Thing 19: Web 2.0 Awards

Given that doing this Web Challenge has introduced me to more technology than I'm likely to use, my main category of interest on SEOmoz's 2007 Web 2.0 Awards was "Fun Stuff".

Sure enough, I found a link to a service I'm likely to use, "One Sentence: True Stories Told in One Sentence". Here's an example of the wit to be found at this Web site, pulled from their April 2008 archives:

outofwork

I was the only one at the company who genuinely liked the woman who laid me off, and I think she's about to find that out.

Some of these stories only make sense when you read the accompanying tags:

Lethe

After one friend told me I'd get pneumonia and the other two decided on hypothermia, I did it out of spite.


tags: ocean beach night bra and underwear cold

I'm likely to use this service because it only takes a minute to enjoy the latest postings.

Thing 18: Web Apps

I see several practical applications for using Web applications such as Google Docs. As was detailed in the instructional video provided by Google, when working on a project with a group, being able to access relevant documents in a central location that immediately reflects changes that have been made by group members is much more effective than e-mailing documents back and forth, and insures that all members have access to the most recent incarnation of a project.

Google Docs was very useful when Tyler Rousseau, Lavernne Mann of the Mercer County library, David Lisa of the West Long Branch library and I were preparing a presentation for this year's New Jersey Library Association Conference, "Adult Graphic Novels for Every Library". Using Google Docs to post our choices for Graphic Novels to include in the presentation saved us time and allowed each of us to comment on the choices made by others.

Thing 17: Playing in the Sandbox

Since I was a latecomer to this exercise, it was interesting to see all the variations of font/color/size that prior participants had already used in the Sandbox. I especially liked the pictures of the flowering trees outside the Bishop Building.

The biggest advantage I see for work is that posting information directly to a Wiki saves time--for example, for YALSA's Teen Tech Week, instead of e-mailing YALSA with a description of what our TAB in Lacey was doing that week, I was able to post that information directly to their Wiki. This kind of Web 2.0 application also saves time for an organization, since someone in the organization doesn't have to be responsible for receiving information and posting it.

Thing 20: You Tube and Me

If you saw my second blog posting, you'll know that I've already shamelessly promoted the video of me spinning fire poi that was posted to YouTube. Interestingly enough, I'm not the only woman named Karla who likes to spin fire poi.

For this exercise, however, I thought I'd post a link to a swell instructional video on how to step through a moving hula hoop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eQoZwovu20

It took me over a year of practicing to be able to execute that maneuver.

There are numerous other instructional videos posted to YouTube that I find useful, from hoop tricks to clawhammer banjo playing.

And for my next trick, I'll try to embed the aforementioned hoop video:

Thing 16: Wikis

Like most people, I had never noticed the "Discussion and History" tabs at the top of each Wikipedia article. Using these tabs allowed me to figure out the exact date that I corrected an article on Wikipedia. You heard me right--I got to fix something on this oft maligned Web resource, specifically the caption to a picture provided in an article on the Akonting Lute.

The Akonting Lute is the African predecessor to the banjo (most people don't know that the banjo itself is an African American instrument). I was thrilled that Wikipedia had an article on this topic, as it has only recently attracted much scholarly attention. However, the caption to the picture of a man holding this instrument was incorrect, so I fixed it. Unfortunately, after a few weeks, I forgot what was wrong with the caption on the first place. Clicking on the "History" tab let me find when I changed this caption and also allowed me to view the caption before I changed it:

"00:43, 30 December 2007 72.75.150.176 (Talk) (12,506 bytes) (I changed the wording for the picture--the caption incorrectly stated that banjo players pick with the middle finger.)"

Unlike many of my colleagues, I'm a big fan of Wikipedia, as I think it represents our "collective knowledge". The "Discussion and History" features of Wikipedia allow all to view our "collective thought process".

Thing 15: Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Library 2.0 ideas seem to be very attractive to our teenagers. Take social networking sites, for example. Reposted surveys not withstanding, the "bulletin" feature on MySpace is a great way of letting customers know about potential programs. In a follow up survey to the "What was it like to be a gay teen back in the day" program in early April, when asked how they heard about the program, the second most common answer attendees gave was "MySpace".

As far as how Library 2.0 will impact regular library services, I'm looking forward to the day when users can perform a federated search of not only our books, but also relevant articles in our databases. I think that many customers would also enjoy adding their own book reviews to our online public catalog.

Thing 14: Technorati

If someone says something in a blog and nobody reads it, does it make a sound/impression/difference? Thanks to Technorati, the chances of things going unheard in the blogosphere grow smaller.

But to what end? After browsing through the most popular listings on Technorati, I'm skeptical of so many blogs/voices echoing through the ether of the Internet...do that many people have truly informed opinions?

That being said, Technorati did bring me to the Huffington Post, a political blog that lists port. I also registered my own blog in order to index my musings.