more podcasting

I was having trouble with podcasts, since I don't have an iPod. I found some software http://www.dopplerradio.net/ that lets me subscribe to a podcast, and transfers it to Windows Media Player, so I can put it on my Sansa MP3 player. I tried it last night, and it works! Doppler is shareware, which is software that is available for download and the developer asks for a donation.

end of the world

Did you know the world is going to end in December 2012? Here's a countdown site http://www.countdownto2012.net/

The Mayan long count ends in 2012.

Finally done

Well, my thoughts on this program are varied. I was already familiar with many of the concepts in this program. I think that there were people who were overwhelmed by the amount of things to do and needed more time to explore each thing and the concepts behind it and there were people who had already used quite a number of these Web 2.0 tools and were looking for something new and different. Maybe next time there should be a beginner’s track and a more advanced user’s track, like on exercise DVDs.

emedia

I love the downloadable audio books!! When I decided to get an MP3 player, I didn't get a iPod, so I could download audio books. They are great for long bus or train trips. Some narrators are better than others, I currently have "Me talk pretty one day" by David Sedaris on my MP3 player, and having the author as the narrator is a big plus. I really like that the limit was upped to 50, 3 was way to low.

The thing you have to remember is that first you need to download the overdrive software (but you only have to do this once). I download from NYPL and Queens, because they have different selections.

podcasting

I have found podcasts on a variety of websites. NPR and PBS have them right on websites. Podcasts are great, because I can listen to radio shows I like whenever I want, not on the stations schedule.

youtube

"No cookies in the library" is a classic Sesame Street bit from the 70's where Cookie Monster goes to the library. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJlkplvYdgA here is the link to it. (Because I do not have the rights to this, or any other video, I do not feel comfortable posting the actually video to my blog. With the link, you can see who actually posted it.)

I like the variety of videos on youtube, I have found some obscure music videos, obsiously taped from a TV broadcast and uploaded to the site.

I really like that I can watch videos from http://www.netflix.com/ and most television networks. I wish PBS had more videos.

Now if the creators of all these videos can get paid for their work, the world will be a better place.

web 2.0 awards

Well, where do I start? I have a LinkedIn account, where I have been looking for people I know (found a few), I signed up for a Backpack account, but the features I want to use cost money, so I will stick with the free www.tadalist.com version, it lets you make to-do lists online, accessible from any computer with Internet access. I started my tadalist to make a book list, since I was emailing my work account from home, so I could get books I wanted. The online list is great, I just add any books I am interested in, and then I can find them when I am at the library.

I tried www.last.fm, I've used www.yelp.com, www.craigslist.com, I signed up for a www.digg.com account.

Facebook

I have been on Facebook for a while now. I have been contacted by a librarian I used to work with, 2 people I went to high school with, 2 people from college, and someone with my last name from Australia.

I like think the sharing of bookmarks and searching library catalogs are good features, but the social part of the social networking is much more fun.

I am also on Myspace, where some of my friends include the ALA and the library another of my friendes works at. Queens Library should get a Myspace page.

Online producitivity

I have been using Google docs for a while now. It is great for when you have a computer at home and a computer at work. I can save my stuff and access it from anywhere with an Internet connection. I tried using Google presentation for my NYLA presentation, but I ran into some problems with editing the slide show. This is when I discovered www.slideshare.net, which lets you post a PowerPoint presentation.

Another note for everyone, on my computer at home, I use Openoffice, www.openoffice.org, which is an open source software application suite. (Like Microsoft office) It's free, and easy to download. So if you don't have Microsoft Office on your home computer and need word progressing, et al., try it. Since it's open source, bugs and glitches are corrected by the users.

More wikis

I didn't edit a wiki entry, because I had previously created a wiki. I haven't done much with it, but I think do more now. Here it is if anyone wants to contribute. http://telref.wikispaces.com/.

P.S. signing up for your own wiki is pretty easy.

Wikis

I like the concepts behind wikis, that they are collabritive. They remind me of the "olden days" when librarians had notebooks or rolodexes on the reference desks where you could put the information that answered the common questions you were asked, such as "Where is the neares Post Office?". I think wikis would be particularly useful for local history and geneaology, where human memory is often used as a reference source.

Wikis are also good for other stuff. I really like the Muppet wiki http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page.

library 2.0

I have a many perspectives about web 2.0 and library 2.0 in the last year or so. There seem to be some people that want to do new things just because they are new. I feel that some perspective is in order. We all need to look why we are doing and changing things. Will this make information easier to find or will it alienate some of the library's customers (and not just the older people, some younger people don't want to learn yet another new thing).

I am also concerned that library 2.0 many turn out to be another library fad, having seen a few.

Just my observations on the 2.0 thing.

technorati

Technorati is fascinating, it makes it easier to find the blog postings. But I don't like the way there site is organized. Even after their recent redisine, it is too clutter. I don't like clutterer results pages, because I have ADD tendancies and get too distracted. Then I find all kinds of interesting things to look at. It gets overwhelming and I prefer simplier designs, like the Goggle blog search. (Google also highlights my search term for me.) But I did find this on Technorati http://gothamist.com/2007/12/13/bloomberg_libra.php

del.icio.us

I am trying to catch up on my 23.5 things, I am up to del.icio.us. It seems like a good idea to have a departmental account, which we do, so that we can share websites, etc that are usefully to everyone, but now I have another username and password to remember.