TheCorey's Thought #23: Thing #23 - Aloha

As the late great George Carlin noted quipped:

In Hawaii they say, "aloha." That's a nice one, It means both "hello" and "good-bye" Which just goes to show, if you spend enough time in the sun you don't know whether you're coming or going.

Which is appropriate as I come to the end of Nebraska Learns 2.0 - it is both a goodbye to what we've been doing and a hello to all the discoveries that come our way. In one way or another, we're all learning 2.0 as both the world and net-world change to new generations and new ideas. Sometimes its good, other times it's less than good.

Well, that's enough philosophy for a Thursday. While I haven't always been enthusiastic about Library / Web 2.0 and what it means, I am glad to have participated. LibraryThing is something I'll keep my eye on. This may not be the last time I blog. Wikis have possibility, especially once I finally get my head around it. I'm not so sold on RSS or Twitter. But, I know what they are and hopefully I can be at least minimally helpful if someone wants my help. I don't know if there's much that could have been done to have been improved. I would do this again down the line if the NLC decides to do another discovery program (time and schedule willing - looks like Lincoln is in for another rough budget year).

So long and Thanks for all the Fish.

TheCorey's Thought #22 - Thing #22: Podcast

I've had a few experiences with podcasting on my own. Usually, I've been directed to them via an email link (I only follow through on the ones from folks I know. I don't need any more trips to Virus City, Spamopolis or Spyware Town than I already accidently make)or a website, usually of personal interest or recommended to me for my continuining professional education. I have to admit, they're kind of fun to listen to. I've even participated in one (shameless plug follows):

http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Podcasts/Podcasts.htm

This address links to the Casting About section of the Bookguide page from the Lincoln City Libraries. Casting About Program 24 (Pt 1. and 2) features myself and a colleague having a friendly discussion about Star Wars and Star Trek books.

Anyway, the RSS part of a few of the podcasts I stumbled across looked fairly straightforward. Being not entirely sold on RSS yet (my usual net-browsing is limited and I like actually visiting the sites to see what else is going on), I don't know I would make use of it. But, a few years from now, I may have an entirely different attitude about RSS.

TheCorey's Thought #21 - Thing #21: YouTube, ITube, TheyTube, WeTube...

Actually this Thing is a Thing I've Thung before (alert - crimes against grammar detected!). I don't know if there's a "proper" us of YouTube, but I use it: as something of a clumbsy, de facto music player. I don't buy as many as many CD's as I did in my younger days and I haven't been motivated enough or wanted my "own" music enough to buy an iPod or MP3 player and actually download music (though I may if CD's go the way of the 8-track). So, when I want to listen to a song, I pull it up on YouTube. The downside is that sometimes YouTube videos go away, but that's the price I'm willing to pay to have a clumbsy, ad-hoc "music on demand" system.

Anyway, I tried to actually have this cute little clip from YouTube in my blog, but I couldn't figure out how to get the Edit Html function to cooperate with the process. Here's the link to a short clip titled "Boba Fett vs. the Cairo Swordsman":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEqEi4jZShg

TheCorey's Thought #20 - Thing #20: Web 2.0 Tool - Time

For Thing #20, I decided to take a look at the Games and Entertainment category for two reasons:
1) As a advertize myself as something of a "gaming enthusiast", I figured anything to keep my
"gamer cred" up can't be too bad.
2) Personally, I like visiting online game sites when I'm looking for a game to pass an hour or so
and don't want to get too invested in any of my PC games. Dragongamez is my usual haunt and
sometimes Mousebreaker can be good.

I first tried Zango, but the library's ecurity software blocked my access to it. Galaxiki looked possibly fun, but more involved than what I was looking for. So, I tried Doof.

The Upside:
- Doof offers a large number of games.
- The games don't take too long to load up.
- Navigation is fairly intuitive.
- It offers a social networking aspect that many 2.0 users desire.

The Downside
- There aren't as many categories of games as some other online gaming sites I've visited.
- The games are rather simplistic. Also, many of the games tend to play the same way with
slightly different graphics.
- The constant pop-ups of people who have logged on kind of irritated me. Maybe a more 2.0-
oriented user mighy have preferred it. I found it intrusive.

Overall, it's not a bad online gaming site, just not a great one. I personally might think to go there once in a blue moon. Since it does offer challenge features and social networking, maybe a library with an active teen program and good internet capability could find it useful for low-cost gaming event programming.

TheCorey's Thought #19 - Thing #19: The GoogleDoc will see you now

This entry is less a discovery exercise more than a testimonial about GoogleDocs. I currently do the day-to-day scheduling at my library. We've had a few other ways of doing schedules that had their ups and downs. After a few weeks of doing GoogleDocs (pretty much using the spreadsheet functions) and getting more comfortable with all the bells and whistles, I've found it to be a pretty handy resource. It's come in handy for when I've had to confirm some schedule information remotely (usually at a friend's house and confirming if I'm off the schedule in the near future). It also enables me to edit and communicate schedule changes and updates from more locations. For schedules, I recommend it. I suppose it would be fairly useful for some other things as well, both personally and professionally. I don't think I'm ready to give up Microsoft Office in favor of it, but I find it useful.

TheCorey's Thought #18 - Thing#18: PBWiki and Jelly

This afternoon I did a bit with playing around with the Nebraska Learns 2.0 Wiki. As I'm still getting my gray matter to comprehend the nature of wikis, I may have missed out on the some of the truly cool wiki apps. The minor bit of contributing I did was pretty straightforward and worked just like the intro material said it would. Professionally, I would comfortable making contributions to ongoing wikis that other folks set up. Personally, I'm still kicking around some ideas where it may come it useful. Overall, it's a 2.0 thing I'm mulling over and keeping in mind for the challenges ahead.

