I Know I'm Crazy

Pot Luck #55

2009-03-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been a while. Hopefully, I can get to a few of these this year.

So, Facebook. I've been on it for while and it has its good moments and it has it's bad moments. I like being able to keep up my friends and family and to find people I've lost touch with. So commenting on stuff people post, the status bar and messaging back and forth are what I like to do.

I really never got into the whole "poking" phenomanon or keeping virtual pets or plants. It's just not me. I'd much rather have someone write me a more personal note than to just send me what equates to a form letter to a friend.

For kicks this time around, I added my librarything reads to my facebook account. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't show the covers of the books, only the titles. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough into the application.

"Here It Goes Again" - the 24th thing

2008-02-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

So, we took a little break, but "Here It Goes Again". The next chapter in the iHCPL online learning module. This time we're talking about sound or more specifically, music.

There are a lot of both free and pay music sites out there. I personally have really gotten into Amazon's mp3 downloads. And of course there is always iTunes as well as others. But what if you don't want to spend a lot of, or any, money?

If you're looking simply to listen to music, not to download onto an mp3 player, then I highly, HIGHLY recommend Radio Paradise. This is a free internet based radio station that offers a wonderfully eclectic range of music all woven together masterfully by the DJ, Bill Goldsmith.

If, on the other hand, you're looking to add stuff to your player, then I recommend the Complete Guide to Free Music Online, as I found on the Librarian in Black blog.

Well...It's 2008

2008-01-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Time for the annual thought...."In what ways will I improve my life, career, diet, or anything else that relates to me in the upcoming new year?"

The obvious ones:
diet,
exercise,
maybe seeing that financial planner we've always wanted to

The not so obvious:
keeping up better with blogging
advancing in my career (so many paths for this one)
learning how to use the new digital SLR we got for Christmas

In any case, now that iHCPL is over with, this blog will itself have to go through some changes. Not sure yet how it will do so yet, but we're only 2 days into the new year. I got some time.

Did You Know

2007-12-04T12:40:00.001-08:00

Here's a little video I created with Animoto to Promote the Library

Cooking the Books

2007-11-16T06:44:00.000-08:00

Who says print media is dead? I think you simply have to come up with innovative ways to make it more interesting.

Like this food company in Croatia who released their annual report in a book that has to be baked in the oven for 25 minutes before the text will appear. Genius!

Link to article on Boing Boing.

More thoughts...a bit of a breather.

2007-11-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

Last week our automated system had a bit of a meltdown. We have all been busy trying to recover from that, but it was interesting to see how technology has really become vital to our daily activities.

Everything we do, from working to playing, is now so utterly dependent on computers and techology that the world seems lost when the technology is down. It's kind of sad when you think about it. I know it's a little crazy, but I'd love to have all the computers all over the world go down for one day. Unfortunately societies would crumble, lives would be lost...but maybe we'd actually start talking to each other in real life again; an art that is quickly becoming obsolete.

It's all coming becoming clear.

2007-10-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

We're only into the forth week and the 23 things are becoming common in our library. I was discussing an idea for a mashup between Flickr and Google Maps with several librarians and they all followed the converstation and one even exclaimed with much glee "Hey, I actually understand what you are talking about!"

We all got a great laugh out of that but then came to realize that this whole initiative is really paying off. Many are realizing the ways that the techonolgies that we're learning can come into play with not only our personal lives but our professional ones as well.

A Good Start

2007-09-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well, iHCPL is now underway. We are into the 3rd week now and it has a great response. (Over 200 people).

The biggest concern I've heard from people is not that it's too hard, or that they don't have time, but that they want their blog to be the coolest. Even I caught a little bit of that bug and gave a new look to my blog. Hope you enjoy!

Week 10 - Is this the end, or just the beginning

2007-09-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Everything that is new now, will soon be old and another round of "new" items will be out there for us to learn. I have definitely had fun with these exercises and even though I knew of many of them beforehand, I did learn many things as well.

