Librarians Rule

The Future of Media Post #81: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

2010-03-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

1.I hate to see the DVD disappear so soon. I still have a large collection of VHS tapes that I can no longer play. I am glad that my DVD collection isn't as big as the VHS collection was. The more recent movies are available pretty quickly on HBO or other cable channels and so we don't feel like we have to own them. I also usee the library to borrow DVDs. In fact, we have found that we don't watch the movies in our collection. We usually watch something that is being broadcast, even if we've seen it numerous times before. Is that the definition of a "couch potato?" I think more and more broadcasting over the Internet will be the most influental development in the future. I haven't really be following trends in new technology in this field, but have noticed that they are sending TV signals to cell phones. I definitely would not enjoy watching a program on a cell phone.

We just upgraded to HDTV this winter and so are just getting used to that technology. In fact when we had to have the cable company come out because of bad reception we found that we hadn't even been watching HDTV. We didn't have the TV set up properly. So we are already way behind the curve on new technology. I didn't know that Blu-Ray was in competition with HD DVD in a format war. I had no interest in either one. I can see the problems that traditional TV is going to come up against. It will be a learning curve when the computer and TV merge, but it'll be nice to to be able to do computer things on the big screen. I am not really interested in 3-D TV. It won't be the same if you aren't sitting in the dark in a theater.

I enjoyed the article by Sexton about the future of 500-channel cable TV. I have often complained about having so many channels showing the same things over and over. My Mom who is 88 would sure like to see some of those old black and white movies from the 30's and 40's that no one shows any more. It was interesting to learn that back in the day when we had only 3 stations to chose from, we actually had more choice of what to watch. "On any given day 722 episodes of a television show with Law & Order in its title will air. 542 episodes of a television show with the letters CSI in one or another order will daily." And I watch most of them!

2.
I would say that I am late adopter. I like to wait for the bugs to we worked out and the price to come down. Except for their bulkiness, I liked VHS tapes. You could stop it and it stayed in place and you could even take it out and put it in again, and then start from the same place. I liked audiocassettes for the same reason, but they were easily damaged with stretched out or twisted tapes. DVDs definitely have the advantage in picture quality and special features. I guess my favorite media gadget currently is our DVR. It is so much easier to record programs using the DVR and the program guide, than it was trying to program the VCR. We are a little late adopting this, my kids have been Tivo-ing for years.

The Future of Media Post #80: Movies

2010-02-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

I have been a Hulu user for several years, although usually just TV series. I have sat through more than one episode of a TV series on the computer, so that amounts to the same thing as watching a movie. Now that we have an HD TV I am not as likely to watch things on the computer via Hulu, Blockbuster streaming, or Netflix streaming. We have access to On Demand through Comcast and we also record programs on the DVR for later viewing. I do not order movies through Netflix, although both of my married children use that or a similar service. I haven't been to Blockbuster in ages and have never used the Redbox.

1. I used Hulu to view part of "Racing for Time" and independent Lifetime movie. I much prefer watching movies on DVD or my TV. Often the movies on the computer stop to fill the buffer or some such thing or the computer will freeze up. They can also be jerky. It depends on your connection.

2.I watched a trailer for "The Lightning Thief" on IMDB. I would not use these sites for information on upcoming movies. The TV is full of trailers and advertising and I enjoy watching the trailers when I go out to see a movie.

3. With all of the progaming I am already paying for through Comcast I don't see the need to use other fee-based services. I'd actually rather see most movies in a theater, it just isn't always possible. Have started to really like the Sat. morning matinee.

Future of Media #79 - Television

2010-02-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

1) I enjoyed this iHCPL module. I have been a Hulu.com viewer for several years. I have also watched favorite episodes on ABC.com and CBS.com. One of my favorites is "Castle" which is on Monday night and I work on Monday nights. So until recently I watched Castle on Tuesday AM on ABC.com. However now that we have a new flat screen TV and DVR, I record episodes so I can watch them on the big screen. The episodes on the various outlets like Hulu and TV.com and Fancast.com will still come in handy. Yesterday Comcast had to replace our DVR so the items I had set up to record on Tuesday evening didn't record. I wasn't home to redo it and neither was my husband. HULU has full episodes of many series as well as trailers, interviews, and clips. TV.com had pretty full coverage also with many series available.

I had never looked at Joost.com before. It was an interesting site with an Elizabeth Taylor channel, a John Wayne channel, Bob Hope, the Indy 500, Cary Grant, and Charlie Chaplin available. It also had many animated cartoons, videos, and music in most genres.

I found http://www.viewmytv.com/ very interesting. It had news, music, and shows from around the world. Here is a sample: NasaTV, SkyNews, BBC news, Russia today, France 24 (English), David Beckham, etc.

On www.casttv.com/shows I found all seven seasons of "Star Trek Deep Space Nine," which is never in reruns and five seasons of Stargate Altlantis which I like to go back to now and then as a guilty pleasure. The original Stargate series in not here, but is on Hulu.com.

I didn't like http://www.cwtv.com/ at all. The site was too busy with too many ads and no shows that interested me.

I wasn't interested in Ustream because I don't watch UTube or Justin.tv or any streaming site having no interest in other peoples home videos.

2) I have no interest in watching TV on a tiny cell phone screen. I don't need to carry my TV around with me. I'd rather sit at home with our flat screen tv where I can read during commercials or knit.

3) I do not watch streaming programs or user "channels." I have never posted a video and have no plan to do so.

Recession Busters #60: Food, Fun and Frugality

2009-06-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

1. Depression Cooking with Clara is a delightful series of videos with "depression recipes" for these tough times. She shares many ways to save money preparing food at home. Here is what GMA had to say about her Great Depression Cooking With Clara, A Frugal Dish - ABC News.
More Recession Recipes.

2. The media has been flooding the airways with "recession busters," at the local and national levels. Here are some job hunting tips from Tory Johnson of Good Morning America (GMA).
There have also been many segments on GMA, NBC News, and CNN on budgeting, eating out less, cutting up credit cards, and shopping less. There was a segment just this morning on three couples who had been trying out a new budget and were now starting to see results. Several people talked about saving when you can to build up a 6 month reserve to help you get through tough times.

