Week 6 #13, #14

I already had a del.icio.us acct. from some previous web 2.0 play. However, I took more time to explore all its facets, and added the bookmarklet buttons to my browser here. Now I need to remember to do it at my other computers, too. Naturally, I got sidetracked looking at the SJLibraryLearning2 acct., and am just getting back on track here.
I think this would be great for a course, we used it in one I audited taught by another librarian I know. It was very cool to share and collaborate with other folks exploring the same things. I don't know if this would work with high school kids, but think it would be great for college ones and professional collaborations.

For me, Technorati is confusing. I tried doing some searches, but got blocked a lot by the district filters, and became annoyed and frustrated. I could do searches via a backdoor method, but then I wasn't always sure what I was getting. (and I'm not so sure how much I care about what other people are blogging...stikes me as one of those too much time on your hands occupations.)

I looked at the Popular Blogs and checked out Boing Boing, the most popular one in the world, according to Technorati. Actually was pretty interesting, but I don't see looking at it all the time or adding it t0 my feed...more like a curiousity, just as its description claims.

Week 5 #12

I explored Rollyo and was pretty impressed with the idea. Searching a group of sites you've preselected all at once sounds very cool. I could see making different information searches for my high school students using this tool. However, when I tried the samples on the website, I was disappointed with the results. I did some photo searches and the results were unimpressive. I could have gotten the same thing using just Flikr, and been logged into my own account.

I fared better with the boutique search, trying "silk scarf" as my search term and found a lovely scarf if only I could find another full-time job. I didn't know people actually paid $1600 for a scarf!

So I have mixed feelings about this tool. I totally see its value in my library, but just don't know if the searches will produce valuable results.

I created a search for Frugal Grocery Shopping.

Week 5 #11

Since we are fairly new in the East Bay, I decided to look at one of the city guides. Even though I had never heard of Yelp! I gave it a shot and typed in our city and zip code. We have the distinction of being close to two very trendy areas, the Solano Ave. section of Albany, and all of Berkeley. Most of the businesses recommended were from one of those areas, although I did spot of few from EC.

With so many restaurants in the area, this was great. I've used the Berkeley Parents Network in the past for business recommendations (plumbers, mechanics, etc.) but Yelp! seemed to have much more in the way of food and entertainment. What I especially like is the fact that these are real people reviewing these places. While I don't know if I would ever just trust ONE review, many of the businesses have four or more, making it much more reliable, IMHO.

I also found the List section, where individuals review tons of places. Clearly these folks have way more free time than I do, but I certainly appreciate the effort they've put in. It's easy to click on the business and see all its reviews. This is totally perfect for people new to an area, or someone just trying to get out of her rut.

As soon as the kiddo heads back to college, hubby and I will need to start doing some serious exploring. The only downside I can see is that we'll end up thinking we have discretionary money, when we still need to be careful until Sarah finishes her BA.

This probably wouldn't be that useful in my high school library setting, but it would be a useful link for the public library.

I joined the Ning network "Library Youth and Teen Services 2.0." It doesn't look like it's very active, but the topic is perfect for me. I'll watch it for awhile, then maybe join some more active ones. I'm not really sure I get Ning. It sort of reminds me of MySpace organized by subjects; another thing to keep up with in my busy day.


View my profile on Library Youth and Teen Services 2.0

Week 5 #10

I made this using Image Chef. It was incredibly easy, but I found the images somewhat limited.



I made this one as my personal icon. I should attach it as part of my email addy.

New Determination

I have been such a slacker with my 23 Things projects, but I am determined to get them finished. I am taking the InfoPeople online course about libraries and social networking, and that is getting me back in the swing of things. Looks like a have less than a week to finish this, so I am off and running!