Twitter - My Psychic Powers Fail Me

I was pretty sure Twitter was going to be an annoying fad which quickly disappeared as people realized how silly it was. Just what we need in a world that bombards us with more information than we can process: regular updates from the incisive mind of Zack Taylor.

Alas, turns out my crystal ball is broken - Twitter is getting bigger all the time. Maybe at some point I will bite the bullet and join, but not until I have some reason for shameless self-promotion.

I did discover all kinds of new awesomeness through the someecards.com Twitter feed, including the card above and this cute video ecard:
Happy Birthday to Somone Who Always Offsets My Crankiness.

Regarding Libraries and Twitter, posting events and programs is great; suggesting new reads and resources is also grand. Nice to see reminders about holiday closings. An occasioanl 140-character 'book talk' would be appreciated.

That LibraryThing 2.0

LibraryThing was recommended to me about a month ago by a certain hep cat who's always down with the most doos new CPL resources. I briefly wondered why I would need or use it. I’ve had the Novelist option for years and hardly use it beyond readers’ advisory. I don't find it particularly user-friendly, and the books it catalogues seem quite limited.

But LibraryThing is so much more. Many users means many, many books to browse and review. And yes, it can be my own little catalogue of experience and ownership! It's not infrequently that I forget the title of a book I've read, or remember the title but not the author. Usually find-out-able. Worse are those times I lose both title and author. At the moment I am trying to remember the name of a YA novel I read a few years ago. A very decent dystopia, and though I can picture the cover, the word-parts of the cover just won’t come in to focus. Familiarity breeds many things, knowledge among them. If I tracked my reads, this would probably be easier to recollect, and indeed very easy to search out.

Besides easily cataloguing your reads, you can connect with other readers, browse blogs, play wordy-people games, that type of thing. Ahh, community in its many forms. Public libraries and local booksellers could benefit from advertising upcoming programs, author readings, sales in the 'Local Events' area.

LibraryThing makes a great suggestion for the readers we advise. They can easily join the 850,000-strong community of booklovers to exchange reviews, ideas about books, and the next great read. My husband belongs to a similar online world called Discogs, which is directed towards music lovers and cataloguers. Discogs allows C. to catalogue his vast music collection, 'meet' other fans of small labels that few have ever heard of, track a want list, buy music from fellow users who are selling hard-to-find vinyl or CDs and generally geek out, music-style. Yes, there is one person left in North America who still buys music, and it is my sweet baboo.

LibraryThing could be my equivalent. It's very user-friendly, and I enjoy connecting with other readers and word-loving people. The tour uses plain language and is easy to navigate. Signing up was a challenge only in that my first- and second-choice user names were already in use, but I had to go all the way through the registration process to find that out. No offer of similar suggestions either. We 21st-century consumers are just so demanding.

I look forward to using LibraryThing more often, definitely doing some cataloguing as I read, possibly throwing down a few reviews in exchange for free pre-publication tomes, and recommending it to many real live library users.

Post script

I did a quick search in LibraryThing to see if I could identify that YA dystopian novel, by some off-chance. I entered the search terms "YA, dystopia". A lengthy list was returned through the Tagmash, which searched books with all manner of variation on my tags, including "teen, dystopian, science fiction, fantasy". Wonderful! The title I was looking for wasn't there, but as I browsed I passed The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem. Haven't read it but something struck a chord ...

I then searched the CPL catalogue for YA books, author keyword "Ellen", and lo and behold, I found it! The book was Stolen Voices by Ellen Dee Davidson. Forgettable title; forgettable author's name; pretty decent read. Yay LibraryThing! I like the way you prompt my memory.

Online Productivity. Or, how much of my life do I want to give to the behemoth?

That's the thing about Google. They just make it so easy. Here I am using Blogger, after all. Google apps integrate well with all other products in the Googleverse. They play nice with others too, adapting MS Office files into Google Docs, acting as translator between Outlook and iCal ...

Google is almost like Apple in terms of anticipating user needs and wants, and providing wraparound service. One major distinction: Apple wants to sell me stuff. Google wants to sell ME. To others.

