Week 7 - I.T. Facts

764 mln wireless handsets to include USB by 2010 by ZDNet's ZDNet Research -- By 2010, USB will still be included in 764 mln wireless handsets shipped during the year and will be the most ubiquitous interface in the industry. However, the wireless alternative, Bluetooth, is gaining ground fast. By 2010, Bluetooth and USB will be available on nearly every handset, and WLAN and NFC will have established a [...]

Week 6 - Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

Library 2.0 is a way for libraries to keep up with Web 2.0 and its principles. HCPL is providing a service to the public and its staff by providing the tools and encouragment for everyone to join in and get acquainted with deeper knowledge of the web. I believe that with this increased knowledge more people will start to feel comfortable with exploring the web.

Week 6 - Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us ihcpl offered several additions to my bookmark listings which I took advantage of. I already had a del.icio.us account and had a good amount of bookmarks already in my account, but ihcpl helped to increase my listings and I added several good favorites.

Week 6 - Technorati Tags

http://technorati.com/help/tags.html

There is a controversy going on about Technorati Tags. In the following website http://www.intuitive.com/blog/technorati_tags_good_idea_terrible_implementation.html
Dave Taylor wrote about his dilemma while trying to write tag entries for General Motors. He could not figure out which special keyword tag to use in his blog entries. Should he use gm, GM, generalmotors, general motors, General Motors, GM Corporation, etc…?
Dave suggested that Librarians are very familiar with this problem with keyword searches that are not standard.

Another site http://gigaom.com/2005/08/02/the-dark-side-of-technorati-tags/ sees Technorati as spam-blog that links any tags put in blogs back to Technorati’s site. When I tried to do this exercise Technorati’s site was down and I received the following message; brb Blackout! Our power is down. Technorati will be back up soon. I will have to form my own opinion as soon as I get to visit the site.

Well I did get back to Technorati's site and I saw that almost the first thing I read on Technorati's site was that one did not have to link back to Technorati site. Technorati said that one can link to any web page that ends in a tag. Example: Gravity which links back to Wipedia's site, so If that is true, what was the information above about? Not sure.

However, I do understand Dave Taylor's position about keyword type tags.

Week 5 - Library Thing

Check out my sidebar where you will see the LibraryThing Widget that I created after cataloging some of my favorite books on LibraryThing.com

I am going for that extra point. No I am not showing off you can do it too. Just catalog your books and then while still logged into LibraryThing click on the Librarything tools button and create a LibraryThing widget. See it is not hard right. Have FUN!!!!!

Week 5 - Library Elf

I visited Library Elf to setup my Library Elf account. My first step was to create an account for Library Elf. I then added my library information which included my barcode and pin. I told LibraryElf where to send my information about items due. I gave my email information and requested that the notices be sent via RSS feed to my account. My choices included email only, RSS only or both email and RSS feed. I wondered how safe it was to give all this information to a third-party source, but I took one for the team and plugged in all my information. I scheduled the notices 3 days before my material were due which I felt gave me enough time to remember to finish up my readings or renew my items if possible. Now I am just waiting for the benefits. My library does offer this service already so I just did this task for double protection.

Week 5 - Image Generator

Look to the top right and check out my studious Avatar blogging away. I created her on Meez.com

Week 4 - RSS & Newsreaders

Webopedia defines RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or (Rich Site Summary) as the standard for the syndication of Web content. It goes on to say that RSS is an XML-based format and while it can be used in different ways for content distribution, its most widespread usage is in distributing news headlines on the Web.

I think of RSS as an alternative way to access updated, personalized information in the World Wide Web. Organized, sorted by date, information of interest is sent to the user's computer via RSS files.

RSS, originially developed by Netscape in 1999, requires a special reader like "Bloglines" to view messages. It is mostly used by news sites and webblogs.

Week 4 - Bloglines

I created my bloglines account and added several feeds from IHCPL. I also added my feed and several news feeds. I added the Bloglines link to my sidebar for anyone visiting my blog.

I added Feedster on my sidebar to show another way to collect feeds after reading a tidbit from Grace Notes. Cool!!

Week 3 - Flickr Part 3 - Create a badge

I created my badge on Flickr powered by Yahoo, which I found very helpful. Everything that I have done on Flickr has been simple with easy to follow steps.
Step 1, Flickr asks; "What sort of badge would you like to use?" I selected a flash badge because I like the movement of flash images.
Step 2. Choose Photos you'd like to display. I selected all my public photos.
Step 3. Choose colors for your badge. I selected my colors and Flickr showed me a preview.
Step 4. Get the code to copy and paste into your website. I added the HTML/Javascript Page Element to my blog and added the code and publish the post.

I used Pixer to edit my pictures and rotate my alligator. Simple right. I LOVE IT!!!! My badge is just another version of flickr Mashup. Now I see my pictures moving all over my badge, Even my upside down alligator. Sweet!! Yeah, he's tough enough.