Week 5, Thing #11: LibraryThing

LibraryThing is a cool resource-not only a way to organize and catalog one's own books, but a sort of social networking site for bibliophiles. (As some descriptive narrative states, a "myspace for books". The list of Groups on LibraryThing is immense! The groups form a virtual community of book lovers, providing opportunity for book discussion, and readers advisory. I checked the Historical Fiction group, and got some good ideas to add to my "to be read" list. The site has over 227,672 members.

I added my library to this post, but also added a "blog widget". I like how this looks much better, and it is always available for visitors to my blog.

I visited the LibraryThing Blog, and there were bloggers posting from ALA!
The posted linked to a site called the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase, an "unconference" at ALA. Lots of cutting edge Library 2.0 stuff!

http://showcase.litablog.org/index.php/Main_Page

Check out the site!

Week 5, Thing #10: Avatars

Well, here is my Avatar! I really like the dress. It took a bit of looking around to find out how to post to the blog. I thought that the Wikipedia article on Avatars was interesting, and gives a concise overview. It is interesting that the word "avatar" comes from the Sanskrit meaning "incarnation" and usually refers to (according to Wikipedia) "the deliberate descent of an immortal or divine being into the mortal realm for a special purpose".

Week 5: Play with Picnik.com

Original Photo on the left, sepia photo on right (picnik enhancement).

As a result of Library 2.0, I am more aware of articles in the newspaper that reference technology or new websites, etc. In the Baltimore Sun "Plugged In" section today, there was an article about a photo editing website that is free, and very easy to use. It is http://www.picnik.com/. I tried it out, and it was really easy to manipulate a saved photo (size, "red-eye", color, clarity, etc.). The article compares the site to Abode's Photoshop.

I used a sepia treatment to make the photo look "antique", and you can see the results. Try out this cool site!

Week 5: Play Week Break!!

I had to post this photo (I am having just too much fun searching Flickr for squirrel photos.) The photo was titled "Squirrels Play".

Next task, creating an Avatar!

Week 5, Thing # 10: More Play!

I used another generator called a sketch generator, and it was pretty cool. I still like the Andy Warhol generator best, however. I like the way that this black and white illustration looks. I might think of a way to make stationery with it!

All of these tools are just more ways for people to be creative and artistic. It is amazing how much is available through the web. I really had no idea. This play time has opened my eyes to lots of cool sites. I might have to make some creations and send them to my daughters. They would be quite impressed with Mommy!

Here is the URL for this generator:

http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php

Week 5, Thing # 10: Play Time!!

I used a generator called a "Warholizer"-what would Andy think of these pop art squirrels!
I am going to investigate some more generators. Some require a Flickr account, which I have not set up yet.

Here is the URL for this generator: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/warholizer.php

Week 4, Thing # 9: MERLIN

MERLIN-Maryland's Essential Resources for Library Information Networks. Wow! I had not been aware of this resource for information sharing (note the squirrels in the photo above are sharing information, too!) I was particularly impressed by the list of Learning Links. These short tutorials, from Blogs, to Gaming, to Podcasting, etc. are really on target for our self-directed learning. I plan on going back to review many of them. The Trends & Cool stuff has much to offer., even a discussion of handheld devices (we had some MP3 questions here in our library). I really appreciate this site. I was intrigued by "LibVibe", a library newscast audio.

The search tools exercise was interesting. I liked the fact that one could sort RSS feeds by date and relevance on Feedster. I was a bit confused by Topix.net, as one had to put in the city and state and then the newsfeed items all pertained to your own city. So, this really focuses your search regionally. Syndic8 provided some good vegetarian RSS info. I had to play around with the use of the FEED URL and getting it in Bloglines. Once I figured it out (had to choose the XML box, then cut and past the entire URL that appears on the top of the screen into Bloglines), it was easy. Technorati has a really good support section with a 4 page "Blogging Basics" articles that explains blogging, RSS, syndication, RSS search engines, and the relationship between blogging and journalism (a line that is getting more and more blurred).

The Technorati site has lots of information about creating "favorites", tagging, etc. There is certainly a lot to learn about Blogging and the Blogospeare! I can see that I have just scratched the surface.