Sunday, December 28, 2008

Thing 14. LibraryThing

Sort of fun. Had a little problem establishing tags, but no doubt that would be easier with a bit more practice. Also liked the "Shared" feature, but found it a little depressing that apparently no one had heard about two of my choices. Who knows, perhaps someone might click in and give them a read. Anyway, as per instructions. you can see the two orphan book titles at:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/JimRentz

Actually was reasonably impressed with this ones capabilities

Thing 13. Online Productivity Tools

Calendar: Useful if you have a group working together either without calendar funtions in their internal email (ie GroupWise at RPL) or whose calendar functions do not communicate very well, if at all.

To Do Lists: Could be useful if you are all wired in. I always found a PDA quite useful but the synching capability could be a hassle at time. If a site such as Remember the Milk delivers, it could be quite effective since it would be accessible from numerous sources.

Backpack: Actually went to that to look at the calendar function first. See comments above for overall reaction.

Also tried the pdf converter with some success. However, the resulting product was less than inspiring.

Another paper mill bites the pulp

Thing 12. Do You Digg?

Afraid not. I will confess to only taking the "quick" tour so undoubtably did not get the full effect. Tried a search on Digg and came up with a very eclectic mix of things but did not really feel like going through all 217 pages (ca. 15 entries/page) and then try to read all the comments.

Have never voted on American Idol

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Thing 11. Tagging and Del.icio.us

Watched the podcast. Did not try any tagging on Delicious. I could see how it might be useful for a specific project if you have the time to do the due diligence regarding the "middle ground" (I think that was the term). There does seem to be a bit of a privacy concern here, but if you are not worried about that I guess that's a non issue.

On a side note: as a cataloger, the idea of free form subject headings rather sends shivers up my spine. However, if it works for the del.icio.us user, that's the main thing.

Not recommended for a dial up user

Thing 10. Wikis

Tried adding something to the 23 Things Wiki. Not sure it is save or not, but will try to remember to check later.

Just in general, I have found the RPL Wiki to be pretty useful. Have used it several times for getting information easily while on the Reference Desk. Am also sure that there is more on it that would be more convenient to find than through other methods.

Woo-hoo, the second useful tool!

Thing 9. Online Collaboration Tools

It's been quite some time so not sure how this is going to turn out.

Had a bit of difficulty with this to start since it appears that you need to be invited to collaborate. Email was sent and am waiting on a reply.

Otherwise, it looks like a fairly useful tool as long as some quality control is established. I assume you could use this for widespread individuals to work up a single/final draft of a document. As long as the changes would be tracked as to authorship, I would imagine that a consensus could be eventually reached.

Too many cooks spoil the broth