Susan's Musings

Ooooooohhhhh - new Wolvie clip - can I say I am looking forward to this film!!!

Yep go to Library Thing and make your own widget - lots of nice choices - I think this one will replace the one on the bottom of the blog - but I am posting it here to see if I like it before I commit.


- Now at the bottom of the blog -

Ahhhh - Finished - Survey in and I am done - please make sure you all check out Thing 16 post if you haven't - it is a nice finishing touch. Should have maybe used that video for Library 1.0 :-)

Time is always the issue when it comes to using these technologies - perhaps it is because so much of my work time is in front of the computer and since I don't have free work time to play with this stuff - it tends to get back burnered. I have found the blogging experience interesting - it and Facebook will be things I will keep up with, albeit not every day. Heck I haven't even had the chance to share Red Sox Spring Training and blog about the baseball season. I didn't want to mess up the pristine Things list (yes out comes the librarian in me)- but I am actually looking forward to blogging about other stuff.

Yea I love tech, I love all the widgets and gadgets - but after using them, and reading about them I often don't have a lot to say about them. That is the beauty of the Web 2.0 and on technology, it is easy and you don't have to be a coding genius - in fact often I don't care how it works just that it does. If I want to know I can usually find out.

Have added the WeReads widget to my Facebook profile to join the Visual Bookshelf widget and the OCLC WorldCat Widget that were already there.


I was interested in the Kindle debate - I still don't think it works for the library setting -
yet - too much possibility to legally run afoul with Amazon and the DRM for downloaded content could be nightmareish. I do like to see progress made on this front - but me - I'm holding out for e paper - someday soon to be in a market near you.

Project calculators - these were interesting and I can see the use of these for school projects and the UM calcultor looks fabulous for written assignments. I would love to see other project based calculators similar to Microsoft Project - in fact I am going to go look for something similar. Part two when I get back, let yah know what I find

Social Networks - I seemed to have joined more than I have ever planned to. MySpace - joined to see what it was like - really didn't like it - so deleted my account there. I joined Ning over two years ago to join the Library 2.0 group that formed there - mainly my groups and networks there are library related but I have joined a couple of Ning based 3D art groups, Meshbox and Content Creators Guild.

some other social networks that I belong to are LinkedIn and one called Tastespotting - Tastespotting is such a beautiful site to look at - just don't go there when you are hungry.

I also belong to several digital art websites that are/have social network components - Artzone, Deviant Art & CG Society

Facebook - joined a little while ago - but still getting into checking it on a regular basis - sorry everyone, I don't check it every day! Flair is quite addictive - I have joined a couple of Library groups and of course my beloved Red Sox - so friend me if you would like - Susan Reynolds in the Ocala area - if you need my email - comment me, email me or IM me and I will send it to you.

Fheeewww - caught up some of the Facebook fun that was waiting for me - boy it can take a little while

Added an RSS feed for some podcast/videocast feeds - the one I chose to put on my page is from the local Orange County Public Library System - it looks like they update the feed often - this is a plus and why I added it to my blog feed, nothing worse than a feed that is a year old.

Yep - had to - somebody had to - enjoy!

Rollyo search box added to the site and custom search created - check it out - that's how we roll-yo

These are a few of my favorite things - when I iGoogle, when I MyYahoo! when I use my calendars - I simply get reminded of events in my life - and then I don't feel sooo bad.

OK - I use iGoogle all the time - I have had a My Yahoo page for much longer (I have had a Yahoo mail account for decades at this point) but the personalization and features in iGoogle are much nicer - My Yahoo would break or drop the stuff I really liked - like the auto maintenance tracker, etc. I did have a bone to pick with Google when they recently changed the top tabbed interface - that was much nicer since I setup tabs for separate topics - still don't like the side folded navigation - more steps for clicking content this way - but the tabs don't fall off the main page either - am getting used to it anyway.

What I really like about the whole Google setup - Mail, iGoogle, Finance, Picasa, Blogger - is that it is one sign-in, easy to navigate and easy easy set-up. Same with calendar and the Google docs - it is all there easily and unobtrusively linked.

Zamzar has saved me so many headaches - I found this site a few months ago and it is a library lifesaver. Highly recommend!!!

I am now off to play with some of the other mentions - knew about the PDF convertors, but the sticky notes are calling my name - still am mad that the old PostIt note software went to pay - maybe this will fill the need - I love To Do lists - perhaps some day I can actually clear one without starting over. Also going to play with the countdown widget - hmmm - how many days till my vacation or the must see movie?

I have been playing with Library Thing for a little while - but I still need to catalog more items from my library. There is a Library Thing widget on the bottom of this blog - scroll all the way down to get a peek at my library. I became interested in Library Thing for Libraries and it prompted me to revisit my Library Thing account and start posting items to my account. I do like that Library Thing for Libraries is allowing enriched content to be used in library OPACs. I have played around a little in Good Reads and a couple other similar "bookshelf" type apps but haven't had time to put as much in as I have with Library Thing. It is also incredibly easy to add items to your Library Thing collection, add in ISBN and away you go.

Wiki - Wiki - Wiki

Have used PB Wiki a lot - NEFLIN groups such as the Technology Users Interest Group have been using PB Wiki for a while.

I think wikis work wonderfully as internally driven FAQ pages - common knowledge sites for staff. I think wikis can also work wonderfully as pages to collect commomly shared web site links. While there are certainly many tagging sites like delicious, digg, etc. a wiki is nice because you can easily make it open for group collaboration.

We have decided to take the wiki idea further - thanks to a colleague we are now using a wiki to collaborate on programming ideas.