I'm going back to do another "thing" from this year's state-wide library project, "More Things on a Stick." I did only my required ten items by the deadline and got my certificate and prize, but I did want to eventually learn about the rest of the library 2.0 topics.
Since I'm going to teach a class on cloud computing next week at the library, it was time to do the thing on that topic, I thought.
The advantages & disadvantages of joining the cloud by using a Web OS:
Boy, the topic on the wiki didn't cover much on web-based operating systems. But this is a timely topic, with Google just coming out with some announcements on Chrome OS, its web-based operating system. It and some other web operating systems are offered for free, so there's an advantage. This type of set-up allows you access on any web-enabled device wherever you have a connection. The current plans are only for netbooks, but that is supposed to be just the beginning. The disadvantage would be that you don't really own any of it, so more of the control is in their hands.
In general, the advantages of the cloud are that you can get to your stuff anywhere that you can get to the Internet. Many applications are free. And if your personal computer crashes, gets a virus, gets destroyed in a fire, your files are still safe out there in cyberspace. And many applications are available to share with others, leading to easier collaboration.
The disadvantage of working in the cloud is that you have to consider the security and privacy implications. A company has your information and/or your documents. Do you trust them? If they have a computer failure or go out of business, your information could be lost or at least temporarily inaccessible. You still need to back important things up on your computer or a memory stick. And if you can't get access to the Web (Ever had an Internet service outage? I have.), you don't have access to your files unless they are something you've saved locally.
Computing I do in the cloud:
This blog is in the cloud. I also use the following: Gmail, Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Pandora, Amazon, online banking, Bloglines, online medical records, Picasa, Shutterfly. I have used PayPal and Photobucket, though not lately. I love working in the cloud. I don't have room on my computer to save all of my blog; thank goodness it isn't stored on my hard drive. I feel safer having my photos saved on Shutterfly. I really need to put all of them there, in case my computer ever succumbs to one of the viruses that come after it. I love being able to access so many things when I'm away from home. While on vacation this summer, I was able to continue to use Gmail to communicate with museum staff so that we could go on the dig I only learned about the day before we left. Plus I was able to check in with family via Gmail and Facebook so that we all knew everyone was okay, without any need for phone calls that can interrupt vacation time. At work I can pull up my Delicious links to help find resources for patrons, when I know I've saved something useful but can't remember the web address. That particular one is a productivity boost. I can also plug an event announcement into my workplace Facebook page from home; I don't have to be on that workplace computer to get to it.
Other cloud applications I plan to investigate:
I need to learn Google Docs by next week! Should I be admitting that? :-o I've been sent documents that way. I've read them but never worked on them. Google applications are usually pretty easy to work with, so I'm confident I can figure it out.
Showing posts with label More Things on a Stick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label More Things on a Stick. Show all posts
Friday, November 20, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Thing 33: Travel 2.0
I took a look at the various travel sites and blogs on Thing 33 of More Things on a Stick (a statewide library project I'm working on, for those of you new to looking at my blog). I think the review sites are useful to know about in the library, because we do have patrons who come in to plan their travel. I've searched for hotel information with multiple patrons, along with some other tourist information. It will be useful to be able to tell them that there are websites where we could look for reviews of the hotels or the places they're thinking of visiting.
Two that I thought looked helpful were TripAdvisor and TravelPost.com . I tried a couple of searches and found reasonable results. If you're the kind of person who likes to look at product reviews on Amazon and other shopping sites, this is the kind of thing you'd probably like to find on hotels and such.
My Kugelhopf is a gorgeous travel blog - but very slow to load, so slower connections probably wouldn't find it worth it.
Hotspotr could be a useful way to find free Wi-Fi for when you're traveling, and FastFoodMaps.com would be very useful to our family if we could access it from a Blackberry while driving. Our options for eating on the road are limited because of a food allergy, and when it's suppertime and we haven't found a familiar chain for a while, it would be great to know how to find the nearest Wendy's or Taco Bell.
And there, folks, is my tenth Thing on a Stick! I had intended to do all 23 by the original May deadline, but there was so, so much to read and do. I was relieved when they said we could just do 10 and still get the basic completion prize. And then they extended the deadline to June 20th. I must not have been the only one who was overwhelmed when working on this. I'd still like to work on the others at my leisure, because I find Web/Library 2.0 to be really interesting as well as important when working as an information (para)professional.
In any case, I'm happy to have my commitment fulfilled!
Two that I thought looked helpful were TripAdvisor and TravelPost.com . I tried a couple of searches and found reasonable results. If you're the kind of person who likes to look at product reviews on Amazon and other shopping sites, this is the kind of thing you'd probably like to find on hotels and such.
