Shannon's 23Things Adventure

C'est fini!

2009-07-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

I made it through 23 Things and yes, I'm patting myself on the back. I have never done a self-paced course like this one and found it very useful. I have new confidence going forward, comfortable in what I've learned and not afraid to try uncharted Web 2.0 waters. Thanks to ACLA for the opportunity!

Pondering Podcasts

2009-07-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Well, again, I'm happy to feel that I have some footing on familair ground when it comes to podcasts. I first began learning about them several years ago in my days of covering the audiobook publishing industry. Of course, when you are promoting audiobooks, the best way to do it is to provide audio content. Many publishers were experimenting with that, and I was following them, listening to "in-the-studio" interviews with authors and narrators, sample chapters, etc.

I have also subscribed to the NY Times Book Review podcast in the past, mainly for work, but I stopped after awhile because I got backed up. I just resubscribed for this exercise, and hope to keep up a bit better!

But one of my favorite podcasts just for fun is one of the very first things I subscribed to via iTunes when I got my iPod several years ago. It's the Ricky Gervais Podcast and it offers occasional bits from the comedian's show on BBC Radio. I fell in love with his humor via the original show The Office on BBC America TV way back when and have been a fan ever since. Some of the podcast programs keep me laughing through my whole walk in the morning... can't beat that.

Thanks to 23 Things team for having me take a fresh look at podcasts, as I had let them languish somewhere in my brain...

Week 10 and Things Are Flying Fast and Furious on Firefox

2009-07-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, up to thing #19 already!

This week's exercise was one of those that helped me make some more "big picture" connections between accumulated knowledge and new things.

I have used Firefox before, but had not really thought about the separate components.

I was familiar with tabbed browsing already because my version of Internet Explorer at home has it--and we now have that upgrade on staff computers at the library as well. So--easy concept there. I enjoy being able to flip back between tabs. Another thing that makes that more fun is a luxury that I have at home--using two side-by-side monitor screens (I can toggle between my laptop, docked in its station, and a separate monitor screen. Oooo--nice!) My husband talked me into this investment and it has been worth it.

The Add-ons component of Firefox was very much like searching for an app and downloading it for my iPhone. I chose to download NetNotes, which is an add-on that lets you add notes in the sidebar (or bottom bar) of a web page and it will save those notes and bookmark the page. I played with it a bit and it's very cool!

For the final challenge of the exercise, not sure I found the proper info. But....When I looked at changing the font on both IE and Firefox, it looks like you have more choices (in the easiest access/basic toolbar) with Firefox. IE seems to allow larger/smaller, but Firefox has specific font names and sizes, a la MS Word. I'm a boring Times New Roman girl (or Arial), usually, and I find myself playing with the font size both ways as my eyes get a wee bit older.

Whew!

I'm a bit behind, so on to week 11 and more Things!

Still Soaking it In

2009-07-06T10:51:00.001-07:00

Those of you who know me, know that I am an avid sports fan. Not EVERY sport, but a good many. Surely this comes, at least in part, from having a father who has played football (college scholarship), has coached numerous teams and is currently the athletic director at my high school in Ohio. As a result, I have been a participant in organized sports all my life and an eager spectator, too.

My husband thinks he really hit the jackpot when he met me, as I was willing to go with him to all the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey games on his season-ticket plan. Now I love the game as much as he does (but never more than I love my husband!!). In fact, we were crazy enough to have penguin pastries (created by our favorite French baker, Jean-Marc Chatellier) on our wedding cake! Jean-Marc learned how to make the pastries in France, long before he moved to Pittsburgh and had any association with a Penguin sports team. That's a whole, great story in itself. In any case, here's a Flickr picture that someone took in Paris of a similar pastry (marzipan and chocolate outside; sponge cake, chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache inside). Ooooh la la!

OK... moving right along....

The 2008-2009 hockey season was particularly special as the team overcame plenty of adversity and won the Stanley Cup!! My favorite player, Max Talbot, scored both goals in the Game 7 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. I still smile just thinking about it. All this glory comes on the heels of the Steelers' fantastic, adrenaline pumping win in the 2009 Super Bowl. So, Pittsburgh truly is the City of Champions. My husband's and my favorite new t-shirt slogan is "On Ice or On Grass, We'll Kick Your Ass. Pittsburgh, City of Champions." Hee hee. Here's a video to go along with that (I hope):

Am I Really Antisocial?

