well, i'm writing this using the Google Docs program. it is an interesting program and works quite well, especially for something that's free. it has nowhere near the level of something like Microsoft Word, but most users don't use 3/4ths of the features Word offers, so in general, this program would be suitable for most people. i'm sure there are some special features in word that are also available in Google Docs - i just haven't found them yet - because the layout is pretty straight forward. the part i really like is that you can save your documents and access them elsewhere without needing to save them on flash drives or floppy disks (if any computer uses floppy discs anymore).
for a free app. i'm quite impressed and i can see myself using it at times i don't have my flash or access to it (something that happens entirely too often). i've noticed it's still listed as a beta product and hope this is something a number of people learn about and use if only to keep it available for those who don't have access to expensive word processing programs.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thing 17 - Wiki sand box
It is rather interesting to play around with our own wiki pages and this has given us a chance to look at the other side of what wikis entail. I have to say, if you restrict the users who are able to change entries into a wiki, this makes them a valuable resource with a number of applications over a broad span of areas. As nice as it sounds to allow access to everyone, not everyone is serious about a topic and way too many people think it’s funny to sabotage publically accessible sites. Allowing anyone to view but only certain people to change looks like it would be the best option as far as accuracy is concerned. (another pet peeve of mine)
It also depends on who is using the wiki and its topic. At one point we were considering a wiki for our tech services manual at my main job at Creighton’s Law Library. We eventually decided not to because we couldn’t get enough space for some of our files for things such as labels and we had a great number of screenshot images for our documented procedures. We decided to go with our Angel system for the university, but if we were able to have enough space, a wiki would have been ideal.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thing 16 - Wikis
Just for the hell of it, I decided to look up elephants (if you don’t get the reference, continue to read and I’ll explain later) on SJCPLSubject Guides located here:
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page
I immediately find this to be somewhere out of their subject range and can’t decide whether elephants fall under History-related Mysteries or Pets. They could fall under entertainment if you are thinking of the circus variety. Or maybe family history, depending on your family.
It wasn’t under history-related mysteries which turns out to be a classification of fictional mystery books. I then checked pets and that page tends to go toward the more traditional pets – cats, dogs, birds, lizards, whatever – but no elephants. I’ve then looked under crafts, gardening, publishing family history, travel, tax information, legal information and classes and none of them have anything about elephants.
I guess this is more of a browsing sort of Subject Guides and not meant for specific searching. Or they have something against elephants. Perhaps I just think of wikis as a source of information similar to an encyclopedia, seeing as those are the only ones I’ve encountered.
Moving on, I check out the BookLoversWiki from Princeton Public Library (http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library). This one seems to be more of an index to book reviews broken down by book types – autobiographies, poetry, science fiction, horror, chic lit, contemporary fiction, you get the point.
Browsing through the contemporary fiction, I did find a book titled Water for Elephants which is oddly closer to the first wiki that I tried to do a search of. Go fig. I guess I found the elephants when and where I least expected it. No, strike that. The least expected place would be under my desk or in my shower. (I need help, don’t I?)
Back to the elephant reference. In the spring or summer of 2006, The Cobert Show on Comedy Central, a satire of right wing pundit shows, stated about wikipedia that "You see, any user can change any entry, and if enough other users agree with them, it becomes true." Seeing as on the show, Colbert has a problem with endangered species advocates, he then suggests that if enough people go into Wikipedia and change then entries for elephants to say their population had tripled in the past six months it will become the “Truth”. Instead of reality this becomes wikiality or something like that. I just like the phrase wikiality. The problem was, a number of Colbert followers proceeded to do this. While a great number of people found this humorous, Wikipedia did not and once they realized what was happening, they corrected and locked the entry for elephants and only certain members (or maybe it’s anyone who’s an official member) can change the elephant entries. 2 ½ yrs later, the entry is still locked.
