I'm back

After some time now I am back on my blog. It's only that I've been preoccupied with so many other things that this had taken a back seat. I will be creating a new blog, more related to my responsibilities in Media Resource Services of the Cook Library at Towson University. Once the blog is up and running, I will include a link.

Bye for now

Thing # 23 My thoughts on The 23 Things

I have finally completed the exercises prescribed in the 23 Things program. I started in May of '07 with the first 5 things. I then picked it back up this past May. I've learned a lot about blogging, RSS feeds, Flickr, and other web-based resources and tools. These resources and tools will not only help me to be more productive, but they can also provide hours of entertainment. I just hope I can remember all the passwords and usernames for the accounts I've created.

I can't say it was all fun going through these exercises. Some of them were difficult to work through and, at times, a bit frustrating. If the creators of the 23 Things are interested in feedback, I would suggest they provide more detailed instructions. My wife went through the 23 Things program with her employer. She had a much easier time with it because her company beefed up the instructions by providing step-by-step guidance for the participants.

Now, what do I do with my new-found knowledge? Well, I can update and customize my blog, share pictures with family and friends, and find countless sources of information and misinformation. I see the most potential in the web-based productivity things like ZohoWriter. With that, I can create and work on documents from any computer with an internet connection. That will come in handy when doing school work.

The next thing I want to do is to record a podcast. The big attraction here is the opportunity to play with audacity and other recording software and devices. Now if they could just come up with some technology that would enable me to slow-smoke baby back ribs in less than an hour. Now that would be something!

Thing # 22 I'm almost done!

I opened an account with NetLibrary. After getting frustrated because every title, author, and subject I entered in the search found no results, I clicked on the "In Our Collection" button. After scrolling through a few pages of books I found a few that looked interesting. I can see how this would be a good tool for doing research. However, I did not see anything on the NetLibrary website relating to audiobooks. I thought to myself, gee, why don't I take a look at the NetLibrary tutorial? DUH! It shows how to log in and search for audiobooks. I then logged back into my NetLibrary account. It appears that Towson does not have any audiobooks in its collection yet. Perhaps I will check back at a later date. Nevertheless, I did see a book that I may recommend to my daughter who is currently in a job hunt.

Now let's take a look at Project Gutenberg. Well, I did see lots of titles that can be downloaded, and for free I guess. I did not bother downloading any because I'm not sure I should be doing that on my work computer. Besides, I should not be sitting at my desk and listening to audiobooks anyway; I should be working.

All in all, I think that this exercise was worthwhile.

Well, onto Thing # 23.

Thing # 21: Locating podcasts

I found some useful tools for locating podcasts. At first, I was not sure what to do. They don't
provide adequate instruction as to what to do and when. You kind of have to play around and discover by trial and error how to operate these things. I'd much prefer step-by-step instructions. Anyway, I found some podcasts that were of interest. I listened for bit then added them to my bloglines page.

Actually, I recorded a podcast last year. It was on my blog, but when I clicked on the link, I got a message saying that it was not available. Not sure what happened. I recorded it last Spring during a OTS podcasting workshop. Maybe I'll do another one.

Until then, I shall move on to Thing #22.

Thing # 20, You Tube and other video viewing websites

I've been looking around on You Tube and other video viewing websties and I've come to this conclusion: there isn't anything that someone hasn't recorded and placed on the internet. From sports to sex to suicide to music performances to cooking to dancing to auto repair to catching catfish with your hands or just being silly in front of the camera; you can see anything you want, and a lot that you don't want. It is amazing what people will do in front of a camera. My favorite use of You Tube is to watch live musical performances. Especially ones of my favorite bands from the 70's and 80's. It's hard for me to imagine an application of these types of websits for the Library. Well, maybe uploading videos introducing the library and its services. Or, tutorials on finding stuff in the library. I do see lots of students using You Tube video clips in their presentations.

For your viewing pleasure, I've added a video bar featuring videos of some of my favorite bands. The bands are Genesis (w/Peter Gabriel), Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, and XTC. Although some of them are still recording, these bands were most prolific in the 70's and 80's. I'm not real happy that all the bands do not appear in the video bar at the same time; you have to wait for it to cycle to the band you want to listen to. Also, You Tube throws in some other related clips that I did not intend to included. But, it still is pretty cool.

Now on to thing # 21, Tools for Locating Podcasts

Thing # 19

I checked out the list of award nominated and winning web 2.0 sites. Not really having a particular interest or topic in mind, I just chose a few that featured videos and/or photos. I like viewing funny, weird, and sensational videos. Let's face it, I'm a sucker for those shows on TV that show videos of car chases, crashes, disasters, and things like that. And yes, I confess, the only reason I watch car races is to see the crashes. What I liked about the sites was the huge variety of videos to choose from. What I did not like was all the time I am wasting watching videos. Also, it took a long time for the videos to load. And, even though there was a statement on one of the sites asking people not to post porn, there were a lot of videos with adult content.

As for potential applications, boy, with so many sites, and blogs, and news sources, and stuff to choose from I can't imagine that there is anything that can't be found on the internet. Now that I think about it, with all these web 2.0 features and tools available from the comfort of one's own home, why would anyone need to go to the library? I can see why people who make their living in the library need to know this stuff.

And, in the words of Forrest gump, that's all I have to say about that.

Thing # 18

Thing # 18 has us explore some on-line productivity tools like wordprocessors and spreadsheets. I opened an account with Zoho Writer and created a document. The document is a to-do list and process schedule of sorts. I am planning a patio party in which I will be cooking/grilling/bbqing a lot meat. To the dismay of my vegetarian daughter and friends, I will be putting fire, smoke, and heat to pork ribs, chicken, beef, and salmon. I think that just about covers all the animal meat us humans like to eat. I will be preparing these dishes throughout the day and I must stick to a prescribed schedule for everything to come out right. I will be using this document to help me stay on track. I find this Zoho thing useful because I can update this document whenever or wherever another idea or thought comes to mind; at work, at home, at a friends house, all I need is a computer with an internet connection. I simply go to the Zoho site, sign in, open my document, and type away. This is good for me because things (ideas and thoughts) come to me more readily as I go about my day rather than sitting down and trying to remember everything. I think out of all the tools and features I've discovered during this 23 Things exercise, this is the most useful for me.

On to # 19