Oh, MySpace. If we kept stats on that sort of thing, I've little doubt it would be the most visited site on my library's public internet computers. After school, we should just hang out a "MySpace Cafe" sign and forget about that whole book thing.
I have a couple of favorite MySpace stories. The first happened several months ago, when I was trying to help a young patron with a misbehaving computer. He just gave me a withering look and said, "This is MySpace. You don't know anything about this." The latest happened this past week when we found it necessary to ban three young men from our hallowed halls for an extended period of time. They use our 'brary in the evening and on Saturdays, when we have fewer staff on duty, so some of my comrades were not sure they knew who the guys were. I found one of them on MySpace, and got to the other two's profiles because they were Friends of the one I could find. I snagged their pictures, printed them out on our color printer, and now feel confident that they won't be able to sneak in when someone they don't recognize is working.
I felt like a latter-day Nancy Drew. Kinda clever, if I do say so myself, although probably not what the Project Play folks had in mind for libraries using MySpace.
But anyway. Generally speaking, MySpace just gives me a headache. All the backgrounds and the page elements make for very difficult viewing. It just screams bad design to me. Something else I thought was not so cool was one library's page that had lots of comments from what appeared to be patrons (good thing), but a lot of the comments were just stupid (Thanks for the add, Jessie! Thanx 4 wishing me a happy b-day luv ya and hope 2 c u today), and one frequent poster goes by the name Shithead. Call me a grumpy old librarian, but I don't find that things like that really add anything useful or positive to that library's web presence. Of course, this isn't confined to MySpace. Any site where people can post comments gets cluttered with stupidity. I can't read the news online without wading through loads of comments that are just dumb, ignorant, and (worst of all) ungrammatical. I should just stop reading the comments, but sometimes there are good insights there underneath all the garbage. Someone should invent a "dumb comment filter" for Web 2.0 applications. I could get behind that.
I digress. I liked the screen shots from Facebook much better, though I haven't created an account there yet. Maybe later. The layouts just seemed crisper, less distracting, more useful and navigable.
While I do buy into the notion of meeting our users where they are (and Lord knows they are on MySpace), I just can't get excited about my library having a presence there. We have users and potential users in Home Depot too, but we don't set up a satellite branch there (next to the hot dog stand in the entrance) with books from our home improvement collection. We don't set up a table at the hip-hop club to let people know we have hip-hop CDs at the library.
We're all trying to do more with less, and I don't think that having a MySpace page is something a library should necessarily do unless it can do it well.That's not to say that a younger generation of librarians won't be able to do it right, but not this curmudgeon. Is there anything more horrifying than a middle-aged mom trying to dress and sound like her teenage daughter and not quite getting it right?
Shudder.
Besides, I kind of like them to think I don't know anything about what they're doing. Mwahahaaaaaa.....
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
No forgotten milk here
Yeah, I know. I'm behind and I should be blogging about MySpace and podcasting. But I truly cannot believe how cool Remember the Milk is and how quickly I've gotten addicted to it.
It definitely has little quirks that just annoy the living daylights out of me. But somehow, it manages to overcome the historical problems I have had with both written to do lists and gadget-y to do lists (like the to-do feature on my otherwise-much-beloved Palm). I can stay focused on what I need to do today without worrying I will forget about something further out....and the further out things don't distract me from today's priorities. It's SO easy to make adjustments to due dates or priorities as conditions change. And tags? Invaluable for helping group like tasks together (Oh, I see I have a lot of errands to do, so I'll do them all at once) If I could have it on my Palm and sync it up, I could die a happy woman.
One of the way cool things I think we could do with this would be to keep a shared to-do list of things at work that need to be done, but not necessarily done by any particular person. There are six of us who kinda sorta job-share, and wouldn't it be great if I didn't get something done on Tuesday and the person who is in on Wednesday morning could just see that it needs doing and do it?
I am trying to evangelize my co-workers. I'm sure that like most True Believers, I grow tiresome, and they groan and try to hide when they see me coming.
