Week 4-Tastespotting!

When I saw this week's exercise, I thought, Yummo, another site to add to my favourite-food-sites folder! And what a SITE for sore eyes too! :) The first thing that jumped up at me was the photo gallery. Two thumbs up from me...  Visual potluck is truly an appropriate name for this site! It's probably one of the most visually appealling food sites I have seen in recent times...

I like how they describe themselves:

Founded in January 2007 on the idea that we eat first with our eyes, TasteSpotting is our obsessive, compulsive collection of eye-catching images that link to something deliciously interesting on the other side. Think of TasteSpotting as a highly visual potluck of recipes, references, experiences, stories, articles, products, and anything else that inspires exquisite taste.

A photo which caught my eye (so hard to choose!!) was one with mushrooms in it, which are one of my all time favourite food. Turns out they are having a Musroom masters Tournament of Taste, where readers get to vote on their favourite mushroom recipe, submitted by foodie bloggers worldwide.

 I voted for the mushroom empanatas and can't wait to go home and try it out!! Yummmmmm....

Alas I didnt' heed Tosca's dire warning - eat before you proceed! And I am thus experiencing increased gastric secretions which make the 30 min wait for lunch all the more painful!

Thanks for this fun foray into food... :) And who knows, it could be useful to customers too! Like the other day when a customer and I were discussing the different ways of cooking salmon! I could direct her to this website in future!

Bon Apetit...

Wk 3- Feed My Inbox

When I approached this week's tutorial, Thoreau's (I think it's by him!) oft quoted phrase "simplify, simplify" came to mind... I have RSS feeds and I subscribe to some blogs and sites by signing up, but this is easy and streamlines the whole process, without having to enter my details automatically.

Yes I would recommend this to customers as it's simple and easy to use. One can bookmark FeedMy Inbox so that adding feeds can be done with a simple touch of the button, although I wonder how that would work for public or our workroom computers?? If so, it would be great to track interesting library sites and blogs... The free subscription gives you 5 feeds, which I think is enough for most people. I struggle with information overload as it is!!

My only fear now is that should I subscribe to even MORE stuff, it will be all that much harder to clear out my inbox!! (might start with the emails from 2 years ago!!! :P)

Week 2 PicApp

So.... I am still waiting for the PicApp application to look for my rather obscure keyword search... Umm, maybe I should try something more "normal" like "cat"...So when I type "cats" most of the images are cat scans! :P The first animal photo I encounter is that of a close up of a cat's mite infested ear! .. Go figure!

I finally found an image that I like... It's of 2 friends hanging out at the library. 

It is interesting to read the About Us bit of the PiccApp website...And I quote:

Picapp is all about more opportunities and choices:
Where You-- the publisher get access to millions of premium, legal images, updated by the minute and can use them in your posts- for free!
Where You-- content owner enjoys this innovative yet monitored distribution channel to reach new users and increase revenue
Where You-- advertiser reaches targeted, well segmented audience and access to premium ad inventory
A true Win-Win.

It could be a great resource for Manukau libraries to draw on for our websites and blogs and stuff. And to attract a specific customer base, cos the photos supposed to have "the right meta-data to assist search engines index the images and your posts better".
 
 If you are looking for something basic and simple, it is that, just a copy and paste type of thing. One frustrating thing is that I can't format it the way I want, can't do text wrapping on Blogger. Maybe if I was using Wordpress I would have more freedom with photo placement etc? I also had trouble with browsing the site, it was going rather slowly and subsequent pages of pix refused to load, which made me tempted to give up altogether!!

So it was a bit of a mixed bag for me... I lik the free and legal aspects of it, but I lament that the formatting options are limited (maybe it's just my blog?) and that the site tendeth towards lethargy! (sooooooooo sloooooooooww!) So am not sure I will recommend it to that many people to be honest!

"Box" it!

Box is cool... I like it. I like how we can not only share but also work on documents as a team, how simple and easy it is to use. I also like the OpenBox Applications that allow me to share my files easily, by Facebook, gmail etc.

I have just created a folder and invited 3 colleagues to contribute to planning for an upcoming Library week event! Let's see how that goes!!

The only thing I am wary about is the security of my files, although if you opt for the paying subscriptions, system security is higher.

And yes I would promote this to customers, cos many of them ask about saving their files, and we usually say email the doc to yourself! Cos it's 100% portability (assuming internet access is available!)


I would rate Box 8 out of 10!

Summary of Web 2.0

This has been a good exercise, as I am a rather incidental stumble-onto-it learner when it comes to the Web and IT stuff, and it has been good having to go through the structured exercises, exploring some things deeper, learning new information and reflecting on how these things impact our work, or orgnisation and our lives.

Looking forward to the next round!

Facebooked

I started using FB about 2 years ago, and would consider myself a heavy user. Having many family and friends overseas was the main reason why I chose to link up. It has been awesome how we can stay in touch in fun, frivolous and fabulous ways, from virtual pokes, to sending flowers to private messaging. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to do social networking. I do set my security settings quite high, and I do have a list of limited profile friends... cos I don't want every other acquaintance of mine to be privy to what I am up to.

