Rollyo exercise

The Shifted Librarian blog discussed privacy and used a good example to discuss two different perspectives on privacy...from her examples of what a young person experiences (survey cameras, card swipes, computer issues, etc.) that didn't exist as I was growing up made me think more about how differently a younger person sees and experiences the world around them, and why their attitude about privacy differs from my own. The comment about private life being an illusion is startling but probably true to a large extent; however, if one choses not to divulge information by limiting exposure (no facebook page,etc...changing passwords, not participating in chat rooms) and adding some controls over information ownership, I think your life can be more protected than if you just don't care about who knows what about you and you post all kinds of photos, videos, etc. without thinking of the consequences....

Week 8 Exercise: Mashups

Mashups were easy to find and interesting...I found one on 25 most dangerous cities and one on the Top 50 medical schools http://www.mibazaar.com/unsafecities
I also browsed and found a nice one on London sites but couldn't get back to it to list the correct name here in the blog.. (Aunt Sally's London spots?)...it had a lot of nice categories that led to information on dance spots, victorian houses, special locations for sightseeing, etc.
I could not get the podcast article to play (reading material)...there seem to be so many levels to mashups and so many out there, that organization is a real challenge I would think....one I clicked on "Bed and Breakfasts" in London was text heavy and might be difficult to read on the screen...could have used more color, white spaces and some graphics...but most seem to be lists of lists of lists....???

UTube Library Intro

Here is a library use for UTUbe video...Library Orientation/Bionic Person

Week 7

This week 7 is frustrating! The initial podcast we were to listen to kept stopping so I just moved on...one of the links for the websites didn't work...now I am trying to paste into my blog the link from UTube and the directions were not clear...I hunted around and finally found the tab for HTML editing but now not sure what to do...the instructions were not clearly stated.
I do see a library use for short podcasts and videos such as orientation or quick clips for searching steps, etc. and may try to create a podcast for my library website this summer as a brief intro to the library.

Week 6 Exercise

Week six exercise was a bit easier...I already had a Flickr account so it was not too hard to download a photo...it was actually easier to put one on my Blog but I can't seem to crop it to make it smaller...the directions in Flickr were a little bit tricky at first, and I was going to add a second one but was a bit uncertain about rights, copyright since it is a photo of university property...this is a useful tool to learn about..I can see it being used to enhance library websites, blogs, wikis, etc. or to enliven text sent to staff groups for training, entertainment, etc.

Office Web Tools Week 5

I found this week's exercises easier to follow and I was impressed with the ease of use of Google Docs...I can see this as a great tool for collaboration if several librarians are working on a project, presentation or meeting. It was also interesting to read about the other new webtools out there from the links to reviews...didn't know about Zoho...I am always a bit cautious with new companies as they come and go, but this product had a lot of features and the cost was attractive.
As for whether this is the future of software, I think that things are happening so fast that we can never be sure about what will last, but they are useful functions that companies as well as libraries can use to streamline their work and respond faster and easier to tasks.

Week 3 Class/Facebook,etc.

I actually sent a comment about Week 3 exercises rather than posting, so you will see more information in the comment (March 26)....I experimented a bit with Facebook and MySpace and did find my niece's photo and page on Facebook, but I do not think I will want to continue using these tools either for personal use or work...perhaps a Public librarian might find a use for these tools to connect with students or clients.

Social Bookmarking Week

I enjoyed reading the linked articles on social bookmarking tools and also learned how to open delicious account...however, I did encounter some difficulties with that program...I was able to tag 5 sites but would like more practice to see how robust it is and how it might enable me to organize my favorites better...I still could not set the buttons on my browser (my computer blocked me)...and I would prefer that way of adding website links...I thought this week was a bit more manageable as far as course requirements and time required to complete assignments were concerned...