Sunday, March 25, 2007

MySpace and social networks

When I first heard about some libraries taking part in social networking sites, I thought it is just another way to promote their libraries. But, after went through the articles or information, which the Learning 2.0 team provided, I think this is one of the best positive things for libraries to connect their patrons in MySpace and other social networking communities. First, libraries can target their patron's age or interest group to promote the current services and plan the future services as well. Next, librarians can help patrons to get more information or get a useful discussion started for their needs.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Find some feeds

I prefer going to my favorite sites to find feeds, simply because it saves my time in this method. Although I might lose a chance to explore the new interesting feeds, the purpose of searching feeds just seems to kill time to me, not efficient. I like Topix.net for the topics are more clear to me, and they would attract me to do a further search. Syndic8.com put too many details there, and this is more confusing. I feel I need to evaluate the sources. Also, the format of the results isn't pleasant. I don't think I can find unusual feeds right now, either because I'm not in patience, or the word "unusual" I define is different from others. Anyway, no luck on that for three days. Really!!!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

RSS

I can't say I like RSS and newsreaders. It's very convenient to use, but do I care? To define my word, for instance, how many people would pay attention to the captain's messages when they fly with him? To me, online is for the sake of killing time... I hope I do not sound too negative on this technology. All right then, let me think really hard about how I might be able to use this technology in my work or personal life. ;-)

So, I subscribed some RSS feeds to my
Bloglines to explore the fun. With the updates feature, it saves me some time by keeping me visit from the non-updated web pages, but bringing in the most updated news from my favorite websites instead. This is cool I think, like a Bloglines messenger. The library should be able to adopt this technology to apply on the services of the Book Alert and the Event Calendar. Currently, I receive the Book Alert bi-weekly, but new items have been added to the catalog every few days. If the library could take advantageof it, the Book Alert could be sent out as soon as the changes have been made in the library catalog. As for the Event Calendar, it would let more people are aware of the library programs and workshops.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Flickr mashups

Guess what! I spent another three days (with three people Maria, David, and Shara's help in three days ^_^) to upload the image I want from Flickr. This is getting fun...

My favorite Flickr mashups are Spell with Flickr and Retriver. I like the former, because I can get a variety of images on each letter of my name. Although the image is every simple, it can reflect our mood; like we can be a Red E when we are on February 14, a stubborn E on the brick wall when we don't agree with others. See, that's fun, isn't it?? Now I'm thinking that later in the future, whoever can forecast my mood on my blog by using Spell with Flickr, he or she can get a complimentary burning herb from the village.


Speaking of Retrievr, it works like our own online art gallery. Based on my sketching abilities? That is, simply pick one or more colors, I can find some real cool photos there. In few seconds, I'm turning our world into black and white. Adding blue, surprisingly, blue is not blue, I see a hope. With that hope, I added green, and then I see a life. What about red? I wonder. First caught my eyes is an unknown red leaf looking at its shadow. Is red lonely? Somehow, I feel every one could get some kind of inspiration from it.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Discover Flickr

Flickr might be an interesting website to browse, but if you don't know what you are looking for, it turns out, well, like browsing a photo dictionary. Like this time, I spent three days (but not whole three days ^_~) to find an interesting image for the discovery exercise. The image I would like to find is an ancient map of Formosa. I couldn't find a very clear image on Flickr, since it was shot from a glass cabinet in a museum.

The most interesting about this image is that the island, Formosa is horizontal in this ancient map, not vertical in a modern map we see today. It was drawn with the landscape painting to show a deployment of troops in entire Formosa between seventeen and eighteen centuries. The map also represents some traces of Ming-Qing Dynasty and Dutch civilization during that time. It was posted by Flickr user Adonis Chen.


Sunday, March 4, 2007

KCLS Learning 2.0

I like the concept of lifelong learning. Knowledge is power, and learning 2.0 is power. It is always fun to learn a new thing every day. But, honestly, if it's not for the KCLS learning program, I would not go blogging. I mean, I used to think going blog? That's blue. Now, by participating learning 2.0, not only I finally set up my own blog, I also have a chance to make it more meaningful to myself.