Thing Number Twenty-Three - My Life in Technology

As I reflect back on My Life in Computer Technology, exploration and discovery have most often been driven by the desire for the application - exploring Macintosh programs in order to create lesson plans to engage inner city 7th graders; learning HTML in order to give a museum a web presence; following scanning best practice in order to preserve and provide broader access to primary source materials.

From past experience, then, I know that the discovery process can be challenging and frustrating. What drove me to Learning 2.0 was the support and encouragement of the library system and the chance to have fun learning about new technology while accomplishing a performance objective. This journey was not application driven since I wasn't aware of many worthwhile uses for the technologies involved.

Some unexpected favorites were YouTube (surprised that there was so much of interest to me) and LibraryThing (surprised that I would like something that sounded a bit like cataloging.)

I learned that even frustrations might have practical applications in helping customers. Last week a customer came to the information desk wondering if we knew why Yahoo wouldn't accept 21014 as a ZipCode. Since I had encountered the same problem in trying to register for Flickr, I was able to tell him to use another ZipCode. Who Knew?

Even though I had to take this journey on my own time, I would be enthusiastic about embarking on another similar journey. Technology applications are dynamic. It's fun to see how they go.

Thing Number Twenty-One - Podcasts

It's nice that you don't need a separate device to listen to podcasts, but I encountered problems when trying to download software upgrades/plugins on my home computer.

I added a royalty free music feed to my bloglines, but wasn’t able to download a plugin needed to listen - listened to part of a Diane Rehm program instead. Guess I’ll have to get a new computer to be able to experience some of these things from home.

It was fun to see some of the old radio shows available as podcasts, discovered via the Yahoo directory. (Yahoo announces that its podcast site will be taken down at the end of October.) I also checked out the other two directories listed in the discovery exercise.

I'd like to experiment with actually recording a test podcast. The short tutorial podcasts included in Learning 2.0 have been very helpful and are an example of how libraries might leverage this tool.

Thing Number Sixteen - Wikis

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit with 2,026,123 articles in English is used by our virtual reference librarians as a reference aid, with emphasis on the word aid, especially for queries relating to popular culture. But best practice guidelines discourage sending chat customers Wikipedia pages in answer to a question. Since anyone can edit, information is not considered authoritative. A Wikipedia versus Britannica debate rages on blogs in library circles.

Libraries are using wikis in innovative ways by creating subject pathfinders and by opening up the maintenance and enrichment of community information to community members.

Interesting possibilities are outlined by Meredith Farkas in Using Wikis to Create Online Communities.

"The library could team up with other local organizations to develop, maintain and add content to the wiki, but the bulk of the content will come from average member of the community. Opening up a community guide to the public allows a wealth of information to flow in that can make the library’s website a true community resource."

Thing Number Seventeen - Sandbox Wiki

I added the following to the Sandbox Wiki: "Favorite Song Lyrics/Artists - Simon and Garfunkel - early Bob Dylan - traditional folk songs - Daisy May.

I didn't add my blog to the list; the directions confused me, and it looked like others were confused as well, erasing entries in the process of adding their own. Required reading in a beginning library course, Donald Norman's book, The Design of Everyday Things makes the point that if too many mistakes are made in the use of a product, the design of the product should be re-examined.

So I guess my question here is what needs reworking - the directions? the product? my brain?

Thing Number Twenty-two - Audiobook download trials

As I write, an audiobook download is in progress. The first part of the book timed out before it completely downloaded; I expect as much with the second part.

I wanted to complete this exercise with Overdrive since that is currently the main web audiobook option for our library customers. Since I recently tried to step someone through it by phone, I thought it would be good to get more practice. The operating system on my home computer is too old for the newer versions of media players. Even though the download stalled, I was able to listen to the beginning of Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling.

I also checked out and tried to download an Overdrive video, but my computer froze during the download. I was successful with an ebook from Gutenberg, an illustrated The Raven by Poe. Wasn't aware of Gutenberg audio format, but again had trouble downloading.

Maybe I'll have better luck another time.

