Feeds Schmeeds

This assignment overlapped quite a bit with the previous step, “Learn about RSS Feeds,” so I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Here are my results after exploring the various search tools:

Topix – nope

Syndic8 – nada

Technorati – uh uh

Google Reader – we have a winner!

Google Reader was definitely the easiest to use and seemed to make the most sense. With “Topix” I wasn’t even sure WHAT I was looking at. Using Google Reader I searched for library related blogs and while I didn’t find any that I’d want to subscribe to (outside of my library friends’ blogs that I mentioned in my previous post), I did find a couple interesting ones such as “Anarchist Librarians” and “Librarians with Class.” Nice. Oh yeah, and just for kicks I searched for “puppetry” and Wikipedia came up. So I’m guessing I could subscribe to the Wikipedia definition of puppetry and every time somebody updates it I’d be notified. Which is a really good thing because staying current on Wikipedia’s definition of puppetry is EXTREMELY important! ;)

Well, that’s it. Just for kicks I’ve added a couple of inspirational StarTrek posters that Elizabeth found online. They have absolutely nothing to do with this post but I thought they were pretty funny. Enjoy.

RSS S.O.S.

I can see how RSS feeds might benefit certain people – you know, the guy in the expensive tailored suit who doesn’t have time to sip his cappuccino, let alone check out his stocks or browse the latest world news. For him it might be extremely useful to have a system hand-pick and deliver that information directly to him, rather than having to take the time to look for it. But for me, Paul the Librarian, I just don’t spend enough time on the computer nor do I check particular websites regularly enough to make it worthwhile. But now, thanks to the beauty of RSS Feeds, I have a site jam-packed with oodles of new articles just waiting to be read. Whereas in the past I might have occasionally decided to check out the Salt Lake Tribune’s website or maybe Ain’t It Cool News (a movie and entertainment site), now I get the pleasure of being bombarded with updates even when I’m not interested in knowing what’s going on. Yippee (meant in the most sarcastic way possible.) But in all honesty, for the purpose of fulfilling the assignment I added feeds from several sites such as the Tribune, BBC World News, as well as Ain’t It Cool News. For the other feeds I simply added my co-workers’ blogs. That way I can stay current on their latest updates . . . that is, if I even pull up Google Reader now that this part of the assignment has been fulfilled. Right now I find it easier to still visit the individual blogs, but that might change in time. Besides, I can’t even begin to imagine the mess I have to look forward to the next time I login – all these zillions of new stories and updates just sitting there, silently waiting for me – “Read me, read me!!” The horror!!! On the bright side, at least I understand the concept behind RSS Feeds and feel fairly confident using Google Reader. Now I know. And as they say, “Knowing is half the battle.”

Fun with Mash-Ups

Okay, so as my title implies, messing around with some of the Flickr mash-ups was pretty fun. Not all that practical, but definitely fun. So what can I say about mash-ups? I don't see much of a practical use just yet, but it's certainly something to keep in mind when I'm bored on a Saturday night and everyone else is out on a date. Trusty ol' Computer, thank YOU for always being there for me! And, like my friend Deanna said, it is good to know what's out there and to be semi-proficient just in case patrons come up with questions. Oh, and here's a trading card I created. Collect 'em all!

Flickr – Something to Scream About!

So today I explored Flickr, and I've gotta say, it's pretty cool. It seems like a great way to organize and share photos with others. To be honest, there are so many pictures available that it's a little overwhelming. I mean, you can look up just about anything and find fairly relevant results. For instance, I typed in “humorous pictures” and came up with this gem (insert funny caption here.)

I also looked at the Library Account. I wasn’t as impressed but this is probably because there aren’t too many pictures just yet. However, I did like the first two pics of Goblin Valley. I've never been there and it made me want to go on a road trip RIGHT NOW!

Just for kicks I went back to the main page and typed in “Salt Lake City Public Library.” I found a plethora of great photos. I always knew that I worked in an amazing building, but I never realized how many “hidden treasures” there are just waiting to be photographed. The sky’s the limit, eh. One noteworthy image was of the Children’s Gallery (that’s the gallery I’m in charge of). I love the lighting in this photo and how well it shows off the space. For some reason I couldn’t save this pic so I’ve included the link instead. Check it out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stubby_g3/1332626427/

Another picture I found showed the Urban Room at night. The caption underneath said something about how it reminded the photographer of the Vancouver Public Library, and sure enough, somebody had subsequently posted a comment informing the photographer that both buildings were designed by the same architect.

