#20 Twitter

I'm going out of order because I have a little time at work and it's easier to look at Twitter than a Podcast.

I found the twitter search engine to be very easy to use. I searched for "quilting" and came up with a wide array of topics ranging from store ads, quilting techniques, photos and advice about how to set up a machine quilting business. It does seem that there is something for everyone to look at on Twitter.

The Trending topics went heavily toward movies or other entertainment issues. Which makes sense since this is what friends talk about when they get together.

The nifty queries searching function was also interesting. You can narrow it by location, key words, time or even whether the tweets have a position attitude. I imagine that would be helpful if you loved a movie and want to discuss it with others. You don't want to talk to people who hated it.

I doubt I would use Twitter. I like to write and I appreciate grammar and complete sentences. I doubt I would feel the need to discuss movies with strangers online. However, I do see that appeal because it is so easy to use and search.

imcooked #16 Web 2.0 award site

I chose to look at imcooked, one of the Web 2.0 award winning sites. It was very interesting. I've seen many recipe sites before but this one was different because it was a collection of recipe videos. The site gave you the most recently viewed recipe and also had lots of categories for all kinds of food. it would be very easy to find a recipe and see how it is made. I think it would be a great help for new cooks or anyone willing to be adventurous with food. I think it would have limited use for an academic library, but it could work well for a public library.

Google Docs #15

This exercise was interesting since it involves programs that I use regularly in my work. I enjoyed looking at Google docs and presentations. They look very similar to Word and Excel, programs I use every day. I can see that it might be useful in the future for collaborative editing. I also liked the ease of the programs. I don't know much about powerpoint, but the presentation program in Google was easy to use and it seemed that you could get a good product without too much time spent in learning the program.

I think the calendar function might be of use as well. It can be hard to schedule meetings and it would save phone calls to have everyone check in on the calendar with their availability.

In other software, I loved the idea of post-its for the web. I've heard many people look at their bookmarks and can't figure out what caught their attention in the first place. The post-its would give a nice reminder about what was interesting.

Wikis #13-14

I thought this was a very interesting exercise. I have not created a wiki but I've considered it for some work related information. This gave me a good understanding about what a wiki would work well for. I liked the explanation that wikis are about trust and collaboration and that wikis really belong to the community that uses them. That makes them very useful for many purposes but probably not for what I had in mind, which is getting information out to our students. That process doesn't require collaboration.

I can see many ways that wikis could work in libraries and I know that there are many in the UMass Library, including subject guide wikis and procedure manual wikis. I was especially interested in the Library best practices wiki. It's nice for librarians (and any other group) to be able to share this kind of information so each institution doesn't have to start from scratch. I'm sure there is always a good idea or a new way of looking at an old question that all can benefit from.

Library 2.0 #12

The first article I found on the future of the Library had to do with using RSS feeds from a database so that you would be automatically updated when new information on your subject is added. It sounds like there are some technical glitches but it should be a help for researchers.

Another posting talks about creating virtual and interactive display cases as a companion to physical display cases. Using web 2.0 tools such as Twitter, Flickr and Facebook, librarians are beginning to create these virtual displays.

Technorati #11

I checked out the home page for Technorati and looked at the Rising news stories by attention and rising post blogs by attention. It was interesting to see that some were on the same subject, on this day, it was about the release of American journalists from North Korea. Other posts were completely different. One that I found interesting was a blog about how U.S. Marines have been banned from using Social Networking sites. The reason given was that it creates a greater security risk.

The top tags included words such as diary, life, music, news, romance, relationships and friends. All the things people talk about when they get together.

I checked out the tag for Libraries on an advanced search and found lots of different kinds of information ranging from a library fundraiser to a list of new books to information about new technologies.

I also thought it was interesting that Twitter also can be searched throught Technorati.

Social tagging #10

I thought this was a really interesting assignment. I think this could be a valuable tool for libraries to provide reliable information for their patrons. I also how it could benefit students doing group work who could find and share material easily. I even learned a new word, folksomony or social tagging. I'll have to figure out how to use it in a sentence.