Thing #14 - Google Books

Ooooh, books on cats...

Here is the one I found:

The Rubáíyat of a Persian Kitten

and I can see the whole thing. This really is quite a clever and humorous little book.

I found myself a little bit disappointed to be reading digitally, as there is something uniquely special about holding the actual book in your hands, perhaps having to do with the spirit of the object, but then again I'd likely never get the opportunity to handle the book anyhow and seeing inside is better than nothing. I don't, however, believe that the illustrations scanned in very well. Perhaps that will improve with technology.

In addition, if I found something through my Google search too great to miss in person, then I could plan a special trip to wherever the book was housed or perhaps buy it if a copy were available.

For libraries, I believe this will be a valuable searching tool for patrons and for collection development.

Finally, I don't have copyright concerns about this project. From what I read about the lawsuit and Google Books itself, Google is obeying copyright law. Secondly, even though I obey copyright laws as they stand today myself, this is a subject of great concern to me. I would like to see things changed or at least better thought out. There is an mixed-reviewed book on this subject that I find interesting. It is called Copyrights and copywrongs : the rise of intellectual property and how it threatens creativity by Siva Vaidhyanathan . It is available via Google Book Search with a limited preview, so I invite you to take a look.

Thing #13 - Hmmmm....Del.icio.us?

Well, to start off, I looked for a way to get or use an account; however, all I could find were instructions that involved downloading a toolbar. I am hesitant for two reasons: I believe I read that we are not supposed to download such items to our workstations and I already have a three level toolbar. So, I just decided to explore the site instead.

Here are some of the interesting things I found:

1. On the first day I visited the site, this was in the "tags to watch" category under "shoes". Ian's Shoelace Site - Shoe Lacing Methods. Who knew there were so many ways to tie shoes? This is interesting in that someone took time to build this site. The info is good and useful in certain situations, though.
2. Looking further, I found an article that addresses possible reasons why people create the sites that they do. http://www.shirky.com/herecomeseverybody/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html It is from Clay Shirky’s Writings About the Internet Economics & Culture, Media & Community, Open Source. I located the article in his blog tied to his new book. I'm not sure I understand all the concepts, but it is worth looking into. I apologize to Mr. Shirky that I tried to find out how to use the TrackBack, but I was unsuccessful.
3. Next, I found an article from The New York Review of Books Volume 55, Number 10 · June 12, 2008 By Robert Darnton. The Library in the New Age - The New York Review of Books. Mr. Darnton provides a scholarly view of how he believes libraries should proceed in digital times based on certain aspects of the history of communication.
4. Finally, I searched "public library" and found this link I feel will be very useful to me. http://librivox.org/. 10277 people believed in it enough to mark it. It is free online public domain audiobooks read by volunteers. I will have to find time to listen & someday volunteer.

I find the idea of portable bookmarks intriguing, but I'm not sure how much I would use them. From a research or reference library perspective, I think this tool would be quite useful because it would be accessible from many different computers, allowing you to work from wherever you were. And maybe you could create a set of links for your patron who had a reference question and tag them uniquely so that person could then view them. Sounds good to me.

Thing #12 - the final piece

Oh, yes. For the final piece of #12, I choose a card reader. However, I have a request, if it is possible: if the card readers will not read SDHC (high capacity cards), could I please have the MP3 player instead? Thanks for the great incentives!

Thing #12 - Yin & Yang/Opportunity & Responsiblity

At this point, I feel that I need to revisit my first post and emphasize again the notion that we are all on this journey together. I have had quite a few wonderful teaching experiences during the first 12 things, and I am honored that people have asked for my help in the course of their own journeys. I also have learned much from others during mine.

To me, this is the point of connectivity. We connect to connect, so to speak. My favorite aspect of technology and Web 2.0 is that every day it brings us more and more connections with others.

This great opportunity entails great responsibility, however. We have to work to make sure that, as we march forth into this new digital world, we do not forget the basic premise that there is a human being on the other end, too. If we remember this:

• We will never be tempted to steal the creative works of others [this is especially important because so many people have put wonderful creations on the Internet, and many of them have put works into the public domain]. We must honor that spirit of sharing and generosity and not abuse it.


• We can view the world around us, and ,through learning and connections, bring a little bit more peace to the world.


• As parents, we will teach our children this great responsibility, too, that they may go forth into an even more connected world with knowledge and navigate safely through while protecting creativity and spreading peace.


• As citizens, we will not allow poorly thought out and/or short-sighted legislation to curtail our freedoms or our responsibility.

Uh-oh! 2.0 (or Thing #12--the Beginning)

I just had a very weird experience. Right now I am processing books in here at JCPL. We are adding a copy of "The African Americans of Jackson County : from slavery to integration" by Victoria A. Casey McDonald. It is a superb local history book.

