T R A I N. Coonoor
Originally uploaded by Claude Renault

in the past six months...

after finishing a big project...
after catching up with my old advisor...
after starting a new job...
after attending a 5-day workshop...
after trading emails with helene...
after more work on more teams...
after killing my old blog...
after lots and lots of managing...
after far too little leading...
after much reading and consideration...

i find myself here.

this is not an about page. i won't be articulating a vision.

in the future, i will, no doubt, contradict myself. it happens when discussing thoughts and ideas...but...i join the conversation. this space is open. to share, to discuss. recommendations and new things.

to that end--did you read about google's knol yet?

i wonder how it will stack up to wikipedia?
how will the two sites be alike or different?
all very interesting.

Week 9: Thing 23 -- Thoughts and reflections

Monopoly Ship at sea
Originally uploaded by Mamluke

Those of us who work in libraries stand in a pretty weird spot in the information landscape.

We (generally) aren't the ones out there making technological discoveries or breakthroughs.

Nor are we like (some of) our public--wandering around without a map, hoping someone will help us, but mostly afraid to ask for directions.

We're kind of in the middle. We bought a map. We can point out all the places we've already visited and, more importantly, we can see all of the places we have yet to go. We're comfortable with travel; we just want someone to tell us what boat to get on. At least, that's how it feels to me.

With technology, I know just enough to know how much I don't know. That can be kind of scary, but it is also what makes a program like 23 Things so beneficial.

I don't have time to try every single new thing, but if someone tells me...here's one new thing that's worth your time this week...then it is less daunting.

What do I take away from this? The most important thing is confidence. Stumbling through these tools and discovering that I can't really break anything diminishes anxiety.

The other thing that I take away is something we learned way back in the beginning: the importance of play and its role in learning.

A familiarity with 2.0 tools is great. It's nice to understand the language that some of our patrons are already speaking, but I guess the next step is figuring out how these tools can enhance the work we do.

How can we integrate them into our daily work? Our websites?
Which tools will reduce workload or improve accessiblity and which tools--while shiny and cool--will just add another unnecessary hoop for patrons and staff to jump through?

These are all great and exciting questions and, having completed 23 Things, I feel more comfortable joining that conversation.

Week 9: Thing 22 -- Downloadable audiobooks

Drawing for an audiobook article in the NY Times
Originally uploaded by caffeinated_zeitgeist


I established a NetLibrary account and started to play.

I searched for Gladwell. Nothing.
I searched for Godin. Nothing.
I searched for World without Us. Nothing. Too new? Maybe I need to search fiction.
I searched for On Beauty. Nothing.

I tried to stay positive and decided to use the browse option.

I ran across Colson Whitehead's Apex Hides the Hurt; I liked his book, John Henry Days, when we read it for bookclub, so why not.

Downloading was fairly painless, but since iPods are not supported (Grrr!!!), no moving it over to a portable device.

I liked the fact that you could select radio quality to download faster; that's one positive thing.

I might have to read more of the FAQ to see if you can use bookmarks. When I listened for a while, closed and reopened, it started at the beginning. That wasn't cool.

I hate to be so negative, but I'm glad that we looked at this service at the end of 23 Things. When you compare it to the things we looked at in previous weeks, it's easy to see just how far libraries and their vendors have to go before they match the selection and accessibility of other products.

It's true that this was our first foray into copywritten content and DRM, but I still think that companies like NetLibrary can do a better job.

Week 9: Thing 21 -- Podcasts

34
Originally uploaded by Alain Astruc


Free podcasting software, like Audacity, gives folks a voice--much the same way Blogger did when weblogs first took off.

Just a short time ago, we could only hope to read about someone's misadventures with their cat.

Now, thanks to podcasts, we can hear them describe it in their own whiny voice.

I heart technology.

Seriously, though...Podcast Alley led me to the Hollywood Saloon.

Yahoo!podcasts led me to the library-related podcast, Open Stacks, as well as, the super-cool Architecture Radio which features--public lectures on architecture and issues effecting the built environment.

