Well, I'm about to try the Puzzle Pirates option. I spent a few minutes looking at the Second Life info. Looks quite involved. If I didn't have a job and a family, it might be quite enticing.
The Puzzle Pirates looks much more limited. Much like my son's experiences with Club Penguin - another interactive game system. He's just ten, so we don't allow him to get a membership, so he's not allowed to spend his points and decorate his igloo, or 'live' the higher life. http://play.clubpenguin.com/
I have played a few times on his password (bad mom?), and even earned him a few points from being pulled in an inner tube behind a boat, and by racing other player down an icy hill. I had the experience of talking to other players, interacting, and making brief buddies. It's an odd experience, playing virtual skill games against others. I'm curious to see how different this pirate game is.
Oops, I just hit a glitch. I'm using the home computer, and have previously agreed to not download any software. Seems like a different version of Java is required. I'll need to get back to this post (putting off playing a game - - this cannot be procrastination!).
I now have another computer at the coffee shop, and have had no Java issues, but now my antivirus software is stealing all my fun. I now accept the fact that my gaming 'thing' won't be quite as fun as I had hoped. I need to throw in the towel, and call this a 'blog entry'.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Thing 14 - LibraryThing
I wish, over the course of 23 Things, I'd had more time to look at other 23 things blogger blogs. I attempted to look at 2 or 3 each time I blogged, and as a result have added some other pleasing things to my own blog. One of the first blogs I reviewed was from someone who jumped ahead to the LibraryThing early - her second or third blog.
Now, I see why. LibraryThing contains some of the fun of searching in Amazon.com for books you have read, or want to read. Opportunities to read the ranking and the reviews, lists of similar books, etc. (I have spent time on Amazon.com doing just that).
I entered about eight books that I have read recently - quite different in subject matter. It was fun to look at links for other people who have some of the same books. This, I will continue to access - but I see no work-related application. Though we in my library were just discussing using publicly available tools for a catalog - I see how this could be done, and quite easily !
Now, I see why. LibraryThing contains some of the fun of searching in Amazon.com for books you have read, or want to read. Opportunities to read the ranking and the reviews, lists of similar books, etc. (I have spent time on Amazon.com doing just that).
I entered about eight books that I have read recently - quite different in subject matter. It was fun to look at links for other people who have some of the same books. This, I will continue to access - but I see no work-related application. Though we in my library were just discussing using publicly available tools for a catalog - I see how this could be done, and quite easily !
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Thing 13 - Online Productivity Tools
Before starting - I've been well aware that since the beginning of September, I've had roughly 15 blogs to do in 15 days in order to meet the 15th deadline. Simply, a blog a day (whether or not I'm exhausted or it's past 11 PM). Now, at last, online productivity tools. And the countdown widget . . . can I load it on the top of my page? (attempted, see above)
I found iGoogle to be the most pleasing customized home page, but not surprisingly, it seemed to already know a lot about me like my metro area, and a few interests (I was already logged in to Blogger edit mode).
At work, have our own library web site, so I'm not looking for any other home page. But I do wonder if any of these personalizations, these widgets, could be made available to users inside the company?
Additionally, this whole 23 things project has ignited a desire to do some non-work related blogging, and I can see making use of many of these tools in my home life/on MY home computer (also a desire).
In the midst of exploring these productivity tools, I decided I'd like to have some non-invasive background music, so I plugged into MPR classical. I was surprised later when I logged into a demo of Backpack that I didn't loose my music, it just played in the background.
Backpack is quite cool. I especially liked the capacity to email myself reminders. I wish my work calendar system could do this. Again, back to the firewall issues at work. I know that with each email revision, we hear that there are more Internet options they are trying to incorporate, and now I think I see some of what they might be, but again, firewall issues probably cause problems.
As for my home life, it might be nice to be able to send or update family to-do lists and planning for the weekend. And especially nice to be able to send it to someone else's iphone (not quite sure that this is available, but worth a try - feature shown on 'remember the milk').
I think for all of the apps I have looked at today, they are most applicable to my home life. I have a huge extended family event coming up in over a year (we're a small family, but spready thinly over the globe), and Basecamp looks like a good tool.
I found iGoogle to be the most pleasing customized home page, but not surprisingly, it seemed to already know a lot about me like my metro area, and a few interests (I was already logged in to Blogger edit mode).
At work, have our own library web site, so I'm not looking for any other home page. But I do wonder if any of these personalizations, these widgets, could be made available to users inside the company?
Additionally, this whole 23 things project has ignited a desire to do some non-work related blogging, and I can see making use of many of these tools in my home life/on MY home computer (also a desire).
In the midst of exploring these productivity tools, I decided I'd like to have some non-invasive background music, so I plugged into MPR classical. I was surprised later when I logged into a demo of Backpack that I didn't loose my music, it just played in the background.
Backpack is quite cool. I especially liked the capacity to email myself reminders. I wish my work calendar system could do this. Again, back to the firewall issues at work. I know that with each email revision, we hear that there are more Internet options they are trying to incorporate, and now I think I see some of what they might be, but again, firewall issues probably cause problems.
