Task 12-Rollyo

I created my own search with Rollyo using the "Health" category of preselected sites. Searching the entire web for fibromyalgia gave me 7,690,000 hits. The search using the "Health" category only gave me 15 hits (pretty thin). I used the "Politics" source list (accessible from the link "need inspiration" when you are creating a new search) to pull up news and blog links for Hillary Clinton. What I like about this site was the table on the left that allows you to show only links from a given resource when you click on it. This is a useful filter once you learn how to use it.

Task 11-LibraryThing

I can't say enough about LibraryThing. What a wonderful social networking tool for people who love to read! I have a special interest in poetry and I have always wanted to catalog my poetry books. Here, I can do that, along with allowing others to view the contents of my library. I just cataloged 14 of them in 5 minutes. It allows for a simple cataloging that is perfectly adequate for most personal collections, and you are able to use tags that make sense to you for classifying your books. I will see if it allows me to catalog poetry journals tomorrow.

I also joined the Poetry Fool Group. The discussion groups allow you to meet others with similar literary tastes and to discuss topics of interest. This is especially useful for poetry because it has a small, but extremely loyal following. It is a great way to be introduced to poets whose work you have yet to sample. I'm sure it is a great tool for other genres as well.

Task 10-Online Image Generators

I wasn't all that excited about the online image generators. I found most of them silly. I kind of liked this one, though. Here I am according to Sketch Generator.

Task 9-Twitter

I just checked out twitter for the first time. At first I didn't get it, but the article below helped me. How can libraries use it? Well...the technology does allow for quiet conversations... Interesting to see if it will be just another fad. I just added a link to by blog so you can see my most recent twitter updates. Update-I just thought of a way to use twitter in my daily work. When I am not at my desk (I might be working in another department, in a meeting, at lunch, etc.), I can update twitter leaving a message saying where I can be found, then refresh my Blog page. If anyone needs to know if I am at my desk, they can just look at my blog to know my whereabouts. Update-I just got my first follower. I don't know whether to block him or not... Update-I just figured out how to block a follower using "Help" on twitter. It was not hard at all. Update-I tried to follow someone who was following me. Too bad I don't know Italian...

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-07/st_thompson#

Task 8-Library Related Blogs

Well, I've gotten pretty good at getting blogs and news feeds on to my blog. I was able to add The Shifted Librarian, and both ArtsBeat and Paper Cuts from the New York Times to the feeds I put up yesterday (National Geographic: Television and Squeaky's 2.0). I tried to get Librarian.net but I got a message saying that I didn't have the software I needed. I wasn't able to figure it out, so I gave up on this one.

Task 7-RSS Feeds & Bloglines

I established my newsreader account on Bloglines and chose 11 newsfeeds that interest me. It took me a while to figure out how to get feeds from other sources to appear in my Blog. I finally did, though, and I added Yahoo! News: Top Stories, and Squeaky's 2.0. This is a great tool. I will be adding more in the future, and figuring out how to get alerts on the ones I like the best. Update-changed some feeds, added some others.

Task 6-Library Websites

I checked out the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County and I really liked the Programs/Events RSS Feeds page. It was great that it was organized by type of program/event and also by location. What a great way for a library system with many locations to keep everyone informed on what the library is doing system-wide. I love it that the Ann Arbor site is made using strictly Blog software. It seems that keeping the site updated would be made easier than updating a traditional website using this method. I'm not that familiar with Podcasts, so I didn't spend much time at the Denver site. It looks like a good idea, though. At the Seattle site, it seems they are keeping everyone in-the-know about upcoming events using RSS Feeds. I liked it that the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County actually explained what an RSS Feed is and how it works on the Programs/Events RSS Feed page. I didn't find this info anywhere on the Seattle site. Seattle did have a variety of foreign language pages on their site, though, and I thought this was cool.

Task 5-Flickr Mashups & Third Party Sites

I found some fun Flickr mashups and third party sites. I have included links to the ones I found useful under the heading "Find A Photo Search." I really like Color Fields Colr Flickr for finding an image that will look good with a color scheme online quickly. Flappr is very useful in finding specific images. I did a search for impressionist painting and the application took me right to what I was looking for. While I found Tagnautica visually appealing, the organization of the subject catagories is limiting. I first typed in Art, which produced many subcategories. Then I typed in paintings, which gave me more subcategories. Then I typed in impressionist and struck out! I used Spell with Flickr to make a fun graphic for a section I am planning which will contain links to poetry sites. I just discovered that the letters on Spell with Flickr are scalable if you select Rich Text in the text editor. (You have to use the HTML/Java option when you add a page element. By viewing Rich Text, you can change the size of the letters visually, without having to deal with altering the HTML code).

Task 4-Flickr

I just checked out Flickr and I thought it was great. I particularly like the "Make Stuff" option. My sister-in-law took a trip to Europe last summer and used an application similar to Flickr to let all of us back home see what they had seen that day. It was a little like sharing the trip with her.

Task 3-Register Blog

I have registered my BLOG with Infopeople, but I don't see it on the Infopeople 23 Things page yet.

Task 2-Blog Setup

Creating the BLOG was fun. I changed the colors and layout from the template I used and now some of my link colors are not the best (the ones associated with the video images). I see you can go in to the HTML code and fix them if you know where to look. The software is fun and easy to use. Even a white lion from Africa can do it.

Task 1-Hello there...

I'm getting ready to explore the Web 2.0 jungle. How exciting! I'll let you know what I find. :)