Susan's Musings

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.

Ahhh communication in the webverse - good times to be had. OK I feel dyslexic about IM technologies - I love IM have used it from the good old days - MSN, Yahoo, trillion, now Google and Meebo - love them all - even liked Web conferencing - but I really really hate phone texting - I guess I just don't get the point - instead of talking on the phone - hmmm, typing; and not typing to look something up (i.e. web surfing) but typing to communicate - I guess I just don't get it - why bluetooth and handsfree when everyone is so hands-on?

So I am going to imbed a Meebo widget - don't expect people will use it much - but what the heck. I noticed a Vermont colleage has a Twitter account so I think I will sign up and follow his exploits - it seems you can Twitter from a computer - that I can do - cell phone not likely - but stranger things have happened - I'll let you know how it goes.


Part 2

Success? Have done a Meebo widget and now have a Twitter account - "following" some people who were in my email address book - have to say it feels a little bit like a web stalker. Found David Pogues Twitter feed - OMG - how many 'twits' (?)can that man do in a day?

Part 2a

We have had IM enabled for our staff for several years - some people use it, others don't - I like it, I like to know if someone is available to talk or if I can send an email and expect a response.

Ahhh - the Blogosphere. I have to say I don't often look or search for particular blogs - I just kinda happen onto them. That's why I love aggregators and readers so much - just throw the blog into the mix and if you find a catchy topic off you go.

I have used Technorati before, but as I said, I don't often search for blogs so it is not a site that I frequent often. It suffers in many ways from Yahoo!'s syndrome - a lot going on on that page - but I like that the 'happening' stuff is on the main page and that with a quick glance I can see what people are blogging about. This is in contrast with Google's blog search (which like their search rankings seems to rely on a popularity/frequency algorithm).

A search on the term earthquake produced vastly different results - Google pulling from USGS multiple blog listings - Technorati pulling from many different blog sources. What I do like about the Technorati results was the recommendation to search a specific blog channel and the fact that it offered links to video pulled from my search query.

Still will probably stumble upon my blogs of interest - I tend to find them as results of Internet searches in topics that I have an interest in. I don't see myself deliberately searching for blogs unless it is necessary - if I do search blogs I would probably use both tools - but I do like the options of Technorati better - it just feels better.

I have had this blog for a couple of years - I think I created it for a NEFLIN class but I never had an overwhelming desire to post a bunch of stuff on the Web. I was instructing a class on blogging and found that blogging is not a hard thing to do. So I have been playing with adding some extra widgets and gadgets and general fun "stuff". Will be setting up a feed burner and sitemeter soon. I checked out livejournal and wordpress but I really don't want to register for a new site to check out more of the features available. I do think all blog sites should have the ability to have an RSS feed, embed video and images, and basic formatting options.

Today kicks off NEFLINs 23 Things - join in and have some fun learning about 23 Things that will make your library life happier.