Week 8: #19 Web-based Apps: They're not just for desktops

I sent this post directly from Zoho.

Zoho is new to me.

I plan to explore the features later. Question is....How long will it be free?

Week 8: #18 Social Networking: Making friends in the comfort of your own home

What a nice title for this week's activity. Social networking is about comfort and convenience. But it is also about how we communicate now and keep in touch. I like the fact that facebook arranges by affiliation. I have had a MySpace account, but reallly found I liked phone calls and email better. I didn't feel comfortable with that much about me out there. One trend I noticed is that more and more people are requiring the you to be their friend. They are not opening up their accounts, blogs, pictures for all the world to see. This is a good thing. Catster. Hilarious.

Week 7: #17 Blog About Technology

So after delving a bit deeper into Web 2.0, it seems to me that information is that information is more about repackaging and creating sense of your world. It may be blogging about a trip or mashing photos with a map. RSS and newsfeeds organize the news you need. The ultimate question for me is whether or not my attempts to orgainze the world of information to fit my needs is saving me time or is it just giving me more places to look. Can't say I have an answer yet.

Week 7: #16 So what's in a wiki?

I made my Wiki entry. I like the clean look and consistent navagation of Wikis. The ALA Wiki is well organized and easy to use. I think Wikis could be useful for organizations that do not have intranets. We are exploring our options at our branch.

Week 6: #15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

Interesting articles. I liked the Iceberg article. I think the libraries have a place in Web 2.0. We just have to be out where the people are in the social networks, blogosphere and other places. HCPL is already providing unmediated services with self-check, online renewal and holds. But we cannot expect these customers to necessarily want our traditional reference services and book collections. People want more interactivity. They want to share their experiences. They want to blog. So I think the future is that libraries have to become a community. Just like we share resources, we need to share services. Imagine an online bookclub mediated by many library systems and any system can join. That way you can get a critical mass of customers who are not necessarily in your area, but share the same core values of learning and love for reading. These things are happening but not necessarily library systems leading the way. We have to realize that in the online community, our customer does not have to be in are area. Also, embracing the Web 2.0 may mean our webpages look different. I think Santa Barabara City College has done something interesting. Their web page content is thier blog. Check it out. http://library.sbcc.edu/

Week 6: #14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

I do enjoy Technorati. Technorati has a variety of search approaches to get at what you need from blogs. Not unsurprisingly, the broadest search is from the blog posts (12,803). Searching tags was much more focused, but you have to keep in mind tagging is human generated, so it doesn't mean better results (1,022). Finally, the blog search had 825 results. The popular was interesting and not surprising. It was not surprising because there were many technology related blogs on gadgets and customizing MySpace pages. The PostSecret blog was a little surpirsing. Tracking popular blogs is a pretty good way to follow culture now.

Week 6: #13 Tagging makes the web 2.0 world go round

I can see the advantages of a del.icio.us account. It is another tool that could lend organization to my world. It should be inherently fun for librarians.