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.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
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!
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.
Thing 16: Wacky Wikis
In checking out this stuff about wikis, the thing that keeps popping in my head is the "editable by anyone" aspect. As a liberrian, I think I inherently have a problem with this; I mean, after all, isn't the main problem with internet info the fact that anyone can put stuff the web? But I suppose, on second thought, that there is a difference between wikis and ordinary internet pages, and that is the fact that in a wiki anyone can edit anyone else's info, which is not the case with yer standard web page. So at least there is some sort of layman's peer review going on, which may make info on a wiki more reliable.
However, I'm afraid I simply don't see wikis being all that great as, say, reference sources specifically because the fact remains that you don't know who's posting or editing info. For this reason, I think wikis are fantastic for things like subject guides, event guides, meeting spaces, even community journals, but not (in my mind) for hard, accurate information- except, perhaps, if the wiki only featured input from trained professional in whatever field.
So, bottom line: Wikis good for access to info, not so good for info itself. 'Nuff said.
However, I'm afraid I simply don't see wikis being all that great as, say, reference sources specifically because the fact remains that you don't know who's posting or editing info. For this reason, I think wikis are fantastic for things like subject guides, event guides, meeting spaces, even community journals, but not (in my mind) for hard, accurate information- except, perhaps, if the wiki only featured input from trained professional in whatever field.
So, bottom line: Wikis good for access to info, not so good for info itself. 'Nuff said.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Item 15: Library 2.0 = Mind 2.0?
Speculating on the long-range possibilities of the Web can be a truly heady experience. The myriad implications of digital technology in its various forms- which are all converging- are truly mind-boggling. It amazes me how accurate many of William Gibson's predictions of the technological future appear to be (if you haven't read Neuromancer, do it- after all, it was Gibson who coined the term "cyberspace"). We have yet to see the full cultural effects of all this, the ramifications of digital communities (as epitomized by the blogosphere, wikis, online forums, etc.) for actual world culture, since as the planet appears to get smaller in the digital realm, the distance between nations and cultures in the physical world- and even between individuals- just seems to get bigger.
The history of human evolution is puncuated by the successive development of new tools, which from an anthropological perspective consist quite literally of more and more refined physical extensions of the human body. Tools allow us to do things that we could not do given just our natural bodies (although the development of tools itself would seem to be a natural occurrence in the animal world). Prior to the digital age, however, the tools of humanity consisted of physical extensions; the computer represented the formation of a tool designed to extend mental faculties and operations utilizing purely physical means (we will not get into the ongoing "nature of the mind" debate here). And while the physical aspects of computing simultaneously shrink in size and expand in power- to the point of incorporating the weirdness of quantum physics- the verbal and conceptual plane of computing (as eptomized by the Web) is evolving. Being based on words and images brings the internet inevitably into the library domain (since libraries are about information, which is expressed in words and images). Words and images, of course, are the very tools of human mental life.
There is something very interesting going on with the Web, though, and this phenomenon has been given the name Web 2.0. The internet had previously been something of a one-way conversation, with people looking at the web as though it were TV or something. Then the commercial side starting gathering info on the surfing (and searching) habits of people in order to determine what they wanted, and the result was, of course, Stuff to Buy and Sex- which is what the internet has a lot of. In this sense, the internet was already forming itself into a reflection of the human mind, but the people using it still had an essentially passive, almost unconscious, relationship to it. The phenomenon of Web 2.0, which was bound to happen, can be seen as the dawn of self-consciousness of Web users, finally realizing that the internet is a tool to be used, an extension of their own minds- thus we see Web 2.0 characterized by things like mashups, blogs and other web tools, because it is essentially a feedback loop between the internet and its users.
Where this loop might lead is wildly intriguing, because the Web-User feedback loop is almost like the loop that exists in the individual human, between experience and mind- we call it learning. Can the internet be a pathway to a planetary mind? Can it "learn"? As digital media converge, will the internet extend into the physical realm? How? Will we all be connected to it? As Gibson predicted, will we have "brain jacks" to plug into a vast neural net? What implications does this have for human economic, social, cultural and political life? How about our relationship with the planet itself and other species? And, closer to the here and now, what does all this mean for libraries?
I think Wendy Schultz, in the article To a Temporary Place in Time, has the right kind of idea. I think ultimately the library will become as much a virtual space as a brick-and-mortar location. What bothers me, however, is how much the non-commercial, independent library will have to be sacrificed on the way to that goal. The purpose of public libraries has been to provide for an freely informed citizenry, because knowledgable citizens can make free choices at the polls, which is good for democracy (which, unfortunately, we no longer have...but I digress); Jefferson felt that the cost of these institutions should be subsumed by the government and not by private interests, since only in this way can unbiased info be provided to all. But now, since government is essentially run by private interests, I wonder how long free library services will be around. And with the cuts in state money, libraries are now forced to compete with other organizations for corporate donations, and corporate money is rarely given without strings. But technology is pricey, and we must make tough decisions as to how we use the money we get- technology is a tool for humans, after all, and we have to be careful that we do not sacrifice the human element for the technological one. As the Cluetrain Manifesto says, transactions are conversations, and you can't have a conversation with a machine...yet.