3. The local media has been very helpful also with tips on how to survive the recession. One thing that has been mentioned several times is borrowing books and DVDs from the local library. There are many sources of local free entertainment on the local TV and Newpaper websites, as well as in the Houston Chronicle. The library owns several books in day trips from Houston. The morning shows have been promoting "staycations" where you have a vacation in your backyard.
We purchased a more efficient car, and we eat out less. Fortunately I only work 3 miles from my house, so gas prices for commuting are not a big issue. We do drive less and try and group our errands when we can.

Potluck #55 Facebook

2009-04-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have been a Facebook user for awhile now. I have 79 "friends," some named Sandham from England and South Africa. I finally decided to 'hide' the posts from people I don't really know (and some I do) because I wasn't really interested in them or them in me. I have had a great time keeping up with my nieces and nephews, married kids, and former coworkers. I have enjoyed videos and pictures of many relatives and some funny video postings by friends from YouTube. I occasionally chat with my daughter or my daughter-in-law or one of my nieces using Facebook.

I have added numerous applications, Flair, Pets, Virtual Bookshelf , and Good Karma, to name a few. I use Virtual Book shelf a lot, but have kind of let my pet down. My virtual pet, Bennie, the Airdale has been neglected lately and probably needs food and attention. I share Karma and plants from Lil Green Patch with friends and coworkers, just to let them know I am thinking of them.

It was very easy to sign up and to find friends. I will probably stay with Facebook, but I don't get on as often as I used to. I really dislike the new format. My favorite applications are Virtual Bookshelf and Good Karma. I like Notes too and have used it often to take quizzes or to post favorite quotes.

It is good to know that you can permanently delete your Facebook account. May not want this stuff on the 'ethernet' forever!

Post #56 Potluck - Twitter Exervises

2009-03-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

1. I looked at various Twitter profiles and found them way too time consuming. I have no desire to twitter by my time away. I have signed up to follow George Stephanopoulos, NPR politics, Stargate Universe and Stargate Central, and GMA. I actually signed up for Twitter about 2 weeks before this assignment came out. I only look at it once a day or less.

2. I used the search feature to look up "polar bears." I also looked at SXSW.

3. I didn't find Twitter very useful or helpful, mostly a good way to waste time. Although after the way Facebook has ruined their site, I may give them both up and have more time to read. Twitter is not your friend, it can get you fired, even before you get hired: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29796962/

Post #54 Exercise 3 - Social Networking with Books

2009-02-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

I use the Virtual Bookshelf on Facebook, Library Thing, and Good Reads, to keep up with the books I read and so share them with family and friends. It is fun to look at how others rate a book that you liked or disliked. Often there is a wide range of opinions on a book, people either hate it or love it. Both can make for a good discussion. Books that don't inspire such passion often don't get finished. The reader gets bored and quits. I started using Good Reads to keep track of books "to-be-read." That is much harder than keeping track of what I have read, it is so easy to lose track of a book that looked interesting at one point.

Post #54 Exercise 2 - Implementing book club

2009-02-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

I already have implemented a book club at the library and I use many of these sources every month to choose books and to lead the discussions. Reading Group Guides and Reading Group Choices have been extremely helpful. I also use Books to Movies site because we watch and discuss a movie about once a quarter. Reading Group Guides also has much helpful information on how to handle a book club, including ice breakers, questions to ask if you can't find discussion questions, how to deal with members who won't talk and those who talk too much.

One place to look for book titles is Reading Group Guides under the "Most requested guides" section. This will show you what other book clubs are are reading and what is popular. One of the books we chose for later this year is on the list: Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

Post #54 Exercise 1 - Book Clubs

2009-02-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

I facilitate the Evening Book Club at the Barbara Bush Branch Library in Spring. We have been meeting for five years on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. I much prefer discussing books in person rather than online. The feedback is more immediate and it is easier for more than one person to participate in the discussion. Actually it is a book/movie club and 4x a year we show a movie based on a book and discuss it. This is the first and only book club I have been a member of. My subdivision tried to start one but it fell through. I have not been able to participate in the AAUW book clubs because of me work schedule. I have been disappointed in that, they have read some good books.

Post #53 - Exeercise 3 - Reading downloaded book

2009-02-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

I downloaded "March to the Sea" by David Weber and John Ringo from the Baen Free Library. I downloaded it in the RTF format and it read like a Word document. I don't like reading things on the screen, the glare and the uncomfortable sitting gives me a stiff neck. I even print out magazine articles to read later so I don't have to read them on the screen. The only advantage I can see over a traditional book is if the book is not available or is out-of -print. I would much rather read a book on my sofa or in my bed then read one on the computer screen. I have not used a Kindle or other book storage device but they don't sound like something I would like. Give me a paperback (or these days LT). I guess on an ebook reader you can set the size of the type, that would probably be an advantage.

Post # 53 Bookstores Exercise 2

2009-02-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

I looked for Black Wind by Clive Cussler on the Barnes and Noble's website and on Amazon.com. It was available from B&N at $8.99 (members) and used from $1.99. It was not available in audio from B&N but was on Amazon.com as an audio book on CD and as an ebook available for the Kindle (for $7.99).

Post #53 Exercise 1

2009-02-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Three bookstores in the area are:
Half Price Books
Barnes and Noble
Bookland (on Louetta)

Half Price books and Barnes and Nobles have a national, professional presence on the Web. B&N offers books, DVDs, music, games, gifts and gift cards. Used and out-of-print books and bargian-priced books are available. There is also a "coming soon" and a "recommended" section. Half Price Book's site is also a wealth of information and fun to click around on, however you can't search for books on their site. The search box takes you to Amazon.com. The stock in the stores is all different and changes constantly. Bookland, a local independent bookstore has no website.

#52 Exercises 3 and 4

2009-02-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

3. Using Novelist Plus I found authors who are considered similar to Dean Koontz:
Greg Bear, Dan Simmons, Robert MCCammon, John Saul, and Charles Grant.

