24th Thing

Image Generators and Bloglines seem to be favorites today. However, Chris B had a great idea for using Del.icio.us for Library Reference Desk. However, everyone really enjoyed the whole experience and had unique ways to use them.

It really is all about the E's, but Web 2.0 brings in C's too.

Audiobooks complaints

These aren't my complaints but ones staff seem to get a lot from the public.

Don't play on iPods - True they don't and iPod users have the bulk of the market for mp3 players (about 50-60%. In fact I have looked at a lot of similar services and so far I have only seen a few that would work on iPods and they quit offering the service to libraries. Now the books are only for purchase by the public. At present only Overdrive and NetLibrary offer services for free borrowing from libraries and they are exclusively Windows Media DRM. iPods to have the biggest martket share of players but books are not easy to get onto the players. A greater time commitment is required, unless you are willing to buy all the audiobooks you listen to. The best options for these people are iTunes and Audible as sources for books. Both are going to charge fro every book downloaded. I think Audible can be cheaper in the long run through their subscription plans.

Can't download using a Mac - Again a valid complaint but not a big issue. Apple computers are still less than 10% of the computers out there. If the user has a newer Intel mac, they can run Windows either through Parallels or in another partition on the Mac. but this is really turning the Mac into any other PC. Older macs can try using Windows Virtual Machine if they can find a copy, but it never ran that well and might not help.

SanDisk Digital Audio Player

I got my mp3 player last Friday and since I've used them for the last several years I figured I'd post a review here.

I've read the cNet reviews and wasn't expecting much but I'm frankly a bit impressed. First I'll mention the major points from cNet and then give you my take.

cNet Review comments-
Sound isn't good - improved on version 2 player

No speed control in version 2

Menus hard to navigate

Books don't play in correct order

No line-in recording

Did I mention they didn't like the sound quality?

Okay, here's my perspective.

First of all I suspect if I was willing to try the earbuds that came with it I might agree with cNet but the earphones that are comfortable to me give great sound with it. I have yet to find mp3 player earphones that I can wear for more than 10 minutes so I'm afraid I can't bring myself to try them. However, I have used my favorite earphones and I've listened to music, FM, and audiobooks on it. I tried the player with mid-priced computer speakers and they sound as good as a decent stereo. So scratch the Sound Quality complaint.

The FM tuner is surprisingly good. My house is noted for bad reception and I even drew in WDAV from Davidson with no problem and believe me Classical Music is a good test. If it sounds good anything will.

I guess someone might miss the speed control given the comments about that feature in Overdrive Console but I've never had an mp3 player with that feature so I don't see it as a complaint big either.

I had no problem with the menus. I didn't even look in the book Helene gave me.

I loaded some music and books from 3 sources. NetLibrary, Audible, and OverDrive using the link Frank sent us. Everything seems to be playing in order but I do have the random play feature turned off. In fact it came with it turned off, I did turn it on briefly just to see if it worked and it turned off again just fine. Personally, since that one came from user comments I suspect they didn't even know they had it turned on. NetLibrary gives all books as a single file so order of play isn't an issue but it could be with OverDrive that breaks all books into one hour episodes. The player kept the book in order so that wouldn't be a concern if you only used the player to listen to books. But the file name is long and the part number is at the end. When navigating through the files you can't read the whole file name. It's good that the player keeps them in order for you. I did rename the files so I could easily see what part I was on so I could go listen to some music or radio and go back to the right section with less guesswork. I also keep each book in it's own folder to prevent mixups.

Not many players do have line-in recording. Though it is on the Creative Zen Nano Plus but not often. Unless you have a lot of cassettes of phono recordings you want to convert to mp3, I can't see much use for it anyway.

My final take, I give it a 9.5 out of 10 and am very happy. I wish I could find another for my husband.

My only real disappointment was that it also loses it's place when the battery runs out, stress on "also." This is a complaint I have with the other players I have. The good news is this one has a screen with a battery charge level so I can change it just before it runs out. It did keep it's place while I did a change with the player off.

Tracking the blog

I added a Statistics Counter from StatCounter last Friday. I had no idea how many people were finding my blog! I was playing with StatCounter today and discovered they have a cool mashup with Google Maps on there so you get a map of where your hits are on a world map. I had a hit from Thailand, India, and Spain! Also New York, Michigan, California and lots of other places along the east coast of the US. I just added a blocking cookie to my browser that keeps my visits from being counted and confusing the counts. Of course, I have to do it on the PC's I use at work too but the hard part is remembering to do it. I feel a bit slow not doing this right way. I knew I have readers as I have some comments. Helene I know has viewed it a few times, so did Jamie and some other PLCMC staffers. But now I know not only how many but where they are and what brought them to me. I was pleased to see several from del.icio.us and technorati, but also a few from search engines I hadn't heard of.

