Thing #23: The Party's Over; It's Time to Fly

My favorite part of this learning project was also what caused me the most pain and frustration in the beginning: setting up the blog and learning the finer points of Blogspot--especially figuring out how to download pictures, create hyperlinks, and embed videos. I came so close in the beginning to just deleting this blog.

Before this I had intended to open a Flickr account (I did) and explore digital photography. I now feel much more confident about my ability to learn to do so. I am also much more aware about the incredible interactive sites out there and more open-minded about them. They really do have the potential to transform our lives and how we interact with each other. However, I am also more concerned about the potential for abuse regarding personal privacy issues.

Now, finally at the end, I am surprised how much I enjoyed doing most of the blog postings, which I spent far too much time, effort, and anguish over. I learned a lot about my personal learning style and how I'm way too much of a perfectionist, too easily frustrated, and make things harder for myself than they have to be.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? Newbies and technophobes need much more hand-holding and support, especially in the beginning. Small support groups would be a good idea, especially in setting up the blog and learning to manipulate the photos, hyperlinks, etc. While we were encouraged to ask co-workers, and while this is what finally enabled me to get over my frustrations in the beginning, it is not the easiest thing to get help this way. Time is very limited and there is no way someone can do a halfway decent job of completing this project without a computer at home and a lot of personal time. Many of the assignments could not be completed on library computers because of the restrictions on downloading, etc.

As for the rewards, the $25 gift certificate is nice, but definitely not enough of a motivation. I spent more than $50 in the beginning on books on Blogspot and Flickr alone. And if I had been paid for all the late-night hours I spent at home working on this project I could have bought a laptop. But that is not the point The reward for me is all I have learned about the amazing things out there in cyberspace. But the big payoff is the sense of accomplishment I now have and the resulting confidence in my ability to do more. I discovered I have wings.

Yes, I would definitely participate in other discovery programs in the future, although I am glad this one is over so I can catch up at my job responsibilites and my personal life. The learning challenge is now over. Long live the learning challenge! Let's raise a glass to emerging from darkness into light.

Thing #19: From the Web 2.0 Award Winners: ETSY, a Love Story

So much to do, so little time. Exploring the nominees and winners on Web 2.0 Awards site is addicting--and very distracting. But it's a great way to discover and sample the best of what's out there.

Getting down to business: I fell in love with Etsy last Spring. We were introduced by Chrissie, a jewelry artisan/librarian-to-be who interned in Youth Services. When I admired her unusual necklace she confessed she had designed and handmade it herself and asked me if I could guess the theme. And I did. "Rainy Day April" was clearly meant to be mine. Chrissie then revealed that she sold her one-of-kind jewelry on a site called Etsy. My first time I nervously typed in the URL and it was love at first site. And then, just when I was about to lose my self-control, "Rainy Day" was finally listed for sale and was soon mine. It wasn't long before I was obsessed, spending hours feverishly browsing through the endless shops of original, handmade items. Chrissie even apologized for introducing us. Yes, Dear Reader, I had developed Etsy lust.

Etsy calls itself "Your Place to Buy and Sell Handmade Things" but it is so much more. Only handmade items and materials can be listed by sellers. Those who don't toe the line can be reported and removed. One can search for items for sale in every conceivable way: by materials, tags, sellers, item description, by date listed, etc. Etsy showcases items in many different ways, including gift suggestions, etc. And while some shops are more expensive than others, more often the seller is an individual artisan whose prices are exceptionally reasonable and affordable.

But Etsy is more than just a marketplace, it's an interactive community. Anyone who wants to buy or sell there has to open a free account. A buyer can mark items and/or individual shops as "favorites"--a good idea as the goods and sites here stretch on and on, seemingly into infinity. Buyers and sellers alike can also mark favorite shops and items with a little heart and see who also has fallen for a particular shop or item. This is not a crass, commercial marketplace; it is a labor of love. These sellers want to find homes for their carefully crafted handmade items where they will be appreciated and loved--a bit like open adoption.

