Thursday, February 15, 2007
more on Rollyo...
So I went to look at my searchroll again to try to improve it but realized that there was a little helpful hint telling me to enter top-level domains only. So, I took out the one that was on geocities. Some of the others might not be so relevant any more either. Oh well. I can see the value in Rollyo and will try to continue using it.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Thing 12 - Rollyo
The public domain eBooks search was very cool. I searched for Romeo and Juliet and found the Oxford Shakespeare full text of the play. This type of resourse could be very helpful in those situations where a student needs to read something right now but all copies are checked out. Of course, it would have to be in the public domain. I also tried searching for Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales" because last year right before Christmas a customer came in looking for the audio version of the poem. We couldn't find it on the shelf, but then my esteemed supervisor said - "Isn't that in the public domain? You can find it online!" and we did, and you can too, at this site, but it doesn't come up in a search on the Rollyo search. Maybe if you knew the name of a book the poem appeared in? but maybe not?
I created a custom search in Rollyo to look for storytime ideas. Unfortunately, one of the sites I added is on geocities, and it appears that my search is searching the entire geocities site. hmmph. Anyway, I have added it to my blog sidebar thing. Over there ->
I created a custom search in Rollyo to look for storytime ideas. Unfortunately, one of the sites I added is on geocities, and it appears that my search is searching the entire geocities site. hmmph. Anyway, I have added it to my blog sidebar thing. Over there ->
Thing 11 - Web 2.0 awards
Web 2.0 awards thing...
I looked at several of the sites on the list of award winners. I think that YouSendIt could be really useful - it lets you send and receive large electronic files. There's a free version that allows you to send a file of up to 100 MB with up to 100 downloads. The file remains on the site for 7 days, so your recipients have a few days to get to it. The business versions range from $5 to $30 per month - not terribly expensive for file size up to 2 GB with 200-500 downloads. I can see a value in this type of service for photos, videos, slide shows, or anything else that takes up a lot of space but you want a lot of people to see. I could see that this would be a good way for library customers to share files on public access PCs - especially for customers that don't have a portable storage device (ie, flash drive) and for whom a floppy disk's capacity is too small.
Being a good American, I also liked the retail sites. Etsy is neat-o with cool handmade items to buy (and also sell). I like the colors page; you can click on any color and the site will find items for you that are that color. Instant shopping!
tags: Web 2.0 awards
etsy, YouSendIt
I looked at several of the sites on the list of award winners. I think that YouSendIt could be really useful - it lets you send and receive large electronic files. There's a free version that allows you to send a file of up to 100 MB with up to 100 downloads. The file remains on the site for 7 days, so your recipients have a few days to get to it. The business versions range from $5 to $30 per month - not terribly expensive for file size up to 2 GB with 200-500 downloads. I can see a value in this type of service for photos, videos, slide shows, or anything else that takes up a lot of space but you want a lot of people to see. I could see that this would be a good way for library customers to share files on public access PCs - especially for customers that don't have a portable storage device (ie, flash drive) and for whom a floppy disk's capacity is too small.
Being a good American, I also liked the retail sites. Etsy is neat-o with cool handmade items to buy (and also sell). I like the colors page; you can click on any color and the site will find items for you that are that color. Instant shopping!
tags: Web 2.0 awards
etsy, YouSendIt
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Thing 10 - Image Generators
The image generator thing...
I spent a lot of time playing on The Generator Blog and found all kinds of crazy things. I liked the Error Message Generator where I created this image:
tags: image generators
I spent a lot of time playing on The Generator Blog and found all kinds of crazy things. I liked the Error Message Generator where I created this image:
I couldn't really think of anything creative to say so I just did the know-it-all librarian kind of message.
I also like the "loading" icons like this one I created on ajaxload:
The glitterizer was cool too - they have like thousands of different glitter styles that you can use to jazz up your text. I chose the rainbow glitter, of course ;)
Blogthings has tons of cool things you can put on your blog. Here's my results for The Quick and Dirty Career Test.
