The End

Surprisingly I really enjoyed the 23 things assignment. I learned about a lot of programs, sites and apps that I normally would never have used or heard of elsewhere. Many of these tools I plan on using often because of their quality, effectiveness and creativity. Some of my favorite topics that were covered are flickr, LibraryThing, Librivox, Zotero and Diigo. Before I began the 23 things there were a few things on the list that I had already completed on my own, so I didn't think I would learn much more about them. Instead, I was surprised to find that there was a lot about these topics that I definitely did not use before. By increasing my knowledge about these topics I can now use the various tools much more efficiently. For example, I use Google on a daily basis but I hadn't tried out many of the tools that Google has created. Before I learned what Technorati is I had no idea that you could search blogs. Overall, I enjoyed the 23 things assignment. After completing all 23 things I feel that I am better equipped to deal with the evolution of libraries, media, technology and the web. I am looking forward to applying many of the tools we learned about to my everyday life and career as a librarian.

Kayak

For this portion of the assignment I choose Kayak! Lately I feel as if I have been bit by the travel bug. Sometimes I just like to search various travel packages and flight's just to imagine what it would be like to go...and get out of rainy Buffalo! I think Kayak is a great sight because when you enter a search query it compiles the results from every travel/flight booking sight out there. In this way it is somewhat similar to Rollyo, in that it combines many search engines into one. Kayak is also very easy to use. There aren't a whole lot of fancy graphics or annoying ads that are distracting or misleading. One of the best features of Kayak are the filter options for booking flights and trips. There is a filter for stops, flight times (take off and landing), cabin areas, airlines, flight duration, quality of flight, size of plane, price and sites. Although this site isn't a traditional or typical reference site that would be used in libraries, it is still a handy tool that patrons should at least be aware of.
www.kayak.com

Library 2.0

Over the past decade Library's all over the nation have seen dramatic changes occur. Some of these changes are not so great; budget cuts. While others are helping to created a new and improved library experience; technology, web 2.0, etc. The evolution of libraries is a sink or swim situation. Librarians either choose to embrace and grow with the changes or they choose to cling to the way things 'have always been done'. In his OCLC article about web 2.0 Rick Anderson explores this concept of accepting changes.

"No profession can survive if it throws its core principles and values overboard in response to every shift in the zeitgeist. However, it can be equally disastrous when a profession fails to acknowledge and adapt to radical, fundamental change in the marketplace it serves. At this point in time, our profession is far closer to the latter type of disaster than it is to the former.  We need to shift direction, and we can’t wait for the big ship of our profession to change course first. It’s going to have to happen one library—one little boat—at a time"

As librarians it is our duty to serve our patrons first and foremost, and our patrons require/demand new ways of thinking and doing things. A majority of today's patrons are must comfortable with the web and computers. At the same time we must not forget our patrons who may not be so tech savvy. Running a library today requires a balance of both old and new concepts. By melding the old with the new we are creating a new breed of libraries that will serve us far into the future. 

Zotero

Before completing this portion of the assignment I had never heard of Zotero. Now that I have played around with a bit I wish I had known about it earlier! It is a great tool for all kinds of research and a excellent place to store all of the sources in a organized manner. All incoming college students should be exposed to this tool because it makes research much more efficient and organized. I especially like how all the citations are linked to the original source so they are always available for referencing. I used Google Scholar to search for some Library and Technology related articles. I found several interesting articles about 2.0 technology in Libraries.
The only part of Zotero that I really don't like is syncing of the libraries. I have created a library with the 2.0 articles but the instructions for syncing are not very clear.

Rollyo: Sounds Tasty

At first I was a little skeptical when I learned what Rollyo was. Usually if I am just doing a casual search I use Google, which normally doesn't let me down. After trying out a few of the features I can see when Rollyo would come in handy. I created my first Rollyo search engine by using the preselected travel sites and I was surprised by how effective it was! When you are doing a more detailed search it is a much more efficient and detailed oriented tool to use than Google.  I also enjoyed using the explore option and viewing all the other tailored search engines that other users have made. Rollyo would be an excellent tool for anyone that is looking for more control and precision when it comes to their general search queries. Here is a link to my very first Rollyo search engine:
http://rollyo.com/bananalise/travel_search/

Library"Thingy"

LibraryThing kind of reminds me of Google Library but more in depth. I really like the tag option, it's great for finding works that are somewhat similar to the books you have already read. It seems like a great community for reviews and ratings, so you can get a better grasp as to whether you will enjoy the book or not. This is definitely a source that I will use more often in the future. Now to see if I like it better than Google library, that will be the true test. I made a brief catalog of some of the books I have read recently and I am looking forward to writing reviews for each of them:
My first LibraryThing Catalog

Google Mania

One of the Google Apps that I have heard of but never tried until now is "Google Books", particularly the "My Library" portion. I created my own Bookshelf and added some books that I have just recently read. I can really see myself using this app a lot now that I have discovered it. I am always trying to remember which books I have read and would like to read, and this is a great place to keep all of that information. I can even write reviews for each of the books in my library! Click here to see the mini bookshelf I created

Another really cool Google App that I like to play around with is Google Earth. It's a pretty incredible program when you think about it. Google Earth consists of satellite images of almost anywhere in the world. You can type in any address and it will show you the approximate location on your screen.

