tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70467259730733256282024-03-13T06:32:41.555-05:00Mind Bullets of the MindA 23-things, Learning 2.0, on-the-job blog by an urban public library paraprofessional.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-8912342005753154522015-01-05T17:00:00.001-06:002015-01-05T17:01:32.123-06:00ACTIVITY NUMBER NOTHING: FAILURE AND SHAMETriple "ack!" I didn't make it. Happy New Year.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-23164488209844046072014-12-21T13:54:00.002-06:002014-12-21T13:54:39.812-06:00ACTIVITY 15: HISTORYPINHaven't heard of this before. Reminds me of the Digital Public Library of America. I tried looking up my birthplace and found nothing. I tried both of my parents' places of birth and found the same results. Seems like they could use more content, which means they need to attract more participants if it's going to have much value. I tried looking up Bruges, Belgium as a potential place I'd want to visit and was disappointed by the minimal content there, as well. One photo was a personal shot someone posted of themselves as a 4 year old. It was taken in 1945, which is interesting, but they misspelled "Kodak" and it lacks context. I'm sure HistoryPin/Google is trying to avoid the extra work and academic feel of DPLA, but there's definitely something to be said for curated content. Another picture appears to be a poorly cropped picture of someone holding a photo rather than a scan. It appears to be a shot of soldiers marching in WWI but lacks any description and is very difficult to make out. So far HistoryPin is pretty disappointing.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-63887608078804823992014-12-21T13:43:00.002-06:002014-12-21T13:43:36.088-06:00ACTIVITY 14: LEARNINGEXPRESS LIBRARYHas their service grown immensely or have I just not looked at it this much before? I thought LearningExpress primarily consisted of practice tests (GED, SAT, etc.), but there's clearly a lot more educational content. I watched the short recommended videos and glanced at the featured resources list. I would absolutely recommend this to patrons, although it suffers from that common catch-22 that some of the people who could benefit most from using it will probably have difficulty due to their low computing skills.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-613202628427473502014-12-21T13:39:00.002-06:002014-12-21T14:00:35.101-06:00ACTIVITY 6: ONECLICKDIGITALWe are about to step backward in time. Brace yourselves.<br />
<br />
Simultaneous access! What a concept! <i>Hint, hint, e-book publishers. </i>We do not own the new Bob Odenkirk book, nor "The World of Ice & Fire" (which would probably make for an awful audiobook anyway), so I checked out Sarah Thyre's wonderful memoir "Dark at the Roots." The iOS app was very quick to download, setting up an account was simple enough (except for the part where the correct spelling of our library system is "St Paul Public Library" which makes it difficult to find using their unusual three-character auto fill-in function-- I had the same problem trying to help a patron, once), and the interface is slick and easy to use. Didn't care for the part where it overrode the volume setting on my phone, however. I almost never listen to audiobooks so I don't plan to use the service, and therefore returned the book right away in hopes that someone else will enjoy it.<br />
<br />
JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-31847790909931333522014-12-20T14:21:00.000-06:002014-12-20T14:31:21.163-06:00ACTIVITY 13: STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATESI didn't know that ProQuest had taken this over from the Census Bureau, and I don't think I've really looked at the online version. The ProQuest interface is very nice. I am a fan of the print version, but having the keyword searching available here will be useful. It isn't necessarily full of content that I'm personally interested in, but has great value as a resource for patrons.<br />
<br />
Sorry, that's all I've got. Here is a picture of a strange breed of cat that's weirdly popular:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4bTyupsRKXA/VJXcfkYKABI/AAAAAAAAALs/-pGDB9TefAk/s1600/hippo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4bTyupsRKXA/VJXcfkYKABI/AAAAAAAAALs/-pGDB9TefAk/s1600/hippo.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-37770556051212829152014-12-20T13:53:00.001-06:002014-12-20T13:53:41.957-06:00ACTIVITY 12: HISTORY DAYAck! Can I get through these activities when I only have five workdays left to complete ten sections? Wait, make that twelve sections, since I've already skipped over two. Double ack.<br />
<br />
Okay, here we go. History Day! It's about, like, history and stuff? The terms "primary and secondary sources" get tossed about a lot, sometimes by students who don't know what those terms mean. The theme for 2015 is "<b>Leadership & Legacy in History." </b>Yes, in bold type. The NHD website is a bit of a useless mishmash of blocks which made the location of this information somewhat less than obvious. The MHS site requires a number of clickthroughs to get to a Word document (?) with a list of topic suggestions, some solid, some a little unusual (or, seemingly unusual to me, clearly not a history expert).<br />
<br />