It's like that snaky colleague who acts all friendly and wants to get to know you so that someday, years from now, he/she can somehow capitalize on that knowledge - and probably at your expense. Google, is this friendship you offer truly sincere? You're very giving, but I'm sure there will be a price to pay down the road. Is Yahoo any better? Well, they do 'anonymize' your search information after 90 days. Versus, well, never.

Maybe I just need to get used to the idea that this world wants to know more and more about me so it can better sell to me. I have a younger friend who welcomes experiences and advertising 'tailored' to her interests. It doesn’t bother her in the least to have Google read her email, her docs, her appointment calendar, and use all of that to advertise more effectively to her. Why do I object to someone selling my personal information so that they can sell me better? It makes me feel manipulated. I do my own research and prefer lightly biased sources - no bias being impossible in my view. How long until Google tailors its search results to my 'profile'? Fine for me, I can research independently. But what about the millions who rely entirely on Google? OMG, yo!

I've been wanting to find a new calendar option, as I use Outlook to the max at work and could really use a productivity tool like it in my personal life. If I could find the right tool I would be very happy to use it as I currently do Outlook, scheduling appointments of course, and adding in their associated data (i.e. pasting from an email thread). Mostly I appreciate it as a productivity tool in terms of scheduling tasks.

I have a Yahoo mail account, so Yahoo Calendar is easily available. In fact, it's already there as part of my account - I just don't currently use it. I also have an iPhone. I often make notes on my iPhone and have recently begun using its calendar. Will Yahoo play nice with both Outlook and iCal? Can all three speak to each other? Word on the street seems to suggest a hearty yes. Only one way to find out. But the syncing process even between Yahoo and Outlook was more complex than I could handle on work time, so it will have to wait.

While some people will continue to use a paper calendar or agenda for their daily scheduling, I think most people younger than the boomers (and many boomers too) have switched or will switch over to an electronic calendar of some sort. It is just too handy to have all your info electronically, rather than rewrite appointments, manage sticky notes and business cards, and the like. I'm just saying yes to e-filing. But not to Google Calendar. They know enough about me already.

Flickr and YouTube

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/14/19792129_9c72b67047.jpg

I've recently found myself posted on YouTube - not something I would have chosen, but almost an inevitability these days. I definitely would have spent more time on my hair that morning if I'd known I was to be filmed and further, that the video would be posted on YouTube. Ah well, live and learn! At least I'm not searchable.

Both Flickr and YouTube are simple to use - search and ye shall find. YouTube particularly likes to predict one's search from the first letter on, reducing keystrokes. I find it handy to use when I want to get a taste for a new band and the snippets on iTunes are too short. Listening to other people's playlists can also be a great way to discover new sounds or be reminded of long-forgotten faves. Then there's a lifetime worth of crass entertainment in the form of groin kicks, sports bloopers, 'Punk'd'-style pranks, etc, that seem to enchant some of the more y-chromosome-abundant members of my social circle.

Flickr is also very straight-forward to use, easy to search and lovely to browse. The above photo was from a group called 'Catchy Colors' though it has been posted in several places. The focus even within groups is mainly on photos rather than other topics of discussion, which is comforting in some way.

RSS Feeds

Setting up an RSS feed through Bloglines was very simple. I was pleased to find that notifications about new posts were automatically disabled. This could make information-gathering much easier, as I can regularly check one access point to capture updates on a range of topics. Hoping this doesn't lead to even greater information overload ...

It's a google, google, google, google, google world

Wow! I just discovered Google Books. Yes, as Library staff I probably should've used it before, but t'was not the case. I'm a fan of paper, browsing stacks, skimming books, and the like, and hey, I work at the Library. I tend to borrow a lot of real live books. It hadn't really occured to me to seek out those books online instead.

Certainly I spend a fair amount of time on the web anyway, particularly doing non-fiction research (and of course, socializing). While computers don't offer the same tactile satisfaction as print materials, they do offer equal chance for synchronistic discovery. And while I'm a fan of paper, I am also a fan of trees. Fewer books in print could be a good thing, no?

Out of a quick search of three books I'd recently returned to Calgary Public Library, two were available to view as Google Books. Unfortunately, Neurolinguistic Programming for Dummies was not available, but an overview was provided. Yes, it's a must-read for me, if for no other reason than that my financial advisor recommended it, and I need to know what he knows about programming people neurolinguistically. I trust you, M, but I do my research ;).

