Canossiana

20th thing

2008-07-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

So this is the end of Web 2.0. I enjoyed learning most of it. I found many of them very useful, informative, interesting and fun. Del.icio.us, rss feeds, online image generators and avatars are some of my favorite discoveries. Some of them are things you already know that is out there in the web, but because of Web 2.0 it is a good thing we were given a chance to try and use them at work. It is also nice to know that there are alternatives to most oftenly used web services. For example, I thought MySpace and Friendster had no competition, but then I found out there's Facebook too. I would choose to participate again in another discovery program if given the chance.

Gaming

2008-07-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

Games are fun, they do exercise your brain. It's nice that there are free games you can play online but I've never played any before. Maybe, I'll try them again if ever I get bored. I played Hollywood Jumble. It was Jack Nicholson trivia. I got 5 out of 5 questions, so they gave me outstanding. But they gave hints, so it was easy.

Maps and geotagging

2008-07-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, after I downloaded google earth, I tried navigating the Grand Canyon. But the image was not so good so I had to change my resolution to get optimal viewing. I tried my new address too, but it looks like they don't have a picture of it yet since it's a new development area. It's cool that you can do a lot of things like tilt landscapes 360 degrees and really zoom in on buildings and roads. But it's kind of scary that one can do all these things now when you are also concerned about privacy.

Avatars

2008-06-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

One can be really creative with avatars. You can reinvent your your look, personality, and be a completely new person in a different world. I tried signing up for Second Life but it won't take the name I picked. I guess it has to be very unique. Maybe I'll try another time when I have come up with another name. I am not sure if I would like to live in Second Life. It's virtual ofcourse and you can just do it for fun but sure you will have to have a lot of spare time to do that. Anyway, here's my avatar.

Google docs and Zoho

2008-06-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

I like these web-based applications. They are another convenient service that people on the go can use all the time for free. I had used google docs before but I just learned about Zoho this morning. Zoho has cute emoticons you can add on your document. I don't think though that it has all the features that a word processor like WORD can offer like the array of fonts you can choose from. I still have to try all the other applications available with Google docs and Zoho.

Search engines

2008-06-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

Search engines have certainly have made life a lot easier for people. And whatever search engine you use, one way or another you are going to find an answer to whatever question you might have. But since we are comparing the big three search engines, I did exactly the same search on: advantages and disadvangtages of hybrid cars. I tried google first and it gave me 102,000 hits and the time in seconds of how long the search was. With yahoo, they have predictive text searching. I was just beginning to type advantages, it gave me suggestions beginning with the same word and as I typed further it suggested topics after I typed disadvantages. I kind of like it because you can save time by just highlighting the topic you want. Yahoo turned up 680,000 hits on my search. Ask.com has predictive text searching also. But it's google and yahoo which gave me the information I'm looking for right on the top of the list that came up. With Ask.com though, the one on the top list was GM's link to their website. The information I needed was the second on the list. All the information is there ofcourse in the internet, you just have to know how to do all the advanced search techniques to find what you're looking for right away.

Podcasts

2008-06-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Podcasts--something I've heard about here and there but never tried. I browsed the list of podcasts from libraries but there was not much that interested me. Health is impt. to me and so I tried the podcast feed from the Claude More Health Sciences library of the Univ. of Virginia and added a subscription for this to my google reader. I started listening to the topic Music Heals. And then I noticed on my media player that it's 62 mins. -- too long for me so I stopped it. I picked one podcast from Learn out loud, Zaadz daily wisdom and added this to my reader too. I listened to one topic, Conquer Yourself, and it was good and only 4 mins. long. Podcasts are nice if you have time to listen to them. And yes it another useful tool for our libraries. I'm just not sure how wide the selection of topics is to get our patrons interested. I wonder if a patron is interested in sports, would there be a podcast on that subject? One has to have the time to browse all that is out there to find out.

Online image generators

2008-05-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Above is an image I picked from customsigngenerator.com and added text on. I really like this part of web 2.0. It was fun doing this--you have tons of images and graphics to choose from, and can pick text font and color. So many years ago, I used to buy those print studio softwares like American Greeetings create-a-card just so I can make invitation cards, signs, etc. and they were expensive. Now all I have to do is go to one these free websites...think of all the possibilities...

Overdrive and etc.

