Wiki-ty Wiki-ty Wiki-ty Whack!

Having fun with Things 16 & 17 -- Wiki's! I was previously familiar with wiki's, and have found several that I utilize that pertain to my interests. In fact, I think I linked to one in a previous post about the LOST ARG that introduced me to so many of 2.0 tools we've been discussing.

I can think a pretty good use for a wiki for Sebring library. In fact, it could have possibly helped out the librarian today. Sebring doesn't have a lot going on, but there is a lot of history. Just the potteries alone could probably fill a wiki, but there are other businesses and of course, the Sebring brothers themselves. Just today, someone contacted the library in search of a company from long ago, that no one I know (and I'm a life-long Sebring resident!) has ever heard of. Perhaps if there was a Sebring history wiki out there, we would have been able to help our patron.

One Quick Post

About the Library 2.0 articles. I think that the overall message that they were trying to get across was not to be afraid of changing, but pace yourself. Everything in moderation, right?

Also, those articles took me back to a former life with another employer. Said employer was not exactly a dream to work for, but perhaps one good thing about that experience was the obligation to read Who Moved my Cheese? Many of the concepts in that book illustrate what I believe these articles were trying to say.

Until next time.

I'm baaack. . .

Well, I guess technically I was never gone. However, my beloved Sebring branch was closed for an extended period of time for some gorgeous remodeling, which caused me to be farmed out to exotic locales (a.k.a. Canfield) and had me hustling to do my part to get this place back into ship-shape. Add to that the new adventures of having a 6-year old starting kindergarten among other things, and I feel like I just haven't had a moment to spare in my quest for knowledge and an MP3 player.

Despite the lack of a blog entry, I have attempted to tackle Things 13, 14, and 15 in the interim. I think perhaps another reason for my negligence in these tasks is that I have tried and failed to generate some excitement about these tools. While I certainly can appreciate that del.icio.us and Technorati could be useful in some realms, I have thus far been unable to identify their usefulness in my life.

I consider myself reasonably web-savvy, but really most of my web-browsing needs can be met with the likes of Google. If there is a particular website that I use frequently, I can usually recall the web address from memory if I need to access it from somewhere other than my home computer. I do like the idea of being able to see where others go for their particular topics of interest, but beyond that, I'm sorry to say that del.icio.us leaves me flat. :/

As for Technorati, I must admit that I'm more likely to rely on my old friend, Google, if I'm in search of blogs. Because, as covered elsewhere, the Google/Blogger family is largest blogging site on the net. Of course, most of my blog reading is usually done for entertainment, not knowledge (I still use printed material -- i.e., books, newspapers, magazines -- for that purpose, and sadly, that makes me a minority), so I guess I don't require as large of an information pool as others.

Perhaps, though, I should consider changing my perspective on this. I'm an avid consumer of pop culture, so imagine my surprise when I couldn't identify 2 of the top five most popular searches/tags on Technorati today. Here's how those top 5 broke down

1. Britney Spears? Check. I mean, does anyone under the age of 90 *not* know her? Still a little disgusted that this was number one, though.
2. Vanessa Hudgens? I have two children, so it's perfectly acceptable for me to be well-versed on High School Musical and all things related thereto. Right? Right?
3. Ron Paul? Okay, I'm serious when I say I had to stop and think about whether RuPaul had gone back to his/her original gender. Turns out this guy isn't a transvestite, just a Texas Republican running for president. Huh.
4. YouTube? Possibly the biggest non-human entity to infect the pop-culture landscape since Britney Spears. Yeah, I get it.
5. Noelia? Oh, crap, is there a new email virus going around again? Nope, apparently she's just the next J-Lo, who may or may not have a sex tape floating around cyberspace. I'm very okay with being clueless on this one.

So there you have it. I did find a little more useful information when I searched for "learning 2.0" and "web 2.0" and of course several of those hits also included Britney Spears references. Scary.

I think I'm going to comment about the library 2.0 articles in a separate post, because this entry has gotten way too long, and I in no way want to be responsible for making any of my co-workers go cross-eyed.

One final gem, which I actually did find courtesy of Technorati, about a great idea to consolidate so much of this web 2.0 information into one accessible place, can be found here. I'm working on my page right now.

Fun with generators

I should totally get extra credit for finding and using this text generator, since not only does it fulfill Thing #10, but it also incorporates a previous Thing, Flickr. Behold:





Yes, all of these letters are found on Flickr. If you want to try it yourself, go here.

Bloglines

So, I spent some time today checking out Bloglines (a.k.a. Week 4, Things 8&9), which is a useful tool. I subscribed to some feeds of interest, including a few of my fellow co-worker's 2.0 blogs -- need to keep tabs on who is beating me to the MP3 player!!

One of the top recommended sites on Bloglines for bookworms/library-type folk is The Shifted Librarian, which is obviously authored by a librarian that sees the value of the technology we're exploring here. From that site, I found a great link to the Librarian Avengers, and this classic post that has made the rounds on the 'net. Imagine what would happen if this Avenger lady ever teamed up with PLYMC's own Evilibrarian!

Why I know the things I know

I admit to being the type of person that usually reads ahead of the rest of the class, and sometimes even reads the last page of a book before I'm actually finished with it. So it should come as no surprise that I've now managed to peek at all 23 things.

It's funny to me not that I'm familiar with several of the things involved here, but why it is so. You see, last summer, before I was gainfully employed by the good folks at PLYMC, I was sucked into what "webbies" call an ARG (that's Alternate Reality Game to you civilians) based on the best show ever on television, LOST. Here's the lowdown on what that entailed, just in case you're interested. Why, yes, I am a geek, thanks for asking.

Now to make it all official-like, I'll talk about my initial discovery of the photo sharing site known as Flickr. This was the first image I ever encountered there:

And I was darn excited to find it, too! This handsome devil also has a MySpace page, too, if anyone is interested.

Post One, Thing Three

So, I've accepted the library's 2.0 challenge. And so far, I've been schooled in the 7 and 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners. The first thing I've learned is that I cannot say that title 5 times fast.

Of the habits detailed in the program, I would have to say that the most difficult for me would have to be #3, Viewing Problems as Challenges. I have a bad habit of going the other way when the going gets tough. Definitely gives me something to focus and work on.

Luckily for me, probably my easiest utilized habit would be #6, Using Technology to my Advantage. I absolutely love new gadgets of all kinds. MP-3 player, here I come!