How wonderful that I can access many of those same books from the comfort of my own home! How ethically dubious as well, in terms of intellectual property. But then, how different is a public library from a public collection of online books? In short, public libraries pay more for the privilege of sharing information, and we have an ethical obligation to keep as complete a collection as possible, regardless of political winds, cries for censorship, and the like.

It was my hope that Google had paid LARGE to be able to offer those books to view, to pay out authors and publishers for the use of the books around which Google will of course sell ad space. Unlike Library books, these digital versions will never deteriorate or need replacement - so the initial investment is it. Well, so much for wishful thinking. I used Google News to access several articles on the subject, and I'm pretty sure Google is coming out of this deal waaaaay ahead. Here's a link to a finely balanced article on the subject of the Google Books Settlement.

Happy reading!

Ahh, Facebook.

I have a mixed relationship with Facebook. When I first joined, I became slightly mad with obsession - must get more friends! With just a few friends to start, I felt an urge to connect with as many people as possible, to build my online community. It was like moving to a new city, where I just knew I knew people ... and I had to seek them out. It took over my life - total time vacuum. I joined some groups and gave a lot of thought to which quotes defined me as a person. Yeah.

Then came the disillusionment phase. Sure, now I was connected ... but I was connected to people who I saw everyday anyway, and others who I hadn't seen for years and wasn't likely to reconnect with beyond a yearly message exchange. And they all had the potential to be voyeurs in MY LIFE. Weird.

Moreover, the stream of information was often boring. It turned out I didn't want to fill my days reading someone else's Daily Fortune Cookie message ... or finding out how often some 'friends' were frustrated with their kids, jobs, partner's absence. A forum for complaining? I needed newer friends, or fewer friends, or truer friends. For many months I stopped checking Facebook. Once every week or two I did check in - just often enough to ensure I didn't miss the best events. Then I got a little cut-throat and axed a few people whose friend requests I should have ignored to start with. Do I miss them? Uh, no. We hadn't seen each other since high school anyway, and there is probably a reason.

The purging helped a bit. I do still have to glance past the Farmville announcements but appreciate Facebook's utility for sharing photos, quick updates, interesting links, creating events, and the like. For now I'm leaving the rest of the friend list intact, but I predict more purging in my future.

I am now blessed/cursed with an iPhone and its delightful Facebook app. It is simply too easy to access, and so I access it much more often. Yep, I'm back to being a daily user. To be fair, I now check my personal email far more often too, whereas I used to neglect it for weeks on end. Spending the day in front of a computer at work does not encourage computing for personal use - unless you have an adorable smartphone like mine. ;) Now I somehow feel more efficient keeping up with email and Facebook daily, though I'm sure I spend twice as much time at either as I did in the past. iPhone, you have revolutionized my world, alright. Facebook - looks like we'll be friends for awhile longer.

2.0 All together now!

It's a wiki world ... and that's a good thing. This Dilbert cartoon originally appeared on August 14, 2008 - you can view the original here.

Denis Hancock of Wikinomics took a moment to revise it, and as a result the world gets this new twist on the old 'workplace as termite mound' joke. I have to give props to Dilbert creator Scott Adams for inviting his readers to contribute Dilbert Mashups like this - essentially a wiki'd version of his strips. Not everyone is so keen to have their work re-thought or re-invented. There is always the risk the original author will be outdone. Here's the Dilbert Mashups link, if you need a few laughs or would like to contribute your own.

Wikipedia and wiki sites in general can get a bad rap as inaccurate, simplistic, a haven for lowest-common-denominator thinking. In any given moment, it's just as likely that collaboration has lead to newer, better, more thorough approaches. That is the joy of wiki - ever-evolving, capable of capturing the best and worst of human thinking, and yes, everything in between. The old tomes of a printed encyclopedia were also prey to errors, omissions, and editorial bias. The constraints of size and cost alone are limitations that wiki technology will never face.

I regularly access Wikipedia for quick fact checks and have found it to be fairly reliable. Typos and grammatical errors are no more common on Wikipedia than elsewhere on the web - often less so than in personal blogs.

