Exercise #9: Finding Feeds

I actually don't find Topix, Syndic8, or Technorati very useful. Topix and Technorati just seem like jumbles of random links to me. I know they're not just random collections of links, but they're not really selected or edited either, and they feel like a mess to me. I'd much rather go to a handful of online news sources (BBC News, various online editions of newspapers, selected blogs) to keep up with what is going on in the world than use either of these sites. And if I want to search for websites on a given topic I'd much rather just go to a search engine and do a search for the subject than try to use Syndic8, which seems very clunky and awkward to me. Since, as I said below, I don't really like RSS readers, I don't have much use for a tool that only searches for sites that offer RSS feeds. At any rate, I find that the best way to discover new blogs and other websites is to follow links to them from sites that I already follow. It works for me.

Exercise #8: Bloglines

I already have a Bloglines account. I set it up after taking one of Michael Sauers' classes about a year or so ago. I only use it to follow a dozen or so library-related blogs: the NLA, the NLC, the Federal Depository Library Program and a couple other government document-related websites, Planet Cataloging, Unshelved, and, now, a handful of blogs by my OPL co-workers. After I initially set up the account I used it to follow pretty much every website I visit regularly that has a RSS feed, but after a couple weeks I realized that I really didn't like following blogs that way. Bloglines makes everything look the same, and I found it very dreary to read every blog post in the same visual format. I much prefer visiting the various sites themselves, and never found it to be too much work to do so, especially after I set up my delicious account. Perhaps there are other RSS readers that are less monotonous, but I haven't looked at any of them. I left a few subscriptions in my Bloglines account mainly so that I can remain somewhat fluent in the use of RSS readers. And now it has come in real handy with this assignment!

Exercise #7: Technology

I may be jumping ahead of the O! What a Geek schedule by discussing this, but my favorite Web 2.0 tool is the delicious bookmarking tool. Prior to discovering delicious I had to use a really primitive, jerry-rigged system wherein I had to bookmark websites on all of the browsers I use, organize my links using a bunch of unwieldy folders, and save the bookmarks as a webpage on my flash drive. It was a real pain. Now I just log into my delicious account whenever I settle in at a terminal and add any new links I like to my accessible-from-anywhere delicious account. And tags are an infinitely better way of organizing links than folders, since you can "file" a link in more than one place without ending up with a really long and awkward folder tree.

The ironic thing is that I do not really use delicious as a Web 2.0 tool, at least in terms of sharing information. I tag all of my bookmarks but I don't pay any attention to other people's tags or bookmarks, and I don't share most of my bookmarks with anyone else - the only current exceptions being my O! What a Geek-related links.

I have, however, trained a couple of my co-workers in the use of delicious, despite such training being my 7-and-a-half habits tutorial Achilles' heel.

Exercise #6: More Flickr

Jellyfish face, originally uploaded by zqb.

The above photo was found using the Flickr Colr Pickr mashup. I can see how that tool would be useful in designing images, mosaics, flyers, and so on, when the designer is aiming for a particular color scheme.

Likewise, I can see how the Flickr map tool could be of use, although so far I have found simple tag searches to be a more thorough way of finding images - a regular search for images of the Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge near Fort Calhoun found 107 images, whereas I only found 58 using the map tool.

Exercise #5: Flickr

Garden - After the Storm, originally uploaded by jlib2008.

I have created a Flickr account!

I often talk about gardening with some of my co-workers, so I uploaded some pictures of my garden into my new Flickr account. Above is a picture of my backyard garden taken after the big thunderstorm of June 27, 2008. Even zucchini has a hard time standing up to such a storm. You can see a couple pictures of my garden after its recovery from the storm by going to my Flickr photostream.

Creating a Flickr account wasn't too hard, but it sure is a lot more fun to look at other people's photos than it is to go through all the little steps required to upload my own. It's a lot more fun taking photos, too. But this is a nice way to share photos with a lot of people.

Exercise #4: Register Your Blog

Done!

Exercise #3

I have, as you can see, set up my blog.

Exercise #2

I have listened to the 7 and 1/2 Habits tutorial.

The only one of the 7-and-a-half habits that is really difficult for me is teaching and mentoring others. (Well, sometimes it is hard to view problems as challenges, too.) I often find it difficult to explain things I know to others, because I feel like I "just know" them, and I don't remember the steps it took to acquire that knowledge. It's something I need to work on. On the other hand, one of the advantages of trying to explain something to someone else is that I sometimes discover that I don't really know what I think I know, or I am inspired to learn about aspects of a tool that I had not explored before. I tend not to master an online tool completely, but only learn about the aspects of it that seem useful to me. That too is something I need to work on. But setting goals, accepting responsibility for my own learning, creating my own toolbox, etc. - no problem.

Exercise #1

I have read the Wikipedia article on Library 2.0 and the Library Instruction Wiki article on Library 2.0. Off to a good start.