This is definitely good stuff for me to be looking over, as I didn't really know that much about History Day, having not participated in it when I went to school nor having raised any children of my own. I am more than a little entertained to see that students can choose "performance" among other project types. The list of History Day Help resources is incredibly helpful and does indeed make me feel better prepared to help patrons, although I will still heavily steer them toward the History Day Hullabaloo (to promote the program, not just because I want to use the word "hullabaloo" in everyday conversation as much as possible).JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-58744453577181085362014-12-10T17:00:00.003-06:002014-12-10T17:07:32.371-06:00ACTIVITY 11: SEARCH ENGINES BEYOND GOOGLEAll I can think about when I see Bing is yelling "stop trying to make Bing happen!" at the TV whenever Bing is featured. I know the TV cannot hear me.<br />
<br />
This is an interesting exercise, though, since I haven't looked at web search engines in a pretty long time (<i>because Google</i>). I used to occasionally use Yahoo as an alternative, but I don't even bother with that anymore. It does, however, confirm that my hatred of Bing is somewhat reasonable, as I can't stand the results page which is scattered and seems to consist largely of links directing you toward ads (or other links). Maybe I'm doing it wrong.<br />
<br />
Searching on jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, Bing, Ask, and DuckDuckGo all point toward AllMusic and Wikipedia, which is good. Bing and Ask both pull the Wikipedia page and highlight it, with Bing being true-to-form about copying Google's layout (about the only thing they did right). Ask did the only clever work of also including a link to discogs.org, but kind of drops the ball by positioning the AllMusic link on a right sidebar (under "Helpful Resources") which is an area I have trained to block out due to the frequency of other sites placing ads in that space. DuckDuckGo leaves me somewhat cold, Bing is a mix of clever and infuriating, and Ask has some promise. I should play with these some more.<br />
<br />
P.S. "Bing." <br />
<br />
<br />JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-4159904205469371232014-12-10T16:17:00.000-06:002014-12-10T16:24:52.251-06:00ACTIVITY 9: CATALOG TIPS AND TRICKSBeg? Sit? Roll over? Play dead? Probably a good thing the catalog doesn't accept voice commands (yet).<br />
<br />
First thing that jumps out at me: I was unaware of the extended display/brief display option. I think that's a tip rather than a trick, but it's good to know about. I also think that I've overlooked the options for "and not" and "or" in the advanced keyword search, but it's possible I've just forgotten about them. Good thing to keep in mind for future searches.<br />
<br />
The book bag/export saved/etc. options have not changed in years, and as a result I am familiar and comfortable with the process. <br />
<br />
I don't think I was aware of the preferred search option, either. I think this would be more useful to me in a journal database, but it's good to know about, especially to recommend to patrons. I set up an author search for the aforementioned author Jasper Fforde, since I know my partner will be happy to know when his new books are published, followed by a keyword search for "blu-ray," since I've been unexpectedly coming across that format in our collection (in addition to the Criterion dual-format editions we were informed about).<br />
<br />
I am an obsessive user of the "popular searches" function, particularly for new CDs and DVDs.<br />
<br />
Permanent link URLs are very handy for adding information to book clubs on our events calendar.<br />
<br />
I would love to see a feature like I saw in the EBSCO Discovery Services demo today which collates all formats/editions of a title, I think this would be incredibly helpful for both staff and patrons. I would also like to see the "reviews and more" feature for music and movies.<br />
<br />
Other than that I have no strange things nor tricks of my own to submit. Sierra often seems to duplicate records in search results, but that is a different matter, perhaps best explored via the upcoming new season of <a href="http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww358/BlackOut0189/Twin%20Peaks/vlcsnap-00004.jpg"><i>Twin Peaks</i></a>.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-14265291644378762152014-12-08T18:08:00.000-06:002014-12-08T18:08:03.381-06:00ACTIVITY 8: POINTS OF VIEW REFERENCE CENTERI'm torn, because when I did a lot more homework help at the library, I found similar resources (namely "Opposing Viewpoints") to be fairly helpful in both print and online form. It definitely caters to the student, perhaps both youth and adult learners, and the overviews look well written, but, for example, the "Same-Sex Marriage" article, despite being dated 2014, appears to be missing critical changes to state and federal laws from this year which have had a major impact on the subject, so I would definitely encourage potential users to dig deeper, beginning at least with the "Related Information" links. I think that would be an important aspect to guiding anyone that staff would be teaching to use this resource.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-35196542955800159962014-12-08T17:14:00.003-06:002014-12-08T17:27:44.960-06:00ACTIVITY 7: NOVELISTI'm skipping Activity 6 for now because trying to do OneClickDigital at the desk is a little tricky, and I've been treading water for two months, now, with the clock running down. Here's to a happy 2015.<br />
<br />