It definitely has little quirks that just annoy the living daylights out of me. But somehow, it manages to overcome the historical problems I have had with both written to do lists and gadget-y to do lists (like the to-do feature on my otherwise-much-beloved Palm). I can stay focused on what I need to do today without worrying I will forget about something further out....and the further out things don't distract me from today's priorities. It's SO easy to make adjustments to due dates or priorities as conditions change. And tags? Invaluable for helping group like tasks together (Oh, I see I have a lot of errands to do, so I'll do them all at once) If I could have it on my Palm and sync it up, I could die a happy woman.
One of the way cool things I think we could do with this would be to keep a shared to-do list of things at work that need to be done, but not necessarily done by any particular person. There are six of us who kinda sorta job-share, and wouldn't it be great if I didn't get something done on Tuesday and the person who is in on Wednesday morning could just see that it needs doing and do it?
I am trying to evangelize my co-workers. I'm sure that like most True Believers, I grow tiresome, and they groan and try to hide when they see me coming.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Makin' a list and Jottin' it twice
Oh. My. God.
This could be life-altering.
I can't really say that I'm an inveterate list-maker, but I am an inveterate list-loser. If I had a nickel for every list I've started and lost....well, I wouldn't be sitting here doing work things at 11:45 on a Sunday night with the temperature a lovely six below zero. I completely love the idea of lists, but the actual implementation of them is where I sort of fall down. [Click here for a book that, by strange coincidence, I happen to be reading at the mo.]
I don't just love to-do lists. I am prone to making lists of all kinds, and some of these now exist in my brand-new Remember the Milk account. Such as Wish List (things I don't have, but want like an iPod and a microplane grater), Organizing Needs (things I don't have, but need to solve an organizing problem at home, like a container to corrall my various electronic device chargers) and MP3s (songs I would put on that iPod, like Radar Love and Thunder Road.)
I rely heavily on my PalmPilot to keep me organized, but one feature I have never had much luck using is the To-Do list. Much as I liked the idea of having all my to-dos in one spot, with no pesky paper scraps to lose, it has just never worked for me to do all of that data entry. I'm not entirely sure that RTM will work any better for me, but I'm willing to give it a go. At a bare minimum, I can type a lot faster than I can write with a stylus.
I find the interface to be a little clunky, and it seriously bothers me how things jump and move when you mouse over them. I think it will take a while for the whole thing to become second-nature, and to start using all of the functionality to its fullest capacity. For a start, though, I can envision reading my email with RTM open in another window, transfering to-dos into it and DELETING the email instead of leaving it in my inbox to get lost among the other email clutter. That's something.
One problem I can foresee, especially at home, is that I don't always happen to have the computer on when I need to make note of a to-do. Oh, wait, that's where Jott comes in, right? I must say, though, that calling Jott from my cell phone to remind myself to buy toilet paper while I'm sitting in my living room approaches the bounds of the surreal for me.
Jott transcribed the Jotts I sent perfectly, but for giggles I want to try out a few accents and see what happens. I noticed some goofs in the Project Play list, such as where someone who clearly meant "bring the wood in" got transcribed as "bring the wooden." (Bring the wooden.....what? And where should I bring it?)
Cool as all this is, my problems with information overload continue. So now, besides my work email and personal email, I also have inboxes on RTM and Jott. How many inboxes does one person really need?
This could all be even slicker if I didn't have a geriatric Palm that does not have Internet capabilities. Maybe I need to put a Palm upgrade on my Wish List. Or maybe what I really need is an iPhone, so I could send myself a Jott, which I could access on the iPhone, reminding myself to download The Farmer and the Cowman Should be Friends, which would go into my MP3 list on RTM, and which would prompt me to put the song...on the iPhone.
Is that full circle, or just way too complicated?
This could be life-altering.
I can't really say that I'm an inveterate list-maker, but I am an inveterate list-loser. If I had a nickel for every list I've started and lost....well, I wouldn't be sitting here doing work things at 11:45 on a Sunday night with the temperature a lovely six below zero. I completely love the idea of lists, but the actual implementation of them is where I sort of fall down. [Click here for a book that, by strange coincidence, I happen to be reading at the mo.]