My Kugelhopf is a gorgeous travel blog - but very slow to load, so slower connections probably wouldn't find it worth it.
Hotspotr could be a useful way to find free Wi-Fi for when you're traveling, and FastFoodMaps.com would be very useful to our family if we could access it from a Blackberry while driving. Our options for eating on the road are limited because of a food allergy, and when it's suppertime and we haven't found a familiar chain for a while, it would be great to know how to find the nearest Wendy's or Taco Bell.
And there, folks, is my tenth Thing on a Stick! I had intended to do all 23 by the original May deadline, but there was so, so much to read and do. I was relieved when they said we could just do 10 and still get the basic completion prize. And then they extended the deadline to June 20th. I must not have been the only one who was overwhelmed when working on this. I'd still like to work on the others at my leisure, because I find Web/Library 2.0 to be really interesting as well as important when working as an information (para)professional.
In any case, I'm happy to have my commitment fulfilled!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Thing 32: Google Maps & Mashups
For Thing 32, I created the Google map below of South Dakota attractions.
I looked at some of the mashups suggested. The midpoint meeting mashup was neat.The library locator worked for me, as did the Starbucks finder. The UFO reports site was...interesting. There are people who actually go on that website and write about what they saw and where. The bathroom finder had recently had a crash that caused it to lose a lot of its data; that one could be useful from a Blackberry on the road. Mashups could be fantastic if they're very accurate and address a topic you're really looking for information on.
I'm not sure a maps mashup would be very useful in our library. We could set up something about important or useful places around our city, I suppose, as a community service.
I looked at some of the mashups suggested. The midpoint meeting mashup was neat.The library locator worked for me, as did the Starbucks finder. The UFO reports site was...interesting. There are people who actually go on that website and write about what they saw and where. The bathroom finder had recently had a crash that caused it to lose a lot of its data; that one could be useful from a Blackberry on the road. Mashups could be fantastic if they're very accurate and address a topic you're really looking for information on.
I'm not sure a maps mashup would be very useful in our library. We could set up something about important or useful places around our city, I suppose, as a community service.
My Google Map of South Dakota Travel
View South Dakota family fun in a larger map
As part of my More Things on a Stick library project, I created a Google map. I decided to create one of our family's favorite places to visit in South Dakota. I've enjoyed some of these places as an adult without kids, and when my husband and I took the three kids there a few years ago, we all had a fantastic time. The kids didn't want to leave, especially the Badlands. I'm really glad to have children who enjoy looking at interesting landscapes, because that's a big part of what I want in a vacation!
If you click on the option to view it in a larger map, you'll see what the markers are and my comments about them.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thing 31: More: Twitter
After working on this for hours this afternoon (not to mention the last few weeks - I feel the need to follow directions and read everything), I think I'm ready to wrap up "More: Twitter".
What does my Twitter page say about me? Well, I liked the basic pale blue background with bare tree limbs when I got started. It's generally my style. But I wanted to upload a photo I took. Apparently they're having some current problems with uploading photos, according to the troubleshooting section I went to. I cannot get my personalized background to load, regardless of what I do to the file size.
I updated the description of myself so that it says more about my interests. I do list the link to my blog. I think I do a decent job of tweeting regularly about the topics I've predefined for myself, with the occasional tweeting of something unrelated that I can't resist. I don't think I'm really entertaining on Twitter like I think I can be in other mediums, though. I think I show my personality a whole lot more on Facebook, this blog, and a web community I belong to. I've seen others show a lot more panache in the 140 characters. But I can be a pretty reserved person in some settings, so maybe that's just me on Twitter.
My social networking strategy... Well, I've put my Twitter username on Facebook, although they don't have a field for that. I've also put it on my blog. And on the 23 Things Ning. I have followed a couple of More Things participants and they follow me, too, so I feel like that's job networking, even though I haven't met these people. I don't have my entire name on Twitter, though. I probably would if I didn't have to link it to my blog. I want my blog to be largely anonymous.
The people I've found on Twitter: a couple of relatives, an online friend, a couple of people I know from my growing-up years, those couple of More-Things library people, some celebrities I'm interested in from TV and music who do their own twittering, and a gardening person or group (kind of unclear to me) who found me somehow and I decided to follow back. There was a library person from out of state who also found me who I followed back. But she twittered incessantly, and I couldn't handle it. Other than that I follow some organizations. I have learned up-to-the-minute things from following MPR.
The stage I'm at... I'm somewhere between stage 2 (I have a presence, but I don't really get why people love it) and stage 4 (although I'd say I post more useful links than I have one-on-one conversations on Twitter - I have not gotten the hang of the back-and-forth really). I see the usefulness of getting updates from organizations I really like and people I am close to. But so much feels like chaotic chatter. I'm planning to cut back on who I follow once it's just up to me to use it as I choose.
