Week 8: Mashups and API

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.

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.

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.

Week 1: Blogging and RSS Feeds

Week 1: Blogging and RSS Feeds

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.

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.

Week 6: Online Photo Sharing

Here is a picture of my cat Frosty, who passed away in Aug. 2004.

Week 5 -- Web Office Tools -- Google Docs

I was able to create a document, a spreadsheet, and a presentation in Google Docs with not too much difficulty. I sent a copy of the presentation to two of my friends with an option for them to view it, but not add to it.

I would like to try the Zoho Web-based Office Suite some time, also the Webex WebOffice. I think I would have some problems with the Microsoft Office live, as the review indicated. Sometimes, I do not find Microsoft products to be all that intuitive.

As to the question: "Is this the future of all software products?". I would have to answer "Yes, I think so". To tie all forms of document creation together and allow multiple collaborators to contribute is a great thing. Just about anything can be published on the Web that way.

My thoughts on del.icio.us

It was easy to access del.icio.us and to see what other people had bookmarked and the tags and comments that they had used. I had to go to the "help" page to learn how to bookmark myself.
After I read the instructions, bookmarking and tagging was easy.

I chose the topic "astronomy". This tool would be extremely helpful to a researcher as he could go through and find all sorts of information and bookmark the sites he wanted to keep connected to. This tool could be very useful, especially in the sciences, but really in any area also. It is also an easy way to create bookmarks that you can access from any computer.

I liked del.icio.us a lot.

Week 3 Social Networking Tools

I had some problems with Facebook, but fortunately my office-colleague was able to point out the small print that I was supposed to click on to get where I wanted to go. The word "edit" was printed so small that I totally overlooked it and it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to add an application.
But I feel fairly competent about using Facebook now. I was already a member of LinkedIn, so I had no problems there; I did add to my LinkedIn network during this exercise.

Members of MLA could post their personal info on LinkedIn or Facebook (or MySpace, which I did not visit) at the MLA site and MLA members could contact each other, if desired. Our library could have a Facebook or MySpace page, but I would not put much personal information about the librarians for privacy reasons. There are a lot of privacy concerns for people using social networking sites, but at least in Facebook or LinkedIn, you have to have the person's permission to become a friend.

Blogs and Wikis

A blog is a post that captures thoughts in time and cannot be changed, although it can be added to. A wiki's content can be changed as well as added to. An opinion column might be better suited by a blog; an instruction sheet for a course might be better suited by a wiki. As the course continues, more content can be added and changes in the course content can be made.

My 6 Cats Part 2

I wrote about my cat, Oatmeal, in My 6 Cats. I now want to answer the questions I am supposed to answer in the MLA course, Web 2.0, concerning RSS feeds.

My answer: I could use RSS feeds to save PubMed searches and get updates on them; also, I could use them for table of contents searching for my library patrons. I think that our library patrons could use RSS feeds in the same way.