Thing Number Nineteen - Web 2.0 Awards

Craig's List bleeds blue! It's been around since 1995, started as a hobby to showcase events in the San Francisco area. Although I've known of it for some time, I don't remember ever visiting the site.

I looked at various items for sale in Lawrence KS, Baltimore, and Ann Arbor; browsed through a music forum; checked out men looking for women in Personals; and wished I could deliver Edy's Ice Cream in trade for some Organic Roma Tomatoes in the bartering section.

Some of the Web 2.0 award winners have already been explored in completing 23 things.

Thing Number Eighteen - Docs across platforms

Portability of documents is much improved since earlier days when struggling with Macintosh at home and school, Microsoft at work. I have managed lately with drafts in email messages or as email attachments...but I do have MS Office applications on most of the computers I use.

I created two documents at home in the Google Docs text application, one a routing slip with an inserted table, another a first-thoughts draft for a high school class library tour that the Department is conducting. The latter could have been shared for the other librarians' ideas, but our timeline was too short. I accessed and printed the document at work.

I hope to eventually check out the presentation application, since those files are usually so huge.

Bless the developers of this!

Thing Number Twelve - Rollyo

A potential application for Rollyo might be a way to search authoritative websites when monitoring chat reference sessions where customer expectations are for librarians to be as fast as Google, but where librarian objectives are to send trusted sites with reliable information.

I created a search tool around that idea, added sites I use all the time in AskUsNow! virtual reference sessions. It worked but I don't think it's the best solution. Probably Del.icio.us is a better application for this purpose.

My searchroll is Chat reference tools.

Thing Number Eleven - Library Thing

I avoided this discovery exercise, since I was never cut out to be a cataloguer. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover the ease of Library Thing, starting with the SIMPLE account creation process. What a fun resource for any reader!

I wish I had known about this as president and webmaster of an historical society, trying to figure out an easy, inexpensive way to share the organization's research resources on the Web.

I added my latest five reads and hope to continue building my reading history record. http://www.librarything.com/catalog/belair

Thing Number Ten - Image Generators

I played with a number of the suggested image generators. Here's a badge I made at FD's Flickr Toys. I also created a Meez avatar in addition to the ones I had saved in the Spring - so many personality and accessory options! My Garbage Pail Kid, Estella, is probably the all-time, least yukky GPK on the site. I like to work with images, so it's nice to have a better idea of the variety that is available.

Thing Number Twenty - YouTube

I became immersed in the story of Geriatric 1927, viewing his first video post from August '06, and learning how within a week he had become a YouTube phenomenon with "telly" spots on both BBC and Austrailian news networks. That first post currently totals almost three million views.

Geriatric 1927's story is a microcosm of the social networking environment. The human potential for both harm and good plays out in the hate posts: "I hope you die" and in the responses to them: "u have to realise that there will always be people posting bad comments on every video, because its easy to be a jerk behind a keyboard where noone can see you"

The creative product resulting from Geriatric 1927's fame can be viewed in the posting embedded on this page. New vocabulary word - ZIMMER!

Utilizing YouTube with senior memory circles or with YA groups and poetry might be a fun way to implement "poetry in the branches" in my library system.

Thing Number Fifteen - Library 2.0

Library 2.0 means a continuation, a never-ending exploration of ideas, technologies and information service models that I first encountered at the University of Michigan School of Information's evolving program during the years 1994 to 1997. In the first class that created the Internet Public Library, under the leadership of Joseph Janes, we debated how to build a public library on the Web. What would it be? What would it look like?

Library 2.0 is firmly rooted in the traditional principles of librarianship, including equal access to information, efficient design to enable that access, and emphasis on user-driven services. As collaborative Web technologies continue to develop, creative professionals in supportive library systems are still asking how library services can benefit users in these new environments and are creating resources that answer the question.

This evolution is the theme of the article by Dr. Wendy Schultz,
To a temporary place in time...
On the way to the library experience of the future
"This too shall pass: The ongoing Library 2.0 debate frames library renewal within the current trends transforming our information infrastructure. But those trends themselves will evolve, even mutate, under pressure from emerging change. A futures perspective asks us to reconnect this dialogue to the grand sweep of time from the treasured past to the adventure of the future—and to put people and meaning at the center of our concerns."