Continuation

Since I already have the blog going I'm going to keep track of it. No I won't check stats several times a day but I will add anthing new I stumble upon and thoughts on those discoveries.

Last week I realized that I had no way of knowing how often people visit this blog (should have used Wordpress) so I set up with StatCounter and added the code so I could check it. It was rather surprising. I just put it in on friday and by this morning I had gotten 50 loads. I admit about 8-12 were me with viewing after publishing a new post. They give a lot of information including where the link came from. Not surprisingly several were from plcmcl2 but a few were from del.icio.us and technorati and there were a few that really surprised me that had nothing to do with Learning 2.0.

Surprisingly, my daughter complained that she didn't think anyone other than myself and a former teacher were reading her blog since we are the only ones to comment. I hope she tries out the suggestions I made. Anyway I'm using what we did here in so many ways it's almost silly.

Thing 23

Wow, this is the end but I for one will continue with these tools.

Well, it's been a busy journey but since I'm on the Emerging Tech and Tech Talk Teams I think I need to finish before some of the rest. I did enjoy the exercises and was very thrilled to see my motivational poster hit Tame the Web. I've found some new tools for my box, explored others in new ways. I feel I also picked up ideas for my Systemwide Strategic Planning Team.

Given all that I really feel that this has been very useful. Yeah, a bigger player will be great to have and a chance at the Laptop would be fine (it would be used mostly for work, I promise). But that didn't really effect my thoughts here since I can see some great ideas for marketing the library with YouTube (ex. our Studio I submissions). This couldn't have been done at a better time despite how busy we all are with the SSP teams etc. The thing is I see both as going hand-in-hand. What better way go with Strategic Planning than to explore some of the technologies that could allow us to move forward into the 21st Century! I see this as a kind of brainstorming for the teams. Technology is moving to Web 2.0 whether we are ready or not, and a basic part of Strategic planning is exploring the technologies that will embrace it. One of the main points of Library 2.0 is meeting our customers where they live and that is very much in the Web 2.0 World. It's time we move forward into this world and use it along side the technologies we already have. Let them support and expland each other.

Finally, I suspect the incentives got more than a few motivated but for me I hope PLCMC also wins greater "buy-in" (to quote Lydia and Martin) by staff to these new resources and tools.

Web 2.0 sites

Well, this was a tough one since we have used so many of the sites listed. However, I couldn't resist the offer to explore Threadless since I joined threadless earlier this month. My daughter introduced me to them and I personally think her wearing her Be Green T-shirt into ImaginOn is why we did so well on the Leeds Certification.


This is just a part of the great graphic but it is also a link to the page for this shirt that is sadly on the out of stock page. I also like many others but sadly since they aren't really library apporved apparel I can't wear many to work.

On a related not, I was perusing the Genuine Scooter Co page today and found this great photo. Genuine and Threadless are only a couple blocks from each other in Chicago. Since my husband rides a white Stella to save gas, they get 90 mpg, it was only natural for me to love this bike. I just might have to get him to put one of the stickers I got with our T-shirts on his bike windscreen or helmet. On weekends when I work you might see his bike in front of ImaginOn if he joins me for lunch. Maybe I'll get him to give me a ride someday once he takes his driving test and can take passengers.

I also played a bit with Wayfaring and had fun making my own map. I included the major locations I worked at with PLCMC over the past 18 years and counting. I also included a few of my favorite stores, including where we adopted our lovely Stella.

video and audio searchng

I tried several searches for videos, Blinkx and Singingfish, as well as Google and Yahoo. I couldn't locate one of the great Studio i producations posted on YouTube, sigh. I did find a post of the opening day celebrations for ImaginOn from ChooseCharlotte on the Google search pages. I never saw any of the outside events that day since I was stuck inside manning StudioI and Tech Cental, so cool.

Since the ImaginOn Studio I productions didn't come up on the searches I tried here they are:





If you like Troy Story go to YouTube and Rate It.

Next I tried a couple podcast search engines and finally found Podzinger. On it I found the Talking With Talis series and one other I had not seen before but by and large I don't think many library sites are doing Podcasting. It would be a fun way to do booktalks. Perhaps PLCMC should start one.

