Task 22 Facebook and MySpace

I've got a Facebook account. I forget all the time to logon and see what's happening.
A lot of musicians use MySpace to get their work out there - as good a use as any I can think of - but it's not my cup of tea either.
See my earlier remarks about Twitter.

There are so many social networking sites out there, that I think it's a question of finding what suits you best - or if it suits you at all. I suspect that the most important word to focus on is social - that's how most people want to use these sites - not to be informed or educated particularly, but to keep in touch and be entertained.

Task 21 Twitter

This is not for me.
I can speak face to face with people; I am ancient enough that I still write letters to friends and family from time to time; I pay more than I want to for a landline and I pay way more than I want to for my mobile phone so that I can keep in touch with those I want or need to. I happily use email and texting - and that's ENOUGH. There is a limit to the number of ways I need at my disposal to reach out to people - and there is also a limit to the amount of time I want to devote to staying in touch. Most of the time I really don't care what you are doing right now, and I would hope that you don't care what I'm doing either.
Tweet away - right away.

Task 20 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

The only site I could access from the 23 things page was Podcast Alley - which I found very busy and a pain to search, but there's certainly a lot there.
I have been downloading podcasts to my MP3 player for a while now. I like triple jjj's podcasts and also Radio National's.
I added both to my bloglines account - very easy to do.

I thoroughly enjoyed this task - and think that podcasting is one of the better things I've learned about. I havn't had time to create any for myself - but I think this could be a useful tool for Infoskills.

Task 19 YouTube

Is this worth adding as an entry? I dunno - but it made me grin so I'm adding it for the smile factor. I think that makes it worthy.
I fell in love with Lyle Lovett when I heard him sing this song - made me think that a man should have recorded it in the first place. You remember him - he was Julia Robert's first husband - the guy with the weird hair.

YouTube rules in our house - we all love it. How can you not like a site where you discover death metal folk?

This video of the old song "Stand by Me" is not from YouTube, but it's just WONDERFUL - it'll put a big smile on your dial and start your toes tapping. What fun this must have been to make.

Task 18 iGoogle

A couple of years ago we were all gungho for iGoogle in this library. We all discovered Del.icio.us and iGoogle at the same time. I didn't like it then, because every time I used Google after that it would open at my iGoogle page and that wasn't always what I wanted it to do.
It took me quite a while to figure out how to shut it down and I was relieved when I finally got shot of it - I felt at the time that Google was taking over my world; that my privacy was being somehow invaded.
So - iGoogle is not my cuppa.
Also - fond as I am of Google - making an iGoogle page my personal home page means I probably won't think to look anywhere else much for "stuff" - (does that say more about what a lazy person I might be than it does about Google?)

Task 17 Google MAPS and Google DOCS

I love Google MAPS. We use it regularly at home, usually to check a location on a map, but I always ask for directions , either because I really do need help getting somewhere or because I want to test my directional skills against it. I have found that it isn't always uptodate - worth remembering - but then as I only buy a new street directory every few years it's often out of date as well.

Today I added a place to the map; now I have to wait and see if it's accepted. Fingers crossed!!

I have read the Wikipedia entry about criticism of Google - I never thought about suing them for invasion of privacy, but I would like to force them to put up a new picture of the street view of my house - the day they chose to photograph my street was the day I had put out rubbish for a council kerbside cleanup, so there is a particularly unattractive view of my estate. I'm sure it's value has diminished as a consequence. I also have looked for friend's homes and been given the wrong view - so again not always accurate.....

I didn't know Google Documents existed - but I can see that it might be useful - perhaps if travelling and needing access to your own documents - but I wonder about how secure it is. Think I'd prefer to rely on my trusty USB.

Task 16 Add an entry to Libnet

It was harder thinking of something to add than it was doing it. Well played Libnet.
Here's a clip of what I added - well played Byrds.

Task 15 Wikis

I couldn't tell you how often my household uses Wikipedia, but at a guess I'd say at least once daily.

I use it all the time - for answers to questions about old tv shows and music and movies; for crosswords - it's the first place I look.

Despite all my best efforts, my youngest son still regards it as the definitive reference tool for school assignments...and his marks suggest that it serves him well. What that says about the standards of our education system will become quite evident in 4 years time when he starts University....or will it?!