I don’t exactly know what point I’m trying to make, and since I’ve begun rambling it’s probably best if I just stop here. I will say this though – as much as I like Flickr, I don’t think I’m going to set up an account anytime soon. Not only am I feeling account overload (what with my library email, Gmail, MySpace, and my blog) but I can see how easy it would be to spend HOURS upon HOURS looking through the photos. Which brings me back to one of my initial arguments (see earlier post) – I’ve always thought that computers were supposed to be time-savers but instead I’m finding myself spending more and more time online. There IS life outside of computers, right? HELP!!! (Now I’M sounding like the boy in the photo.) =)

LibraryThing – Just What the Doctor Ordered!

So I needed something to get rid of the bad taste that last night’s episode with Technorati left in my mouth, and I found it today when I learned about LibraryThing. What can be said other than it’s great!!! This is one tool that will definitely come in handy for me as a children’s librarian. Having looked at my friend Deanna’s page (litlb00k.blogspot.com), I realized that this is a great way to keep track of super awesome book baby and storytime titles. Nice! And now I also get to use all of that tagging stuff that I learned about a couple weeks ago. Even better! To quote Hannibal from the A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together!”

Seriously though (Paul looks both ways and starts whispering so as to not appear too nerdy), I’m looking forward to messing around a bit more with LibraryThing. (Whisper gets even quieter) I can’t wait to go home and add some more excellent book titles and tag them as well. Shhh, (at this point whispering is almost completely inaudible) don’t tell anyone but this is fun, and I know my list of book titles will definitely come in handy down the road when I’m in a bind and looking for that perfect and ever elusive show-stopping Book Baby title. So, who needs a date this Friday night? Not me, thanks – I’m busy . . . . with LibraryThing!

"Technorati Technobabble . . ."

(or)
". . . How to waste an hour and a half on a quiet Sunday evening when you have better things that you could be doing!"

After spending much longer exploring Technorati than I had initially planned (it's getting to be a problem – this seems to be the case with every exercise in the Library 2.0 course), here's what I came up with:

1.There were 18,990 results that popped up for "Learning 2.0"
2.I searched for my own blog, "Pollywog's Pad," and found it. Unfortunately I have ZERO fans (yeah, big surprise!) - whatever that means.
3.I did an advanced search and found that there were 1,137 posts that were tagged "Library 2.0" and 663 blogs about "Library 2.0."
4.While scanning through the list of blogs I found one I recognized - "Elizabeth's Endeavors" (elizabeththebibliophile.blogspot.com). Yes!!! Someone I know! That was exciting. Really.
5.I explored the popular blogs and came up with one called "Boing Boing." Apparently this is a "weblog of cultural curiosities and interesting technologies. It's the most popular blog in the world, as ranked by Tecnorati.com . . ."
6.In looking at the top searches I came across everything from "asian" to "myspace" to "kaboom." Yeah, the connection makes perfect sense to me too. I clicked on "asian" and as suspected, came up with a slew of inappropriate links. CLASSY.
7.As an aside, just for kicks I Googled "Pollywog's Pad," just to see if it would pull it up. And sure enough, trusty ol' Google came through once again . . . sort of. It pulled up "Elizabeth's
Endeavors" which through the magic of technology is somehow linked to my own blog. Yay Science!

In conclusion, what did I get out of Technorati? I will answer the question with a question – "Do you think somebody will ever invent a time machine so that I can go back in time and reclaim the hour and a half I lost in looking at the overwhelmingly cluttered and seemingly pointless gobbledygook that is Technorati?"

T.ag.s

As if the word “tag” didn’t already have enough meanings – “An informal playground game involving chasing and touching; a play in baseball; graffiti, or more specifically the signature used by graffiti artists; a vehicle registration plate; the annoying white piece of paper hanging off of my mattress which is apparently a federal offense to remove,” (to name a few), now there’s yet another use for the word – “A keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information.” I haven’t done much with tagging, but thanks once again to Commoncraft’s great video tutorial series (this week it was “Social Bookmarking in Plain English”), I understand the general concept. That said, I then visited Del.icio.us and that understanding was completely thrown out the window. Honestly, I didn’t really get what it was I was looking at. It seemed confusing to me (I’d much rather stick with Google – I can find just about anything I’m looking for.) Plus, while I appreciate the idea of having a list of great sites which can supposedly be accessed from ANY computer (unlike bookmarks which are computer-specific), after reading several other librarian’s blogs I learned that certain software has to be installed on that computer in order for Del.icio.us to even work. This can be problematic at places like universities and libraries where they don’t allow patrons to install software on the public computers. There goes Del.icio.us’ usefulness. Anyway, I’m sure that tagging has its benefits – to quote the “Plain English” guy, “It can make order out of chaos” – but I guess I need to better familiarize myself with it in order to really appreciate the full potential. Until then, pass the Google, please!