I'm somewhat entertained by the fact that the NoveList Plus interface is already slightly different from the screenshots on our instructions. The differences are minor enough to not bother me, but this kind of constant, iterative change that's all the rage can create roadblocks to navigation for some users. In any event, I chose "The Eyre Affair" from their recommended audiobooks, something which I have not read (nor listened to) but would probably very much enjoy. In fact, the listen-alikes were spot-on with what I'd expect, including two Douglas Adams titles along with Terry Pratchett and a few authors I'm unfamiliar with but should look into. From there I selected "fantasy fiction" with a "funny" tone and a "witty" writing style, and they came up with a whopping 108 suggestions (<a href="http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/108">LOST alert</a>!), although that included juvenile titles. Selecting "adults" brought the total down to 48.<br />
<br />
In any event, as a not-super-helpful librarian when it comes to Readers Advisory (or even just picking out titles for the display case), I find this kind of tool very useful, not only for making suggestions to patrons but also for trying to track down the elusive "I don't remember the name of it or the author but it had a guy in it who does a thing and it has a yellow cover." Of course, I often turn to the old standbys of Wikipedia, Google, and Amazon, but I appreciate having a good literature database.<br />
<br />
P.S. I miss "Books in Print." Old habits.<br />
<br />
JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-81138316237733511382014-10-11T12:30:00.000-05:002014-10-11T12:42:58.257-05:00“The New Library: Making it Without Books”I like books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, maps, and the other assorted objects in the library. Working at George Latimer Central Library, I'm surrounded by an overwhelming number of <i>things</i>, to the point where I'm not sure what can and should be done with it all. Collection development was a much simpler thing in a small library, although it was rarely the focus of my day, since my job was frequently best described as "Behavior Control Technician." <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_qeYUOf4s8g" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
Now I have the time to deal with the collection, but not the ability to cope with the scale of it. Part of my issue is the disheartening fact that the value of the printed word has plummeted, along with the perception of the librarian as an important source of information. As a result, public libraries have been struggling to find an identity for quite awhile now, and I've been struggling to see a positive future for my career. How do you proceed when you lack a clear mission? Popularity favors integrating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace">makerspace</a> tools and activities into the library setting, and while I admire my colleagues' enthusiasm for this change, I haven't been particularly supportive of it, primarily because it feels like dabbling in something that we have little expertise in, which in my mind is likely to further devalue the library and the librarian. Lowertown already has CoCo for creative professionals, a crowd that we are unlikely to attract. It took <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/09/makerspace/">this short article</a> from <i>Wired</i> for me to realize the obvious, that "[m]<span itemprop="articleBody">any people don't have access to classic hacker spaces, are intimidated by them, or can't afford them." Ah. Ah-ha! This intrigues me, because it also takes the library </span><span itemprop="articleBody"><span itemprop="articleBody">beyond the role of collector/distributor of information</span> and into the business of <i>creating</i> knowledge. That is where I want to be. </span>JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-45509350257551122712014-10-09T09:56:00.000-05:002014-10-11T12:57:44.133-05:00ACTIVITY 5: FREEGALI've been an intermittent user of Freegal since we started the program. I'm hoping that using the e-mail reminder feature will get me back on track to taking advantage of it more regularly, because if there's one thing that I am hopelessly addicted to, it's music. And getting more music. And more and more. I try to spend a reasonable amount of time listening to what I already have, but it's hard to resist the allure of adding new (and old, especially old) songs to add to my collection. The fact that Sony has somehow picked up the digital rights to a bunch of small jazz labels* has been a boon for someone with my particular illness. Are the artists seeing any payment for this? I'd like to know, but I also spend plenty of money on records, so I don't feel too guilty about using the service. <br />
<br />
I have had a patron call in about certain tracks and albums not downloading, which is apparently an occasional glitch people have encountered, but other than that it seems like most users are pretty self-sufficient about accessing it (unlike e-books).<br />
<br />
*Ever heard of Chiaroscuro Records? Me neither.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-33110839684563801522014-10-09T09:39:00.000-05:002014-10-09T09:40:07.456-05:00ACTIVITY 4: ZINIOSorry, this blog post does not exist.<br />
<br />
(kidding)<br />
<br />
