del.icio.us vs Digg

After playing around on both sites, I see delicious as a bookmarking and sharing site. Easy to use for both, I am not sure I would use Digg for bookmarking. I do like the Tag and Bookmark icon delicious enables on the tool bar, making it really convenient to bookmark sites to an account. The delicious interface is easy to use, networking is easy, and tag rolls are easy to establish. Without the tool bar icon from Digg, the user has to be logged into Digg and use its search engine to find sites. The user does not have to be logged onto delicious to tag sites found while on Google or other search engines. Is Digg hoping its users will switch to their search engine? Overall, I felt more comfortable using delicious as a bookmarking and sharing site. The periods in the name do drive me crazy though ! One other comment on Digg--I found myself using the 'Dugg' numbers to judge popularity, and therefore relevance. This was not so. Many sites with high numbers were truly junk.

SCILS or SCI

A name change to SCI--I haven't read any compelling reason to change. I don't see SCI as broadening the view of the school, in fact I see it as making the mission of the school unclear. Information science is a term we as practitioners endear. However, we are in the field and recognize its elements. Those outside of the field will not see it as a well defined degree program, and in fact will have to dig into the schools offerings to know it includes library science. When looking for library science programs at schools (examples in the ALA link: (http://www.ala.org/ala/educationcareers/education/accreditedprograms/directory/list/index.cfm
most all have the term library included in the name. To me it doesn't weaken or make the term seem "old fashioned", but when paired with information science it becomes stronger and partnered with the 21st century aspects of technology and information seen as a science. In the scheme of things, I know my opinion won't matter on the final decision, yet as the eternal optimist I hope someone is at least reading our opinions.

Information overload?

RSS might not be perfect, but it sure is a big help in freeing up my time from searching to reading. The option to read or not to read a full article is a plus, as well as the ease with which aggregators work. However, sites that update very frequently are a complication and with these sites it may be hard to distinguish good info from junk, or a topic not of interest. Categorizing feeds helps with topic organization and eliminates random reading. I began using a ning at school, and like the option of defining a 'Twitter Tweet' with keywords that are of interest to me. So does RSS help or contribute to information overload? Information overload is a facet of life today, so I'm of the opinion that it can only help in an inevitable situation.

digg

I discovered "digg" http://www.digg.com/ in an article on the best Web 2.0 software. It is a members only, user moderated, social news site (anyone can join) in which members can post anything they find of interest from the web (news, videos, images etc). Each post is rated by digg's members, with the most popular ones (the most dugg stories!) getting a spot on the front page, and possibly a top ten rank. There are no editors on digg, members rank the information posted and are able to bury information if it is objectionable or simply spam. Users can comment on articles as well as bury comments. Digg also offers RSS feeds for the site or parts of it, and search terms of the users choice. Categories include world news, science, technology, sports, gaming, lifestyle, entertainment, and offbeat (comedy, odd stuff, people, pets and animals). Information overload is becoming a problem, and digg seems to offer one solution in that current news events can be found in one place. One concern with digg--can a group of users conspire to bury a news worthy story?

I am passionate about---

This may seem so cliche, but I am truly passionate about my kids and being the best parent I know how to be. No, I'm not a hovering, overbearing mom. I just like to share life with them, and each day it gets better. Just watching them develop their interests and adult personalities makes me smile every day. Unknown to them is the strength they give me to pursue my own happiness and endure life's ups and downs. Although as young adults they spend less time with me and my husband, it is a great feeling to know they still want to. So when I consider other passions of mine such as travelling or reading, they seem very trivial compared to being a parent. Sappy? I guess!

Text Mesasage Your Librarian

Although the concept of this application isn't rocket science, how its done is a little more complicated. TextALibrarian.com allows students to use the ever popular way of communicating via text messaging to ask reference questions using the current phone capabilities. It connects text messaging with email or some IM systems. Using cell phone based text messaging it is easy for the librarian to learn as well as a student. Downsides would be cost ( yearly basic subscription about $1200 with a a limit on outbound messages of 1000 /month) and I am not sure how a user would access this type of messaging via computer, indicating an additional need for IM reference. How it works : http://www.textalibrarian.com/how.php There seems to be reported mixed success with 24/7 online reference via IM, so it will be interesting to see if texting reference questions will become popular.

Bloglines vs. Google Reader

I am a novice at using both of these RSS aggregators, but certain aspects of each appeal to me:
Google Reader: I like the fact that I can go right in to it from my g-mail account and don't need to set up any other account. Also, since I am a really big Google fan, I like the access to the Google features. Google Reader seems to allow more sharing than Bloglines, but like I said I am a novice.
Bloglines has less eye appeal, but it is straight forward. Both use the left hand navigation menu which to me seems natural. Google reader allows you to "star" an item marking it as special in some way; Bloglines allows you to mark an item as 'keep new', but when I marked items as such, I wasn't sure what this did for me. Conclusion: for my purposes, either one will serve me as an aggregator, but as a big Google fan, I am more apt to use Google Reader.

"Shiny toys, or useful tools?"

This is a great article by Walt Crawford (citesandinsights.info/v9i3a.pdf) . This gist is we are out of the shiny new toys phase for blogs and wikis in libraries. They are now tools and can be powerfully effective. He lists some very successful library blogs, its worth visiting some.

WordPress

After playing around with my WordPress account, I don't see much difference between it and Blogger. Blogger does seem a bit more user friendly, however WordPress offers:

• Links throughout that are helpful if you forget how to do something
• Can import content from other blog sites such as Blogger (but so can Blogger)
• Uses spam blockers
• Saves posts as you write them
• 3 gigabytes of storage-can store lots of photos
• Has a style that tries to appeal to the average person
• Can purchase additional memory, CSS capabilities, No ad option
  

http://cmclibraryteens.blogspot.com/
Getting teens to come into the public library requires savvy marketing and creative approaches to reaching out to them. Blogging is one way to do just that. This age group uses technology to communicate more than any other, and will continue to do so. Blogging is one way to reach out to them in a way they will respond to. Our public library (Bernards Township) is in the process of setting up a teen blog, ut the Cape May County library system has one already set up. It is a great venue for teens to find out what is going on for them at the library, upcoming teen programs, book reviews written by teens, podcasts and more. Not only is the blog visually appealing to teens, it separates their world from the sometimes hum-drum library world of adults.

SCILS

Blogging...this weeks topic for Social Software. The more I learn-the more I want to know.

My first blog !

Blogging...what a concept, one that is becoming a necessary tool professionally and personally.