I subscribed to the RSS/podcast feed with my Bloglines account and was pleasantly surprised to discover that within each new Bloglines entry there is a player to listen to each podcast. This was unexpected and convenient.

[NOTE: A few days have passed. Greg, the creator of Open Stacks, left me a comment. (Cool!) He has a new site and new podcast. Check it out at Uncontrolled Vocabulary.]

Week 9: Thing 20 -- YouTube

I probably won't be the only one to link to this, but did you hear?

It's true--Diddy is looking for a new personal assistant.



As he explains in the video, instead of resumes, he is only accepting video applications uploaded to YouTube.

Managers in our library system always like to pass along new career opportunities to staff and I have never done that before. So, here's my contribution. Maybe you have what it takes to work for Diddy. Over 600 people have already applied, so get your video in today.

Seriously, using YouTube both as a recruitment tool and also as a method for candidates to contact your organization--that's a pretty novel use of the site, I would say.

Maybe libraries wouldn't go that far, but I like the idea of integrating the use of technology into the hiring process. It is setting up a kind of first-hoop to jump through, if you are looking to recruit a certain type of candidate. One who is either comfortable with technology or, more importantly, unafraid to learn.

BONUS: I couldn't pass up that Diddy video. Hence the post. Originally though, I was going to post this video of Sister Rosetta Tharpe performing a song entitled Up Above My Head. She plays a mean guitar. Check it out. Man, they have everything on YouTube.

Week 8: Thing 19 -- Web 2.0 Awards

Banksy
Originally uploaded by Simon Crubellier

Visited the 2.0 award winners list and found a listing for start pages.

iGoogle lets you set up a customizable start page. I outfitted mine with search boxes for wikipedia and google maps; plus, a little gadget that automatically pulls all the movie listings from theaters nearby. There are also one-click RSS subscriptions and, just like that, you have your feeds on the page.

You have the option to create tabs for new pages within your iGoogle start page. I created a new page with media RSS feeds; so I have headlines from NPR, Metacritic and DCist all in one place.

The coolest thing about this tool is the ease-of-use. A drag-and-drop feature lets you arrange things on the page and then remembers your settings.

The implication for libraries would be the creation of a library home page that shares the same level of interactivity and is as customizable as iGoogle.

People won't visit your library site, they'll visit their library site.

After logging in with their card, their library start page would pop up--with feeds for new titles and book reviews in the genres they designate, programming news from the library branches closest to their home, quick searching of the catalog (and the ability to create tags within the same), a box for chatting with a librarian in real-time, the most recent posts from the Director's/Friends of the Library/County Commissioners blog, a wiki with local information, etc.

The interesting thing is that all of the technology exists to create library websites like this today. I'm surprised more libraries haven't already started to use it.

I'm sure libraries will incorporate these features into their webpages eventually. Just once though, I'd like to see us be the creators of something cool and really useful--instead of always being two steps behind.

Sometimes it feels like the neighbors have a DVD player; meanwhile, we're getting really excited and patting each other on the back for our just-out-of-the-box Betamax.

Week 8: Thing 18 -- Online Productivity Tools

Well, the previous post was a successful test of Zoho.

I was able to post directly to this blog from within Zoho--it was simple and easy just like the Blog This feature in Flickr...which is awesome.

In our library system, there are a limited number of PCs with word processing capability; I've been told that this in part due to the cost of MS Office.

There are also a limited number of PCs with their floppy drives/USB ports enabled. This is changing slowly. Just this week, Systems decided to test OpenOffice on a few PCs at our main branch. While that is one solution, online applications like Zoho offer another alternative.

I also like the idea that documents are stored out there some place. That makes it really nice for folks who forget their flash drives. Or, even better, for those patrons who bring in a scratched disk with the metal carriage missing. Sometimes those things look like they've been dragged behind cars and it's our job to smile and be nice when they ask--I don't know why the computer won't read my disk.

Another benefit--if your local machine starts coughing up blood, you don't have to worry about losing all of your documents to a computer crash. Ditto, power surges.

All of that and you can share documents with a group of contributors. Pretty neat.

Now I want to test out a calendaring program. I know a few folks in the department who use Google's online calendar.