I've been working on More Things on a Stick for over 5 months. With such a long time frame, some Things I learned about in the beginning have become second nature by now--part of my regular life, not something special. Unlike the first 23 Things, these seem to have had a greater impact in my personal life rather than my life as a librarian. But there have been several instances where something I learned had a direct impact on my professional life, or gave me inspiration for future projects.
Now that it's over, what next? I guess to get going on those future projects.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thing #46 -- WebJunction Minnesota
Every once in a while I go to WebJunction Minnesota and poke around. I usually find something useful that I thing I should explore more in depth, but don't have the time right at the moment. Then it falls off my radar... This time it might stick because I found courses for which I have an immediate need.
While I have been involved in web design and development for more than a decade now, I've realized that I need a stronger grounding in using XML. In fact, several of the things I would like to accomplish over the coming 6 months to a year require knowing how to use style sheets to output XML files in various formats. I've looked at some books and searched around on the web, but was very pleased to see a course on WJMN covering XML style sheets. I will definitely take this course sometime this summer. And perhaps, after taking one, I will be more likely to keep WJMN on my radar.
While I have been involved in web design and development for more than a decade now, I've realized that I need a stronger grounding in using XML. In fact, several of the things I would like to accomplish over the coming 6 months to a year require knowing how to use style sheets to output XML files in various formats. I've looked at some books and searched around on the web, but was very pleased to see a course on WJMN covering XML style sheets. I will definitely take this course sometime this summer. And perhaps, after taking one, I will be more likely to keep WJMN on my radar.
Thing #45 -- Cloud Computing
I commented on the rise in web applications in Thing #2. It's an update of early days of computing. Back then, everything was kept on a large mainframe computer, and so-called dumb terminals (basically monitors and keyboards) were hooked up to it. Then desktop computers became more and more powerful, and everything was done locally, using the workstation's own processor and memory. Now we've arrived at cloud computing, which is just the modern day equivalent of the mainframe and not-so-dumb-anymore terminal--applications, documents, all kinds of data, really, are stored on a server somewhere and accessed anywhere via an Internet connection and a web browser.
My primary experience with cloud computing is using Apple's MobileMe service, and account that gives me space on the cloud to store files, and access to my email, calendar, contacts, and photos. My husband and I are able to synchronize between what is on the cloud and all our computers, whether at home, at work, or on our iPods. Eventually we would like to purchase a new router for our home network that would allow us to use the Back to My Mac feature. Then we would be able to access files between computers directly, without needing to upload them to the cloud for sharing first.
For work, I've used both Google Docs and Zoho, and written about them in previous posts. I haven't used Zoho beyond the one, rather unsuccessful, experience. Google Docs, on the other hand, continues to be an important tool as I collaborate on projects with librarians from other instutions.
There's always a tradeoff between access and security, and cloud computing is no different. It's nice to have access to files from anywhere, but that also leaves open the risk of others getting unauthorized access to those same files. Our campus, like most others, has a firewall in place to prevent many kinds of access to campus networks from off-campus. However, as more and more tools I use are web based, I have discovered that I can do increasing amounts of work from home without running into firewall problems. This can be important as the college makes contingency plans for how to continue operations in the event of a swine flu pandemic, or other severe outbreak.
My primary experience with cloud computing is using Apple's MobileMe service, and account that gives me space on the cloud to store files, and access to my email, calendar, contacts, and photos. My husband and I are able to synchronize between what is on the cloud and all our computers, whether at home, at work, or on our iPods. Eventually we would like to purchase a new router for our home network that would allow us to use the Back to My Mac feature. Then we would be able to access files between computers directly, without needing to upload them to the cloud for sharing first.
For work, I've used both Google Docs and Zoho, and written about them in previous posts. I haven't used Zoho beyond the one, rather unsuccessful, experience. Google Docs, on the other hand, continues to be an important tool as I collaborate on projects with librarians from other instutions.
There's always a tradeoff between access and security, and cloud computing is no different. It's nice to have access to files from anywhere, but that also leaves open the risk of others getting unauthorized access to those same files. Our campus, like most others, has a firewall in place to prevent many kinds of access to campus networks from off-campus. However, as more and more tools I use are web based, I have discovered that I can do increasing amounts of work from home without running into firewall problems. This can be important as the college makes contingency plans for how to continue operations in the event of a swine flu pandemic, or other severe outbreak.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Thing #44 -- The Economy
My father was in the military and as a result I use a bank serving military members and their families exclusively. Because it's account holders are all over the globe, and often changing locations, the bank has been on the cutting edge of providing service online, and I have increased my online banking and money management accordingly. I use it to view my accounts, transfer money and pay my bills. I prefer this to using the individual online bill paying services provided by the utility and credit card companies for a couple reasons. First, it's convenient having all my bills in one place. Second, while I'm normally cautious regarding online security, I trust the mechanisms my bank has in place. I feel it's less risky for them to have my utility account information than for each utility company to have access to my checking account number.
One particularly innovative service they added last year was the ability to deposit checks electronically. My paychecks use direct deposit, but for other checks I received I previously needed to mail them to the bank (in postage paid envelopes). Now I just scan the front and back of the check, upload the files, enter the check amount, and it's deposited, credited to my account that day.
At my library we create resource guides based on current events or issues of interest. Last year when the Fed began cutting interest rates and the first signs were arriving that the economy was headed down we created a couple about the Federal Reserve, monetary policy, and the economy. These guides are still available on our website. Both MyMoney.gov and the Help for Consumers part of the National Endowment for Financial Education make me think we should add a financial literacy section to one of the guides and include these resources.
I don't currently have a cell phone, but now that Apple is offering their iPhone 3G and Palm has released their Pre I've been wondering about getting one. So I tried out MyRatePlan.com and BillShrink to compare plans. MyRatePlan.com offers a lot of options, but the screens are very cluttered and a bit overwhelming. BillShrink seemed easier to use, but the site kept freezing on me--I never did see which plan was best for me. BillShrink also requires creating an account to receive any recommendations, but it uses your email address to update you if plans meeting your criteria change.
As an avid gardener (see Thing #37 and Thing #39) I'm familiar with both the U of M Extension Service's Gardening Information and GardenWeb, including their Minnesota Gardening forum. I've used both when searching for information on new plants or researching problems.
One particularly innovative service they added last year was the ability to deposit checks electronically. My paychecks use direct deposit, but for other checks I received I previously needed to mail them to the bank (in postage paid envelopes). Now I just scan the front and back of the check, upload the files, enter the check amount, and it's deposited, credited to my account that day.
