Friday, August 21, 2009
Thing 16 -- LibraryThing
This is not the first time I've heard of LibraryThing. It came up at one of our district library meetings last year. One of the librarians told us about how she was using it to help organize the library at her church and to create a searchable catalog for it. I didn't really play around with it then, but I've spent the past few evenings exploring LibraryThing. I've joined groups, participated in discussions, added (and tagged) books to my own library, and just clicked here, there, and everywhere. I never did find the ThingLang, ISBN Check, and MARCThing sections we were supposed to read (if anyone can post some comments about how to find them, that would be great). I did find the Thingology and LibraryThing blogs and poked around there for a while. Good stuff. I especially liked the local venues section--now I can find libraries, bookstores, and book-related events around town with the click of a mouse. I'll probably keep coming back to this Thing on a regular basis.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Thing 15 -- Digg
I totally Digg it! What a cool idea! I had a blast browsing through the various articles, reading comments, and finding out what seems to be "hot" in the news right now. The idea of the community dictating what stories it deems newsworthy makes a lot of sense. How many times have we watched the news and thought, "Do they really need to spend this much time and energy on a story like this?" Well with Digg, the community decides what is important, so the junk may fall to the wayside. I also like the idea of "self-policing." If something is inappropriate or not considered worthy of attention, it can be buried. That helps maintain higher standards of quality for the stories being posted. I may have to frequent this site to get my news in a more filtered manner.
I honestly don't know if I'll join this network--thanks to the 23 Things, I've joined way more social networks than I ever anticipated. I can only handle so much virtual socializing. I need to focus on the actual people in front of me, too, you know. This is one concern that I have with social networking in general. Are people spending more time in the virtual social world than with the people in close proximity? It irks me to no end to see young people texting when there are other people sitting with them at the same table. Don't the people in your presence deserve your attention more than someone on the other end of a cell phone (or social networking site)? I guess I'm just getting old, but I think some cell phone etiquette or "textiquette" is in order.
Wow...that was an aside I wasn't expecting. I just don't want to become one of those people that is so absorbed with social networking and technological hype that I begin to neglect the important things and people in my life. I've seen it happen too many times. As much as I love technology and the fact that social networking has brought me back into contact with so many people I've lost touch with, I can't lose touch with the reality of the present.
I honestly don't know if I'll join this network--thanks to the 23 Things, I've joined way more social networks than I ever anticipated. I can only handle so much virtual socializing. I need to focus on the actual people in front of me, too, you know. This is one concern that I have with social networking in general. Are people spending more time in the virtual social world than with the people in close proximity? It irks me to no end to see young people texting when there are other people sitting with them at the same table. Don't the people in your presence deserve your attention more than someone on the other end of a cell phone (or social networking site)? I guess I'm just getting old, but I think some cell phone etiquette or "textiquette" is in order.
Wow...that was an aside I wasn't expecting. I just don't want to become one of those people that is so absorbed with social networking and technological hype that I begin to neglect the important things and people in my life. I've seen it happen too many times. As much as I love technology and the fact that social networking has brought me back into contact with so many people I've lost touch with, I can't lose touch with the reality of the present.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Thing 14 -- Delicious
This reminds me of ikeepbookmarks.com , a very similar web based bookmarking site. It has the option of keeping things public or private or both, so things can be shared (or not). I've had an account with ikeepbookmarks.com since 2003, but I haven't used it much lately. I think I might have to add the Delicious toolbar to my workstations in the library. It would be super handy to have all of my bookmarks in the same place and be able to access them easily.
Tagging may be a difference with Delicious and ikeepbookmarks. I don't think there was an option for tagging, although there was a way to put things into folders and rate sites according to usefulness. I was a bit confused when I first opened up my imported bookmarks because there no longer are any folders. I like the hierarchical organizational scheme of my bookmarks being in folders. There was just a random list of 223 bookmarks! But then I noticed the tags. Upon importing the bookmarks, all of the folder names were converted into tags, so to find the items in a folder, I just click on the corresponding tab and it straightens it all out for me. Pretty cool!
Delicious might be a tool that librarians and teachers can use so that students can access a bibliography of preselected websites for research or units of study. This would narrow their number of resources, and by having them selected in advance, the sites can be evaluated for usefulness, accuracy, bias, currency, and relevance.
Tagging may be a difference with Delicious and ikeepbookmarks. I don't think there was an option for tagging, although there was a way to put things into folders and rate sites according to usefulness. I was a bit confused when I first opened up my imported bookmarks because there no longer are any folders. I like the hierarchical organizational scheme of my bookmarks being in folders. There was just a random list of 223 bookmarks! But then I noticed the tags. Upon importing the bookmarks, all of the folder names were converted into tags, so to find the items in a folder, I just click on the corresponding tab and it straightens it all out for me. Pretty cool!
