Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Thing 14: Technorati

Well, as I found with my first exploration of Technorati way back in Thing 9, I am not at all a fan of the general search tool that looks for tagged posts. When I did the search for "Learning 2.0" I saw lots of results from other folks/organizations who are doing the web challenge "things." Although I can't say I didn't learn anything, because I did come across one post from someone at Columbus Metropolitan Library who was blogging about their new Technology Director, Helene Blowers, who originated the "Web Things" challenge at PLCMC. Full circle!

And then....when I clicked on the "blogs" tag, voila! There was Helene's blog Library Bytes, which, I am ashamed to say, I had never viewed before. I will definitely be adding a feed from her blog. She has a slideshow posted for a workshop she gave yesterday in Ohio, and it looks like it is just chock-full of great info and ideas. Just out of curiosity, I Google-ed the title of her workshop, and the first result was said same slideshow on slideshare.net (incidentally, another resource I didn't know about). SHAMELESS BOOK TIP: She mentions Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky. OCL has 4 copies, just waiting to be read - pick it up or place your hold!

I must say, I'm still a little "on the fence" with Technorati. I never seem to find what I think I'm searching for, but I always come away with some little gem I didn't even know I was missing.

Thing 13: Del.icio.us Otters




OK, so it's not hard to guess what first grabbed my attention about this task: bonjour, Otter Group!




I thought it was interesting to explore around del.icio.us and track thought processes through tags. I enjoyed noticing where I felt the train of thought was "on topic" and where I felt I was definitely veering into other topics. For instance, I started out exploring the "food" tag, which led me to "recipes," then "vegan" where I noticed a bookmark for a site about vegan shoes. So, a couple of tags kept me solidly within the "food" topic and then led me into fashion accessories!

I also like to note the tags and try to imagine whether the "tagger" was just trying to be very thorough or if the tags represent what topics are most important to them for a site. I looked at the tags for a site that had a lemon tart recipe, and it was fun to see how many folks stuck to basics like "dessert" and "recipe" and those who were more specific and tagged "lemon." A simple example, but it made me think about how personalized this tool might be, and how that might really work well for some searchers and be really distracting for others. I liked seeing tags in other languages, too!
I peeked at another string of "web 2.0" and "web design" tags, just to get a perspective from a different topic. I can see some research use for del.icio.us if you view the common tags for a bookmark. In this instance, the common cloud I viewed contained tags like "javascript" and "css," so I can see where a searcher could use the common clouds as ways to narrow down choices for sites, based on whether a site is tagged for all of the topics you are searching or just one or two - a bit like I imagine "relevancy ranking" to work behind the scenes at Google.




Saturday, April 26, 2008

Thing 12: netLibrary and WorldCat

I haven't been a frequent user of netLibrary in the past, but I found it very easy to navigate. I searched for a book on gardening and found a fantastic title on accessible gardening for seniors and the differently abled. Hiyo - netLibary is an additional resource for diversity materials. Since I happened upon a title aimed at the differently-abled, I immediately looked around the interface to see if you could play with the text size of the ebook. No luck - just the usual capability to adjust the text size under the Windows "View" menu. That would be a nice additional feature. Anyway, I found it very easy to browse material and content. I would feel very comfortable showing a customer this resource.

I use WorldCat every single day at work. I have to admit I didn't use it very often before I came to work in Collections, but it is definitely a go-to resource for me now. It is VERY helpful when filling out Request for Materials forms. Just a reminder, though - even though WorldCat shows local owning agencies, that does not necessarily mean those agencies are willing to loan the item through ILL. Customers love to tell us "fyi - Georgian Court owns this," but that doesn't mean they'll end up as the lender!

WorldCat is very helpful in showing information about different editions of titles. And, since the content contains full catalog records from various libraries, you get great MARC record information, which can even include content summaries - a HUGE help for multi-volume titles. That's still a more unusual feature on retailer and vendor interfaces. Libraries are where it's at for bibliographic info, and WorldCat is a great example of a resource that gives better access to superb information.

Thing 11: Library Thing is Good Fun That is Funny

Voila - note my Library Thing library to the left. What a fun place for readers, and I have a sneaky suspicion I may start some compulsive list-compiling in the near future. My books were somewhat popular, except for the 2 brand new ones. Joanna Trollope's new one is just now out, and I sort of cheated with Patricia Wells' memoir because I had access to an advance reader's copy. So, OCL readers and Patricia Wells fans, keep your eyes peeled - 7 copies will be on order for the system after the pub date in May! Here's a teaser: I found out that Patricia is an avid runner and has had to really work to maintain a healthy weight. It's nice to know that it's not all daisies and second helpings for food critics/cookbook authors!

A few of my choices had discussions. I was interested in the discussion about The Archivist's Story, a tale about an archivist in Stalinist Russia whose days are filled with incinerating the works of authors unpopular with the state. He proceeds to save an unpublished work by Isaac Babel, only to come to the realization that his time is running out and he will soon be among those "seized." One reader complained that the narrator of that story was too emotionally detached to draw in the reader. For me, the detachment only served to magnify the random but stark horror of being plucked right out of an ordinary life for probable execution, and having almost no chance of stopping this inevitable fate. If you like fiction set in Russia, you might also enjoy The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean and/or The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Thing 10 - Meez like to Samba!

I popped over to my pal Pea's blog and left a comment on her post that included her furry pet pooch Sasha. I also had to check out the "Meez" action on her site. It was too cool, so in the interest of community I had to totally copy her. (Don't worry, Prisquilla - I mentioned you when I registered so hopefully you got some extra coinz!)

