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.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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".
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......
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.....
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.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Spell with Flickr - Thing #5
I can't believe it but hey, I did it. No blogging here - just practicing. Could be a cool way to do graphics for a variety of things - on a blog or otherwise.
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