At my library we create resource guides based on current events or issues of interest. Last year when the Fed began cutting interest rates and the first signs were arriving that the economy was headed down we created a couple about the Federal Reserve, monetary policy, and the economy. These guides are still available on our website. Both MyMoney.gov and the Help for Consumers part of the National Endowment for Financial Education make me think we should add a financial literacy section to one of the guides and include these resources.
I don't currently have a cell phone, but now that Apple is offering their iPhone 3G and Palm has released their Pre I've been wondering about getting one. So I tried out MyRatePlan.com and BillShrink to compare plans. MyRatePlan.com offers a lot of options, but the screens are very cluttered and a bit overwhelming. BillShrink seemed easier to use, but the site kept freezing on me--I never did see which plan was best for me. BillShrink also requires creating an account to receive any recommendations, but it uses your email address to update you if plans meeting your criteria change.
As an avid gardener (see Thing #37 and Thing #39) I'm familiar with both the U of M Extension Service's Gardening Information and GardenWeb, including their Minnesota Gardening forum. I've used both when searching for information on new plants or researching problems.
Thing #43 -- Online TV and Video
For me, this Thing pointed out the dangers of getting involved with something new too early. I found out about Joost when it first came out, about 2 1/2 years ago, and thought it was a great idea. I eagerly went to the web site, only to discover that there really were very few shows available, and not any that interested me. I left the site disillusioned and promptly forgot about Joost until this Thing. Now, of course, there's lots of content available. As someone who doesn't have cable I like being able to watch The Colbert Report online. And as someone without a Tivo or other recording device, it's nice to be able to see shows I miss or can't stay up for (like Letterman).
Another site I've used is tv.com, which doesn't have many full episodes compared to Joost, but does have behind the scenes interviews and features. I've also used iTunes to get TV show podcasts.
My favorite on-demand viewing experience has to be Netflix. Ever since they added Mac support for their watch instantly videos I've been using it a lot. I only have the one at a time plan, so it's great if I want to watch a movie in between DVDs. For TV shows, it's nice being able to watch one episode at a time without tying up my queue. I haven't had any problems with streaming quality or buffering, and by hooking my laptop up to the TV I can watch on a large screen.
Another site I've used is tv.com, which doesn't have many full episodes compared to Joost, but does have behind the scenes interviews and features. I've also used iTunes to get TV show podcasts.
My favorite on-demand viewing experience has to be Netflix. Ever since they added Mac support for their watch instantly videos I've been using it a lot. I only have the one at a time plan, so it's great if I want to watch a movie in between DVDs. For TV shows, it's nice being able to watch one episode at a time without tying up my queue. I haven't had any problems with streaming quality or buffering, and by hooking my laptop up to the TV I can watch on a large screen.
Thing #42 -- Music 2.0
I've been a heavy iTunes user for years. When our home DVD/CD player started having trouble reading CDs we imported all our music into iTunes and loaded it onto an iPod which is hooked up to our home audio system. This lets us combine our CDs and purchased downloads in one place. We never listen to actual CDs anymore.
I also began listening to internet radio at least 5 years ago (probably longer). I've used Live365, iTunes radio, and other services that no longer exist. When I got my iPod the MPR Radio app (which streams their 3 stations plus Radio Heartland) was one of the first I put on it. My husband introduced me to last.fm a few months ago, when he sent me a link to a station he made. I like the way it lets you follow chains of connections between artists to discover some you might like but didn't know about. Also the ability to create a station based on a particular artist or genre/tag.
I big problem with listening to internet radio for me, especially at work, is buffering. It's hard to enjoy music when you only hear it a few seconds at a time! I think the campus network gives lower priority to streaming radio than other applications.
One type of music I like is what I call "contemporary classical"--not the big orchestral symphony stuff, but things composed during the second half of the 20th century or later. Here is a station built with the 'minimalism' tag.
Even with all these options, I don't know if broadcast radio will go away. I still listen to it, especially when I'm driving. Even so, the internet has had a positive impact on my broadcast listening. I love online playlists! If I'm driving and hear a song I like but don't know, I make a note of the time it played. Later, I'll look it up on the radio's web site. And now that I am familiar with sites like last.fm, I can use them to find more of that artist's music to decide if I really like them or it was just that one song.
I also began listening to internet radio at least 5 years ago (probably longer). I've used Live365, iTunes radio, and other services that no longer exist. When I got my iPod the MPR Radio app (which streams their 3 stations plus Radio Heartland) was one of the first I put on it. My husband introduced me to last.fm a few months ago, when he sent me a link to a station he made. I like the way it lets you follow chains of connections between artists to discover some you might like but didn't know about. Also the ability to create a station based on a particular artist or genre/tag.
I big problem with listening to internet radio for me, especially at work, is buffering. It's hard to enjoy music when you only hear it a few seconds at a time! I think the campus network gives lower priority to streaming radio than other applications.
One type of music I like is what I call "contemporary classical"--not the big orchestral symphony stuff, but things composed during the second half of the 20th century or later. Here is a station built with the 'minimalism' tag.
Even with all these options, I don't know if broadcast radio will go away. I still listen to it, especially when I'm driving. Even so, the internet has had a positive impact on my broadcast listening. I love online playlists! If I'm driving and hear a song I like but don't know, I make a note of the time it played. Later, I'll look it up on the radio's web site. And now that I am familiar with sites like last.fm, I can use them to find more of that artist's music to decide if I really like them or it was just that one song.
Thing #41 -- Mashup your Life
I joined FriendFeed (as DeborahWK--same as Twitter) several Things ago, and subscribed to the feeds of several people I know. I mostly monitor it the same way I monitor my other web 2.0 sites, by a gadget on my iGoogle home page. Which makes me wondor sometimes if FriendFeed isn't therefore rather redundant--what's the point of having a feed to update me with information I can see in my other gadgets on the same page? One major drawback, as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that FriendFeed can't pull in my status updates from Facebook. Therefore, people who follow me (admittedly not very many at this point) are missing a large part of my online life. After searching through several online forums I discovered this is a common problem for Facebook/FriendFeed users. Even so, I'll continue to use it for the time being, primarily for professional networking/development. Most of my personal online interaction still happens through Facebook.
My library began using Digsby for our IM reference service in the middle of the past semester. We have a Facebook account and one of the librarians received a chat reference query while she was logged in. It made us realize that since Trillian (our IM software at the time) couldn't monitor our Facebook account, we were potentially missing out on assisting users. Digsby solved that problem for us, aggregating all the chat services we use in one place. Another advantage to Digsby is it allows us to create chat widgets to place on pages of our web site where students might be looking for help.
