Social Bookmarking

I've played around with del.icio.us and can see how it could be very useful. Especially since you are able to access your bookmarks from any compute, anywhere. Personally, I don't see myself using the site very often. Not because I don't think it's useful, but because I don't tend to bookmark sites. I usually have the sites I access the most memorized and can find other I need with quick Google searches. (I take that back--when looking at my web browser, I noticed that I do indeed have sites bookmarked at the top of my tool bar...but I like to be able to get to these sites from any window I'm in and don't think I would log in to del.icio.us to find them if they weren't there.)

I can think of at least one example of how social bookmarking sites could be very useful in libraries or schools and that is creating an enhanced syllabus with readings and resources all pulled together and shared with a whole class or group of students.

If I were more of a "bookmarking person" I think I would use it all the time. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind! :-)

Wikis

I know wikis are out there, and I don't really have anything against them, but I don't use them much. At least, I don't use them in a collaborative sense. When Wikipedia comes up as a search result, I often look at the article to find out background information and many times find a link to a reliable, informative site. But editing, or adding to a Wiki article is not something I can see myself doing.

I can definitely see how a wiki could be useful in planning an event or sharing ideas. I used the Teen Read Week Wiki last year to get ideas, but again, it wasn't something I added anything too.

Streaming Video

I have to admit, I enjoy watching YouTube videos. There are a few vloggers that I watch on a semi-regular basis and sometimes use the site to find a video or song that I want to see. I have never spent a lot of time just browsing around the site (but I love that other people do and send me links for the best videos!).

This was my first time trying Hulu and Fancast. I was excited to see how much material is available for free out there! Of course, many of the network sites have the same shows available for viewing, but here they are all in one place! I don't know how much I will use them. Mainly because it's hard to find the time, and if I am going to sit down and watch a movie or a show, I would prefer the larger screen and better quality from my TV/DVD. But it's also nice to know these sites are available for patrons who are looking for shows and movies that may not be in our collection. I will keep them in mind as a place to refer patrons.

Social Networking

I have accounts with both MySpace and Facebook. Although there is definitely some overlap, I've found that most of my friends form college are on Facebook and most of my friends from high school are on MySpace. I tend to prefer MySpace to facebook. I think the main reason for this is all the applications facebook has. While the first couple I added were kind of fun (I enjoyed sending Harry Potter spells to my friends) I soon started to find the constant request to add other applications rather annoying. I especially don't like the fact that I have to send additional requests to my friends to use any of the applications on my own page. I also find MySpace easier to navigate. But this may be because I'm used to it.

This sounds horrible, but I also found it easier to "stalk" people on MySpace. When I come across an old classmate's profile on MySpace, depending on their privacy settings, I could take a look, see what they're up to without necessarily adding them as a friend. On Facebook everyone had to be added as a friend to view their profile (I think this might have changed now). And sometimes it can be difficult to tell who the person is by the small picture.

I think social networking sites are so popular because they are an excellent way of keeping in touch with people. My graduating class from high school has a MySpace page, and that is how I've found out most of the information about the upcoming reunion. Teens probably enjoy the fact that they can leave their MySpace profile up in the background while working on something else and be able to respond immediately when someone sends them a comment or a message. (Some may argue they could do the same thing with email, but it's easier to personalize a Myspace profile by adding your own background, pictures, etc.) And MySpace (and maybe facebook, too--I don't use it enough to know) is a great place to be introduced to new music, as well.

And finally, social networking sites are an excellent procrastination tool. If I'm trying to avoid doing something, I can always find more to do on my MySpace page! :-)

Flickr

Teens and Chocolate
Originally uploaded by Marysville Library Teens

I've been using a Flickr account to backup pictures I take of teen events at the library for a while. I think it's a great way to organize your photos and it makes them so easy to share. I particularly like how you can organize the photos into sets and then share a whole set with someone. I used this when we were working on the Harry Potter party. All the teen volunteers wanted to see the pictures we took and Flickr made it easy to email them all a link to that set. Although I haven't played around with it too much, I also enjoy how you can send flickr slide shows to your blogs, mysace pages, etc. And the upload tools are fabulous--making it so easy to upload all the pictures from a teen program at once instead of selecting each one individually (like I have to do when adding pictures to the library's MySpace page). I also appreciate that I can set some photos to private while making other's public. This way I can back up every picture I've taken while only showing the ones I have a photo release for.

The one complaint I have with flickr is that you can only do so much with the free account. You can only organize your photos into three sets. So in my case, everything after our first couple events is in one big list (making it NOT as easy to share pictures from a specific event). And, perhaps most annoying, only the most recent 200 photos you upload are available. You can still get to them if you pay to upgrade to a Pro Account ($25 a year), but otherwise, you have to delete photos to get to them. It doesn't take long to reach 200 pictures and this really limits the use of a flickr account as backup. These are just a couple of the problems I've started to run in to in using my library flickr account. It may be time to ask the Friends to pay for an upgrade to a Pro Account.

In writing this blog, I've started wondering why I don't use flickr for my personal photos. Probably because the thought of the time it would take to upload my hundreds of personal photos (my dad used a slide/negative scanner to scan in all our print pictures from the last 20 years or so) on to flickr is a little daunting. But the upload tools would make it easier and the backup would be great. And I sure would be upset if I lost them all to a computer crash!

Streaming Music

I've been looking forward to this section for a long time. My dad and sister have been using Pandora for quite a while, but I haven't played with it very much before today. I think this is a fantastic site and a great way to be introduced to music you may not hear on the mainstream radio stations. Not to mention, a chance to hear stuff that isn't the same thing I have on my ipod over and over again. Now if there was a way I could get this to play in my car on long trips, it would be just about perfect!

I'm excited to play around with Finetune as well and get some playlists I can use on my blog or maybe the library MySpace page.

I've been using streaming music from radio stations for a long time. When I was teaching in Austria my friends and I would sometimes stream music from our local stations back in the states and then, ironically, when I got back to the US, I started streaming music from the Austrian radio station Oe3 to keep up with my German and the European Charts. (I just checked on Pandora and it didn't recognize any of the German artists I enjoy listening too.)

As a music major, I'm really excited about the music streaming options that Sno-Isle has. I wish there had been a way while I was in college to create my own play list of the hundreds of songs I had to know for music history exams and play them back randomly. These are such fantastic resources for any music student.

Now that I've played around with more of these sites, I may need to keep a pair of headphones at my desk so I can stream music while doing desk work! :-)

RSS & Feed Readers

I'm really glad I took the time to get my bloglines account set up this week. I added several sites I like to read and think it will help save time to have them all in one place. I've played around with Pageflakes in the past. Mainly I used it to keep track of a few author blogs. Because they were all in one place, I read them a lot more often and was able to stay up to date very easily. I'm hoping that by adding more feeds to bloglines, I will have the same experience. Now I have everything in one place in a format I find very useful.

There are several ways libraries could use RSS feed technology. What if patrons could be notified about the new titles we've purchased, or find out about program information through RSS feeds? RSS feeds could allow us to send information to our website directly to our patrons. What a great way to keep them coming back and exploring what we have to offer.

That's all for now--my bloglines account is full of new blogs to read!