Social networking

Oh dear! I think I am going against the trend here.

It is quite astonishing to realize how many people are going on one or more of these social networking websites. I can clearly see the benefits when it comest to audience research, greater insight into what borrowers/consumers want or don't want. It is also amazing to see the technical side of it i.e. being able to track who referred who to the website.

Marketing opportunities are great for libraries. We can promote our services, and especially events and create "virtual communities of visitors", track their responses and get other users to comment on other users' comments or answer their questions.

It would probably be most useful when dealing with teens and attracting them to what we do. I might be mistaken, as there are obviously millions of older users as well who frequent the networks.

One of the articles mentions that "people meeting people is still the basic principle that drives networking, online or off". I have no problem whatsoever with marketing businesses (including libraries) or sharing professional information but I have very strong opposition to sharing personal information and that's what's behind the whole thing, isn't it? I can't possibly imagine wanting to share my interests with hundreds of other people or having virtual strangers (no pun intended) looking through my list of friends. I know you only publish what you want other people to see, but quite often it creates another personality. I suppose we all make our decisions and if great numbers of people love using the social networking websites, than the libraries should join in and make the most of it!

Online applications and tools

This morning, just before doing the Online applications and tools activities on your website, I created a document - an orange roster for Sunday soccer games. I emailed it to everybody on the team list, but could not ask people to add their names as nobody would know what had already been added in the meantime. The solution was to bring the printed copy, get the people to add their names and then go home, enter all information and email to everybody. How much easier it would be if I could send just a link to everybody and all people could see the changes in real time. It would be time saving for everybody. And here, we are talking about the simplest of lists. The benefits would be much greater in the workplace - in any situation where draft copies are required.

I did find it a bit tricky to do the editing, but I suppose that is because I am not familiar where the commands are (apart from the obvious ones).

I actually found Zoho easier to navigate than Google Docs.

Converting files on Zamzar was simple. However, in the case of pdf files, if you want to view it, you still need Acrobat. I expect the benefits would be much greater with some other types of files.

Mashups

This was fun. All the photos of the flowers were taken during a family holiday in the Snowy Mountains at Christmas time, the spider photo was taken late one night in our garden.

I played around with Warholizer, Palette Generator, Bead Art and a few others.
Any mashup with local maps combined with numerous other information would find its use in the library. One thing I liked the most was Voicethread - both for personal and library collections. Wouldn't it be marvelous if we could hear all those stories, especially if it is from the people themselves.
Links to virtual tourism sites could come useful at the reference desk. However, there are quite a few websites promoting tourist destinations, and it would be up to the users and librarians to choose the best ones.

Podcasts

My child has learnt how to podcast in her primary school - time to catch up!

I've listened to podcasts several times in the past and found them a really easy concept to understand. As there is so much on offer these days in the media, and so little time to browse all of them, I guess podcasting is a great tool for filtering the material if you know what you are looking for in the first place.

Some people suggested in their blogs that this would be a usefull tool for author talks. However, I am a little ambivalent about this. Some things should stay face to face and an author talk in the library should stay just that - a talk in the library.

On the other hand, I see podcasts as a great training tool - to save time and repetition, especially in larger libraries. It could be a great marketing tool - there are so many events that could be promoted this way. We just need to know our target market. Borrowers are different even in areas that are geographically close.

Podcasts will be great for distance learning of any sort.

Answer boards

I have never paid much attention to the answer boards mentioned this week, but I did use smaller ones, e.g. one of the numerous sites regarding guinea pigs and received the answer I was looking for.

Slamming the board sounds like a good marketing tool - anything that attracts new people to the library is positive and it should be explored. Needs to be followed up somehow to see if it's working - or just attracting people who would use the library anyway.

Personally, I find answer boards time consuming as trawling through the answers takes forever and you are never sure what you are going to find. I suppose if you ask a specific question, the situation is different.

Library Thing

This is great. People who like the same books are the best ones to recommend a new one to you. With so many books being published every day, it is really difficult to choose what to read even for us who are "informed" and surrounded by books all the time. I can see myself becoming a regular user of Library Thing.

One thing that is difficult in general is remembering all these user names and passwords...

Also a bit worrying is our reliance on computers... We can't completely replace a face to face conversation so my hope is that these are only additional tools and that library staff will be around for a while yet.