Delicious might be a tool that librarians and teachers can use so that students can access a bibliography of preselected websites for research or units of study. This would narrow their number of resources, and by having them selected in advance, the sites can be evaluated for usefulness, accuracy, bias, currency, and relevance.
Thing 13 -- Tagging
What an interesting concept! I love the idea of "folksonomies." In our library courses, we studied metadata, discussed hierarchies and thesauri, and created our own metadata schemes of organization with broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms. This type of metadata, however, is organized chaos, which may bother some librarians who are organized to the point of rigidity (unlike myself-the most disorganized librarian I know). The users get to pick the terms that describe the information object, and they can use any term that makes sense to them rather than being forced to choose from a list.
I have used tagging with social networking, blogging, Flickr, and Shelfari (which, by the way, you have GOT to check out). Our library's automation system, Follett's Destiny, now has an option for user tagging. I think it's a good idea for people who are used to tagging. Sometimes users have a better way of classifying something, or at least a more common sense way, rather than trying to force a concept or idea into a predefined set of terms. At the elementary school level, I'm not sure that it will be utilized much, but I can definitely see it as a plus at the middle school/high school level, especially when kids are already so well versed in the web 2.0 world.
I have used tagging with social networking, blogging, Flickr, and Shelfari (which, by the way, you have GOT to check out). Our library's automation system, Follett's Destiny, now has an option for user tagging. I think it's a good idea for people who are used to tagging. Sometimes users have a better way of classifying something, or at least a more common sense way, rather than trying to force a concept or idea into a predefined set of terms. At the elementary school level, I'm not sure that it will be utilized much, but I can definitely see it as a plus at the middle school/high school level, especially when kids are already so well versed in the web 2.0 world.
Thing 12 -- Twitter
Honestly, I have been dreading this Thing since I saw it on the list. I did not want to be a part of the Twitter frenzie! But now I have succumb to the pressure and I am part of the tweetiverse. Don't tell my husband. I refuse to get updates on my phone, however. Even if I had a fancy phone, I still wouldn't want to be a slave to other people's tweets all the time!
I can't believe that I've been on Twitter for 7 minutes and I already have a follower. I have no idea who she is or how she found me! She will be sorely disappointed by my boring life, I am sure. I will not update every time I change activities. No one really wants to know if I'm eating a sandwich, watching the Daily Show, or going to the john. I don't think I'll really use it much. However, I am now following a few people.
Last month, a friend of mine (who I met through my husband), found out I was about to graduate with my MLS, and then asked if I was on Twitter. He told me if I joined, I should follow his dad. He thought I might find some useful insight if I decided to follow him. "Who's your dad?" I asked. "Stephen Krashen," said he. "Are you kidding me? THE Stephen Krashen? That's your dad? I had no idea!!!" was my reply. I've read articles by him, my library director has recommended his book, and he's been mentioned in many of my SLIS courses. So the first person I looked up on Twitter was Stephen Krashen, and the next person was his son. I looked up Jon Stewart (but decided not to become a follower), but through his page, I found Stephen Colbert and NPR, both of whom I am now following. I think I'll stick with 4 people to follow for now--that's probably plenty!
I've been trying to keep somewhat anonymous, but what the heck! If you'd like to be a follower, go to http://twitter.com/estheruribe. But don't say I didn't warn you--it will be boring!
I can't believe that I've been on Twitter for 7 minutes and I already have a follower. I have no idea who she is or how she found me! She will be sorely disappointed by my boring life, I am sure. I will not update every time I change activities. No one really wants to know if I'm eating a sandwich, watching the Daily Show, or going to the john. I don't think I'll really use it much. However, I am now following a few people.
Last month, a friend of mine (who I met through my husband), found out I was about to graduate with my MLS, and then asked if I was on Twitter. He told me if I joined, I should follow his dad. He thought I might find some useful insight if I decided to follow him. "Who's your dad?" I asked. "Stephen Krashen," said he. "Are you kidding me? THE Stephen Krashen? That's your dad? I had no idea!!!" was my reply. I've read articles by him, my library director has recommended his book, and he's been mentioned in many of my SLIS courses. So the first person I looked up on Twitter was Stephen Krashen, and the next person was his son. I looked up Jon Stewart (but decided not to become a follower), but through his page, I found Stephen Colbert and NPR, both of whom I am now following. I think I'll stick with 4 people to follow for now--that's probably plenty!
I've been trying to keep somewhat anonymous, but what the heck! If you'd like to be a follower, go to http://twitter.com/estheruribe. But don't say I didn't warn you--it will be boring!
Thing 11 -- Instant Messaging
I've been IMing since before IMing was invented! Is that really possible? Maybe not, but let me explain anyway.
When I was a child, my father was a "sysop" for a BBS long before the Internet became common place. I learned to chat in real time back then with people who visited my dad's BBS. Then, when I went off to college, I would chat with a friend of mine from high school through the Unix based system at my University. Now instant messaging has become more user friendly and has a nicer interface. I don't have much need for it anymore, but I still occasionally find myself chatting with old friends who pop up.