I don't recall helping any patrons use Zinio, but I have used it on my iPhone and iPad Mini. While I still prefer the convenience of a print magazine, I was mightily impressed by the digital image quality, especially on the iPad. Absolutely trounces glossy paper stock. Nice to be able to access magazines remotely, on a whim. Wish you could browse and check out in the app itself, though, which would be much simpler and more user-friendly.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-69976219434505626512014-09-23T14:16:00.002-05:002014-09-23T14:16:38.281-05:00ACTIVITY 3: CLOUD LIBRARYElectronic digital book simulacrum checked out to my iDevice. <br />
<br />
Very little thinking involved. Good, because the process is easy, or bad, because I'm getting more... stupider? <br />
<br />
Slight preference for Cloud Library over (over? over!) OverDrive simply due to familiarity. I don't think the experiences differ significantly, although omitting the additional hurdle of creating an Adobe ID is preferable, here, especially when helping patrons get set up.<br />
<br />
Over and out.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-38361119881928435642014-07-19T09:30:00.002-05:002014-07-19T09:38:30.195-05:00ACTIVITY 2: OVERDRIVEExplored the "read in browser" option in OverDrive. Discovered we have "Joined at the Hip," the book about Twin Cities jazz history, and was surprised to find that someone has checked it out. Makes me want to write a lengthy article about all the great music going on currently, but I digress. The Scientology exposé "Going Clear" was available and has been on my "to read" list for awhile, so I nabbed that. The word "library" appears four times in the book, but really only once in the actual content of the book (plus two notes and LC info on the copyright page). Fearless Leader ("L-Ron") allegedly sent a lackey to the library to get a copy of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" because he couldn't remember the names of all seven. This had something to do with international governmental interference with the spread of his "church." Okay, then.<br />
<br />
Re: e-books in general, I am not a total newcomer. I find patrons are less confused by the formats than they are by figuring out how to get started. No success stories come to mind at the moment, lately I'm usually just updating expired cards for people over the phone who suddenly can't get their downloads and don't know why. I strongly recommend an option for patrons to either update their own cards online or a system that e-mails them about a week before their cards expire.<br />
<br />
I've downloaded books from OverDrive on my iPhone a few times before, haven't had any trouble before, and was able to get a book ("Insurgent") for my partner recently which she zipped through on our iPad. <br />
<br />
Was this good enough for a blog post? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-15166055573306310722014-07-18T17:04:00.000-05:002014-10-11T12:57:27.531-05:00Minor updatesGot rid of cartoon me, added photo of real me. Swapped out LibraryThing for Goodreads, added my library-related Twitter feed which at this point I have not used in two years. Got rid of Pandora since I never use that anymore, either. Stay tuned for equally thrilling content such as this.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-73223015151453684212014-07-18T09:42:00.005-05:002014-10-11T12:59:41.204-05:00DiscoTech 2.0 (ACTIVITY 1: BLOGS/REGISTER)Here we go again. Was I supposed to be blogging last time? Well, I sure didn't. I did manage to complete all but one of the activities, even if there is no proof of it. <i>I</i> know what I did.<br />
<br />
Looking forward to brushing up my skills and probably learning a bunch of new ones.<br />
<br />
Not looking forward to blogging. I did a lot of it in the early '00s. Maybe it's good practice since I don't write much anymore, but it feels too much like a diary, and diaries are <i>so</i> '90s.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-33524029983557308422010-04-20T13:24:00.002-05:002010-04-20T13:26:50.450-05:00Dear Spammers,Nobody cares. Nobody reads this blog and no one will ever click on your pharmaceuticalporndating links. So why do you bother? WHYYYYY????????JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-35564451415661741582009-02-07T15:33:00.003-06:002009-02-07T15:48:53.430-06:00Thing 24: Refresh Your BlogAaaaaaaaand we're back. I've changed my avatar to a Meez character (over yonder on the right) and added a Pandora Radio thingy. Pandora is a somewhat genius robot A.I. from the future that picks out songs for you based on what you like. I've created stations with power pop and punk from the '70s and '80s, funk, psychedelic '60s rock, indie rock, and chillaxin' music (mixing laid-back electronica with folk/jazz/pop like the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, the Sea & Cake, and more).<br /><br />Also updated the blogroll as several blogs have ceased to be (or become invite-only). I still like the colors, although I probably should've also changed the name of the blog. Since it's too late for that, I'm stuck with a super-outdated Mr. Show reference. Perhaps I should change the name to "Livin' in the Past." Ah, well.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-38281206898063420792008-04-23T17:01:00.003-05:002008-04-23T17:06:35.843-05:0018 Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_P5LswMxrhFo/SA-yaNA02mI/AAAAAAAAAAk/7BZ3_NaPORo/s1600-h/the-mummy_l.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192565058620938850" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_P5LswMxrhFo/SA-yaNA02mI/AAAAAAAAAAk/7BZ3_NaPORo/s320/the-mummy_l.