On the Allreaders.com site, I found similar authors for different titles by Koontz. The title I used was Dark Rivers of the Heart and this website has a lot of information for this title as well as several similar book titles, not just authors.

http://www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_674.asp?BSID=0

4. The order of the series by Tamora Pierce: See link below, scroll to bottom of the page.
http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/series/juv/author.cfm?id=498

#52 Exercise 2

2009-02-19T14:33:00.001-08:00

Using Novelist Plus I found these titles:

For a girl in grade 4: Animals Hibernating: How animals survive extreme conditions by Pat Stephens for grades 3-5.

For a boy age 13: Ghosts and Real-Life Ghost Hunters by Michael Teitelbaum.

#52 Books, readers and beyond - What to read- Exercise 1

2009-02-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

I own Nancy Pearl's two books and am familiar with many of these websites. I run the Evening book club here at the branch and so use them often. It was a great refresher and a few of the sites I hadn't looked at before.

When I first started my "read-a-like" quest, I had a hard time finding titles and authors for the book I chose. Novelist Plus didn't help much in that case - there was no "find similar author" link for that title. It took me to the subject headings and I had to make choices about what I wanted in the books and I was not very happy with the results.

The website "What to read next" was having issues and gave a 505 database error.

So I changed titles to "Black Wind" by Clive Cussler. I had better luck with this title on Novelist Plus and The Downer's Grove PL and Librarybooklist.org which led to Overbooked. The Overbooked and Downer's Grove lists were very similar including authors, Ted Bell, Jack DuBrul and Preston and Child. Novelist included Tom Clancy and Ian Fleming. Read-a-likes is still a challenging issue. It is hard to tell sometimes what it is about a book that made you like it so much, so a similar author may not do at all.

iHcpl Wellness #42 - Staying Well

2008-08-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

I put these symptoms into the symptom checker: stiff neck, tingling arms and feet. It listed several possible causes for the stiff neck and indicated that I should see a doctor if it included tingling, numbness, or pain in the arms, hands, or feet. Here are some of the suggested conditions: cervical spondylosis, herniated disk, spinal stenosis, or osteoarthritis.

I tried the pill identifier. The medication I chose is a generic and although there were generics for this one shown, I thought I couldn't find a match, but once I went home and looked again I realized that I had seen a match. The website was easy to use.

I used Medline Plus Go Local to look for resources for Heart Disease in the local area.
List of resources within 10 miles of 77388 for Heart Disease:
http://tinyurl.com/6ea6vb

I made a family medical history tree. This could be useful for our family since 6 of 7 children in my family (my siblings and I) were born with the same heart defect: atrial septal defect (a hole in the wall between the upper chambers of the heart). One sibling died at 16 days old and three of us had surgery to close the hole when we were children. One sister had a procedure done last year in her fifties when the condition was also discovered in her. It wasn't found when she was a child and she had no symptoms until menopause started. My younger brother's hole was so small that it closed on its own and he didn't need surgery. We made the Minneapolis papers back in the 60's when my parents were going through all of this.

I can see where a record of genetic and other conditions could be a useful thing for families, although there was no family history of this condition that we were aware of and my obstetrician said that my chances of having a baby with this heart condition were no greater than anyone else's in the general population. It was just the combination of my parent's genes.

iHCPL #41 part 2 - going green

2008-08-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have already started doing many of the things listed in the City of Houston website. We now use many fluorescent lights, we set out thermostat higher or lower for savings, and we had our A/C checked. We still need to get in the attic and check the ducts for leaks.

We do as much recycling as we can without having curbside recycling. We have voted for it twice in our subdivision, but it has not passed yet! What are these people thinking? My husband and I also pickup trash on the sidewalks and boulevards when we take our daily walks. Many cans and plastic bottles get recycled this way. I was a natural resources conservation major in college eons ago and so things like this are important to me.

It is hard not to drive with a cold engine because I only drive 3.5 miles to work and so the car hardly gets warm before I get here and it is wasteful to let it run to warm up, the suggestions say to not idle the car.

We usually drive 65 or less, use the cruise control, have no pod on the car, don't use premium gas and we keep the tires properly inflated.

iHCPL Wellness #41 - part one

2008-08-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Activity 1

I used the carbon footprint calculator to discover what our family carbon footprint is. I used two different ones, and with the second it was easier to account for the recycling we do. There is no curbside recycling, but we take our newspapers, cans, and plastic to recycle centers. We set our thermostat at 76 in the summer and 68 in the winter, and leave it alone. I only commute 3.5 miles to work and my husband is unemployed, so we are not putting a lot of miles on our cars. I drive a Ford Explorer and my husband drives a Honda Accord. We try and group our errands.

Eating Green:
When looking at the impact of your diet, you should consider the pesticides, acres, and fertilizer needed to raise feed for animals, as well as the manure created by said animals. See this eating green calculator GreenCalculator. There is an entry for Six Arguements for a Greener Diet (book), taking action, and antibiotic resistance caused by giving too many of them to animals.
Learn how to shop smart and shop green at Foodnews.org.

Activity #2
I have visited two local farmer's markets. There is a small one in Spring on Stuebner-Airline where I have often bought tomatoes in the summer. Earlier this summer I visited a large farmer's market on Airline in Houston. There were many vendors there with a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Nothing tastes like a garden tomato. I hate to buy the ones in the supermarkets, they are hard and have no flavor.

It would be interesting to visit the Midtown Farmer's Market. "The Midtown Farmers Market takes place every Saturday morning (rain or shine) from 8am - 12 noon at Monica Pope's acclaimed restaurant, t'afia - right in the heart of Houston. As a state-certified Farmer's Market, the MFM features locally-grown produce, small-batch & handcrafted prepared foods, artisan breads, locally-roasted coffee, breakfast and a real sense of community. Vendors are both outside and inside the restaurant. "

or

Bayou City Farmer's Market at Richmond and Eastside.
The Bayou City Farmers Market includes local small-scale produce growers as well as family farms producing grass-fed meats, local honey, cage-free eggs and much more. A complete listing of our vendors is available for you to view. Products are seasonal, and the best way to find out what's available this week is to become a subscriber to the market e-newsletter. Regular weekly events include live music and cooking demonstrations using seasonal produce. We also host special events such as our annual Tomato Festival in the summer and Citrus Festival in the winter.