So my technology discovery for this post was Meez.com, where I created my avatar who can samba up a storm. It was fun to create everything from her physical look to wardrobe and animation. I can see this being a fun activity for library customers - not only would young folks love the self expression, but I actually think it is a colorful way to practice PC skills for all ages. Imagine seniors practicing mouse skills by creating a Meez?!! There's lots of precision clicking involved, careful screen reading, making pop-up screens appear and disappear, and all sorts of other "basic mouse skills" that customers need. A great match for adult computer learners who have youngsters at home, too. Imagine how cool a grandparent or other relative would be if they could e-mail their loved one their new Meez! This would probably be a great match for teens teaching/coaching technology, too. A fun forum for training, to be sure!

Thing 9. AKA When does tea really mean cheese?


Cheese shop (3)
Originally uploaded by cathou_cathare
Well, I must say this exercise left me a bit cold. I explored each of the 3 sites searching for gardening, tea, and otters. I did not like Syndic8 at all - so text-y, and many, many blogs completely unrelated to my topic searches. No gold there. I liked the interface of Technorati a bit better, although I'm not sure I can say I was much happier with the search results.

Which brings me to the title for today's post. I searched for "tea" on Technorati, and was unhappy with the results list. So I clicked on one of their suggested related tags, which was "brewing." Lo and behold, one of the results was The Cheese Underground, whose main content is neither about tea nor brewing but artisanal cheese-making in Wisconsin. Not at all what I was looking for, but just happens to be another one of my favorite things, so I added the feed. By the way, this photo looks a little bit like heaven to me.

I didn't have too much more luck on Topix. I had been frustrated on another tool (can't remember now whether it was Syndic8 or Technorati - running together in my head now) when I searched for "gardening" and then clicked on a given related tag of "vegetables," only to get a results list that included a blog on how to influence the gender of your baby. Then, in my wandering on Topix, I saw another news item about research that suggests the mother's diet may have an effect on baby gender. Still not what I was looking for, but some trivia none the less.

Since Technorati had at least brought me entree in to the hidden gem of the Cheese Underground, I explored some more and found that I like their Advanced Search a lot better. You can put more terms in your search, exclude others, and search for "Blogs About" your search term rather than just posts. When you get your results list, you can look at related posts or related blogs, which was really what I was after. I ended up with a gardening blog, 2 tea blogs, and another cheese blog for which I'll add feeds.

So, I think I must improve my skills before I benefit from these tools as guided resourcs, but I did get some fun results from the wandering path. A fun exploration if you have some spare time!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

RSS/Thing 8

Bloglines, here I come. I set up my account and subscribed to a smorgasbord of feeds.
For my "suggested 3" I went with OCLWebthings, Unshelved, and the NYT (Book Review to be exact). I found some great job essentials and subscribed to feeds from Booklist, After Words (C-Span's BookTV), PublishersNewswire, and former colleague Liz Burns. Liz's blog has already given me a title for a book that I simply MUST buy for my niece. Thanks, Liz - a small ballerina in Massachusetts will be ever so happy I read your blog! Then I went for a few french otter/loutre francaise themes, with a feed from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (where I may retire to care for sea otter pups) and French-Word-a-Day. Today's word is la laque, which is hairspray, originating, I suppose, from some form of lacquer?! That may come in handy if I go to France one day, where I'm sure some uberchic person will take one look at my curls and suggest a local purveyor of la laque. Now I will know they are not trying to give me directions to a lake. Finally, a totally fun feed - from the Dancing With the Stars blog. One never knows when a late-breaking sequin event might be fed to my Bloglines account!

There are so many reader-based blogs that libraries can help customers use. Seeing the strength and passion of the online reading community definitely show me that our readers are a critical customer base. I am trying to brainstorm some ways I can use these new skills in the future to market my beloved non-fiction!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Thing 6: Still More Photo Fun in the Nonfiction!


nonfiction 004
Originally uploaded by curlymjp
Here's a great new title about 4 swimmers' attempts to cross the English Channel in 1926. Have a youngster in your life? While you read this one, give them America's Champion Swimmer by David A. Adler - one of my favorite picture book biographies. It's about Gertrude Ederle (also one of the 4 swimmers featured in Mortimer's book), a sassy American gal who performed a record-breaking (that's male records - she was the first female to complete the crossing) swim. If you dig this awesome swimmer, maybe you'll want to move on to reading Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox, a modern-day American gal who swims long distances in open water - often FREEZING open water. These books are a great way to get in the mood for the Summer Olympics, where open-water swimming is a new event. I'll bet these ladies all love otters!

Thing 6: More Photo Fun in the Nonfiction!


nonfiction 001
Originally uploaded by curlymjp
Well, no surprise here - I hit the stacks and took a few photos of some of the new non-fiction books in Toms River. Here is a shot of the shelves - look at those nice, big books on the top shelf. Keep them in mind for future branch displays on autism or doo-wop!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Thing 5: Flickr this Otter!


Otter
Originally uploaded by sparky2000
This otter appears to be particularly excited to be posted on a blog. You can almost picture his beret, n'est ce pas? Although Flickr identifies him as an Asian short-clawed otter who lives in the Edinburgh Zoo, so I suppose a tartan kilt would be more likely than a jaunty beret.

The 7 1/2 Habits

Bienvenue a La Loutre Francaise, or, for mes amies americaines, Welcome to the French Otter. French, like the smoking berets of the Resistance, and otter, like the member of the weasel family with the deceptively playful nature.

Let's see now, the habit that comes easiest to me would probably be accepting responsibility for my own learning. I'm a pretty independent type, and am usually quite willing to seek out info on my own and try something out. The hardest part would probably be having confidence in myself. It's not self-doubt that gets me down so much as a crippling case of perfectionism, which makes it a challenge for me to get through the "beginner phase" of a new hobby, before I start to feel proficient.