Thing 23 reflections

This is an easy task, because a few of the "things" stand out as favorites. I particularly enjoyed Technorati because I like just popping in or browsing a tag (i.e., "funny") and being able to immediately have the choice of blogs, videos, music, pictures, etc. And it all loads fast and easily. And if you've been reading my other blog entries, you already know I'm very fond of the RSS feeds, and yesterday I discovered podcasts can be added to them. Zoho also has intrigued me a bit, because I noticed it has several features that Word does not have, and it also is easy to use.

I don't particularly like having about 50-100 different logins and passwords for all my accounts, but someone is probably hard at work to fix that inconvenience.
And there are a few things I probably won't use again, but I still like the idea of knowing what they are if they come up in conversation.

As for more programs like this, I read in Library Hotline that 2.1 is in the works!

Podcasting

I was all set to make this post an actual podcast but www.audioblogger.com is not accepting new accounts, so I'll have to look for another source and play with it later. I used Podcast Alley to find a few podcasts that I added to my RSS feeds at bloglines. One is library news, called LibVibe, and the other is a music one called NextBig Thing. There were also a couple thousand listed in the comedy category which I plan to check out a bit when I have more time. I don't know about you, but I need all the laughs I can get!

The more the merrier

This will all be a lot more fun now that we'll be doing it library-wide, I think.

YackPack and YouTube

I added YouTube section to my page elements on this blog, but didn't bother investigating enough to find out if the choices will change or not. Will watch and see. . . Found out about YackPack, a push-button walkie-talkie widget, which I added to the WickAvenue Wiki, but since most of our computers do not have microphones, will have to find out a few more details and try the terminal in the TRC that has a mike. Sound like your computer becomes an intercom with some kind of voice-over-i.p.
There are so many new things, I'm already re-evaluating whether Ning is going to be as useful as I thought it might. I think it's like any set of tools, i.e., it's good to know the difference between a hammer and a screwdriver, or a toaster and a whisk, and why you'd want to use each tool. But there is no way everyone can possibly learn more than a little bit about the things they never use or have no desire to use, so figuring out what you want to do in the first place is pretty important. Like, do I want to make a sweater? build a treehouse? cook Thanksgiving dinner? groom a horse? paint a picture? These activities alll require special tools, i.e., knitting needles, saws & hammers & nails, pots & pans, brushes, brushes. But there are many variations on each, and who has the time to learn more than the most cursory overview of those that do not appley to one's life?

Bloglines.com and Second Life

It's been a busy month but I have still been exploring. One of my new favorite things to use almost every day is my R.S.S. feed at Bloglines.com. It makes it super quick and easy to scan all my favorite websites at once. I have 17 "feeds" right now, which basically mean the new content from all 17 of my (current) favorite sites is one click away. Here's what I have been reading lately: 17 feeds
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette (0) (0)
Annoyed Librarian (0) (0)
Arts & Letters Daily (0) (0)
Bloglines News (0) (0)
Boing Boing (11) (0)
Comedy Central Videos (6) (0)
Diggnation (Mp3) (0) (0)
Fool.com Headlines (36) (0)
iTunes Top 25 Songs (5) (0)
LibrarianInBlack (0) (0)
Library Garden (0) (0)
Official Google Blog (0) (0)
The Shifted Librarian (1) (0)
Slashdot (9) (0)
Unshelved (0) (0) [!]
WEB2RSS: Doonesbury@Slate-35th Anniversary-- (0) (0)
Wired Top Stories (0) (0)

I also signed up for Second Life after touring "Information Island", and created an avatar. However, this has been a little confusing so far and I haven't really been able to do much with it. They have mentors available, though, so when I get some time will look into that more. I'm not much of a gamer, but know lots of people who are, so thought I should check it out. Plus it's fun to have an alias or two.

Librarian social networking at Ning.com

Now I have found a really neat place to meet librarians and others interested in Library 2.0. It's a social network on www.ning.com. It just takes a few minutes to sign up and create a profile, the other people are really cordial, and are from all over the country and world. Bill Drew started it. Check out my profile under "Barbrarian."

Editing practice