bookie

The End

2008-07-14T13:24:00.005-04:00

We've reached the end, the final curtain.

Seems as though I've been doing this for months and months. I've typed and clicked...typed and clicked...shouldn't there be a novel in here somwhere?

Seriously, though, folks, I did learn a few things.

The RSS feeds are a great way to get news updates without all the annoying popups and menu distractions on the actual news sites. I'm going to be using these probably more than any other of the tools.

Another useful one is the wikis. I found is http://www.wiki.answer.com/, where you simply ask a question (Who was George Washington?) and...voila...up pops the answer. No playing around with quote marks or guessing at keywords or whatever. Quite handy, that.

I found flickr and photobucket amusing, as well as some of the podcasts, like NPR.

Perhaps the biggest revelation for me is the sheer magnitude and variety of material available at present in cyberspace, as well as the astounding volume of social networking that is going on. (Where do folks get the time to do all that posting, especially the posting of stuff that would appear to be marginally interesting to anyone but themselves?)

Legacy of Ashes

2008-07-14T09:28:00.003-04:00

I picked "Legacy of Ashes" as an audiobook selection because I've already read it. I was curious as to how accurate the description of this title would be.

Very accurate.

This is considered by many national security experts to be among the most comprehensive books on the history of the CIA.

Other authors have navigated the convolutions of this spy agency but have had to rely on anonymouse quotes to get across the most incisive details. As the description notes below, all of Weiner's quotes are directly sourced, so you can make your own informed judgments about the validity of the info.

Weiner has been writing on national security for the Times for some 20 years. I got the impression reading "Legacy of Ashes" that he has probably been collecting source material from Day One, perhaps with the understanding that he could name names only in the distant future for his book.

This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last sixty years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America’s confidence.
Legacy of Ashes is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA. Everything is on the record. There are no anonymous sources, no blind quotations. With shocking revelations that will make headlines, Tim Weiner gets at the truth and tells how the CIA’s failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security.

Podcast

2008-07-13T10:52:00.002-04:00

I headed to the NPR site and, naturally, headed for book discussions.

One featured an interview with Edward Dolnick, author of "The Forger's Spell," an account of what the author contends was the greatest art forgery case of the 20th century.

The forger was a Dutchman, one Hans van Meegeren, who pocketed some $30 million selling fake Vermeer canvasses during the World War II years. One of his buyers was No. 2 Nazi strongman Hermann Goering, who traded 137 authentic (and stolen by the Germans) art works for a single (forged) Vermeer.

Good interview, and at 8 minutes, long enough to give you enough details to know if I would like to read the book.

YouTube

2008-07-13T10:09:00.003-04:00

What a cornucopia of wheat...and chaff!

News & politics, entertainment, education, style are just a few of the categories, and each one offers hundreds of videos. It seems likely a viewer could find something on almost any subject in a few clicks.

I especially liked the news & politics zone (watched an AP clip highlighting career of White House flack Tony Snow, who died of cancer at 53).

I like the idea of being able to catch video when you want, without having to wait for the next cycle on CNN, for example .

That said, it appears that many of these non-news videos are moronic, poorly edited or both.

One so-called "comedy" selection has a guy opening a bathroom door, and sneaking up to the tub where his male roommate is showering. He yanks back the shower curtain and ....TA-DA...there's the naked roommate. Ha-ha.

Or, "Futuristic Brunch," in which two guys loudly complain that the breakfast options at McDonald's are not "lunchy" enough. So...a few minutes before the lunch/breakfast changeover at 11 a.m., they order an Egg McMuffin. At 11:01, they order chicken and fries. At their table, they reconstruct these items and creat a sandwich combining all the ingredients, along with honey-mustard sauce. The end.

Most surprising were the page after page of video offerings that were either Japanese karaoke singers, or what seemed to be snippets of Japanese TV comedy shows, subject/plot/punchline inscrutable to me, of course. But the audiences will laugh at anything.

