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Exercise 23

I found this whole experience to be interesting, educational, and rewarding. While I already knew about some of the exercises, like Library Thing and Flickr, I learned more about Del.icio.us and RSS, which I have been using since. I especially liked the exercise on image generators! If this opportunity was given again, I would most certainly participate. I enjoyed the challenges that were offered.

Audiobooks and LibriVox

I don't usually listen to a lot of audiobooks, only on long car trips. Most of what I like to listen to isn't in the public domain. For this exercise, I chose to listen to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Twas the night before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore.

Podcasts

I had already added a podcast feed to my RSS list on Bloglines back when we first did the Bloglines exercise. That was a link to the podcasts from the Bob Rivers show (out of Seattle).

For this exercise, I dutifully went to Podcast.net and typed the word "library" as a keyword. The first one that caught my eye was called Erotic Xpressions from the Lusty Library. But I thought that might not be the kind of podcast that would really relate to my work here at SPL. So I searched on, and found podcasts from SirsiDynix, which I added to my Bloglines account. I listened to the first 10 minutes of a podcast called 25 Technologies in 50 minutes. It was interesting because he talked about RSS, wikis, and blogs and their use as library tools.

Downloadable music at SPL

While the music and audio choices are not something I would listen to on a regular basis, I can see the use for this if I were looking for something obscure and esoteric that fell into the categories offered.

In African American Songs I chose the genre of Blues, hoping to find B.B. King there. No such luck. So I browsed through some of the artists, and finally settled on a recording called Just one more time by Pigmeat Pete and Catjuice Charlie. Okay, the only reason I chose it was BECAUSE their names were Pigmeat Pete and Catjuice Charlie. Can't go wrong with a name like that. The only problem was the sound quality of the recording, but since it was recorded around 1930 that's what you get.

In Classical Music Library I chose the genre of Stage & Screen, and the subgenre of TV Music. There I listened to instrumental recordings of the theme songs to Bonanza and Rawhide.

In Smithsonian Global Sound, I chose the genre of Children's, and was able to listen to Woody Guthrie's 1913 Massacre. 'Cause when I think of children's music, I think of massacre!

Finding Emo

Today's weirdness

Web 2.0 awards

The site I selected from the list of award winners was 3rd place winner in the category of games: Guess-The-Google. Guess-The-Google shows you twenty pictures that Google Images returned for a specific keyword. You have to guess what that keyword was. I found the game fun and addictive. I don't see it as useful in library applications, but it is fun to play.

Zoho Writer

I am writing this blog post on Zoho Writer, so that I can then post it on my blog.  I have looked at Zoho Writer, but have not yet come up with an application for it in my daily life.  Maybe I don't have enough imagination.  I had originally hoped that I could type or paste in a recipe (for my recipe website), and then automatically convert it to HTML to add to my website.  I used the Toggle HTML Source button on the toolbar, but the HTML code it gave me did not transfer into my recipe webpage well. I copied and pasted the code as it was given, but the recipe did not look as I typed it. There were extra spaces in between each line.  

 

The templates looked interesting, and if I had a more interesting life I could probably find a use for those. 

weirdness of the day

Prison vs. Work

IN PRISON...You spend the majority of your time in an 8x10 cell.
AT WORK....You spend most of your time in a 6x8 cubicle.

IN PRISON...You get three meals a day.
AT WORK....You only get a break for 1 meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON...You get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK....You get rewarded for good behavior with more work.

IN PRISON...A guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK....You must carry around a security card and unlock and open all the doors yourself.

IN PRISON...You can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK....You get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON...You get your own toilet.
AT WORK....You have to share.

IN PRISON...They allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK....You cannot even speak to your family and friends.

IN PRISON...All expenses are paid by taxpayers with no work required.
AT WORK....You get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON...You spend most of your life looking through bars from the inside wanting to get out.
AT WORK....You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON...There are wardens who are often sadistic.
AT WORK....They are called supervisors.

Wikis too

I played around a little with the wiki sandbox. I hope I didn't mess anything up too badly. There wasn't much in the way of instruction, so I messed around a little on my own.

Wikis

I read the Discovery Resources and looked at the wikis in Discovery Exercise 1. But I like to just jump right in with both feet when it comes to learning new things. So I did some exploring on my own (Discovery Exercise 2) and found Wikia. They host an enormous number of wikis on a wide variety of topics, or hubs. Under the Entertainment hub I found wikis for things like the TV show Heroes and one for the Star Wars saga called Wookieepedia. The hub for Books has diverse wikis from Harry Potter to Kafka.

Too accurate

See my brainscanner results
Scary but true! This is my brain as scanned at brainscannr.

Best e-cards ever

This website (some ecards) has the best, funniest ecards I have ever seen, with the possible exception of RudeMountain. Check them out for yourself, unless you are easily offended.

Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

I read all five perspectives listed, and I have a little something to say about each of them:

Away from the "icebergs" by Rick Anderson: I thought this article was well written. It describes a perfect world in libraries, where all patrons have access to computers and therefore Web 2.0, but in the real world, one hour of computer time per day (our current limit) is not enough to really experience all that Web 2.0 has to offer.

