Hello!
I just went to the Maryland Libraries Sandbox and added an entry! This is actually my first time adding something to a wiki. It was kind of cool!
Look for Nepalman. :)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Week 7 thing 16. Wiki madness!
First I have got to say a few things about wikipedia, http://wikipedia.org/ perhaps the most famous wiki in the world. I have serious mixed feeling about wikipedia. On the hand, students should never, ever site wikipedia or get substantial information from Wikipedia. On the other hand, I use WIkipedia nearly evry day both personally and professionally. The difference is in how I use it. I use Wikipedia to point me in the right direction. For instance, the Wiki articles often cite other sites, sources, or books which may be much more definitive then Wikipedia is by itself. Also, Wikipedia is great for things like movie descriptions, and looking up comic book characters who I have forgotten. Things that are not life and death. Wikipedia is certainly a useful tool but it is has to be used in the right way.
Now, one of the wiki I checked out for this discovery exercise really excited me to the possibility of doing one in my system. http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/ is really cool! Patrons write book reviews and e-mail them to staff who then send them a password to put them on the wiki. So it isn't completely unfettered access. I really like the concept of patrons being able to share their opinions of a book with other patrons! This has been done in my system before , but not on line. Patrons really like it when they can be part of the process and sharing your views is always popular. It makes it more personal somehow. for instance, "staff recommends" is always one of our most popular displays. because the patrons know us and it then becomes more personal.
I really liked Library Success: A best practices wiki because it allows librarians from across the country ( and perhaps the world?) to share great ideas,both successes and those valuable learning experiences known as failures.
Looking at these wikis makes me really want one for my system. Also, I find myself wanting a way for patrons to review books accessible directly from out catalog. Perhaps we could could put it behind a hyperlink to make it unobtrusive. This would really increase patron interest in our less trendy books. Sometimes the most interesting things are in the aisle less travelled.
Now, one of the wiki I checked out for this discovery exercise really excited me to the possibility of doing one in my system. http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/ is really cool! Patrons write book reviews and e-mail them to staff who then send them a password to put them on the wiki. So it isn't completely unfettered access. I really like the concept of patrons being able to share their opinions of a book with other patrons! This has been done in my system before , but not on line. Patrons really like it when they can be part of the process and sharing your views is always popular. It makes it more personal somehow. for instance, "staff recommends" is always one of our most popular displays. because the patrons know us and it then becomes more personal.
I really liked Library Success: A best practices wiki because it allows librarians from across the country ( and perhaps the world?) to share great ideas,both successes and those valuable learning experiences known as failures.
Looking at these wikis makes me really want one for my system. Also, I find myself wanting a way for patrons to review books accessible directly from out catalog. Perhaps we could could put it behind a hyperlink to make it unobtrusive. This would really increase patron interest in our less trendy books. Sometimes the most interesting things are in the aisle less travelled.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Week 6, thing 15. My mind has just been blown.
Okay. Maybe it's just the coffee but my thoughts are racing like mad after what I've just seen. First I watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g which completely rocked my world. I loved it! At first it was a little confusing. But it was liberating. And a little scary. ( also I immediately thought of the Internet achieving sentience. Now, ... um, that is a little scary. Mostly because I think the Internet as a sentient being would be obsessed with sex. Frankly.) It really reminded me of that commercial with the business man in a suit going into an old fashioned diner. He asks about the old fashioned looking juke box. Obviously being sarcastic, he enquires about any classical music "on that thing." He is informed that this jukebox plays every piece of music, ever recorded, anywhere. he is in a state of shock.
This is kind of how I felt after looking at this video and reading some of the library 2.0 perspectives. The future is not coming. The future is here. And we have to adapt.
