Put Down Pens? No Way!

I'm not done with this road yet ... it's been fun in a guilty-pleasure kind of way.
Please, sir, may I have some more?

Task 14 - Technorati tagging

To be honest, I found Technorati interesting to browse blogs, but the search function was much less satisfactory. It was difficult to refine search terms to filter out the other 6,000 or so blogs that weren't applicable to my search, although I snaffled a sweet, if fairly rudely constructed, site relating to old book images which went straight into Del.icio.us!
The top 100 blogs in Technorati made good reading, but I will seek out better ways of blog searching than Technorati - Google's blog search is somehow cleaner and more refined, if one can say that of a search engine....

Task 13 - Tasty Bookmarking with Del.icio.us

One thing that I've learned from this exercise is that I'm a compulsive signer-upper. I'll join just about ANYTHING of interest to me online. The only problem is which email address to use... depends on the website, usually. I have a range of email addresses from "proper and respectable" to "more casual"... nothing nefarious, as nothing very nefarious has interested me enough.
Suffice to say, I opened a Del.icio.us account without a second thought.
I do like the concept of accessing bookmarks from any computer and any web browser, and also sharing Bookmarks with other intrepid web surfers. It's a little like sharing books... either you're an information sharer, or you're not. Unfortunately, many IT people aren't information sharers - too many subscribe to the "keepers of the secret flame" notion.
Anyway, I dove into Del.icio.us, and I was (quite) well pleased, especially with one of my findings on medieval books of hours, dear to my heart, and my first Del.icio.us search!

Tried the Technorati html tag thing (see Task 14) and found it painful, so have dispensed with it until further practice ensues.

Task 12 - LibriVox and Old Favourites: Heard, Not Read

LibriVox is a very worthy idea. I revisited an old favourite, E.Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle, read by a fellow with a not unpleasant accent. Unfortunately, though, he wasn't Jeremy Irons, so the experience was less than perfect for me :)
I like the hyperlinks to Gutenberg and Wikipedia, as well as various options like RSS and iTunes.
Given that the LibriVox community is made up entirely of volunteers, it is a very commendable venture, nevertheless.
It will be fun tracking down more obscure selections...

Task 11 - GoogleBooks aka Reading Interruptus

Ahhh Google Books... the tease of the book world. To give a taste, but not quite all, and nowhere near enough, of one's most interesting book discoveries is, well, thwarting, to euphemise the experience.
But sometimes a little has to be good enough, and a taste will suffice......... grrrr.

Task 10 - A Not So Secret Vice

Some people do drugs, I do books. At one stage I couldn't walk into a bookstore if I had other shopping to be done, as all responsibility was abandoned in the presence of print.
I've been through detox, and I'm in remission. I even had a huge ceremonial culling a few years ago, that was good for my bookshelves and good for my soul.
My philosophy with regard to books is now "If I'm only likely to read it one more time, then I can give it away, and borrow it from a library if I feel the urge". This is harder to put into practice than one might think - it requires a depth of mental and spiritual discipline. I'm reasonably pleased with my progress, and I find it really quite pleasing now to bid a fond farewell to works of fiction especially, and send them on their way through the world to delight other readers.

The task at hand.... LibraryThing brought it all rushing back. I will be spending, I suspect, HOURS putting in my now diminished, but cherished, collection, and it's going to be LOADS of fun! I won't be too fussed about the exact version of Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow that I own..... I promise. Ummm, my cataloguing proclivity is another story....

Task 9 - Put on Feeds on Plate, THEN Devour

Oops again - did Task 9 without realising it (see Task 8)
Added some more blogs to my Bloglines account from a Technorati search:

• Art from Code - another amazing site full of pretty pictures... with a twist
• Ars Technica - all things geeky
• ThinkGeek - the geek shopper's guide
• Lifehacker - tips and tricks for getting things done
  

I'm not familiar with Technorati, and I don't find the front page especially welcoming, but perhaps that's just an aesthetic thing.
Also added rockchicklibrarian's blog - always interesting and entertaining !

Task 8 - Devouring Feeds

Way cool! I got on a roll, and could have gone on forever... just another example of too much information in my information-gathering life.
Bloglines Blog is http://www.bloglines.com/blog/rainbow_ally, and there's nothing there. I don't need a Bloglines blog, but it comes with the package. The back end of it is much funner, and for my consumption (can one publicly display the blogs that one collects? Note to self to investigate...31 Oct: Yes you can!)
The variety of topics about which people blog is quite staggering... what's with the profusion of knitting blogs! Cute.

Task 5 - Flickr

Oops, forgot to make a note that I'd set up a Flickr account. I also use Photobucket, which I've found very good for using images in MySpace pages (see one of my 4ZzZ MySpaces)

Task 7 - Comment on Blogs

Wow! what can I say? Some of our Library folk are very articulate, creative people! I'm really enjoying following some of the blogs that I'm following, although I'm still struggling with slight feelings of voyeurism. I know these blogs are written for "public" consumption, but ...... Hey, what the heck, I'll go with it :)

23 Things in a Nutshell

Learning 2.0: Where It All Started

There have been countless riffs on the “23 Things,” as the online program for exploring all manner of Web apps has made its way across the globe. Still it’s interesting to consider the flagship version launched back in 2006 at PLCMC. Herewith the original “recipe” for Learning 2.0, available online at plcmclearning.blogspot.com.

Week 1 - Introduction

* Read the Learning 2.0 blog and find out about the program.
* Discover a few pointers from lifelong learners and learn how to nurture your own learning process. (Use 7 ½ Habits of Successful Lifelong Learners tutorial.)

Week 2 - Blogging

* Set up your own blog and add your first post.
* Register your blog [on the staff intranet] and begin your Learning 2.0 journey.

Week 3 - Photos & Images

* Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image-hosting site.
* Have some Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups and third-party tools.
* Create a blog post about anything technology related that interests you this week.

Week 4 - RSS & Newsreaders

* Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Bloglines newsreader account.
* Locate a few useful library news feeds and add them to your newsreader.

Week 5 - Play Week

* Play around with an online image generator.
* Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog a few of your own books.
* Roll your own search tool with Rollyo.

Week 6 - Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati

* Learn about tagging and discover Delicious (a social bookmarking site).
* Explore Technorati and how tags work with blog posts.
* Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.

Week 7 - Wikis

* Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them.
* Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 Sandbox wiki.

Week 8 - Online Applications & Tools

* Take a look at some online productivity tools (Google Docs, Zoho Writer).
* Explore any site from the 2.0 Awards list, play with it, and write a blog post about your findings.

Week 9 - Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio

* Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow you to upload and share videos.
* Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.
* Take a look at the titles available for download and learn how to download audiobooks.
* Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog.
* One month of extra exploration time.

From: 10 Tips about 23 Things

Thanks to rockchicklibrarian for pointing the way to this summary, that I'm posting for my own benefit as much as anyone else's. I LOVE summaries :)

Task 6 - Flikr Fun

This was done with Spell with Flickr
Kind of daggy, but pretty cool! If I had more time to play, I'd edit the photos to fit better into this blog...

Motivator was a fun tool to use - it creates motivational posters with your Flickr images or images from other sources.
Quick and easy... here's one that I made in less than a minute: http://flickr.com/photos/30862212@N04/2926002834/in/photostream/

New LibNet Users Blog

Thanks to my Team Leader Jacqui (who set up a LibNet Users Blog space for me), I've been able to create a LibNet Users Blog
I hope that LibNet users will use this page to share information and ask questions. Yay!