Wellness #40

2008-08-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

I clicked on all of the links in this exercise about exercise. I was not surprized by my results because I have been paying attention to information about health, fitness, and exercise for several years. My BMI was a little higher than I would like, but the loss of 10 pounds would bring it into the right range.

I don't think I would have much success with an online fitness or diet program because I don't like to spend a lot of time on the computer when I am not at work. Having a walking partner would be the best. Right now my partner is my dog, Henry, and he is 12 years old and doesn't want to walk as far as we used to. I may have to start taking a second walk without him to get in the amount of walking I need.

The exercise-at-your-desk is not really practical when you have nine people sharing a small workspace, but I do use the stairs rather than the elevator every day. In the fall and winter when it isn't raining I can walk during my lunch hour, it is too hot in the summer.

I am doing pretty with healthy eating, but like most people my age, I could use more exercise. I have maintained my weight at its current level for over a year. Of course my goal is to lose those 10 extra pounds, isn't that everyone's??!!

iHcpl #39 Nutrition Data

2008-08-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, I found the site (Nutrition Data) a little overwhelming. There was too much information there in too many formats. I had trouble navigating the site and finding anything useful or new. I was able to figure out my BMI which is something I really didn't want to know.

I used apple cobbler as a recipe to figure out nutritional information. It had 430 Calories, 20 grams of fat, and 6gm of saturated fat. It was low in cholesterol and had a glycerol load pf 31 which was 1/3 of the daily recommended amount (100).

I liked the Recipes.sparkpeople.com site better. I used one of the potato salad recipes from GMA as my favorite recipe. When I ran it through the nutrition calculator with a recipe that serves 12, it came back very high in all of the calories and fat!

I then ran it through with no-fat or low-fat ingredients (cream cheese, sour cream and Mayo) and turkey bacon in place of regular bacon the numbers were much better, but I'd have to taste test it before I made it for a group.

Here is the recipe: Potato Salad

8-10 large baking potatoes
3 eggs
8-10 slices of bacon
8 oz cream cheese
6 oz sour cream
1 c mayonnaise
1/4 c yellow mustard
1 large vidalia onion
1 small jar sweet Gherkin pickles, chopped
2/3 tbsp sweet Gherkin pickle juice
1 small jar pimentos, drained and chopped
1 16 oz block sharp cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Nutritional Information: Normal recipe
Nutrition Facts
12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 1,022.7
Total Fat 70.6 g
Saturated Fat 27.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 10.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 28.7 g
Cholesterol 382.0 mg
Sodium 1,845.7 mg
Potassium 1,642.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 51.6 g
Dietary Fiber 4.8 g
Sugars 2.4 g
Protein 45.4 g
Vitamin A 20.8 %
Vitamin B-12 40.1 %
Vitamin B-6 49.0 %
Vitamin C 33.7 %
Vitamin D 8.5 %
Vitamin E 12.0 %
Calcium 24.7 %
Copper 20.9 %
Folate 25.0 %
Iron 27.4 %
Magnesium 23.5 %
Manganese 26.1 %
Niacin 45.7 %
Pantothenic Acid 26.7 %
Phosphorus 67.4 %
Riboflavin 46.1 %
Selenium 65.8 %
Thiamin 51.7 % Zinc 33.1 %

Nurtitonal Information: Low-fat recipe
Nutrition Facts
“Doctored” recipe
12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 401.4
Total Fat 15.6 g
Saturated Fat 7.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.0 g
Cholesterol 287.7 mg
Sodium 370.7 mg
Potassium 1,228.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 46.8 g
Dietary Fiber 4.8 g
Sugars 2.6 g
Protein 19.6 g
Vitamin A 15.7 %
Vitamin B-12 14.5 %
Vitamin B-6 37.2 %
Vitamin C 33.8 %
Vitamin D 8.5 %
Vitamin E 5.1 %
Calcium 23.9 %
Copper 13.8 %
Folate 24.0 %
Iron 18.5 %
Magnesium 18.5 %
Manganese 24.5 %
Niacin 14.7 %
Pantothenic Acid 17.1 %
Phosphorus 41.1 %
Riboflavin 30.8 %
Selenium 35.6 %
Thiamin 12.6 %
Zinc 14.9 %

Post #30 - Spring Cleaning - Take Load of our Drives

2008-03-18T17:49:00.002-07:00

I looked at the S: drive. I only put the Adult newsletter there in the "Publicity to be printed" file and delete it the next month. I have been doing this to avoid having the wrong newsletter printed, but it also keeps the clutter down.

I deleted several things from the P: drive. I deleted YA newsletters from 2003 and 2004, as well as adult newsletters from 2006 and half of 2007.

I went on to clean up my personal folder on the Z: drive. I moved several documents and a couple pictures to my flash drive, including a slide show from TS Allison. I then deleted them from the Z: drive. The TS Allison file was the oldest file I deleted, from 2001.

Post #29 - Spring Cleaning - e-mail

2008-03-18T17:49:00.001-07:00

I have 2 personal e-mail accounts - one with Yahoo and one with Gmail. So I don't use HCPL account for personal e-mail. Although I do recieve personal e-mail in my HCPL account on occasion. I have gotten used to deleting sent mail, trash mail, and mail in various folders on a regular basis. I have had my e-mail sorted in folders since we started with this new e-mail. I do tend to leave things in the inbox too long and will remember to take appropriate action more quickly in the future.

My address book is cleaned out as necessary. I have addresses in it for members of my book club who I write to once a month about the book for that month. Even those who no longer attend want to receive the e-mails. I ask them periodically if they want to be removed and usually get no response.

Since I like to keep my Inbox pretty clear, I will continue to use folders and the delete key for that purpose.

