Final Thoughts on 23 Things

This exercise has been a wonderful opportunity to explore the world of blogs as well as access other Web 2.0 applications including: Bloglines, Technorati, Del.icio.us, and Last.fm.

I have consistently made my blog entries very visually oriented, with less text. I am a very "visual" kind of person and learner, and I think that kind of learning works well with all the opportunities and features of Web 2.0 strategies. I have now set up so many online accounts! Time will tell which ones I continue to access and which ones I ignore.

I do think the world of Web 2.0 is exciting and extremely engaging. Everyone can be an active participant in organizing images and text through social tagging, an activity that will continue to become more and more prevalent.

Even though the 23 Things exercise is officially done, I plan on continuing to maintain this blog by continuing to add entries on library-related information. Thanks for being the reason to get me started!

Overdrive

Instead of accessing NetLibrary, I further investigated Overdrive. This is the site where South Central Library cardholders can download audiobooks. On the Madison Public Library website, you can connect to Overdrive by following this link-
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/referenc.html
Just recently, they started adding Overdrive mp3 audiobooks that can be played on both PCs and Macs (and can be downloaded onto ipods). Here you can "check out" or "place a hold" on certain audiobooks. The collection is continually building.
(South Central Library System appears to have only an ebook subscription to NetLibrary. I could not access their audiobooks.)

This American Life

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YouTube

Links to YouTube ....

Last.fm

Wikipedia writes of Last.fm:
Last.fm is a UK-based Internet radio and music community website, founded in 2002. It claims over 21 million active users based in more than 200 countries.[1] On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for £140m ($280m USD).[2]

Using a music recommendation system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of all the songs the user listens to, either on the streamed radio stations or on the user's computer or some portable music devices. This information is transferred to Last.fm's database ("scrobbled") via a plugin installed into the user's music player. The profile data is then displayed on the user's profile page. The site offers numerous social networking features and can recommend and play artists similar to the user's favourites.

Users can create custom radio stations and playlists from any of the audio tracks in Last.fm's music library, and are able to listen to some individual tracks on demand, or download tracks if the rights holder has previously authorised it. Registration is required to acquire a profile but is not necessary to view any part of the site or to listen to radio stations.

After hearing much about this Web 2.0 music site, I finally explored the site and set up an account. I was actually much more impressed than I thought I would be. You can build up an extensive music library and listen to your self-created library radio stations. As you add artists to your library, you can add tags to that artist or band. Also, there are constant recommendation links that pop up at the bottom of the screen. For each artist, you can view news, photos, videos, play counts, and short biographies.

Zoho Writer

I was aware of Google docs and not with Zoho Writer. These are nice tools for someone who does not own Microsoft Office software.

I ran into some technical difficulties in publishing the document I created into this blog (it would not recognize my blog username or password.) I also then had difficulties importing the HTML I exported from the document. Hmmm, I will have to experiment further with these options.

Learning 2.0 Sandbox Wiki

My experience in the sandbox was brief. I think today I would prefer to go play out in the snow instead of in front of a computer...

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki was created to be a one-stop shop for great ideas and information for all types of librarians. All over the world, librarians are developing successful programs and doing innovative things with technology that no one outside of their library knows about. There are lots of great blogs out there sharing information about the profession, but there is no one place where all of this information is collected and organized. Librarians are encouraged to share information about the profession through wiki entries or provide a link to outside coverage.

The wiki is not run by any commercial entity and does not represent any commercial interests. For those wishing to use content in the wiki, the wiki itself (and all the content contained herein) is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons License.

The wiki provides shared information on: Communities, Conferences, Management and Leadership, Materials Selection and Collection Maintenance, Professional Concerns, Programming, Readers' Advisory, Reference Services and Information Literacy, Resource Sharing, "Selling Your Library," Training and Development, and Technology.

To a temporary place in time...

Dr Wendy Schultz begins her article on Web 2.0 and the future of libraries by writing:

What are libraries? Libraries are not just collections of documents and books, they are conversations, they are convocations of people, ideas, and artifacts in dynamic exchange. Libraries are not merely in communities, they are communities: they preserve and promote community memories; they provide mentors not only for the exploration of stored memory, but also for the creation of new artifacts of memory. What was the library of the past? A symbol of a society that cared about its attainments, that treasured ideas, that looked ahead multiple generations. Librarians were stewards, trainers, intimate with the knowledge base and the minds who produced it. Librarians today are not just inventory management biobots: they are people with a unique understanding of the documents they compile and catalog, and the relationships among those documents.

From there, Schutz compares the economical "chain of meaning" from commodity to product to service to experience with the progression of change within libraries. Written somewhat tongue-in-cheek, this article is an imaginative, creative look into the future of the library.

Commodity
Library 1.0 represents the library from Alexandria to the industrial era- Books are commodities, collected, inventoried, categorised and warehoused within libraries.

Product
Library 2.0 represents the library today: the library is everywhere, barrier-free, and participatory. Collaborate with Amazon; provide digital downloads of books; create a global, and globally accessible, catalog; invite readers to tag and comment.