My library began using Digsby for our IM reference service in the middle of the past semester. We have a Facebook account and one of the librarians received a chat reference query while she was logged in. It made us realize that since Trillian (our IM software at the time) couldn't monitor our Facebook account, we were potentially missing out on assisting users. Digsby solved that problem for us, aggregating all the chat services we use in one place. Another advantage to Digsby is it allows us to create chat widgets to place on pages of our web site where students might be looking for help.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thing #40 -- Mashup the Web
I'm always on the lookout for any tools that can keep me up-to-date on current issues and trends, without requiring a whole lot of web surfing or feed reading. So LibWorm interests me. I created a couple of search feeds using it, which I added to Google Reader. We'll see if this seems to work better than following individual feeds.
Just for fun I played around with Walk Score -- my current neighborhood is 62 out of 100, somewhat walkable. Then I tried an old address from when I lived in Uptown, Minneapolis, and it scored 92, Walker's Paradise. Guess that's how I survived living there when I didn't own a car. I also looked at Wheel of Lunch, which is very similar to Urbanspoon. I have the Urbanspoon app on my iPod, and below is the widget they make available for the Twin Cities.
When I first went to Dapper it seemed like it was geared for commercial business, but after a bit of browsing around I discovered their "open" site. I created a few feed tools and widgets, and can see there could be a use for these on my library's site. I'll have to come back later and explore it some more.
Just for fun I played around with Walk Score -- my current neighborhood is 62 out of 100, somewhat walkable. Then I tried an old address from when I lived in Uptown, Minneapolis, and it scored 92, Walker's Paradise. Guess that's how I survived living there when I didn't own a car. I also looked at Wheel of Lunch, which is very similar to Urbanspoon. I have the Urbanspoon app on my iPod, and below is the widget they make available for the Twin Cities.
When I first went to Dapper it seemed like it was geared for commercial business, but after a bit of browsing around I discovered their "open" site. I created a few feed tools and widgets, and can see there could be a use for these on my library's site. I'll have to come back later and explore it some more.
Thing #39 -- Digital Storytelling
I knew this one would take a long time, I could edit and tweak my scrapbook forever! But I finally had to stop if I'm going to get the rest of the Things done in time.
I chose to try out Scrapblog for this Thing. It was quite easy to use, even without viewing the video tour or any of the help provided. I had no problem choosing a theme or building pages. There are a lot of options--almost too many. I'd keep browsing around for different backgrounds or objects to add to my book. I chose a similar theme to what I used for Thing #37, my garden.
Since I live at quite a distance from the rest of my family, I keep trying different ways to keep in touch with them by sharing photos. The tools I've learned about here are things I am sure I will use again.
The information about using scrapbooking for education reminded me that when my brother was working on his teaching license he learned about using scrapbooks as a tool. I can definitely see its place in education. In some classes at my college students are required to keep a journal, and e-portfolios are becoming common. Creating an electronic, multimedia scrapbook is an intriguing variation on both these approaches.
I chose to try out Scrapblog for this Thing. It was quite easy to use, even without viewing the video tour or any of the help provided. I had no problem choosing a theme or building pages. There are a lot of options--almost too many. I'd keep browsing around for different backgrounds or objects to add to my book. I chose a similar theme to what I used for Thing #37, my garden.
Since I live at quite a distance from the rest of my family, I keep trying different ways to keep in touch with them by sharing photos. The tools I've learned about here are things I am sure I will use again.
The information about using scrapbooking for education reminded me that when my brother was working on his teaching license he learned about using scrapbooks as a tool. I can definitely see its place in education. In some classes at my college students are required to keep a journal, and e-portfolios are becoming common. Creating an electronic, multimedia scrapbook is an intriguing variation on both these approaches.
Thing #38 -- Screencasting
The things in this Thing are pretty old hat to me at this point. I've been using SnagIt for years to put screen shots in the database guides I create for students or email answers to student requests for help. And I also use Grab when on my Mac. In fact, it's how I captured my Wordle word cloud to put in the previous Thing.
I've used various tools for screencasting. The first one I created was about 2 years ago, using Wink. I didn't find the learning curve very steep, and it has a surprising amount of functionality for a free program. While it didn't take long to record my capture, it was extremely time consuming to edit my tutorial to get it the way I wanted it--adjusting the timing and adding branching. I have since given up on Wink in favor of Adobe's Captivate, which makes it a lot easier to edit my captures.
Primarily I use these tools for creating full-blown database tutorials. However, over the winter I discovered Jing, and have been using it heavily since. Since there are no post-capture editing options, it doesn't have the functionality of Wink or Captivate (or Camtasia, for that matter), but it fills a need for creating "quick and dirty" videos. Students often ask me for help via email. In the past I would answer their questions with a combination of screen shots and blow-by-blow text descriptions of what to look for and where to click. With Jing, I just create a short video of what they should do, upload it to Screencast.com, and email a link to the video. The students have found this approach very helpful, and it takes much less time to make the video than to explain the same concepts in the text of an email.
I've used various tools for screencasting. The first one I created was about 2 years ago, using Wink. I didn't find the learning curve very steep, and it has a surprising amount of functionality for a free program. While it didn't take long to record my capture, it was extremely time consuming to edit my tutorial to get it the way I wanted it--adjusting the timing and adding branching. I have since given up on Wink in favor of Adobe's Captivate, which makes it a lot easier to edit my captures.
Primarily I use these tools for creating full-blown database tutorials. However, over the winter I discovered Jing, and have been using it heavily since. Since there are no post-capture editing options, it doesn't have the functionality of Wink or Captivate (or Camtasia, for that matter), but it fills a need for creating "quick and dirty" videos. Students often ask me for help via email. In the past I would answer their questions with a combination of screen shots and blow-by-blow text descriptions of what to look for and where to click. With Jing, I just create a short video of what they should do, upload it to Screencast.com, and email a link to the video. The students have found this approach very helpful, and it takes much less time to make the video than to explain the same concepts in the text of an email.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Thing #37 -- Photo Tales
For organizing personal photos I use iPhoto and combine it with the Gallery feature of my MobileMe account to share them on the web. I've found iPhoto extremely easy to use, and it's pretty economical for getting prints of pictures. The application comes with tools to design cards and upload the images and your design to Apple for printing. We used this for our Christmas cards this past year. One other project my husband is working on is a family memory book of old family photos. He is using iPhoto to layout the pictures on each page and add captions of who is in each photo. Once he's finished we'll be able to get a hardcover book of the pictures to give to family members.
