Week 10, Thing 20

Phew. There were some massive technical problems with the computer not wanting to stay connected to the Internet- but now I am up and running. I explored the Visual Arts winners on the Awards List. Color Palette would be of use for a graphic designer or someone who did a lot of virtual color mixing. Swivel is a great site for getting visuals of the news in graph and chart form. There is an option to upload your own chart, but alas, my computer was having technical problems whenever I tried to enter one of the Award sites, so I was not able to create an online chart. TheBroth.com is a great site for virtual artists. There are some great (and not so great) images in the gallery. There are also graphic deign contests to enter. All in all these sites may be useful for graphics for library programs, but I don't see myself using them as much as tools like Flickr and MashUps.

Week 10, Thing 19

Google Docs are pretty much the same as any word document, with the Google Docs exception being that it can be shared online automatically without having to be e-mailed as an attachment. It's very convenient. I was not able to find a column feature though with the Google Docs, it would have been helpful to have it. Google Docs would be a great way for the board of trustees and myself to work on agendas before meetings, so we know what we will be focusing on and come prepared.

The slide show feature is also very similar to power point. I put together a very short presentation of Jamaica Memorial Library. Click the link below to see it.

Week 9, Thing 18

Wikis are so convenient and easy to update- I love the edit feature. I recently just finished a web design class, and the process for correcting typos was so much more complicated that correcting typos and rewriting in wikis. My favorite wiki format was the wet paint design. it seemed much clearer in layout. The Mediawiki format drove me a little crazy because the "Save Page" option was at the bottom of the page and not at the top with the other tools.

Week 9, Thing 17

Wikis are not technology that I was not very familiar with beofre this week. Although I had used Wikipedia before, so many of the instructors I have had demand that Wikipedia not be used at all, I really have not made use of these resources. Individual or group wikis allow people to create online pages without having to know web design- which is helpful. The library related wikis I looked at were all interesting, and definitely more convenient to update than a web page. I also like the option to have editing options blocked to non registered users.
I think a wiki lends itself especially well to topics such as book reviews and recommended reading, as well as being able to plan and organize library events. These information pieces are suited to personal opinion. The drawbacks to wikis are the potential for errors in information. As the New York Times article pointed out, false information is often posted either through error or intentionally. Wikis may be a helpful starting place in learning more about a topic, however everyone, librarians and patrons alike, need to understand that the information on a wiki is not necessarily from an expert and may be subject to errors. Thus, follow-up reading is necessary to determine if the wiki information is accurate.

Week 8, Thing 16

It was interesting to read through the Five Perspectives on Library 2.0. Rick Anderson's Away from the "Icebergs" discussion of library's "just in case collections" resonated with me. Trying to determine what resources patrons need is difficult especially when factoring what resources can be found on the web. Anderson also pointed out that libraries need to move from a "come to us" model of service to one where resources are brought to the patrons. I think it is also important to recognize if the library service population is prepared for this. In the area of Jamaica most residents still do not have access to high speed Internet service, so if they want anything other than dial-up they still do have to come to the library (or the Wi-Fi coffee shop).
I also thought Wendy Schultz's To a Temporary Place In Time . . . made some interesting points about how library service will continue to evolve and old models will be "absorbed" into the new models. One of the concerns I have with technology being used exclusively in a library collection is the problems it can encounter. Maybe this is because I have seen more than my share of power outages, but I also am concerned with the escalating cost of electronic information services. Not only the cost to purchase the service but in upgrades, and additional costs to access back issues and send articles as interlibrary loan materials as well as costs for allowing more than one concurrent users at a time. Corporations are controlling more and more of what libraries can afford to access. So I would add my own perspective to Ms. Schultz's, by stating that libraries need to not only implement online resources but also play a major role in influencing corporations to make that information affordable and accessible.

Week 8, Thing 15

Technorati has such a huge amount of information. It's amazing how many blogs are out there. I enjoyed the options of images, videos, blogs and posts tabs in the search options. There are some great garden photos and community garden information.
When I did the same search for community gardens in Google, I did find more nationally recognized organizations- maybe they just have not caught on to how useful blogs are. I had no idea the Google also had a separate blog search engine. When I searched for community gardens in the Google Blog Search, the results were very similar to the Technorati search.
With the Technorati advanced search feature I was able to search for my blog and search in my posts- although it seems the post searches only seem to search the post titles and not the entire post.

Week 8, Thing 14

Del.icio.us is a great tool. I tend to be a bookmarker anyway, so it's great to have a way to organize what I have bookmarked by notes and tags. It is very interesting to see how many other users have used De.icio.us to bookmark the same sites I have. For example, 121 other people have bookmarked the Internet Public Library while 3,600 have bookmarked the National Geographic website.