And yes I have joined the Manukau Libraries page and do (from time to time!) read Tosca's posts! I think FB is a great way to share information and generate interest, as you have overlapping networks and someone who finds a post interesting will share it with their networks and eventually you do get a lot of coverage. I think it's quite cool how it happens.

I have also joined the Singapore public library page, as it was my first home and, along with sensible parents,  responsible for this incurable desire to read and read and read... !

Most of our customers are of the Bebo or Myspace fraternity, but more are starting to use FB. So havn't really had any asking about it, more about whether accessing it is free or not! Well I do sell the benefits of FB that way as opposed to a gold coin for Bebo! :)

Some of my pet peeves about FB are the endless requests to join people in saving the world, or tending their garden, or signing up for cause after endless cause. I find the latter quite annoyiing as I feel if you really wanted to stand up for something, you should be doing more than just clicking a button and adding your name to a list. Having said that, I have been highly informed, educated humoured and moved by many of the posts, links, quotes and status updates  and that I receive.

So I hope FB will stay around for a long time to come...

Music music music!!

Hey hey hey... so here we are at one of my favourite topics!

I use different MP3 sites from time to time. Mostly I search by song, so I end up with whichever site that has the song I want.

I chose Amiestreet and when I went to the site, I encountered my first problem. The brower is not "Modern" enough, so the message that pops up says! So IE 6 is ancient already... hmmm maybe I should hv done this one at home on my Mozilla Firefox!

Anyway... I thought the site was easy enough to navigate and use. I think the net savvy customers we have at our branch would have no problem with it. Only frustration was how SLOW it was, but it was prob due to the browser not being "modern" enough! Will explore it more at home...
Just had a thought which Tosca n co might already have thought of! Can we put these links in the Favourites of the Learnnet web browsers? :)

The Blogger returns...

So.. I dropped out of Web 2.0 Blahhh! So much enthusiasm, too little time... what can I say? :P

But here I am, back again, having got my second wind, like the proverbial pheonix rising from the ashes.. NOT! To be honest it's cos I have more time to actually do this stuff at work now, rather than trying to fit it in at home whilst watching Bones or something...

Anyway... I was supposed to comment about how to use Goodreads.com as a Reader's Advisory tool....

If a customer was interested in reading something new, I would introduce them to the search function, which I like cos it provides a visual of the book cover, which I personally think is very important to getting the customer interested. It also has tabs to other related search results, so you get good value for money! For example, if you search for Babara Kingsolver, you not only come up with the books she has written, but quotes attributed to herm, articles and stories which mention her, and of course Trivia questions to answer!

Popular Lists are another good one to browse. Cos they are fun in of themselves to browse! With titles  like "Romance in Books that are longer than 300 pages" or "REALLY Underrated books" wouldn't you just want to take a peek? And if one is really bored you can answer never ending trivia questions!

Customers can also create a reading profile, link up with like minded souls, do reviews, rate books ad nauseum etc etc!

With so much to see and do, why wouldn't we introduce our customers to this site?! :)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzamzar!

OK I know this is old news, BUT I just (as in 2 minutes ago) introduced Zamzar to a customer and they were CHUFFED! They converted their MS works doc to a MS doc in a matter of seconds!

So yay for Zamzar!

Goodbooks!

A short post, to say this website is addictive!

Got a bit carried away with answering trivia questions! But would love to spend more time exploring it... all in the name of professinoal development.. Ha! Have to spend a bit more time on the social networking part of it...

btw I realise I am about a week behind on the blogging... blame it on my ear infection blaaah! Will have to catch up now!

How tweet... err...

I signed up for Twitter a few months ago, but only posted my first tweet yesterday... about me being at home sick.. bleaahh!

Twitter is an interesting and quick way to share information and stay in touch. Historically as I understand it, twitter is about microblogging and social networking, and mostly used by people through text messaging. (haven't signed up for that.. yet!!  Or added the app. that allows me to repost my Facebook status updates as tweets! ) So after I blog about twitter,  should I tweet about my blog?!

Interesting to consider how Twitter has changed our view of the public/private sphere. Now it's OK, even desirable, to inform the entire www (read whoever is following you, and yes, I have Followers!!) that you are having a dull morning, you just burnt your toast, or your goldfish died or whatever... just because! Random info for randomness sake??

But hang on guys....  do we really want others to know what we are doing, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day?? I am not sure I want to all the time... And are we REALLY staying "in touch" with each other by tweeting? And how the heck do you know that the tweet you are reading from your mate is REALLY from your mate? Do applications like twitter make us more, or less human? Interesting questions...

Having said that I m open to exploring it more, and especially following tweets of interest.

I leave you with an amusing Twitter video... Enjoy!

What's in a name... Zamzar??

OK so I was supposed to write about how awesome Zamzar is in my 2nd post, but decided to run with another thought...