This demonstrates one of the greatest flaws with encyclopedic wikis, specifically Wikipedia. Ideally, everyone lends their own expertise to the entries, but a lot of people have less expertise than they might think. Kinda like cousin Bob adding to the entry on a type of brain surgery while he’s still convinced the brain is somewhere around his left knee. (actually, we’re not sure Bob has a brain, so the left knee is as good as anywhere else to start looking. The man’s head whistles in a crosswind.)
This is why I say Wikipedia is a good place to get a general idea about something, but double check your facts and check out their references if you intend to use it as a research source. I also don’t think anyone should cite it in a paper, but that’s my personal opinion and I’m a research snob.
Colbert show and Wikipedia’s elephants article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6100754-7.html
http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page
I immediately find this to be somewhere out of their subject range and can’t decide whether elephants fall under History-related Mysteries or Pets. They could fall under entertainment if you are thinking of the circus variety. Or maybe family history, depending on your family.
It wasn’t under history-related mysteries which turns out to be a classification of fictional mystery books. I then checked pets and that page tends to go toward the more traditional pets – cats, dogs, birds, lizards, whatever – but no elephants. I’ve then looked under crafts, gardening, publishing family history, travel, tax information, legal information and classes and none of them have anything about elephants.
I guess this is more of a browsing sort of Subject Guides and not meant for specific searching. Or they have something against elephants. Perhaps I just think of wikis as a source of information similar to an encyclopedia, seeing as those are the only ones I’ve encountered.
Moving on, I check out the BookLoversWiki from Princeton Public Library (http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library). This one seems to be more of an index to book reviews broken down by book types – autobiographies, poetry, science fiction, horror, chic lit, contemporary fiction, you get the point.
Browsing through the contemporary fiction, I did find a book titled Water for Elephants which is oddly closer to the first wiki that I tried to do a search of. Go fig. I guess I found the elephants when and where I least expected it. No, strike that. The least expected place would be under my desk or in my shower. (I need help, don’t I?)
Back to the elephant reference. In the spring or summer of 2006, The Cobert Show on Comedy Central, a satire of right wing pundit shows, stated about wikipedia that "You see, any user can change any entry, and if enough other users agree with them, it becomes true." Seeing as on the show, Colbert has a problem with endangered species advocates, he then suggests that if enough people go into Wikipedia and change then entries for elephants to say their population had tripled in the past six months it will become the “Truth”. Instead of reality this becomes wikiality or something like that. I just like the phrase wikiality. The problem was, a number of Colbert followers proceeded to do this. While a great number of people found this humorous, Wikipedia did not and once they realized what was happening, they corrected and locked the entry for elephants and only certain members (or maybe it’s anyone who’s an official member) can change the elephant entries. 2 ½ yrs later, the entry is still locked.
This demonstrates one of the greatest flaws with encyclopedic wikis, specifically Wikipedia. Ideally, everyone lends their own expertise to the entries, but a lot of people have less expertise than they might think. Kinda like cousin Bob adding to the entry on a type of brain surgery while he’s still convinced the brain is somewhere around his left knee. (actually, we’re not sure Bob has a brain, so the left knee is as good as anywhere else to start looking. The man’s head whistles in a crosswind.)
This is why I say Wikipedia is a good place to get a general idea about something, but double check your facts and check out their references if you intend to use it as a research source. I also don’t think anyone should cite it in a paper, but that’s my personal opinion and I’m a research snob.
Colbert show and Wikipedia’s elephants article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6100754-7.html
Blog 15 - Library 2.0 and Web 2.0
When I first started this program and mentioned to a friend what it was, I only had the vague impression of what library 2.0 and web 2.0 were. When I took her to the main website for the “O! What a Geek” program, they specified that this program involved both. Seeing as neither of us knew exactly what either program is, we had to look it up on Wikipedia (a great site if you just want to get an overview of something, but if you want actual facts, it’s best to double check any you get from there). As soon as we read the description of library 2.0 she said “That’s what libraries have been doing for the past 40 years.”