And oh, Dear Reader, I found so many things to love. My heart was pounding when I spotted the luxurious handpainted cashmere/silk yarn, a bargain and impossible to find elsewhere at any price. Then there were the Balinese Silver Earrings, the Hematite Bali bangle,
the dichroic glass pendant--since lost in the library, alas, but I'm learning to live with the pain. I'm offering a reward for its return. And there was so, so much more. Oh, yes, yes, YES! My ardor was out of control.

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. I now strictly limit my visits and purchases. But please don't expect me to give up Etsy entirely. And please forgive me for not introducing you in time for holiday gift-buying. But Etsy is no flash-in-the-pan. Just click and it will be there waiting for you. As for me, it's time to move on. There are so many more sites in the virtual sea waiting to be explored.

Thing #18: Online Applications: The Write Stuff

Online applications like WriteBoard, ThinkFree, and Google Docs have a big advantage over traditional desktop applications like Microsoft Office Suite: file portability. Because documents are generated and stored online they can be accessed from any computer anywhere. Files can be marked private or authorized for access by others so groups can interact to edit documents. This capability for interaction can significantly ease group projects .

In applications like ThinkFree and Google Doc, documents can be uploaded, edited, and then exported to a blog or web page. Some can even convert files to HTML or .pdf. While Google Docs and ThinkFree have more of the features mentioned, for the purposes of this challenge I used WriteBoard to generate this entry because it seemed the most user-friendly. It also has related applications that intrigued me, like "Backpack" and "Ta-Da List" which is touted as "the web's simplest to-do list manager"--definitely something I could use.

At any rate, online applications seem to be the way things are going so it pays to make an informed choice about which has the right features and meets the most needs. I opened accounts for each of these three applications and plan on spending more time exploring each before choosing one for more regular use. Right now I don’t have much need for the more advanced and sophisticated features of these programs. However, I can see that any of these could be useful and potentially invaluable for library projects.

Thing #21: Blogged Down With Podcasts: Are They Taking Over the World?

Podcasts are popping up like weeds, so who needs to search for them? According to a clip in the QL Learning blog, "podcast" was declared word of the year for 2005 by Oxford University Press. Well, I hope someone comes up with synonyms or alternate terms soon, because this whole post is bloated with the word. Podcast, podcast, podcast. Judge for yourself:
I explored all three suggested directories, Podcast Alley, podcast.net, and Yahoo Audio. Each, of course, is designed to facilitate searches for podcasts. Podcast.net organizes them in a search directory and lists the top ten search tags, as well as a list of the newest podcasts entered. This Yahoo-like directory makes it easier to search for a particular category. Podcast Alley also features some notable podcasts and lists the top ten. Yahoo Audio seemed the least oriented towards finding podcasts, which it just lumps together under "audio." What is interesting about Yahoo Audio, however, is that it rates the podcasts for quality. I don't know WHO rates them or how, but every one I looked at deserved the l out of 5 rating it received.

I also searched for podcasts with the tag "library" but turned up nothing worthwhile. I did turn up one on neuro science, however. Surely there's a neuro scientist somewhere who would find it worth a listen. In my opinion, just about all the podcasts I turned up did not deserve my time. Life is short.

In the end I went to NPR and had trouble choosing from its high-quality collection of past broadcasts. What a gold mine of highest-quality podcasts! I finally settled on NPR's "Book Tour" column to add to my Bloglines feeds. I had a hard time making up my mind. I'd also like to add Car Talk, Secrets of New York, and, and, and... Another favorite of mine, Border's Book Club is not available as a feed, but must be accessed through Border's website.

Great. Now I have a new vice. But produce a podcast myself? Oy. I don't think so. Like I said, life is short.

Thing # 22: E-Media Promising But Not So User-Friendly

Queens Library Digital Media has a vast, impressive array of e-books, audio books, music, and videos available for customers to download to PCs, MP3 players, PDAs,and certain e-book readers. That's presuming the user HAS one of these devices, which many of our customers don't, and files cannot be downloaded to library computers. All I have so far is a PC at home, but I like e-books so I tried downloading one audiobook to my computer. Everything seemed to be going well, although it took longer to download than I expected, but I was disappointed when I couldn't open the file. Windows claimed the file format, which I had never heard of, was incompatible. And I know bupkis about file formats.