Obviously, I have found a lot of use for these kinds of tools in my personal life, but (as with many of these Things) I'm not sure what place they have in my library. My college has a Flickr account used to share photos of student events and other happenings on campus, but the library doesn't. Photos that we share are posted to our Facebook page. One potential use of the tools in this thing would be to post links to some of the stock photo sites or captioning sites for students who may need to use images in presentations. But then again, how likely would students be to think of the library web site as a resource to fill that need?
I've played around some with iMovie, but for this Thing I tried One True Media's montage site. It is pretty intuitive to use, and offers a lot of choices for editing, even if you don't have a premium (ie. paid) account. My only quibble is the image quality of the online sharable version isn't very good, and the watermark takes up a lot of real estate. I used it for this project, but don't know if I will go back to it agian. Given the time of year, I created a story about my garden.
Obviously, I have found a lot of use for these kinds of tools in my personal life, but (as with many of these Things) I'm not sure what place they have in my library. My college has a Flickr account used to share photos of student events and other happenings on campus, but the library doesn't. Photos that we share are posted to our Facebook page. One potential use of the tools in this thing would be to post links to some of the stock photo sites or captioning sites for students who may need to use images in presentations. But then again, how likely would students be to think of the library web site as a resource to fill that need?
I've played around some with iMovie, but for this Thing I tried One True Media's montage site. It is pretty intuitive to use, and offers a lot of choices for editing, even if you don't have a premium (ie. paid) account. My only quibble is the image quality of the online sharable version isn't very good, and the watermark takes up a lot of real estate. I used it for this project, but don't know if I will go back to it agian. Given the time of year, I created a story about my garden.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Thing #36 -- Generators
I played around a lot with the Generator Blog, Big Huge Labs and Glass Giant for Thing #5 and Thing #6, so I didn't go back to them this time. The category I was most interested in was the Tag Cloud links. Tag clouds have intrigued me ever since I became aware of them. I like the way their visual communication style makes search results, blog postings or other "data sets" easy to comprehend. At a conference session a couple years ago I wrote in my notes, "How do you make a tag cloud?" and I quickly replaced the standard label list on this blog with a tag cloud.
One of the most creative uses of tag clouds I've seen is Hindsight is Always 20/20 by R. Luke Dubois. This project takes the text of each of the President's State of the Union addresses and presents them as word clouds in the format of eye charts. Browsing through the charts, it's easy to discover what issues were important (or believed to be important) at different stages of our country's history.
Below is a cloud I created with Wordle using the words in this blog. I like the many options the site provides for customizing font, color, and word layout.
I did go to ToonDoo to find a library-related comic. The one I chose is by subDes, who has done many strips with a library theme. I don't like the options the site gives for embedding comics, however. One makes you have to scroll through the strip, which lessens some of its impact. The other option doesn't seem to work, it just shows blank space.
One of the most creative uses of tag clouds I've seen is Hindsight is Always 20/20 by R. Luke Dubois. This project takes the text of each of the President's State of the Union addresses and presents them as word clouds in the format of eye charts. Browsing through the charts, it's easy to discover what issues were important (or believed to be important) at different stages of our country's history.
Below is a cloud I created with Wordle using the words in this blog. I like the many options the site provides for customizing font, color, and word layout.
I did go to ToonDoo to find a library-related comic. The one I chose is by subDes, who has done many strips with a library theme. I don't like the options the site gives for embedding comics, however. One makes you have to scroll through the strip, which lessens some of its impact. The other option doesn't seem to work, it just shows blank space.
![\Toon\](http://static.toondoo.com/public/s/u/b/subDes/toons/cool-cartoon-159025.png "\Toon\")
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thing #35 -- Books 2.0
As an academic librarian, I don't get much chance to help people find books to read just because they want to--mostly they're looking for books for class assignments. Those students who are looking for books for pleasure are thrown off by the fact that all our fiction isn't in one place like at their public library, and they don't want to browse huge chunks of the P call number range to find a book. (Or sometimes they want audio books to listen too as they drive home for vacations. We don't have any of those.) This is changing, though. We're trying to foster "extracurricular" reading on campus by beginning a browsing collection. A small portion of the book budget is now dedicated to purchasing books for pleasure reading, and these books are shelved in a prominent place at the entrance to the main stacks area. No confusing LC call numbers, instead it's alphabetical by author. I'm interested to see how much that collection will be used once students really discover it.
Our library also has a collection of juvenile books. These are to support the Education department, but they are also used by students, faculty, and staff with children. I was interested if the sites listed for this Thing under Children's Books would be useful for the Children's Literature Guide I maintain for the Education department. I already link to International Children's Digital Library, and was disappointed to see Lookybook no longer online.
I spent a lot of time looking around BookCrossing to if any books had been released near me, and viewing the histories of books that had several entries. I will definitely keep this site in mind the next time I have books I no longer want to keep. I also looked at BookStumpers. This site would have been useful a couple of years ago when I tried, unsuccessfully, to discover the name of a book a friend remembered from her childhood.
Our library also has a collection of juvenile books. These are to support the Education department, but they are also used by students, faculty, and staff with children. I was interested if the sites listed for this Thing under Children's Books would be useful for the Children's Literature Guide I maintain for the Education department. I already link to International Children's Digital Library, and was disappointed to see Lookybook no longer online.
I spent a lot of time looking around BookCrossing to if any books had been released near me, and viewing the histories of books that had several entries. I will definitely keep this site in mind the next time I have books I no longer want to keep. I also looked at BookStumpers. This site would have been useful a couple of years ago when I tried, unsuccessfully, to discover the name of a book a friend remembered from her childhood.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Thing #34 -- Online Answer Sites
I'm familiar with Slam the Boards, as I participated for several months when it first started. Primarily I answered questions on Yahoo! Answers, but I also did a few on WikiAnswers and Askville. During one session I focused on song lyrics questions, which are easy to answer using Google. I would also look for and answer questions related to the Twin Cities (travel, restaurants, etc.) or subjects in which I have expertise. In my answers I always made sure to include the fact that I was a librarian. It's been close to a year since I've participated, however. I began doing more virtual reference at my library, and with that and my regular reference desk hours I didn't feel I had any more time to devote to reference outside. And online answer sites do take a lot of time. The hardest thing for me wasn't answering the questions, it was finding suitable questions to respond to. Even filtering by specific subjects or keywords still left a lot of questions to browse through. I didn't feel comfortable answering any dealing with relationships or medical matters. Or the open ended questions that didn't really have an answer. I wonder if the people asking those view online answer sites as a type of social network--they're just looking to have a conversation with other people.
