#14 technorati

Well THIS seems to be a bit more up my alley. While I really do need to spend a couple of hours on Technorati to search around a bit more, I can see this site really being fun if you have the time to play around.

I really do like the features that offer up the most popular blogs. Not only is this a great way to see what a lot of people online are interested in, I can see it being a great way to discover new and exciting things that perhaps don't cross your mind to "search" for while online. I've become addicted to the bookmarks on my Safari browser, and when I sit down at my computer I find myself getting angry that my favorite blogs and sites have yet to update since I checked a few days, or..hours ago.

Its also interesting to see what changes when refining a search in terms of posts, tags, and blogs. The largest number of searching "Learning 2.0" came up in "posts" and I attribute this to some otherwise irrelevant websites posting something that has something to do with Learning 2.0. The first search I tried I didn't use quotes, and as one can imagine, thousands of posts were found simply because they used both the phrases "learning" and "2.0".

Overall I think Technorati is a great tool for those who are just wrapping their brains around the blogosphere, myself included.

Delicious!

I gave this exercise 2 days to really sink in. This site is a little less sensory-stimulating and so it really took a lot of digging around to get a firm grasp on what the site had to offer. Although I still am a bit weary of it (and annoyed by the site's spelling) I do understand how one could benefit from Delicious for research.

I know many time while I was in college I was surfing Google and other search engines in order to find very specific information. A lot of the browsing I did led to dead ends, not because Google is not an effective search tool, but a lot of times specificity can lend itself to unintended results. Using Delicious I can see how using tagging and a bit of know-how could really cut down on the amount of time one may spend on searching the web. If others have already done the browsing and chosen a website based on its relevance, why spend more time?

Not bad, I say!

JaxCat Search Gadget

Well this was interesting! I'm actually more excited to have the gadget on my iGoogle simply because it will enable me to search for things that I see on new book lists, etcetera. I see the search when I preview my page but when I hit save and view it doesn't show. Hopefully its here now!!

#11: Library Thing

Soo I actually started a LibraryThing account back in '07, I love it and have joined the group Librarians Who LibraryThing, and find all kinds of hilarious threads about everyday library life. One of my coworkers got me started on Shelfari, which is very similar, but I do like some of the options that LibraryThing provides you with. For instance, I love that I can look up any book from my personal collection and discover what other people recommend. I suppose its a fairly basic feature, but finding people on LibraryThing who have a lot of the same books in my collection is fun. Admittedly I have 2 accounts with LibraryThing...I'm now friends with my old account because I can't remember (and LibraryThing can't find it!) my old password. So, of course you can guess who I share the most books in my collection with....

Well I had to go for another image of Frankie, my wonderful 1 year old kitty. This was the "jigsaw" generator from Big Huge Labs. It was fast and easy, and actually gave me the option of buying the actual puzzle. Not a bad idea for a creative little Christmas gift...

More RSS

Although I feel pretty confident in discovering new RSS feeds through the actual reader itself by simply doing a search of some of my favorite things (vegetarian cuisine, vintage stores, etc.) some of the sites that were listed seem a tad confusing. Sindic8.com was especially confusing for me simply because I was searching for things as I had been doing on my reader, and nothing of interest, or relevance for that matter, was coming up. I think I'de much rather just stick to searching straight from my own site than having a 3rd party site do the search for me.

Some things I've been checking out:

http://biblioklept.org/
www.urbanjacksonville.info
www.lovetheliberry.blogspot.com this one is especially funny, its by library staff for library staff! There's some really funny stuff here.

ar es es

Well I have to say that I really enjoyed this exercise. Although I didn't use Bloglinks simply because it wasn't sending me my confirmation email, I did use my Gmail account to add a Google Reader setting to my account. I ended up adding a lot of extra feeds to my reader (I'm currently at 17 and counting!)including a great McSweeney's feed, some fun daily cooking tips, some daily musings from Aparment Therapy and a lot of different categorized NPR feeds.

If anyone else happened to also go through the Google reader, may I suggest using the Google calendar that comes with the account. I'm quickly becoming addicted to all of the calendars that you can easily attach to your personal one. My calendar now includes weather forecasts, the Jags and Bucs game schedules (I'm from Tampa, people!), Jax's Downtown nightlife, book releases, and a few other things.

I can't help but think of what I could do with Google's new G1 cell phone....!!!

....technology.

I've seen and heard of the Amazon Kindle for some time now, but I have to admit that I am a tad weary of it. Although I suppose it is a great solution to deforestation and may contribute to an overall "greener" environment, the idea of replacing my entire library (personal and, *eek* public) with a 7"x5.5" electronic piece of plastic completely kills one of the best parts of a book...

But of course, I must digress. For those who are unfamiliar with the Kindle, Amazon.com ,the online book and now- everything-else store, released this early in 2008 declaring a "revolution" to book reading in the form of "electronic paper display". Basically, instead of purchasing a traditional print and bound book, many titles are now litterally "at the fingertips" to those who are willing to fork over around $350 for the Kindle. The 6" screen displays text of the chosen media just as it would read on paper, without the sometimes blurry nature of a typical computer screen. It can hold up to 200 "books" in its memory, along with newspapers, blogs, and most other traditionally printed media.

Call me a cynic, but this just plain depresses me. Books and the physical nature they represent of the written word, of language itself, are and always have been coveted by bookworms and laymen alike. Yes, they are bulky, often heavy in quantity, perhaps awkward to carry, but that's what makes them books! NOT just text! I would never trade that sore back I had for a few hours while I lugged my backpack around campus--some of those books still reside on my shelves and will until I decide to donate or loan them, not DELETE them! While I suppose I see the practiacality of the Kindle, I know that my absent-minded nature would certainly prove to be very costly for me. What if I lost my Kindle? Not only would I be down $350 for the machine itself, but how many books, at about $10 a pop, would I have on it? 30? 100? And be out about $1500? Thanks, but no. As much as I love technology and what it has to offer these days, I'm clutching my smelly, awkward, beat up books as close to my heart as possible.

Cheezy

Cheezy
Originally uploaded by ashleyliz

Isn't she cute? Yea, completely passed out, little legs frozen in the air. Quite a sight so early in the morning. Anyway I found this application on the Big Huge Labs website, and the entire site is just so easy to use, its kind of nuts. Because I already have both a Flickr account and a Gmail account (and yahoo!) it was easy to find my personal photos and apply them through the BHL website. If I came across any technical difficulties the site automatically gave me the option of fixing it without having to back track into my personal settings. Pretty neat!

Snowing on College Walk, 116th Street, NYC

Snowing on College Walk, 116th Street, NYC
Originally uploaded by Van Daniel

Ah, here it is. Now that Halloween is over and I happen to work in a library that dips to temperatures that would surely infuriate any greenie, I cannot help but think of the upcoming holiday season. I'm extremely excited about this winter, and another trip to the big apple. I just can't wait to be...well, there.

Well Well Well....

Ah, the land of blogs.

Here is my test run I suppose...

The "7 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners" is quite a mouthful isn't it?

I think throughout this journey I'll find a few things harder than others, most significantly the "begin with the end in mind". For me this concept is at odds with a lot of my own habits--I do like to focus more on the present than to set a clear, concise idea of the outcomes later on.

Most likely everyone's favorite is going to be the half, the seemingly most fun, but the one habit that only deserves a smidgen of the amount of recognition. Play? Play what? Dodgeball? Soccer? Scrabble? No, no, and no! Play with this stuff, these lessons, the activities that we're all taking part in. Hopefully by the end of this training the habit of playing will become important enough to deserve a whole number!