TheCorey's Thought # 17: Thing # 17 - Icky Wikis

My own participation in wikis has been few and far between. We use some staff wikis here at the Lincoln City Libraries, but I haven't gotten the point where I've done much editing or contributing so far. I know its proved useful for many people here at LCL and it's more a matter of me wrapping my head around exactly what a wiki is: a quick and dirty way to create a website or site within a website or something more (or less?) While my professional use of wikis is scattered, I will confess that Wikipedia itself is a resource I have found very useful for many popular culture inquiries both professional and personal. Being a Star Wars fan, I have found Wookipedia (the Star Wars wiki) to be very fun and useful. I think once I suss out a bit more what a wiki is and isn't, I'll find it sporadically useful. It took me forever to switch over from writing out essays long-hand and then typing them up on typewriter to just doing composition on a word processor. This may be in the same category.

TheCorey's Thought #16 - Thing #5: FINALLY!!

Well, today I finally got around to getting Thing #5: Instant Messaging under my 2.0 belt. Of course, here at the Lincoln City Libraries, we've been using Meebo for some time to do Reference by IM with varying degrees of success. This was my first time actually sending one (Thanks to Allana at NLC for her help). I see how it could be useful, though it can be a bit touch and go getting the software to cooperate. For some reason, iGoogle never did want to load up properly on the computer. Thankfully, my AOL account allowed me to use AIM with little to no trouble. I guess I keep hoping this 2.0 world will simplify itself so that all of these various bells and whistles will work with each other with less fuss. But, like many things I deal with professionally, it is a work in progress. I can see it possibly being something I might use regularly once the process becomes no harder or more involved than making a old-fashioned phone call. With email, phone, twitter, IM and who knows what else folks will use to talk at each other, we'll have to see what the next genration of young folks come up with. Who knows? Maybe retro will become the new cool and we'll be doing Reference by Smoke Signals or Reference by Semaphore.

TheCorey's Thought #15: Thing #16 - Library / Web 2.0

I'm really going to have to rein myself in on this one, because this whole Library 2.0 thing is sort of a hot-button of frustration for me. I do believe that some good things will come out of the whole Library 2.0 debate / discussion / conversion. However, there's A LOT of garbage that will come along with it. To get to the pearls, we'll have to muck about the slope with the swine.

My Thoughts:
Library 2.0 may have meant something once upon a time. Now, IMO, it is a buzzword used to
justify trying some bad ideas with new packaging and justifying it as "forward-thinking",
"proactive" and " innovative". The biggest problem I see with Library 2.0, is that the "try something and if it doesn't work, ditch it" aspect rarely comes into play. More often, I see a stubborn insistence on trying something packaged as "Library 2.0 inspired" that clearly doesn't work until reality leaves no options other than change.
I worry that inthe efforts of some of our 2.0 colleagues to make is "hip, cool and relevant" to the Web 2.o, we will lose our biggest asset: being useful. I see value in trying to make our services more available to more people. But the question is, does Web 2.0 want Library 2.0? I sometimes see as as being like the tea-toddling preacher going to the bar to preach because that's where the people are. Sure he's got a message, but does anyone want to hear it? Are we positioning ourselves to where people actually want and need us to be or are Geek 2.0, trying to hang with the new, popular kids of Web 2.0?
I'll end with by saying that, contrary to what some will tell you: not everything is online. Let me repeat that:

NOT EVERYTHING IS ONLINE

People may expect that beacuse that's what the Snakeoil Salesman 2.0 has told them. But, that doesn't make it true. There's a whole lot of questions that need answering that simply cannot be done online. Sometimes, it takes "the old way". Let's hope the old way is still an option and not discarded in a misguided quest to make the Library into something it was never intended to be.

TheCorey's Thought #14 - Thing #15: SlideShare

Well, two posts in one day, Trying to catch up on this Learning 2.0 as the deadline looms ahead like the Death Star over the Rebel base on Yavin IV (oooh, hope the LucasLaw folks don't sue me over saying that without getting permission). Hopped on over to SlideShare. I don't do a whole lot with PowerPoint as this point in my career. If I did, I see how this would be a rather neat resource. I created an account, but couldn't get the contacts part to work. I checked the FAQ and I think I was doing things right. Maybe the website was having a glitch. Anyway, here's the account, not a lot but it's just a start:

http://www.slideshare.net/TheCorey

TheCorey's Thought #13 - Thing #13: Not aflutter over Twitter

So much time and so little blogging. The New Year may bring many changes, but some things remain the same: more work than time to do it. Which leads us to Thing # 13: Twitter.
I guess, at least for now, I'm one of those people who just doesn't "get" Twitter or its appeal. I recognize that many do and find it helpful. Good for them. To be honest, there are aspects to it that sort of remind me of the old style "chat rooms" of Internets past. I played around with it and just don't see where I would use it personally or professionally. I don't get how it's supposed to help filter out the white noise of the Internet, where, in my observation, it appears to be little more than white noise. Perhaps the day will come that I "get" Twitter and it becomes a part of my life. For now, I don't have the time to commit to it. Old fashioned work needs some old-fashioned doing. I know Lee LeFever on the CommonCraft site would likley boo my "old way" approach, but it's my way and it still works for the most part.