2009-06-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Gosh. I have long said that I'm not a fan of putting my personal information out on the Web, but with this week's focus on social networking, I think that I am coming to face a truth: when it comes to Web 2.0 I must be downright antisocial.

My first experiences with social networking-like sites were years ago with Classmates.com and Friendster. I was cajoled by real-live friends to join, so I did. An old boyfriend found me via Classmates.com and while it was exciting to reconnect at first, our "reunion" didn't end well. And I never got much out of Friendster.

Since then, I've joined Twitter but never really used my account; joined Yammer and had to unsubscribe because it drove me nuts, and joined GoodReads but rarely update it. I am fiercely resistant to joining Facebook though I know tons of people who are on it. What the heck is wrong with me?

I believe that I am well aware of both the dangers and benefits of social networking after reading a bajillion blog entries and some scholarly articles about it. I think I'm still going to sit on the sidelines for now when it comes to a personal profile.

As for libraries using social networking, I think that anytime there is an opportunity to market one's libary and shout about the good things you're doing (a la best practices, idea sharing, etc.), it's important to take advantage. It's not like most libraries have promotional and advertising budgets....

It's also important that, as disseminators of information, libraries and librarians be seen as up to date with technology trends. So...while teens might say it's uncool that their library/librarian has a Facebook presence, I'm guessing that in the back of their mind they are begrudingly thinking that a librarian who knows how to use Facebook is indeed cool.

I would hope that social networking for libraries can translate into patrons physically using the brick-and-mortar library. I don't see much evidence yet that it does. Because, at least for now, it doesn't matter how many "friends" a library has on Facebook if those friends don't check out books or attend library programs. We rely on quantifying our success with real-live numbers (bodies or circs), not virtual ones.

Here, too, I'm on the sidelines, still. It's an interesting game to watch, and I can't wait to see who wins.

Dig Downloads?

2009-06-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

I had anticipated this week's things--all about downloads--to be a piece of cake. In my other career covering the publishing world, I have written extensively about the audio industry and the growth of downloads and have seen ebook demos since the early 1990s. (In fact, my former editor has created the EarlyWord blog that the 23 things wiki links to for this week's session.). As a result, I've been familiar with the business operations at NetLibrary and OverDrive--the biggest distributors to libraries in the audio area, and have watched Audible.com, Amazon.com, eMusic and others take off (or die, as the case may be) as well. I also am a devoted user of my iPod and iPhone along with iTunes, which makes downloading all things audio a snap (for a fee, of course).

(And, oh yeah, I'm not a huge fan of reading or watching movies on my computer, so audio was the medium that made most sense for me to try for this exercise. )

So...imagine my disappointment when I used my library's site to download a children's audiobook on my home computer and it didn't go as smoothly as it I thought it should have. I wanted to experience the whole process as a patron. (I've coached a couple of patrons through the beginning of the process over the phone, but had not done it myself). The NetLibrary account creator did not like the first two user names I chose (they were not available), which made me cranky from the get-go. Once I was set up and browsing for something to download, the selection of titles was woefully thin--Recorded Books titles, many of which are classic things that have been in the public domain. No bestsellers, no hot new books. Harumph. I chose a Brian Jacques title.

Moving ahead, the "One-Click Download" option (I chose computer) created all kinds of glitches for me, even though I have a new computer, up-to-date with all updates in Windows Vista. Harumph again.

Finally, just clicking on the Download CD Quality link did the trick and the download took the 13 minutes it said it would. I didn't think it was very obvious, on the NetLibrary page, that this was an either-or situation. Maybe it's just me. But I found the interface a bit clunky.

In any case, I got my download, but doing so was not a pleasant experience. The sound quality is pretty good, which is a plus. I would happily coach any patron through the process (and have, as I mentioned), but would recommend the service to patrons with reservation. I'd let them know--not in a negative way, just an FYI--of limited selection for sure.

Getting the general public to embrace downloads has always been key (playback devices need to be cheap; software easy to use). So, not everyone is ready yet to dive in to downloads. But for audiophiles who are on the brink, wanting to listen but without any technology/playback device/computer hassle, our library has something novel to offer. Our patrons (especially kids) are quite happy with--and have a much bigger title selection with--a format that I honestly never thought would really fly: the Playaway.

