I've certainly learned a lot from completing these various "things". There are a few that stand out to me because I will probably continue to use them on a daily basis. Specifically RSS feeds, Google Docs, Podcasts, and LibraryThing.
As for the technology that I was already familiar with, I learned how one might apply them to a library setting. The number of tools available is startling. I'm sure by the time I finished learning how to use these, dozens of new ones have come along.
This has also been my first blog. Though I probably will never be a big "blogger" it is good to see what it is like having one.
Another great thing about this activity is that I feel more competent when it comes to current web 2.0 technology. Before whenever somebody said something about RSS feeds I had no idea what they were talking about. I feel like I've learned some of the lingo.
Activities similar to 23 things should be revisited by librarians every couple years so we can stay on the edge of web technology.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thing 22: LibraryThing
The exercise for this was to simply add 5 books to our LibraryThing account. It was very hard to stop at five, I was finally able to pull myself away at 30. I have heard other students in SLIS talk about LibraryThing, but I never really knew what it was. How cool! It recommends books to you based on the books you add to your library!
I also really enjoy the "cloud" options it gives you. This allows you to see what kind of books you like to read. LibraryThing is a must for bibliophiles. It seems that there is also a significant community aspect to the website as well. There are plenty of reviews for books and a message board to discuss books with other readers.
I've never really had to do Reader's Advisory (all my reference work has been in an academic library) but I will be sure to recommend this website when I do.
One thing I would like to see, and maybe it's there and I just missed it, is a way to search books by tags other put on them. For example, there was a book of mine tagged "post-apocalyptic". I would like to see more books in that genre.
Here's the link to my library: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/hanear21
I also really enjoy the "cloud" options it gives you. This allows you to see what kind of books you like to read. LibraryThing is a must for bibliophiles. It seems that there is also a significant community aspect to the website as well. There are plenty of reviews for books and a message board to discuss books with other readers.
I've never really had to do Reader's Advisory (all my reference work has been in an academic library) but I will be sure to recommend this website when I do.
One thing I would like to see, and maybe it's there and I just missed it, is a way to search books by tags other put on them. For example, there was a book of mine tagged "post-apocalyptic". I would like to see more books in that genre.
Here's the link to my library: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/hanear21
Thing 20: Internet Security
While software updates and good passwords are important for protecting our myriad online accounts, I think the most overlooked aspect of our security is our online reputation. Facebook would be the first thing that comes to my mind, but there are plenty of other social networking site that are just as guilty.
The fact is that it is now so easy for people to find these profiles that we put up. When you Google somebody's name their Facebook almost always come up right away. If you have a very common name you just have to put the city they live in and there it is, at the top of the list.
Facebook in particular is notorious for changing it's online security settings. One day nobody can see you or find you, but the next your whole page is open to anyone. I think they are getting better at avoiding this, but if it happens when you are interviewing for a job you can bet they will look closely at what you do online.
Better than tweaking your preferences on Facebook would be to simply put nothing online that you don't want the whole world to see. It's almost a cliche to say so these days, but it's still very true. Since I finished high school I've been parsing my Facebook profile down and down.
The fact is that it is now so easy for people to find these profiles that we put up. When you Google somebody's name their Facebook almost always come up right away. If you have a very common name you just have to put the city they live in and there it is, at the top of the list.
Facebook in particular is notorious for changing it's online security settings. One day nobody can see you or find you, but the next your whole page is open to anyone. I think they are getting better at avoiding this, but if it happens when you are interviewing for a job you can bet they will look closely at what you do online.
Better than tweaking your preferences on Facebook would be to simply put nothing online that you don't want the whole world to see. It's almost a cliche to say so these days, but it's still very true. Since I finished high school I've been parsing my Facebook profile down and down.
Thing 19: Search Engines
Here I will search a common topic on several different kinds of search engines and discuss my results. My topic will be "Blacksmithing" (remember?). I'll describe the top 5 results from each search.
I searched "Blacksmithing" in Bing and got the following results:
1.) The Wikipedia article for "Blacksmith"
2.) A blacksmithing guide for the computer game World of Warcraft.
3 - 5.) And three informative websites about the art of blacksmithing.
Next I did the same search in Google:
The results were very similar to Bing. There was the same Wikipedia article, and then four websites about the game World of Warcraft.
I then searched Dogpile.com (a meta search engine):
Here the results seemed to be quite literally a mix of Bing and Google. The Wikipedia article was on top, and below that was a mix of websites about World of Warcraft and about the art of blacksmithing.
Overall, I'm not a big fan of metasearching (or federated searching) because often you have to sacrifice specificity for quantity of results. A single search engine's results of 7,530,000 is quite enough for me, thank you.
I searched "Blacksmithing" in Bing and got the following results:
1.) The Wikipedia article for "Blacksmith"
2.) A blacksmithing guide for the computer game World of Warcraft.
3 - 5.) And three informative websites about the art of blacksmithing.
Next I did the same search in Google:
The results were very similar to Bing. There was the same Wikipedia article, and then four websites about the game World of Warcraft.
I then searched Dogpile.com (a meta search engine):
Here the results seemed to be quite literally a mix of Bing and Google. The Wikipedia article was on top, and below that was a mix of websites about World of Warcraft and about the art of blacksmithing.
Overall, I'm not a big fan of metasearching (or federated searching) because often you have to sacrifice specificity for quantity of results. A single search engine's results of 7,530,000 is quite enough for me, thank you.
Thing 16: Google Docs
I just started using Google Docs this semester and it has proven to be extremely useful! As any MLS student knows, group work is a key component to most classes. Our groups use Google Docs because it allows us all to collaborate on a single document at the same time.
This was especially useful when we were working on a presentation. We were able to work on it in real-time without having to all be in the same place at once. When more than one person is in a document, they can see where the other person's cursor is at any given time. Plus, there is a chat feature on the side, so it makes it very easy to communicate without any third party software.
Since the documents are saved online or "in the cloud" there is no worry about who needs to hold onto the finished product. The creator of the document just invites those who need to see it. Also, as a Mac user, I don't have to worry about compatibility issues between different word processing software.
One has to wonder how long a product like this will be available for free, as I'm sure people would be willing to pay for it. This kind of product does much to lessen the tide of email correspondence we all have to deal with on a day to day basis. No more back and forth emails about the various drafts and changes that need to be done on a document. Everyone just logs in and can see the work in progress for themselves and change things as needed.
Of course there could be concerns about privacy issues. Where do these documents get saved, and are they in a secure place? Plus, we have no idea how long they will stay saved. Until we know more about the future of Google Docs I would not recommend using it as a long-term place to store important information.
This was especially useful when we were working on a presentation. We were able to work on it in real-time without having to all be in the same place at once. When more than one person is in a document, they can see where the other person's cursor is at any given time. Plus, there is a chat feature on the side, so it makes it very easy to communicate without any third party software.
Since the documents are saved online or "in the cloud" there is no worry about who needs to hold onto the finished product. The creator of the document just invites those who need to see it. Also, as a Mac user, I don't have to worry about compatibility issues between different word processing software.
One has to wonder how long a product like this will be available for free, as I'm sure people would be willing to pay for it. This kind of product does much to lessen the tide of email correspondence we all have to deal with on a day to day basis. No more back and forth emails about the various drafts and changes that need to be done on a document. Everyone just logs in and can see the work in progress for themselves and change things as needed.
Of course there could be concerns about privacy issues. Where do these documents get saved, and are they in a secure place? Plus, we have no idea how long they will stay saved. Until we know more about the future of Google Docs I would not recommend using it as a long-term place to store important information.
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