Wee Wiki!

If I hadn't been using our own library wiki for the last year or so, I think this last exercise would have confused me a bit. I know about Wikipedia and how that can be edited, but it always seems for formal and structured that I was intimidated by it as a potential editor (although I've never really had the inclination to edit on Wikipedia. I figure there are bigger dorks than me out there that have the job well covered.) On the local library level, I totally understand it. It's where we let everyone know what's going on, like a big bulletin board of yesteryear. The Montana Librarians wiki looks kinda fun, a little sparse right now, but the potential is there. I like the tag line "we do more with less" kinda like the entire state. . . that should be on the state flag, not "silver and gold"

Only chocolate is Del.icio.us!

I had seen Del.icio.us as an option on some blogs, and had actually wandered around some Del.icio.us pages, but hadn't really understood what I was seeing. The little video by Common Craft was great and I loved how they used paper to represent the computer pages and links and stuff; low-tech but effective. It had sort of occured to me that, unless I memorized my bookmarked pages, away from my home computer, I was stuck. I definiately think I'll try this out for my bookmarked pages at home, but I can also see the advantages of social tagging from an educators point of view, like the math teacher idea feature in the video. Poking around the mtlib20 page was interesting, but they definiately need some more stuff. Maybe I'll try that in the next few days, although sadly, I don't have a lot of really good academic sites for libraries, I have some good sites for art. . .will have to see if those will work. I wonder if there's a moderator for the site at all? I know on some community pages in livejournal and yahoogroups they are moderators that keep the content and comments focus on the specific topic that the group was created around. Hmm, something to consider.

You! With Tube!

This exercise was old hat for me, cause I love finding weird and random stuff on YouTube. It's probably one of the driving forces behind the spread of current pop culture as well as the cross-introduction of arts and culture between us (Americans) and the rest of the world (videos from China, India, Turkey, etc.)
The downside about some of the videos (not necessarily YouTube itself) is the issue of copyrights. Anyone can post anything, but sometimes the big-corporate-copyright-holders don't like that someone is posting a music video or song without their permission so they have the video pulled, or the song has to be different which means the lyrics and images don't match up. All in all, in some instances, just frustrating for all involved.
Another aspect that I like about YouTube is that there are more and more instructional how-to channels and videos which I think could be really helpful for patrons. Not sure how to make a basic bookshelf or how to arrange flowers? There most likely is a video out there to show you how. (It is a common held belief that whenever a question or idea is voiced in the real world, there usually is already a site that exists about it)
Anyway, I chose this video because it was well done and a fascinating topic, especially since I don't have much exposure to Jewish culture and I had no idea Barbie was Jewish:

'Ware the pods!

So dinking around in the pod cast lists was fun although the number of Twilight themed podcasts was a tad disturbing) I'm kinda in the same boat with the podcasts as I was with the RSS feeds - so much to look at/listen too - almost too much. I did subscribe to a few casts that were about word geekery (where words came from and why we say what we do) and a multitopic cast about books, reading, libraries, and various other similar literary topics. I'm not sure if I would use pobcasts in my day to day Internet usage, but if I had an Ipod and a long commute in the morning I could definitely see the advantages to having something interesting to listen to that wasn't just music. (note to self, should probably get an mp3 and catch up with the rest of the world)
I'm not quite sure about podcasts and patrons. If the casts are legitimate news feeds than they'd be another helpful tool for research and enrichment, but some podcasts are just people talking about random things or just their own opinions. If patrons are looking to podcast as sources for hardcore facts, then they (or more likely the library) would have to slog through a bunch of cast to help them out (or there might be specifically academic/professional groups of podcast out there already; haven't really checked) I think podcasts are an interesting resource, but I'd hesitate to offer it as a service, unless perhaps it was part of our computer classes.

Poetic-ness abounds!

Yeah random poetic playtime! I enjoyed the Generator blog a bunch, although it just proves how much free time other people have on their hands, but fun none the less. The moon poem above was created using Word Mosaic and is pretty nifty. You may start out with a linear and cohesive poem or statement, but then it gets scattered and disjointed and more powerful or poignant because of that shattering of order.

Part II
I had heard about LibraryThing before and it sounded like a neat idea, although with as many books as I have at home it would be a daunting task to get them all added, although probably worth it in the long run. A couple of sites I'd heard of are similar (like SwapTree ) but you actually post book you want to sell/get rid of books, searching by title or by location of the buyer/swaper. It's like a big online, a bit dysfunctional, but still free library. Right now I'm adding all the books I can easily see from my chair to my LibraryThing account, but when I get the time, I think I will get to some serious cataloging (though not to the extent of putting on my own barcodes, I am not that much of a dork, although that does remind me I have to track down a few books that I lent out and have yet to get back *growls*)

Semesters abroad make you go crazy!

tradingcard
Originally uploaded by Wyrdbookchick

I had way too much fun with the trading card feature thingy, although it did cause me to realize I have very few pictures of myself. I think Audrey, the official documenter of all my friends get togethers has some, but I'd have to slog through Facebook albums to find them, and most of them are taken in bars so I think I'll stick with crazy-mud-and-leaves picture that was a self-portrait assignment from my Italy trip. I also checked out the Mappr mashup and it seem like a cool deal but a bit tough for the people spearheading it, mostly because people don't often tag in a helpful manner (one of my pet peeves about this site, as mentioned earlier). The color wheel thing was cool in an artsy sort of way, though I think they need more pictures because I say a few repeats on certain colors, but good job on them either way.

P.S. and no, none of the foliage was poison ivy. . .in case anyone was curious. . .

Road to the Old East

Road to the Old East
Originally uploaded by Wyrdbookchick

Okay, finally figure this photoblog thing. This pic was taken at around 4 am at the Grecian port town of Igoumenitsa. It was a weird and very peaceful time and scene, mostly cause I hadn't slept very much and this was the first time I was able to make out any details about the shore. Most of the ferry ride had been through the center of the Adriatic Sea, so finally being able to point and say "look, look it is another country, another land where I have never been, where I had never expected to go, yet am filled with excitement from seeing even this small pre-dawn glimpse of it"