Avatars and Second life

Avatars are a great alternative to allow people to express themselves in ways that photos can't. They are fun to make and fun to look at. Since so many Web 2.0 networking sites ask for images, an avatar is great alternative.

It is so interesting how Second Life has developed and matured. It is great that librarians were early adopters and have such an established presence. It is excellent outreach for libraries and librarians. I personally don't participate as it is time consuming and not an area I can focus on right now, but I can see where there is a need for virtual librarians to actively participate and maintain the presence.

Online Apps Lesson 16

I have been using Google Docs for a long time for both personal and some work documents. I love it. Since I use a personal linux laptop that is very small and has very little storage capability to keep it lightweight, I rely on Google Docs to access my work no matter where I am. My only concern is losing data, but so far it has been extrememly reliable and I always back up my work anyway.

I used both Google Docs and Zoho last summer when working on a joint conference presentation with people at the Denver Public Library. It worked really well when we were putting the info together, but just before we were ready to give the presentation, Zoho lost some of the data. We were able to quickly recreate the work in PowerPoint. I think Zoho is fine for collaborative work, but it was a good reminder to me to back up work.

Search Engines Lesson 15

It is true that 9 times out of 10 I use google and usually get results that I need. It is great to have alternatives out there when I either don't see what I want in google results or I want to do an extensive, thorough search.

Rollyo, Mamma and dogpile give good results and I would use in situations where I want to make sure I capture as much as possible, but I probably wouldn't use them on a daily basis. I think the issue is time more than anything. As long as I find what I need with google, then that is sufficient and I don't need to spend time any place else. It is in the cases where I want to spend time and do deep research that I would use the other options.

Podcasting

As you will see from the list below of the podcasts I subscribe to (and this isn't all of them) I am a podcast addict and I have been for years. This is the way I get most of my audio and video news now, but I also enjoy them for the entertainment as well. It does require some regular daily maintenance, but they are well worth it.

I don't listen to many specifically library related podcasts except for talking with Talis --good interviews with industry leaders and I used to listen to library geeks, but I haven't for awhile as I don't think they podcast as often as they used to.

I think there is absolutely a role for Sno-Isle Libraries. I was surprised to see that our own podcasts were not listed as an example for staff in the course blog or just mentioned to bring about awareness that we have them. I think our storytimes are worthwhile, but I feel there is much more content that we already create that could be recorded both for public and internal purposes. Having information in audio or video format is always a good alternative.

Some of the already produced podcasts such as Writers' Almanac, Book Reviews and NPRs Books would be topics that our users would be interested in.

talking with talis
top 5 from cnet
this week in tech
this american life
PRI's the world technology podcast
Open source
One minute Irish
Thistlepod with Fiona Ritchie
NPR -- talk of the nation
-- fresh air
-- pop culture
-- books
Newspod from BBC
Newshour with Jim Lehrer
net at night
library geeks
La revue de presse
diggnation
CBC vinyl cafe
Buzz out loud
book review
boagworld.com web design
BBC history magazine
Splendid Table
APM Marketplace
The Writers Almanac
APM Future Tense