My favorite exercise was definitely the avatar creation. Who doesn't like to play dress up once in a while? I have even learned how to take my WeeMee creation and use it as my email signature. (I'm sure many will notice this soon)

This program enhanced my lifelong learning goals. I already enjoy going out into the web and finding the new things that will make mine and the organization's lives easier. These exercises have prepared me to do this even more now.

As for use within the library system... We have started using Library Thing to help us organize our storytime closet. We now use it to 'catalog' the books and they are all tagged with the storytime themes we use them for. SO now when we need a book on bears for a storytime session, we can search by that tag and bring up what we have in the closet.

And finally, what else do I want to learn? EVERYTHING! Bring it on. I'm sure we have just skimmed the surface as to what is out there. And there will much more coming in the very near future.

Week 9 - Downloadable Media

2007-09-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Once again, where does one find time to sit and listen/watch all of this wonderful stuff? I love the fact that we now have downloadable video on the HCPL website. I was even able to find the Inspector General with Danny Kaye (one of my favorite classic actors) and the documentaries are fun to watch as well.

Overdrive also has a nice selection of audio books to listen to. Not the best selection mind you, but in a pinch I can always find something I like. As for music, it was nice to see that they do offer samples of the music so you can see if it's something you like. I'll definitely be downloading more items from home.

Week 9 - Podcasting

2007-09-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

I personally like Podcast Alley to find podcasts to listen to. There are so many podcasts on that list and they categorize them to find which one you are interested in easily. The only problem is finding the time to listen to the ones I find.

I have found that not all podcasts are easily subscribed to on Bloglines. Make sure that the end of the URL has .xml for ease of subscription.

Week 9 - You Tube

2007-09-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Ah...so many things to say about You Tube. It can be great, and as I've said countless times before in this blog, it can also have it's bad elements. We are obviously becoming more and more a visual and interactive society so it makes sense that the web is turning to more video content than textual content. Some of the stuff out there is good; like online lesson, how-to's, and videos from some of your favorite or even lesser known artists. Much of the stuff is horrible....I don't think I need to see every child in the world singing their ABC's or any of the inappropriate material out there. To each his own. (somebody might think just the opposite of me)

There is something for everyone out there in the world wide web and also something to offend everyone.

Here is an item that I personally like. I take belly dancing lessons and my instructor has a video of her dance troupe on You Tube. It's just a sampling of some of their performances, seen below.

Week 8 - Social Networking

2007-09-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

The idea of social networking is nothing new. Anyone who has been in the professional world for any length of time has understood the importance of networking amongst colleagues and other professionals. Web 2.0 and social networking has just taken that concept and run with it. It is now a way for people who have similar hobbies, tastes in musics or any other shared passion (or lack there of) to find each other connect on even the smallest level and share ideas. Myspace originally started out with local bands trying to get their music out to the masses and their limited fan base for the lowest cost. Facebook started as a way for college students to keep in touch. They have just exploded into these phenomenons that have taken over the web and our perceptions of how people interact with each other online.

Are they inherantly bad? No! Like anything in the world, some people can change it according to their needs and make even a good thing bad. But are they important. YES! Even the smaller versions of social networking services are a great way for people to interact online with each other. My personal favorite is a private forum site that my friends and I use on a dily basis to keep in touch, plan events, and even discuss the latest news topics with each other. We use it to solicit advice from one another and even post about exciting (or frivolus) events in our lives. As the world opens up around us, we all still have the same need to feel contected to each other in some way and social networks allow us to do so.

Week 8 - Zoho

2007-09-07T06:52:00.001-07:00

Well here is an example of a published Zoho document. Pretty cool. Not only for those people who are looking for an alternative of Microsoft products, but for those looking to be able to access files from anywhere in the world without needing to carry a storage device of some kind with them. It's also wonderful to use when you have multiple people working on the same document and everyone needs editing rights to it while still being able to see the original document and all of its changes. This is makes for a truly dynamic document. My only gripe with this is the spell checker in Zoho, it catches the spelling mistakes but doesn't always give any suggestions for proper spelling.

