Week Six Part Fifteen: Library 2.0 Perspectives

"Librarian 2.0 controls technolust: This librarian does not buy technology for the sake of technology. “Techno-worship” does not exist here. Without a firm foundation in the mission and goals of the institution, new technologies are not implemented for the sake of coolness and status. Technology is put to the test: Does it meet the users need in a new or improved way? Does it create a useful service for putting users together with the information and experience they seek? These are some of the questions this librarian asks when planning for technology. This librarian creates and nurtures a living, breathing technology plan."

Michael Stephens (great last name)

Into the New World of Librarianship

http://http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/3.htm

Library 2.0 and 23 Things are avenues to explore new technology that is available and that may be definitive and applicable to the future. But I agree with Stephens that all things bright, shiny (and especially free) are not necessarily helpful in our patrons' lives. I think it is very important to carefully evaluate rather than end up with a 21st century Edsel where "The aim was right but the target moved" (Wikipedia: Edsel)

Library 2.0 is a way to track what other library systems are implementing, where they are succeeding, where they are not, and what's new and practical that I can use on the reference desk or in class offerings.

Week Six Part Fourteen: Technorati

1)

When I did a keyword search for "Learning 2.0" under Blog Posts I got 25,194 hits. In Tags I got three windows, each with a synopsis of blog content for" Learning 2.0" and then a link to the rest of the 25,194 blogs available. I also got a video section and a photo section. In the Blog Directory I got 488 posts.

2)

I typed in "Harry Potter" in the top favorited blog and got 2219 hits. In top searches I got only a few video responses -- nothing else. In top blogs I got one response submitted 4 minutes previously and two responses submitted 1 minute previously. I was quite surprised at the dearth of information in the second two sections.

3)

Under the home search tab there was a potpourri of information from copyright and public domain to Iphones -- very random.

Under the Popular tab I put in "library 2.0" and searched as a non-registered user. On page three, the fourth listing down, posted three hours previously was MY blog entitled "Week Six Part Thirteen" from our Maryland Libraries 23 Things. I was very surprised at the speed of the posting (since I'm not registered) and the fact that it tracked my blog with just a few keywords.

After Popular I tabbed number three called WTF for Where's The Fire: What's Hot and Why. I got Lindsay Lohan and then a whole list of poorly presented (misspellings in the titles) explicit pornographic blog links. I haven't had a chance to see if this avenue (technorati - WTF -undesirables) would bypass the library's filtering system but it certainly isn't something I will point out to patrons!

Week Six Part Thirteen: Del.icio.us Tags/Account

The two days I tried to access the highly recommended Otter podcast about del.icio.us, the Otter site was down. I used del.icio.us itself to walk me through its offerings. I created an account and then searched under "library 2.0/delicious" and found some excellent bookmarks to wikis and to other shortcut instructions that had step-by-step instructions.

Until I actually logged on and scrolled through the plethora of information, I didn't quite understand: 1) How valid this could be and 2) How valuable this could be.

What I discovered was del.icio.us is very useful for gathering hot topics/relevant websites/frequently needed reference information in just about any area. From my little bit of perusing, it is a great place to go through vast amounts of information and pick and choose what's important/relevant to me and mark it. For some reason I didn't understand the implications or simplicity of this until I got in there and starting exploring. I used "library 2.0" "sun salutations" and "personal library" as tags for the bookmarks I chose.

What del.icio.us requires is spending the time to create what I want and then using it enough to keep it tweaked. I look forward to spending more time with it.

While I am very careful to edit and or eliminate most blogs from my own lists, patrons may be crazy about blogs as well as websites.

My account link: http://del.icio.us/rexstout

Week Five Part Twelve: The Curse of Rollyo

This is my Rollyo.

I had no difficulty in getting my blogroll registration, choosing a few yoga sun salutation websites, then editing my profile for public use. I had my habitual banging my head against the wall (I am no Matt Farrell*) when I tried to link to my blog. After yet another friend walked me through this I think I have it.

*Justin Long's computer-geek- young- pup character in the new Bruce Willis Live Free or Die Hard movie.
www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/04/arts/thrillers.php

Week Five Part Eleven: LibraryThing

My personal library listing is on my blog and I found it the easiest exercise yet. However, Rollyo more than made up for the reprieve!

Week Five Part Ten: Creating an avatar

Creating the avatar was straightforward enough (after a few missteps), but getting it attached to my blog was crazy-making. A colleague in 23 Things finally just SHOWED me how to do it. I have since passed that knowledge on to others so I didn't feel like I was the only one baffled. It didn't occur to me to go to settings and template, I kept trying to copy and paste into the HTML of the template itself.

Week Five Part Ten: Image Generator

Paradigm Poster
Originally uploaded by rexstout

This came from fd's Flickr Toys.

It's interesting to me because when I tried this during "flickr" week I was unsuccessful. I feel empowered at last!

It was much easier to follow directions this time, but I don't know why. I think that for any lessons and maneuvers on 23 Things (as in for most of my learning) to sink in for me, I need to do them repeatedly; I am very much a tactile learner. This section happened to be a duplicate, so I managed it in my second pass.