Post #28 Spring Cleaning - Expensive Cyberspace

2008-03-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

GTD - getting things done was interesting, but is way more complex than I need to get myself organized. Basically using t0-do lists and the delete key are all that I need. I keep my e-mail fairly up-to-date by deleting old messages and using folders for those I decide to hold on to for a short time.

I have used the Google calendar in the past, but I found I don't look at it. I am better just using notes to me on scratch paper and the monthly schedule that Annette copies for us, along with my monthly calendar on the counter at home.

I did sign up for Ta-da list and have set up two "books to read" lists. These lists will keep getting longer all the time and will never be complete!

Post #26 Making Music Together

2008-03-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

MySpace grew from a site to connect bands to listeners and fans with other fans to a huge social networking site. The social aspects are now its biggest draw. There are newer sites now that emphasize the music. Mog is a site created specifically to link people together based on the music they like. I listened to "The Felice Brothers" which was a new band for me and I read the review by Kronski.

Imeen is an online community where millions of fans and artists discover new music, videos, and photos, and share their taste with friends. I listened to some of the samples listed under new music.

Project Playlist is used to share music with your friends.
Phling! is the mobile music community service that connects you to all the music, podcasts, and pictures stored on your PC, to your friends, and to everyone in the phling! community. All from your mobile phone.
You can use your mobile phone to listen to your music anywhere, anytime without having to first synchronize with your PC. With phling! you can also let up to six phling! friends listen to your music, and they can let you listen to their music. You can read and submit song reviews, find out who is listening to what, browse user profiles, and stay in touch by posting messages to your friends' bulletin boards and your own.

Qloud allows you to add a "my music" component to your Facebook or Friendster accounts.

There are many music sights that allow musicians to play together. Here is an excerpt from an article about this phenomenon: "With broadband, social networking apps and web-based audio tools increasingly available and affordable to most people with computers, the world of music is on the verge of big change. That perfect-storm combination of these tools will do for music creation what technology has already done for music consumption: remove barriers of time, space and scarcity." WIRED - Eliot Van Buskirk.

JamStudio helps you create songs by choosing from different set up options which can then be e-mailed to someone for editing. I played with this for awhile and discovered how complex it is to put a song together when you are not musically inclined!! I think my son the musician would love it. I'm sure he knows about it already.

This has been a real education for me about music sharing capabilities online - original music and music created by friends and unknown bands.

Sound #25 Music Piracy - Burning a CD

2008-03-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Once I found a blank CD burning songs to it was fairly easy. I brought in a CD-R from home but it had a file on it and would not let me burn anything to it. I looked in the box of "left-behind" CDs in the Adult Services workroom and found one from last July that was blank. I was able to burn songs from a CD titled "Concert by the Sea" by Erroll Garner to the blank CD. I ripped them and then burned them, in the language of craft. The thing I don't like is that you cannot burn additional files to a CD after burning is complete, so you'd better know what you want before you start. If you are using a CD-RW, you can erase the entire CD before using the player to burn files to the CD again.

Post #25 Music Piracy

2008-02-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

I checked out the RIAA website (Recording Industry Association of America) and looked at the legal music sites. There were about 60 websites that offer music that is legal to download. Next I clicked on the list of rules to follow and what the law says. This website was helpful, www.campusdownloading.com (faq). It was helpful in figuring out what's legal and what isn't. Here is what is said about peer-to-peer (p2p) downloading: "We are not against P2P services. We are against people who steal and illegally distribute copyrighted music that doesn’t belong to them. The music industry has been a major beneficiary of new technology (from wax cylinders to vinyl to LPs to CDs), and the current technological developments are no exception. But let's face it, even great technology can be abused. And that's what the industry is confronting right now. We have to figure out how to take advantage of the great new delivery systems that the Internet offers, without being seriously damaged by uncontrolled piracy. P2P in particular can really be a fabulous technology - but right now it's doing far more harm than good. (So surveys show.)"

I looked at RIAA- Piracy Online and on the Street.
Represents the recod industry and not everyone agrees with the RIAA
www.Boycott-riaa.com opposed the RIAA
www.eff.org (Electronic Frontier Foundation) tells you "how-not-to-get-sued-for-file-sharing."
Enforcement: The Wikipedia article on this topic has a disclaimer that the site's "neutrality is disputed."

DRM - digital rights management - also a Wikipedia entry
Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices.
EFF disagrees with the use of DRM.

Copyright and Libraries: General Rules
Music - Follow the RIAA interpretation
Movies: Follow the guidelines of the library's public performance license.
Copyrighted printed works can not be reproduced in their entirety
Have permission to use artwork for posters, handouts, and bookmarks.
When creating online content make sure to have persmission to use other peoples work and to give credit. Follow the Creative Commons guidelines.

More on burning a song to CD later.

Sound #24 The Sound of Music

2008-02-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

I went to these websites and looked around at the choices they offered: Napster, iTunes, Yahoo!, and Rhapsody, as well as Amazon.com. These are all pay sites that offer a great variety of music for a price.

I have already downloaded books to my MP3 player using the Overdrive Console from the HCPL digital books site. Today I downloaded a song from music.download.com. The song is an easy listening song titled "Quiet Path" by Ben Travis. I had to look at several songs before I found one that had a "free download" notice on it. I thought I was doing something wrong because I couldn't find a place on the page to download a song. It turns out that all of the songs I clicked on were not free. The "download to MP3" only shows up on the free songs.

While I was looking around on Music.downloads.com, I was surprised by the number of music categories that were listed. I finally found free downloads in the Easy Listening genre. I also found that there are new movie pictures on this site. I looked at the new "Mummy III" movie and was disappointed that Rachel Weis will not be in the movie. I hope they didn't kill her off.

I liked the Pandora site. It is radio online only. I created "Joe Walsh" radio. I also went to KUHF and KILT online.

I thought downloading the music from the website was much easier than doing it in Overdrive. It took all of 5 minutes. When I first started using Overdrive it took me over 90 minutes to figure out how to download a book, and that was after training at Central. A patron told me it was easier now, so I'll have to try it again. I've had Jim doing it for me. He uses his MP3 all the time, much more than I use mine.