Web based apps the good, the bad and the ugly

Prior to this assignment I have used Google docs and Google calendar many many times. I love Google Docs because of the fact that anyone with a Google account can read them (you don't need to pay/download Microsoft office), more than one person can edit it at a time and it's accessible anywhere there is a internet connection. I have already utilized Google Docs for my 506 class so I could collaborate with my final project group and I have also taken my class notes in Google Docs as well. I set up a Google Doc where we could all bounce ideas off each other in one easy to access page. It is much more effective and easier to keep track of than sending dozens of e-mails back and forth. I also use Google Calendar to keep track of my schedule, and to allow other people to see when I am busy and when I am free.

Although I am definitely a supporter of web based apps that are supposed to make your life 'easier' I sometimes wonder if they just serve to bog us down even more. Many of these apps require more time to manage than they are worth in 'efficiency'. Just because we can make a to-do list online doesn't mean that it is any more time and cost effective than just writing it down on a post-it-note. I recommend that anyone considering using all the different apps out there need to proceed with caution, don't confuse technology with convenience.

Wiki's

I have some previous experience when it comes to working with and creating wiki's. In college I took a Charles Dickens course and part of our participation grade was creating and managing a Dickens wiki for class. On this wiki we would post our thoughts on certain passages, books, and Dickens' personal life. We also had to post any of our papers and assignments on the wiki so that our classmates could read them as well. We used the wiki to create a more collaborative classroom experience. For this assignment I decided to look at the Book Lovers Wiki, which was created by the Prince Public Library. So far from what I have seen from this wiki is that it has a lot of potential. It definitely needs more entries and development but it is on track to becoming a useful source for the library patrons. I think that creating a wiki for a public library is a great idea in that it allows the patrons become more involved with the library and book reviews. When a patron wants to take out a book but isn't sure if they will like the book, they could read the wiki entry and make a more well informed decision.

Technorati

I feel as if this web 2.0 assignment on Technorati is a tad bit repetitive, so this entry will be short and sweet. Because some of the features we needed to use for this assignment were no longer available on Technorati, I decided to focus on the Tag Index tool. I like that you can search the top tags for the current month, it's nice to get a feel for what is going on in this 'blogosphere'. Although I don't like the search option because there is no choice to filter the search. I got irritated when I entered 'horses' into the blog search bar, and instead of blogs about horses I got a bunch of blogs that mentioned horses or something horse related but not in the context that I was thinking of. Although I think Technorati is a good place to start when looking for blogs, it shouldn't be the only place you look, especially if you are searching for a very specific topic;

Del.icio.us vs Diigo

This portion of the assignment requires that I learn to use Del.icio.us. I have used it before for a short time and wasn't too impressed, I am more of a Diigo fan. I use Diigo all the time to bookmark and tag sites, I think it is a lot more user friendly and straight forward than Del.icio.us. But for the sake of this assignment I will try my best to learn about and use Del.icio.us again, perhaps I will be surprised...
Once again Del.icio.us does not impress me, for some reason I cannot get into the interface and the way the site is organized. I can see why some people would like using it, especially for scholarly material. Yet I still stand by Diigo as the better of the two, especially since it does exactly what Del.icio.us does, just better.

Finding new blogs/sites to add to my RSS feed

Before I completed this assignment I usually found interesting blogs by referencing the blogs that many of the bloggers I already read recommended. I know that sentence is very confusing but I promise it makes sense if you think about it haha. For this particular assignment I was interested in learning a different way to find blogs that interested me. Technorati is the search tool that I found the most helpful and interesting. One of my new favorite blogs that I found using technorati is called "Reading with Tequila" :
http://www.readingwithtequila.com/

This blog is a good mix of books reviews (mostly fiction) with some humor mixed in, definitely my style. Using Technorati I found a library based blog called "Unshelved" which is a mix of tounge-and-cheek librarian comics and book reviews. Overall I was really happy with my experience using Technorati and I will definitely use it again to add even more feeds to my RSS feed!!

Horray for RSS feeds!

**Although I already submitted my progress for this one part I didn't do it exactly right. I forgot that I had to post on my blog and submit that URL, so basically I will just have 2 entries in the log for this assignment**

I have had a Google Reader RSS feed account for about a year now, and I am addicted to it. I don't know how I survived so long without one before. I subscribe to approximately 30 different blogs and sites. Because I have so many feeds going at once I had to make different folders to contain them all in. I tried to organize the folders based on overarching blog/site topics and subjects. Currently I have 5 folders "Advice", "Humor", "News", "Bookish Stuff", and "Random". I try to set aside some time everyday so I can catch up with at least a few of my feeds, although a lot of the time I can't keep up with all of them. The feeds that I read just about everyday are "CNN" and a select few in the "Humor" file. I think that just about anyone can benefit from a RSS feed manager. It is an excellent resource in that it keeps all of your sites/blogs in one place and constantly updates them. Overall RSS feeds make surfing the web and keeping up with the constant flow of information much more efficient and streamline.