YouTube

I've also been enjoying the YouTube entries from ImaginOn such as the Peeps take Over the World trailer and the award winning Troy Story by the Rust Sisters. I also played there listening to one of my favorite Finnish bands who recently got popular as a soundtrack for YouTube animations, though some I wouldn't view at work so I won't link it. Actually one of my favorite YouTubes was the Human Space invaders.

The day Steve Irwin died CNN posted several articles about him, one more reason to not have a TV. Who needs it, between Netflicks and YouTube I can get it all!

However, I am anxiously awaiting the posting of the full movie of Peeps. Hint to Julie and Glenn.

I am slowly getting used to NetFlix and would be interested in what other people at PLCMC watch from there. I noticed they have a means of inviting friends but I don't know the emails other people I know are using, so if you use NetFlix and wish to share your recommendations and reviews, add me as a friend, my email for them is: mkyle_42@yahoo.com. I do think they have a bit to learn about social networking from other Web 2.0 sites.

PBWiki Central

It's neat to see what other people like but how did our staff get over 1 million cats and over 2 million dogs? I did add my 2 cats though.

I've played on Wiki's before and use several that are serving as forums for Open Source Software projects I've been tracking. Personally I think they make better resources than the old listserves or bulletin boards. They allow greater organization. I also use Wikipedia fairly often and get lots of good info from it. I also know that they can be locked down some so the absolute openness of something like Wikipedia really isn't that big a problem. I see a lot of additions to the various favorites and I think a lot of our staff are ready to take the next step of collaboration on a Wiki to share programs, ready reference information, and other staff related ideas.

Wiki, Wiki, Travels

Here's were I think we are missing out. For any of you who visited the Bull Run Wiki, they have a welcome right on the page for those of use participating in PLCMC's 23 Things. It was cool, but I can see lots of great uses for Wiki's in Libraries.

Limited to library staff they can offer and open collaboration between staff for sharing ideas and concerns. Perhaps not replacing our Intranet but building on it and opening it to all staff sharing ideas, knowledge, and resources. Don't get me wrong, I was early on a member of the Intranet Team participating in it's evolving into PLCMC Central. I feel it has a well established place in our toolbox but we also need open collaboration between staff of all levels to keep that ball rolling. Imagine a ready reference Wiki to for all staff to share where to find what in Charlotte and online? A program ideas Wiki for staff to share their successful and perhaps not so successful programs. Perhaps that program that flopped at one branch would be a major hit at another.

But why stop there? A Wiki can make a powerful tool for marketing our bookclubs and the sharing of ideas by our public as well, such as the Book Lovers Wiki from Princeton Public Library.

Really the possilbilities are endless.

Library 2.0 Perspectives

I read all 5 perspectives but found the next one in line "The Ripple Effect" really informative. It was on a much smaller scale reading about the services they have in place and are putting in place was truely astounding.

Additionally the more I read the more I felt the current SSP teams are really the best place to launch Library 2.0 ideas and technologies. I can see this as a major change in how we do business. It seems to meet our goals for a Balanced Scorecard we do need to embrace the new trends and reach out to our customers where they live, work, and play.

Technorati blog searches

Well, the biggest limit I see here is that the blog writer needs to claim the blog on Technorati. I tried adding my daughter's to my favorites and it shows up but I can't use Technorati to go to it. Instead I get told the blog has not been claimed and thus can't be found. However, I was able to find several fellow staff through searching for PLCMCL2 and liked that. I find the biggest help are the widgets that can be added to my blog allowing other people to search my blog.

Just finished looking at Digg and found an interesting insight on the the rise in blogging. Martin Neumann's Blog Columnist. To a degree I suspect there are a lot of blogs of no consequence and he does make the point that we need to get out and enjoy the world we live in and not let blogging rule our lives. I think I'll go to bed early now.

Tagging Delicious

We are using a lot of resources that use tags. You can tag your photos in Flickr, tag blogs in your favorites in Technorati, tag bookmarks in Del.icio.us, tag your posts in blogger or most other blogging sites, tag your search roll in Rollyo, tags are also used in LibraryThing and this is where I find them most useful. When I enter and tag my books, I can follow these tags to related books I might like. I can also follow tags other users have for the same books to find yet more. The same principle is how tags in Del.icio.us help. Mostly, I had fun following the tags but I can see that entirely too much time could be spent here. I found that it didn't always narrow the search but instead opened it. I have a pretty useful search style and have fairly good success with it and will keep using it, but in some cases it does help to use tags. In my case I like to use LibraryThing's tags for finding related books to the ones I read.