And she’s right – in a way. The past years have been spent using computers and technology to make information more accessible and while the internet has been around longer than most people think, it has only been readily accessible to the general public for the past 10 or 15 years. Changing from a physical card catalog and checkout system to automated systems on computers was a big step but I don’t think they were originally created to allow for home use. And that’s what library 2.0 is supposed to be about – taking the library to the user, aka home. There is a difference between making information available via technology in the library and making information available via technology in the home.
I’m a little undecided about this. I suppose library 2.0 is just another label for the next step in library technology, an inevitable step that follows what has been worked up to in libraries for the past hundred years. I’m not sure I like the label of Library 2.0. Perhaps I’m just too hung up on the separation of types of technology, I see just see it as a continuation of what we’ve been building up to not some revolutionary ‘new’ way of thinking about the library. This could just be because I’m a relatively new person to libraries (6-8yrs give or take a few months) and I am rather geared toward technology/computers in the first place so when I started working in libraries I saw reaching out to patrons at home as an obvious part of working in a library – making things easier and more accessible to our patrons via whatever new technologies are available.
Once again, that made no sense did it? I seem to be having trouble expressing myself. Sigh.
And she’s right – in a way. The past years have been spent using computers and technology to make information more accessible and while the internet has been around longer than most people think, it has only been readily accessible to the general public for the past 10 or 15 years. Changing from a physical card catalog and checkout system to automated systems on computers was a big step but I don’t think they were originally created to allow for home use. And that’s what library 2.0 is supposed to be about – taking the library to the user, aka home. There is a difference between making information available via technology in the library and making information available via technology in the home.
I’m a little undecided about this. I suppose library 2.0 is just another label for the next step in library technology, an inevitable step that follows what has been worked up to in libraries for the past hundred years. I’m not sure I like the label of Library 2.0. Perhaps I’m just too hung up on the separation of types of technology, I see just see it as a continuation of what we’ve been building up to not some revolutionary ‘new’ way of thinking about the library. This could just be because I’m a relatively new person to libraries (6-8yrs give or take a few months) and I am rather geared toward technology/computers in the first place so when I started working in libraries I saw reaching out to patrons at home as an obvious part of working in a library – making things easier and more accessible to our patrons via whatever new technologies are available.
Once again, that made no sense did it? I seem to be having trouble expressing myself. Sigh.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Thing 14 - technorati blog search
The problem I had was coming up with subjects to search for. So, as usual, I surfed. And I found some very interesting blogs that fell into my interest areas. Although it’s probably not the best topic to put in my blog, seeing as I highly doubt anyone will actually read this, I’m gonna go ahead and do it.
I am a criminal. I love bittorrent. I am well aware of the illegality of this, but I don’t really care (too much). For anyone not familiar with bittorrent, it is a file sharing program. Often times (most of the time) the files shared are copyrighted making it illegal to share them making them pirated. I even have a parrot I put on my shoulder while I do this – and I’m not joking. I actually have a live parrot and he likes to sit on my shoulder. I now know this is the reason pirates have eye patches cause he’s a mean sucker and likes to bite. Anything. But back to my confession.
I have three rationalizations that make this okay. 1) I primarily download television shows that I missed because my DVR sucks. Once I’ve watched the shows, I delete them. 2) I do not sell or burn copies to share of anything I download. 3) some of the stuff I pirate has not been licensed in the
But this is beginning to change. Recently a lot of the big networks are starting to post the latest few episodes of their shows on their web pages making it unnecessary for me to download the shows. NBC has gone even farther and created Hulu.com. this is an awesome site that has television shows and movies from a number of networks including Fox, Warner Bros. and MGM. The shows they post there are available for viewing at any time and instead of a few minute long commercial break you’d see during a regular television show, they have a single commercial 15-30 seconds long. Frankly, I think this is the best approach to stopping piracy. People will still buy the DVD sets when they come out because they want to actually own them, but the need to resort to bittorrenting the show just because you missed an episode is now gone. I have a cable modem so I have 24hr service and actually prefer this to downloading them because the quality is better and the threat of legal prosecution is gone. Besides, once I’ve watched an episode, I delete it from my hard drive, so for me, it’s the best option. Since hulu is continuously increasing the number of shows available, not only have I seen some shows I’d never considered watching before, but have the ability to go back and catch up on some of the shows I’ve lost track of over the past couple seasons.