My only other experience of a Wiki is our own Libnet - which I use all the time to find answers, but also add to as often as necessary. It is easy to use - though I am finding that the bigger it gets the harder it is getting to find stuff. I think we need a second Wiki called WikiArk where all the stuff that isn't looked at very often can go.....just joking - think perhaps we need to be stronger about what stays there.

I like Library Success: a best practices wiki - found some interesting tips here on library displays and will come back to this wiki again.

Task 14 Technorati

This is where I turn into a complete luddite and go BAH HUMBUG. I am beginning to find blogging a bit weird - like wanting to be on Big Brother, or Idol. Technorati shows me that there are millions of geeks out there all looking for their 15 minutes of celebrity and really, who cares?
I think blogging with purpose is great - eg conference organizers might have a blog, but this would have a specific time frame and then become largely irrelevant - but just to air your views on anything and everything seems pointless.

I found this video about Facebook, which I thought was pretty funny, by browsing on Technorati, but if I'd waited long enough I think I would have ended up with it in my inbox.

OK, so tags are a good thing, more or less - certainly gives you a better chance of finding something that hasn't been catalogued, but I'm not at all sure that I want to know the personal opinions of heaps of strangers. I am feeling like the world is about to be crushed by the overload of information and hot air on the net so I'll get off my high horse and will stop adding to it at least for today.

Task 13 Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarking in Del.icio.us

I signed up for de.icio.us a long time ago - it's a favourite place to play on if I have some time when mouse clicking is all I feel up for....

....so I thought I'd look at it from a work perspective this time round. I felt in the short time I gave it, that for that sort of searching I'd rather use Google. We have been looking at ideas to make the displays in our Library more enticing, so I thought I'd see what I could find here. Sadly, the answer is not much...no more than by trawling through using Google. However I didn't find this fascinating site on Google so I'm pleased Mr Lee's put Google Earth to such good use. And, no, I have no idea how I got from Library Displays to CatCam......

Task 12 LibriVox

Fabulous.

I went searching for a book by Freud that had been requested on audio and which we hadn't been able to find - and BINGO! Lucky though because only 2 books by Freud were in the catalogue and the one I wanted was one of them.

Easy to use, lots of help and a worthwhile exercise - a great use of technology I think.

Task 11 Google Books

I've used Google Books at work for tracking down out of print texts - with mixed results. Still it's always exciting to find something freely available online that you thought you'd have to pay to borrow from someplace obscure.

This time I thought I'd have a look for some books I haven't seen for a long time, so I picked a couple of titles my Dad introduced me to when I first started burrowing into his bookshelves for more to read than the local kids library could offer.

I went searching for The specialist by Chic Sale.
The results were dispppointing - no preview, no reviews, no summary of contents. For those who've never heard of it - it's about someone my generation so charmingly called the Dunny Man. Once a week (or more if you could afford to pay for the extra collection) he would come and empty the contents of the backyard toilet. I know that not all of you will remember times when you couldn't just pop into the ensuite in the middle of the night, but once upon a time (and not so very long ago really since I am still alive to tell the tale) we had to put on our slippers and dressing gown, take a torch and go out into the backyard to go to the loo. I think the most exciting day of my adolescence was the day the indoor toilet was first flushed! (even better than the day a man walked on the moon). Anyway - this was a funny little book and my only memory of it was an outdoor earth closet with moons or stars cut in the door so he could look out while completing his visit. I'm sorry that I couldn't find out more about it, or about where I might buy it.

So - I tried one more - 1066 and all that - can't remember the authors. All Google could give me was fuller title and author details:

1066 and all that: a memorable history of England, comprising all the parts you can remember including one hundred and three good things, five bad kings and two genuine dates

By Walter Carruthers Sellar, Robert Julian Yeatman, John Reynolds

Illustrated by John Reynolds - good fun as I remember it - wonder if I would still find it as funny now.
Resolved not to spend any more time looking especially since I know already that this can be a useful tool.

Task 10 LibraryThing

A poor start to the week. After wasting quite some time trying to figure out not just how to use RSS feeds, but why on earth I might want to, I have decided to move on and return to RSS when I am feeling more positive.