Podcasts

Before completing this Podcast discovery I never really had much experience with them. I subscribed to a podcast on iTunes but it was mostly music, in hindsight I hardly ever listened to it. I also didn't know that podcasts could be continuously updated much like a RSS feed. The first place I looked was podcastalley.com. When I clicked the link to look at the most popular podcasts I found a lot of stuff on Paganism and Wiccan, kind of random. Most of the podcasts on the podcastalley.com seem to be personal in nature. I actually prefer using iTunes to search and download podcasts. iTunes organizes the podcasts in a more visually appealing manner. Also, the podcasts found on iTunes for the most part are higher quality and more professional sounding. One of the podcasts that caught my eye is called "Grammar Girl". Every podcast is a quick review of basic English grammatical rules. Sounds boring at first but once you listen to it it's actually really entertaining. I think this would be a great tool for teachers to use, especially because it involves nontraditional class room technology.
Here is a quick link to the podcast site on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=173429229

Audiobooks galore

I spend a lot of time commuting every week. I drive to campus 3 times a week, 20 minutes each way. I go to Rochester at least once a week, 1 hr and 15 min each way. So I listen to a lot of audio books. I find that it is the only way to make all that driving bearable. The program I usually use for downloading audio books is called audible.com. I pay $15 a month and I get 1 or 2 credits a month. I then use those credits to buy and download various audio books onto my iPod. So you can imagine my surprise when this assignment told me about LibriVox! I had no idea that there were any organizations out there that had free audio books from the public domain. This is a wonderful resource for people like me who have to commute or people who for whatever reason cannot read printed works. I am definitely going to have to download some of the Charles Dickens audio books.

You too and YouTube

Fortunately when it comes to YouTube I'm a old pro. Acutally, I usually procrastinate on my school work by spending hours watching random videos on YouTube. So it's pretty fun to have my assignment actually be searching youtube, my procrastination has become productivity! Who would have thought. A few months back I found these really amusing videos of a Japanese house cat named Maru. Turns out Maru is actually somewhat of a youtube star, at least in Japan. His owner has posted over 500 videos Maru doing basically everything. It sounds boring but it's actually quite entertaining, and addicting. The video I have embedded in this post is the very first Maru video I saw. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

More Flickr Fun

As if Flickr wasn't addictive enough, now we have to add apps and mash ups! Although I would love to spend the entire evening playing around with all these cool third party apps, unfortunately I have plenty of other things I need to do. For the topic of this blog post I chose to the App: http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/
What I really liked about this App was all the different features that come along with groupings based on color. You can narrow down the field of photo options by choosing which category of photo's you want the app to find. I especially liked the Graffiti option, I could look through these photo's for hours. The fact that you can click on any of the photo's a be immediately sent to the original Flickr page was nice because then you could look through the rest of the photographs in that album or other images taken by the photographer. The addition of the many different apps to Flickr creates so many more dimensions of searching, posting, creating and sharing that it is almost overwhelming in scale.

Discover Flickr

Bed jumping 2
Originally uploaded by Splishsplosh

I have often heard about Flickr and even briefly searched through some of the photo's before but I until now I have never taken an in depth look at the site. At first I was a little overwhelmed by all the options that were made available for searching and view images. After stumbling around the site for a while I came across the interesting Group called "Bed Jumpers". In this group there are over 600 members! All of the pictures in this group are of people jumping on beds. Also a lot of these pictures can be found under various different tags, which is great because there is more than one way to find them. At first I thought it was kind of dumb but the farther I got in the more interested I became. It amazes me that there is literally a group for anything on the web, and "Bed Jumpers" is a perfect example of that.

Ooh dream weaver I believe you can get me through the night...

Wait no, not the song Dream Weaver! My mistake. I meant the software program Dreamweaver.What can I say about Dreamweaver...it's definitely a love hate relationship. I love using it once I've grasped the concepts, but I hate actually learning how to grasp said concepts. It is definitely a program that takes a lot of practice to get the hang of, and I mean a lot! I could probably get through the first handful of steps needed to start a project but once the CSS style sheet and the property rules come into play I get pretty lost. I actually just received Dreamweaver for dummies in the mail today, so hopefully that will be a big help. I am really looking forward to becoming competent at using this program, it should be very useful for my career options.

it's the maiden voyage...

Ok! This is my official first post for my web 2.0 23 things blog. I got a bit of a late start on the whole assignment, but I already have a pretty good grasp on most of the 23 things so it shouldn't be too difficult. This blog is actually a second blog of mine. I started a blog earlier in the semester to document my move to Buffalo. So it will be interesting to see how Blogger is different than Wordpress. So far Blogger has a much simpler interface to work with.