In a way, that's part of the appeal of these sites--they're the online equivalent of asking around when you want to know something. Studies have shown that's what people tend to do first, rather than turning to "experts" or researching for themselves. Even though they are asking an anonymous community rather than friends and family, they are still drawn to online answer sites over more traditional, library-based methods. Other qualities that make the sites bigger draws over reference librarians for some people are their easy availability, 24/7, and the ability for people to remain anonymous if they choose.
The other type of question I avoided were ones that appeared to be homework assignments. As an academic librarian, my philosophy is to be more concerned with teaching students how to find information for themselves, rather than simply giving it to them. This is often the type of encounter I'll have at the reference desk, but it's probably not the type of answer most online questioners are looking for.
In a way, that's part of the appeal of these sites--they're the online equivalent of asking around when you want to know something. Studies have shown that's what people tend to do first, rather than turning to "experts" or researching for themselves. Even though they are asking an anonymous community rather than friends and family, they are still drawn to online answer sites over more traditional, library-based methods. Other qualities that make the sites bigger draws over reference librarians for some people are their easy availability, 24/7, and the ability for people to remain anonymous if they choose.
The other type of question I avoided were ones that appeared to be homework assignments. As an academic librarian, my philosophy is to be more concerned with teaching students how to find information for themselves, rather than simply giving it to them. This is often the type of encounter I'll have at the reference desk, but it's probably not the type of answer most online questioners are looking for.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Thing #33 -- Travel 2.0
At this point in my life I don't travel very much, and when I do it's usually to known places rather than new ones. I also tend to not pay a lot of attention to other people's reviews--it's hard to know what their criteria for judging are, or how similar those criteria are to mine. So I was a little skeptical about spending a lot of time exploring the sites listed for this Thing. But I can see the appeal they would have for other people.
Several of the mashup sites interested me, however. I like the focus of Green Routes, and can see myself using it to find places to visit on "travels" close to home. With my interest in food and wine, 2 other sites interested me: Wines and Times, because I have enjoyed visiting many wineries in the past, and My Kugelhopf for its focus on food and enjoyable writing. And the next time I do take a trip I'll have to remember MapVivo (provided it's still around in this quickly changing 2.0 world!). It would be fun to use to map out a trip, as well as to share it with friends and family afterwards.
How does any of this fit into my (academic) library? I don't think it does. We hardly ever get travel-related questions at reference, and have removed most of the non-academic related pages of links from our web site, figuring students have other places they are more likely to look for that kind of information than the library.
Several of the mashup sites interested me, however. I like the focus of Green Routes, and can see myself using it to find places to visit on "travels" close to home. With my interest in food and wine, 2 other sites interested me: Wines and Times, because I have enjoyed visiting many wineries in the past, and My Kugelhopf for its focus on food and enjoyable writing. And the next time I do take a trip I'll have to remember MapVivo (provided it's still around in this quickly changing 2.0 world!). It would be fun to use to map out a trip, as well as to share it with friends and family afterwards.
How does any of this fit into my (academic) library? I don't think it does. We hardly ever get travel-related questions at reference, and have removed most of the non-academic related pages of links from our web site, figuring students have other places they are more likely to look for that kind of information than the library.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thing #32 -- Google Maps and Mashups
On the 23 Things on a Stick Ning I commented that this was one of the Things I was most looking forward to. I think there's a lot of potential for creating useful mashups using Google Maps. I said that I hadn't been very successful coding my own map from scratch using the Google Maps API. I could create markers in the right places, but couldn't get the popup windows showing information about each marker to work properly.
This Thing introduced me to Map Builder, which I was able to use to begin building a functional map mashup, complete with marker popups. One of the special collections in my library has information on a number of buildings around the country, and I am creating a map indicating where and what those buildings are, and what kinds of materials the library has for each. One thing I especially like about Map Builder is it can import data from a spreadsheet to create the map. Since most of the relevant information for each building is already in spreadsheet form, I only need to make some minor changes to the spreadsheet to upload the data and create my map.
The My Maps function of Google Maps is very intuitive to use and makes creating custom maps quick and easy. I always have a problem answering the question "Where are you from" because my family moved around so much. So here's a map I made with My Maps showing all the places I lived while I was growing up. I haven't been much more stably located as an adult, but I've left those locations off the map.
View Where I'm From in a larger map
This Thing introduced me to Map Builder, which I was able to use to begin building a functional map mashup, complete with marker popups. One of the special collections in my library has information on a number of buildings around the country, and I am creating a map indicating where and what those buildings are, and what kinds of materials the library has for each. One thing I especially like about Map Builder is it can import data from a spreadsheet to create the map. Since most of the relevant information for each building is already in spreadsheet form, I only need to make some minor changes to the spreadsheet to upload the data and create my map.
The My Maps function of Google Maps is very intuitive to use and makes creating custom maps quick and easy. I always have a problem answering the question "Where are you from" because my family moved around so much. So here's a map I made with My Maps showing all the places I lived while I was growing up. I haven't been much more stably located as an adult, but I've left those locations off the map.
View Where I'm From in a larger map
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thing #31 -- More Twitter
Keeping up with news and finding things out quickly is what I've ended up using Twitter the most for. It was via the #cil2009 hashtag on Twitter that I discovered the Computers in Libraries day 2 keynote was being streamed live and was able to watch it. Tweets from MPR were how I found out about several developments in the Coleman-Franken recount trial shortly after they happened. And a chance viewing of trending topics is how I discovered that Skype (finally!) was releasing a native app for the iPhone/iPod Touch the following day.
I use a variety of Twitter methods. I don't use the Twitter web site very often--it's slow to load and doesn't always draw the screen formatted properly. I tried both TwitterFon and Twitterrific on my iPod Touch, and preferred TwitterFon. It's the main way I read tweets, but I don't post that way very often, preferring a full keyboard to the mini on-screen one. I also installed TwitterGadget on my iGoogle page, which I use primarily for sending my tweets. These 2 applications meet my needs, so I haven't explored a desktop Twitter client. The only one I considered was TweetDeck, primarily for it's ability to update my Facebook status with my tweets and vice versa. (I discovered this feature from a friend I follow, who mentioned it in a tweet.)
To be honest, I use Twitter more than I thought I would. I'm probably somewhere between the Dumping and Conversing stages. Since I don't have many followers, I often feel my tweets are just a one-sided conversation into the ether, but I have had a few actual conversations. And most of what I follow I do for news or entertainment--I haven't felt the need to reply to anything I've read. Perhaps more interaction will come if I stick with it.