Into a new world of librarianship by Michael Stephens: I have to confess, I found this article hard to read. It wasn't that the words were too big or complex, it has more to do with the author using the phrase "this librarian" 19 times. I couldn't focus on his message because I kept obsessing about "this librarian."

To more powerful ways to cooperate by Chip Nilges: I found this article to be incredibly boring. I had to reread some parts several times, and I still don't know what he was trying to say. It's as if the author were talking, and all I heard was "blah, blah, blah."

To better bibliographic services by John J Riemer: There were some really good ideas here, and some that were hard to imagine as applied to a public library, as opposed to a university library. Can you imagine some of our "regular" patrons writing book reviews for our website? They would certainly have to be censored!

To a temporary place in time by Dr Wendy Schultz: Maybe I'm just too cynical. This grand vision that Dr. Schultz has for libraries does not mesh well with the reality of sex offenders in the library, and patrons stealing DVDs to pawn for money to buy meth.

Technorati

Here is a link to my Technorati Profile.
I also created a watchlist, but all the websites currently listed on it are also on my list of RSS feeds.

I found the most interesting thing under Popular at Techorati is that the second one in the list is on how to make money with your blog!

del.icio.us

I set up my account on del.icio.us, you can find it here. It was easier to do than I thought it would be. I couldn't use the 8-minute tutorial video, because my terminal at work doesn't have sound, so I used the beginner's guide that was listed second in this exercise.

Rollyo

I made an account at Rollyo, but I don't know how often I would actually use it. When I tried a search on it, I got a lot of things that were not from the search tools that I had chosen. I also didn't like the number of "sponsored links" that popped up.

Library Thing

I have had an account at LibraryThing for several months now. It helps me keep track of which authors I like best, and particular books that I have enjoyed. I use this list whenever it is my turn to host the library's Staff Picks display.

Dolls

dolls
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

I made these little cuties at The Doll Palace. I had been looking for sites to make things like this for my daughter, who loves to make avatars and the like. A great place to find them is on the lists at Dress Up Games.

Teenage Daughter Advisory System

teen alert
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Anyone who has or had a teenage daughter (as I now do) knows how helpful this would be! Made this at PTLC.

candy heart

heart
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Made this Candy Heart just to embarrass my daughter, who fancies herself in love with Jeff Hardy (the professional wrestler).

cereal box

cereal
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Mollie-O's, part of a nutritious breakfast! They're sarcastilicious! And you too can have a delicious breakfast cereal named after you at Glass Giant.

Sister Paul at Stonehenge

Sister Paul at Stonehenge
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Made this lovely picture at Smack Talk. Doesn't he look pious?

They know me so well!

Here is my name from the Sexy Name Decoder website:

Get Your Sexy Name

Mutant Zombie Woman

mutant zombie woman
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Possibly the most fun I have ever had using an image generator. I made this fabulous creature at Heromachine. I will post more great images that I have made soon.

Image generators

This week we get to play around with image generators! I'm so excited! Be prepared to see this blog inundated with the images I will be generating.

October 31, 1992

wedd6
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Wow, 15 years goes fast! (not really, it actually seems like a lot longer than that). Don't we look so young?

Even more Flickr fun

My creation
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

I think I am addicted to doing strange things with photos of my kids. Of course, my kids ARE strange things!

Finding feeds

Of the feed search tools listed in this week's exercise, I found Feedster to be the easiest to use, but Topix was more interesting. I don't know that I would regularly use these search tools, but it is good to know they are there.

RSS feeds etc.

Today I created an account at Bloglines, and added a bunch of feeds. I like the idea of feeds, because I get my daily news fix from online sources, and now I can just go to my Bloglines account and click on the links to get the news.

A few minor changes

I changed a few things on here, using hexadecimal color codes that I found here. I also changed my template.

Even more fun with Flickr

My creation
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

As I said in my last posting, I am having way too much fun with this!

More fun with Flickr

My creation
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

I have been having way too much fun exploring Flickr!

Technology

For this exercise, I am supposed to blog about technology. While I am not a thechnophobe, I am not a technophile either. I would say I am usually comfortable with new technology once I learn how to use it. For instance, when I was reading the Discovery Exercise #6 for this endeavor, I was a little confused. But once I went to the BigHugeLabs website, I found some interesting things to do right away. I find it easier to learn new technology by using it than by reading about it.

Motivational poster

My creation
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Here is a "motivational poster" I made using a 3rd party tool called Motivator. It was so much fun, I will probably do this for a lot of my photos that are on my home computer!

coffeys

coffeys
Originally uploaded by mommycoffey

Here is a picture of my family as we would appear on the Simpsons.

On to week 3...

I created a Flickr account about 5 months ago, so I linked to it from this blog page. I will now attempt to use the Flickr blog tool to add a photo to my blog.

lifelong learning

After reviewing the 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learning on the tutorial, I would have to say that Habit #2 is the most relevant for me: Accept responsibility for your own learning. I learn best by doing. In the past 10 years I have learned how to quilt, learned some basic HTML, and learned a few fun things on the Internet (Myspace, Flickr, etc.)

first blog

So, apparently I can now blog at work, and get paid for it! Is this a great country or what!