Word on the Web

This is great! Being able to word process and use other applications on the web is a terrific idea. This has real potential for our patrons as well. I tried both Zoho Writer and Google Docs. Both were very easy to use but neither would let me post the document I had created to my blog. I tried over and over with no luck -- kept getting the same error messages. Very frustrating!

Playing in the Sandbox

For some reason, unknown to me, the wiki would not let me link the title of my blog to my blog's URL when I was trying to add it to the Favorite Blogs page. It kept saying in the lower left corner: "error on page" or something like that. So I had to settle for listing the URL. (From the note at the top of the page, it looks like they had been having this problem earlier in the month but it was supposedly fixed??) Maybe it's me.

Wouldn't Jefferson love wikis?

It is amazing to me that Wikipedia works so well -- that all hell doesn't break loose. Wikis rely on the inherent goodness of people. If wikis had been around in the 1700s, they would have been a tool of the Enlightenment with its beliefs that humans are basically good and that reason can solve most problems. I think Voltaire would have been big into wikis. And the Founding Fathers -- particularly Jefferson.

The Machine is Us

Web 2.0

After reading all five articles on Library 2.0, I wasn't sure what to think or what to write. One thing for sure is that libraries must keep moving forward. Alvy Singer said that relationships are like sharks--they have to keep moving forward or they die. I think this is true for libraries as well. I also think that libraries need to be increasingly adroit at making decisions in a timely manner and confronting issues quickly and effectively.
I found the video by cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch haunting and profound. Library 2.0 is, and will continue to be,
an extension of Web 2.0. Libraries will ride the same wave as
Web 2.0 and ultimately become the wave.
If the Machine is Us, then Libraries are Them.
(Them = Users.)

Let's make up some words

One thing that is strange with the Technorati webpage is that the search bar shown in the Technorati tour video is not what actually appears on the page. It didn't matter whether I used Explorer or Firefox and whether I was signed in or signed out. Yes, I actually created yet another account thinking that maybe you had to be a member of the Technorati club to get the real goods. But no deal. The video shows a drop down menu right on the search bar which does not exist when you actually go to the Technorati page. I found that I had to go to the Advanced Search to find these specific searches.

Allow me a quick digression...It annoys me how these people just make up words. Like favorited as a verb OR an adjective as in "He favorited this blog..." or "100 top favorited blogs." Of course, the word blog itself is pretty offensive. I guess the adjective favorite just isn't good enough somehow. And the verb favor just doesn't cut it. I know, I know, they have their self-important construct where you add a blog to your favorites and so it is favorited etc....It just really gets my goat.

Back to searching on Technorati...
The results were very different searching "Library 2.0" in the three searches. Makes sense. Exploring the "top three" reveals that most of the sites are about, not surprisingly, technology and gadgets!
Gadget, huh, where did that word come from...hmmm, looking it up in the dictionary...what's this, origin unknown...

Hold That Tiger

Wow! Del.icio.us reminds me of descriptions of the human brain whereby new connections are constantly being formed and reformed. Interesting, because I feel like my brain is doing what del.icio.us is doing while I am watching del.icio.us do it. Exhausting isn't it!
Del.icio.us is a muscular tool attempting to tame the tiger that is the internet. (But I hate typing the name! It's like hiccupping.) While it is useful to be able to access your bookmarks from any computer, the real power of del.icio.us lies in its potential for connecting people and information. I could see professors routinely using del.icio.us in their courses. I'm sure plenty already are--not to mention librarians.
So...hold that tiger!!!

Searchrolllll

Select...Bookplate searchSearch The Web

I could not figure out how to remove the general web search from my searchroll??!
I can see that this tool would be good for searching multiple websites at the same. However, I have not had the need for such a tool myself thus far.

Bookworms Infest Cyberspace

Fun tool! Deserves more perusal on a cold and cloudy day.
(Click on the worm to see my LibraryThing catalog so far.)

The Password is "Export"

Instead of online image generators some of them should be called lowest common denominator generators, but I did have fun with Yahoo Avatars. And after I found the Export feature, it was a piece of cake.