(Pod)casting the net a bit wider

Oh dear. More goodies to keep me chained to the computer. I fear that podcasts will become like library books for me: "That one looks good; oh I need that one; whaddya mean I can't renew it anymore, I haven't started reading it yet!" My Bloglines feeds keep growing and growing, just like the pile of books on the floor next to my bed. Gotta get that iPod.

Once again, TMI. Maybe if I just stop sleeping, I'll have enough time to read, listen and fool around with the computer. Nah, I'd probably have to stop working, eating and raising my children too. Thanks a lot, Project Play.

The thing I like about podcasts for libraries is that there are so many different ways to use them. Booktalks and book reviews. Teen applications. Stories for kids (though I must say, I'm having trouble with the idea of plopping a kid down in front of the computer to listen to a story, however artfully it is told by Disembodied Children's Librarian Voice. Parents, there's just no Web 2.0 substitute for plopping the kid down on your lap and reading the book together).

Maybe podcasts could take over some of the one-on-one computer training we currently do. If I never had to walk someone through the process of setting up an email account again, I wouldn't complain. And syndicating programs for people who just couldn't make it to the library that day? Sweet. What a great way to reach beyond the walls of the library. And if only two people show up to your program, you can tell yourself that it wasn't a dismal failure after all, since undoubtedly hundreds more will listen to the podcast.

I have to stop now. My computer chair is in serious danger of permanently molding itself into the shape of my posterior, and my kids are starting to tell me that I've really had enough screen time.

Wrap it up (and put a tag on it?)

Here I go, under the wire.

There were times during Project Play when I really thought that my head was going to explode. Even so, this was completely and totally the right way for me to dangle my feet in the water of these applications and ideas.

I'm not entirely ready to embrace every part of Web 2.0. I'm a Productivity Enhancer, and not sure I'll ever be an Omnivore, but I'm OK with that. I've learned a lot, and I'm looking forward to learning more.

Over the past few days, I've been thinking a lot about the whole information overload thing. I can't recall any of the specific numbers, but I remember about 20 years ago it was a truism that we had to absorb more information in [some short period of time] than [some previous generation] had to process in a lifetime. Think of how that increased with the advent of the Internet. Web 2.0 must represent another order of magnitude beyond even that.

No wonder I sometimes feel like my head will explode.

I like blogging more than I thought I would, although that casual, punchy writing style that characterizes my favorite bloggers tends to elude me. I am also severely impaired in the visual design department, so I fear I will never have the cool graphics I envy so much on other blogs.

I was skeptical about Bloglines, but I'm a convert. It's a real timesaver.

Flickr made me slightly insane, but I feel motivated now to get my personal digital pics uploaded and tagged--just not for the whole world to see.

My 2.0 goals before Semester 2 starts up: read more Project Play-er's blogs to get other perspectives on these issues; get some photos uploaded and tagged for my personal use; work on setting up del.icio.us to do my bidding rather than just annoying me; explore the idea of a staff wiki for my branch to capture all that "How do we do this?" and "Where do we keep that?" information.

That's a little ambitious, and no iPod dangling out there in front of me to spur me on to action.

We'll see how it goes.

OK, so I'm a little behind......

Here's my Week 3 post.....during, what is it, Week 9? I had good intentions. Now I'm using part of my day off to try to catch up. Even though I am allowed to do this on work time, I never seem to be able to make that happen.


Bloglines. Hmmm. I set up an account long before Project Play came along. And promptly ignored it.


I'm a creature of habit. I have some sites I check regularly, including things like my bank account and my kids' lunch accounts, that I can't use a newsreader for. Stubbornly, I insist on visiting my bookmarked sites in order, regardless of whether they could be "RSSd" or not. Clearly, I am not living in the Web 2.0 world.

If I were a wise person, I would just bookmark Bloglines, and get rid of the "RSSable" bookmarks entirely.


Perhaps wisdom will visit me someday.



What I like about Bloglines (or what I would like if I would use it):


Eliminating the need to check on sites that haven't been updated after all.



What I don't like (or think I don't like):


I'm a bit afraid of getting buried in content, so I am hesitant to subscribe to sites--like news sites--with frequent updates. When I check a news site now, I'm seeing what' s going on now. If I missed something that happened yesterday, well, what I don't know won't hurt me. I'll just have to struggle through my life without knowing about the latest development in the Britney/K-Fed custody battle. I am concerned that if I add news to my Bloglines account, it will be the same as saving up unread newspapers and feeling as though I need to read all the old ones. Whoosh, there goes all that time I just saved not repeatedly checking websites, and then some.



I dislike that you lose some of a blogger's personality when viewing their content through Bloglines. The blogs all look the same, and that makes me a little sad...like I'm having a cup of coffee at Starbucks instead of the neighborhood coffee shop.