I went to Mashupawards.com and found a Mashup that I really liked called "QuickAs" , which can be found at http://mashupawards.com/quickas/ . QuickAs is like an RSS Feeds and like del.icio.us in that it has links to different websites such as NY Times, USA Today, and Wall St. Journal; it also has links to social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace. It also links to Web 2.0 sites such as Google Reader and Google Docs and to e-mail sites such as gmail, Yahoo mail, and Hotmail. If I had this Mashup on my desktop, it would be very easy for me to link to all these sites. You can also search any topic on QuickAs. I searched "astronomy" and was brought to Google where there were many del.icio.us type links to astronomical websites. All in all, I think that QuickAs should be on the desktop of every library computer (no matter what type of library).
As for Rollyo, I typed "librarianblogs" and then "privacy" into the searchbox, and found a multitude of site links. One of them was "Privacy Matters Info", which had many links; one link was called "credit.privacymatters.com" and you got links to free credit reports, view credit history, and get 3 credit scores. Another link was "myidentitytheftreport.com" which linked to identity theft information. Many of the links on "Privacy Matters Info" had no information, which I found frustrating. However, there were other sites to look at. "Office Privacy" had links that explained Marpac Sound Machines and another that explained what white noise machines actually do. Another site, Bookz2Read had links to wikipedia, among other things, and when I clicked on "Expand to Web", I got an article called "Zoho Opens Up for Google and Yahoo Users".
I also found an article titled "Yahoo, Symantic Offer Security Bundle". One other site that I liked was USNewz which linked to reuters.com, nytimes.com, msnbc.com, foxnews.com, cnn.com, ap.org, and usatoday.com . (I don't know what this site had to do with privacy, but I thought it could be very useful).
A lot of the sites on Rollyo (under "librarianblogs" and "privacy") had nothing very much to do with privacy, and I wondered how they got on the list.
In summation, I think that Rollyo could be useful if you were searching for sites that could provide products to enhance your privacy (such as white noise machines) or other sites that could help you to achieve privacy (such as freecreditreport.com). I didn't find much on the philosophy of privacy or how librarians try to achieve privacy for their patrons.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Week 2: Wikis
OK, I finally joined the class wiki list and the class blog list and added my wiki and my blog links. Thank you, Michelle Kraft, for explaining how to do it in the "Ask for Help" section. Thanks also to my colleague, Henrietta Green, for pointing it out to me.
I answered earlier what the difference between a blog and a wiki was, but to reiterate: a blog is a piece of writing that cannot be changed afterwards, and a wiki is a piece of writing that can be continually changed and added to, as circumstances, information, and situations change. For that reason, I think that wikis are better than blogs. Journal writing or fictional writing might be better suited to a blog. Non-fictional writing might be better suited to a wiki. Instructions might be better suited to a wiki, as circumstances pertinent to the instructions might change.
I answered earlier what the difference between a blog and a wiki was, but to reiterate: a blog is a piece of writing that cannot be changed afterwards, and a wiki is a piece of writing that can be continually changed and added to, as circumstances, information, and situations change. For that reason, I think that wikis are better than blogs. Journal writing or fictional writing might be better suited to a blog. Non-fictional writing might be better suited to a wiki. Instructions might be better suited to a wiki, as circumstances pertinent to the instructions might change.
Week 1: Blogging and RSS Feeds
This Week 1 Assignment is out of sequence as I initially wrote a blog about my 6 cats which I called "My 6 Cats", but since then I have been writing all my other blogs under "My 6 Cats Part 2". Sorry for the confusion; the blog was a really nice piece of literary work, but I have since realized that I have to write about my experiences with this course. So, here is my blog for Week 1.
I did set up an RSS Reader with Google Reader. You can link to it at
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/18080126814406984592 . I could not find the "shared" icon that I was supposed to click on. I looked and looked and looked and could not find it. I did a PubMed search that became a feed and got the Table of Contents feed from NEJM. I had some difficulty in doing the latter.