I also hear that the MP3 format of the audiobooks cannot be downloaded to iPods because of incompatibility. But I'm not giving up. As soon as I get an MP3 player--hopefully soon--I'll try again. In the meantime I'll try and learn more about the different file formats. I've already downloaded audio books to iTunes from the Internet (all of David Sedaris--whoo-hoo!) so I'm sure it's just a minor technicality I'm missing.

One thing I like about the audio books is that while they can only be borrowed for 7days--after which they POOF! disappear--many of them can be burned to a CD or downloaded to a portable device or player. They're also available, sometimes for free and sometimes for fee, from Amazon and many other vendors and online sites.

As for e-books, I'd really rather read print materials than text on a computer screen. I feel the same way about e-book readers, although I've never tried them. I have, however, watched movies online from Netflix without a hitch, but had to download their program before I could download their movies. Amazon also has downloadable movies, but according to tech reviews they haven't been well-received because of technical problems. Like any technological advance, e-media has to go through a winnowing-out period so the kinks can be worked out and formats become more uniform. I look forward to being able to utilize these formats.

Social Networking: "So 2006?"

Today's PCWorld article "The 15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007" lists social networks as #13 and predicts that 90% of the huge numbers of "social networks and their founders will be back working at Starbucks." No surprise here.

Thing 17 1/2: Turning My Back on Facebook

Facebook wants to link the world. Excuse me if I find this somewhat disturbing. After reading the recent spate of articles about their new Beacon technology, including PC World's "Facebook's Beacon More Intrusive Than Previously Thought", I am more convinced than ever that we don't need Big Brother; we ARE Big Brother.

At first I thought Facebook was just another MySpace wannabe, only a little more exclusive and for a slightly older crowd. It's incredibly ironic, in a time when household shredders are commonplace and identity theft is rampant, that 25 million Facebook users are willing to give a privately-owned, profit-making enterprise permission to collect and sell data about their most personal habits. And Facebook's plan to hook up the world, as recently announced by founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is indeed a brilliant idea. The 20-something Zuckerberg described his company's plan to turn what was just another social-networking site into "the most powerful distribution mechanism that's been created in a generation." $$KA-CHING$$

Every book you buy on Amazon, every tune you download, every site you visit, all this info and more can be available to all your friends and anyone else who cares to know. What a great time to be a stalker. And it's not only Facebook users on which the site collects information. According to their terms and conditions, anyone who merely accesses their site is granting them permission to collect data on them and archive it. And now the story breaks that their Beacon project has been collecting data not just on Facebook users, but also on third-parties who have never even accessed the site.

A Facebook presence could be quite valuable for any individual or company looking to market or promote themselves, so I can see a library opening a page for publicity and informational purposes. As for me, I decided not to open an account.

Thing #17 -- Wikkiing Bayside

I chose to edit the demographics section of the Wikipedia article on Bayside, Queens because I feel the article gave the misimpression that the community (where I have lived for the last 27 years) consists of "a majority" of "upper class Greeks, Italians, Irish, and Russians"--in reality a rather slim majority of 53.9% at the time of the census. While the article did point out a large influx of Asians into the community since the '90s, it did not mention that a whopping 30.4% of the community in 2000 identified themselves as Asian. I added these specific census statistics (and other ethnic and racial identification figures) because I think it is important to identify the significant Asian population in the community, which has grown even more considerable in the 8 years since the census.

It felt empowering and a little scary to edit this article and see the changes appear immediately in the online article. It remains to be seen how long this edit will hold up, if at all, but I liked doing it. I really liked it!

Thing #16: Wiki Wiki Woo, Wiki Wiki Woe

Until this exercise the only wiki I was aware of was the mother of them all: Wikipedia. This grass roots encyclopedia, which is now the #1 referenced source on the Internet, can be added to or edited by anyone at all. It is so controversial I even created a separate folder in my e-mail for articles discussing its merits and drawbacks. It is frowned upon and even forbidden as a source by teachers and professors because of its fluid nature and lack of reliability and authority. Definitely not a scholarly resource, it is on the other hand a bottomless source for information that can often not be found anywhere else. One study claimed that Wikipedia was more accurate than the Brittanica, which also contained mistakes, and that when false information was deliberately added it was usually corrected within minutes by zealous self-appointed editors, usually experts in their fields. And then of course there are the "vandals" who deliberately plant false and even libelous information just for fun. The comedian Stephen Colbert did just that for a hilarious skit on his television show.