Service
Library 3.0 represents the near future: as more information becomes more accessible, people will still need experienced tour guides—Amazon’s customer recommendations are notoriously open to manipulation; tagclouds offer diverse connections, not focussed expertise. This will drive the transition to Library 3.0: the 3D service...we arrive at virtual collections in the 3D world, where books themselves may have avatars and online personalities. But the avalanche of material available will put a premium on service, on tailoring information to needs, and on developing participatory relationships with customers. So while books may get in your 3D face all by themselves, people will prefer personal introductions—they will want a VR info coach. Who’s the best librarian avatar?

Experience
Library 4.0 represents the farther off future: Library 4.0 will not replace Libraries 1.0 through 3.0; it will absorb them. The library as aesthetic experience will have space for all the library’s incarnations: storage (archives, treasures); data retrieval (networks—reference rooms); and commentary and annotation (salon)... But Library 4.0 will add a new mode, knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought. In companies, this may take the form of retreat space for thought leaders, considered an investment in innovation; in public libraries, the luxurious details will require private partners as sponsors providing the sensory treats. Library 4.0 revives the old image of a country house library, and renovates it: from a retreat, a sanctuary, a pampered experience with information—subtle thoughts, fine words, exquisite brandy, smooth coffee, aromatic cigar, smell of leather, rustle of pages—to the dream economy’s library, the LIBRARY: a WiFREE space, a retreat from technohustle, with comfortable chairs, quiet, good light, coffee and single malt.

Schultz's article is intriguing and makes my mind really start to wander about future trends and what things will remain within the librray, what things will disappear, or what things will find themselves reappearing after a certain amount of time. I find Schultz's predictions very believable, and I think technology will still go a lot further before we start to revive what Schultz terms the "old image of a country house library."

Technorati

Technorati is an internet search engine for locating blogs, competing with Google and Yahoo. Technorati currently indexes 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged media. Technorati uses and contributes to open source software.
There are several ways to search for blogs- through tags, through blog posts, or through the Blogger Directory. Search results vary considerably with each method. Depending on the topic, a certain search route might prove more effective.

Del.icio.us

I went ahead and set up a Del.icio.us account. After seeing more and more often the link to Del.icio.us along with RSS feeds at the bottom of web pages, it seemed like this is a tool gaining widespread popularity. (At this point, I must confess I do not see the necessity of this social bookmarking site. My current bookmarks within my browser seem to do an adequate job. However, perhaps over time I will see the added benefits of Del.icio.us...)

Rollyo Search Tool

I created a customized Rollyo Search Tool for Independent Music Labels, Distributors, and Magazines. Sites searched with my customized search tool include: Aquarius Records, Drag City Records, Fonal Records, De Stijl Records, Ecstatic Peace records, etc. I wanted to include further links to independent radio stations, but the customized tool had a limit of 25 URLs. Here is a link to my search tool:
http://rollyo.com/kbaird/independent_music/

LibraryThing

Although familiar with LibraryThing, I have never took the time to set up an account. This assignment gave me the chance to start using this online catalog site that can connect me with other like-minded readers to find more inspiring reads. Link to my small current book collection:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/KaBaird

My Neighbor Totoro!

I decided to generate an image from the Miyazaki anime classic "My Neighbor Totoro." Other images from this film can be found and downloaded at http://www.totoro.org/images-totoro.shtml

LISNews Blogs to Read

The blog LISNews has compiled lists of "Blogs to Read" for 2006, 2007, and 2008 (including feeds). Currently, LISNews is compiling the results for 2009. Here are the lists for the preceding years:

Blogs To Read for 2006

1. The ALA Tech Blog
2. Carnival of the Infosciences
3. Lorcan Dempsey's blog
4. A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette
5. Catalgablog
6. Library Marketing-Thinking Outside the Book
7. The Kept-Up Academic Librarian
8. Librarian.net
9. Library Link Of The Day
10. Conservator

Blogs to Read for 2007

1. Tame The Web
2. Conversational Reading
3. Tales from the "Liberry"
4. LibWorm
5. Ubiquitous Librarian
6. The Resourceshelf
7. Burger's Blog
8. Information Wants to Be Free
9. Musematic
10. YALSA

Blogs to Read for 2008

The Annoyed Librarian (Feed)
David Rothman (Feed)
iLibrarian (Feed)
Judge a Book by its Cover (Feed)
Law Librarian Blog (Feed)
Library Stuff (Feed)
Marylaine Block (Email list)
Off The Mark (Feed)
ResearchBuzz (Feed)
Stephen's Lighthouse (Feed)

Bloglines

Bloglines is a web-based news aggregator for reading syndicated feeds using the RSS and Atom formats. I went ahead and started to set up a Bloglines newsreader account. I can now keep building/editing the list of the feeds I get on a daily basis.
I currently have a few RSS feeds in my server toolbar, including BBC News Front Page and Latest Headlines. RSS is a set of Web-based formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video. An RSS document includes full or summarized text, plus accompanying metadata. RSS feeds benefit readers who want to keep up with various websites' postings or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