In the list of what Twitter is, I think it's a newsroom. It's full of raw stories, some of which are important and some of which are not. It's noisy, busy, fast-paced. The point of it is to find out what's going on now, what's relevant now. But there's a lot of chaos that you don't see elsewhere once you get the final story.
I am concerned about the security of using a lot of the applications. I don't want to give out my Twitter password to lots of places, so there are many of the things I didn't actually try. I did add BeTwittered to my iGoogle homepage so that I can see and post to Twitter without going there. I don't have a cell phone that I can use with Twitter, so I can't try those mobile apps out - maybe once I get a new one. I did add my name to the Twitter Directory and sign up with Mr. Tweet. From one or both of those, I started getting people who had nothing in common with me and were obviously trying to get more followers. In fact, I think I was solicited for the first time in my life! This stream of women with similar user names started following me, and the profiles I saw showed they were looking for... well, "love" isn't really the right word. Their accounts were mostly suspended by the time I tried to see who was following me, but I blocked the others and reported one. So Twitter would have its hazards for the young computer user!
I ranked better as a Twitter user than I expected. I got a 59 out of 100 for a score on one app, and Mr. Twitter calls me an active Twitterer with above average link sharing - but way below average conversations.
I can see the point of having a Twitter presence if you're an organization. I think my library should set up an account to update interested patrons on our activities. And if I ever become a person who needs to do marketing for writing or singing or independent research services, say, I'd want to use Twitter for that.
What does my Twitter page say about me? Well, I liked the basic pale blue background with bare tree limbs when I got started. It's generally my style. But I wanted to upload a photo I took. Apparently they're having some current problems with uploading photos, according to the troubleshooting section I went to. I cannot get my personalized background to load, regardless of what I do to the file size.
I updated the description of myself so that it says more about my interests. I do list the link to my blog. I think I do a decent job of tweeting regularly about the topics I've predefined for myself, with the occasional tweeting of something unrelated that I can't resist. I don't think I'm really entertaining on Twitter like I think I can be in other mediums, though. I think I show my personality a whole lot more on Facebook, this blog, and a web community I belong to. I've seen others show a lot more panache in the 140 characters. But I can be a pretty reserved person in some settings, so maybe that's just me on Twitter.
My social networking strategy... Well, I've put my Twitter username on Facebook, although they don't have a field for that. I've also put it on my blog. And on the 23 Things Ning. I have followed a couple of More Things participants and they follow me, too, so I feel like that's job networking, even though I haven't met these people. I don't have my entire name on Twitter, though. I probably would if I didn't have to link it to my blog. I want my blog to be largely anonymous.
The people I've found on Twitter: a couple of relatives, an online friend, a couple of people I know from my growing-up years, those couple of More-Things library people, some celebrities I'm interested in from TV and music who do their own twittering, and a gardening person or group (kind of unclear to me) who found me somehow and I decided to follow back. There was a library person from out of state who also found me who I followed back. But she twittered incessantly, and I couldn't handle it. Other than that I follow some organizations. I have learned up-to-the-minute things from following MPR.
The stage I'm at... I'm somewhere between stage 2 (I have a presence, but I don't really get why people love it) and stage 4 (although I'd say I post more useful links than I have one-on-one conversations on Twitter - I have not gotten the hang of the back-and-forth really). I see the usefulness of getting updates from organizations I really like and people I am close to. But so much feels like chaotic chatter. I'm planning to cut back on who I follow once it's just up to me to use it as I choose.
In the list of what Twitter is, I think it's a newsroom. It's full of raw stories, some of which are important and some of which are not. It's noisy, busy, fast-paced. The point of it is to find out what's going on now, what's relevant now. But there's a lot of chaos that you don't see elsewhere once you get the final story.
I am concerned about the security of using a lot of the applications. I don't want to give out my Twitter password to lots of places, so there are many of the things I didn't actually try. I did add BeTwittered to my iGoogle homepage so that I can see and post to Twitter without going there. I don't have a cell phone that I can use with Twitter, so I can't try those mobile apps out - maybe once I get a new one. I did add my name to the Twitter Directory and sign up with Mr. Tweet. From one or both of those, I started getting people who had nothing in common with me and were obviously trying to get more followers. In fact, I think I was solicited for the first time in my life! This stream of women with similar user names started following me, and the profiles I saw showed they were looking for... well, "love" isn't really the right word. Their accounts were mostly suspended by the time I tried to see who was following me, but I blocked the others and reported one. So Twitter would have its hazards for the young computer user!
I ranked better as a Twitter user than I expected. I got a 59 out of 100 for a score on one app, and Mr. Twitter calls me an active Twitterer with above average link sharing - but way below average conversations.
