Well. 23 Things was a positive exercise for a lot of people who were afraid of technology. I think it encouraged people to play with different websites, different forms of technology, etc. and realize that they weren't going to break anything. It took the fear away, which was SO fabulous. A lot of my coworkers are so much less afraid and more apt to take a chance and just try something new rather than panic.
However... I think 23 things could have been improved in a lot of ways as well. It was far, far too long. Too long to the point that it was discouraging. For people like myself who have grown up with these websites, it felt very close to a waste of time, especially when we were swamped with work at our branches during the whole process. Also, much of what 23 things required of us had no direct connection to what we do every day. It's wonderful that people are now comfortable with playing with technology, but that could have been achieved with a much shorter program that was perhaps more focused on our day-to-day work.
Overall, though, I think the push toward being more comfortable with technology within the library system is a fabulous thing and I support that 100%.
Monday, November 26, 2007
22 - My love for downloadable books
While podcasts are not my cup of tea, I'll rave to you for days about how I love downloadable books. I think I mourned the loss of NetLibrary for a week when we discontinued our subscription. I guess our customers haven't caught on to its greatness, but Overdrive just simply doesn't cut it.
I tend to travel a lot because I'm an old, restless soul and everytime I go somewhere, I download a book to my mp3 player and by the time I get back, I'm done with it. Whether I'm going by car, plane or (rarely) train, I always manage to finish the book because I get so wrapped up in it. Maybe it's because I loved the magic carpet in kindergarten when the teacher would read to us for a half an hour. Haha. Oh, childhood memories. Either way, though, I wish people would catch on faster. Audiobooks are so much easier to deal with, you can't lose them, you can take that tiny mp3 player with you anywhere.
Can you tell I love these things? Can we please have Netlibrary back? Please?
I tend to travel a lot because I'm an old, restless soul and everytime I go somewhere, I download a book to my mp3 player and by the time I get back, I'm done with it. Whether I'm going by car, plane or (rarely) train, I always manage to finish the book because I get so wrapped up in it. Maybe it's because I loved the magic carpet in kindergarten when the teacher would read to us for a half an hour. Haha. Oh, childhood memories. Either way, though, I wish people would catch on faster. Audiobooks are so much easier to deal with, you can't lose them, you can take that tiny mp3 player with you anywhere.
Can you tell I love these things? Can we please have Netlibrary back? Please?
Podcasts 21
I haven't really found my niche with podcasting. I don't typically listen to things except music or books, I don't like short snippets. Podcasts just haven't "gotten" me yet.
Anyway, I found kind of a cool podcast on alternative Muslim views, which I'm totally into because of my background in Islamic studies, so it's possible I might listen to that sometime in the distant future. It just seems like too much work for me. It took 15 minutes to find a podcast I might actually listen to, and another 5 or 7 to add it to my RSS feed (which I also don't use/like). I have my own system which doesn't include podcasts or RSS feeds. But... at least I know how to use them!! I have fancy intarweb skillz.
Libraries have done a lot with podcasting, though. I went to a little (read: long) class on blogging and podcasting at MLA and while I thought the podcasts were painfully boring, I guess some people actually listen to them, which is fabulous. I'd much rather read how to do something because I can read much faster and skim through what I need to figure out -- it takes a while to listen to a whole podcast of someone speaking at a painfully slow speed. But like I said, a lot of people are really into them, and I appreciate that. Lots of people learn in many different ways, I guess that's just not my cup of tea.
Anyway, I found kind of a cool podcast on alternative Muslim views, which I'm totally into because of my background in Islamic studies, so it's possible I might listen to that sometime in the distant future. It just seems like too much work for me. It took 15 minutes to find a podcast I might actually listen to, and another 5 or 7 to add it to my RSS feed (which I also don't use/like). I have my own system which doesn't include podcasts or RSS feeds. But... at least I know how to use them!! I have fancy intarweb skillz.
Libraries have done a lot with podcasting, though. I went to a little (read: long) class on blogging and podcasting at MLA and while I thought the podcasts were painfully boring, I guess some people actually listen to them, which is fabulous. I'd much rather read how to do something because I can read much faster and skim through what I need to figure out -- it takes a while to listen to a whole podcast of someone speaking at a painfully slow speed. But like I said, a lot of people are really into them, and I appreciate that. Lots of people learn in many different ways, I guess that's just not my cup of tea.
Silly politics. If I watch things like this at all, I have to watch them on YouTube so I can pause and come back once I've regained my composure. I like YouTube a lot, they have tons of funny stuff (and lots of weird things, too), but whatever floats your boat. I'm not sure how libraries would use something like this, really. Maybe for instructional videos, but I'm young and hip (haha), so that seems pretty boring to me. Who knows...
Thing 19...
