Social Bookreading

So this is one of the things we learned in our library 2.0 class and it was really helpful in many other classes we took that year. We looked at LibraryThing, Shelfari, and GoodReads and I'm going to break down the merits of each, but I warn you I have a clear bias towards GoodReads.

So LibraryThing is the "thing" that we were given, so it gets to to first. The benefits of this one over the others is that it has full MARC coding, and is targeted to small libraries. The downside is that it is quite clunky to use, searching for series with the same title is time consuming and frustrating. Also I quickly used up my 250 book limit and was unwilling to pay further, even though it isn't much money. So in short I think this is mostly useful for small specialized libraries that need lots of detail and searchability, or that use it for cataloguing.

Shelfari is by far the prettiest of the three, and if you look to your left you will see that it is used on my blog to keep track of what books I talk about. I love the visual nature of it! It gives you a picture of a shelf and allows you to fill it with book covers. It is compatible with many other programs (not sure if it's owned by Google) and looks nice but I don't use it much for the social aspect. It is used by my book club to keep track of our reviews.

GoodReads! I love it like I love chocolate (Almost). It is big, it is easy to use, it also gives book covers but also lists title and author and other important info. You can also stalk favorite authors, many of whom have pages on GoodReads that they use to talk to fans. There are also user generated lists (best Gothic fiction, best characters you love to hate), trivia, and quotes.

As far as using it as a social media I can't talk much about that since I've moves almost exclusively to GoodReads and haven't used the others in this area much. I do know that GoodReads gives you recommendations and lets you know what friends are reading, but I don't know about the others. What I recommend is trying each and seeing which works best for you. Happy reading, and feel free to "friend" me.

Wordle the turtle walked in a cloud

So I'm a big geek, and I decided to use wordle to make a cloud of Jane Austin's "Persuasion." I honestly expected a lot of oldtimey words but I forgot how much of the book is people talking about other people and so most of my cloud is made of names. I did manage to make the colours and fonts look regency like, or an approximation of it at least. I also made one of my blog page which was much nicer, but it didn't even show the word manga, a hint that I need to get back with the program I think.

Goodbye flickr

The first of my things to lose my interest, simple because I can't find my account. At least I still have my photos backed up on my laptop. Maybe I'll try Picasa instead, and post them again. Until then I'll use flickr to find photographs to look at, but won't share my own. At least it's still a good shopping tool (look up Saskatoon and wedding cake together and decide where you'd like to go).

Youtube revisited? Maybe.

So when we did the 23 things part that involved youtube I told my self that I would never post a video. "Why," I told my self, "would anyone want to see a video I posted." It would either be too personal for a mass video site (like one of my nephews), or too boring (like a video of a hawk preening I shot from the bottom of the tree it was sitting in). But then I ran into a friend of mine yesterday, he's posted about 30 videos and one of a ladybug eating an aphid got 8,000(!) views. People actually watch these things. I think I need some time to go back and revisit the old applications now that we're more familiar with some of the others. I know I'd like to get better at merging them together more seamlessly.

Now I never need to be lost again (except in thought)

I love this weeks thing! I am notorious for getting lost, my friend used to joke about me getting lost in my back yard. Mostly joke. I think I'm going to use this to plan my summer vacations/ trips to see friends weddings. I can look for fun things to do and build my own walking tour. I'm also using it as a restaurant guide for my friends. Places we've been before and might like to go again. I seriously love having the control over the map, instead of the other way around.

Frustration thy name is...

So I love how much there is to learn through the 23 things. I really think I can use some of the things in my daily life on line and am thinking of getting a phone that will let me do the things while mobile. Here's the kicker though: I wanted to integrate the things more, add them to my blog or to each other. But I can't! After spending a half hour trying to remember my flicker login and password and another looking for blogger widgets of out things I' giving up for now.

But I will be back, oh yes... (evil cackling laugh)

Diigo

I like Diigo so far, it's nice to be able to bookmark from anywhere and know you have access at home. I've been using that feature on StumbleUpon, but then I get sucked in to a whirlpool of unproductivity and before I know it two days have passed. (For those who don't know StumbleUpon is a program that sends you user generated content about things you find interesting).

I like being able to link things that I don't want to lose but also can't read at work because it's work time and not fun time. Even if I book them at my work computer it's not likely that I'll come back to read them since it's almost always work time at work. :)

I'm not a student anymore, but I can see how using this as a research tool would be pretty awesome. I was in the generation that did a lot of reading on line but before tools like this and OneNote existed. Too bad, but we made it through anyway. I think as time passes and the world gets more electronic that tools that combine the ease of use of paper and the availability of electronic media will get more popular.

Vote mobs

During the last election, when I was still a student, the feeling on campus was one of hopelessness and apathy. People felt that voting was useless because change wouldn't happen, no matter the amount of effort put in by the "common people." I was sure this election would have more of the same (only 30% of youth voted last time) until I saw the videos of Vote Mobs. Here is the link to the video. I wanted to embed it but it kept crashing my blog, but please take the time to watch it. It's just this incredible thrilling feeling to watch the youth of the nation rise up for a cause.

Dah dha dha dah inspector widget

For those of you reading this please look to the right of this post. This is my shelfari widget, it allows me to update and display my shelfari shelf list to my blog. Since this was originally a book blog that tool is really handy for readers who might be interested in picking up or searching for the books I talk about. I also have widgets on my computer at home, one is a stick note for reminders and one is a slide show of photos saved to my lap top memory. I kind of like having the ability to customize a web page to my specifics, or to the needs of the page's visitors.

I feel like a twit 'cause I don't know how to tweet

This is the first thing that really made me feel lost. I went on twitter, signed up, found some people to follow (am I a duckling now?) and then what? I found the help section and they spend most of the time talking about how it's a great way to find info really quickly. What? Most people use twitter as a way of sending things out, not to bring things in. Have they all been using it wrong? Or does twitter have high expectations? I tried to use it to find info like the help guide suggested and while the actual tweets aren't that useful the ability to use them to reference other online articles works pretty well. Anyone how wants can send me a message, just add @kem248 in it and it should show up. I think. Maybe.

Sock puppets before they were puppets

That's right a blog about socks. Those who have seen me recently may have noticed my nifty new leg wear, and some of you have asked where I got them. The answer is an online sock store called sock theory http://www.socktheory.com/ . It has all kinds of socks from stockings and tights to tiny anklets. It even has socks shaped like sharks, or pencils. Give it a look see if you're interested.

That old book of faces

I feel very ambivalent about Facebook. On the one hand it is a good tool for keeping track of people who don't live nearby, or people you used to know but now don't really want to catch up with but still want to find out how they are doing. On the other hand Facebook has stated (as a corporation) that they don't believe in privacy and that they basically own everything you post until the end of forever. Now maybe it's just a life time of living with tech-savvy and paranoid people but that really creeps me out big time. If you do something, and someone takes a picture and posts it, then that picture exists on the net until the end of time. It's one thing to say don't do anything stupid, but shouldn't people be aloud a youthful indiscretion or two without it ruining career chances well into adulthood?

I did use Facebook to plan my wedding, and boy did it make life so much easier. I got in touch with my husband's family with only a few button clicks. Things are easy to plan and carry out on Facebook, which is why flashmobs use it. But all of this only happens if people use it. Facebook was the default social media for several years, now that it's starting to splinter will the new sources be as useful?

I guess the most important part of enjoying Facebook is to put more into it. If you ignore it for weeks then you will be ignored upon return. Check it every hour and you have a thriving Facebook life. Me, I'd rather live IRL then in Facebook but I'm old fashioned that way.