BUT, now that I’ve confessed my illegal activities I’ll get back to the main point of this entry. Technorati had a blog with the latest on bittorrent and the search engines listing and hosting some of these torrents. The file sharing is actually really neat. I downloaded a free program (actually named Bittorrent but there are other programs available and some of them charge you to purchase the program) that allows me to download selected files from other peoples computers. The person has to specify what files they want to share and depending on the number of people offering the same file, you may get the entire file in a couple of minutes (single 30min episode) or it could be days (an entire season of episodes). Patience is important. It’s a kinda short explanation, and it wasn't meant to be the topic of this post, but you get the idea. I was able to find something that interested me.
Lame ending, huh? A lot of stuff to read to find what I thought about technorati , isn't it? sorry.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Thing #13 – Tagging
Tagging is a hard concept for me to grasp. For some reason, cataloging with subject headings and MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) make more sense to me because the idea is to use a set group of words or terms to describe an item. By using the set group of terms, you won’t have to wonder if the term you’re using is right. For example: let’s say I’ve described an object as light blue. Someone else might say its aqua. So if I’m searching and enter the term light blue, anything listed as aqua might not come up. I see this problem with tags. Not everyone will describe things the same way so a lot of things may not be found when searching for tags. (I know, I’m being too much of a library snob.)
On the other hand, tagging can also create some interesting paths (what I call a path is just another line of thought or a ‘path’ of research. And like real paths, they can branch off in a number of directions or lead absolutely nowhere (real profound, huh?)) so while I’m looking at other people’s bookmarks here, I could find other similar sites by clicking on their tags.
I did like playing with the delicious website and even created my own login. I may not do the tagging to begin with, but this could be a good way of keeping track of a few favorite websites between my two jobs, my home and any other computers I might visit along the way.
On the other hand, tagging can also create some interesting paths (what I call a path is just another line of thought or a ‘path’ of research. And like real paths, they can branch off in a number of directions or lead absolutely nowhere (real profound, huh?)) so while I’m looking at other people’s bookmarks here, I could find other similar sites by clicking on their tags.
I did like playing with the delicious website and even created my own login. I may not do the tagging to begin with, but this could be a good way of keeping track of a few favorite websites between my two jobs, my home and any other computers I might visit along the way.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thing #12 – Rollyo
This is a strange one. While I can kind of understand the reasoning behind creating your own specialized search engine (the quotes one specifically) I prefer to search everything, not just a couple of sites I like. I like using Google to search for things I don’t know because I want to find as many answers as possible and then take the consensus from those. I don’t quite know how to express it, but I’ll admit it, I don’t know the best sites for everything and I really can’t think of a subject matter (such as quotes) that I could choose favorite sites for because if I don’t have a specific site I use all the time, I just Google it and check several sites. I don’t want to be difficult or anything, but I’m going to opt out of this one, merely because I’m at a loss for what to create a specific search engine for.
Thing #11 – LibraryThing
Rather interesting, but I’m not really anal-retentive enough to use it regularly. I’m also a copy cataloger with hundreds of books at home (no exaggeration: 8 bookcases and I still don’t have enough space) and the thought of entering them all into a database would drive me a little nuts (okay, further nuts). I generally know what I have and about where it is on the shelves. At one point I had them sorted into sections and alphabetized, but I haven’t had the motivation to do that for a while. But seeing as 4 of those bookcases are still at my parents’ house - I know, it’s been 7 years and I just don’t have room to bring them with me. I do go back and raid them periodically and I tend to reread my books or I’d sell them – having my bookshelves separated like that makes it rather difficult to really organize my collection. But back to my point, although it’s a neat site, I just don’t think I have the time to enter all the books I have. Although, if I ever wanted to discuss books with someone, this site would be a good place to start.
http://www.librarything.com/profile/cotton.aj (Profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/cotton.aj (Library)
http://www.librarything.com/profile/cotton.aj (Profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/cotton.aj (Library)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thing #9 - RSS Search Engines
To me, there’s a difference between keeping up on current events via magazines or journals and The News. I don’t like The News. It annoys me and tends to piss me off because I don’t deal well with mass stupidity or with things I have no power over (change-wise). I’m not that big into gossip either and that seems to be what a good portion of The News (especially political News) is.