Library applications? Possibly training videos for new employees, or mini-workshops for those already on the job.

Web 2.0 tools

2008-07-10T11:13:00.003-04:00

O.K. they told us a few weeks back, week 5, I think, that we could have fun.

Fun is good, so I figured let's have more of it

Thus, it was an easy choice looking at all these tools on Web 2.0 Awards. I chose to explore the one called FUN.

My choice was "One Sentence." These are supposed to be stories of everyday life told in one sentence only, and offered up as something that really happened to the commenter.

LOL with many of these "stories," although I have my doubts that all of them are fact and not fiction. Such as this one:

"As I dropped my spare change into his cup and heard a splash, I was horrified to realize he was not a homeless person begging for money but just a guy on the corner enjoying his coffee."

Hmmm.....

Great situation, but I'm asking myself if perhaps we have a little James Frey impersonation going on here.

I'm not sure how this tool might be used to better serve library patrons, but I can easily imagine how librarians could let off a lot of steam posting one-sentence stories about all the crazy stuff that goes on in their jobs.

Call if psychotherapy on the cheap.

Zoho Writer

2008-07-02T11:20:00.004-04:00

This tool looked promising.

I liked the idea of having all of the text choices on the toolbar, instead of having to deal with drop-down menus.

I wrote a bit using a variety of fonts, colors, backgrounds, etc.

I was then set to post it to my blog.

But each of several dozen times I tried to do so, it did not recognize the blog address, even though it was correctly entered.

And, to add to the frustration, when I closed out (thinking this might solve the problem) and returned to the Zoho site, I could not access my post. Each time, I got an error message giving three options: debug, cancel or send error message. Regardless of the choice, each selection shut down the site.

So...a potentially useful tool, but so far, in fact, useless.

Wikis

2008-06-24T14:00:00.002-04:00

There seem to be any number of possible applications for libraries, as shown by my quick look at several sites.

Book reviews by staff and patrons, games and game discussions, details on library/regional area events were some of the offerings.

How about a place for people to post comments/suggestions on library services/programs? The Book Display Committee could open up suggestions to members of the public who might be interested in seeing certain topics covered, for example.

PBCLS Wiki

2008-06-23T11:43:00.002-04:00

Still more clicking and typing this week...and voila!...I find out we have our very own library wiki. Among a number of other things, I found some cute animal pix, favorite local restaurants, and someone who raves about Mount Dora (north of Orlando) as a Florida vacation destination.

Of course, the first I clicked on was Favorite Books, where I found a slew worth checking out. This wiki concept is a very handy way of sampling opinions from many people at once...without the hassle of email.

Web 2.0: What it all means

2008-06-16T11:03:00.003-04:00

Monty Python probably has the answer to this one. Imagine a roomful of Pythons furiously blogging...about anything and everything. Access to their posts would have to be seriously restricted, otherwise we'd never get any work done, we'd all be laughing so hard.

But I digress...

Actually, no.

I think the Pythons can be seen as something of a metaphor for Web 2.0: the Flying Circus Brits and their films can leave your jaw agape, astound you amaze you, etc. The Pythons offered a little something for everyone. So does Web 2.0; everything you can think of (and lots that you can't) can be found somewhere electronically.

Unfortunately, enjoying the Pythons or John Cleese as hotelier Basil Fawlty, requires only that you sit back and get ready to be vastly entertained. Web 2.0, on the other hand, requires all...this...clicking...and...typing. I envision the day we will be able to do all these things merely by speaking to the computer.

Technorati

2008-06-09T13:54:00.002-04:00

Finally, something I might actually use on some consistent basis. Technorati has a blog searcher that groups by category: entertainment, business, lifestyle, politics, sports, technology. When you click on any one of these, more detailed subcategories appear.

delicious

2008-06-09T13:12:00.002-04:00

What a rather odd name, that. Maybe there was somewhere on the site where I could have ordered free pizza. Mmmm...delicious! I guess I missed that link. I'll have to hunt for it later.

