Thing # 17

I added a favorite restaurant to the list, and I created an account. I don't think I got from one to the other without a break in communication so you probably won't be able to verify my presence there. You won't have missed anything important.

Thing # 16

I have drifted around a little in wiki world. I liked the idea of the community wiki that might yield the answer to the question, who is the best Toyota mechanic? Maybe we could do away with Bay Area Checkbook then. The user interface of the Rochester Community Guide is especially good, I thought. I also dropped into the libraryoutreach wiki and I found it difficult to navigate to the point of locating any actual content. One example I came up with in our system that might use a wiki is a Patriot Day community story site as long as it had an inviting and simple front end for the less tech-savvy customer.

Cooperative learning experiences seem to be the fashion in education so wikis are likely to feel comfortable for today's students and may even be the most efficient approach to team projects. I'm not sure when anyone knows when the project is actually complete.

I am a little uneasy about wikis to the extent that I am often not in a position to evaluate the accuracy or worth of an entry, but because it is there, I am tempted (just like our public) to accept it as verified fact.

Thing # 15

I read several of these articles and found them very interesting. In the "Away from the 'icebergs' " article I was intrigued by the argument against a "just in case" collection. I certainly see the author's point that it may not make sense to collect print in the traditional way given the drop in circulation rates (where?), but at our little branch we still have many students who are "have nots" who need print resources for school assignments and, of course, need it today. It will be our system's challenge to provide service in two different directions at once.

I also really like the federated searching concept presented in the article "Expose, expand, extend metadata using Web 2.0.

And then there was "a temporary place in time"-- all the Web 2.0 tools are going to be used by many and the library is going to have to figure out how best to position itself to offer the tour guides needed to navigate the diverse connections. We will be providing focussed expertise, tailored information, and "participatory relationships with customers". At the Steve Abrams workshop he gave the example of using IM with students who are too shy to approach staff in person but were able to open up online.

Thing # 14

In theory, Technorati seems like it could be really useful in locating information or contacts which/who have interests in common. Results for searching post, tags, and blog directory look very different. Looking at the popular blogs, searches and tags surprised me with the apparent uselessness of the results. Some of them seem to have been written by the same people who send those scam spams whose poor command of language make it obvious that the spam is a scam. Tagging looks like it should/could put one in touch with useful stuff as noted above, but if the blogger is creating her own tags, what's to prevent said blogger from using tags that will get hits but have nothing to do with content. I'm confused.

Thing # 13

It feels like I have been lost in a morass of words and links; however, I can see the usefulness to someone doing research. The tags provide what appears to be an infinite (but isn't) number of paths to related subjects, articles, people interested in the same subject, etc. Some of these paths are circular something like a maze. The multitude of connections reminds me a little of the good old days of catalog cards, subject tracings, and tracking references from known books or articles. With del.icio.us one can actually connect with the person or persons who wrote the article or blog or podcast or or or via the Web.

Thing # 12

I created a Rollyo called CleanerWorld. It is a very simple one limited primarily to news sites. I see the process of creating a truly thorough Rollyo as very time consuming. I didn't find many of the already created Rs all that tempting, but maybe I didn't spend enough time exploring them. It also seems as if it would need frequent updating if done properly. I would like to see a tool which would search the entire Web on a variety of subjects, according to one's interests, drop the info into a special email box prescreened for accuracy. I don't think it exists yet, but maybe it does. Maybe it is Thing #23. Eleven to go! but who's counting.

Thing #11

I looked at and spent some time with hipcal.com. I wish I had spent the time with blummy instead.
hipcal was acquired by Plaxo with the intention of strengthening Plaxo's calendar platform to "bringing lifestyle management tools such appointment management, iCal publication and subscription, and group calendars to Plaxo members". My life(style) is much too simple to need any of these tools. A PDA would take care of an online calendar and todo list. I can see the use in having a group calendar and address book in order to have shared contact information among a far-flung work group, for example. My simple needs can be met with a paper calendar and the occasional email to friends and colleagues.