The wikis mentioned in the articles on QL 2.0 site discussed the use of wikis as community networking tools. A wiki for this purpose was used at several ALA conferences to great success. I couldn't figure out how to access the podcasts listed in the information sources. The links led to a blog listing the different blogspots. Many of them sounded interesting, but there didn't seem to be any way to access or listen to the actual podcast. Wikis are apparently easy to set up and edit; the articles stress that they must have a focus and purpose. Shouldn't everything? One diagram illustrated how much more efficient they are in organizing communication in a community rather than the use of e-mails. Many of the wikis I ran across were for sharing resources for research and educational purposes, and some were focused on hobbies and particular interests.

One problem mentioned is that when anyone can add content, anyone can also edit and change another's writing. Most people find the idea of someone else "messing with" their writing offensive. And people often disagree on what "correct" content is.
Of all the wikis I ran across, the one I find most interesting and useful is Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. I'll definitely go back there.

Thing# 15: Thoughts on Library 2.0

The concept of Library 2.0 and Web 2.0, now ubiquitous buzz words, emerged in the last few years from new models of business and social networking. If I had realized the term "librarian 2.0" was so common I would have chosen a less generic title for this blog. The shift to a less centralized, more socially networked, user-friendly online environment is a natural outgrowth of a more interactive, less static, rapidly evolving web. I have to agree with those who write that the whole concept of what libraries should be and provide to the public is changing. Like it or not, we must adapt to the changing technological and social environment or risk becoming dinosaurs.

The digital delivery of information has completely transformed the way information is transmitted, received, and controlled. While we see ourselves as the protectors and curators of the written word, much like the Irish monks who protected and illuminated manuscripts during the Dark Ages, there is also a positive side to digital publishing. No book need ever go out of print. Most people do not realize that ever since the IRS ruling in the '80s that publisher's inventories of books be taxed, the vast majority of books published go out of print within a year. This need not be the case with new ways of storing and delivering information. Demand publishing can provide a copy of even the most obscure works--for a price, of course.

As information specialists and professionals we need to at least be familiar with e-books, podcasts, newsfeeds, etc. just to keep up. On the other hand, as many librarian bloggers have noted, just because we make the technology available and zealously promote it, the public at large has often not responded or shown any interest. Good theory does not necessarily work out in actual practice.

There has been so much written about Library 2.0 and the obvious next step--making the interface between user and information simpler, easier, and more user-friendly--we can hardly keep up. And just as we are learning what 2.0 means, right around the corner is Web 3.0 and Library 3.0. Just try googling "library 3.0" and see how many hits come up.

Thing #14 -- Technorati

One could spend days learning all the fine points of Technorati and still only scratch the surface. I've been using Bloglines to keep track of the blogs in this learning challenge, but now that I've seen Technorati I think I'll switch over. Not only will it keep track of the blogs I'm interested in and access a list of the most popular blogs, Technorati uses "Discovery", an extensive tagging system which streamlines the process of locating blogs and blog entries with the use of tags. It also keeps track of up-to-the-minute traffic and "hits" to each blog, which is how the "Top 100 Blogs" are chosen. I didn't register my own blog, but if someone wants to promote his or her blog and increase traffic, Technorati has a great system for doing so, also involving tagging. I started using tags in my earliest posts and then gave up. Now I'm really starting to see the value and importance of tagging--something I'll definitely have to spend more time on when this challenge is over.

A Librarian's Worst Nightmare

Today's Library Link of the Day is thought provoking article by Jacob Leibenluft, "A Librarian's Worst Nightmare: YAHOO! Answers, Where 120 Million Users Can Be Wrong." The article, posted to Slate on December 7th, notes that mighty Google is slipping, not just to second place, but to third. "According to the Web tracking company Hitwise, Yahoo! Answers is the second-most-visited education/reference site on the Internet after Wikipedia." And if you think Wikipedia is scary, wait until you read about the horrendous lack of accuracy and reliability of YAHOO! Answers. According to Leibenluft, not only is YAHOO!Answers helping students to cheat, it's helping them to cheat badly.

