Thing 22 Flickr Mashups

I found the following explanation to easiest to understand defining what Mashups are:
It is similar to producing a new song by mixing two or more old songs together.

I looked at several mashups and found a few that looked interesting such as Framer, CD Covers, and Magazine Covers. I didn't see much about Mappr that would be useful for me.

Thing 21 Tags and Flickr

Tags are used to organize your photos under common keywords. By tagging your photos folks who have common interests can view your photos. Flickr creates a photographic community by enabling people with similar interests to stay in contact. Flickr lets you to do many different things with your photos such as make business cards, photo calendars, cards, and photo books. You can add comments, descriptions, and tags to your photos.

I also read an article giving examples of how libraries can use Flickr to their advantage. They can highlight new materials, create virtual tours, promote teens, and share the librarie's history.

Chance my "tried to be" Siamese Cat

Thing 20 Flickr

I checked out Flickr's site and found it to be interesting. After looking at this site I realize, now that I actually have a digital camera, I need to get busy uploading some photos. Flickr will allow me to keep up to date with friends and family I haven't seen in awhile. Being challenged in the technology department I have alot to learn and discover when it comes to photo sharing.

I found a photo in Flickr of a couple walking hand in hand along a beach with a beautiful sunset. This is definitley a favorite thing for me to do with my husband when we are on vacation.

Here's a link to my Siamese kitty Chance

Thing 19 Web 2.0 Awards

I visited the site www.realtravel.com and found alot of useful information that would be helpful when planning a trip. This site is similar to tripadvisor but much more. I liked reading blogs that people wrote about their trips. I found the personal photos a nice addition. This site has many useful features such as Editor's Picks, Forums, Destinations, Travel Chat and Travel Gear.

I could find myself using this site often to check out what folks had to say about their travel experiences. Also, many of our customers are very interested in our travel books so this would be a nice site to offer them for additional information.

Thing 18 Technorati

Technorati is the leading search tool for blogs and with 70 million blogs out there it is a much needed tool. I found it to be easy to use and interesting to look at. You can search entire blogs by keywords and subjects. Technorati indexes blogs, photos, and videos and has popular categories such as News, Sports, Business, and Life. It lists the most favorite/popular blogs and top blog searches.

I could find myself actually using this search tool and found it to be fun to look at.

Thing 17 Tagging, Folksonomy, and Del.icio.us

After reading several of the articles I've come to the realization that researching tools have changed drastically since I was in college. I definitely feel left behind in the technological era.

Social and collaborative tagging can be very useful in managing content and categorizing material. It is currently the hottest Internet trend. Social bookmarking is an inexpensive way to share information that has few restrictions. It appears to be simple to use. However, I don't see myself using much of anything that I've read about in this section of Web 2.0

Del.icio.us looks to be a helpful learning tool also. It allows you to build reading lists and research lists and in turn share everything you have found on a certain topic. It is a peer driven learning tool that expands the world of research to millions of people.

Thing 16 Create a My Space account

I created my own My Space account and found the site not easy to use. I didn't like all the advertisments and found it difficult to access various portions of it. I found it to be more like a place to just put up advertisments and receive alot of unwanted respones.

My opinion didn't really change after reading some of the discovery resources. I think it just the fad right now and will be replaced by something else in the future like Facebook. I guess it's so popular because it allows people mainly teenagers to express themselves without others knowing who they are. It is a cyber place to meet and discuss their lives and find others who feel like themselves.

I have no desire to try My Space. I guess I'm just too old to appreciate the experience.

Thing 15 Get the 411 on Social Networking

I learned some interesting things about My Space from the articles that I read. Online social networks have replaced the traditional places for people to hangout and meet like restaurants and malls. They are cyberspace hangouts. There are over 95 million registered users and if social networks were a country it would be the 12th largest country in the world. My Space recently surpassed Google in terms of number of hits and pages viewed.

Social networks have the same pitfalls as traditional meeting spaces. Since teenagers tend to post too much personal and accurate information, online predators are a given. Also, teachers are dealing with mean messages, degrading photos being posted, and cyberbullying. Social networks can be fun with the right amount of parental involvement.

I think that VBPL shouldn't be offering My Space and other social networks just to offer them. There should be a meaninful reason that we do so not just because it's out there. We should be engaging our patrons and improving our services when offering online social networks. I also feel that My Space is just a fad like other online social networks that have lost their popularity. Evidentally, Facebook is becoming the new social network of choice for many teenagers.

THING 14 Reader's Advisory Wiki

I found it easy to use the VBPL Reader's Advisory Wiki. I was able to add my "staff pick" quite easily. I also found editing the page to be simple too!

The wiki has several helpful parts to it. The display idea section was interesting to read. I never new that red is the most unfavorable color to use for a book's cover since people avoid the color red. I also found some helpful hints/tips for displaying books such as using mirrors or shiny fabrics. I looked through the section on books for teens and found several interesting titles.

THING 13 Wikis

A wiki is a website that is quick to build and easy to edit. Information can be changed, edited, or rewritten by the members of the site. It is a collaborative site that allows the pooling of knowledge and exchanging of ideas.

The are many pros and cons about wikis. It is a free and open source that is flexible. Anyone has the ability to take part in its creation. Since anyone can edit a wiki it can be disorganized and have a lack of control. It is open to vandalism, spam, and malicous people.

I don't think wikis are for me. Since I am such an over organzied person it would drive me crazy that anyone can edit the wiki. The lack of control one has over a wiki would drive me to my wits end.

Wikis could be useful in the library world since they can provide community information and other things such as programs, reader's advisory, reference services. They can provide a connection between our patrons and the library.