Thing 40 - Mashups

more on mashups- web page applications that combine data or functionality from two or more external sources to creat a new service - like adding maps from googlemaps to add location info to real estate data
created the above letters on Flickr - did this in the original 23 things - very cool

watched the video on mashups -
checked out lunchbox.com - you can put in your zip code and find restaurants with maps - did this for Nfld - read some of the reviews for some of the Nfld establishments

www.walkscore.com - this is another one that uses maps - you can put in an address and find out if that place has good stuff within walking distance - coffee shops, libraries, restaurants, bookstores, other services, etc.

Thing 37 - Flickr and photos

I created a Flickr account and have been trying to work with pictures in the Creative Commons section of Flickr. I did download a picture and a slideshow - theya re in the previous post though. I don't have a digital camera I can work with so am trying to understand how to use the common pictures.

Thing 36 - Comic Relief - generators

Hey - I created a tiny tag and added to my blog.

This was from a graph generator

This is as far as I've gotten playing around with generators.

Thing 46 - Webjunction

Webjunction is an online community for library staff in MN. I had heard about this earlier. I did create an account. I checked the calendar of events and the course catalog. All good info here - lots of good, free courses to take on a variety of topics.

Thing 43 - Online TV and Video

I explored Hulu and Joost. I knew you could go online to view last night's edition of Grays anatomy or the Office but I wasn't sure where you did this. I thought it was on the network website and maybe this is one way to do it. Looks like these sites are a mish mash of new and older stuff. You can watch old reruns of Mary Tyler Moore on Hulu. If you sign up you can get updates on new shows, etc. I know younger people who do watch regular broadcast shows online if they don't have a TV nearby or it doesn't work with their schedules. I always thought you would need to have a Tivo to tape shows but now I'm not sure you need that.
What is the impact of free video on the internet on Broadcast or Cable TV? In some ways, it is like free advertising for them.
How does it impact me or my family? The main thing is we are not bound to a particular TV schedule.

Things 44 - Economy

Wow! Lots of sites for learning about money and ways to save money in these hard economic times!
Mymoney.gov - good section for kids - interesting section called "Moneymath - lessons for life" - the first lesson was called " The secret to becoming a millionaire" - ......

There were, however, better sections on starting a small business, responding to life events like the birth of a child, a death, name change, foreclosure, etc.
Investing - a good beginner's guide
Calculators - these are good for people looking to decide what is a better option: rent vs buy?
or to calculate whether you are having enough money withheld in your taxes; there was one for college planning.
Banking - whatbills.com - this site is free and you can sign up to get emails to remind you when your bills are due
Fuel economy - you can find out the cheapest place to get gas in your area - mostly in the Twin Cities - but you can get average prices for MN
Cell Phone rates - myrateplan.com = just put in your zip and you can compare rates - beats driving all over creation
Penny pinching - Frugaldad.com - lots of good ideas for surviving a recession
Freecycle - I checked and there is a group for Northern Rice County - 630 members
Gardening - interesting web site on starting a victory garden; a forum for MN gardeners on gardenweb.

I really liked the frugaldad.com and gardening sites - lots of interaction among members to give advice.

Thing 34 - Online Answer Sites

This was very interesting - How has the web affected reference service? What is the future of librarians? I went to a session at MLA last fall on reference service in the age of google. Sort of the same idea. You do kind of wonder why on earth anyone would call the library when they can get an answer online without leaving home. But, when I checked some of the online answer sites just now, I see there are some that had zero answers. What do people do if no one replies to their question? I can see people, especially ones who already use the library, might think they could get a quicker response if they just called the ref desk. On the other hand, people might feel their question is "too dumb" to ask. And there is just the fact that people are becoming "internet junkies". If it's on the web, they will find it. What you read is that libraries are becoming more than a place to go to for information - they are gathering places.
As for the future of the reference desk - one funny quote said "his fear is people telling him what to do "when they pry my cold dead fingers off of it" - the ref desk.
Web 2.0 - 3 common characteristics - 1. Personalization 2.Interactivity 3. Social networking - all 3 are relevant in libraries.

"Web 2.0 is good , not because it makes the library more like the web, but because it is making the web more like libraries".

"Reference librarians are the library's human face and a gateway to an entire social network of library users".