I'm a big list-maker, so I went to 43things.com. You can make lists of all the things you want to do before you die and see all the people who want to do the same things you do. You can also get ideas of things to do from all the other people on the site, which is cool, because I'm always up for adding to my list. Anybody want to go to Morocco?
I suppose it could be used in a library setting, but I'd put a different twist on it. Like 43 things you'd like to see at the library, or 43 things you'd like to do at the library. That would be kind of neat because it would give us - as librarians - ideas as to how our customers really want to use the library, since the uses of libraries are changing so much now. It could give us great ideas about how we could better serve our community specifically. Maybe Columbia has specific needs that other communities don't that we could cater to pretty easily and just don't realize. Users could also see what everybody else is saying and get ideas or agree/disagree, which I think would be good. It could also serve as a neat social networking tool without being myspacey.
I suppose it could be used in a library setting, but I'd put a different twist on it. Like 43 things you'd like to see at the library, or 43 things you'd like to do at the library. That would be kind of neat because it would give us - as librarians - ideas as to how our customers really want to use the library, since the uses of libraries are changing so much now. It could give us great ideas about how we could better serve our community specifically. Maybe Columbia has specific needs that other communities don't that we could cater to pretty easily and just don't realize. Users could also see what everybody else is saying and get ideas or agree/disagree, which I think would be good. It could also serve as a neat social networking tool without being myspacey.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Google Docs is one of my favorite things ever. Possibly because anything Google is one of my favorite things ever, but also because it's just insanely cool. I make all sorts of lists, because I have one of those list-making personalities - and I keep them on google docs, and sometimes I share them with my friends so they can edit them with me. Amy in LTS shared a couple docs with me on Ubuntu when I got my laptop, and it was so cool that multiple people can view and/or edit the document at once and somehow it just knows how to make everything mesh once you save it. I have no idea how, but it's pretty sweet. I've never tried doing anything online with a spreadsheet or presentation. I do a lot of calendar sharing, though.
I think I'll stick with Google Docs. I'm sure Zoho is pretty cool (and probably has a better name than Google Docs) but I remain loyal...
I think I'll stick with Google Docs. I'm sure Zoho is pretty cool (and probably has a better name than Google Docs) but I remain loyal...
Scary? Exciting? All of the above?
Wikis, I think, are mostly scary to me because I grew up during the age of Wikipedia. I remember all throughout high school people using wikipedia as a resource and I would cringe. Only one of my teachers - my favorite english teacher - mentioned that it wasn't a good thing to use because people could change it at will and it wasn't monitored all that strictly for content (so obviously, it could be inaccurate).
Then, I went to college. Being the overly academic perfectionist that I am, it was horrifying that during each of my four years, I saw someone who had written a formal research paper and cited Wikipedia. I weeped to myself at night.
For less serious things like events, maybe, I think a wiki is cool. Or having a wiki for a conference. I believe there was one for MLA last year... but for the love of all that is good and right in the world, not for a serious reference source. And if you use it as one, at least double check your information somewhere else :-/
It would be kind of nice if the library had a wiki for our programs, so people could sort of chat (possibly banter) about programs, give ideas, etc about past, present, future programs since that's such a big part of what we do here. And by programs, I mean classes and seminars and such. Haha. We could sort of facilitate it, make sure nothing crazy was going it, but for the most part let customers run the show. I think that would be a neat way of hearing what people have to say.
Then, I went to college. Being the overly academic perfectionist that I am, it was horrifying that during each of my four years, I saw someone who had written a formal research paper and cited Wikipedia. I weeped to myself at night.
For less serious things like events, maybe, I think a wiki is cool. Or having a wiki for a conference. I believe there was one for MLA last year... but for the love of all that is good and right in the world, not for a serious reference source. And if you use it as one, at least double check your information somewhere else :-/
It would be kind of nice if the library had a wiki for our programs, so people could sort of chat (possibly banter) about programs, give ideas, etc about past, present, future programs since that's such a big part of what we do here. And by programs, I mean classes and seminars and such. Haha. We could sort of facilitate it, make sure nothing crazy was going it, but for the most part let customers run the show. I think that would be a neat way of hearing what people have to say.
To infinity and beyond!
This whole library 2.0 thing is pretty exciting... the idea of libraries actually using technology to their advantage and reaching out to customers through the web is what I'm all about. Instant messaging, social networking, all different types of websites. This stuff is fun and it's what libraries are turning in to. There's no more room for being afraid of technology. This is what our customers want. They're applying for jobs online, talking to their friends online, getting directions to their next destination online, booking their travel and storing their information... all online.
I'm excited for what I hope will be the new training opportunities that are going to foster this change. I'm hoping to attend a bunch of fun new trainings on little ways we can start transitioning our library more and more to a culture that reaches out to its customers through the web. It will take a while to catch on, but I think once it does, our customers will happily respond and it will catch on like wildfire.
