Thing 13: Librarything

I found librarything interesting. It's a neat little way to share with other friends and other people what you're reading. I can see uses for this for libraries too.

If you wanted to compile lists of books that librarians recommend for patrons, there you go. You can use it to put out recommendations for parents for their kids. I know I stop in down out at youth services department around christmas time to ask what's popular with the kids so I can by Christmas presents for my friends' children.
With this site...I might not have to ask them anymore. I could find reading lists for kids. But also, if libraries have a "What's popular" list...that's great too.

I will definitely be using this to organize my own library of books, which is actually much smaller since I moved two years ago. It's so hard to let go of books when you move. But sometimes, there's just not enough room to cram them all into your car.

As far as the local feature...I'm not sure how useful it is for the library. On a personal level...I FOUND my library on it.

Thing 12: Wikis

I can still remember, not so very long ago, going to my college's library for orientation. I'm not sure why every one of my English teachers wanted to make sure we understood how to use a library for research.

I can still remember the librarian talking about Wikipedia. "Don't use it!"
"Anyone can add information into wikipedia articles and while some people may be knowledgeable experts in their fields, Marlene's, from down the street, crazy Uncle Ned also has access to the site and can edit however he chooses."


That said...Wikipedia is one of my favorite places to go for first level research. There's SO much information there in one spot it's just the easiest first place to look when I'm wanting to know something completely random. If it's for something important, I'll take that info, look for the sources and then do further research on it to ensure whatever I found is a valid fact or just some random tidbit crazy Uncle Ned put in.

I still don't think there's anything wrong with banning Wikipedia from research. I found ways around using it when I was in college. Like I said...first level.
I found the info I wanted from it. Then found alternate sources to use for references that the teachers would find acceptable.
I think doing that helps students learn to find multiple sources of information to ensure the accuracy of what you learn.

I played around some with the meta:sandbox. I only tagged it really.

Ultimately, Wiki good. Delicious still BAAAADDDdddd!

Thing 11: Social Media

WOW...
I've gotten way behind. NEFLIN is on thing 19, I'm still WAY back here. Good thing I've got the week off from classes and the first week will be light. I figure if I post a thing a day, I'll be caught up by the time this thing is over.

LOL
("Laughing out loud" for those acronymically challenged.)

I do want to update on thing 10 before I continue on with thing 11.
Delicious-
While at first it did seem awesome...It had hijacked my tab key and my ability to C&P in most windows. I'm currently trying to figure out how to get rid of the program that I installed into my browser. As soon as I figure how to get rid of the peskiness that is delicious I'll let you all know.
DOWN WITH DELICIOUS!

******

Read Terminator two meets that movie with Ally Sheedie
Or this one...about dinner saving a classroom. (Yes, they still eat guinea pigs in Peru.)

Articles like this one, while entertaining, make me fear for the future of information. I guess I fear more the contributions of everyday people than from legitimate news sources.
I'm sure if my brother could figure out how to, he'd be contributing crap like "Toads explode after being filled with firecrackers," along with video footage.
Maybe I'm being a little extreme, but I don't put much stock in social media outside of the entertainment value. Part of it being..."Wow...someone has too much time on their hands."

I wouldn't really want to use these tools in my library unless someone called up and said "HELP! I'm really depressed and need something to make me laugh! What do you suggest?"
Really, social media is nothing more than a productivity detractor.

By the way, if you have any free time (Don't watch these while you're working, seriously. Productivity detractor, remember?) I found these courtesy of reddit.

Exercise ball revenge.

Thing 10: Delicious

Wow.

I did not know of the existence of this kind of site before 23 things.
My mind is bursting with the possibilities of this web 2.0 tool. I mean, information sharing among friends, among classmates, research tools, coworkers...
it's just endless.

I imported my bookmarks to my account and now I have the daunting task (because I'm horrible about cleaning up my bookmarks) of organizing it.
Thankfully, it kept my bookmark folders as tags, so a good chunk will be easy to sort through and see if the sites are active and relevant. Of course, I have 87 tags and over a thousand bookmarks to go through.

I do some online RPGs and write lots of short stories, so I have research bookmarks for all the characters and whatever was needed for the stories.
I guess you could say my bookmarks are kind of like cable TV 800 channels and nothing on. LOL

I can't wait to make some public research bookmarks for my friends, though. I'm trying to keep them in the loop of these great internet tools.