Thing #13: Tagging with Del.icio.us

Have you heard the one about the librarian who went to open a Del.icio.us account only to discover she already had one? Apparently I opened an account a couple of years ago but gave up and forgot about it when I couldn't figure out how to download the toolbar. The library computers won't accept the download and I got the mistaken impression that the toolbar needs to be downloaded on each computer the account will be accessed from. Wrong. Once I activated the toolbar on my computer at home I was able to access my account from ANY computer. What a big improvement over "favorites" and "bookmarks" that can only be accessed from the computer where they were saved!

Up until now I saved NY Times articles in my "saved" folder on their website, and sent others to a separate Google account I set up for that purpose. While each of these sites can be searched by keywords, this is still a less than ideal system. I really love the idea of a portable list of favorite sites and articles. It may not be possible to save every online article can to del.icio.us, but I plan to find out. The next step for me, and one of my biggest challenges, is to explore this tagging thing and organize and weed what I've saved. The other is resisting the urge to read EVERY article I run across. I'm a compulsive reader and time becomes meaningless as I jump from article to article and link to link. Just browsing the articles on the QL L2.0 Del.icio.us acount was so tempting hours went by like minutes. I do love seeing what others are reading, which is why I love going through the "Most E-mailed Articles" list on the NY Times site. I definitely plan to go back and explore Del.icio.us and organize and tag my own account.

Skipping to Thing # 20: You Tube

So I've made it through Thing #12, but am skipping ahead to Thing #20.

We've all had our fun with image generators. For Thing #10 Batgirl Was a Librarian posted a mashup of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues,a famous film clip from D.A. Pennebaker's 1965 documentary "Don't Look Back." She even questioned whether the 60's bard is still alive. Well, Dylan is not only still alive, he's once again in the public consciousness with the recent release of Tom Haynes' "I'm Not There." After seeing Haynes' homage to Dylan last weekend, I thought the following an appropriate response to Batgirl's Dylan video mashup:



Doesn't that just say it all? And all in palindromes.

Thing #12: Rolling Right Along with Rollyo

With Rollyo, anyone can make a personal "searchroll" of favorite websites or search engines for future one-stop searching. These searchrolls can then be accessed from any computer and either restricted for strictly personal viewing or made public so anyone can access them. Rollyo has an excellent search engine for finding new sites, example sites for generating ideas for new searchrolls, and a list of celebrity searchrolls, including those of Ariana Huffington and Debra Messing. There's even the search engine on string theory by physicist Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe. What a great way for any researcher to compile search tools and information on a particular topic.

After browsing through some of the top-ranked searchrolls, I started a "private" one on a medical topic. Then inspired by the You Tube exercise, I began a public searchroll on "Online Video Sites" with 10 listings. Academics and researchers could really make use of Rollyo for making comprehensive webliographies. And of course it could also be an invaluable organizational tool for library professionals. I definitely give Rollyo a big thumbs up.

Thing #11: It's All about the Merchandising

LibraryThing is a tool for cataloging the user's library (lots of data entry here), for connecting with people who share the same taste in books, and for generating hype about books. While the user is supposed to be able to add the book by entering its title or author, it only works if you enter the book's ISBN #. Once entered, a nice little picture of the book jacket and a ranking of the # of people who have added or reviewed the book appear. You can add tags, reviews, etc., and search for people and libraries who share your taste in books. There are a lot of little fun features, but my favorite is the "widget" montage of covers of "Random Books in My Library." Very pretty. It's also an easy way to get small color copies of book covers for displays. I used to use Amazon for this, but they blocked the feature a few years ago, supposedly for copyright reasons.

