Week 10, Thing 23, Congratulations!

Yeah!!!!! It has been a fun and informational journey. I have definitely learned some new things that I will use in the future at both work and home. I really enjoyed learning about RSS Feeds and Del.icio.us. I enjoyed getting back in to using my Flickr account. I found some really fun web tools. I enjoyed the information about the productivity tools. And I like the information on Podcasts, listened to one on my way to work today! So I really learned some new things and the class has really piqued my curiosity to explore even further on my own!

Week 10, Thing 22, Social Networking

I have an account in MySpace, Facebook and Linkedln. I don't really use the MySpace or LinkedIn all that much. Facebook however I do use with some regularity. I also created a W.E.B. Du Bois General Information Desk fan page on my Facebook account. I am surprised with very little advertising the Desk has managed to get 18 fans. Some fans are a total surprise to me. I do plan to add more to it in the future. Hopefully people could use it as a place to ask questions that I could answer. Just one of my thoughts for the future of the page.
I think this could be a useful tool. I think it is a good idea to have a presence on a web based tool that many of our patrons use. It is a place where they may feel comfortable reaching out to us on. I remember being a student and not wanting to actually approach a Librarian. Having something like this when I was attending school, I may have felt more comfortable making initial contact. However I don't think any Library should try to go out and be friends with people. I feel the students should come to us not the other way around. I think some students may be put off by that. Advertising though would be OK.

Week 10, Thing 21, Microblogging and Mashups

Some of the questions for this exercise I covered in my last post. As for my feelings on Microblogging...I don't really see the usefulness of it either for work or my own personal life. Regular blogging works well for me not to mention you get the added functionality of adding pictures and video. Plus you can use simple HTML code to do some snazzy things. And honestly, being concise is not a gift I posses so being limited to the number of characters is a bad thing. And I can always just use the status update feature of Facebook if I need to. I can use this on my mobile device or any computer. That is all the microblogging I would need.

Week 10, Thing 20, Explore Twitter

So I actually have a Twitter account and have had one for awhile now. My feelings on Twitter are sort of indifferent. Was my life changed after Twitter? No. Could I live without Twitter? Yes. Do I find is interesting every once in awhile? Yes.
I find that I don't use Twitter to update my page very often for a few reasons. I seldom ever do anything that I would think is important/special enough to broadcast to my friends. Like right now, do all my friends need to know I am trying to finish 23 Things? Another reason it is only makes me feel like my life is a horribly boring affair. Not good in bringing the old self esteem up! I also get annoyed by the people who feel they must constantly let me know what they are doing. I get it you write TGIF every Friday, you hate Fridays. There is no void you MUST fill people. Or a few people (Although I usually drop them as friends) who take way too long trying to post witty posts. You don't need to impress me with how many big words you know. I get it, you have dictionary.com bookmarked on your computer.
But on the flip side I enjoy the posts I get from professional blogs and news sources. The other night I was watching TV and perusing my iPhone during a commercial and the Huffington Post let me know that Patrick Swayze passed away. It was breaking news and I was getting the information as it happened. Another night I was watching the MTV VMAs when Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech. I had to check PerezHilton to see if he wrote anything and sure enough he did. It was weird to have a shared experience with a sort of celebrity in the moment. That was sort of cool. During the election I was also following Barack Obama on Twitter.
So to me there are some benefits to Twitter.

Week 9, Thing 19, Explore eBooks and Audio Books

So I went through Assignment #19. I had fun browsing the collection of ebooks. I found it very interesting and could see myself downloading a book or two to my ipod. Either in word or spoken recording. (I thought of my mother when I saw all of the versions of bibles that are available.) I think it would be great to have a book that I could read when I find myself needing to kill some time.
As for how I feel about ebooks vs print books? I think there is a value in ebooks. I work at the Information Desk and many students come in looking for a book and there is only 1 copy in the 5 Colleges and it is already checked out. At least an ebook many students could have a chance at reading the book. So in that instance ebooks are great. However I can't stand reading lots of text off of a computer screen. I find with an actual book I pay attention more and am less distracted. Using a book I can't quickly check my email using it. Also a print book does not need to be plugged in, recharged, or have its batteries replaced. And there is just something nice about holding a book, the weight of it, flipping the pages, the texture, etc... I don't think they will be obsolete in the next 5 years, but then again who knows?

Picture Credit - Avatar of the eBook by Javier Candeira is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kali_Devi.jpg.

Week 9, Thing 18, Discover Some Useful Search Tools for Locating Podcasts

Podcasting! So this was was pretty new to me. I have probably found myself listening to a podcast but not by seeking one out. I tried all of the tools to find podcasts that were listed in this exercise. Luckily I am in to some very rare or unusual stuff so I did not have to go through lists and lists of results. But I did find some interesting podcasts using iTunes that I downloaded to my iPhone. One is called Meet Me in the Graveyard. The website says it is "A gothic love story about a girl in a mental institution and a guy in a halfway house that fall in love over the internet." I figure it will be amusing at the very least. I also downloaded some podcasts about beading. So that was neat. I also added a podcast to my Google Reader account. All in all it was a positive experience and I can see using this in the future, more for personal that work reasons. Who knows I am even entertaining the thought about figuring out how to create my own podcast. Now I just have to think about what I would talk about?

Week 9, Thing 17, Discover YouTube and a Few Sites That Allow Users to Upload and Share Videos

I have used YouTube before and even have an account. I have added both videos for work and for personal reasons. I don't find myself often searching YouTube but am often directed there from other websites I look at that may post about a video that is located on the site. I usually end up at there as opposed to starting there. But when I have searched YouTube it is amazing at what you can find there. A lot of it though is nonsense.

So for my embedded link I picked a video from Iowa Public Television. It is about two cats: Dewey Readmore Books that takes up residence in the public Library and Tom who is the town cat. According to one gentelmen he is the mayor of Conrad Iowa. I know shocker I picked out a video about cats!