Week 10, Post # 23 Summary

2007-11-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

The 23 Things fit in my life plan of taking any training offered to broaden my knowledge base and to keep up with changes in the library field and beyond. My goal is to "keep up with the times." Fat chance, however before going through the 23 things, I had already created a blog, created a Del.icio.us account, had an RSS feed to a bloglines account and downloaded books from Overdrive to my MP3 player. I learned more about each of those things, as well as picking up new information for use at work and in my personal life.

Some of my favorites were blogging, Wikis (Book Lovers Wiki) and LibriVox. I blog about the book club that I moderate monthly at the library and I use many sources to select books for the group to read. I think the Book Lovers Wiki will be helpful in that regard. I plan to look closer at LibriVox to see if it is easier to use than Overdrive.

It would be very easy to waste a lot of time pretending to work when blogging, social networking, listening to podcasts and viewing videos on YouTube. I can also see where these type of activities can suck up a life. No wonder it is hard to attract people to the library for programs.

I am looking forward to more training, but I hope the next round is scheduled better. Three activities a week is too many when we have other work to do and desks to man (or woman). Someone mentioned once a month, but I think once a week would be OK as long as there was truly only one project that week. I wondered from the start how we were going to do 23 projects in only nine weeks.

Week 9, Post #22 Downloadable Media

2007-11-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

I have used Overdrive several times since it was introduced to us through the HCPL website. I love having books on my MP3 player and not having to mess around with CDs and cassette tapes (although I still use those too since Overdrive doesn't have all of the books I am interested in).

LibriVox was a great sight. Not only was there a catalog 0f digital books, but Podcasts were also available. There was a volunteer link and a place to visit forums. You can volunteer to record entire books, or chapters of books.

The goal of LibriVox is to record all books in the public domain. I searched for Emma by Jane Austen and found that is was all recorded by one person, whereas Daisy Miller by Henry James had each chapter recorded by a different person. The books on Overdrive are not in the public domain and are read by the author or by a professional and Overdrive is not free.

WOWIO is based here in Houston. Here is information from their website:
"WOWIO opened on the World Wide Web in August 2006 endeavoring to dramatically expand access to important written works by eliminating the economic, geographic, and logistical barriers of readers while also ensuring that content owners are fairly compensated.WOWIO is today the only source where readers can legally download high-quality copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. Readers have access to a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles.WOWIO is a privately owned company with headquarters in Houston, Texas. "
These are not digital audio books, but are e-books. They are not in the public domain, but are still free.

I have found the Overdrive has many of the titles that I am interested in listening to, including: Winesburg, Ohio by Anderson, Legacy of Ashes by Weiner, God in not Great by Hutchins and Pontoon by Keillor.

Week 9, Post #21 Podcasts

2007-11-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

I looked at the podcast directories. However Podcast.net didn't work and I initially thought that I would have to download an aggregator when using Podcast Alley. Margaret pointed out that there was another place to click to subscribe to the podcast and add it to Bloglines. I first added Audio books with Annie, however when I listened to it, I realized that she was reading Anne of Green Gables, chapter by chapter. So I went looking for another podcast to subscribe to and found "Written Voice" which is book talks and author interviews hosted by Allan Hunkin. I listened to part of an interview with Alafair Burke.

Libraries could be in the podcast space, but it would take a lot of time, dedication, and writting skills, and imagination.

Week 9, Post #20 You Tube, etc.

2007-11-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

I looked for a couple videos on You tube by category, holiday home tours and christmas decorations. On the Holiday Home tours I was really looking for Holiday Tour of Homes, fund raisers where people can tour rich people's homes and see how the other 1/4 of the people live. What I got was a tour of a holiday home in England - where a family rented a home for a vacation (holiday to them).

The video I chose to write about is "Show Me How - Christmas decorations sample." It gave instructions on how to make some tree decorations. I don't know why I chose this one, I am not the least bit crafty and I couldn't make a Christmas decoration to save my life. I was looking for houses decorated for Christmas and came across this craft video.

In honor of Veteran's Day, I viewed a video "Thank You Veterans." it was only 51 seconds long, but was moving nontheless.

I can see where You Tube could be useful in marketing the library as long as the videos were of professional quality, clever, fun, and interesting. It is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, and there is a lot of chaff.

Week 8, Post # 19 - Web Applications - Zoho

2007-11-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

I can certainly can see the usefullness of web applications for documents and spreadsheets. Having documents available online for others in your group to look at and/or edit as needed could be very helpful. It also spares you the expense and computer memory needed to have the MS Office products loaded onto your computer. There's sure to be a way that someone makes money from this, or it won't get developed much further. I know people in the computer industry have been looking for ways to stick it to Microsoft for years.

Using Zoho Writer is as easy as using Office and many of the tool bar buttons look the same. Here are some of the advantages of using Zoho:
Documents can be saved online and so can be accessed from anywhere.
Can export this file as a Word or txt file document
It has an e-mail feature
Can publish document as a public file and also can export it as a .pdf or html.
Can publish document as a post on your blog.
(adapted from Helene Blowers)

It is free and no installation needed. I'm all for that.

Week 8, Post #18 Social Networks

2007-10-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

I looked at most of the social networking links provided. They weren't very helpful since you had to login to most of them to get very far. This looks like one big time sponge! I tried out Yahoo 360 since I already have a Yahoo account. I spent a lot of time trying to get my RSS feeds on my page, and posting a picture and favorite hobbies on my page. I even sent my daughter an invitation to be my friend on the site. We'll see if she responds. She has even less time than I do to mess around on the computer. Just let me e-mail my family and friends and I'm happy.

Week 7 Post #17 Technology

2007-10-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

I think that technology has been tremendously helpful to the library world and our customers. I just never planned on spending so much time as a repairman and trouble shooter on computers, copiers, fax machines and printers. Not to mention having to teach people how to get on the Internet, open or save a file, send things to the printer, or how to just plain turn things on.