Week 7 - Thoughts on Technology

2007-09-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

Technology...what a blessing and curse. Our daily lives are made easier by many of the technologies that are around us. But they make our productive time longer and our relaxation as we can be reached anywhere around the world, anytime of the day. And boy do we all know what our lives are like when the computers or even simply the internet go down. I had a panic attack one day when the internet was down and I couldn't find out from a message board where my friends were meeting that night for dinner. Yes I know, I could have called them to find out, but when we are all so used to the technology we get start relying on it.

That being said, so many wonderful things are happening with techology. There is now a device that can act as your phone, mp3 player, web access, and navagation system all in one pocketsized unit. You can easily create a website for your own personal use that has links to documents you created, photo you have taken, blogs and even searches on a particular topic. The world is literally at our fingertips and it's an exciting place to be.

Week 7 - Wikis

2007-09-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

Ah, the world of wikis. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with wikis. One one hand they are a great way for a collective group of people with a shared knowledge to pool that knowledge together into one cohesive site that everyone can access. On the other hand...how does the saying go....Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup. Even on a site such as Wikipedia, the gold standard for wikis, the ability for multiple people to author a site that will essentially be a reference-like work gives way for too many errors.

That being said, I have a committee that I'm on that uses a wiki to keep the information we need together in one place, and when a member of the committee finds out something new, we can easily add to it.

Week 6 - The Library 2.0 Discussion

2007-08-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Everyone has their ideas of what Library 2.0 is and is not. We just saw that by searching Technorati for blogs on Library 2.0 and there are over 200. That's more than 200 separate opinions that are registered.

In my opinion Library 2.0 is just the overall realization that the libraries of our past can be no more if we want to stay relevant in the eyes of our customers. We need to embrace the technologies and tools available to us instead of shunning them as possible replacements for what we can provide to our customers. The web is our playground. We just need to remember to be the spiders instead of the flies.

Week 6 - Technorati

2007-08-31T11:33:00.001-07:00

Obviously there are more blog posts than actual blogs written about "Library 2.0" on the Technorati website. This is a given since a Library 2.0 blog will have many posts that are related to the topic.

As for some seeing what are the popular blogs out there...it doesn't surprise me that Boing Boing and Life Hacker are in the top ten. Those are both blogs I read often and have a lot of truly interested information.

Once again, the tagging thing comes up which is my weakness in this whole blogosphere world. I guess it's the minimalist in me that comes out. But I have added the my blog to the blogosphere and have added the technorati tags to my posts.

Week 6 - Yum! It's Del.icio.us

2007-08-31T11:21:00.000-07:00

Once again, this is a resource I've used for a while now. Del.icio.us has been a great way for me to keep track of interesting websites and allow me to access my bookmarked sites anywhere I have access to a computer. I initially used it to keep track of websites that interesting items for my wedding that I was planning. Now I use to to bookmark recipes I find, odd websites that I know I'll forget about if I didn't bookmark them or anything else I may find interesting.

As for a professional application, I know HCPL has it's own del.icio.us account, HCPLbiblio, used to keep track of websites that might come in handy for answering reference questions. It's also useful to have when giving a presentation on different websites. Create a del.icio.us account and bookmark the sites used in the presentation and other resource sites that pertain to the presentation and you don't have to worry about typing in each URL during the presentation.

The tagging is something I need to work on. I tend to only put one or two words for my tags and more tags would allow myself and others to find the information quicker.

Week 5 - Library Elf

2007-08-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Library Elf has been a great help with that whole keeping track of time issue I mentioned I had earlier in this blog. I love getting text messages sent right to my phone letting me know when books are due or when one of my requests have come in. Even though I work in the library and can easily check these things at my desk, I like the extra little reminder that usually comes when I'm at home; where the book I need to bring back usually is.

Week 5 - Library Thing

2007-08-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

Library Thing is one of the coolest tools out there for anyone with a love of books and a large library at home that needs some organizing. I personally had to spend the $25 to upgrade my account to the lifetime membership with unlimited book adding capacity due to my large library at home.

It's been great to be able to rate the books, note which ones I have actually read and which ones I have yest to read. I can also keep track of the library books I've borrowed but do not own myself, giving me a nice list of everything I have read. And it's interesting to see how people have tagged the books that they add, or how many people own the same obscure copy of a book that I do.

