Week 5, Thing 10: Avatar-land

I was sooooo excited that I could have a penguin on a leash, and make a certain other staff person pea-green with envy! This could be the perfect pet.

Week 4, Thing 9: Search tools to find feeds

Maybe it’s just me, but Feedster was useless for my purposes. I don’t like any of the sites brought up, and many of the pages just repeat the previous page. Am I doing something wrong? So many news stories end up being repeated, because multiple local papers picked up the same story, and then I have to wade through the repeats. I probably also am looking for topics that are best Googled. Syndic8 didn’t pull up anything useful. Technorati pulled up more interesting information, but I don’t anticipate using it after this course is finished.

Week 4, Thing 8: RSS feeds

I created my Bloglines account last week, and have been using it. I don’t see this as something that I would necessarily use in the long run. First, I like looking at the websites of the major news organizations. They have photographs, and they have tried to arrange their website to be user-friendly. I actually find the individual sites to be much more interesting and user-friendly than Bloglines itself. As for ads, I just don’t see them. Secondly, there are so many new stories or changes that the amount of stuff to weed through in Bloglines is overwhelming. The idea of a feed which will pull out only new items probably makes more sense for a website with fewer changes than a major news website with regular, major changes. Also, I didn't add many blogs to my list. That might make a big difference.

Week 3, Thing 7: Technology-related entry

This may seem like a strange technology observation, but I was searching the Washington County catalog yesterday for foreign films for one of our patrons. Most of the films that came up were available only as electronic downloads. The problem with that is twofold: 1. We can’t borrow them interlibrary loan. Someone has to have a Washington County library card in order to access them. 2. Our patron wanted a VHS tape ideally. She didn’t even want a DVD, let alone an electronic download. Many people do not have the equipment to download materials. This will be one more way in which the poorest and least educated members of our society will be discriminated against.

I had a similar experience last month. I was looking for books on thyroid problems, and the newest edition in Hagerstown was a downloadable book, not available to interlibrary loan. As more libraries subscribe to audiobooks, books and movies that are downloaded, we will have more trouble using ILL to obtain materials for patrons.

Week 3, Thing 6: Flickr mashups, etc.

Flickr mashups etc. – I think that these would interest me more if I were an artist. It’s interesting that you can find Flickr photos that match a particular color that you choose, but I can’t imagine any actual situation in which I would use it. I couldn’t make some of the other websites work. This is from Colr Pickr.

Week 3, Thing 5: My friend Flickr

I can't believe the variety of pictures on Flickr. I’m not much of a photographer, and a lot of these look very professional. I understand the idea of groups, etc., but I don’t know how people can keep up with the flood of pictures. Everyone tries to make their group sound like it is the most exclusive, but surely a novice would have to examine them all and reach her or his own conclusion. I think that I could spend a lot of time looking through all of the amazing pictures on here.

Week 2, Thing 3: My First Post

I had trouble thinking of a screen name, but Bill, the pony-less child, was an inspiration. I will be learning as I go along here.

Regarding the 7 1/2 habits, I find the easiest habit is having confidence that I am a competent and effective learner. I always did well in school, and have never doubted my ability to learn.

I think that I have the most difficulty with creating my own learning toolbox.