SO... here is the Zamzar post:


I think Zamzar is a great tool. It's easy to use, you can convert up to 1 Gb for free, you can sign up for a generously sized mailbox etc etc.. And works fine with the more superior and sophisticated  Mac OS X platforms like mine (am I in danger of starting a PC vs Mac argument here?!) cos it's web based.

Will definitely use it next time we get a docx file on certain PCs with older versions of Office on them!

What I thought was MORE interesting is

•  the LISTwhich Zamzar ended up on, for being the 6th worst application name!
• the name Zamzar has a literary connection. (Virtual) Chocolate fish to the person who can tell me what it is? (hint: think short story by Bohemian existentialist author,  or just click HERE if you give up!)

So that's my thoughts on Zamzar...

Pairing up people with books - how hard should we try??

Yesterday I went to the Bestsellers course which is a Reader's Advisory service that is "supposed" to be core to what libraries do. There were many elements that I enjoyed about the whole thing, but what got me quite excited was that a key factor in the whole process of reader's advisory is in knowing and listening to the customer. This is interesting to me personally because one of the other hats I wear is as a music therapist and over the years I have done a lot of listening to people and their music, intuiting their unspoken thoughts and feelings, and providing a way forward. What I do now may seem quite different in form, but in essence it is very much the same: listening, discerning and recommending a solution.  After the session my head was buzzing with 1) all the books that I want to read, having discovered some really cool websites  2) ideas and inspiration on how we can develop this aspect of our service to our people at our dear little branch, and bring back the focus to  BOOKS

From what I know about my branch in my short 6 months or so of being there, getting a book into the hands of many of our customers is challenging enough. We have resorted to bribing getting kids to tell us verbal book reviews in exchange for bookbags, new cards etc!Interesting it has worked with some.

I think of a teenager who recently declared to me that he was not interested in anything (except hopping on Learnnet to do gaming of course!!) and so wouldn't bother to pick up a book. If I may venture, the subtext in his statement might be "I can't read very well, what's the use of trying, I won't understand it anyway". So what can we do? What can I do? Is it our problem that he can't read, won't read? I don't know.  Should we not put more thought into encouraging more reading programmes among our young people who never had significant adults read to them, never discovered the right book for them, never experienced the joy of reading?


I believe libraries are mainly about people and helping to meet their needs. (ok, sweeping statement by an Idealist!) It's not just about collections and processes, and maybe that is why I like this job so much. I am reminded again of Stephanie Johnson's recent talk at the library big day out, that a library is there for the people. Perhaps we have let down our customers when we have failed to introduce them to this wonderful wonderful world of books and reading and information that we are so in love with ourselves.

But I really can only speak for myself. I am determined to find ways and means to get the right book into the hands of my aforementioned teenager. So watch this space!

ps.  try THIS site (if you haven't already done so) for a new way to choose a book.

OK, blog time...

So.. this is the 3rd or 4th blog that I have attempted to start up... and hey it's actually a WORK one! So I can have fun and map my mind on virtual paper and get paid for it! Pretty cool to me! :) It might even compell me to resurrect my other blogs!

I would consider myself a seasonal blogger. If there is something worth saying I decide to write about it. I am more active on Facebook than anything else these days, if not to read what my many friends in far flung places around the world are up to (and to return the favour by updating my status) then to check in to my Playfish games, where numerous godkids, neices, nephews and mates are involved in the fun virtual community of growing and feeding their pets, or planting and harvesting crops, or dabbling in the F & B industry (one of the more competititive players on Restaurant City happens to be my hubby!!) and so on and so forth!! There are many ways to waste time and call it social networking!

But I digress... we are talking about the real world, and about blogging.

So this blogging season of mine is part of the  Web 2.0 programme which is a kind of appetiser to what the WORLD WIDE WEB offers, and what we as library staff are supposed to have at our fingertips, and week 1 is about blogging.

So what shall I blog about??

Since libraries are about information exchange and sharing new ideas (or old ideas in a new way!), I thought I might blog regularly about interesting sites and links that I find while trawling the web for some new curiosity... I will also add the odd idea or random thought floating in my head from time to time.

To start off with, I found  THIS interesting link listing 70 stats about bloggers (eg. 2/3 of bloggers are male!) It's food for thought, and I can't help but wonder where in the stats I might fit.  I am not sure if I will be the one in five who will update their blog daily, but maybe weekly will be a more realistic target. Or maybe I am secretly among the 35% of bloggers who say they will one day publish a book!

I will end off with a random thought about bookcases. Our friends who own like a million books just got some nice old rimu bookcases from Trademe, and they were used last century to shelve library books in Waitakere somewhere, I forget which library exactly! I thought how cool is that (I realise though, that not all of you would think this is exciting!) Now I haven't actually put that thought into action and gone onto TM to look for any. Many of our books are sitting in neat piles on the floor, or packed away in boxes to be savoured another day. (some of my most beloved books are sitting in boxes in my family home thousands of miles away waiting for me to retrieve them!) And I intend to look for some old library furniture to lovingly display these tomes.

Sometime. Someday.

Anyone know where I can get a good bargain? :)