And so to LibraryThing. This is a fun place to be - here are my books. The first book I added to my Library probably neatly sums up my feelings about LibraryThing, Flickr, Picasa and RSS Feeds.

It's taken a book about one of my passions, patchwork and quilting, to introduce me to some of the concepts of Zen Buddhism. The author relates creating quilts to understanding Buddhism's Eight Keys to Happiness. One of those keys is "right purpose". "If your purpose for making a quilt, or your purpose for doing anything for that matter, is clear to you, it's easier to commit yourself to the task."

I can see the value in all these sites and I appreciate the opportunity to learn about them because the day may come when they serve the right purpose for me. Because I love having books, reading them, talking about them, sharing them I might come back to LibraryThing sooner. It was certainly easy to join, fairly intuitive to use and fun to play around on - but then so too is the Book Club I belong to.

Task 7 Comment on blogs and blogging

I've received a couple of comments - thank you - and I've posted a couple of comments.
I chose posts I wanted to comment on and was fortunate to have found bloggers using different blog websites. Both were easy to post to.

I'm enjoying blogging - I've never kept a diary so this seems like a similar indulgence - and I think that's a little how I feel about it - it's a bit self-indulgent if you've nothing to say that is actually either meaningful or very funny. But, for the purposes of the exercise it's great fun.

Task 6 Use Picasa Web Albums

I've played around with Picasa. I enjoyed playing Where in the World - and managed to come within spitting distance for a few pictures - but through blind luck rather than knowledge. I havn't published an image of my own. As I already have pics on Flickr I didnt see much point in uploading more stuff to another site, especially since my interest in photography is practically nil and my ability roughly the same - the thought of sharing my pictures with the world is almost embarrassing.
Still - it's good to know another place to browse other than Google Images.
I found these lovely images on Picasa while I was looking at Amish quilts - I got distracted by a photo of a quilt draped over a covered bridge and went off to look at covered bridges instead....

Task 5 Explore Flikr!

I had a few problems uploading to Flikr using Firefox, but found it much easier when I tried IE. I have uploaded some pictures which you can view here

My first post on my own blog

My favourite habit is 7 1/2 PLAY!!
Here's one of my favourite players - JOHN HIATT.


Finally here - so many links on so many pages just to be sure I wasn't missing out on something I absolutely needed to know before I started.

Yesterday I was wasting time waiting for Coles to open - no Saturday trading for ANZAC Day -what a bummer - desperate for bread and milk to stuff down the open mouths of the starving boys in my house - and in the window of the bookshop was a notice about a new novel from Brisbane author Anne Infante that she has written on her blog. It bothers me that she won't receive a penny for her labours, but what a concept. When I told my son about it he rolled his eyes at me (as he sometimes does when I open my mouth) and led me to MY (not that you'd know it) computer and showed me site after site of similar blogs, including one where he has 4 novellas posted. And I never knew about this secret life of his - his pen name is Instigate Insanity - makes a mother proud!

So already I have learnt about places to explore on the internet that I had no idea before how to find. And already I have learnt that someone I thought I knew as well as anyone could know him had a whole creative life that had no connection to me - he'd made it all for himself. So despite that awful pen name I am proud of him.

Lifelong learning is a process that happens every waking moment to every human being - it's just that some of us have a better time of learning and a clearer and easier path to follow than others. So I have resolved to no longer despair that my boy is learning nothing by sitting attached to the computer for hours because in 5 minutes he showed me a whole part of his world that was vibrant and alive and had meaning for him outside of the world I have so carefully built up for him to live in. (Instead I can just despair about his cigarette addiction or the state of his room).

So - the hardest of the 7 1/2 Habits for me? I think it's accepting responsibility for your own learning - because it's so easy for me to make excuses not to follow through with projects - like managing all the stuff of everyday life often takes up as much time as I have to spare.

And the easiest? Creating my own toolbox - because I already have one just waiting for things I can add to it - the best part of 23 things is that it's giving me permission to do stuff I wouldn't make time for otherwise. Mind you I am already pretty comfortable with Habit no 7 1/2....

WOW That's Tasks 1 to 4 taken care of.