My first question was: should I add the books I've read, the books I own, or the books I've read and own? Or I could draw a Venn diagram of where the "owned" and "read" books intersect. Oh, Hell. I finally just decided to add books I read and liked relatively recently. First problem: only books that are in print and on sale on Amazon will appear. If you click on the book cover, you will be sent to the Amazon page where you can purchase it. No surprise here. The site's owner, Tim Spalding, openly gloats in two separate places that he hopes to make a ton of money from the site, including an aside to Amazon Associates. Apparently he gets 5% of each sale directed to Amazon from LibraryThing. Pretty cool idea to make a buck, especially as a lot of people seem to love it. In fact, there is a huge "Buzz" page of accolades. I especially liked one comment that LibraryThing is "both entrancing and evil." According to the site's owner, "If the buzz page doesn't convince you, you cannot be convinced. Go away."

In short, this site is cute and fun and a clever idea for those with a lot of time on their hands, especially for Spalding, the wannabe-millionaire who developed it. For those in the book biz, it's a great marketing analysis, merchandising, and advertising tool. Not only is web 2.0 changing the way we interact with one another, it's creating whole new business models. This guy may just be onto something here.

At Long Last, Play Time

I never thought I'd make it this far, but I have to admit it was a lot of fun playing with the online image generators. First I tried some of the suggested image generators. According to Chinese Name Generator, this is my name in Chinese. Who knows. I guess I'll have to take their word for it.

Next I moved on to the Custom Neon Sign Generator. At a loss for "custom text" I entered "Abandon hope all we enter here" as a test. This turned out to be way too long for all the neon sign templates. Here's one of Santa I found only mildly amusing But then an article in Sunday's Newsday reported a grassroots movement in Australia encouraging Santas to change the traditional "ho ho ho" to "ha ha ha" for obvious reasons. Suddenly the sign took on new meaning.

Still a little disappointed in this exercise, I searched for "image generators" on Google. Whoa! One could spend an entire lifetime playing with these babies. My favorites were from txt 2 pic. This looks like the motherlode of image generators and has tons of links to others. While I did have some nagging suspicions before this exercise that those hilarious billboards and signs circulating on the Internet might be faked, I really wanted to believe they were real. Now I feel so naive. First there's no Tooth Fairy, then no Easter Bunny or Santa and now we can't even trust pictures from the Internet!?! My innocence has been crushed.

Anyway, I chose the "comics" generator and finally found my favorite:

I couldn't figure out how to change the title.

And that's all folks, at least for tonight. Tomorrow, it's on to Library Thing.

Thing 9 -- Fishing for Feeds

Woo-ha! After a (half) night's sleep and a helpful hint from Sharon, I saw why I was having trouble loading blogs to Bloglines. The first newsfeeds I subscribed to were easier to load because they came straight from Bloglines' lists of suggested feeds. But the blogs required one additional step. After entering their URLS and clicking on "subscribe," I had neglected to scroll a little further down the page and click on yet another "subscribe" button. Voila! One more simple step and there was no problem adding blogs to my list of newsfeeds. So now I am able to download the active blogs from this project, making life easier.

I spent a lot more time on Bloglines, which suddenly seemed friendlier once we got to know one another better. I added more searches on personal and medical topics, which I stored in "private" folders. Many of the new feeds I found on Topix.net. Feedster was offline all day. Syndic8 and Technorati seemed less user-friendly, but maybe it's because I'm getting more used to Bloglines now. Technorati's running feed of news stories was distracting, but I was impressed by the way it rated each feed for authority. I wonder how they came up with their formula for this rating. Most of the feeds I found through these sources I saved on my Bloglines account. I think we're going to get to know one another a lot better. Before I never noticed the little icon, but now it seems to be everywhere. I don't think the problem now will be finding feeds but weeding and organizing them.

RSS Feeds & Newsreaders: Too Much Information?

Before opening a Bloglines account I was very ambivalent about having more information pushed at me. While I have always felt anything worth doing is worth overdoing, my piles of books and magazines, some read, some unread, attest that yes, there is such a thing as too much. I have now reached the stage where the realization has set in that life is finite. There are only so many books one can read in a lifetime; only so much one can accomplish. We are battered today with too much unsolicited, unnecessary information--real time and attention thieves. I'm weeding my life and can no longer be bothered with anything or anyone that wastes my time. So here I am, signing up for more accounts which will generate more information than I can possibly read. But I'm curious and open-minded. Live and learn.