After getting that off my chest, I can get to the main point of this post – a review of blog search engines. And here’s my opinion:
After getting that off my chest, I can get to the main point of this post – a review of blog search engines. And here’s my opinion:
Topix: too much News. I really don’t care who Palin has annoyed and convinced to use their credit cards or who she blames for the Republican defeat in the 2008 election. I don’t really care how many people were shot today and how many kids have been dropped off under the Safe Haven law. It’s rather selfish, but if it doesn’t effect me or set precedence on something that might effect me, I don’t really want to know about it.I guess my tastes run more toward humorous blogs, things that amuse me or useless information about certain historical events – in other words, things that have little influence on current events. And often times I’m sent links to interesting blogs, I find them in tech journals or links to them from other blogs I like.
Syndic8: interesting but unless I’m looking for a specific subject for an RSS feed or something interesting appears in their Random 5 or 10 headlines/syndicated feeds/countries, I didn’t see much for my favorite sorts of RSS blogs
Technorati: a little better but I was really only interested in the technology tab and even then, I didn’t see anything I’d set up the RSS (or in my case to be emailed the top daily articles) feed for.
Thing #8 – RSS Feeds
Well, I set up a bloglines acct and subscribed to half a dozen RSS feeds and I’ve decided I don’t really care for the service. I’m sure it works well for a good number of people, but for me, it’s just another email account to check (I already have at least 10 so I really don’t need another one). I also tried setting it up in Outlook 2007 which has the option of doing it through their software, but again, it’s just another area for me to look. For me, the best idea so far is to have any feeds sent to my main email address which I always check at the beginning of each workday.
I also have a Favorites folder of regularly updated websites (blogs mostly) that I check when or if I have the time that day. If not, I catch them tomorrow. Or the day after that. But you get the idea. I think it comes down to personal preference.
I also have a Favorites folder of regularly updated websites (blogs mostly) that I check when or if I have the time that day. If not, I catch them tomorrow. Or the day after that. But you get the idea. I think it comes down to personal preference.
Monday, November 3, 2008
thing #7 – blog about anything to do with technology
Okay, there’s an easy one. I’m already a bit of a geek and have an ingrained fascination with technology. I’m pretty sure it’s my father’s fault seeing all the tech stuff in the basement and everything else I take after from him with. Besides, it’s good to have someone to blame when I don’t have food for a week because I bought something else for my computer or handheld. I also blame him for my money management skills (or lack there of).
Actually, maybe this is harder than I thought. What part of technology do I want to write about? When did I first use a mouse? I was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade and it’s all a little vague back then (come to think of it, most of my life is a little vague – migraines). Sending a memo via email instead of a fax? Um… never faxed a memo. I do remember the old ditto machine from 1st or 2nd grade. It took up a lot of space (but I was rather small then) and again, most memories of it are kinda vague. I do remember the smell of fresh dittoed papers (with my migraines I have trouble with an ultra sensitivity to smells so I remember a lot of things by scent.) and now I work by the (former) stockyards – great choice there, huh?
I ramble a lot don’t I?
