Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking was something I didn't even know existed. I am learning so many new things it is getting challenging to let anything sink in. Anyway, I can see the advantages to making what is, essentially, a personal tool like bookmarking and making it public. If someone else in your field has already gone through the work of finding great sites why should you have to do the same work when you could benefit from their suggestions and visa versa. This is a natural advantage for Librarians who do research on a daily basis. On a personal level, I like being able to go from one computer to the next and keep my own bookmarks intact. Thanks Web 2.0 for introducing me to this.

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TchjHQM40jM

This is a link to my dad's You Tube song. My mom is the soloist.



I think I could become addicted to watching You Tube. I don't have the desire to post anything but the possibilities are endless for seeing new and interesting things. While searching for library related posts I came across a Japanese game show set in a library where everything was silent and in the background was what looked like real library patrons and staff going about their business. The point I think was not to make any noise while the loser of each round had to endure certain tasks like getting a nose hair plucked or eating a wasabi filled sushi roll. I couldn't decide if this was funny or cruel.



Here is another library related post I came across:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3808figJoBM

P.S. Check out my dad's other You Tube postings. Search for Mike Lynch and find the ones posted by Music Teacher2009.

Facebook

Well, I am officially on Facebook now. I have four friends already and I don't know what to do with them yet. But really, this is going to be great as a tool to keep up with people I already know, get in touch with friends from the past, and maybe meet new people. I looked up one friend from high school who I had lost contact with. She accepted my invitation and I can't wait to catch up with her. I also invited one cousin who is going to school in Chicago. I know I won't be able to keep up with the high speed of her site but at least I can still feel connected to her now. As far as library use of Facebook, there are many advantages to having a presence online. First of all, as online social networking replaces traditional networking methods, libraries will be able to keep in the loop as a resource for information and connecting to other people and resources. Also, library employees can connect with other employees both in their own system and outside to compare notes and combine forces. I found Facebook pretty easy to set up but kind of intimidating to navigate. I'm sure once I spend more time with it I will get used to how it works.

Flickr

Flicker was a little frustrating to set up. First you have to set up a whole new e-mail account with Yahoo and then you get to set up with Flickr. Once I got set up, though, I found downloading my pictures to be quite easy.
The use for libraries would be to post pictures of events and programs to help advertise what is going on in the libraries. Personally, the fact that the pictures are now backed up online is great in case anything happens to the hard copies.
Here is the picture I posted on Flickr. It was taken on my trip to Italy with my choir in 2005. This is the "Bridge of Sighs" in Venice. Convicts would walk across the bridge from the left side (court house) to the right side (prison) after their sentence. The view of Venice from the windows was usually their last and they were reported to sigh as they went across. I got to walk across the bridge later that day during a tour of both buildings!

Pandora

I really like Pandora as a cool music listening tool. I like the fact that once you type in your favorite artist it gives you other music you might like. I tend to get stuck listening to one artist and forget there are others out there. I used the mix feature to combine my stations and I got a great eclectic mix to listen to. One funny anecdote: When I started to tell my dad what I was about to learn in this project and couldn't remember the name of the web site he immediately said "Oh, you mean Pandora?". He then brought up his playlist and told me all about it. I should have known. He is a music teacher and a musicophile. Anyway, one more reason I should be online, right?

RSS Feeds

I wasn't as impressed with RSS feeds as I thought I would be. Personally, I am so new to blogging and following blogs that the relevance of this whole new world hasn't quite sunk in. I do plan to visit this again when I have more time and maybe I'll understand it better.
I do think it is a great idea to be able to have information come to you rather than search all your favorite blogs etc. each time you go on-line. I just don't have any favorite blogs yet.
For librarians, this might be useful for organizing incoming information to save time. I do think, though, that to remain fresh, the user would still have to visit new blog sites and weed out old sites that don't apply anymore.

Instant Messaging

Hey, this is pretty cool.

I think this is similar to how the 24/7 librarians do their work with patrons online. The real time communication makes asking and answering questions easier than e-mail. It would also be a good way for hard of hearing people to communicate with anyone without using a phone service with an operator. Not everyone has access to TTY but most people (myself excluded) have a computer. I haven't tried instant messaging with multiple people but I have visited a few chat rooms before. It can get confusing and the conversation becomes pretty shallow so everyone can follow and contribute but it is fun. There are lot's of abbreviations and common phrases like "LOL" for "laugh out loud". Anyway, It is good to know more about this and I plan to use instant messaging in the future.