I use a variety of Twitter methods. I don't use the Twitter web site very often--it's slow to load and doesn't always draw the screen formatted properly. I tried both TwitterFon and Twitterrific on my iPod Touch, and preferred TwitterFon. It's the main way I read tweets, but I don't post that way very often, preferring a full keyboard to the mini on-screen one. I also installed TwitterGadget on my iGoogle page, which I use primarily for sending my tweets. These 2 applications meet my needs, so I haven't explored a desktop Twitter client. The only one I considered was TweetDeck, primarily for it's ability to update my Facebook status with my tweets and vice versa. (I discovered this feature from a friend I follow, who mentioned it in a tweet.)
To be honest, I use Twitter more than I thought I would. I'm probably somewhere between the Dumping and Conversing stages. Since I don't have many followers, I often feel my tweets are just a one-sided conversation into the ether, but I have had a few actual conversations. And most of what I follow I do for news or entertainment--I haven't felt the need to reply to anything I've read. Perhaps more interaction will come if I stick with it.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Thing #30 -- More with Delicious
I hadn't actually created a Delicious account back in Thing 11, so I started this Thing by doing that. The built-in security checkers made that a little frustrating, however. I have been using the same password for all the accounts I create as part of the Things--makes it easier to remember. But Delicious kept telling me it shared too many letters with my username. After several username/password combinations I finally had to admit defeat and choose a completely different one. Hope I remember it!
As a new Delicious user I haven't explored it much beyond bookmarking. I tried to standardize my tags (controlled vocabulary is a familiar concept to librarians) and found the batch renaming and tagging functions useful as I developed my taxonomy. There is now a tag roll on my blog's sidebar.
One of the things I did was go through all the email messages and notes I've been collecting of web sites that I want to look at and possibly include on subject guides I maintain. Adding these sites to Delicious will make this process easier. I can produce a list of possible sites by tagging them for particular guides. It would be nice to hook the sites I've chosen on Delicious to the guide web pages so they update automatically when I add or delete one. I tried the basic link roll functionality, but it didn't quite work the way I wanted it too. Guess I'll have to tinker with it some more later.
As a new Delicious user I haven't explored it much beyond bookmarking. I tried to standardize my tags (controlled vocabulary is a familiar concept to librarians) and found the batch renaming and tagging functions useful as I developed my taxonomy. There is now a tag roll on my blog's sidebar.
One of the things I did was go through all the email messages and notes I've been collecting of web sites that I want to look at and possibly include on subject guides I maintain. Adding these sites to Delicious will make this process easier. I can produce a list of possible sites by tagging them for particular guides. It would be nice to hook the sites I've chosen on Delicious to the guide web pages so they update automatically when I add or delete one. I tried the basic link roll functionality, but it didn't quite work the way I wanted it too. Guess I'll have to tinker with it some more later.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Thing #30 -- More Ways to Use RSS
I use Google Reader for my RSS feeds and once I added the Reader gadget to my iGoogle home page (as part of Thing 28) that became the primary way I view them. I'll usually check several times a week, skimming the list, and only reading the ones that interest me. Organizing feeds into folders really helps. I have folders for general library feeds, specific library subjects, news, technology, and a few others. It helps me keep my reading focused; many times I don't check every folder each time--deciding which folders have interest for me depending on my mood or circumstances. Using folders also keeps any one list of posts from getting too long and overwhelming.
Even so, the technology folder still has a lot in it. Both Lifehacker and Engadget, for example, post several times an hour, and it's hard to weed out the few gems I care about from all the rest. I was glad to discover FeedRinse as part of this Thing, and am experimenting with it. I created "rinsed" versions of my technology related feeds, based on what tags are in a post, and set up a separate folder for those. This will allow me to compare what's getting through my filters with the full blog. Once it seems to be giving me just the posts I care about I'll remove the full feeds from my reader.
The concept behind Spreed is an interesting one. I can see its appeal for some people, those whose job requires them to keep up on all the news in a particular area. It's nice that Spreed provides options to speed read a story or see the full article, and to set the words per minute. I had a hard time with it, though. On slower speeds the story didn't flow--my mind kept treating each screen of 2-4 words as a distinct chunk rather than knitting them together to make a sentence. Increasing the speed made me tense, as my comprehension tried to keep up with my reading.
In the "file it away for later" category is Simple Tracking.com. Next time I have a package to track it will be nice to have a feed that updates when the package's status changes.
I also may try twitterfeed later on, depending on how much I end up using Twitter, and how many people follow me. Twitterfeed would be an easy way for libraries with both blogs and Twitter accounts to keep users informed about the library, by passing blog posts into their Twitter stream. A painless way to reach users where they are, in whichever social medium they prefer.
I'll save more things with delicious for my next post.
Even so, the technology folder still has a lot in it. Both Lifehacker and Engadget, for example, post several times an hour, and it's hard to weed out the few gems I care about from all the rest. I was glad to discover FeedRinse as part of this Thing, and am experimenting with it. I created "rinsed" versions of my technology related feeds, based on what tags are in a post, and set up a separate folder for those. This will allow me to compare what's getting through my filters with the full blog. Once it seems to be giving me just the posts I care about I'll remove the full feeds from my reader.
The concept behind Spreed is an interesting one. I can see its appeal for some people, those whose job requires them to keep up on all the news in a particular area. It's nice that Spreed provides options to speed read a story or see the full article, and to set the words per minute. I had a hard time with it, though. On slower speeds the story didn't flow--my mind kept treating each screen of 2-4 words as a distinct chunk rather than knitting them together to make a sentence. Increasing the speed made me tense, as my comprehension tried to keep up with my reading.
In the "file it away for later" category is Simple Tracking.com. Next time I have a package to track it will be nice to have a feed that updates when the package's status changes.
I also may try twitterfeed later on, depending on how much I end up using Twitter, and how many people follow me. Twitterfeed would be an easy way for libraries with both blogs and Twitter accounts to keep users informed about the library, by passing blog posts into their Twitter stream. A painless way to reach users where they are, in whichever social medium they prefer.
I'll save more things with delicious for my next post.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thing #29, part 2 -- Google Tools: Search
I wasn't familiar with any of the tools listed in the Search Tools category, so I looked at most of them. The ramifications concerning privacy, or lack thereof, in using Web History made me a little uncomfortable. I wasn't sure the benefits of saving my search history were worth it, so I didn't explore this one very far.