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>From <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20190897,00.html">Entertainment Weekly</a>. I think they're misusing the word "sexy," but there were a few tidbits in here I was happy to discover, especially <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20190897,00.html">Desk Set</a> with Hepburn & Tracy.</div>JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-71907506023385999682008-04-01T20:09:00.003-05:002008-04-01T20:43:18.260-05:00(Library) Thing #14I would be a lot more excited about a music version of this site, but I can see the potential appeal for hardcore bibliophiles. If I could magically scan my entire library this might be interesting, but I'm not thrilled about going in and adding books one by one. I'm also dismayed by the rather limiting user name options and, because I'm "detail oriented" I'm having a hard time finding the correct editions of my books (and/or when I do find them they are disappointingly image-free). See sidebar for <a href="http://www.librarything.com/catalog/grapeape">link</a>.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-10225582975397819752008-04-01T18:22:00.008-05:002008-04-01T19:41:02.879-05:00Thing #13: Image électrogènesPatrons at three libraries (and some staff) agree: the celebrities I most resemble are <a href="http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3154614272/tt0304141">Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2735839232/tt0413300">Tobey "Spider-Man" Maguire</a>. I don't aspire to be either of these guys, but the masses have spoken. So here's my Paparazzi photo, "Caught in the Act":<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_P5LswMxrhFo/R_LQBU3KrII/AAAAAAAAAAc/S0Ghn9nF-wM/s1600-h/Paparazzi.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184434842255404162" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_P5LswMxrhFo/R_LQBU3KrII/AAAAAAAAAAc/S0Ghn9nF-wM/s320/Paparazzi.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><p>Now here's a far more interesting alternate career opportunity:</p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">My brand-new Roller Derby Name is <b>Anarchy VonCarnage</b>.</span><br /><a href="http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/10568/"><span style="font-size:78%;">Take <b>MIA PSYCHO'S ROLLER DERBY NAME GENERATOR</b> today!</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><small>Created with <a href="http://rumandmonkey.com/">Rum and Monkey</a>'s <a href="http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/">Name Generator Generator</a>.</small></span><br /><br />Perhaps I could garner some "street cred" with the local teens if I start calling myself this. As long as they don't find out that it's technically a girl's name. Oh, this could backfire on me quickly... </p>JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-27849678568734385292008-02-15T15:49:00.002-06:002008-02-15T15:57:07.216-06:00Thing #11: RSS FeedsI can't believe it's taken me this long to finally get around to doing this, but I'm glad I have. I opted to go with <a href="http://www.google.com/reader">Google Reader</a> rather than Bloglines since I already have a Gmail account. It might be worth looking at Bloglines just to see if the format is preferable, but for now I'm happy with what I've got. I can already see how much more efficient the RSS method is vs. the "old and slow way" of checking a dozen (or several dozen) sites every day, or several times a week. The only downside is when a favorite website isn't set up with an RSS feed, such as Bill Hunt's <a href="http://www.thedigitalbits.com">The Digital Bits</a>, one of the only DVD-release sites I like that's remained active (RIP "<a href="http://www.dvdjournal.com/">DVD Journal</a>"). I'm also finding that my original 16 subscription sites are already filling my inbox with more than I can reasonably manage, so I'm concerned that there needs to be a more sophisticated level of filtration on this thing, but for now I can rely on my eyes and clicking finger to get by.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-91475806639452607212008-02-14T11:20:00.004-06:002008-02-14T11:32:28.788-06:00Dull Statement of IntentThough it technically ended in December, 2007, I'm still following the <a href="http://sppl-23things.blogspot.com/">Saint Paul Public Library version of 23 Things</a>, not the <a href="http://23thingsonastick.blogspot.com/">23 Things On A Stick</a> most MN librarians are currently following -- although I've already stolen the Yahoo avatar idea from them, so I may end up joining theirs at some point, as well.JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7046725973073325628.post-87283732832528427032008-02-14T09:46:00.005-06:002008-02-14T09:54:41.367-06:00Thing #8: The YouTubeI love YouTube, so I don't have much to say about it. Once I warmed to its potential, I realized that YouTube is a nearly perfect development of the internet, and a time-devouring entertainment vortex that's less insular than blogs were five years ago. It's easy to get "fooled" by poorly produced parodies when you're looking for the real deal, so there is a form of scamming or trolling going on, but for the most part I've been able to quickly find video that you might never guess would be freely available online.<br /><br />Here's a random library-related clip I found, a cute joke in the unexpected form of a Mercedes advert:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wXKNA7ThrCg&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wXKNA7ThrCg&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>JChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853800616009094443noreply@blogger.com0