I can see the point of having a Twitter presence if you're an organization. I think my library should set up an account to update interested patrons on our activities. And if I ever become a person who needs to do marketing for writing or singing or independent research services, say, I'd want to use Twitter for that.
Working on Twitter
I'm working on my More Things on a Stick library project. I just can't seem to finish up the More Twitter item! It has a million and a half things to read and try.
So here's part of the assignment: try out a fun thing and post about it with a visual. So here's my result about what punctuation mark I am. I don't know what this has to do with Twitter, but okay, it sort of describes me:
So here's part of the assignment: try out a fun thing and post about it with a visual. So here's my result about what punctuation mark I am. I don't know what this has to do with Twitter, but okay, it sort of describes me:
You Are a Comma |
 You are open minded and extremely optimistic. You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything. You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests. You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time. Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to. (But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.) You excel in: Inspiring people You get along best with: The Question Mark |
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thing 30: More Ways to Use RSS & Delicious
My next library 2.0 topic was on uses for RSS and Delicious.
I've been using my RSS reader (Google Reader) on my iGoogle page to read blog updates. I like that, because I can easily see when one of the blogs I'm following has a new post; then I can choose to read it or not. It makes for less hopping to a variety of websites but more awareness of what's on them. At the suggestion of Thing 30, I added rssWeather and a government blog. The rssWeather feeds drove me insane! All day long my blog reader was being filled with the latest weather forecasts: "Wednesday night forecast", "Thursday forecast", "Friday night forecast". Every time there was an update, I'd get something added to my list. It obscured all the other websites. So it did give me a taste of why FeedRinse and other blog filtering programs were invented! But it just wasn't useful to me as an RSS feed, so I unsubscribed after a number of days. The government health RSS feed is okay; I'll keep it for now. I do look at my RSS reader every time I go on my computer now.
I can't claim to have really gotten my feeds organized. I think I need to find a couple of feeds that would just have an occasional topic I'd want to follow. I don't want to sort out the topics on the blogs I follow currently; I want to know about everything they write about, even if I don't read the whole post.
I am new to Delicious, since I didn't do 23 Things on a Stick. So simply having my bookmarks on it is new to me. I have searched for some topics on it. I have added a couple of people to my network who had More Things on a Stick items.
I did have one really fun moment with that. I've started to follow the blog of a More Things on a Stick participant who was highlighted in the newsletter; her blog is well-done. So then I added her to my Delicious network and looked at her tag cloud. What do you know? She has a health topic on it that I am very interested in and have in my cloud, as well. So I followed one of her links, and it led to some people that I've gotten to know online that have nothing to do with libraries or this project. It was a real "small-world" moment. So I sent her a link on Delicious I though she might like; I don't know if she's seen it.
I added my tag cloud and a badge to my blog. The tag cloud keeps disappearing, though! I tried adding it to my sidebar, but it doesn't fit. The words overlap. So I put it at the bottom of my blog. But half the time it isn't there. I even had to re-paste the code at one point. Has anyone else had problems with it? I have had the opportunity now to explain to a couple of people about what Delicious is. Most people don't seem to be familiar with it.
I would suggest to people who are interested in following more than a couple of blogs to set up an RSS reader. If nothing else, it's a nice alert when there is new content. I would also suggest Delicious to people who use more than one computer or to people who really use the Web for research. It's handy to tuck sites away there that you might not even put in your Favorites on your browser. And you could be a help to other people who are interested in the same topics. It's social networking, but it's much more focused on useful links than your personality.
I've been using my RSS reader (Google Reader) on my iGoogle page to read blog updates. I like that, because I can easily see when one of the blogs I'm following has a new post; then I can choose to read it or not. It makes for less hopping to a variety of websites but more awareness of what's on them. At the suggestion of Thing 30, I added rssWeather and a government blog. The rssWeather feeds drove me insane! All day long my blog reader was being filled with the latest weather forecasts: "Wednesday night forecast", "Thursday forecast", "Friday night forecast". Every time there was an update, I'd get something added to my list. It obscured all the other websites. So it did give me a taste of why FeedRinse and other blog filtering programs were invented! But it just wasn't useful to me as an RSS feed, so I unsubscribed after a number of days. The government health RSS feed is okay; I'll keep it for now. I do look at my RSS reader every time I go on my computer now.
I can't claim to have really gotten my feeds organized. I think I need to find a couple of feeds that would just have an occasional topic I'd want to follow. I don't want to sort out the topics on the blogs I follow currently; I want to know about everything they write about, even if I don't read the whole post.