UbuWeb

A very exciting technology-related thing in the world of libraries is the ever growing world of digital libraries. UbuWeb is an extensive online digital library collection of avant-garde material featuring visual, concrete and sound poetry in addition to film and sound art mp3 files. UbuWeb was founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith in response to what he considered a “marginal distribution of crucial avant-garde material.” (found in UbuWeb’s manifesto) UbuWeb provides access to out-of-print avant-garde material as well as representing the work of contemporaries through the digitization of text, image, film, and sound. UbuWeb is completely independent from any institution and therefore free from any academic bureaucracy. The web space is provided by donors with an excess of bandwidth willing to contribute to the building of this digital collection. Other supporters include WFMU, PennSound, Artmob, Greylodge, Art Torrents, Electra, and Roulette. Below is an excerpt from the “About UbuWeb” section of the website:
Essentially a gift economy, poetry is the perfect space to practice utopian politics. Freed from profit-making constraints or cumbersome fabrication considerations, information can literally “be free” on UbuWeb, we give it away and have been doing so since 1996…we’ve gotten queries from Ph.D. candidates seeking information to third graders researching a paper on concrete poetry.

Flickr mashups

Wikipedia defines a mashup as "a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool." Flickr has an open Application Programming Interface (API for short). This means that anyone can write their own program to present public Flickr data (photos, video, tags, profiles or groups) in new and different ways. There's a long list of API methods available to you to work with.
One such 3rd party site I investigated was Airtight Interactive's Flickr Postcard Browser . This lets you browse Flickr's huge image database, by searching for tags (keywords). Flickr Postcard Browser use the real world metaphor of a set of postcards shuffled onto a surface. The image above is the result of a search for the tag "Dr. Evermore", the local artist who makes large scale sculptures from scrap metal.

Flickr

Flickr is an image and video hosting website, web services suite, and an online community platform. It was one of the earliest Web 2.0 applications. In addition to being a popular Web site for users to share personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers as a photo repository. Its popularity has been fueled by its organization tools, which allow photos to be tagged and browsed by folksonomic means. (To the right is a tag cloud of the most popular tags used by Flickr users.)

If you're a member of a Flickr group, you can add your photo to the group pool. The easiest way add a photo to a group is to go to the photo's page and click the "Send to Group" button between the photo title and the photo.

Here is a link to a list of library-related Flickr sites: libraries using Flickr.

7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners

23 Things was originally set-up as part of PLCMC's Learning 2.0 project to encourage staff to experiment and learn about new and emerging technologies that are quickly reshaping the context of information on the Internet today. The program's objectives are to encourage exploration of Web 2.0 technologies and provide librarians with new tools (available on the Internet) to better support PLCM's mission Expanding minds, Empowering individuals and Enriching our community.

PLMC provides a video describing the 7 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners. These include:

Begin with the end in mind
This habit describes the importance of setting goals. Without an end in mind, the learner cannot direct his/her actions towards a desired result. However, it is important to understand that learning can be a rather serpentine process that often veers from the set path due to unforeseen circumstances. In short, it is beneficial to set goals, but it is also important to maintain a flexibility that allows you to explore unknown lifelong learning possibilities along the way.

Accept responsibility for your own learning
This habit states the importance of inner discipline as opposed to external pressures in regards to the learning process. To value and take pride in learning is the first step towards a thorough and upright education.

View problems as challenges
The importance of viewing every obstacle as a learning opportunity can never be understated. Welcome challenges! They are the only way to grow.

Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
This habit describes the importance of maintaining a positive or at least compassionate self image. We all have the power to make or break ourselves.

Create your own learning toolbox
This habit discusses the myriad routes towards growth and learning including: books, technology, friends, websites, etc. Collect what you need and keep track of them.

Use technology to your advantage
This habit describes technology as a tool that should be used to make your life easier. I think this is important to keep in mind-- if technology is NOT making your life easier, get rid of it quick.

Teach/mentor others
In any endeavor, it is important to share/guide/teach the knowledge or wisdom one has attained through various life experiences.

The Forseeable Future

The title of this blog comes from Argentine writer, poet and librarian Jorge Luis Borges's short story The Aleph published in his short story collection The Aleph and other Stories in 1949 and later revised by the author in 1974. In Borges's story, the Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points and whoever looks into it can see everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously and without confusion.

Along with The Aleph, a number of contemporary thinkers believe that many of Borges's imaginative works of fiction somehow bizarrely prefigured the future of the World Wide Web. A recent book by Perla Sasson Henry Borges 2.0: From Text to Virtual Worlds compares the decentralized internet of Youtube, Wikis, and blogs with several of Borge's stories, including the Library of Babel, The Garden of Forking Paths, and The Intruder.

This blog will be my opportunity to experiment with various Library 2.0 Strategies through the 23 Things compiled by PLCMC, as well as provide a space for communication and sharing links. Cyberlandomania!!!