Thing 8 challenges us to open a Bloglines account which uses "push technology" to deliver huge batches of news articles, blog postings, etc. I had visions of being buried under a virtual mountain of information I would never miss if it were not stuck under my nose. I watched all the links and tutorials on the QLL blog and opened my very own Bloglines account to which I added 14 different newsfeeds. These I found by browsing through the Bloglines linked list for Top 200 feeds. In fact, this list was so fascinating that if I hadn't reined myself in I would have ended up with many more. I also did a search on a medical topic which turned up far more results than any Google or medical database adn which I was able to mark "private." So Bloglines seems to be a useful tool for searching blogs and the best part is that the user can customize it.

What I had hoped to do with Bloglines was download the blogs of all the still-active participants in this QL 2.0 challenge to simplify keeping abreast of new postings on others' blogs and compare their discoveries and progress. But after entering the URL of half the blogs on the list according to Blogline's instructions, I was disappointed and frustrated to find that none of them appeared in my feeds. I still don't understand where the concept of "feed" comes in, because the only way I can see to access these feeds is by clicking on each of their links on my Bloglines page. I would just as soon make a linked list of favorite sites myself and go to each individual news site and digital publication on my own. The homepage has far more instructions after 1-3, and my guess is that they might answer these questions. It also has quite a lot of interesting links. Bloglines is consistently rated one of the best sites on the web, so I'm pretty sure I'm just not "getting it" yet, but I will go back when time and patience allow more exploring.

After the many hours spent familiarizing myself with Bloglines, I must have not had my ration of frustration, because I decided to try Google Reader, too. At first the interface seemed easier, but it, too,would only accept a couple of blogs. My guess is that these bloggers had somehow made their blogs RSS feed-ready. I was able to put the blogs I had successfully linked in a "Blogs" folder where they could be easily accessed. But all of this information ends up on a special Google/ig homepage which automatically updates on the desk top. Talk about clutter and distraction! I'm afraid this is going to drastically slow down my computer, which is what happened when I downloaded the Google Toolbar last year. Now if I can only figure out how to delete it.

Once whipped into submission, RSS & newsfeeds should be a big step-up in organizing favorites, bookmarks, recommended sites, and search results. The big advantage is that this information is not just available on one computer, like traditional favorites, but one's account can be accessed from any computer.I forget where I read it, (there were s-o-o-o-o-o many tutorials and links on the subject) but some computer guru was quoted as saying there are two types of Internet users: those that who use RSS feeds and those who don't. That made me think twice. I will definitely go back and take another look.

Caveat for Bloggers (Thing 7, Part 2)

Have you ever clicked on a link to an article or cartoon only to find that the content has been changed by the site host? Irritating, yes? On Thanksgiving Eve I was so relaxed and happy about finally being able to post pictures and HTML links to this blog that I added a link to a silly little Thanksgiving Hangman game. Imagine my shock and surprise today to discover that it has morphed into a Christmas Hangman game! The Noive! I feel downright grinchy about being pushed into the season. And it looks damn silly to have a Christmas game above my Thanksgiving greetings. Then to add techno-insult to techno-insult, I checked out a Latin translation site to find a suitable Latin-like word for "bloggers" and what I got back was the worst, totally bogus, pseudo-Latin. Fraud on the Internet! Okay, it was free, but (shocker!) you can't trust most of these sites. Digitus impudicus to all e-phonies!

The Living Web

The more I learn about the Wild Wide Web, the more I realize how unfathomably large it is, growing like a wildfire out of control. No one is in charge; it has a life of its own.

Linear communication and learning are dead or dying. While there are obvious advantages to the multi-dimensional approach the web provides, it is too easy to lose one's way. Who hasn't sat down at a computer for a few minutes only to discover that hours have elapsed. The experience can be rather like having ADD. In the meantime, the degree of separation between each human being shrinks and we become even more closely linked, like cells in a giant organism.