Your Career Personality: Idealistic, Service-Oriented, and Future-Oriented |
 Your Ideal Careers: Alternative health practitioner Architect Environmental lawyer Librarian Magazine editor Museum curator Novelist Nutritionist Photo journalist Playwright |
It's nice to know I chose the right career, but it's also comforting to know that I may have a future as and "alternative health practitioner."
tags: image generators
Monday, February 5, 2007
Thing 9 - Library related blogs
The library RSS thing...
I've been looking at lots of blogs, websites and searches. It can be overwhelming to see all the stuff that's out there. One think that is very surprising to me is when you see the number of people subscribed to the feeds. I find it strange that there are only 18 subscribers to the feed for KQED's "forum with Michael Krasny" show. If you listen to the show, people call in from all over the bay area and beyond - wouldn't they want to see the feed too? Then again, I just subscribed to the feed today, though I've been listening to the show for a long time.
The search tools are good, but I couldn't really think of things to search on. I think that if there was a subject I was particularly interested in I would be able to find plenty of blogs to subscribe to, though. I really like that when I'm looking at a web site I can find the little RSS icon and just add it to my blog roll - I will probably be doing that more now.
tag: rss
I've been looking at lots of blogs, websites and searches. It can be overwhelming to see all the stuff that's out there. One think that is very surprising to me is when you see the number of people subscribed to the feeds. I find it strange that there are only 18 subscribers to the feed for KQED's "forum with Michael Krasny" show. If you listen to the show, people call in from all over the bay area and beyond - wouldn't they want to see the feed too? Then again, I just subscribed to the feed today, though I've been listening to the show for a long time.
The search tools are good, but I couldn't really think of things to search on. I think that if there was a subject I was particularly interested in I would be able to find plenty of blogs to subscribe to, though. I really like that when I'm looking at a web site I can find the little RSS icon and just add it to my blog roll - I will probably be doing that more now.
tag: rss
Thing 8 - Bloglines
The RSS thing...
I had a bloglines account already but was hardly ever using it - it's good to get back into it because it can make my life so much easier. I added a bunch of learning 2.0 blogs to my roll as well as a few other sites that I like. I'd like to spend more time exploring other blogs to find cool ones to add. Hopefully other learning 2.0 people will share their blog rolls and then I can steal their good ideas. Check out Gordola's Bloglines to see if you want to add any of mine to yours.
I am hoping that soon we will have RSS available on the SJLibrary website and catalog. We could use it for events postings, library news, new book alerts, account notices and other cool things. The library Elf site that Helene Blowers mentioned in the podcast makes a great case for libraries and RSS becasue it is already using available technology to keep library customers up to date on their checkouts and holds. One problem I have with this site is that they seem to have every library in the country on their List of Libraries but only a few of them don't say "beta" next to their name. So, has anyone out there tried this service yet? I would sign up with my Santa Clara County library card, but I almost never check out anything so it really wouldn't be worthwhile. Please comment if you have used library Elf.
tags: rss, blog roll, library elf
I had a bloglines account already but was hardly ever using it - it's good to get back into it because it can make my life so much easier. I added a bunch of learning 2.0 blogs to my roll as well as a few other sites that I like. I'd like to spend more time exploring other blogs to find cool ones to add. Hopefully other learning 2.0 people will share their blog rolls and then I can steal their good ideas. Check out Gordola's Bloglines to see if you want to add any of mine to yours.
I am hoping that soon we will have RSS available on the SJLibrary website and catalog. We could use it for events postings, library news, new book alerts, account notices and other cool things. The library Elf site that Helene Blowers mentioned in the podcast makes a great case for libraries and RSS becasue it is already using available technology to keep library customers up to date on their checkouts and holds. One problem I have with this site is that they seem to have every library in the country on their List of Libraries but only a few of them don't say "beta" next to their name. So, has anyone out there tried this service yet? I would sign up with my Santa Clara County library card, but I almost never check out anything so it really wouldn't be worthwhile. Please comment if you have used library Elf.
tags: rss, blog roll, library elf
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