Thing Number 14 - Technorati

Searching Technorati with term "Learning 2.0" led to 27,614 blog posts and 519 blogs in the blog directory. The advanced search brought different total hits. It wasn't clear what was actually being searched in each category.

I spent a lot of time poking around in the tabbed Popular category - watching a YouTube Filipino detention center practice of "Thriller," and an Xtreme sport smashup, checking out the Huffington Report, among other things.

I was somewhat put off by the use of the word favorite, as in the instruction to Favorite It and Top Favorited Blogs. Guess I'll never be cool.

Our Reference Training piece on Search Engines needs updating. An introduction to Technorati would be a good addition for folks new to the reference desk.

I hope to return to sign up to the watchlist and to claim my Mossman Guitar blog as soon as I finish the 23 things and have time to work on it.

Thing Number Thirteen - Del.icio.us

Browser bookmarks in the past have seemed too unwieldy, with people spending more time organizing them than using them. Del.icio.us opens them to whatever computer you happen to be using and to what one article calls "flat hierarchy," AND to the world of social computing.

I plan to set up an account eventually and have printed out Us.ef.ul A beginner's guide to The Next Big Thing. The article is dated 2004. ...hard to believe it was written that long ago.

On the PLCMC account, I checked out the bookmark related to Online Reference. Looks useful for later study.

Thing Number Nine - Feed Me More!

I added feeds for:

• New this Week from http://www.lii.org a reliable resource to help with AskUsNow! chat reference
• Public Library Association blog
• Numerous blogs of HCPL colleagues; my nomination for cleverest name is frogonaloginablog.
  

Thing Number Eight - Feed Me! Feed Me!

Bloglines newsreader established. Looks like a good personal organizer.

Thing Number Six - Image Upload

Flickr groups look promising for a possible later application. I used Blogger's upload tool to import one of my digital images.

Looking to Home
(kf portugal)

Thing Number Five – Why Flickr?

What’s the big deal about Flickr? Why has it become the highly-touted photo storing, sharing site of choice? Turnoff number one – requirement for a Yahoo account – who needs yet another email account? Turnoff number two – difficulty in acquiring a Yahoo account. The zip code for Bel Air was repeatedly rejected as not being a postal code for this country. (After many attempts, I ended up using a Michigan zip.) Then the RECOMMENDED login name was rejected as having already been taken. At this point, I decided to look at similar products, Google’s Picasa for one. A search on flickr vs picasa 2007 resulted in a number of postings praising Picasa’s photo management capabilities, but especially Flickr’s focus on community and the size of that community. A thorough and informed description of similar services can be found here:
http://www.jasonmorrison.net/content/2007/picasa-vs-iphoto-vs-flickr-vs-panoramio/

Thing Number Two - Play vs. End Goal

Two of the pointers given for Lifelong Learning seem contradictory. Always a proponent of the value of play and experimentation both with technology and with life, I find that having a concrete goal in mind often destroys the joy of the journey and the playful approach to learning. In order to reconcile the two, I like to set up the goal AS the journey, establishing the desired outcome as the serendipitous discoveries made along the way.

Thing Number Seven - Technology of Interest

I have been exploring the wordpress.com blogging software a bit (suggested as a possibility by Irmgarde) and think that it may suit my content needs more than blogger. At first glance wordpress seems to have more options to create and organize content, while still encouraging the social interaction of a blog.

I'm currently playing with different templates in wordpress, and will post future Mossman Guitar content there. I've just added a history page. http://mossmanguitars.wordpress.com/about/

I'll continue to use this Blogger blog for Learning Libraries 2.o posts.

Dedicated to. . .

..the skilled men and women who created guitars at the S.L.Mossman shop in Winfield, Kansas during the years 1966 through 1984.

..the musicians who continue to make them sing.

It is hoped that this site will be a resource for those Mossman musicians - part gathering place, part archive, part historical perspective from those who were there.