I'm excited for what I hope will be the new training opportunities that are going to foster this change. I'm hoping to attend a bunch of fun new trainings on little ways we can start transitioning our library more and more to a culture that reaches out to its customers through the web. It will take a while to catch on, but I think once it does, our customers will happily respond and it will catch on like wildfire.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Viagra? Orkut?
I'm slightly disturbed that one of the top searches on Technorati is viagra, but... we'll ignore that one.
BUT... I found something interesting. One of the other top searches was Orkut. I had no idea what this was, so I clicked, and found out that it's Google's social networking side. Who knew? I'm a huge fan of Google and I hadn't even heard of this. Um, maybe I need to frequent Technorati more often... Apparently I'm out of the loop, here.
So here I am, tempted to sign up for Orkut, when I'm already a member of way too many other social networking sites, just because I'm terribly curious as to what Google has come up with. Google always does cool stuff.
To register, or not to register?
BUT... I found something interesting. One of the other top searches was Orkut. I had no idea what this was, so I clicked, and found out that it's Google's social networking side. Who knew? I'm a huge fan of Google and I hadn't even heard of this. Um, maybe I need to frequent Technorati more often... Apparently I'm out of the loop, here.
So here I am, tempted to sign up for Orkut, when I'm already a member of way too many other social networking sites, just because I'm terribly curious as to what Google has come up with. Google always does cool stuff.
To register, or not to register?
Yum
I like Del.icio.us a lot, actually. I've had an account with them for a while now, and I use it occasionally when I find really good links to things that I don't want to forget. It's nice to have bookmarks in your browser, but especially for someone like me who goes from computer to computer; work, to home, to my second home, and all over the place -- it's great to have a place online to store all my "stuff."
This could be particularly useful for librarians because we could keep a store of research-type links, reference links, reader's advisory links, any of the above. We all know that sometimes our toolbar bookmarks and regular bookmarks either get moved around or sometimes disappear :-x But it would be quite cool, especially with the call center upon us, to have a collaborative spot like Del.icio.us to store all of our resources so everyone can access them. Fancy.
This could be particularly useful for librarians because we could keep a store of research-type links, reference links, reader's advisory links, any of the above. We all know that sometimes our toolbar bookmarks and regular bookmarks either get moved around or sometimes disappear :-x But it would be quite cool, especially with the call center upon us, to have a collaborative spot like Del.icio.us to store all of our resources so everyone can access them. Fancy.
rollyo?
I guess it's cool. I probably wouldn't use it. I made one - http://rollyo.com/rjhinson/shopping/ - it's the sites I usually go to when I'm online window shopping (haha), and it was kind of neat to be able to search them all at once for a particular thing, I admit, but that's not typically how I use those sites.
I'm sure it would be cooler if I thought of a better set of sites to use it for. I'm kind of interneted-out at this point. Too much... must get away. Need vacation... ::zombie face::
I'm sure it would be cooler if I thought of a better set of sites to use it for. I'm kind of interneted-out at this point. Too much... must get away. Need vacation... ::zombie face::
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Library Thing!
I started my Library Thing years ago in college and I never kept up with it, so it's terribly out of date, but I still love it. When I get around to it, I'd love to update it so I have an accurate list of all the books I own (... hm... that sounds intimidating)
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
I love my job
Eventhough the Meez site is down, and I can't create an awesome cartoon of myself, I'm still psyched that I can spend five minutes of my day playing with the Random Kitten Generator. I mean, really. Who doesn't love tiny, random kittens?
Barcelona, eh?
For whatever reason, I decided to look at the OpenOffice.org website to see if they ran any conferences or training sessions that I could somehow talk the library into letting me go to ;-) I don't think I know enough about OO, but it's such a frustrating (and boring) thing to just sit down and read help files, discussion boards or wikis. Anyway, they're having some crazy conference in Barcelona, Spain. ahha, Who thinks HCL will send me?!
I need to start using OpenOffice Write more often. I never have much of an occasion to use it, so I don't get a lot of experience with it. I used Calc a lot recently while playing with some hourly call statistics we've been keeping to figure out how to staff the call desks, and that was helpful. Certain things in OO are just different enough from the Microsoft programs to throw me off for a minute, but I'm stubborn, so I have to sit there and figure it out before I let myself do anything else.
Another note on technology - I have Ubuntu on my laptop, and for a while I was just sort of skating along, using it as I'd use any other operating system. But now I'm getting a little more adventurous and figuring out how to do things. This is the perfect reason for me to start researching Linux and figuring out how things work because I have the ability to change things - to learn while doing - which is a good thing for me. It's one of those challenges that's so much fun to overcome. I installed a program called Wine on my laptop today (it's a program for Ubuntu that lets you run some Windows programs). It took me what felt like a year to figure it out, and even though it didn't help me run the program I was trying to run (haha, failure!), I was still proud that I figured out how to do it in the first place.
