the Machine is Us/ing Us was interesting. I watched it twice, pausing it several times the second time around to try to grasp what he was talking about. In addition, the video on Professor Wesch Explaining “the Machine is Us/ing Us” also was interesting and helpful.
Lesson 1:
Web 2.0 is not a standard. It will have a profound effect on our lives, personally, socially, and for libraries.
After just reading the first few pages of the article by Stephen Abram, I feel overwhelmed by the new Web 2.0 technologies that are out there, but which I haven’t used. And I am not someone who is afraid of technology. This online learning process (12 Ways to 2 Step) will I’m sure be useful in helping me become somewhat more familiar with some of the aspects of Web 2.0.
It is hard for me to understand how, as Abram says, “plain intranets and plain HTML Web sites are fast becoming old stuff, so last century”, when these are still processes I use on a daily basis, both personally and at work. When I am asked to understand the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, my brain fogs up.
Stephen Abram video: You learn by doing. Starting a blog will help you understand blogs, starting a Facebook page will help to understand Facebook, etc. Using an RSS aggregator will help you understand it better.
Beth Evans article on The Consumer as Producer was not convincing. As she pointed out, there is a big difference between a museum asking the public to submit content, and a library asking the public to do the same or become involved in some other aspect of the library’s daily workings. Her examples of how libraries can ask the public to submit content to the library did not seem pursuasive.
Professor Wesch’s YouTube video on the Machine is Us/ing Us was interesting. I watched it twice, pausing it several times the second time around to try to grasp what he was talking about. In addition, the video on Professor Wesch Explaining “the Machine is Us/ing Us” also was interesting and helpful.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Test Post: Met in HD
The 2009-2010 Met in HD season will start October 10 with the live performance of Tosca being transmitted to movie theaters around the world.
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