LibraryThing and Doppleme

I love the connectivity of LibraryThing. By uploading books you enjoy you can make links to other readers who like the same thing and (hopefully) find some new authors in the process. Also I am a statistics sort of person and any site that has interesting stats or gives me a top ten I'll be interested in and of course LibraryThing does this in abundance. Its also interesting to see the book jackets as the first search option is Amazon.com which is American of course and therefore you do end up with different pictures every now and then. The other cool? thing I found on LibraryThing is a cheapy barcode reader that plugs into a USB port and can be used to wand barcodes of your books to enter them into your LibraryThing library, that's taking it a little far I think it you are a Librarian and have a barcode reader at home you need a really long holiday.

Doppleme is lots of fun, so many choices, so many looks, so many groovy hats. I could spend ages playing with doppleme but I have so many other cool applications to play with as well.

RSS Feeds and Rollyo

I must admit I have been a little scared of RSS feeds (don't know why perhaps just not understanding enough about how they work) but this week has cured me of my phobia. I have found lots of interesting feeds to add to my bloglines account and foresee many more now I know how easy it is to use.

Rollyo while interesting is not a site I imagine I will use often. Although it was interesting to add all the book sites I usually search into one search I think I need some refinement before it would be really useful.

Widgets

I just love the names given to things associated with the net, wikis, wigets, blogs, they just roll off the tongue. Well I've added 2 widgets to my blog and it was eeeeeeasy. I think the hardest bit was choosing which one to add. Widgets are all a bit of fun and can really personalise your page with the things that you like.

There are wikis, then there are BIG WIKIS

I must admit (to my shame) before this course Wikipedia was the only wiki I accessed. Its great for basic info and as a starting place for research. Wikia (http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia) has opened my eyes to all the really cool wikis out there. I particularly liked their big wikis page which lists the top 16 largest wikis (based on number of articles each contains). Here are the stats I found interesting, out of the top 16, 4 of them including the largest are about MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) like World of Warcraft and Runescape, there are 5 about various Movie/TV shows mainly sci fi eg. Star Wars and Star Trek with the Muppets being a bit of a standout, there are 2 about comics one based on Marvel and one on DC Comics, the rest of the top 16 are made up of wikis about recipes, psychology, family history and the weird and wacky Uncyclopedia which bills itself as a content-free encyclopedia. Wikis are fun, informative and interactive (which I think is the bit I like the best).

Social Networking

I already have a Facebook account which is fun to use sometimes but all the apps drive me nuts. It is nice to see what schoolmates are up to and its an easy way make contact. Also whats the etiquette for ignoring friend requests? Especially if they are your sister's partner's mother?

I've had a look at Google Chat looks interesting and useful for those people who have relatives and friends in distance places that they regularly contact but I doubt I'll use it anytime soon. I'm much more of an email gal I think. Speaking of email I had thought Gmail was easier to use than Hotmail but my parents have Gmail accounts and I, a Hotmail account and I struggle at times to find things in Gmail when assisting my parents.

Catching up on Overdrive

I've been looking at the Jones every week but some of the functions I haven't been able to access at my work station so I've had to wait until I get home to access them. Now I'm on hols I'm going to do a big catch up. So where was I up to hmm, oh yes Overdrive. I love Overdrive (great download service available from our library service) particularly now I can get MP3 files for my Ipod. I like the idea of ebooks as well but I'm not a fan of reading for long periods of time from the computer screen so I think I will wait until I get an ebook reader before I take full advantage of that part of the service.

YouTube

I am constantly amazed that no matter what you search under at YouTube some one has uploaded a video relating to it (plus its a great way to see teasers about new TV shows and movies). I have so many favorite clips from YouTube its hard to just pick one to add to my blog. I love the Potter Puppet Pals, Who the hell is Matt, Star Wars Cafeteria and any of the Minuscule animations. I also like the fact you can replay memories from the past as recently in a discussion with one of my workmates I recalled a favorite segment from Sesame Street where they show how a crayon is made and what do you know a couple of days later my workmate had found the clip on YouTube and sent me a link. Well out of all my favorites I chose...... you'll just have to watch and see!

(WARNING: this clip includes explicit language)

Podcasts

I Y podcasts. I get to listen to all my favorite radio segments that I miss while I'm at work such as The Science Show and Ask Dr Karl. Also I think podcasting has made the world smaller with anyone around the world with an Internet connection can share the same podcast, exchanging ideas, information and opinions. Many podcast sites also link podcasts that have similar topics which is really handy and a great way to find new podcasts.

Hmm this post is a bit boring. I'll try to do better next time.

Ooo just tried the spell check and it doesn't like 'podcasts' or 'podcasting' as words, podcast is ok though!

Flickr 2

Learnt something new today. Not only have I now had some experience with Delicious and Flickr, I found some really funny photos posted to Flickr. A mother had taken lots of photos of the packed lunches she made for her son. Turns out she likes to practice Bento which is a Japanese art of packed lunches check out one of her photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/wendycopley/2988844217/in/photostream/

Hopefully a not so boring post

Flickr

Oh boy, I am really not well this week. I've been sick since Monday and my brain is not functioning properly. I did the Delicious part of the Jones course earlier this week but did not read the destruction's properly for the Flickr part. Anyway finally realised I don't have to upload a picture of my own derrrr. Did find this really cool one taken on my birthday last year of the planet Jupiter http://www.flickr.com/photos/25457453@N08/2635396313/ so check it out. Definitely having fun with the Jones!

Boring post 3

Delicious

Well I've have a look at this weeks tasks and they look like fun. I'll have to wait until I get home to try Flickr and to add more bookmarks to Delicious. Delicious seemed confusing to start with but the instructions were clear and with a bit more playing I think I should have a good handle on it. I have yet to work out if you can add the same tags to multiple bookmarks at the same time. I can see Delicious being very useful, I don't know how many times I have wished I could access my bookmarks away from my home conputer and now I can! I think Delicious will also be really useful to researchers and Librarians not only because it has gathered a lot of information in the same place but it also allows the same to see what the general population are using as search/identification terms.

Well that wraps up boring post number 2.

Easy start

Well that was easier than I thought it would be. I've never been one for writing my thoughts down, didn't really keep a diary, even travel diaries stop about half way through the trip. so I hadn't thought a lot about blogs (apart from reading the odd one or two) but this was a very easy process and I'm glad the Jones pushed me into trying it. My only worry now is my blog is going to be soooo boring.