Like all of these nifty tools so far, this one has lots to offer. The idea of reaching out to others is appealing. Alas, there is still far too much clicking and typing to be done. And I don't understand how so many people find so much free time to play with all this stuff...not only creating your own posts and embellishing your blog, but checking out what others have done/are doing. I can see some limited applications that might be useful for me on del.icio.us but not as a place I'm going to all the time, such as a news site.

Feed the Beast

2008-05-29T16:52:00.002-04:00

That's the operative phrase for White House political staffers. The meaning? Make sure the media have ample helpings of newsy "food" (read: junk food) to keep them sufficiently occupied that they--at least for part of a news cycle--are diverted from digging up any real dirt on the Administration.

But for our blogging purposes, we taylor this phrase for RSS and news feeds. As with the rest of this tech journey, I have had to rely on the generosity of the more tech-inclined at WEL in doing all this stuff. It seems like an awful lot of "clicks" to get where you need to be. But I have to admit it is satisfying when you get what you want accomplished.

The news feeds are perfect, even if I only get the "lead" (first paragraph) of a particular story. I get updates without all that pop-up clutter. Much easier on the eye.

techie stuff

2008-05-22T16:49:00.002-04:00

This learning business is coming in dribs and drabs. That's OK, although it's sometimes frustrating for a learner like myself who WANTS TO KNOW HOW IT ALL WORKS ...AND RIGHT NOW. So far, it's been a combination of playing around with all these possible blogger tools on my own, and asking coworkers who have already mastered a specific skill for help. I have to admit it's a small thrill when I try something and it actually works.

blogger hell?

2008-05-22T13:49:00.004-04:00

Take a gander at this upcoming Sunday NYTimes Magazine piece. It chronicles the path one young woman took from unknown personal blogger to a professional blogger in NYC (http://www.gawker.com/) whose ruminations would attract comments by the hundreds. Sounds like rags to riches? It's a bit more complicated than that. -30-
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/magazine/25internet-t.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

365

2008-05-21T10:42:00.008-04:00

Today marks my first anniversary with PBCLS. I'm glad the probationary period is over...but where did the time go? It seems as though we just finished shelving for Opening Day. It's been quite an adventure for this bookie, beginning with the whirlwind of my rather unusal training regimen because WEL was closed: the weeks learning computer stuff and circ duties at the storage facility, MN and RPB. And how could I ever forget the first time I climbed aboard our majestic Bookmobile parked down the street? (hmmm, I thought, I didn't know I'd signed up for submarine duty) Next up: the challenge of discharging piles of material on a postage stamp-sized desk ...the kids who somehow managed to get the bus rocking back and forth...the patrons who had to be nearly forcibly ejected at closing hour...bathroom runs to the nearby community center. As the Chinese phrase puts it, I have been living during "interesting times" at the library the past 12 months. It was quite an apprenticeship. And I would not have made it to the other side without all the help I have gotten from all my coworkers at WEL and beyond. As I enter Year 2, kudos to all those who have been so generous in sharing their experience. -30-

Blogs & the library

2008-05-14T10:42:00.004-04:00

One big-picture aspect of blogs is that they are all about putting together thoughts and ideas, and then sharing them with others. This could be beneficial in fostering greater communication and cooperation among library staff.

And keeping up with bloggers at other PBCLS branches--other library systems, as well--will probably generate more work-related ideas that might be useful for us.

7.5 habits

2008-05-11T13:34:00.003-04:00

Your first post should be on how you feel about the seven and 1/2 habits of highly successful learners from week 1; discuss what you feel will be the most difficult part for you and why

Did you say difficult?

hmm....a certified technophobe is asked to get out of his comfort zone and charge headlong into self-guided learning, a task he's not done before. So, yeah, we are most definitely talking "most difficult" here.

Not sure at this point just what I will need to place in my "toolbox," but I think this will fall into place as I continue this project. Working in a library, there will be no shortage of possible tools, and I am surrounded by helpful and knowledgeable coworkers.