As for my home life, it might be nice to be able to send or update family to-do lists and planning for the weekend. And especially nice to be able to send it to someone else's iphone (not quite sure that this is available, but worth a try - feature shown on 'remember the milk').
I think for all of the apps I have looked at today, they are most applicable to my home life. I have a huge extended family event coming up in over a year (we're a small family, but spready thinly over the globe), and Basecamp looks like a good tool.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Thing 12 - Do you Digg?
Social media sites. In some ways, these seem to me like the worst of the Internet. What people like - more than what is valid, vetted, peer reviewed. Well, I guess peer reviewed, but not necessarily high quality. Tabloids with votes. I guess the real worst thing is that they can suck you in . . .to stories that you didn't want to read, and waste time that you didn't have!
I liked Newsvine the best - as it seems that the stories are all professionally produced. And categorized. Automatically locally relevent. And it seemed at first glance to be less entertainment-type fluff. I liked the graphic tools so you can viw the most commmented upon stories, and the most voted upon. The time I looked, they were highlighting special 'groups', such as feminists and conservative coalition (both are private groups). If I found an apropriate group, I may find increased agreement with votes and comments.
I actually signed up for Mixx, just to see what it's like in more depth. I realized from the tour that I can select only the types of stories I want to see, so maybe I can cut some of the fluff. I aranged my page to show me Science, Technology, and specific text searches.
As for using this tool in my library - I can't see it. I can't see how this could be relevent to my work. Unless, with time, I realize that the Sci/Tech categories in Mixx may acually have relevence, may provide another way to get to the cutting edge. The breaking news in my technology area. I'll read for a few weeks, and revisit this question.
I liked Newsvine the best - as it seems that the stories are all professionally produced. And categorized. Automatically locally relevent. And it seemed at first glance to be less entertainment-type fluff. I liked the graphic tools so you can viw the most commmented upon stories, and the most voted upon. The time I looked, they were highlighting special 'groups', such as feminists and conservative coalition (both are private groups). If I found an apropriate group, I may find increased agreement with votes and comments.
I actually signed up for Mixx, just to see what it's like in more depth. I realized from the tour that I can select only the types of stories I want to see, so maybe I can cut some of the fluff. I aranged my page to show me Science, Technology, and specific text searches.
As for using this tool in my library - I can't see it. I can't see how this could be relevent to my work. Unless, with time, I realize that the Sci/Tech categories in Mixx may acually have relevence, may provide another way to get to the cutting edge. The breaking news in my technology area. I'll read for a few weeks, and revisit this question.
Thing 11 - Tagging and Del.icio.us
The synchronicity of this tool, Del.icio.us and an expressed need in a work meeting today is pretty amazing. I was in a meeting with people who will all be representing my library organization at a two-day conference. We are grouped in pairs, and each pair takes a three hour shift, and we'll need to be able to access several links to demonstrate tools to booth visitors. We'll be using one shared computer, and we will each log on to this computer. Since we won't be on out own computers, we won't have our bookmarks.
Caveat - I need a social networking tool which functions behind my company's firewall. And I just realized that my internal library web page has a front page which I can customize with my favorite tools - like a personal bookmark list within our library website. Is this some similar social bookmarking tool (without the ability to make my own labels)?
Enter Del.icio.us, or another bookmarking tool (I want to try citeulike, which seems like it may be more academic. And understanding how a tool can be more academic, may another tool be more political, or more humorous? Or more flirty? Or since the tool is used by so many, those differences are mediated by following the tags, and the taggers that appeal to me?)
Back to this social bookmarking tool, I am not currently on my own computer, so I don't want to add any links now, but I do want to try this soon.
Caveat - I need a social networking tool which functions behind my company's firewall. And I just realized that my internal library web page has a front page which I can customize with my favorite tools - like a personal bookmark list within our library website. Is this some similar social bookmarking tool (without the ability to make my own labels)?
Enter Del.icio.us, or another bookmarking tool (I want to try citeulike, which seems like it may be more academic. And understanding how a tool can be more academic, may another tool be more political, or more humorous? Or more flirty? Or since the tool is used by so many, those differences are mediated by following the tags, and the taggers that appeal to me?)
Back to this social bookmarking tool, I am not currently on my own computer, so I don't want to add any links now, but I do want to try this soon.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Thing 10 - Wikis
This focus on Wikis was fun and informative. The video was particularly well done. It demonstrated quite well how a wiki can be a great tool compared to email when a group of people is trying to accomplish something - like organizing a camping trip.
One of my colleagues set up a wiki for my work group, and it was fun to explore the tool, but we had very few contributions. A few people added notes after attending a conference or meeting, but no one else ever commented or edited (that I knew of).
It was informative to review some wikis used in libraries. In particular, it is amazing to see how effective it can be for organizing reviews of books. A real and collaborative 'readers advisory'.