As I was entering it, I flipped through to see some of the photos. Many of the pictures are of the very area in which I now live. Here's the crazy part:

I found myself subconciously trying to figure out how to make the mashup work! I wanted to see the photos with a map overlay and possibly some then and now shots. It's a book--not gonna happen! Still, I found myself wishing that it would and thinking how much better of an experience it would be if it included those things.

So, I can honestly say I understand "Generation D's" yearning for a multi-media experience. I think in the future we will see more and more integrative works, even in the library. I suspect the demand will be there--in some cases I think it already is. More and more books will include CDs or CDROMs or DVDs to "upgrade" the readers experience. Love it or hate it, I believe it's on its way.

Thing #11 - Diggin' Digg

Exploring Digg was a quick and easy experience. It has a very nice layout, and the categories make sense to me. I like the fact that the story source comes first in the description because that allows you to judge the veracity of the source without clicking through.

Digg could come in handy for libraries because it seems to offer a good compilation of news stories on several topics; however, it doesn't appear to be all that tame of a site, especially the comments. I would recommend it with some reservation.

I was able to find a great link that I would never have come across otherwise. It is of snow leopard pictures. I was able to send it to my daughter, too, because I know she is interested in snow leopards.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/snow-leopards/winter-photography

Thing #10 - Goodreads

I have been trying to complete #10 for some time now. Goodreads slows my computer down most of the time and completely disables it at other times.

At any rate, I had an account earlier at Helen's urging, so that, at least, was done. You can view my profile at www.goodreads.com/profile/meerclars_child.

I added some books, and I'm guessing tagging means creating new bookshelves because I didn't see another way to tag. If I am missing it, please comment and let me know. I tried to grab a couple from each of my primary reading interests, but I don't have time to add tons and tons--I'm either busy reading them or doing other things. I don't know that I'll utilize this service heavily, but it's nice to know it is there. The main problem I see with it is it usually offers up only "off-the-street" reviews. This doesn't work well for me because the only review I would normally consider reading before reading the book itself would be a professional description/review. And after I've read the book, I'm happy to enter my review, but I probably won't read too many others--it's a time issue. Still, I'm glad to know of it, and I like to occasionally peek at what my coworkers are reading so I don't miss something fabulous that is outside of my typical genres.

I also joined a group called KidLit, which as you may guess is about children's literature, as that is a particular interest of mine. The posts don't seem all that frequent, so maybe I can keep up.

I didn't try to add a widget yet because of the disabling effect the site has on my computer, but maybe later.

Thing #9 - Generator Power

I really had to limit my time with these, as they seemed to slow my computer down to beyond a crawl. Still, I was able to find my Unitarian Jihad Name. [Don't be alarmed by the word "jihad"--we are Unitarian Universalists and we have a different spin on things --see Jon Carroll's article http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/08/DDG27BCFLG1.DTL]

I am known as Sister Howitzer of Enlightened Compassion. Thank you.

And I had to do a little motivator (though I usually like the "demotivators" better http://www.despair.com/)

Here's mine:

Thing #8 Continued...the fun stuff!

I had to finish up Thing #8 with the fun stuff from Flickr. I tried Delivr, and then taught my daughter to use it. It is simple and fun. I enjoy the little e-postcards. And so many people have so much in the Creative Commons, there are tons of images to choose from. I also just get such a big kick out of Retriver. I can't draw, but it still found just the images I was looking for. What a neat concept! This will come in VERY handy when I'm having a creative moment and need to add just the right photo (that is, any cat photo :)).

Thing #8 - Rural Mashups smash up

I looked at some of the mashups, but I'm not sure I found the good ones. I tried the popular Earthquake link, and it made my computer snag as well as trying to bring me a virus (thanks, IT, for the virus protection). I never did get it to load. I think I understand the concept, and it seems cool. For me, I lose interest, though, because none of them seem to work for stuff close to home. In my experience, though, only Google's info (maps, in particular) is accurate at a local level. [Note: I will offer a warning from personal experience--don't rely on Mapquest driving directions in rural Western North Carolina.]

Still, I clicked on a few. One I tried was "Lunchbox". The only restaurant it listed was the Huddle House on 441. Honestly, can't anyone do better than that? Lulu's has been mentioned in a popular magazine. You'd think it would be on somebody's radar. The others I clicked on got very quirky locally, too. LookLocal choked on driving directions from Waynesville to Sylva and at one point said, "Use Local Roads". Well, that clears it right up. Still, overall, the directions would have sufficed. Mapified Kayak didn't consider Asheville, NC to be a destination airport. It only went as far as Charlotte. Mezzoman was a simple and cool concept. It found places in Waynesville and Clyde as halfway points between Sylva and Asheville. Good enough.

I hope as more people get connected, we'll have more info filled in for our area. I'm looking forward to it.