I am new to Delicious, since I didn't do 23 Things on a Stick. So simply having my bookmarks on it is new to me. I have searched for some topics on it. I have added a couple of people to my network who had More Things on a Stick items.
I did have one really fun moment with that. I've started to follow the blog of a More Things on a Stick participant who was highlighted in the newsletter; her blog is well-done. So then I added her to my Delicious network and looked at her tag cloud. What do you know? She has a health topic on it that I am very interested in and have in my cloud, as well. So I followed one of her links, and it led to some people that I've gotten to know online that have nothing to do with libraries or this project. It was a real "small-world" moment. So I sent her a link on Delicious I though she might like; I don't know if she's seen it.
I added my tag cloud and a badge to my blog. The tag cloud keeps disappearing, though! I tried adding it to my sidebar, but it doesn't fit. The words overlap. So I put it at the bottom of my blog. But half the time it isn't there. I even had to re-paste the code at one point. Has anyone else had problems with it? I have had the opportunity now to explain to a couple of people about what Delicious is. Most people don't seem to be familiar with it.
I would suggest to people who are interested in following more than a couple of blogs to set up an RSS reader. If nothing else, it's a nice alert when there is new content. I would also suggest Delicious to people who use more than one computer or to people who really use the Web for research. It's handy to tuck sites away there that you might not even put in your Favorites on your browser. And you could be a help to other people who are interested in the same topics. It's social networking, but it's much more focused on useful links than your personality.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thing 29 - Google Tools
My next library learning topic is Google Tools.
I have just set up a couple of Google Alerts to try out that application. It could be a useful way to see what's new on a topic or what people are saying out in the blogosphere, depending on what you set it up to search. I've set up one on peanut allergy as a news search and another on More Things on a Stick as a blog search. I'm just curious to see what and how much comes up, and then I plan to edit my searches. And what do you know - I just got a batch of alerts while I was writing this, and they have nothing to do with More Things on a Stick. I need a phrase search. Can I put my search terms in quotation marks? (Update 4/14/09: Yes, putting a phrase in quotation marks seems to work. I tried it with "More Things on a Stick" and now I'm getting only blog updates that mention this project.)
Google Alerts could be a useful way to search things on the Internet that wouldn't be included in more traditional periodical alerts. If you didn't only want to find published information, but instead you wanted to see what was being discussed anywhere on the Internet, it would be useful for that. It's a little difficult to see how it would be useful to a library, since our job is to give people reliable information from good sources. But if you still sort that out, there are good things put out there on the Web. And if a patron wanted to see what was being said about their business on an ongoing basis, Google Alerts would be an excellent suggestion.
I took a look at the other alert services. Twilert was not working anymore. I would really like a Twitter alert service. I have not used the other alerts, but Alerts.com looks intriguing. In certain situations, it would be really nice to have alerts on Ebay or Craigslist items up for sale, price drops on something you want to buy, or product recalls (coming soon).
The other Google Tool I worked on was Gmail. I've had a Gmail account for about a year, because I wanted an e-mail account that I could hang onto when I was between Internet providers because of moving. I have kept it because it's nice to have an e-mail address that I can give out to companies and such without worrying about getting too much spam in my regular e-mail box. But I don't check it as often. I learned from More Things on a Stick that I can forward all or selected messages from my Gmail account to my other e-mail. That's handy, because some people have never switched to using my new e-mail address. Really, I'd never found the "Settings" section of Gmail to explore at all before. I did find that I don't have access to the Themes or the Labs because I have Internet Explorer 6, not 7 or above.
I have just set up a couple of Google Alerts to try out that application. It could be a useful way to see what's new on a topic or what people are saying out in the blogosphere, depending on what you set it up to search. I've set up one on peanut allergy as a news search and another on More Things on a Stick as a blog search. I'm just curious to see what and how much comes up, and then I plan to edit my searches. And what do you know - I just got a batch of alerts while I was writing this, and they have nothing to do with More Things on a Stick. I need a phrase search. Can I put my search terms in quotation marks? (Update 4/14/09: Yes, putting a phrase in quotation marks seems to work. I tried it with "More Things on a Stick" and now I'm getting only blog updates that mention this project.)
Google Alerts could be a useful way to search things on the Internet that wouldn't be included in more traditional periodical alerts. If you didn't only want to find published information, but instead you wanted to see what was being discussed anywhere on the Internet, it would be useful for that. It's a little difficult to see how it would be useful to a library, since our job is to give people reliable information from good sources. But if you still sort that out, there are good things put out there on the Web. And if a patron wanted to see what was being said about their business on an ongoing basis, Google Alerts would be an excellent suggestion.
I took a look at the other alert services. Twilert was not working anymore. I would really like a Twitter alert service. I have not used the other alerts, but Alerts.com looks intriguing. In certain situations, it would be really nice to have alerts on Ebay or Craigslist items up for sale, price drops on something you want to buy, or product recalls (coming soon).
