Blogs and RSS Revisited

This is for a new course that is a follow-up to the MLA course last year. The first assignment was to rework my blog from the previous course. It is hard to believe that it has been nearly a year since I completed that one.

Blogging has become poplar in my family with my husband and my daughter having very active blogs. It is hard for me to find the time to keep one updated and I do not like writing so that makes it even harder. Just give me a phone and I'm off without any problems. Perhaps this time I can get motivated to keep one going.

Mashups and API - Week 8

What can I say about Mashups? I really don't care for them and would probably not use them.
I found Quick.AS more useful than most. It allows you to use search commands and provided QuickLinks to several well known sites. Another one that I discovered was LazyLibrary. It limits all hits to book titles with less than 200 pages. It assumes that less than 200 pages equals concise and effective information. I have a problem with that conclusion since short is not always complete or better.

I liked Rollyo more and did find it useful in searching for librarianblogs and the topic of privacy.
The "shifted librarian" had an entry entitled - A Step in the Right Direction . It was regarding the Bush administration invasion of privacy using acquired database information. See additional information below:

"The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to slap restrictions on a controversial Pentagon data-mining program that critics say would amount to a domestic spying apparatus.

The vote represents an unusual triumph of privacy concerns over the Bush administration's arguments that the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program would be useful for national security. If fully implemented, TIA would link databases from sources such as credit card companies, medical insurers and motor vehicle agencies in hopes of snaring terrorists."

Podcasting and Online Hosted Video - Week 7

Our campus does use podcasting for some classes. I think this would be a useful tool in providing database instruction or tips to students. It keeps them from sitting in a classroom and makes it available in a format that works with their time schedule. I decided to subscribe to NPR Technology using Odeo and then requested an RSS feed on updates.

It is hard to focus on library usage of YouTube when we can't access it from our campus. I have used it in the past. In fact a friend sent this wonderful video about "Lost Luggage" (click on the above link). It seemed appropriate after US Airways lost three of four pieces when we traveled to Fort Lauderdale to leave on a cruise. Some of the questions we were asked by the airline baggage agent when attempting to locate my husband clothes were very similar to ones on the video. This is too funny and I know will be appreciated by all that have lost luggage. Enjoy!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZt7Pu2jc6Y

It is nice that some universities have decided to use it as a way to reach their students. East Michigan University has "Learn About the Library on YouTube" . Which can be viewed at http://youtube.com/emulibrary

Mexican Riviera Cruise - April 12-19, 2008

Week 6 - Sharing Pictures

Please follow the link to an album of our pictures taken during our Mexican Riviera cruise. We left from beautiful San Diego. It was a perfect vacation from start to finish. The class assignment was timely because it allowed me to share some of our pictures with friends and family.

This feature will be useful to show progress of any library renovations.

Web Office Tools/Google Docs - Week 5

Is this the future of all software products? I think it is probably the direction we are moving. I can see this being very useful for colloboration on projects, newsletters, etc. We use SharePoint in my library but it has been slow going with the staff. There was initial excitement but that has dimished and it is not being used as much as we would like. I feel this may be the case when there are no many offering similar services and users don't want to learn multiple products.

Del.icio.us - Week 4

A neat social networking site for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. I used it for a Grey Literature class I taught during the SCC/MLA 2005 Annual Meeting. It allowed members of the class to see annotated information about new sites that various members of the class identified and shared as useful. These were sent to me and put on del.icio.us for everyone to share.

Facebook and MySpace - Week 3

I have to admit it was neat getting contacted by so many friends this past week. Some from the past and some that I only get to see at MLA. We cannot use either Facebook or MySpace on my campus. It is blocked by campus IT from 8AM - 5 PM, Monday - Friday. This is unfortunate since several of my colleagues that contacted me was using it in their library. It seems to be a very good way to communicate with the students.

I must admit I was overwhelmed by some of the Facebooks I visited. They seemed so very busy and had so much information that you didn't know where to start. What's with the sold gifts on Facebook. What are you suppose to do with them? I didn't feel comfortable answering all the questions on setup so chose to only answer some of them.