I liked all of them, But "Away from the “icebergs” http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm , and "To a temporary place in time..." http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/6.htm were my favorites. Mostly because they were a little more ... user friendly then the others. I liked the first because it broke down the issues in a really simple way that speaks to the libraries issues. But at the same time that I appreciated Mr. Anderson's points, I also had counter points. We can't afford to have everything in physical form anymore. We just can't. Libraries are relying increasingly on databases and e. texts. But... power outages happen. Connection problems happened. My branches computers were down 4 hours yesterday. people came into the branch and literally walked right out again when they saw the Internet is down. I felt powerless. Without our handy Dewie decimal cheats I would not even have known where anything was.
His point about user education also rang true. We DO need to make our systems easier and more intuitive. BUT... making the interface more user friendly is not the end of even the beginning. It's the middle. Education is necessary. I have patrons come in all the time that think ever terminal has its own e- mail address that they can uses. More and more people are getting back into the job market and trying to apply for job applications. Which absolutely So, my position is... We need easier technology AND education . Which means more money assigned to that and perhaps a staff position whose only job is that. We actually have that at one of our branches. A computer lab and a full time instructor. We need more of that. His last point, I have no reservations about. We have to go to the patron . Because we must help them to understand. Everyone can use the Internet. it's how you use the Internet that matters. And also, books. Books are awesome.
"to a temporary place in time" is so cool because it discusses the transitory nature of ... all things really. Library 2.0? The Internet is buzzing about web 3.0! The next step. And the next step. And another. We need to be flexible, adaptive, attentive, and ... CAUTIOUS. Because as I said in a discussion of hypothetical voice activated computers technology VOX , we need to understand one thing. New technology is beneficial ( potentially at least) but we must adopt it with disowning our current technology. I picked up a book. This, I said, is 100 % EMP protected. it requires no power source. It cannot be hacked. It can be altered but is readily apparent. We must never abandon this!!! For that day will sound the death knell of knowledge.
This is kind of how I felt after looking at this video and reading some of the library 2.0 perspectives. The future is not coming. The future is here. And we have to adapt.
I liked all of them, But "Away from the “icebergs” http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm , and "To a temporary place in time..." http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/6.htm were my favorites. Mostly because they were a little more ... user friendly then the others. I liked the first because it broke down the issues in a really simple way that speaks to the libraries issues. But at the same time that I appreciated Mr. Anderson's points, I also had counter points. We can't afford to have everything in physical form anymore. We just can't. Libraries are relying increasingly on databases and e. texts. But... power outages happen. Connection problems happened. My branches computers were down 4 hours yesterday. people came into the branch and literally walked right out again when they saw the Internet is down. I felt powerless. Without our handy Dewie decimal cheats I would not even have known where anything was.
His point about user education also rang true. We DO need to make our systems easier and more intuitive. BUT... making the interface more user friendly is not the end of even the beginning. It's the middle. Education is necessary. I have patrons come in all the time that think ever terminal has its own e- mail address that they can uses. More and more people are getting back into the job market and trying to apply for job applications. Which absolutely So, my position is... We need easier technology AND education . Which means more money assigned to that and perhaps a staff position whose only job is that. We actually have that at one of our branches. A computer lab and a full time instructor. We need more of that. His last point, I have no reservations about. We have to go to the patron . Because we must help them to understand. Everyone can use the Internet. it's how you use the Internet that matters. And also, books. Books are awesome.
"to a temporary place in time" is so cool because it discusses the transitory nature of ... all things really. Library 2.0? The Internet is buzzing about web 3.0! The next step. And the next step. And another. We need to be flexible, adaptive, attentive, and ... CAUTIOUS. Because as I said in a discussion of hypothetical voice activated computers technology VOX , we need to understand one thing. New technology is beneficial ( potentially at least) but we must adopt it with disowning our current technology. I picked up a book. This, I said, is 100 % EMP protected. it requires no power source. It cannot be hacked. It can be altered but is readily apparent. We must never abandon this!!! For that day will sound the death knell of knowledge.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Week 6, Thing 14. Technorati !
Hello!