How could we use RSS feeds at our Library? We could subscribe to TOCs of various library journals. We could get specific PubMed searches continually updated. We could subscribe to feeds from various sites that we feel are relevent to our work (i.e. like jama.com).
Again, I am sorry that this is out of sequence.
I did set up an RSS Reader with Google Reader. You can link to it at
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/18080126814406984592 . I could not find the "shared" icon that I was supposed to click on. I looked and looked and looked and could not find it. I did a PubMed search that became a feed and got the Table of Contents feed from NEJM. I had some difficulty in doing the latter.
How could we use RSS feeds at our Library? We could subscribe to TOCs of various library journals. We could get specific PubMed searches continually updated. We could subscribe to feeds from various sites that we feel are relevent to our work (i.e. like jama.com).
Again, I am sorry that this is out of sequence.
Week 7: Podcasting and Online Hosted Video
I had trouble with the podcast from University of Tennessee, but eventually I was able to listen to it. I finally got iTunes to install after I noted that I had to input my e-mail address. I found many examples of libraries using YouTube. One was called "Technology in Action" by the Brookdale Public Library which showed how their library was becoming totally automated and people could check out their own books, search the catalog, etc. and the librarians were not even necessary for any of that. A video I liked and want to share on this blog is one called "A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto". It was put together by a Danish library and is a great mission statement for the modern librarian. It can be found on YouTube by going to http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=832F265608C1E125 .
I was concerned about my privacy when I was on YouTube. I did sign up for it because I needed to create a Playlist in order to get the link that I have listed above. I clicked on the "Help" section and found the instructions on how to create a Playlist. I don't think I will ever put any of my own videos on YouTube, even if I specified that they could only be looked at by friends and family. I have heard too much about privicy issues with sites such as YouTube. But I have a musician friend who puts many of her performances on YouTube; she really loves the site.
As for potential uses for Podcasting in the Library, I think we could do what Univ. of Tenn. did and put podcasts out which instuct our users how to use the catalog, giving them a library orientation, how to use the databases, etc. Medical schools would be the best users of podcasts, as professors could put their lectures on podcasts. A hospital's Grand Rounds lectures could also be put on podcasts.
I was concerned about my privacy when I was on YouTube. I did sign up for it because I needed to create a Playlist in order to get the link that I have listed above. I clicked on the "Help" section and found the instructions on how to create a Playlist. I don't think I will ever put any of my own videos on YouTube, even if I specified that they could only be looked at by friends and family. I have heard too much about privicy issues with sites such as YouTube. But I have a musician friend who puts many of her performances on YouTube; she really loves the site.
As for potential uses for Podcasting in the Library, I think we could do what Univ. of Tenn. did and put podcasts out which instuct our users how to use the catalog, giving them a library orientation, how to use the databases, etc. Medical schools would be the best users of podcasts, as professors could put their lectures on podcasts. A hospital's Grand Rounds lectures could also be put on podcasts.
Week 6 Again: Online Photo Sharing
Flickr is reletively easy to use. I just registered and followed the instructions for uploading pictures. It was easy to get the picture on my Facebook site, also. Getting it posted to my blog took a little thought; when I clicked on the picture at the top toolbar, I was able to get to the upload picture page.
How might photosharing be used in my library? I can see where it might be useful if our library had a running blog. We could have pictures to illustrate what is written in the blog. It would also be useful if our library had a wiki, for illustrative purposes. It could also be used in Google Docs if the library staff was sharing a document with the hospital staff that they wanted illustrated.
How might photosharing be used in my library? I can see where it might be useful if our library had a running blog. We could have pictures to illustrate what is written in the blog. It would also be useful if our library had a wiki, for illustrative purposes. It could also be used in Google Docs if the library staff was sharing a document with the hospital staff that they wanted illustrated.
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