One person said good libraries have web accessible collections and people who know how to index and search them.

Slam boards - librarians who invade the various web answer sites monthly to answer as many questions they can using authoritative sources - good pr for libraries.

What is the appeal of an online answer site - don't have to leave home; you trust people doing the same kind of stuff you are - ie. gardeners, travelers, antique hunters, fellow parents, etc.
I looked at some with career questions and decorating .

Thing 35 Books 2.0

I browsed around these sites mostly. Didn't join. I saw various sites for help starting a book group or having an online book group. Even Target has a site for helping create a book group. I thought it looked kind of weak. I guess the main emphasis for this section was to say that although people say the book is dead, it really is not by looking at all of this interactive activity on the web.

There are all kinds of "book" sites - book swap sites, book rentals, free audiobooks on Librivox, reading group guides, organizing your own personal library on Librarything.

Thing 33 - Travel 2.0

I'm jumping to something that REALLY interests me - TRAVEL!!!
Since I've been using tripadvisor for years this seems at home to me... until I read some of the articles and found that there are a lot of other good sites to check out. For now, I'll just review what travel 2.0 is - sites that are all about sharing - it is the interactive nature of these that is appealing. Sort of like a wiki - you can comment and have input. Tripadvisor has 3.5 million users - they say it is "real stories from real travelers". I would agree. The forums are active so people can get quick answers. The site is owned by expedia which I did not know. According to tripadvisor they have a way of detecting fraudulent reviews and even if a few get through there are enough "real" ones that travelers can tell by reading a bunch of reviews on a place. My only problem is when there aren't many reviews on the smaller, out of the way places. But all in all, people think TA is pretty accurate.

Another site coming in June is farecast.com - this will help travelers decide when to buy an airline ticket by predicting the cost of future airline travel. That could be very helpful.

One of the articles listed a bunch of Travel 2.0 sites - including You tube travel - I didn't look at this.

Most travel guidebook publishers have online forums - I have used fodors.com and found this to be useful. They say one of the first and best is from Lonely Planet - Thorn Tree.

An interesting blog I found was My Kugelhopf - a food and travel writing blog from an American living in Switzerland. Now, this looked interesting - tons of good food pictures. My question is , does she get paid by anyone to do this?

Another site is gusto.com - an interactive site recommending all kinds of travel info. One of the first things I noticed was an article on a guy who completes a world trip relying on Twitter friends. This looked like a good site -lots of reviews for hotels, restaurants, etc.

If you were planning a trip - you could spend DAYS researching - the days of using one or two guidebooks is OVER. That's for sure.

Thing 27 - Twitter

Well, I don't think I will officially join twitter but I did watch the you tube video on twitter and did see a segment on the today show on twitter. I also read the blog guide to twitter as well.

Here are the things I learned about twitter:
your posts are 140 characters, the key to success is brevity, some users send out 100s of messages a day. "Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you're doing". Some people are using twitter to promote an event. I can see how this could be really fast and CHEAP advertising. It is a way for retailers to promote their latest deals. "Live blogging" and "Link sharing" gives bloggers a chance to report live from an event. One comment on the downside to twitter is that this is"yet one more example of a world obsessed with information and a constant need to be instantly gratified".

Thing 26 - Library ning

Library thing
I joined
I commented on a discussion
I joined a group
I added my ning badge to my blog
This is all I've done here......

Thing 25 - Tips for a good blog

I read some of the articles on what makes a good blog - here are some of the notes I took:
1. pick a topic you are passionate about
2. allow comments and respond
3. make it easy to subscribe - I still need to figure out the RSS thing
4. Pictures on your blog make it interesting
5. Do links on your blog - www.northfieldmn.info
6. archive by topic rather than date
7. include recent posts in your sidebar - something else I need to figure out.

All of this makes me realize I need to do some updating on my ref blog.....

Thing 24

I'm getting started back with "23 things". Since last year I have started a blog for the library here in Northfield. I haven't gotten any comments but hopefully it is a place where people go for a little more information about the library. For the "23 things" blog I have updated it a bit with a new template, new look to the avator, added some pictures and other "gadgets" to the sidebar. I definitely feel more comfortable doing this and am getting some one on one help from my expert student worker from St. Olaf.