I have been exploring Technorati, the blog searching site ( http://technorati.com/) and it is quite, quite interesting. I looked at the top favorited blogs, the top searches on Technorati ( Harry Potter is at the top of the list.) and the top blogs as measured by number of links the blogs have to them. I found a really cool blog called Boing Boing. http://www.boingboing.net/
I added it to my feed list. I also "claimed " my blog. Now I know that doing this puts me more on the radar but I find the language interesting. If I hadn't what would have happened? One day would gold be discovered on my blog and because I hadn't claimed it I would be evicted?!
... most likely, not. But a man can dream can't he?!?!
I also did a few searches for "learning 2.0 " in a few different ways. There were 3, 949 blog posts featuring learning 2.0. There were 25, 379 posts that had been tagged learning 2.0 . And there were 488 blogs that were devoted to learning 2.0.
The entire thing is fascinating. I'm going to play with it for a while. :)
[mdlearn2]
I have been exploring Technorati, the blog searching site ( http://technorati.com/) and it is quite, quite interesting. I looked at the top favorited blogs, the top searches on Technorati ( Harry Potter is at the top of the list.) and the top blogs as measured by number of links the blogs have to them. I found a really cool blog called Boing Boing. http://www.boingboing.net/
I added it to my feed list. I also "claimed " my blog. Now I know that doing this puts me more on the radar but I find the language interesting. If I hadn't what would have happened? One day would gold be discovered on my blog and because I hadn't claimed it I would be evicted?!
... most likely, not. But a man can dream can't he?!?!
I also did a few searches for "learning 2.0 " in a few different ways. There were 3, 949 blog posts featuring learning 2.0. There were 25, 379 posts that had been tagged learning 2.0 . And there were 488 blogs that were devoted to learning 2.0.
The entire thing is fascinating. I'm going to play with it for a while. :)
[mdlearn2]
Monday, July 16, 2007
Week 6, thing 13. D-licious!
Wow. I got an account with http://del.icio.us/ a social bookmarking site. The whole notion of being able to acce4ss your favorites from any computer is revolutionary. Then when you add the concept of sharing them , thats just fantastic!
Here are some I've done so far.
http://del.icio.us/ninjabook
It's interesting. I've seen "tags" around a lot of places, including on live journal, but I never entirely understood them. I think they make a nifty organizational tool. It's kind of similar to a concept I heard about a long time ago. You're reading a text on line and you can click on nearly anything if you want more information about it.
Using tags somebody can bounce around from link to link and get more information that way. My problem is that I might be like a kid in a candy store and just bounce from place to place without fully absorbing one thing but I thing that risk goes along with the Internet in general.
I definitely see the promise in something like this as a research tool certainly. It's a differant kind of organization, that doesn't have to replace older forms but can complement it.
Here are some I've done so far.
http://del.icio.us/ninjabook
It's interesting. I've seen "tags" around a lot of places, including on live journal, but I never entirely understood them. I think they make a nifty organizational tool. It's kind of similar to a concept I heard about a long time ago. You're reading a text on line and you can click on nearly anything if you want more information about it.
Using tags somebody can bounce around from link to link and get more information that way. My problem is that I might be like a kid in a candy store and just bounce from place to place without fully absorbing one thing but I thing that risk goes along with the Internet in general.
I definitely see the promise in something like this as a research tool certainly. It's a differant kind of organization, that doesn't have to replace older forms but can complement it.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Week 5, thing 11. Presenting, some of my books.
I have signed up for Library Thing! Which is this really nifty way to keep track of what books I own/ have read. And you can also see what other people have read. Here is my library * a small sample of it rather. I need to make time and add everything.)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Nepalman
I tried using Suggester and Unsuggester, but they were loading a long time and I suspect they may be broken.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Nepalman
I tried using Suggester and Unsuggester, but they were loading a long time and I suspect they may be broken.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Me as pencil sketch
This is awesome! I did this with a photo to pencil sketch looking generator which is here...
http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php
http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)