The other Google Tool I worked on was Gmail. I've had a Gmail account for about a year, because I wanted an e-mail account that I could hang onto when I was between Internet providers because of moving. I have kept it because it's nice to have an e-mail address that I can give out to companies and such without worrying about getting too much spam in my regular e-mail box. But I don't check it as often. I learned from More Things on a Stick that I can forward all or selected messages from my Gmail account to my other e-mail. That's handy, because some people have never switched to using my new e-mail address. Really, I'd never found the "Settings" section of Gmail to explore at all before. I did find that I don't have access to the Themes or the Labs because I have Internet Explorer 6, not 7 or above.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thing 28 - Customized Home Pages
Thing 28 in my library project is about customized home pages.
I used iGoogle to set up my page, since I have a Gmail account, my blog is on Blogger, and I use Google as my main search engine. Since I'm already oriented toward Google products, it seemed to make the most sense and be the most efficient option for me.
Getting started was quick & easy, but I found some parts of finding, installing, and organizing widgets quite challenging. I think there has to be a better way to link to some of the websites I use regularly. I thought there would be a handy way to link to Facebook, Twitter, and some other websites, but so far those are just on a list of bookmarks. I did find some Facebook-related applications, but they didn't look like anything I dared to add. Is there a security risk to adding all these little applications that ordinary people have invented? I hope to continue learning about this.
I added a Gmail reader, Google Reader for blog feeds, a to-do list (it's a cute yellow notepad), Google bookmarks, NPR news updates, time & date, local weather, a Wikipedia search box, a Google maps box, and TV listings. I actually had a hard time getting it organized. It's under two tabs by accident, which I resigned myself to. I don't need everything on that first page, I guess.
And it loads too slowly. That I don't like. It varies, but sometimes now I'm sitting there waiting for my home page to load when I open Internet Explorer. I have 3 meg DSL, so it's not like dial-up or something.
I like having Google Reader on my home page. I feel like I can branch out with following blogs, because I see new things when I open my start page, rather than having to go to so many sites. I find the themes fun - having a way to decorate my home page. And it is very handy to have Gmail just show up when I go online or go back to my home page to search. Otherwise I usually checked Gmail once a day and could miss messages, since it's not my primary e-mail.
I used iGoogle to set up my page, since I have a Gmail account, my blog is on Blogger, and I use Google as my main search engine. Since I'm already oriented toward Google products, it seemed to make the most sense and be the most efficient option for me.
Getting started was quick & easy, but I found some parts of finding, installing, and organizing widgets quite challenging. I think there has to be a better way to link to some of the websites I use regularly. I thought there would be a handy way to link to Facebook, Twitter, and some other websites, but so far those are just on a list of bookmarks. I did find some Facebook-related applications, but they didn't look like anything I dared to add. Is there a security risk to adding all these little applications that ordinary people have invented? I hope to continue learning about this.
I added a Gmail reader, Google Reader for blog feeds, a to-do list (it's a cute yellow notepad), Google bookmarks, NPR news updates, time & date, local weather, a Wikipedia search box, a Google maps box, and TV listings. I actually had a hard time getting it organized. It's under two tabs by accident, which I resigned myself to. I don't need everything on that first page, I guess.
And it loads too slowly. That I don't like. It varies, but sometimes now I'm sitting there waiting for my home page to load when I open Internet Explorer. I have 3 meg DSL, so it's not like dial-up or something.
I like having Google Reader on my home page. I feel like I can branch out with following blogs, because I see new things when I open my start page, rather than having to go to so many sites. I find the themes fun - having a way to decorate my home page. And it is very handy to have Gmail just show up when I go online or go back to my home page to search. Otherwise I usually checked Gmail once a day and could miss messages, since it's not my primary e-mail.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Thing 27 - Twitter
Library assignment alert!
Thing 27 was about Twitter. I signed up for Twitter after reading the huge amount of information about it first. My username is "betsytor", for "Betsy at The Old Road". At first I put my real first and last name in my profile, but I reconsidered after putting the Twitter badge on my blog. I don't want it to be that easy for someone to find me. So I changed to just my real first name.
I uploaded the picture from my blog as my avatar. I allowed it to do the search of my Gmail e-mail addresses and found one person to follow that way. Someone else I know posted her Twitter username on Facebook and invited everyone to follow her, so I did. I found another couple of people I know. I added the recommended institutions. I did a few searches (libraries, sustainable farming, and peanut allergy) to see what people were saying. And I've sent out a few tweets. I'm trying to keep my tweets focused on library/book topics, my blog and its topics, and food allergies, so that I'm not updating it with things like "betsytor is getting ready for a birthday party." I already use Facebook that way.
