Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I can't believe it's the 23rd thing...it seems like I just started blogging. After my initial complaining that I'd never have enough time, I ended up finishing and enjoying this exercise. For a lot of my 40+ friends (that's older than 40, I don't have over 40 friends) - web 2.0 is an unknown thing. So when I use words like Twitter, Flickr, blogging, tweets, etc. it feels good to share with them what it all means. It makes me feel a wee bit hip. Learn and Play has helped me feel comfortable explaining and sharing web 2.0. I hope we have more opportunities to learn even more...It was fun trying so many new things, a nice change from the usual.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

MOLDI


Unfortunate name. I'm ready for the next customer that asks me about how to use MOLDI. I don't have any interest in reading a book, unless I actually have the book. Old School.
I'm more interested in Librivox. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Kinda like free books on tape, not just your average bestseller either. I don't really like how my eyes feel after staring at the moniter for too long, I can't imagine reading a book that way. How can you take it into the bathtub with you?

Monday, October 27, 2008

Podcasts

Libraries have created Podcasts to keep patrons informed about services and current events. Why can't we, or do we? A podcast of Teen Dept. news and programming would probably be the most efficient way of reaching teens. Or could the Library sponsor a spot for podcasts with news, programs, and commentary created by and for teens. I saw some interesting ways of getting word out to customers. After checking out some library related podcasts, I tried some gardening related ones for fun.

How to Make Moving Dragon Wings

This is an awesome project that really has nothing to do with the Library...or does it? I watched other instructional videos, form everything to making an omelet to these awesome wings. I'm going to suggest YouTube to customers trying to do/make almost anything. The Library could do little features for our internet customers (website users) that might entice them to make a visit. HFAR has an art exhibit now, which hasn't recieved much coverage on our website...we could make a short video of what's here to entice a visit. Or CFD could show a clip of a storytime to show just how much fun they are for the kids.
It would be awesome to embed these videos into our events (recurring) calendar somehow???



Wednesday, October 15, 2008

boing boing you're dead

Boing Boing...is what? I couldn't really figure out why that belonged in our toolbox. Digg seems like another random collection of sites/posts. Birth of stars/Cannabis can save your life/dinking alcohol shrinks your brain/How random is that? Who makes time to look at this random info?Worldcat, LibraryThing, book burro, g-mail seem to make more sense in our toolbox.

google docs...again

I'm trying to use google docs...again. A co-worker found awesome 4 petal cards in an invitation feature from the templates. I tried to create a card, without much success. The application seemed more like a slideshow than a template. I enjoyed playing with it though. I made something similar on my own in Word, going back to the basics. Another site I looked at was Going.com, for people who love to go out. It automatically puts you in the Columbus cultural scene, where I found out a good friend of mine (who actually does go out a lot) will be playing at my block party. Now I will go out my front door, down my porch steps, and into society. I'm going out.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Google Docs

My coworker Jay showed me this a few weeks ago. It could be very useful if I were working on a computer from home and I had Internet access at home. However, I'm not interested in having a Internet access at home and I'm not supposed to work from home (for the Library.) But, for someone like Jay who travels a lot and needs to access info for teaching and working in various locations, I can see how useful it might be. But, alas, I probably won't need to use it, yet.
I did try to upload a file that I'm working on with a couple of other coworkers. It didn't translate onto google docs. The formatting was completely screwed up.

Monday, September 29, 2008

learn&play sandbox

What fun looking at other staff's favorites...I posted a few of my own favorites in the restaurants and websites...it was too dificult to choose a favorite book.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

wiki sticks

Wikipedia is awesome even though it's not a very strong source due to the nature of a wiki. There is a danger of biased information being used on a Wiki which might misrepresent a topic. For students or anyone using it, that's not so good. After looking at the suggested wikis on learn & play, some of them seemed outdated/abandoned. I think the perfect application for our library might be to make a wiki with all of the fiction pathfinders we use to help patrons. Instead of burying them in the group work, opening it up for staff to edit might generate more varied suggestions. I liked the subject guide the St. Joseph county one used , it seemed very useful.

Library 2.0

Dr. Wendy Schultz, Infinite Futures resonated with me by stating that "...people will still need experienced tour guides."=The same role of reference staff in a public library now.
I'm excited to learn about these new technologies, hopefully I'll get a chance to share this new found knowledge of 2.0.
Isn't this a lofty idea of what a library in the future might look like: "Library 4.0: This will be the library for the aesthetic economy, the dream society, which will need libraries as mind gyms; libraries as idea labs; libraries as art salons." It's hard to imagine this.
I think the public has a misperception of how technology is used in the library now. Making the leap to a mind gym is a bit much for me. Most of our computers in HFAR are used for gaming, reading e-mail, watching movie clips, downloading music and looking at porn. In-house customers aren't clammering to use our Premium Resources, even though I love to offer these services. Maybe they'll start needing help with 2.0....
I'm not sure how libraries will fit into and thrive in the second coming of the Web.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Delicious

HFAR has been using Delicious.com for quite awhile. Finally something I'm already "in the know" about re: Web 2.0. It's so helpful when I can't remember all the sites we check when helping a customer find out info regarding the valuation of a piece of art.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

LibraryThing

LibraryThing is going to be my new way of keeping a list of the books I've read...very cool. This will help with Readers' Advisory when my mind goes blank.

Image generators

I've created my own Ben @jerry's ice cream flavor...coconut caramel fudge delightyum

Now if they'd only send me a pint of it. Try it out.

http://www.benjerry.com/scoop_shops/dousaflavor/flavor_generator.cfm

Monday, September 22, 2008

Twitter

I'm not quite sure how I would use twitter? I don't really care if someone just went to the bathroom or needs to make an appointment for a facial.
I'm not having much success at finding people I'd want to follow....The only options I'm seeing are searching a name or a location. Am I missing something? Let me know. My Twitter username is jakison.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

RSS feeds

Now I'll never miss the NYT Book Reviews.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

LibriVox

I just heard of LibriVox last night. What an awesome use of technology.
LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. They are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project. Their objective is to make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet. LibriVox, volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain into digital audio (eg. mp3), and then make the audio files available to the world, for free.

MASHUP

Flickrvision shows realtime, geolocated Flickr photos. It's hypnotic, yet a waste of time, to watch. The map moves around to show the location of the most recent tweet or photo. IT NEVER STOPS. weird.

Akebia Quinata 3


Akebia Quinata 3
Originally uploaded by
Sunflower Muse

I planted this in my garden a couple of years ago after building a pegola to shade my stone patio. I first saw it at The Crosby Botanical Garden in Toledo, however it wasn't in bloom. It's common name is the Chocolate Vine, how sweet it smells. I used Flickr to find some awesome photographs of what I could hope for once it bloomed and fruited. The edible fruits are lavender and shaped like sausages. How cool is that. Finding unusual plants and native plants at nurseries around here can be a challenge, but it's worth it.

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Nina and Evelyn at Lake Superior


I love travelling with my family. Summer vacation this year was with 26 friends and Fido on a retro-fitted school bus. We went to Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario. My family loved the smooth pebble beach.

I miss my cat Chip.