I have seen many useful applications in the business/customer service world, and I've even used it with a reference librarian before. I don't think it will go away anytime soon, and I'm sure people will continue to find ways to use IMing to their advantage.
I found the link to IM lingo to be quite interesting. I had made up my own abbreviations way back in the day when I first started chatting with people. I used "somth" for something, "ppl" for people, and "L8R" among others. Some of those made it onto the list. I have also been using TTFN for years, since it originated with Tigger on Winnie the Pooh. Glad to see that classic children's entertainment has found it's way into the high tech world. :-)
When I was a child, my father was a "sysop" for a BBS long before the Internet became common place. I learned to chat in real time back then with people who visited my dad's BBS. Then, when I went off to college, I would chat with a friend of mine from high school through the Unix based system at my University. Now instant messaging has become more user friendly and has a nicer interface. I don't have much need for it anymore, but I still occasionally find myself chatting with old friends who pop up.
I have seen many useful applications in the business/customer service world, and I've even used it with a reference librarian before. I don't think it will go away anytime soon, and I'm sure people will continue to find ways to use IMing to their advantage.
I found the link to IM lingo to be quite interesting. I had made up my own abbreviations way back in the day when I first started chatting with people. I used "somth" for something, "ppl" for people, and "L8R" among others. Some of those made it onto the list. I have also been using TTFN for years, since it originated with Tigger on Winnie the Pooh. Glad to see that classic children's entertainment has found it's way into the high tech world. :-)
Thing 10 -- Ning
I have been super busy and out of the loop for a while--finishing graduate school (I now have a Master's Degree in Library Science), moving (with no Internet access for several weeks), hosting family from out of town (the day after we moved--there are still boxes everywhere), etc... But now I am back and I'm ready to finish up my 23 Things! I have a lot of catching up to do, but I think I can handle it.
I briefly checked out Ning a while back when this Thing was first posted. Today, I came back to it, and some stuff popped up that I didn't remember from before. The Library 2.0 network seemed pretty cool. I really wanted to look at the slide show that Dr. Cho posted, but I don't have the new version of Power Point. Some of the commentary was interesting. I think I'll definitely have to come back to this one periodically.
The ALA network on Ning is not active anymore now that they have their own social networking site now. Go to http://connect.ala.org/ to see what they are up to now. I don't know if I'll join it, and I didn't join the Ning network because there's only so much time in the day. I already belong to a few social networks, and I don't know if I can handle many more!
The Librarians network had a useful thread when a person asked about helping library users develop reading habits. Only one person responded, but he had a list of helpful links related to the topic. It seems like these networks would be good ways to brainstorm and bounce ideas off of other professionals.
The last network I looked into was African Village Libraries. I did not get very far browsing that network because I'm not a member, but the link to the blog was interesting and close to my heart. I studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa back in 2003. A community school in my town collected book donations for a school they sponsor in Adafianu, a small fishing village in the Volta region. Each of the students took a box of books and packed it into our luggage. We walked with the villagers as they carried entire encyclopedia sets on their heads back to the small room with no shelves that would eventually become the school library. At that time, I didn't know that I would go back to school to become a school librarian, but I think it planted a seed. When I saw the village children eagerly scanning the stacks of new books, I knew that getting books into the hands of children is a very noble thing, indeed. Maybe some day I will make it back to an African Village and help with the library cause there.
I briefly checked out Ning a while back when this Thing was first posted. Today, I came back to it, and some stuff popped up that I didn't remember from before. The Library 2.0 network seemed pretty cool. I really wanted to look at the slide show that Dr. Cho posted, but I don't have the new version of Power Point. Some of the commentary was interesting. I think I'll definitely have to come back to this one periodically.
The ALA network on Ning is not active anymore now that they have their own social networking site now. Go to http://connect.ala.org/ to see what they are up to now. I don't know if I'll join it, and I didn't join the Ning network because there's only so much time in the day. I already belong to a few social networks, and I don't know if I can handle many more!
The Librarians network had a useful thread when a person asked about helping library users develop reading habits. Only one person responded, but he had a list of helpful links related to the topic. It seems like these networks would be good ways to brainstorm and bounce ideas off of other professionals.
The last network I looked into was African Village Libraries. I did not get very far browsing that network because I'm not a member, but the link to the blog was interesting and close to my heart. I studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa back in 2003. A community school in my town collected book donations for a school they sponsor in Adafianu, a small fishing village in the Volta region. Each of the students took a box of books and packed it into our luggage. We walked with the villagers as they carried entire encyclopedia sets on their heads back to the small room with no shelves that would eventually become the school library. At that time, I didn't know that I would go back to school to become a school librarian, but I think it planted a seed. When I saw the village children eagerly scanning the stacks of new books, I knew that getting books into the hands of children is a very noble thing, indeed. Maybe some day I will make it back to an African Village and help with the library cause there.
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