23 Skidoo...Yahoooo!

*Whew*- just under the wire.

Well, the 23 nasties from the Dungeon Dimensions were, in the end, no match for Cohen's bibliographic broadsword and L-Space skillery. 'Twas an illuminating journey to be sure, full of perils and pitfalls but opening onto new vistas of electronic eclecticism...

Alas, certain encounters were more intriguing than others. Worthy of note were Flickr and associated mashups, RSS, LibraryThing, wikis and the various online productivity tools. And, of course, YouTube, which is, like, totally, uh, tubular.

In the "Yeah, Whatever" category would be Rollyo (a neat idea, but one whose functionality needs development), Del.icio.us (which, apart from the ability to store one's bookmarks online, I found mostly us.ele.ss), Technorati (*Blech*-norati)and, sadly, eBooks.

I can't say that this program assisted my lifelong learning goals so much as provided a means for me to indulge them. A lot of this stuff I was already familiar with, but the program gave me an opportunity to check them out in greater depth than before, if nothing else because it allowed me the time to do so. By so doing, the experience gave me a clearer conception of the direction that the Web is headed and a deeper appreciation of the broader implications of that development. It gave me a lot of things to think about, which is cool.

I think the program works well the way it is. By including the blogging element, there is a sense of not just checking this new stuff out but actually participating in it, and I think there's a good balance of leisurely exploration and incentive to finish by imposing a deadline. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip, and would like to proceed further as my limited time allows.

Verily. Forsooth.

Thing 22: NetLibrary & such

Well, can't say I'm finding NetLibrary to be of much use. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but the only fiction I can pull up is older; apart from that, I keep getting nonfiction stuff that has the author's name in the description, regardles of how I narrow the search. Weird, and I can't say I'd ever use it- I'm not a huge fan of eBooks anyway. However, I can certainly see them as being useful for high-demand titles.

As for audio books, I'll be honest and admit that I've never listened to one all the way through (but I did listen to part of a Jim Dale Harry Potter book just to see what the hullaballoo was all about). When I have listening time, it's music fer me. When I'm in my car, I either put music on or just think. I have enough information sloshing around in my head as it is, and the idea of hearing someone else's voice reading to me when I could be ROCKING or just zoning out strikes me as a bummer.

Nontheless, these media are important for libraries- even if I don't like a particular media, there are many who do and we gotta give it to them, however reluctantly. Maybe, just maybe, in the spirit of new tech, when I get my MP3 player I'll give one a try.

Maybe.

Thing 21: Like Peas in a Podcast

You know, it's interesting to think of Podcasting as radio come full circle- in a new form without the restrictions of broadcast frequency, non-replayability or poor reception. I suppose this is true, in general, for all the new digital media- they seem to represent a democratizing of the video and audio broadcasting, the illustrative examples of this being YouTube and Podcasting. As one who works in the information profession, the biggest problem I see with this is the age-old one of people believing something because they heard it on TV or radio or read it somewhere- a problem which is now translated into the digital age with the internet. While I don't see an inherent reliability as information resources in the new digital media (which is not to say that they cannot be reliable), I nonetheless applaud the freedom of expression they allow.

Anyway, I located some good Podcasts utilizing the three given directories. The first one that added to my Bloglines account was BloodCancerCAST, a podcast by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society featuring teleconferences concerning adult and childhood leukemias, which is of interest to me due to my son's condition. The second one I added was Boing Boing's Get Illuminated, a Podcast featuring random wierdnesses such as the Church of the Subgenius, consciousness studies, technology and so on. After all, it's good to have your mind blown at least once per day. Finally, as a YA Librarian who seriously digs his work, I added YA BookCast, which features Podcasted book reviews for new and outstanding teen literature. Now, if I can find time to listen to them, I'll be in good shape...

Thing 20: I Tube, YouTube, we all Tube...

I'll say it: I dig YouTube. Like any other posting site, there's a fair amount of crapola, but there's also some useful stuff and some things that are just plain hilarious. Most of the use that I've gotten from YouTube has been in relation to music. You see, when my son was born I started digging around for relaxing music to play in his room at night to help him sleep, and I came across a CD at YPL called "Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists" by lutenist Lutz Kirchhof. Well, I've always had a long-standing interest in alchemy, primarily via Jung, so I was intrigued; we tried it, and it became our staple bedtime music. Being a guitarist, I became enamored of the lute, especially renaissance lute music, and learned a couple of pieces on guitar. I eventually bought an actual lute; however, technique for lute is somewhat different than for guitar, and since there are no lute instructors anywhere near here (or anywhere in Ohio, for that matter), I had a need to actually see people playing the instrument so I could get an idea of how it's done. Lemme tell ya, there ain't a whole lot of resources for lute; so I did a search on YouTube for "lute" and it brought up a bunch of videos of lute players! Yahoo! Just what I needed! I'm still working on my technique, but being able to watch pros doing it has really helped- and YouTube is great for guitar stuff, too. Considering how it's helped me, I could conceive of YouTube being useful as a reference tool for some things.

Anyway, the clip I'm posting is of Ronn McFarlane, one of the premier lutenists on the planet, playing some original pieces:


Nice stuff. Incidentally, my son loves YouTube as well. For a glimpse into his viewing choices, click HERE, HERE and HERE.

Thing 19: Blogger's Choice

http://www.cocktailbuilder.com/

Now this is what I call a useful site! Occasionally, after a long day of bloody intellectual battles and mind-numbing excursions through multidimensional L-Space, I like to soothe my brain with a cool, delicious cocktail. Now, I'm not a huge drinker (I'm gettin' too old for that crap), so I'm no expert on mixed drinks (although me wife, ex-bartender that she is, has some knowledge in this area); this site is designed to help chumps like me in their quest for an after-hours cocktail. Let's see- I've got some bourbon, some triple sec and some tonic water...what can I make with that? Well, just type "bourbon" in the "find cocktails" bar, click go, and whaddaya know? With that OJ in the fridge, some triple sec and the bourbon, I can make a Bourbon Rose! Sweeeet!

This site was obviously concocted by either a bartender or someone who really likes to drink. It's easy to use and the info seems pretty reliable. The design could use some help, though, since the site is not very eye-catching. I could actually see this being useful as a reference site, since you can also search for drinks by title and have the recipe at your fingertips. All in all, an excellent site for someone with a bunch of leftover booze and no idea what to do with it.

Bottoms up!

Thing 18: Zoho Chic

Zoho Writer could be worthy to act as my word processor. But before I happily bid Microsoft Word a fond farewell, Zoho must be weighed and measured.

Anyway, I'm writing this in Zoho Writer. I'm going to try out a few features...let's see, howzabout an image:

Now, I had a little trouble resizing this image- seems like sometimes resizing would work and sometimes not. Hmmm.

Now, let's insert a link: TXT

Hope that works.

I am somewhat bummed at the limited font selection, and I see no way to import fonts. And I'm not sure about the interface- but maybe I'm just not used to it.

Now I'm going to try posting this doc to my blog...

And it worked! Now I'm doing some touch-up in the blog editor...

The verdict? For what it is, Zoho rocks; however, I think Word gives a little better control (although it doesn't have smileys). However, Zoho's online collaboration potential is pretty cool- not having to email docs back and forth is appealing. Seems like each one has its place.

Thing 17: Playin' in the Sandbox

Well, that was easy. Added some stuff to Favorite Books and Favorite Music, and logged my blog. Nuttin' to it.