I like to teach. Teach myself, teach other people.... it doesn't matter. I think that's maybe the most fulfilling of the seven and a half habits for me.
I don't like RSS feeds, however. For other people, they're great... but I don't have much use for them. I don't read many blogs except the ones on my friend's page in Livejournal, I don't keep up with news all that regularly... I'm just one of the few who doesn't feel like they're wading through a sea of information and need a easy way to sift through it all before they can absorb anything. I'm swimming in all of this information all the time - I'm on the internet more than I sleep, I have plenty of time to read everything I need/want to read (even if every piece of information is on a different website).
Meh. I didn't know about MERLIN, though. That's pretty sweet. Maybe I'll have some blogs to add to my bloglines account now... ?
I need to start using OpenOffice Write more often. I never have much of an occasion to use it, so I don't get a lot of experience with it. I used Calc a lot recently while playing with some hourly call statistics we've been keeping to figure out how to staff the call desks, and that was helpful. Certain things in OO are just different enough from the Microsoft programs to throw me off for a minute, but I'm stubborn, so I have to sit there and figure it out before I let myself do anything else.
Another note on technology - I have Ubuntu on my laptop, and for a while I was just sort of skating along, using it as I'd use any other operating system. But now I'm getting a little more adventurous and figuring out how to do things. This is the perfect reason for me to start researching Linux and figuring out how things work because I have the ability to change things - to learn while doing - which is a good thing for me. It's one of those challenges that's so much fun to overcome. I installed a program called Wine on my laptop today (it's a program for Ubuntu that lets you run some Windows programs). It took me what felt like a year to figure it out, and even though it didn't help me run the program I was trying to run (haha, failure!), I was still proud that I figured out how to do it in the first place.
I like to teach. Teach myself, teach other people.... it doesn't matter. I think that's maybe the most fulfilling of the seven and a half habits for me.
I don't like RSS feeds, however. For other people, they're great... but I don't have much use for them. I don't read many blogs except the ones on my friend's page in Livejournal, I don't keep up with news all that regularly... I'm just one of the few who doesn't feel like they're wading through a sea of information and need a easy way to sift through it all before they can absorb anything. I'm swimming in all of this information all the time - I'm on the internet more than I sleep, I have plenty of time to read everything I need/want to read (even if every piece of information is on a different website).
Meh. I didn't know about MERLIN, though. That's pretty sweet. Maybe I'll have some blogs to add to my bloglines account now... ?
Monday, August 27, 2007
Things... so many things
I know I'm a competent, skilled (and highly sarcastic) learner, but I also know that I'm not always the optimist I'd like to be... so problems can be challenges if they're fun and exciting (like a computer problem) or they can just be plain old problems if they're boring or intimidating. No good examples for that one.
So I played with Flickr, as I've done so many times in the past. I decided to search for my name to see if there were any creepy people out there Flickr'ing photos of me. Luckily, there were none, but there was a photo of another Rachel Hinson, which is interesting. Granted, I'm probably not related to her in any way because the Hinson's in my family are black and she is clearly not, but still... an interesting find. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theschnaibles/525210484/)
I don't like Flickr all that much, really... I've never had a good reason to use it. I tend to use other sites to host my photos, and I don't much care about anyone else's photos. It can be fun when there's not much else to do, though...
So I played with Flickr, as I've done so many times in the past. I decided to search for my name to see if there were any creepy people out there Flickr'ing photos of me. Luckily, there were none, but there was a photo of another Rachel Hinson, which is interesting. Granted, I'm probably not related to her in any way because the Hinson's in my family are black and she is clearly not, but still... an interesting find. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theschnaibles/525210484/)
I don't like Flickr all that much, really... I've never had a good reason to use it. I tend to use other sites to host my photos, and I don't much care about anyone else's photos. It can be fun when there's not much else to do, though...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
And so it begins...
Oh, the complaints I've heard about 23 Things...
From what I can tell, though, it's a pretty decent way to get people involved in technology. There's no use in sending people to classes or having workshops on certain technology-related aspects of our jobs as librarians if we're not using the technology on a regular basis. Each and every one of us should be excited about 23 Things just because it will enable all of us to talk with and assist customers so much more effectively.
Onward, march!
From what I can tell, though, it's a pretty decent way to get people involved in technology. There's no use in sending people to classes or having workshops on certain technology-related aspects of our jobs as librarians if we're not using the technology on a regular basis. Each and every one of us should be excited about 23 Things just because it will enable all of us to talk with and assist customers so much more effectively.
Onward, march!
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