My own Rollyo

I can't figure out what's going wrong with adding Rollyo Searching on my webpage so I am doing a direct link on my other Blog, Computer Notes. It was appropriate there since the Roll was built from the Mac Search Roll already public on Rollyo with a few additions of my own. Anyway you'll find the link in the top left.

Rollyo searches and Library Thing

This is fun, I haven't actually made my own but using rollyo to limit to a few websites likely to have what you want is pretty neat. I found "Ask Mr. Fix-it" and decided to see what I could find out about Shellac there, we have a 1942 house we are restoring and my husband was wondering just what it is. Wow, all we ever wanted to know and then some.

Another good roll was "Mac Search". I set up my account and plan to play a bit now.

I also have a few of my too numerous to count collection of books on Library Thing. It's hard to believe we got rid of 2 boxes of books last year. I think I'll start lining all the outside walls with bookshelves, it's "bound" to increase the insulation. Of course we nearly always have several on the bedside table and nearly all are nonfiction! I did use a Library Thing Widget to post my current reading on my blog. Hmm, wonder if there is a site like this for movies, that would be fun. If anyone has found one let me know! I remember reading about one but can't remember the name. I know Amazon and NetFlix will help me find other similar books and movies but I rather like using Library Thing.

Wow, I can import my bookmarks, yeah, now that's helpful. I have a whole range of bookmarks and here's where I can upload them. If you could download them again it would make a good way to back them up. Haven't found that yet though.

NetLibrary and other Audiobook sources

I feel like I'm cheating here, I teach the NetLibrary tech talk and have already used Overdrive. I will say a few things about NetLibrary, though.

First, it is getting better. They did a recent face lift and seem to have upgraded the server too, as I noticed the downloads are a lot faster. Of course the files are still rather big so I can't do many on my trusty Muvo since it's just too small. That is one thing about OverDrive, since they break the files up and you can further break them up, you can put them on smaller players, wowie zowie! They still have that whole Windows vs Mac and iPod vs Windows Plays for Sure issues but I do think they are better. Maybe some of the recent legal disputes with Apple's iTunes will turn into forcing the Media players to better compatibility. Here's the ArsTechnica article on the meeting in Norway last month:

Apple, Scandinavian consumer ombudsmen talk iTunes

Second, they added a few tools to browsing. You can now sort by date and even stipulate oldest or newest first. I would like a sort by length however. When finding stuff for classes, I spent hours finding books under 90MB. but for my husband I'd like the longest. Of course with netLibrary being free that isn't that much of an issue.

I also started him on a Librivox book and he liked it but we both can see some difficulties. They are straight mp3 files with no DRM so anybody can listen to them on just about anything, but the readers are amateurs and it shows. They post the books a chapter at a time and frequently have several readers for the same book so there is a loss of continuity that you won't see with paid services like Audible, netLibrary and OverDrive. Anyway, it was nice to try it.

I do want to check out one of the Mercury Theater mp3's too. I bet they would be good if you are into old radio dramas, good thing I am. However, I am a bit reluctant to install BitTorrent to manage the downloads.

Blogger Beta

For any of you who have read this blog before, it has a new look.

For everyone else I'm playing with the new Blogger Beta which is now tied to my Gmail account. There are several new features and I have better control of the location of items. So be forewarned, things will change and I'm playing. That's all for now.

Oh, one change is faster posting. So I no longer see the % complete screen when publishing a new post or making a change to a post. I do like that. It alone is worth the trouble of the upgrade.

If you are interested in my Beta testing trails you might want to read my other blog: PuterNotes

Online graphic generators

Here's a new logo for my blog created on CoolText.com


With my review coming up I thought a bit of wishful thinking was appropriate.


Last but not least I think this would be a fun vanity plate for my car.


Now some more fun!

RSS and all that Jazz...

RSS is almost old to me. I've switched from subscribing to many of the list serves I formerly had, when RSS became available for them. I'm using Yahoo mostly since with Yahoo Mail Beta it is in my mail, kind of a one stop shopping. However I do play with Technorati and bloglines sometimes too. It is hard to set limits and putting them in folders for blogrolls can be useful.

I did use Technorati to find PLCMCL2 blogs and found my Flickr toys blog along with 3 other staffers. I particularly liked Julie B's King Peep Stamp.

I have found kind of a mixed bag on Librarians Internet Index but they are having fun preparing for Talk Like a Pirate Day. Here's the post from Sept 14, they have lots of piratical websites to play on. I started subscribing a while ago and often see references to Web 2.0 and other such. Last week they did a bit more play.

LII

Avast, me hearties!