#19 Social Networking

Ahh, the social networks. Being my age, you pretty much have to have a Myspace or facebook page, or you end up terribly left out of a lot things in your peer group. Actually, I was a little too old to get in the Myspace trend. When this all starting getting big I was just entering university, so it was more useful for me to join facebook, which at the time was university students only. I have lots more friends there than on myspace anyway, especially since it expanded so anyone could join, and all of my friends who went to schools in other countries or didn't go to university could join as well.

Also, I confess I have this snobby aversion to MySpace. I don't what it is, but something about everyone having the ability to put automatically starting music and any background on their pages makes for some hideous and ear-splitting combinations. I think 75% of MySpace users don't understand that no matter how cool their background pic is, it's more important for people to actually be able to read the text! Maybe they'll learn, eventually. That and there are always tons of people wanting to be your 'friend', who you've never even heard of. I guess I find it sort of creepy, and don't really care at all that I only have 13 friends. With the exception of a few comics and bands who I really wanted to support, I actually know all of my 'friends' personally.

Anyway, as to the question of libraries using MySpace...I think it's a nice try, but that the purpose of libraries doesn't really mesh well with the purpose of MySpace. I can understand the need to want to woo young patrons over, and convince them that cool stuff can be had at the library. I just don't know that MySpace is the way to do it. Just making a web page to share all the information, and making events they will actually be interested in, would probably be better plans than MySpace. I think most teenager's reactions to the library wanting an 'add' would just be rolling of the eyes.

#18 Online Word Processing

I tried out Google Docs, because I use a lot of Google's services already: email, the personalized home page, and Google Reader for RSS feeds, mainly. Maybe because of that, I didn't have to sign in or anything - when I clicked on the link it took me right to the main page of Google Docs, with me already signed in (because I keep my personalized homepage always signed on my home computer, I guess). So it was very easy.

I like the idea of being able to access documents from anywhere. Before I've always either put documents I know I'd need on other computers into an email attachment or uploaded it to some free webspace somewhere. And that works pretty well, of course, but this is better because I can edit the document right in the same place I am accessing it. And if I wanted to share them with other people, let them edit it, I could do that too. I can see where that might be useful. Especially for projects multiple people are working on. Someone could write up an outline or make a presentation and share it here, and others could go in and make changes to it, without all the emailing back and forth and extra versions that no one is sure what the latest one is.

I uploaded both my resume and the file I keep extra resume type info in: all the addresses of my jobs, and contact information of references. I took the chance to finally update these documents with the information for my job at Kohls, too, which I am ashamed to say I haven't done yet even though I've worked there for three months now. It was pretty easy, just like a word processor or blog post. And now I have created this third document, which I will try to publish in my blog (I think I have the settings right). So, here goes!

#17 LPLS Wiki

Putting the articles on the staff wiki wasn't terribly difficult to me (actually for me the most difficult things to do were A) Finding the time to use a staff computer, today is the only day when we haven't been so overflowing with books that I felt right taking off time from shelving to do it, and B) Learning just exactly where all the files on ther server were. Because I don't usually use the computers here, I never even knew these were all here.

Amusingly enough the thing that took me the most time was figuring out how to put spaces between each list line. The first article I did, entering after each item worked fine, but on the second it didn't. Trying to press enter at the end of each line when I was actually in the wiki editor made the list 'start over'...for example, if I pressed enter after List Item 1, I think it assumed I'd made a new list and List Item 2 became a second list item 1. I ended up just highlighting all of the text in the original article, right clicking and choosing the 'paragraph' option, and choosing the option to double space the whole lot. Then I copied that text into the wiki editor, and it seemed to work.

Here are the articles I did: Checking in Bookdrop Materials and Transit Items. When I searched for these words the right articles came up, as well as a few other words I tried, so I think the search option works pretty well.

I think this wiki will be pretty useful to me because, even though I personally don't deal with most of these procedures evry day, it is probably good to know them. I can only learn so much by just happening to see or here things when I am at the front desk, so I will definitely be reading over the articles as they are posted.

#16 Wikis

I think these library wikis are a great idea - but I've always loved wikis anyway. From the big one, wikipedia, to several smaller ones on specific subjects, they're quite useful ways to find information quickly (for all that one can't take the results too seriously, because the communal nature of letting anyone or a lot of people add information increases the chance that the information will be wrong. But as a way to find information for informal purposes - they're great. I've even contributed to several pertaining to some online communities and games I'm in - where we make articles about our character's histories, and such, for our own and other's reference.

I'll admit I wasn't sure how a library could use this kind of thing, though, until I saw the St. Joseph County library wiki. It's pretty neat. All the topic subjects people are looking for, with individual pages that include everything from books on the subject to staff recommendations and links to webpages that could help people find things in the community - all very useful. Especially the 'government' section. I'm forever wondering just how some facet of the city/county/state/country bureaucracy works; how I'm supposed to go about getting a passport or renew my driver's license or pay my bills or taxes. And it looks like a lot of that can be found here, with maps and links to relevant websites.