I graduated with my MLS in 1994 and so came in about the time the libraries were making the big change to automation and online catalogs. The small library branch in Ohio where I started still had a card catalog, but they were no longer keeping it current, and things just kept changing all the time the Dayton&Montgomery County Public Library - now called the Dayton Metro Library.

Whatever, we know technology is here to stay and the pace of change is ever increasing. So buckle up.

Week 7 Post #16 Wikis

2007-10-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Information from the various resouces:
A Wiki is a quick-to-build, easy-to-edit website on which all information can be edited, changed, or rewritten by the users or members of the site. It is an incredibly useful tool for collaborative writing, pooling knowledge or exchanging ideas, especially on a subject that changes or needs updating frequently. It comes from the Hawaiian phrase "wiki wiki" which means something fast. The advantage and the weakness are the same: anyone can edit it. A wiki is a good way of gathering facts quickly and pooling expertise from a large number of people.

"A wiki can become a repository for the collective knowledge of the library community; a place where anyone can share their success stories, advice, and useful materials. I created the Library Success Wiki http://www.libsuccess.org/ to be a one-stop-shop for great ideas for librarians. If a librarian has done something at their library that they consider a success, they can write about it in the wiki." Meredith Farkas.

Libraries and Librarians can use wikis in several ways, some of which include: subject guides, annotated catalogs, ALA conference info, policy manuals, and as a resource pool. Of course there are many more ways to use wikis, it is only limited by our imaginations.

I enjoyed looking at the different wikis. The one I will probably find most useful is the Book Lovers Wiki. I can use it for reader's advisory and to help with book club selections.

I added my blog to the iHcpl wiki and several movies to the movie favoirites:
I have several favorites too, one is (like Margaret) The Princess Bride and another is Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck. I really like the Mummy movies with Brendan Frasier.

Week 6 #15 Library 2.0

2007-10-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

About 2.0
February 26, 2007
In the spirit of the academic librarian 2.0 - Alejandro Chiner Arias

"There seems to be an implication that librarians should avoid being over-cautious, or perfectionists, and that they should be more willing to make mistakes. I suppose she means to take risks and manage those risks.
The universal truth that any trainee librarian soon learns is that one cannot keep everybody happy all the time. To please one impatient user by imperfectly releasing a resource, often cannot be done without causing mayhem and disadvantaging other users."

Above is an opinion on being in beta at all times.

I think there is much to be said for Library 2.0, but let's not change for change's sake. Are we really improving service to all of our patrons, or benefiting one set at the expense of another?

There are some road blocks on the way to Lib 2.0, which one of the authors called icebergs. These include "Just in case" collection; reliance on user education; and a "come to us" model. There is no point in having a large "just in case" collection with so much information available online now, but we still need collection development, it just may look different. As far as user education goes, if a service can't be used without training, then it is the service that needs to be fixed, not the patrons. We need to be more in the space where our users are. They won't want to come to us much longer. We are trying this with chat and IM. The libraries may need to push out information to users in the future.

From Wikipedia:
The Librarian 2.0 listens to staff and users when planning, talks about successes and failures, allows staff time to play and learn, and dream of the best library services. The key principles of Lib 2.0 are innovation, people, community building and participation through social computing. It is not a closed concept, it is beta forever.

Some librarian bloggers have argued that the key principles are not new and have been part of the services suggested by library reformers since the 19th century. Others would like more concrete examples on how to implement Lib 2.0. Walt Crawford indicates that it incorrectly places libraries as the appropriate source for all users to gather all information. The proponents of Library 2.0 argue that while individual pieces of Lib 2.0 may not be entirely new, the convergence of these service goals and ideas with many Web 2.0 technologies has led to a new generation of library service.

One thing I would like to see happen with 2.0 is in library architecture. Since we have so many more people on computers and phones rather than studying quietly, buildings need to be designed for quiet areas where the noise from the computer areas and circulation doesn't penetrate. I think the most complaints we get around the amount of noise in the building. Some people are amazed that libraries aren't quiet anymore like they used to be. Maybe this will call for more computer lab type rooms or more individual study rooms for groups of different sizes. This may not be considered 2.0 because in isn't technology driven, but it is important to me, and to the comfort of the customers who visit the library.

Yesterday I came across an article about the World Digital Library. It will be the ultimate, multicultural tool for researching and retrieving information about knowledge and creativity from any era or place. The WDL (http://www.worlddigitallibrary.org/) will provide free access to original documents, films, maps, photographs, manuscripts, musical scores and recordings, architechural drawings, and other primary resources through a variety of search methods. This sounds like Library/Web 2.0 to the max!

Week 6 Post #14 - Technorati

2007-10-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

Today I spent a some time on Technorati.

1). I searched for "Learning 2.0 in Blog posts section and got over 6,000 hits. The terms didn't stay together, even with "". Even using exact phrase - I got 554 hits. Using a tags search for Learning 2.0 the results list was more manageable, only 127, and searching the directory only brought 59 more focused hits - blogs about Learning 2.0.

2) I explored the "popular" blogs and found that most of them were technical. Under the "top searches" I clicked on Colbert and found many comments on Steven Colbert's big announcement last night on The Daily Show (and continued on Steven's show) - both of which I happened to watch. I watched a video called "Vision of Students Today" that I found under the video heading.

I had some technical problems with Technorati - it often timed out or was too slow going from one page to the next. It was frustrating.

Week 6, Post #13 Del.icio.us

2007-10-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

Since I have had a Del.icio.us account for about two years and have added sites to the HCPL Del.icio.us account, this is a something I am familiar with. I did go ahead and add a few more URLs to my site and tag them and I looked around at other bookmarks and the comments that go with them.

It is interesting to see how many other users have tagged similar sites, and it is easy to see how this could be useful when doing reference - if I remember to use it. Right now I primarily use it as place to store bookmarks so I won't lose them if the hard drive crashes. And so I can access them from anywhere.

The 8 minute video about Del.icio.us was fuzzy and many people had trouble getting it to run past the first 30 seconds. Fortunately it ran fine for me. Too bad it wasn't in focus.

Are there bonus points for already having a Del.icio.us account?