I went further with SearchWiki, watching the video and reading the articles. Opinion is mixed regarding its usefulness. Many people who commented on the articles also questioned Google's motives for having SearchWiki--whether they were looking to provide a beneficial tool to users, or interested in enhancing their search algorithm based on users' comments. I suspect it was probably a little of both. For my part, I don't see a need for custom search results. If I find search results I wanted to keep track of, I would add the sites to del.icio.us or another bookmarking tool, rather than have to repeat a search just to get to them. The ability to view others' comments on a site doesn't appeal to me either. I don't tend to use other review/opinion kinds of web sites, so why would I use this feature in Google?
The search tool I did implement is Alerts. I set a few up for parts of the library's web site that I maintain, to get an idea of who is linking to or commenting on them. I am intrigued about the idea of using alerts to detect copyright violations. I work with a collection of images owned by the library, and in constructing the search to use for one alert I discovered several blogs using images from the collection. Note to self: decide if it is worth tracking down blog owners...
Just for fun, I created one for my name, and was surprised to receive an alert informing me about my previous blog post!
I went further with SearchWiki, watching the video and reading the articles. Opinion is mixed regarding its usefulness. Many people who commented on the articles also questioned Google's motives for having SearchWiki--whether they were looking to provide a beneficial tool to users, or interested in enhancing their search algorithm based on users' comments. I suspect it was probably a little of both. For my part, I don't see a need for custom search results. If I find search results I wanted to keep track of, I would add the sites to del.icio.us or another bookmarking tool, rather than have to repeat a search just to get to them. The ability to view others' comments on a site doesn't appeal to me either. I don't tend to use other review/opinion kinds of web sites, so why would I use this feature in Google?
The search tool I did implement is Alerts. I set a few up for parts of the library's web site that I maintain, to get an idea of who is linking to or commenting on them. I am intrigued about the idea of using alerts to detect copyright violations. I work with a collection of images owned by the library, and in constructing the search to use for one alert I discovered several blogs using images from the collection. Note to self: decide if it is worth tracking down blog owners...
Just for fun, I created one for my name, and was surprised to receive an alert informing me about my previous blog post!
Thing #29, part 1 -- Google Tools: Productivity
I should have gotten to this Thing earlier...it solved an annoyance I've been dealing with for several years.
The Background
For what seems like a long time now, I've been using 2 separate calendar applications. My husband and I share several calendars on Apple's iCal to keep track of various schedules, and I use Mozilla Sunbird at work so I can print my weekly agenda and post it outside my office (my library doesn't use our campus' calendar program to share staff schedules). While the 2 applications use the same calendar format, they couldn't share calendars. That meant I either had to remember to enter everything twice, once in each place, or continuously export and import from one app to the other.
The Solution
I had looked at Google Calendar a little over a year ago to see if it was a better alternative than Sunbird, but it wasn't then. This Thing made me take a second look. Upon reading this sentence: "You can sync you calendar with Outlook, Blackberry devices, and Apple's iCal" [emphasis mine] I became excited. Finally, no more double entry calendaring! A quick install of Google's calaboration code on my MacBook, and I was all set. Now, anything I add to my Google Calendar while I'm at work will show up in iCal at home and my husband's work, and anything either of us add to iCal will show up for me at work.
Productivity tool indeed! This Thing is the winner so far for most immediate application of something I've learned.
The Background
For what seems like a long time now, I've been using 2 separate calendar applications. My husband and I share several calendars on Apple's iCal to keep track of various schedules, and I use Mozilla Sunbird at work so I can print my weekly agenda and post it outside my office (my library doesn't use our campus' calendar program to share staff schedules). While the 2 applications use the same calendar format, they couldn't share calendars. That meant I either had to remember to enter everything twice, once in each place, or continuously export and import from one app to the other.
The Solution
I had looked at Google Calendar a little over a year ago to see if it was a better alternative than Sunbird, but it wasn't then. This Thing made me take a second look. Upon reading this sentence: "You can sync you calendar with Outlook, Blackberry devices, and Apple's iCal" [emphasis mine] I became excited. Finally, no more double entry calendaring! A quick install of Google's calaboration code on my MacBook, and I was all set. Now, anything I add to my Google Calendar while I'm at work will show up in iCal at home and my husband's work, and anything either of us add to iCal will show up for me at work.
Productivity tool indeed! This Thing is the winner so far for most immediate application of something I've learned.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thing #28 -- Custom Home Pages
I created an iGoogle home page as part of Thing 13 and decided to stick with it for this Thing. Since I had explored Pageflakes and MyYahoo previously I didn't look at them again, but I did play around with Netvibes. Netvibes is a lot more appealing visually than iGoogle, but I just couldn't see creating yet another account to keep track of, or taking the time to basically duplicate everything I had in iGoogle. Also, I use both Google Groups and shared Google Documents. If the idea is to increase productivity by having all resources in one place, then iGoogle is the obvious choice for me.
Working on this Thing caused me to reexamine what gadgets I had on iGoogle and whether there were any I should add. I did put 3 new gadgets on my page. Two of them I should have added months ago: Google Reader and Facebook. Now that I am using Twitter, I also added a gadget for it.
Working on this Thing caused me to reexamine what gadgets I had on iGoogle and whether there were any I should add. I did put 3 new gadgets on my page. Two of them I should have added months ago: Google Reader and Facebook. Now that I am using Twitter, I also added a gadget for it.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thing #27 -- Twitter
I'd heard of Twitter before, but didn't know much about it before this Thing. I did join, and choose a few people (or organizations) to follow. These are primarily for news (NPR, Star Tribune) or fun (James Lileks, The Onion) or MPR's Bob Collins who is both. I also added mnmorethings. If Twitter is at all useful to me, and I'm not convinced that it is, it will be for doing this kind of following. Very few of my friends or colleagues are on Twitter, so it doesn't work as a method to communicate with them. Since most of them are on Facebook that will probably remain the main way I connect with them online.
Since the ACRL conference is going on now, I wondered if following ACRL or tweets that have the #acrl2009 hashtag would be worthwhile. There are many people using Twitter to live blog ACRL sessions, and I could kind of follow what was going on, especially if I concentrated on just one or two people. I'll have to stick with it a bit longer to see if I learn anything useful, however.
As far as library uses for Twitter go, I don't see an application for them at my library yet. We've been talking about a library blog, or other more social ways to share library news, but haven't done anything except a Facebook page. Once we get our blog going perhaps we'll look into using Twitter to help spread our news.
I thought this would be a good post to share a video I came across several weeks ago. It's John Cleese's Twitter--The Movie from his blog, Cleeseblog.com.
Since the ACRL conference is going on now, I wondered if following ACRL or tweets that have the #acrl2009 hashtag would be worthwhile. There are many people using Twitter to live blog ACRL sessions, and I could kind of follow what was going on, especially if I concentrated on just one or two people. I'll have to stick with it a bit longer to see if I learn anything useful, however.