Just a sampling of the books I've read from my collection.

Week 5 - Avatars and Image Generators

2007-08-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Who wouldn't like to be a glam version of themselves; wearing the lastest fashions, or just something completely different than your norm with out the major appearence committment? That's one of the great thing about avatars. You can present to the world any version of your true inner self that you'd like the virtual world to know you by. I'm no stranger to these avatars. Many of the Role Playing Games (World of Warcraft and City of Heroes) that I've played in the past allow you to create avatars as your player character. I've been everything from and vampire like sorcerror to a bulllike tauren priest to a crime fighting, leather clad, mild mannered librarian. It's a fun way to express yourself.

Or, if you want something a little more down to earth and something that you can easily post on your blog or social website, you can use a program such as Meez and create a 3-D mini you.

Here's the Meez me below:

And here is a Wee Mee:

Week 4 - Finding RSS Feeds

2007-08-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Initially, when looking for feeds to add to my Bloglines account, I looked at the blogrolls of librarians who I knew were blogging themselves. They usually linked to several library related feeds out there that were good ones to keep track of. After that, I found that the best way to find new or interesting feeds were linked to in the blog posts themselves. That is to say, when a blog post mentioned a feed in their text, I would then go to the linked feed and most of the time it was one that I would be interested in. Once in a while I will go through Bloglines blog search feature or to Technorati to find other feeds but the ones that have been linked to on blog posts are usually more interesting.

Week 4 - RSS

2007-08-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

I've been a subscriber to Bloglines for I think two years now. It's on my daily to-do-list, just like checking my email. I have found it to be wonderful way to keep current on library news and opinions as well as having one place to read all the fun stuff that's out there. And it's amazing where you can find information pertaining to libraries out there. One of my favorite RSS feeds is for MAKE magazine. It's a do-it-yourself take on all things technology. What is especially cool, and why I find it useful for the library world, is that it often times veers from the tech world and gets into funky and odd crafts that are perfect for older children. Link to the MAKE Blog page.

Week 3 - Flickr Fun

2007-08-29T12:25:00.001-07:00

LOL Caiden
Originally uploaded by melanie_metzger

OK...So I really don't get the whole LOLcat phenomenon, but I had pictures of my cats so why not make a LOLcat poster.

He is really cute, don't ya think?

Week 3 - Flickr

2007-08-29T12:01:00.001-07:00

Caiden
Originally uploaded by melanie_metzger

This is my new kitten Caiden. Isn't he the cutest little thing when he's sleeping?

Week 2 - Privacy and the Web

2007-08-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

Everyone talks about how dangerous the web can be. About "Oooo, it's so scary out there". Well I agree and disagree with this.

First of all, yes, the world as a whole is a scary place nowadays. And the whole "My life is an open book" mentality that is happening on the web can be a little disconcerting. I don't want the whole world knowing my business. Some things I would like to keep private and I wish more people in the world thought the same way. (Have you read some of the stuff people post...TMI!)

But it's also kinda exciting. I mean, it's fascinating that you can delve into the world wide web and find people around the world that share the same interests as you. Who knows, that person that you've been chatting with about your favorite hobby, that person who has the best information and resources, might be as close as the next desk to you or half way around the world. It not only expands our borders a great deal, but collapses them as well.

People simply have to use a bit of common sense. (I know, I know....this seems to be in short supply) One needs to realize that everything you type into a computer can most likely be traced back to you if the need or desire arises. If we all just kept this in mind, then any issues you have with privacy should be moot.

Week 1 - My Learning Habits

2007-08-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well here we go....iHCPL and The 23 Things.

My biggest hurdle with this will be time. Time seems to be always against me, as I'm sure it is for everyone else as well. Organizing my time better has always been been a habit I would like to improve upon. I am one of those people who carries around one if not several calendars trying to keep track of meetings, vacations, birthdays and other events of note. I really need to tie everything together into one cohesive time management system. Maybe, hopefully, this learning experience will push me towards that direction.

Wish me luck!