Way back in December 2000, George Johnson wrote in The New York Times about web growth in First Cells, Then Species, Now the Web. He reported on the flurry of research and papers from scientists who have watched the Internet grow and proliferate like a living organism, concluding that "it may be designed according to the same rules that nature uses to spin webs of its own. The networks of molecules in a cell, of species in an ecosystem, and of people in a social group may be woven on the same mathematical loom as the Internet and the World Wide Web." The body of information and connections out there are so huge no one can hope to absorb even a fraction. So we become more and more specialized, just like individual cells in a living organism.

One of my library school professors laughed that librarians are "professional dilettantes." At the time I liked the description because in our profession we learn new things every day. But there is also the negative connotation of "dilettante," an implication of shallowness, a lack of depth of knowledge of any particular subject. We try to learn everything we can about what is new and available on the web, but in the end we have to choose what is most useful in our lives. It is ultimately more desirable and satisfying, I feel, to know a few subjects well than to dabble in everything that comes our way. After all, life is short. So we learn what we can about what's out there, choose what we want, and then leave the rest behind.

Surfacing for Air

Now that I've made a few breakthroughs, it's time to take a few deep breaths and see how far I've come. Thing 1 and Thing 2 were freebies, if a bit more trouble for The Cat in the Hat. After much consternation and frustration, I have finally set up and registered my blog, which takes care of Thing 3 and Thing 4.

Flickr interested me long before this learning challenge and I signed up for an account when I bought my latest digital camera. While I only recently learned how to upload photos to Flickr, I have discovered there is a lot more to this site than just storing and displaying photos. I had no idea there are so many applications, especially from third party sites, and never thought of it as a social networking tool. Like many, I played with the Flickr spelling tool, and toyed with the photo montages and mashups. I can see how many people find these (trading cards, moo cards, etc.)fun, but they take up a lot of time and I would much rather spend my time learning to use Flickr in more depth for storing and displaying photos, which is my plan for the near future. So that takes care of Thing 5 and Thing 6. Thing 7 can wait until tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

I think I'm finally getting the hang of downloading links with the help of a little HTML. Cheers!

Do Not Set Self on Fire

Do not set self on fire
Originally uploaded by Jonas B

Eureka! After weeks of driving myself crazy over not being able to post a photo to this blog, finally, success! I read the Blogger FAQs. I watched the tutorials. I bought and consulted books on Blogger and Flickr. Still, no photo. And then, Dear Reader, I asked Sharon Kugler, librarian extraordinaire, who quickly and calmly pointed out the apparently simple path to posting pictures. It wasn't rocket science after all! Rethinking the habits of lifelong learners, I have to admit my biggest obstacle to learning new things, especially involving technology, is making the task more difficult than it needs to be. I feel I need to know everything about a subject before trying it, instead of just jumping in and learning the fine points later. Then information overload becomes a mental block. Well, I am indescribably relieved at finally making it over this wall. Thanks, Sharon!

Response to 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners

Hmmmm. Of all the habits in the tutorial, I think the one I am best at is # 7 1/2:

PLAY!

The fun of learning a new skill is a great motivator. I feel confident because I have have always been a rabid reader with an irrepressible curiosity. When we stop learning, we stop growing. What I am finding most difficult right now is the two-edged sword of technology. While technology is the crux of this learning challenge and arguably the most crucial and rapidly-changing area in modern life, for me it is also the most frustrating area I've encountered since high school chemistry. And much more time-consuming. It's hard to view these frequent frustrations as challenges, but it is exhilarating when I finally figure something out by myself. At this point I don't feel confident that I'll finish the 23 1/2 things before the December deadline, but each one down is a victory.

So is it play time yet?

Mama's Got a Brand New Blog

Now what to do with it? It seems almost everyone has a blog nowadays, but too many are blah blah blogging monologues. Will dialogues go the way of the dinosaurs? Will we all huddle alone around our flickering monitors, talking at the world from virtual soapboxes? Surely humanity doesn't need another mememememe blog. The best blogs are focused, but right now I can't think of much to write that I don't mind the whole world being able to read. But like it or not, technology-driven change is here to stay, transforming how we relate to each other. And it's growing at an exponential rate. This 23 1/2 things learning challenge is a great opportunity for non-techie newbies like me to keep reasonably up-to-date. So with a nudge from QL Learning, I'm taking the plunge and will do my damnedest to stay afloat. Sure beats drowning.