As far as library uses for Twitter go, I don't see an application for them at my library yet. We've been talking about a library blog, or other more social ways to share library news, but haven't done anything except a Facebook page. Once we get our blog going perhaps we'll look into using Twitter to help spread our news.
I thought this would be a good post to share a video I came across several weeks ago. It's John Cleese's Twitter--The Movie from his blog, Cleeseblog.com.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thing # 26 -- Ning (again)
I joined the 23 Things on a Stick Ning as part of Thing 21 in Round 1, but since it came so late in the Things I didn't use it once I joined. I joined 2 other Ning networks. The first was for the Midwest Library Technology Conference 2008 and the second was a closed network used for planning an event. In both cases, use of Ning fizzled out fairly quickly. The technology conference Ning was valuable as a way for presenters to post materials, but it never generated much discussion related to the presentations. The other network suffered from the same lack of use. We discovered email was a more efficient way to discuss and resolve issues.
The 23 Things on a Stick Ning seems to be more active, unless it's just all a result of doing Thing 26! I did explore the groups without finding one that interested me. Most of them seem more relevant to public librarians than academic ones. To fulfill this Thing I uploaded a video and contributed to a discussion. I already added the Ning badge back in Thing #21.
The 23 Things on a Stick Ning seems to be more active, unless it's just all a result of doing Thing 26! I did explore the groups without finding one that interested me. Most of them seem more relevant to public librarians than academic ones. To fulfill this Thing I uploaded a video and contributed to a discussion. I already added the Ning badge back in Thing #21.
Friday, February 20, 2009
More with Thing #25 -- Post by email
I decided to test posting by email using my iPod Touch. It's easy,
but time consuming to type with only one finger. I can see it might
be helpful if I was doing live blogging somewhere and didn't have a
computer with me. But pretty much anywhere I'd have email access I'd
also have web access to post directly. So email posting doesn't seem
terribly useful.
but time consuming to type with only one finger. I can see it might
be helpful if I was doing live blogging somewhere and didn't have a
computer with me. But pretty much anywhere I'd have email access I'd
also have web access to post directly. So email posting doesn't seem
terribly useful.
---------------------
Sent from my iPod Touch
Thing #25 -- Bloggers' Toolkit
This is a good Thing to have at the beginning, to explore useful tools for blogging. But it's a bad Thing because there's so much to explore it can keep you from moving on to other Things. I've been stuck on #25 for a couple weeks now...
The usability article was informative. It was also validating, as I discovered I'm already following many of the suggestions. I like the one about tag clouds being more helpful than lists of previous posts by date; it makes a lot of sense. I plan to add a tag cloud to my blog--but first I have to go back and add tags to all the posts! It was something I hadn't done originally. That article also introduced me to Copyblogger, where I ended up spending a bunch of time reading.
Some of the 20 usability suggestions were frustrating, however. Since it was written using, and for, WordPress, many of the linked tools are WordPress specific. I'd see something I wanted to try, but not know how to. The frustration was compounded because I don't find Blogger's gadget lists very easy to use. Browsing categories brings up too many gadgets to page through, and searching doesn't seem to produce very helpful results. Kind of strange for a company that built itself on search!
Google Analytics is something I'm familiar with because I use it on a couple web sites I work with. It was simple to add tracking for this blog to the other sites I keep stats for. I noticed my blog has very few hits--not all that surprising. There are so many More Things on a Stick blogs that I've only looked at a small fraction myself.
With such low traffic, many of the Toolkit items don't make much sense. They'd just highlight how desolate my blog is out in cyberspace. ; - ) But I can see their value for more active blogs. I'm thinking about some of the comment tools (recent comments area, post ratings, most popular posts, etc.)
One thing I did add was the ability to subscribe to my blog. That's a key feature that I always look for on other blogs. A section I didn't even explore was the photo tools. I use a couple different imaging tools in my work on various web sites. For me, it's easier to keep using the tools I know than to work with different ones just for blogging.
The usability article was informative. It was also validating, as I discovered I'm already following many of the suggestions. I like the one about tag clouds being more helpful than lists of previous posts by date; it makes a lot of sense. I plan to add a tag cloud to my blog--but first I have to go back and add tags to all the posts! It was something I hadn't done originally. That article also introduced me to Copyblogger, where I ended up spending a bunch of time reading.
Some of the 20 usability suggestions were frustrating, however. Since it was written using, and for, WordPress, many of the linked tools are WordPress specific. I'd see something I wanted to try, but not know how to. The frustration was compounded because I don't find Blogger's gadget lists very easy to use. Browsing categories brings up too many gadgets to page through, and searching doesn't seem to produce very helpful results. Kind of strange for a company that built itself on search!
Google Analytics is something I'm familiar with because I use it on a couple web sites I work with. It was simple to add tracking for this blog to the other sites I keep stats for. I noticed my blog has very few hits--not all that surprising. There are so many More Things on a Stick blogs that I've only looked at a small fraction myself.
With such low traffic, many of the Toolkit items don't make much sense. They'd just highlight how desolate my blog is out in cyberspace. ; - ) But I can see their value for more active blogs. I'm thinking about some of the comment tools (recent comments area, post ratings, most popular posts, etc.)
One thing I did add was the ability to subscribe to my blog. That's a key feature that I always look for on other blogs. A section I didn't even explore was the photo tools. I use a couple different imaging tools in my work on various web sites. For me, it's easier to keep using the tools I know than to work with different ones just for blogging.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thing #24 -- Refresh
When I finished 23 Things on a Stick I had all good intentions to keep up my blog, but somehow never actually did. That doesn't mean I haven't been blogging, just not on this one. A few months ago I began a blog to keep in touch with family around the country. I am also experimenting with a blog to communicate with faculty in my liaison departments. Now, with More Things on a Stick I will get back to posting to this one.
I spent quite a bit of time working on my blog design the first go-round, and still like the results. I did tweak the blog's colors a little, but don't see a need for major changes. The same goes for my avatar. I tried some of the suggested sites and others I found on my own, but didn't like many of my avatar experiments better than my first one from Yahoo!. In the end, I did create a new one I liked.
I spent quite a bit of time working on my blog design the first go-round, and still like the results. I did tweak the blog's colors a little, but don't see a need for major changes. The same goes for my avatar. I tried some of the suggested sites and others I found on my own, but didn't like many of my avatar experiments better than my first one from Yahoo!. In the end, I did create a new one I liked.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