Del.icio.us

This is one interesting topic I did not know much about before tonight. I've noticed the peculiar name/button on some websites but never explored it further.

The link to my delicious account is http://del.icio.us/sgashi.

(By the way, does anybody know why the icon "Insert link" does not work. I have tried inserting link using this button in my previous post as well and after viewing it I can only see a blank space rather than what has been typed in.)

I can see the huge potential for its use in the libraries, particularly in the reference area. It is always good to see what other people have found as we are all so time poor and the demand for the instant information is high. However, I am a little ambivalent at the same time. Learning how to use these might be easier for the people who do not have training in the structured world of LCSHs which is still my preference. I might change my mind. After all it is all down to familiarity as it brings speed along.

You Tube

I've just learned the hard way never to click on a link while writing a new blog post as it will disappear if it has not been published...

It was always going to be hard to find time to do Web 2.0 at home (after the council blocked access to quite a few websites required to do it). I've finally found some time and sincerely hope to finish all in the next few weeks.

You Tube and similar are always great for fun and for serious purposes. It should be used to attract younger generations, as it is a part of their everyday lives. It could be used as a complementary information tool in libraries - it is short and cheap to produce.

I liked the fact that watching one video can take you somewhere completely different. Take for example the video about Olive Riley going back to Broken Hill and the link next to it about a very different Olive - a home water birth. It is as random as our thoughts (not to mention the keywords at this moment). It is like a technological approximation to thoughts. Great stuff!

If anybody is living with a teenager and hasn't seen it yet, please look at this:

Sort Of Dunno Nothin' - Peter Denahy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_veIGGP1Uh4

Wikis

Here I come back after a short holiday.

Wikis are an amazing idea with so many potential applications both at work and in our personal lives. It is a great way to share ideas (especially the ones we are passionate about) and information.

I had a look at all the websites. I could not find the wiki for the Mint Museum, North Carolina. I did not have any technical problems going into the page by clicking the link on your web page, but I could not find it from the home page. It must be there, but is not easy to find.

The Book Lovers Wiki at the Princeton Public Library was a fine example of Libraries using wikis. I liked their simple design and the fact it was so easy to navigate. As I have a friend moving from Germany to Princeton within a month, I will definitely reccomend the library to her. The world is becoming smaller and smaller thanks to the technology. There is a possibility that the "six degreees of separation" idea will need to be revised soon.

The Wookieepedia wiki is a real gem. A group of like minded people can achieve much more than any one person.

Happy wikiing! (Does this word officially exist?)

RSS feeds

I found this weeks topic interesting. It was plain sailing, with the recommended websites' RSS feeds, until I created an account with Google reader and tried to copy a URL into the box. I was copying the website of a particular high school, but it was coming out as a page out of Wikipedia. This was confusing. I then created an account with Bloglines and when I tried to copy the same URL a message popped up saying to check whether the site actually has RSS feeds, and sure enough it didn't. For a beginner, this message solves a problem of a predictable mistake.

Another feature I quite enjoyed was the "Bloglines quick picks". Dictionary.com Word of the day and A Phrase a Week are alredy my favourites.

For those interested in something completely different from Web 2.0, please read on...

Nothing Big Required, You Are Enough

Most of us have the feeling that we are here to accomplish something big in our lives, and if we haven’t done something that fits the bill we may feel as if we are waiting. We may feel incomplete, or empty, as if our lives don’t yet make sense to us, because they don’t line up with our idea of major accomplishment.

There is no need to hold ourselves to an old idea in the back of our minds that we need to make headlines or single-handedly save the world in order to validate our existence.

Staying in tune with our own values and living our lives in tune with our own vision is all we need in order to fulfill our time here. Our lives are a process of becoming so that we cannot help but cocreate; being who we are, responding to each moment as it comes, we can trust that this is enough.

Uploading an image using Blogger's photo upload tool

It worked. It is on the right hand side, the way I wanted and now typing the text, I wonder whether it will wrap around the image or appear below it.

Triple Moon and Mars

This is a beautiful image of the Moon I found on Flickr. Please follow the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8526154@N03/2068615062/. It was photographed by Renee Wirick. I've read the comments and found another beautiful image, of the moon and pampas grass taken by 5348 Franco. Please see link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12708811@N07/2067818451/.

Flickr fun

Some of my younger cousins, nieces and nephews send all their photos using Flickr or similar. I have stubbornly sent them via email. Time to join the rest of them...