I don't just love to-do lists. I am prone to making lists of all kinds, and some of these now exist in my brand-new Remember the Milk account. Such as Wish List (things I don't have, but want like an iPod and a microplane grater), Organizing Needs (things I don't have, but need to solve an organizing problem at home, like a container to corrall my various electronic device chargers) and MP3s (songs I would put on that iPod, like Radar Love and Thunder Road.)
I rely heavily on my PalmPilot to keep me organized, but one feature I have never had much luck using is the To-Do list. Much as I liked the idea of having all my to-dos in one spot, with no pesky paper scraps to lose, it has just never worked for me to do all of that data entry. I'm not entirely sure that RTM will work any better for me, but I'm willing to give it a go. At a bare minimum, I can type a lot faster than I can write with a stylus.
I find the interface to be a little clunky, and it seriously bothers me how things jump and move when you mouse over them. I think it will take a while for the whole thing to become second-nature, and to start using all of the functionality to its fullest capacity. For a start, though, I can envision reading my email with RTM open in another window, transfering to-dos into it and DELETING the email instead of leaving it in my inbox to get lost among the other email clutter. That's something.
One problem I can foresee, especially at home, is that I don't always happen to have the computer on when I need to make note of a to-do. Oh, wait, that's where Jott comes in, right? I must say, though, that calling Jott from my cell phone to remind myself to buy toilet paper while I'm sitting in my living room approaches the bounds of the surreal for me.
Jott transcribed the Jotts I sent perfectly, but for giggles I want to try out a few accents and see what happens. I noticed some goofs in the Project Play list, such as where someone who clearly meant "bring the wood in" got transcribed as "bring the wooden." (Bring the wooden.....what? And where should I bring it?)
Cool as all this is, my problems with information overload continue. So now, besides my work email and personal email, I also have inboxes on RTM and Jott. How many inboxes does one person really need?
This could all be even slicker if I didn't have a geriatric Palm that does not have Internet capabilities. Maybe I need to put a Palm upgrade on my Wish List. Or maybe what I really need is an iPhone, so I could send myself a Jott, which I could access on the iPhone, reminding myself to download The Farmer and the Cowman Should be Friends, which would go into my MP3 list on RTM, and which would prompt me to put the song...on the iPhone.
Is that full circle, or just way too complicated?
Does Google control the world?
Jeez Louise! Is there anything that can't be done from a person's Google account?
This was so totally and completely cool, I hardly know what to say. I thought I was very au courant with my little flash drive, carrying my files around with me, but honestly, it seems downright quaint compared to the Google Docs model. I don't have to worry about losing it, inadvertently sending it through the wash, or wreaking digital destruction when I forget to eject the little beast before removing it. Not that I've ever done that.
Always on the cutting edge, my cohort Frenzied Librarian has already started putting a few work documents on Google docs and inviting collaboration from the rest of us. I'm wondering how this compares with something like Basecamp for working collaboratively. I find Basecamp a little confusing, to be honest, and I'm not sure the same thing couldn't essentially be accomplished with Google Docs, but maybe I'm missing something wondrous about Basecamp.
When I was learning about Flickr, I felt vaguely uneasy about my photos being stored someplace other than my own hard drive. What if Flickr goes away, and I can't access my photos? Perhaps the more relevant question is, what if my hard drive crashes and I don't have everything properly backed up? Given the ominuous clicking, grinding and moaning sounds that sometimes emanate from my relatively ancient CPU, this is not an academic question. Not that I don't do regular and exhaustive backups. Daily even.
Besides just collaborating on projects, I now have a new way of helping patrons save documents that they are about to lose because their internet time is running out, instead of fumbling with the staff flash drive. Or giving patrons a documents option when they're using our express internet machines, which do not have Microsoft Office on them. Or making nifty display signs at my computer and printing them at the one computer networked to a color printer, without the clunkiness of emailing an attachment to myself, messing with the flash drive, or even inserting a floppy into the computer before remembering that there is no floppy drive behind that slot. Not that I've ever done any of those things.