Week 5, Post #12

2007-10-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

I created a Library Elf account today. I will delete as soon as this project is over. I don't feel it is a necessary service and I didn't like putting my library card and PIN out there. I check my account almost every day and I know when I have books overdue. It may be helpful for families with multiple cards to get notices when their items are coming due. I am happy with the notices sent by HCPL.

Week 5, Post #11

2007-10-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

I have been using LibraryThing for more than a year to keep track of books I've read. I use the review section, tags, and stars. I don't look at other people's book lists and I don't use the group or blog features. It could be a reader's advisory source, but I have several of those already where the information is more handy. Today I added several books I've read recently in preparation for future book club selections and author visits. I have created a link to LibraryThing's homepage.

Week 5, Post 10

2007-10-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

I was not impressed with FDToys, Avatars, or comic strips. I guess I just don't want to spend that kind of time on the computer. It is good to know what an avatars are, but I doubt that I will ever again use what I learned in this lesson. I liked the Meez site. It was easier to use and had a "post to blog" after you created your image.

I added the Generator Blog to my feeds on Bloglines.

Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

2007-10-08T14:31:00.001-07:00

Great guys

2007-10-08T13:28:00.001-07:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by librn_2000

My nephews

Week 4 - Post #9

2007-10-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

I clicked on and explored Feedster, Topix, Syndie8, and Technorati. I found Topix easier to use than Feedster. Feedster wanted a registration and to make a widget. I've had enough of registering for this week. Topix let me add a feed to Bloglines without registering. On Syndie8 I saw only XML and when I clicked on it, I got a screen that said that Internet Explorer didn't support DTD's - whatever they are. Technorati was an interesting blog site. The posts came in live as I was viewing the page. I'm not interested in reading a lot of blogs on so many subjects. Sure don't have that kind of time, on or off work. I am happy with the feeds I have coming to Bloglines now and may even delete some of those when this project is done. No wonder people spend hours and hours on a computer.

Week 4 - Post # 8

2007-10-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

This was an easy assignment since I have used bloglines for at least a year - one of the benefits of attending TLA conferences. I added several new RSS feeds to my site. I doubt that I'll keep all of them coming to the site. Way TMI.

I use the site mostly for library-related blogs and other information feeds. My feeds include Librarian.net, Librarian at the Table, Readers Advisory, Tales of an Infomage (Margaret's blog at CC), Library Stuff and a Quotes feed, plus several others.

More next week.

Week 3 - Post #7

2007-09-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

See my edited photos below this post. I registered with Picnik because I saw that it used Flickr and my photos were already on Flickr. Using photos already on Flickr worked very well for me and I ended up editing the same photo twice.

Both yesterday and today's exercises could be very useful if I continue to blog and want to add pictures to the blog.

Arno river - Florence

2007-09-26T12:22:00.001-07:00

Arno river - Florence
Originally uploaded by librn_2000

In vignette format

Arno river - Florence

2007-09-26T12:19:00.001-07:00

Arno river - Florence
Originally uploaded by librn_2000

Light added to the sky to make it look like early morning.

Week 3 Post #6

2007-09-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, is there a lot of stuff out there that I know nothing about, and probably never will! I enjoyed looking at the Flickr mashups and could have spent way too much time on this assignment, just clicking to see what things do. I doubt that I will use any of this for my job (or personal use), except to be aware that it is there.

The Colr Pickr was very pretty. You select a color from the color wheel and the Colr Pickr loads a selection of 12 photos from Flickr that best match your selected color.
The Triggermap was fun to look at. I personally don't spend that much time on my computer after work. I may use the trip planner though. I have started a "my trip" to Alpharetta, GA since we are going there for Thanksgiving. Thought I'd give it a try.

Tagnautica sounds like an interesting application. You navigate through Flickr images by browsing related tags. Each related tag is supplied with a background image from Flickr and a number indicating the number of Flickr photos with that tag. You can zoom in on each tag by mousing over its node, and clicking on a tag draws a new ring with that tag at the center. You can keep drilling down, finding new images and new relationships between tags.

Ponte Vecchio - Florence - Week 3 - #5 Linked

2007-09-25T12:04:00.001-07:00

Ponte Vecchio - Florence
Originally uploaded by librn_2000

This is the wonderful old bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy. There are still many gold and silver merchants on the bridge.

Week 3 Post 5

2007-09-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have created a Flickr account and uploaded two pictures from my trip to Italy several years ago. Using the blogger "edit page elements," I posted one of the pictures on my blog. I don't know if this is the proper way to add pictures to the blog, but it was easy and worked for me.

Since I already had a Yahoo account this didn't take me very long (and I previously had a gmail account.)

More tomorrow

Week 2 Blogging and Safety

2007-09-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hi
Since I created my blog last week, ahead of schedule, today I registered it and read the information on Internet safety. I am always a little leery of putting any personal information online and usually opt out of registering if given the chance.

A couple major points from today's reading are:
1. Don't expect privacy or safety online
2. Don't share personal or financial information
3. Get permission to share anyone elses' photos (a parent's if the photos are of a child)
4. Think before you post - once posted it is there forever

Remember that what you post, text or pictures, is there forever and can come back to bite you. Don't use your blog to complain about co-workers, your library system, network services, or administration. Never refer to anyone your work with by name.

Find out your internet service provider's privacy policies and practices and exercise your options for how you personal information may be used.

Don't reply to e-mails that are suggestive, obscene, threatening, or telling you that you have won a prize. Be on the look out for scams that come from Nigeria.

Remember that the person you are chatting with or sharing blog comments with may not be who they say they are.

For a web of privacy protection for data and communications to come about, we will need cooperation among the business community and the nonprofit community. We need to use a combination of tools: legal, policy, technical, and self-regulatory.

Talk to you again for Week #3

Val

iHCPL

2007-09-12T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have set up this second blog to make use of the training in the 23 things. I already have a blog for my Evening Book Club - Valsbooks http://valsbooks.blogspot.com/

Check out the ValsBooks blog for discussions and information about the Evening Book Club at the library - the 2nd Tuesday of each month.