After creating a flickr account and writing down yet another password, I've chosen a few photos to upload. The first time I somehow managed to upload just one photo. I expected the question "Add another photo" or similar, but it did not happen. Creating tags and description was easy. I then created a set and gave it a name and went about finding how to add more photos to an existing set. I tried frequently asked questions but did not find the answer. It did however point me to the Upload page. It was so plainly obvious where it was, if you just looked. I then uploaded several more photos, deleted one and tried the Organize button. I played with it for a while but cannot remember exactly what I did. By double clicking a photo I enlarged it to show it to a colleague and it opened up a whole new set of things one can do with the photos - and there it was - the Add to set button. I added all the photos to the same set, one by one. While doing this, I noticed that some photos have green buttons and one of them a red button underneath. The red one was private. By clicking the Change link next to it I could change it to Public. Viewed the photos as a slideshow as well.

As for the thought of the day, it is about embracing grief.

Although it may seem that doing so will push us into a deeper state of sadness, truly giving ourselves permission to be with whatever arises actually creates space for us to begin the healing process. This is because the act of grieving is a natural process, allowing us to sort through the range of emotions that are present in our everyday existence. Even though it may sometimes seem easier to involve ourselves in activities that take our minds off of our sadness, this will only make the route to healing more difficult. Unless we listen to where we are in the moment, the emotions we experience will only grow in intensity, and our feelings will manifest themselves in more powerful and less comfortable ways. Once we consciously acknowledge that these emotions are present, however, we are more able to soothe the sorrow of the moment.

When we allow ourselves to accept and deal with our loss fully, we will then be able to continue our life’s journey with a much more positive and accepting outlook. This will make it easier for us to see that our grief is ephemeral and, just like our moments of happiness, it will also come to pass.

The kaleidoscope of life

My challenge for today was not to worry too much about what the blog sounds like and to learn how to change templates. I've also had a look at several other blogs and got an idea of what other people are doing. I suppose I won't see whether the template changed for this post only or for the previous post as well until I actually publish it.

Here's my attempt at inserting an image:

Well, the first attempt didn't work. I went and searched Google images. I saved an image, clicked Add image button, found the location, clicked upload image and it didn't work. A message came up with a number to quote if I wished to find out more...

Second attempt:

This time it was uploaded and I clicked the Done button but I can't see it here. I'm going to try and publish the post to see what happens...

And for those enjoying a quiet moment of reflection, please continue reading...

We tend to gravitate toward people who are most like us, at least in the ways that make us feel comfortable. But life has its way of bringing us into contact with people who challenge us with their differences.

In a world of dualities, we have trouble defining ourselves without something opposite and can’t discover who we are. Without challenge, there is nothing to do and nothing to discover.

We will always run into people that are different from us, but the true challenge may be in finding ways to be at peace with this process.

Feeling stuck

I usually start my day with a cup of coffee in front of the computer. I read the news and my emails. One of the emails is from http://www.dailyom.com. I'd like to share these with you. Today's one is very appropriate, about feeling stuck, like me feeling stuck right now because I decided to choose a name for my blog that already exists and registering before actually creating the blog.

When we feel stuck in our lives it’s important to take stock of what is going on and find out if there is something we are doing or not doing that is keeping us stuck. Sometimes the situation is out of our control, and we need to look within to find the patience required to wait with equanimity until things move forward again. Many times, though, we can find the source of our stagnation in our own hearts and minds. Sometimes we are clinging to old ideas about reality and we need to make adjustments that will bring us back in tune with life, so we can flow again. Sometimes we find that fear of change is what’s keeping us stuck, and we can resolve to find ways of facing that fear. If introspection does not provide the answers we need, it can sometimes be helpful to ask those around you if they notice anything obvious that you might not be able to see. Remember to ask someone whom you can trust to be kind and sensitive as well as honest. Try to let go of your resistance because whenever there is something we can’t see ourselves, it’s because we don’t want to see it. Try to listen with an open mind, and remember that you are always the final judge of what you need. Anything offered to us from an outside source will need to be processed within before its wisdom can take hold. In all this, be kind to yourself and remember that we all get stuck sometimes. Think of it as a part of your process, a necessary step on your journey, rather than as a problem that shouldn’t be happening. This can help to keep your frustration at bay and give you the space you need to take a deep breath and really figure out what’s going on.