I also think this would be an awesome way to do schedules and time off requests. Instead of our current piece of paper tacked to the staff bulletin board, we could have a document on which to make our schedule requests. We could update the master schedule in one place when someone trades or makes some other change, and all of our supervisors-in-charge would have access to the most up to date version of the schedule without us having to fax, email or otherwise communicate changes. We would avoid problems when someone forgets to fax the schedule to the supe-in-charge when she calls and asks for it, and fails to remember until the next day. Not that I've ever done that.
I've used Google Docs to share expense information with a certain ex-spouse, and find it a big improvement over the former system of emailing spreadsheet attachments and the multiple versions that process used to create. My only beef at this point is that I still have to email copies of receipts as attachments, since the files are too big for Google Docs.
Cool cool cool. What will those Googleites think of next?
This was so totally and completely cool, I hardly know what to say. I thought I was very au courant with my little flash drive, carrying my files around with me, but honestly, it seems downright quaint compared to the Google Docs model. I don't have to worry about losing it, inadvertently sending it through the wash, or wreaking digital destruction when I forget to eject the little beast before removing it. Not that I've ever done that.
Always on the cutting edge, my cohort Frenzied Librarian has already started putting a few work documents on Google docs and inviting collaboration from the rest of us. I'm wondering how this compares with something like Basecamp for working collaboratively. I find Basecamp a little confusing, to be honest, and I'm not sure the same thing couldn't essentially be accomplished with Google Docs, but maybe I'm missing something wondrous about Basecamp.
When I was learning about Flickr, I felt vaguely uneasy about my photos being stored someplace other than my own hard drive. What if Flickr goes away, and I can't access my photos? Perhaps the more relevant question is, what if my hard drive crashes and I don't have everything properly backed up? Given the ominuous clicking, grinding and moaning sounds that sometimes emanate from my relatively ancient CPU, this is not an academic question. Not that I don't do regular and exhaustive backups. Daily even.
Besides just collaborating on projects, I now have a new way of helping patrons save documents that they are about to lose because their internet time is running out, instead of fumbling with the staff flash drive. Or giving patrons a documents option when they're using our express internet machines, which do not have Microsoft Office on them. Or making nifty display signs at my computer and printing them at the one computer networked to a color printer, without the clunkiness of emailing an attachment to myself, messing with the flash drive, or even inserting a floppy into the computer before remembering that there is no floppy drive behind that slot. Not that I've ever done any of those things.
I also think this would be an awesome way to do schedules and time off requests. Instead of our current piece of paper tacked to the staff bulletin board, we could have a document on which to make our schedule requests. We could update the master schedule in one place when someone trades or makes some other change, and all of our supervisors-in-charge would have access to the most up to date version of the schedule without us having to fax, email or otherwise communicate changes. We would avoid problems when someone forgets to fax the schedule to the supe-in-charge when she calls and asks for it, and fails to remember until the next day. Not that I've ever done that.
I've used Google Docs to share expense information with a certain ex-spouse, and find it a big improvement over the former system of emailing spreadsheet attachments and the multiple versions that process used to create. My only beef at this point is that I still have to email copies of receipts as attachments, since the files are too big for Google Docs.
Cool cool cool. What will those Googleites think of next?
More IM thoughts
I finally did get IMing to work. I found that the Meebo Me widget works just fine on my home computer, but not at work, unless you're using Firefox. I am still having just a wee bit of trouble wrapping my mind around the intersection of Meebo and other services. My middle-aged brain tends to think of Meebo as something that is essentially the equivalent of Google Talk or Yahoo Messenger, so I'm wondering why anyone would use anything other than Meebo or Trillian, since you're not limited to just one service. I am faintly, dimly aware that you can't necessarily IM someone using Meebo unless you already have an account on one of the services. But honestly, I am not even 100% sure that is true, since anyone can Meebo me through my widget.
Right?
I think I need to get our twenty-something page to explain this to me. This is definitely a generational thing. I know this from reading the blogs of some of my young whippersnapper colleagues, for whom IMing is yesterday's news.
Right?
I think I need to get our twenty-something page to explain this to me. This is definitely a generational thing. I know this from reading the blogs of some of my young whippersnapper colleagues, for whom IMing is yesterday's news.
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