2008-05-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, this morning I get to do something I've been wanting to try for quite a while now--download an audio book. So after installing the overdrive console and upgrading my windows media player, I was ready and excited to browse for audiobooks that interest me. I was going to check out "101 Power Thoughts" but no copies were available. And then I found "Be happy without being perfect" and there were no copies available too for this title. It seems like titles like these are quite popular but we don't have enough for check out. I can certainly place a hold but don't want to wait. Anyway, I settled with "Everyday wisdom" by Wayne Dyer. I listened to it for at least 10 minutes and then realized I have work to do. So I'll get back to it when I get the chance. One thing though, I wish one can do a search by subject or keyword. I tried searching feng-shui under title and nothing came up. This could mean that we don't have any e-audiobook on this subject so I can only hope that our digital audio collection will grow to a wider selection.

BTW, that's my cute and adorable lhasa aphso on the picture.

Del.icio.us bookmarking

2008-05-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

http://del.icio.us/

This is another useful tool that somebody like me can use to manage all the sites I have bookmarked to help me do my work. I simply have a long list on my favorites and I have to scroll all the way down the screen sometimes to get to the one I need. I have created an account with del-icio-us and at this point there are 4 items and I'll definitely be adding more next time when I get the chance. I have noticed one of the items were saved by 268 other people, and maybe using it to do some kind of cataloging too. So sure this site is a very valuable tool for librarians and library staff.

Wikiwikis

2008-05-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

I agree that wikis are good collaborative tools for events, activities and etc. It's an open site but I think it's not for everyone. You have no control of what goes in the content and maliciousness and vandalism is possible. Last year I heard on tv that somebody posted the sudden death of a high profile person on one of the wikis (I think wikipedia) without the family's permission. That issue became quite controversial. So, ofcourse like almost anything, it has its advantages and disadvantages. As for its use in libraries, it can really be functional as long as nobody defaces it. St. Joseph County Public library created a really good wiki for subject guides which can be useful to a lot of people.

Streaming Video

2008-04-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

YouTube is great. You usually can find something you want if the video is tagged correctly. One of the shows on tv one time featured a funny wedding clip from YouTube but I didn't get to see the whole video. So I went to YouTube and there I found it and watched the whole clip. Since YouTube is so popular, I don't usually have to go to the site to see the latest funny clips. My friends would usually email me the latest funniest video and then I would sometimes share them to friends on my list. Hulu and Fancast are nice and useful when you regularly watch certain shows on tv and missed watching them for some reason. But I found Hulu as more user friendly than Fancast. I searched an episode of American Idol on both sites and I found it more quickly using Hulu. Libraries can also make use of these sites esp. when helping with patrons search for shows by genre. Hulu offers you a list of shows in alphabetical order by genre. I can use either of these sites but I have easier access with fancast since I have a Comcast account. Here's a video clip I found on YouTube on libraries--Mr. Bean goes to the library. It's LOL funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpBMJ7uRO7I

Facebook etc.

2008-04-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

I just created an account with Facebook, invited a few friends and uploaded a Thomas Kinkade photo. I'll try build up more of my profile next time.

Flickr photo sharing

2008-04-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

One of the many good things about online photosharing is that it can also be private. I feel uneasy making family photos available to public. But as long as pictures are not personal, this service is not only fun, but also very useful. Photosharing is something I use to view pictures of close friends and family whom I only get to see once in a great while. I use Friendster to look at the latest pictures of my cute nieces and nephews. Italy is one of my favorites places. I haven't been there but it's one of the places I plan to visit in the future. It is not only rich in culture, history, architecture, but also breathtaking landscapes. Here's a photo

of Umbria, Italy. Truly beautiful!

Streaming music

2008-04-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I noticed my daughter singing with headphones on and hooked up with the computer while studying. I asked what she was doing and said studying and listening to music at the same time. I thought she was playing a music cd but the music actually was coming from an online music site. And then, I told myself one day, I'll learn how to do that. Ofcourse I never got around to doing it. And now here I am...It's not that difficult to do. I just created an account with Pandora and listened to Air Supply, one of my favorite artist. Now, I have easy access to music I like to listen to like the music of the 80's...they are the best!

RSS Feeds

2008-04-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

I think I am going to like this RSS feeds thing. This way I can get all the latest news and information on topics I'm most interested in like women's health and dog knowledge. I have set up feeds for both google reader and bloglines.

Instant messaging

2008-04-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

I have done this before on Yahoo messenger but only do it once in a while to chat with family across the continents...Now, I chatted with my coworkers and its really kind of fun !!!

2008-03-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

I don't really have anything to blog about but I think creating a blogsite that I can share with family and friends is kind of cool.