I guess I’m one of the early home computer-era kids. I was taught to type in third grade and had a computer class every semester until well into high school. Email became a big thing just as I entered college and after the first couple years there, the internet we currently know (with images instead of text based) was coming into use. I even think like a computer – everything in folders and subfolders so everything is in its logical place – at least logical to me. I try to do everything electronically that I can. All my bills are paid online or set up as direct withdraw from my checking account. I went for more than six months without using a checkbook just to see if I could do it. Turns out I can and it’s probably better that way because I had an old book of checks stolen and had to end my experiment because I got a new box of checks when I had to change my account number. I had to use them for a few weeks while all the electronic payments were changed to my new account. I haven’t sent a piece of mail in 8 months – I’ll send it via email or fax if absolutely necessary. I tried not opening my mail for three months and that really didn’t work. Apparently some people rely on snailmail for bill notices and stuff like that. All my reminder notes are set up on various computers I log into at different times of the day. I’ve started attending classes for my MLS degree and all the notes are taken on the computer and stored on a flash drive.
God help me if I lose that flash drive or there is a really long power outage ‘cause then I’m kinda screwed.
Actually, maybe this is harder than I thought. What part of technology do I want to write about? When did I first use a mouse? I was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade and it’s all a little vague back then (come to think of it, most of my life is a little vague – migraines). Sending a memo via email instead of a fax? Um… never faxed a memo. I do remember the old ditto machine from 1st or 2nd grade. It took up a lot of space (but I was rather small then) and again, most memories of it are kinda vague. I do remember the smell of fresh dittoed papers (with my migraines I have trouble with an ultra sensitivity to smells so I remember a lot of things by scent.) and now I work by the (former) stockyards – great choice there, huh?
I ramble a lot don’t I?
I guess I’m one of the early home computer-era kids. I was taught to type in third grade and had a computer class every semester until well into high school. Email became a big thing just as I entered college and after the first couple years there, the internet we currently know (with images instead of text based) was coming into use. I even think like a computer – everything in folders and subfolders so everything is in its logical place – at least logical to me. I try to do everything electronically that I can. All my bills are paid online or set up as direct withdraw from my checking account. I went for more than six months without using a checkbook just to see if I could do it. Turns out I can and it’s probably better that way because I had an old book of checks stolen and had to end my experiment because I got a new box of checks when I had to change my account number. I had to use them for a few weeks while all the electronic payments were changed to my new account. I haven’t sent a piece of mail in 8 months – I’ll send it via email or fax if absolutely necessary. I tried not opening my mail for three months and that really didn’t work. Apparently some people rely on snailmail for bill notices and stuff like that. All my reminder notes are set up on various computers I log into at different times of the day. I’ve started attending classes for my MLS degree and all the notes are taken on the computer and stored on a flash drive.
God help me if I lose that flash drive or there is a really long power outage ‘cause then I’m kinda screwed.
thing #6
This time, we’re supposed to look at outside applications that use flickr. Some of them are rather interesting and we’re to play with them, pick one and write about it. The suggested choices were to make trading cards, but frankly, I’ve never understood the fascination with trading cards (real or digital) and from all the surfing I’ve done, the whole meme doesn’t really click with me. Maybe cause there’s too much reading with them. I prefer funny pictures with short captions if any.
Instead, I’ve decided to write about colrpickr. It’s rather neat to play with, letting you choose a color and then retrieving pictures with that main color. You can also choose what subject matter you want – Color Fields, Flowers, Crayon Box, Squared Circle, Graffiti, Flickr Central, Doors and Windows, Macro, Textures, Urban Decay, Catchy Colors, Stock Repository, JPG Magazine. Once again, I could find myself spending hours at this site, just looking at all the pictures and classifications. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of application this could have in the real world, but it’s still neat to play with. (actually, that sounds like most of the things in my life)
http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/index.php?group=jpgmag
Instead, I’ve decided to write about colrpickr. It’s rather neat to play with, letting you choose a color and then retrieving pictures with that main color. You can also choose what subject matter you want – Color Fields, Flowers, Crayon Box, Squared Circle, Graffiti, Flickr Central, Doors and Windows, Macro, Textures, Urban Decay, Catchy Colors, Stock Repository, JPG Magazine. Once again, I could find myself spending hours at this site, just looking at all the pictures and classifications. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of application this could have in the real world, but it’s still neat to play with. (actually, that sounds like most of the things in my life)
http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/index.php?group=jpgmag
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