Today I edited an entry for the first time, and was astonished at how easy it was. I can see how pranksters could have a fantastic time with this, and certainly editorial bias is a concern for any author. However, Wikipedia does seem to tend towards correctness, with a limited staff but many users and contributors. My contribution was simple: I removed an outdated External Link and added a fresh one. Nonetheless - feels good to contribute!

Advocates of collaborative platforms speak to the possibilities of bringing ideas together without concern for who gets the credit, of building on each others' work in real time, of democratizing knowledge by sharing it widely and freely. I recommend two TED talks I've seen recently that speak to these ideas, both of which have appeal for us wordy folks:
Richard Braniuk on Open-Source Learning
and
Erin McKean on Redefining the Dictionary

Also of interest may be Sir Ken Robinson speaking about how school systems kill creativity.
Sir Robinson delivers his ideas with great humour, commenting on our current system's inclination to emphasize thinking 'from the neck up and slightly to one side'. For me, this talk is a reminder that there are many ways to learn and think, and creative expression is vital. The wiki world allows for and encourages this, emboldening the average citizen to get involved in sharing their knowledge and perspectives.

2.0 cont'd: Exactly which part of this site is Delicious?

Delicious ... one of those words that invokes feelings of indulgence and satiety ... might even inspire a little salivation. When I think of a website deserving of the name 'delicious' I am more inclined to recall foodgawker.com, from whose pages come these edible photos.





As a stand-in for bookmarks on your own laptop or desktop, delicious.com makes a lot of sense. Portable bookmarks - very handy. In terms of aesthetics though, the site itself doesn't quite live up to its name.








Delicious.com really is quite functional as a locus for CPL's Best Websites. It is easy enough to use, once you know where to find it! (A few months ago I had forgotten that there is a link through E-Library and simply tried searching on delicious itself. Neither "Calgary Public Library Favourites" nor "calgarypubliclibaryfavourites" yielded the right result, due to my non-american spelling of favourites.)

It is easy to access (previous issue notwithstanding), easy to update, and easy to navigate as well. It is a bit bloated. I don't think I would use the site for social tagging; there are so many other forums for sharing faves. But I do appreciate the technology as a great platform for our Best Websites.

Here I Go 2.0

Blogging. Hmmmm ... I'm one of those who prefers reading over being read.

I don't mind blogging in the anonymous corporate voice, peppering others' blogs with occasional comments, engaging in forum discussions, all that jazz ... but keeping a public journal? The idea makes me a little twitchy.

I am intrigued by the brazen ways that people share their views in blogs. I use the term brazen because I assume that there is greater honesty in blogging than in the anonymous comments we've all seen posted after news stories, opinion pieces, and the like. Which is sort of an odd assumption: why would people be more honest in a blog than they would in an anonymous comment? I guess - because at least some of their readership know them outside of cyberspace. Because they will wish to construct themselves more honestly, and with a greater eye to consistency, than they might in an off-hand anonymous comment. Well, I would.

Meet WorkPerson-A - workpersona. I am interested in the construction and reconstruction of identity and personas. I had sort of forgotten how interested I am, in how we construct our social and personal selves, how these selves meld, how we are always becoming, and how the act of writing helps us to know ourselves in new ways. Hello, me.

I'm one of those who prefers reading over being read. I am hesitant to share my whole self, but admire those who do so with great ease, and crave outlets for such honesty. I find myself less willing to wear the ill-fitting personas. There is an opportunity before me, in this blogging assignment. I think of my husband and the mantra of 'authenticity' that reverberates around his workplace walls these days, leading to circle sessions and the disclosure of some highly personal past and present events from certain colleagues. These disclosures have led to new closeness in some cases, greater distance in others ... Maybe we needn't go that far.

What drives it, this cry for authenticity? A yen for being truthful in a world of increasing social distance, connected though we are. Instant messaging is less instant than just saying something - far more room for editing when it comes to the Facebook update or even the humble text message. Blogging can be like this too - I've edited this post to within an inch of its life. Is it less authentic? A constructed me is still me. In our work worlds, that yen for honesty abuts fears about judgment, tied to deeper fears about our capacity to provide for the basic means of life ...

As with pen and paper, the act of writing, somewhat automatically, has led me to learn something about myself. Or be reminded of who I know myself to be. Or both - in some small way, to synthesize new and old me's. Maybe this blogging assignment has something to teach me after all. Maybe I like public journaling.