Monday, November 24, 2008
#17: PB, hold the J
Very similar to editing blogger blogs, using the JPL Learning 2.0 sandbox at PBwiki was a smooth (not chunky) experience. Put in mind of food, I even added a Favorite Recipes page!
#16 Wiki stick it:
photo: Getty/daylife
Though I'm too much of a control freak to wholeheartedly endorse universal editing by anonymous (potential) reprobates, there is a lot to be said for sharing community information -- our own E*vanced calendar offers a wealth of up-to-date information about Library programs and events that would overwhelm an individual webmaster.
Besides community calendars, I like collaborative subject guides and pathfinders, and multi-perspective reviewing. Also for event planning--how great would an online sign-up be for holiday potlucks? I'm all for immediate gratification (as long as there is at least some accountability and oversight).
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
#15 Library 2.0 : Embracing the Internet
Often this boils down to money-- most individuals can't afford vast libraries of diverse materials on their own, so they pool their money (in the form of taxes) and share what they buy (in the form of public libraries).
Unless the capitalistic nature of our society is radically altered it is unlikely that new and desirable resources will ever become freely available to everyone. So, regardless of the formats the resources take, the need for public libraries (in one form or another) will continue.
And, as always, public libraries will collect what their constituents want and develop the most effective means to deliver the goods.
Digital formats are part of the evolution of information-sharing, not really a revolution (granted, the evolution has speeded up considerably since the heyday of the papyrus scroll). So I'm not worried-- libraries and librarians aren't facing extinction but will continue to evolve as well. The more information that is available, the more people need teams of information professionals to help them find what they seek.
We (JPL) have embraced digital formats and work to expand our digital collections. The Internet provides the ideal avenue for digital delivery, and we try to take full advantage of it, including granting free access to non-residents via free eCards. Only ...
Our immediate problem is marketing-- we have all these really great databases and online services available, and are providing more and more downloadable materials. But sooo many people remain unaware of them, even those who routinely use the Internet for virtually everything (pun intended).
Another thing-- why don't we (JPL) have scanners so we can e-mail copies from print items rather than faxing them? (E-mail is one of the most universally accepted delivery methods, is one of the greatest advantages the Internet offers, and is way more reliable than using outdated fax machines--not taking advantage of the available technology just doesn't make sense.)
Festival of Trees
The decorations for most trees are based on specific books or stories, including:
Monday, November 17, 2008
#14 Not a Book by Dale Brown ...
As for searching "Library 2.0," when I finally figured out how to control the search (entire blog vs. tags only) for blogs with "a lot of authority" (a celebration is planned each year on 11/18@7:15am), I got 1,052 results for "search the entire post", and only 259 hits for "tags only"; the blog directory didn't get that specific -- "Web 2.0" is a close as you get, but I was surprised that it gets that close since the directory is limited to pretty broad headings. (I guess I'm too old-fashioned, but I wish they had a big index of suggested tags.)
TIP: The easiest way I could find to change between searching complete blogs to just tags is to:
1. Search your term using the SEARCH box on the Technorati home page, and then
2. Use the CHANGE link to set your parameters:
CLICK to enlarge
I was a little surprised by some of the popular searches because they include names of a few folks I've never heard of. But I had no real expectations so there were no big surprises with the "most popular" blogs, except that I would have expected more celebrity gossip than political news, but maybe everybody's still keyed up from the elections...
#13
The first thing I noticed is that the URL has changed to the more user-friendly http://delicious.com.
I'm so used to e-mailing myself URLs to include in the jplstaff Ready Ref pages and in my own Guide to the Best Internet Resources that it will take me a while to get used to the delicious-ness of this site. But I certainly see advantages to having a handy, universally accessible place to store favorites, and expect I will create an account of my own. It could also prove useful in group projects as a central place to store references.
Monday, November 10, 2008
#10 : Tasteful saying ....
Recipes for fun at http://www.redkid.net/generator/soup/sign.php
Beauty secret ...
Create a masterpiece at http://www.txt2pic.com/toons/4.htm
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
JPL 2.0 #9: Finding Feeds
Poster available from despair.com
This exercise was really quite depressing, and this despair.com poster pretty much sums up my experience.
Bloglines' Search Tool seems reasonable enough--I searched "classical music" and immediately added a feed from the New York Times, and will likely add others using this tool.
Feedster wouldn't load.
Topix.net really made me nervous -- FOX has set a terrible precedent by distributing unverified opinion as "news" and the political posts that dominated Topix "most popular" stories seem only too eager to join this bandwagon. I'll stick with Reuters and NPR for credible news.
The seemingly indiscriminate nature of sources included in both Syndic8 and Technorati has no appeal to me. I'd rather find sources with some degree of accountability, or at least some that come recommended by folks whose judgement can be respected (e.g., visit some of JPL's Recommended Websites of particular interest and look for newsfeeds on them). There is too much chaff with the wheat for me to find these other sites very useful.
This is America and I do believe that everybody is entitled to an opinion. But really. So many bloggers try mightliy to disprove this. (Op.cit despair.com)
JPL 2.0 exercise #8 : RSS & Newsfeeds
Why it's just like Christmas...
The initial set-up at Bloglines was a breeze (especially after viewing a couple of brief videoclips: RSS in Plain English and Adding Rss Feeds to Bloglines), and it was easy as pie to subscribe to blogs by whatever method presented itself.But enabling the public sharing of my blogroll using the instructions included with both the JPL 2.0 post and from Bloglines was impossible for me on my own because there was never any mention that you must create a Bloglines user name separate from the email address used to sign in, or how to go about creating a Bloglines user name -- Refman Greg had to clue me into this or I never could have finished.
DO THIS: 1. Create your account at bloglines.com & login.
2. Once at http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs, click on Account in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Click on Blog Settings
4. Make up and type in a new, unique username.
5. Next to Show my Blogroll, choose Yes, publish my Blogroll
6. Click on Save Changes
After doing this, the formula http://www.bloglines.com/public/USERNAME will work.
My blogroll may been seen at http://www.bloglines.com/public/EdLein.
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