Of course only part of this project seems to relate to books, but, after all, the library isn't just about books. People rely on us for countless things, asking for directions and information on the government, etc. I think this is a good way to get that to him (as well as throw in a few book recommendations, if that can be done. Or to find the information ourselves if we don't know it.

#15 Perspectives on Library 2.0

Perhaps it's my youth and geekiness showing, but most of what I've read about web 2.0 so far are things I'd already gotten used to on my own, and these opinions on library 2.0 only make me thing 'well, yeah...obviously'. Like in Rick Anderson's 'away from icebergs' article, I don't find the idea that there won't be such a need for a 'just in case' collection of reference materials in the future very crazy or shocking. I myself haven't picked up an encyclopedia in years (well, except when I'm shelving one). I always search in a database or something. So I've always expected there to be a day in the future when I might work in a library with no hardbound encyclopedia at all - we just have to wait for a day when most patrons know that databases exists and are comfortable with searching them instead of using a print version. And as for making services as user friendly and intuitive as possible so teaching isn't required, and giving access to them on the Internet - again, obviously!

The other perspective I read was Dr. Schultz's 'To a Temporary Place in Time'. I rather like her point that things are always changing. What I get from this is that perhaps we should less be saying 'web/library 2.0 - This is the future!' to just saying 'this is the path we seem to be taking to...well, wherever it leads us'. I think the Internet and quick to instant access of information has already changed libraries drastically (hey, I'm not so young I don't know what a card catalog was!) in the last few years, and will change them even more drastically in the future. I think the key to being comfortable in all this change is to be adaptable, and not be too shaken up by the fact that things will change almost as fast as one can learn them. To, instead of being flustered by this, see it all as kind of fun.

I do kind of wonder what she's going on about with this 3D library 3.0 stuff, though. Book avatars talking to us! I do like the idea of being represented by an avatar rather than having to go to work, but I don't quite believe that will happen. Maybe we can have AI versions of the authors talking to us too. 'Well if you liked my book, you might also like...'

#14 Technorati

So, the main difference I see in searching different ways on Technorati is that if you just search for posts with 'learning 2.0', you get all posts that mention it at all, which leads to a lot more results of the type where the blogger mentions it in passing, then goes on to talk about other things. Searching for the phrase within tags is more likely to bring up results where the post is almost entirely focusing on 'learning 2.0'. And then, obviously, searching in blog directory brings up entire blogs about the subject!

I guess having different ways to search is good, if you don't know just how talked about the subject you are looking for is. If it is a very common subject, it might be good to do a blog search or tag search. But if one is really having trouble finding anything, it might be time to just do a post search and sift through all the results.

As for the most popular blogs, searches, and tags...no, I can't say I find anything that interesting or surprising. Except for the fact that I'm surprised there isn't something startling and interesting among the popular searches. Something I didn't know before. I'm very used to seeing very new and different things on the Internet, so learning that most people on technorati like searching for blogs about gadgets and making money, and blog posts about myspace, Ron Paul, and Paris Hilton is sort of anticlimactic. I already knew people were wanting to read about those things.
LPLS

#13 De.licio.us

I think the idea of keeping one's links online is a great idea. Every few months I at least back my links up that way. I don't use public computers that much, but if I did it would be invaluable to be able to access them anywhere. As it is, I do use a personalized Google homepage, so I at least have my email, a few links, and my RSS feeds able to be accessed from anywhere.

I don't so much like the public part of it - meaning, anyone can see what you have linked. Luckily you don't have to make any of your links public - and I haven't. I do realize that this means I'm missing out on contributing all of my tagging info and the numbers of what pages I have linked to the 'community' at large...but, the thing is, I don't really want everyone to know what I think is worthy of being bookmarked.

I do really like that when you type in a word, and it retrieves links what that tag, it tells you how many other people have that bookmark saved. It helps you figure out which links are worthy of being clicked - well, at least what other people think is worthy.

As for it's usefulness as a research tool...both yes and no. It is a good way to find other links regarding a subject. When I searched 'Heian', for example (that's the name of a period in Japanese history), I got a great website on The Tale of Genji I had never seven seen. It would have been very useful to me when I was writing all of those Japanese history/lit papers. But because anyone can add their links to del.ici.ious, I had just as many results, maybe more, regarding an anime where one of the characters is a ghost from the Heian era (which admittedly also interests me, I love that show - but it's not useful at all in research unless you're writing a paper on Japanese pop culture). I think people would have a hard time looking at it as a serious academic tool when fun and entertainment was so mixed in with the rest.