One day there may well be a streamlined download world, but not yet. That's mainly because the content providers have been kind of caught off guard by the development of technologies. When the issues of digital rights management are ironed out (Apple will need to make a big step here, and content providers may need to adopt a new vision and business model), things will be much better. Yep, it's usually about the $$$--and who gets what piece of the pie. Patience...

Personally, I'll stick with the easier, though more expensive, retail options for audio and video for now.

So Many Bookmarks, So Little Time

2009-05-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well, at the week three rest stop I'm learning that in the Web 2.0 world, (just like in the corner of the real-life universe that I call my desk), organization can help me find things faster. However, finding a bunch of links in my reader or on delicious does not save me any time. On the contrary! Keeping up with all the sites I like to check, and the blogs I've chosen to follow, could take me forever. I have also found that I tend to get disappointed when I check all my favorite sites and there isn't any breaking news since the last time I checked. How crazy is that???

I do see the value in arranging useful sites (for both work and fun) by giving them useful tags. But at the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I'm not sure I'm sold on the social aspect of all this. I like to share cool things I've found online as much as the next person, but I also like to keep a certain amount of privacy as to what I browse. I think that like most people I'll always want to have that balance between turning friends onto a fave site, or offering tips to colleagues while also maintaining my own eclectic (and uniquely private) browsing library.

Thankfully, tools like Google Reader and del.icio.us are easy enough to use that experimenting is not daunting.

Moving along, I'm toying with an avatar creation (inspired by colleagues' enthusiasm about it), but I just can't get it to look like me. The hair is almost right, so that's a start.

Welcome to Blogville

2009-05-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is, the inaugural post. Woo hoo!

At this early stage, 23Things is proving to be pretty much what I’d hoped: an opportunity to see how the bits and pieces of web technology experience I already have fit into a bigger picture. Going forward, I’m eager to learn new skills and hope the learning process will continue to be stress-free. I've had fun reading comments from everyone, and I admit that there's comfort in knowing we're all doing this together.

In addition, signing up for the program has inspired a fresh examination of my thoughts on technology in general. Below are some reflections on that, for anyone who might want to read them.

“Web 2.0” and “Library 2.0” were very much the buzz words when I attended library school as a career-changer/returning student in 2005-2006. These terms were the subject of numerous class discussions and assignments. I was as curious as the next person about how the Internet and various web tools would affect the work of librarians and change the role of libraries. And while I was certainly eager to dip a toe into a bigger technology pond, many of my classmates took to these new topics like ducks to water. A number of them had already created web pages or MySpace (when it was on its trajectory) pages and were creating and sharing digital videos. I was a bit intimidated by this and not sure if I could see myself wholeheartedly embracing these trends. I figured it was partly an age thing—most of my classmates were quite a bit younger than I, and grew up with a certain mastery of technology that I did not have. Then again, I always try to keep up with what’s new, so I was determined to not be left behind. I navigated my way through the basics of html, blogging and fancy PowerPoint presentations, usually with lots of encouragement and some assistance.

Fast forward. I am amazed at the advances made in Web tool, computer and wireless technologies in just the past few years. No longer am I sending infrequent text messages on a very basic cell phone. Now, I love looking for new “apps” and I know that someone will have to pry my iPhone from my cold dead hands. I’ve tried Twitter and hated it, and I have no desire to join Facebook, create blog posts with any regularity, or read ebooks. But maybe that will change, too.

On the professional front, I never thought I’d be running a Wii gaming tournament for kids in a public library or speaking with authority to patrons about downloads, podcasts and document management, or doing virtual reference. It’s interesting to see patrons of all ages and skill levels make use of the technology. And it’s gratifying to be able to help people by showing them how to use the basic tools.

But for all the great things technology brings, I still harbor lots of anxiety about its affects on us. I worry about the changes in interpersonal communication—a decline in face-to-face conversation and snail mail. Copyright. Changes in journalism and news reporting. Privacy—and the allure of anonymity. Creepy Internet predators. Cyber bullying. And the immediacy of saying whatever you feel to more people than you could imagine, all across the globe. (While wearing my other professional hat as a writer, I have personally been bruised by immediate and harsh criticism to some of my own posted comments that were misinterpreted. A lesson hard learned. As a result I make extra effort to be precise with my words--but hey, I'm only human.)

I could ramble on, but I’ll quit here, as this has turned into a long blog post—something else I never thought I’d create.
Hmmmmmmm….