Sites for Students 2pt0

Hi Bob. I'm getting down to the wire on this MP3 carrot challenge. Today I explored, or at least tried to explore, Notely and Stikkit. Notely looks like an awesome site through which to create, compile, update, and review classroom notes. If I were back in college, I would probably try it out myself. I watched the tour video, but couldn't get the sound to happen. Stikkit looked more promising for the "woman of a certain age" that can't remember "Who am I, and Why am I here?" most of the time. Unfortunately, I could not get any of the little video tutorials to load, so I didn't get the in-depth intro I would have liked. All in all, however, I was very impressed at the variety and creativity of various sites listed in the lesson. These times they are a changin'.

Wikis, pt. 2

I did the reading, learned the concepts, then deleted the addition to the SubLife page that I added last week. Since I belong to the "on-call staff", I don't really have a branch to call my own to brag about. I love all the branches. Everywhere I go, the staff are wonderful. I feel welcomed each day that I show up for work. I have more co-workers that just about anybody else at KRL and no one is a stranger for long. This is the best job I've ever had, and I'd say so on the Wiki, except there isn't really an appropriate place to do so. Sorry, Bob.

I'm So Lonely I Could Cry

Facebook is undoubtedly a very popular means of connecting with friends and other individuals with whom one has something in common. It appears to have an slightly older average clientele than YouTube or MySpace. The article, long though it was, gave much food for though pertaining to the use of Facebook by libraries to reach their users. Simply being present, with a link or two, will not popularize the library. Being present with a defined purpose, such as sincerely soliciting feedback from user as to their preferences in media selection may be useful indeed. Perhaps they will tell us that we should stop buying CD's of currently popular music because CD's are no longer the medium of choice for the under-30 crowd.

I created a Facebook account, but I only have one friend. Is that sad, or what??? (Sorry Bob, KRL2pt0 doesn't count)

I'm Late, I'm Late...

Wikis on blogs, blogs on wikis. My brain is starting to hurt again. The assignemnt, should I choose to accept it (and I obviously have, being the incredibly competive individual that I am), is to come up with an idea for a KRL wiki. This is a challenge since I've never had an original thought in my entire life. So, I will have to fall back on my old favorite - gleaning Great Ideas from other sources. I loved the list of northwest mysteries at the Stevens County wiki. A brief synopsis of each title doesn't seem like too much to ask. They apparently thought so, however.
I visited the Project Runway site, but had no idea what Project Runway was all about, so I didn't glean any Great Ideas from this source. Personally, I would love to hear what others have to say about local restaurant favorites, safe places to ride a bicycle, wonderful thrift stores and cheap & easy recipes that taste good. But I don't suppose any of these Great Ideas have much to do with the function of a library, so if I want to see any of them in print, I'll have to do it myself. And since I doubt that no one except me would consider any of these a Great Idea, it ain't gonna happen.

KRL2.0, Week 9, YouTube

What a great concept! I love YouTube. And I will probably never look at it again unless assigned. I could spend way too much time browsing delightful videos from across the world. Watching the Mecklenburg County library book cart drill team was fun, but they could have edited out two-thirds of the video and still captured all the action. History of Dance was hilarious and all too accurate. I'm sure my favorite, though, will always be Joe and Joan and Dottie Mae reminding us of the right and wrong ways to pack a shipping crate.

Book lists. Where to begin? And Why?

There are probably really good applications for LibraryThing, and I'm trying to keep a good attitude here, but I guess I'm just not social enough to care about what other people have in their personal libraries. Either that, or I'm missing the point entirely. I did complile a list on LibraryThing of some of my favorite children's classics in my personal library, but to be limited to 200 entries really put a damper on things. My quilt book library alone exceeds 200 volumes. Then there are the art books, the history books, the nature guides, the gardening books, devotional and inspirational collections, and of course, the children's classics. I could spend a very long time cataloging my entire home library, and for what? I know what's there if I want it, and I don't much care about editions or publishers. I missed the point of LibraryThing, didn't I?

Flick'ring Through China

I returned yesterday from a wonderful, whirlwind tour of eastern China, and guess what? After three days, my camera died! I was at the mercy of my fellow travelers for photos. Enter Flickr. I suddenly had at my fingertips, a whole range of photos taken by a multitude of tourists taken in the same places I visited. I browsed through a couple hundred photos of Beijing and Suzhou for starters and selected several to my favorites list. I now have those missing pictures of Starbucks in the Forbidden City and the leaning tower of Tiger Hill that I thought would be lost forever. Thank goodness for other peoples' vacation photos. Was this a timely lesson, or what?!?