Thing 23. Final Thoughts

Afraid I was too late for the survey. Interesting experience but feel like it used up a few too many Saturdays. Many "Things" were intriguing, even fun, but also think they take a fair amount of time to learn, and even more to maintain. Some may have library applications, but there would be a real trick to establish them considering all the "competition". While picking one or two and concentrating on them might prove effective, it seems the nature of this whole "new world" is in regular flux so that once one Thing is established, many will have moved on the the "next new thing".

Now it is a Door's (The End) tune running through my mind

Thing 22. What Did I Learn Today?

Guess I learned this is a good activity for a winter day. Many on the things could get quite addictive and, if gotten into a big way, even useful. However, I will confess to being a bit reluctant to going there since a lot of them still seem rather contrived to me. (maybe due to lack of exposure, but maybe not)

My way of staying up-to-date, within reason, will be to get Thing 6 and Thing 8 done, try to figure out why when I try to Publish it errors out, and to keep my blog from expiring.

I keep humming the old Pete Seeger song "What did you learn in school today"

Thing 21. Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

Actually had a little fun with this one. Found a couple sites on Gather to add postings to. Now I'm curious if you hear back from the poster? Also joined the RPL site even though it did not look real busy. Not real sure about the effectiveness of these things from the library point of view. Unless there was someone specifically coordinating the activity, it would likely become a "dead end" type of thing pretty quickly. It would also be pretty essential for the library "someone" to be quite enthusiatic about maintaining and/or recruiting for the site.

Hope I find a fellow "stogie" person

Thing 20. Libraries and Social Networks

Finally got signed up with Facebook (I think). Don't know if this is a common problem, or some sort of sign, but the confirmation email ended up in my Trash folder. That may have been my earlier problem, but in looking through the rest of it, I could not find any earlier email.
Anyway, in my brief excursion, it looked quite interesting. Not sure if it is something I would want to get involved in a big way, but could have some uses no doubt. I did not try any of the suggested groups but might look into them in the future.

I guess the dog has finally been displaced

Thing 19. Podcasts

Another one of those things that once you got used to how to navigate around (or set things up with the suggested, but untried, RSS feed) could be fairly useful. Tried the MPR website but could not bring up what I was looking for (somthing from Speaking of Faith). I'm still not clear how much of this is "real time" and how much is available "on demand". Did end up briefly listening to one of the School Board debates through RPL's catalog which I understand was used a bit around election time. Must confess that the visuals reminded me of the 60's.

Are things becoming too convenient?

Thing 18. YouTube & Other Online Video

Sort of fun and, no doubt, a little addictive. Not having watched this much I was a little suprised and the variety of things. Tried looking at the items dealing with Mesa Verde first. Most made me cringe, but did find one that was actually pretty good. Also tried looking up Pete Seeger and while several were good was a little disappointed there was nothing from Washington D.C. performance. In honor of the day, thought I would try including the following in this post:

Rated: R (ish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ-VxoMbo24

Good luck!

Everybody is a critic

Thing 17. ELM Productivity Tools

Not a lot of luck with this thing (videos just took me to QuickTime website, ELM search got hung up as well). However, don't think this means I'm unenthusiastic about ELM. While on Reference Desk, it has been very helpful in accessing a variety of information that we would not be able to with just the local library resources. Just a couple were a technical medical article on diabetes and wiring schematics for a vehicle we did not have any manuals for)

Let's hope the legislature keeps money in for this library service

Thing 16. Student 2.0 Tools

Hooray, a thing I can get enthusiastic about! Looking through both Research Project Calculator (RPC) and Assignment Calculator they both had what looked like useful features. While AC seemed distinctly more robust than RPC, it seems like either could be used to help get through paper/project assignments. I did like the various links in AC to access both primary sources (ie grammar usage) and finding aids (ie library catalogs).

For a hoot, I tried setting up an email alert on RPC. Am looking forward to receiving them just to see how they look and impact me. Also got me thinking that a potentially useful enhancement would be to provide for multiple email alerts (ie to teachers and/or parents)

Lets hope all students will soon have high speed internet access

Thing 15 Libraries and games

I watched the Second Life video and then tried accessing both Puzzle Pirates and Second Life but to no real success. Puzzle Pirates kept giving me error messages. Second Life, after an abortive attempt that failed when prompted for Pay Pal or cell phone, did let me download something but then that got lost somewhere on my PC (I hope I did not make more work for the Computer Center).

Anyway, I'm sure there is some appeal to gaming on the internet to a lot of people and it might be useful for a library to facilitate that. Since I always had some trouble with Pac Man, I would not include myself in that particular group of patrons.

Skateboarding on sand - how cool!

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

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

Thing 7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

Took a quick look at the various com tls (is that texting, IM, or neither?). Email, of course, is pretty old stuff. Extremely useful when used judiciously but a real pain in the bums when getting deluged. The various other methods (ie IM, texting, etc.) no doubt have their uses and appeal in certain circumstances, but [luddite time] I can think of a couple objections (at least)
1. Rather much like having to learn numerous foreign languages to no real effect (assuming the something like IM is not the only method of communication available)
2. Increased the number of areas a librarian would need to be hooked up to all the time.
3. Just reinforces that increasing "need" to have it all yesterday.
Anyway, on a practical level, I can see the point of having these "services" available at the library with enough training, specifically allocated staff/staff time, appropriate disclaimers regarding patron expectations.

Lets give smoke signals a try again.

Thing 5: More Flickr Fun

Very intriguing and could become addictive quite quickly. The mashups, particularly the ones with video/audio capabilities were worth the look, but, once again, looked like a full time job if you wanted to start using them in your library (at least at first). Tried one of the simpler features and I hope to be able to figure out how to get it on my blog somewhere.
[Try Medieval GPS]

Apologies to Albrecht

Thing 4: Photosharing with Flickr

Sort of fun to play around with on a dreary afternoon. Did like the Clemens/Alcuin presentation but imagine it must be a bear to maintain/update considering the touchiness I encountered in trying to put the picture up. Might be a nice way to supplement the travel collection, but the hind end view of the rousing Twister game was a bit much.





Anyway, it's 1 and a beautiful sunny day - I'm out of here

Thing 3: Set Up an RSS Account & Add Feeds

This was a fairly straight forward one as long as we did not have to use the specified aggregator software. I had been using a freeware RSS aggregator called SharpReader for some time. It has been handy in that you are not getting constantly deluged with information until you click your "Refresh" button and get all the new posts/files/etc. It was very helpful in doing in 1,000's of writers and performing artists (don't worry, this was just part of LC's new policy to add death dates to Name Authority records).

A downside is that while it is nice to control the flow of incoming information to a degree, it is a bit disconcerting to see dozens, or more, new posts coming in all at once. Also, it is often duplicate information already received from other sources.

However, the delete button if readily available.

Thing 2: What Is Library 2.0?

Well, after trying the links listed, and coming up blank as often as not, I'm still not real sure what Library 2.0 is. I'll assume it is essentially an up-to-date version of the post card, conference call and newspaper advertisement (among other things). I think the impact of technology is fairly obvious and will, no doubt, be expanding in the near, and far, future. While libraries may be wise to try to ride this wave, assuming they can get the resources and have the time, I keep thinking the road we have been going along is littered with discarded great ideas.

A quick question(s) is:
Do we know what brings someone to a blog? What keeps them coming back?

Another thought:
Does anyone remember the sinking feeling in the stomach when the slide projector emerged from the closet?