I can't say yet whether I like it or not. So I guess my answer is "ambivalent." Facebook grabbed me right away and kept me interested, but so far Twitter has not. If I find some interesting people to follow or find some things I can be interesting at, it could get better. Everything's just so short. If I knew someone's updates would be a good newsfeed for me, I'd be more captivated.
I can really see how Twitter would be a good PR tool for libraries. It would be a good way to advertise and remind people of events. You could post new acquisitions. You could post links to significant stories. What you post would depend on your type of library, but it could work like a brief, up-to-the-minute newsletter. It wouldn't even have to be time-consuming for the staff member doing it, because there's no layout to struggle with; type a sentence on the computer and you're done.
It could be useful to me as a blogger/writer. I would actually never have known that without the YouTube videos we watched. I could draw attention to my blog. I could become a person who posts lots of useful links on particular topics. It's another way of creating a public presence if you want to be known for something.
I've already suggested setting up a Twitter account to the leader of a group I belong to, and I think I'll make that suggestion to another. When you have a public group/organization that wants to let people know it exists, when its events are, what news stories are coming out on its main subject matter, Twitter is a new way to do that.
Thing 27 was about Twitter. I signed up for Twitter after reading the huge amount of information about it first. My username is "betsytor", for "Betsy at The Old Road". At first I put my real first and last name in my profile, but I reconsidered after putting the Twitter badge on my blog. I don't want it to be that easy for someone to find me. So I changed to just my real first name.
I uploaded the picture from my blog as my avatar. I allowed it to do the search of my Gmail e-mail addresses and found one person to follow that way. Someone else I know posted her Twitter username on Facebook and invited everyone to follow her, so I did. I found another couple of people I know. I added the recommended institutions. I did a few searches (libraries, sustainable farming, and peanut allergy) to see what people were saying. And I've sent out a few tweets. I'm trying to keep my tweets focused on library/book topics, my blog and its topics, and food allergies, so that I'm not updating it with things like "betsytor is getting ready for a birthday party." I already use Facebook that way.
I can't say yet whether I like it or not. So I guess my answer is "ambivalent." Facebook grabbed me right away and kept me interested, but so far Twitter has not. If I find some interesting people to follow or find some things I can be interesting at, it could get better. Everything's just so short. If I knew someone's updates would be a good newsfeed for me, I'd be more captivated.
I can really see how Twitter would be a good PR tool for libraries. It would be a good way to advertise and remind people of events. You could post new acquisitions. You could post links to significant stories. What you post would depend on your type of library, but it could work like a brief, up-to-the-minute newsletter. It wouldn't even have to be time-consuming for the staff member doing it, because there's no layout to struggle with; type a sentence on the computer and you're done.
It could be useful to me as a blogger/writer. I would actually never have known that without the YouTube videos we watched. I could draw attention to my blog. I could become a person who posts lots of useful links on particular topics. It's another way of creating a public presence if you want to be known for something.
I've already suggested setting up a Twitter account to the leader of a group I belong to, and I think I'll make that suggestion to another. When you have a public group/organization that wants to let people know it exists, when its events are, what news stories are coming out on its main subject matter, Twitter is a new way to do that.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Thing 26
In my library project, Thing 26 is "Join the 23 Things Ning".
I joined just now in round 2 because I didn't participate in round 1. I uploaded my photo. I sent messages to two members; one is my new co-worker and one is someone I knew in my community years ago. I also joined my library system's group.
As far as seeing uses for a Ning, I imagine it's useful for networking and for discussing ideas more easily with people outside of your own library. It would depend on how much activity the Ning sees; the more often people are on it having discussions, the more value it would have. Otherwise you'd be putting a question out there and getting silence in response. It could work kind of like a meeting you could access anytime you had something to ask or share. I was really hoping it would be a way to get back in touch with people I've worked with in libraries years ago, but there are so few real photos and not even that many real names that I didn't find many people I know.
The only other Ning I've ever seen was for an alumni group, so I'm not sure I understand how a Ning could work for me in my personal life. If they work basically like discussion boards on the Internet, just a grouping of people discussing a topic, then I can see lots of potential uses for them; they would be a way to facilitate communication for any group.
I joined just now in round 2 because I didn't participate in round 1. I uploaded my photo. I sent messages to two members; one is my new co-worker and one is someone I knew in my community years ago. I also joined my library system's group.
As far as seeing uses for a Ning, I imagine it's useful for networking and for discussing ideas more easily with people outside of your own library. It would depend on how much activity the Ning sees; the more often people are on it having discussions, the more value it would have. Otherwise you'd be putting a question out there and getting silence in response. It could work kind of like a meeting you could access anytime you had something to ask or share. I was really hoping it would be a way to get back in touch with people I've worked with in libraries years ago, but there are so few real photos and not even that many real names that I didn't find many people I know.