On the other hand, one of the other wikis is now limited to people who are members, as there had been vandalism to the site. The problem with a resource available to anonymous people.
I took a look at the library bloggers wiki, which looks like someplace I could stand to spend a lot more time. There's even a section for 'special' libraries. Publicly funded, of course, none obviously corporate.
I only looked closely at one, the 'Royal College of Midwives' library, and they posted their last blog in February 2008: The RCM Library is closing on February 16th 2008. The stock is being put into storage and the library staff have been declared redundant. There will therefore be no more entries in this blog. It will be retained on Blogger, however, for reference.
Such a sad thing, and memorialized here, on a blog from Minnesota.
Which brings me back to my library organization's defunct wiki (last I looked). We probably lacked a reason to go to the wiki, and had no incentive to contribute. I heard people say that they are worried about writing or complaining - which they seem to do in every workplace. People need some sort of incentive. The readers wikis were a great example. . .
Maybe a place to go for fun? The joke of the day? Of course, humour can be a fine line, with sharp teeth if you slip.
One of my colleagues set up a wiki for my work group, and it was fun to explore the tool, but we had very few contributions. A few people added notes after attending a conference or meeting, but no one else ever commented or edited (that I knew of).
It was informative to review some wikis used in libraries. In particular, it is amazing to see how effective it can be for organizing reviews of books. A real and collaborative 'readers advisory'.
On the other hand, one of the other wikis is now limited to people who are members, as there had been vandalism to the site. The problem with a resource available to anonymous people.
I took a look at the library bloggers wiki, which looks like someplace I could stand to spend a lot more time. There's even a section for 'special' libraries. Publicly funded, of course, none obviously corporate.
I only looked closely at one, the 'Royal College of Midwives' library, and they posted their last blog in February 2008: The RCM Library is closing on February 16th 2008. The stock is being put into storage and the library staff have been declared redundant. There will therefore be no more entries in this blog. It will be retained on Blogger, however, for reference.
Such a sad thing, and memorialized here, on a blog from Minnesota.
Which brings me back to my library organization's defunct wiki (last I looked). We probably lacked a reason to go to the wiki, and had no incentive to contribute. I heard people say that they are worried about writing or complaining - which they seem to do in every workplace. People need some sort of incentive. The readers wikis were a great example. . .
Maybe a place to go for fun? The joke of the day? Of course, humour can be a fine line, with sharp teeth if you slip.
Thing 9 - Online Collaboration Tools
I liked the Zoho Writer better than Google Docs, because the Zoho Writer link worked for me (and has a funner name). It was fun to read the changes and edits.
I wish I had read ahead and completed all these little communication tasks (emailing to request a couple of invitations) months ago (when I barely had time for thing #2). But to stop now, and send an email, so that I can actually edit, then comment - it's a bit of a delay.
Seeing all these multiple edits (Zoho in particular), I imagine that each editor has to be able to recognize their own edits, which probably accounts for all the colors and funny widget/icon things.
This makes me recall that I read that a scientist has developed an improvement to the wiki system such that an editor/contributor is thoroughly and accurately identified, and that anything that person writes can be absolutely attributed to that person (so someone else can't enter comments on behalf of someone else).
Well, I jumped through all the hoops for the Google Docs, and found that editing the document worked just fine. It was fun to edit.
Since there are more degrees of separation for the Zoho product, it was much more frustrating to log on to. The log on page suggested that I could use either my Yahoo password or my Google password, but neither seemed to work. I finally got into Zoho, but then couldn't bring up the document that I wanted to edit. Grrr!
I now have passwords all over the place, and am not sure which ones are active where. So, I never actually got into the Zoho doc, which sounded more fun based on the name. I guess you can't judge a product by its name. Or, those products which fall under the same banner or password system aer much easier to incorporate into ones life.
I wish I had read ahead and completed all these little communication tasks (emailing to request a couple of invitations) months ago (when I barely had time for thing #2). But to stop now, and send an email, so that I can actually edit, then comment - it's a bit of a delay.
Seeing all these multiple edits (Zoho in particular), I imagine that each editor has to be able to recognize their own edits, which probably accounts for all the colors and funny widget/icon things.
This makes me recall that I read that a scientist has developed an improvement to the wiki system such that an editor/contributor is thoroughly and accurately identified, and that anything that person writes can be absolutely attributed to that person (so someone else can't enter comments on behalf of someone else).
Well, I jumped through all the hoops for the Google Docs, and found that editing the document worked just fine. It was fun to edit.
Since there are more degrees of separation for the Zoho product, it was much more frustrating to log on to. The log on page suggested that I could use either my Yahoo password or my Google password, but neither seemed to work. I finally got into Zoho, but then couldn't bring up the document that I wanted to edit. Grrr!
I now have passwords all over the place, and am not sure which ones are active where. So, I never actually got into the Zoho doc, which sounded more fun based on the name. I guess you can't judge a product by its name. Or, those products which fall under the same banner or password system aer much easier to incorporate into ones life.
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