You know, I could go on for days about this, but I'm gonna shut up now.
The history of human evolution is puncuated by the successive development of new tools, which from an anthropological perspective consist quite literally of more and more refined physical extensions of the human body. Tools allow us to do things that we could not do given just our natural bodies (although the development of tools itself would seem to be a natural occurrence in the animal world). Prior to the digital age, however, the tools of humanity consisted of physical extensions; the computer represented the formation of a tool designed to extend mental faculties and operations utilizing purely physical means (we will not get into the ongoing "nature of the mind" debate here). And while the physical aspects of computing simultaneously shrink in size and expand in power- to the point of incorporating the weirdness of quantum physics- the verbal and conceptual plane of computing (as eptomized by the Web) is evolving. Being based on words and images brings the internet inevitably into the library domain (since libraries are about information, which is expressed in words and images). Words and images, of course, are the very tools of human mental life.
There is something very interesting going on with the Web, though, and this phenomenon has been given the name Web 2.0. The internet had previously been something of a one-way conversation, with people looking at the web as though it were TV or something. Then the commercial side starting gathering info on the surfing (and searching) habits of people in order to determine what they wanted, and the result was, of course, Stuff to Buy and Sex- which is what the internet has a lot of. In this sense, the internet was already forming itself into a reflection of the human mind, but the people using it still had an essentially passive, almost unconscious, relationship to it. The phenomenon of Web 2.0, which was bound to happen, can be seen as the dawn of self-consciousness of Web users, finally realizing that the internet is a tool to be used, an extension of their own minds- thus we see Web 2.0 characterized by things like mashups, blogs and other web tools, because it is essentially a feedback loop between the internet and its users.
Where this loop might lead is wildly intriguing, because the Web-User feedback loop is almost like the loop that exists in the individual human, between experience and mind- we call it learning. Can the internet be a pathway to a planetary mind? Can it "learn"? As digital media converge, will the internet extend into the physical realm? How? Will we all be connected to it? As Gibson predicted, will we have "brain jacks" to plug into a vast neural net? What implications does this have for human economic, social, cultural and political life? How about our relationship with the planet itself and other species? And, closer to the here and now, what does all this mean for libraries?
I think Wendy Schultz, in the article To a Temporary Place in Time, has the right kind of idea. I think ultimately the library will become as much a virtual space as a brick-and-mortar location. What bothers me, however, is how much the non-commercial, independent library will have to be sacrificed on the way to that goal. The purpose of public libraries has been to provide for an freely informed citizenry, because knowledgable citizens can make free choices at the polls, which is good for democracy (which, unfortunately, we no longer have...but I digress); Jefferson felt that the cost of these institutions should be subsumed by the government and not by private interests, since only in this way can unbiased info be provided to all. But now, since government is essentially run by private interests, I wonder how long free library services will be around. And with the cuts in state money, libraries are now forced to compete with other organizations for corporate donations, and corporate money is rarely given without strings. But technology is pricey, and we must make tough decisions as to how we use the money we get- technology is a tool for humans, after all, and we have to be careful that we do not sacrifice the human element for the technological one. As the Cluetrain Manifesto says, transactions are conversations, and you can't have a conversation with a machine...yet.
You know, I could go on for days about this, but I'm gonna shut up now.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Thang 14
OK, so I checked out Technorati a little more and it's pretty cool, I guess. Honestly, I find it much more fun to do a blog than to read them, for the most part, but Technorati definitely has it's uses, what with the 84 kajillion blogs out there.
Anyway, did the search thing for "library 2.0" and got different results for each search, which stands to reason, although there was some overlap between the Posts search and the Tags search. Viewing the favorites was interesting- I'll admit I figured stupid entertainment crap would dominate, but many of the favorites were tech oriented (boingboing being no. 1, of course), with a dash of politics. But the nod to good ol' predictable humanity was epitomized in "popular searches", where the "secret" sex film of a South American model was of great interest...
I also done claimed mah blog, and I have the widget on the right to prove it. So there.
Anyway, did the search thing for "library 2.0" and got different results for each search, which stands to reason, although there was some overlap between the Posts search and the Tags search. Viewing the favorites was interesting- I'll admit I figured stupid entertainment crap would dominate, but many of the favorites were tech oriented (boingboing being no. 1, of course), with a dash of politics. But the nod to good ol' predictable humanity was epitomized in "popular searches", where the "secret" sex film of a South American model was of great interest...
I also done claimed mah blog, and I have the widget on the right to prove it. So there.
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