Thing #7 Part B and C

Taking pictures--LOVE IT!!! I also love "photoshopping" or photo editing my images. So, I used a couple of photo editing programs--LunaPic and Adobe Photoshop--to doctor the pictures I took in the library. For a fun little game, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/26553386@N06/sets/

and look in the set called "What's In Your Library?". See if you can figure out what the original object looks like. After guessing, you can view the original pics in the "What's In Your Library-Original Pics (Spoilers!)" set.

Here's one for a teaser:

Neonasaurus?

P.S. - I tried and tried to get these to show up on a search for Fontana Regional Library, but I must be doing something wrong. I used quotes, no dice. So, please bear with my link, instead.

Thing #7 - Explore Flickr (the beginning...)

At the outset, I wondered what inspired the name Flickr. After a search, I still wonder. But, on to the functionality. I am working on the second option, but I still wanted to get familiar with the site, so I clicked around a bit. I find I am not at all used to the Yahoo! interface. It seems big and there's a lot "below the fold", even in 1024x768. It looks very elementary to me because of this. Now that I have created an account (which was astonishingly easy), it greets me with a non-smiling face --that's okay, though, that's about how I feel about it, too, thus far-lukewarm. On to Part B...

Oh, Meez--Oh, my

I have jumped right on the bandwagon and created my very own Meez. Did anyone else experience disappointment that Meez did not offer realistic options? The company's huge violation of acceptance of differences aside, there ARE some of us who are not ashamed to show ourselves as we are. The largest Meez body type was quite small, in fact. Why aren't larger people entitled to a Meez more reflective of themselves? The one that got me, though, was the age. All the Meez look like they are 16-20. Would it be so difficult to create an option for people who are older than that? And what about people whose bodies are different--wheelchairs, prosthetic or missing limbs, and on and on? Don't those folks get to play? Sadly, there are more as the war goes on, and they are young people who might be interested in having an avatar that represents them and their sacrifices.

I am going to forward these same questions to Meez and see what response I can get. We shall see.

Thing #6 - RSS/Google Reader II

Ok, still working with feeds here...still don't think it's gonna grow on me, but my mom always told me that if you are going to dislike someone or something, you must first find one good thing about it. I can see feeds being more helpful in straight up news site-type info. You wouldn't be missing any creative background or design and you could just skim and decide if it is anything you'd like to read--and you wouldn't be worried about hurting the news company's feelings. I'm not a big news fan, but some people are and it could be a help to them. It strikes me as sort of a klunky filter.


As to feeds affecting the way I search for information, I agree with Michelle--I don't think it will. I prefer a Google search as my primary resource. I tried doing a couple of searches in Google Reader on the types of subjects I would typically search. I discovered that what I don't want is someone's random opinions on a subject. I want real info. Years of research have led me to sites I know and trust on some general subjects, and I tend to start there.

For finding links, I found Technorati too "busy" in its design for my taste. However, I was able to successfully navigate it after a while. Google Reader was acceptable, but it gave me a terrible time when trying to look up and links on more than one subject. I had to use my Back button and then choose the option of returning to the discovery page. Then, you still had to use the tab from there to get to the search. I don't understand why there isn't just a "New Search" type button on the results page. Finally, I never could make one of those links you find on the websites themselves work. It seemed my sites either wanted to add themselves to the IE feed feature or Yahoo. I will ask for some assistance on this later and give an update.

I can think of a couple of ways that feeds could be useful to libraries:

• Being familiar with them will allow staff to answer questions and educate patrons
• Book and audiobook review sites could be useful for staff wishing to find items for a Readers' Advisory or for collection development--I added a couple of these from Library Journal to my feeds

I do like the book review feeds, and I think I will get use out of them. Still, my favorite feed is www.icanhascheezburger.com --I need my lolcats! [and it is, after all, work-related in that we should know a bit about what our young patrons are interested in--Sarah said so :)] At home, www.fark.com runs a close second, but it is too "R" rated for work computers.

For weirdest feeds, I had to go back and try a re-do from the earliest days of my web surfing. In 1995, one of my friends in the barracks had an AOL account that about 10 of us shared. The internet was much freer in those days, for better or worse :) We were exploring its capabilities and trying to find the weirdest things we could. I remember being amazed that there was a "Gum Disease" chat room. Who gets on there and chats about gum disease? Patients? Dentists? Weird. So, I looked again now, and, sure enough, there are blogs on gum disease. Some things don't change. I also think "Stuff on My Cat" is a very strange site, although now it seems to be attempting (and not achieving) a move in the lolcat direction. However, I think the weirdest feeds I found were blogs on Internet Addiction. Srsly, if you feel like you suffer from Internet Addiction, I think the last thing you need to be doing is adding blogs on it to your feed. Step away from the computer...