The only other Ning I've ever seen was for an alumni group, so I'm not sure I understand how a Ning could work for me in my personal life. If they work basically like discussion boards on the Internet, just a grouping of people discussing a topic, then I can see lots of potential uses for them; they would be a way to facilitate communication for any group.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thing 25
Thing 25 is The Blogger's Toolkit.
Items added
I added statistics collection with Sitemeter. It's so interesting to be able to see those results.
I added a slide show with Picasa.
I added a poll with a Google gadget.
I added a search box. I think that's a good tool to have on any website.
I read and watched the assigned material. I thought the 20 Usability Tips article was particularly useful, and I put some of the tips to use. Because of that article, I (slightly) more formally chose a topic for my blog and wrote sort of a mission/theme statement at the top. I added a subscription button near the top of my blog. I enabled anonymous comments. I added a photo to my profile (although I'm still leery of making my identity too obvious). I plan to follow some of the other tips as I have more posts to work with.
Widgets rejected
I decided not to add speech, because it just didn't make sense for my blog. I didn't add a comment tool, partly because I don't want people to rate each of my posts and partly because it made my blog look cluttered. I didn't do the "added functionality" ones because I didn't fully understand what they did and I came up with 4 other widgets I wanted more. It was the same with the social ones, plus I don't want to enable chatting on my blog. I'll probably come back to some of the listed items, but, here we are to question 3...
How much time?
A lot. I took multiple days (5?) to learn, choose, and then set these things up (obviously not whole days, just some hours of each). I kept up with daily blog posts, too, because my blog just doesn't have that much to work with yet, and I'm following the usability tip on posting regularly! I looked into one gadget/feature per day to keep this from taking up all my time. I did sign up with things like SiteMeter, Feedburner, Flickr, & Picasa, so I had that business to deal with for the first time, too. And I tried some things that I didn't keep on my blog.
All in all, I'm glad to know how to add new functions to my blog. I would have been entirely intimidated if I didn't have this good introduction to widgets.
Wait, wait, I just did one more: the Myers-Briggs analyzer for blogs: http://www.typeanalyzer.com/ . My blog is an ESFP (the performers), which is not what I am! But I think I am an INFP; I've got that paper packed in a box somewhere!
Items added
I added statistics collection with Sitemeter. It's so interesting to be able to see those results.
I added a slide show with Picasa.
I added a poll with a Google gadget.
I added a search box. I think that's a good tool to have on any website.
I read and watched the assigned material. I thought the 20 Usability Tips article was particularly useful, and I put some of the tips to use. Because of that article, I (slightly) more formally chose a topic for my blog and wrote sort of a mission/theme statement at the top. I added a subscription button near the top of my blog. I enabled anonymous comments. I added a photo to my profile (although I'm still leery of making my identity too obvious). I plan to follow some of the other tips as I have more posts to work with.
Widgets rejected
I decided not to add speech, because it just didn't make sense for my blog. I didn't add a comment tool, partly because I don't want people to rate each of my posts and partly because it made my blog look cluttered. I didn't do the "added functionality" ones because I didn't fully understand what they did and I came up with 4 other widgets I wanted more. It was the same with the social ones, plus I don't want to enable chatting on my blog. I'll probably come back to some of the listed items, but, here we are to question 3...
How much time?
A lot. I took multiple days (5?) to learn, choose, and then set these things up (obviously not whole days, just some hours of each). I kept up with daily blog posts, too, because my blog just doesn't have that much to work with yet, and I'm following the usability tip on posting regularly! I looked into one gadget/feature per day to keep this from taking up all my time. I did sign up with things like SiteMeter, Feedburner, Flickr, & Picasa, so I had that business to deal with for the first time, too. And I tried some things that I didn't keep on my blog.
All in all, I'm glad to know how to add new functions to my blog. I would have been entirely intimidated if I didn't have this good introduction to widgets.
Wait, wait, I just did one more: the Myers-Briggs analyzer for blogs: http://www.typeanalyzer.com/ . My blog is an ESFP (the performers), which is not what I am! But I think I am an INFP; I've got that paper packed in a box somewhere!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thing 24
I am working on Thing 24 by creating a blog and registering it, since I didn't do 23 Things on a Stick last year (I just started working in a library). I think I'm going to enjoy this, since I like to write and I participate in other online activities such as Facebook and discussion boards. I've been reading other people's blogs for some time. I enjoy it as a way to keep up with them. I don't usually read blogs unless I actually know the blogger.
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