Internet Librarians
I enjoyed my recent trip to Monterey, California, to attend the Internet Librarian Conference 2006.
I enjoyed the presentations about library fundrasing, wikis, Second Life, social software, Flickr, Facebook, building a virtual library “experience,” mashups, library online catalogs, and gaming.
I walked in the marina area during lunch hours and after the conference presentations, used the hotel exercise
room, and attended yoga classes at night. We all enjoyed the beautiful weather in Monterey.
This coming week I plan to explore PHP Wiki, PB Wiki, Wet Paint Wiki, Flickr, Furl, Yahoo Messenger, Google Services, delicious, Facebook, and numberous websites on social computing.
After studying wikis, I think they would be great for a team effort on a project. Only authroized team members could change the content on the wiki for the project. The thought of having to check a “public” wiki a couple of times a day to make sure inappropriate changes have not been made is a waste of my limited time. I’ll probably use PHP Wiki, if I ever need to do a group project, simply because my web host, Blue Host, offers PHP Wiki on the Fantastico setup menu already.
I do think Flickr Pro is a nice program for sharing photographs online. Karen and I have a Flickr account.
For most of what I do, putting webpages up for home or school work, I am very content with putting up webpages on a server that can’t be changed by spammers, goofballs, and vandals. If people want to contribute something, they can email me - which they do quite often.
Blogs are essential new tools. I use both a Word Press blog at the Green Way blog and Blogger at Cloud Hands blog - read by 700 to 1200 people a day. I read selected blogs using Feed Demon. I search for information in Blogs using Google Blog Search.
I was using Yahoo when I came across a screen about the new Internet Explorer 7 browser.
I loaded it up, but to my surprise Yahoo inserted all of its toolbars, search boxes, icons, options and services. Now, even when I first turn on my computer, I even get two popup screens with Yahoo services. Ouch!! This is not what I wanted. This is why Yahoo is the Number 1 used website - they push themselves into your life. I like a simple, clean, minimalist screen. So …. extra time to get rid of Yahoo this week.
I downloaded Firefox 2. It is fast, lean, and clean. Generally, it is the browser I prefer to use when working on the web.
I think that having an Instant Message service (Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc.) and an IM aggregrator like Trillum would be very useful at a reference desk in a library or at a workstation for direct communication with coworkers and colleagues. The “Librarian in Black,” Sarah Houghton-Jan, an informed librarian blogger, was emphatic about having IM options at work. However, for a individual home user like me, my email works just fine. I check my email each morning, and respond to many email messages. Friends and folks who like to chat with me call me on my cellphone. Aside from the real need for instant communications at work, text chatting randomly with others when I’m off duty is not something I find much benefit in doing - maybe this is a Mars/Venus attitude.
Blogging at Internet Librarian 2006 A summary of blogging resources.