A poem from Google Docs

Thing 18

Mother to Son

by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor-

Bare.

But all the time

I'se been a-climben' on

And reachin landin's,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark

Where there ain't been no light.

So boy, don't you turn back.

Don't set you down on the steps

'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.

Don't you fall now-

For I'se still goin' honey,

I'se still climben',

And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Playing in the Sandbox

Thing 17

I jumped into the Sandbox feet first! It was not all that simple the way the instructions said, but it was fun. I was confused between adding my own blog, Pooh's Place and then adding a new wiki page for Favorite Things, which turned out to be Favorite Dogs of course. Good thing I am not a cat in the sand box!

Wiki world...

Thing 16

Wiki's are nice. They might even be better than blogs. But I would not use a wiki to find specific facts or scholarly information. I have had several students tell me they are not allowed to use Wikipedia for any reports. The teachers do not consider it to be reliable. I agree. If everyone in the world can go into it and make changes it is bound to have mistakes or information that is too subjective in it.
I liked the Book Lovers' wiki. I can see any library using that as a way for people to comment on their favorite books. Maybe we could set one up for "The Big Read"?
The subject guide wiki from St Joseph Co. Public Library was good. But I wonder how many librarians actually contribute to it? Do just a few people end up having to keep it going and up-to-date?
The New Orleans ALA wiki was very good. It was helpful for those who needed to know what they were supposed to be doing and finding out where things were.
So wiki's are good for large groups of people to be able to contribute to a specific topic and keep it up-to-date.
Finally I like the word wiki because it is an actual real word from Hawaii meaning to go quickly...wiki wiki!

Boing Boing

Thing 14

After my last tirade against tag makers and bloggers, I took one more look at the "boing boing" blog and found some fascinating and very funny articles from around the world. This was found in Technorati, which I have decided is not so bad; easier than using Del-icio-us. They have good lists of Favorites and Popular blogs.

I especially enjoyed watching a video on the Liveblogging Chaos Communications Camp in Germany. https://events.ccc.de/camp/2007/Intro/overview.php A large group of bloggers and "hackers" and other computer pros have gathered for a huge camp-out. There are areas set up for people to compute in tents or they can just message everyone from their own tent. They also have various fun games and activities. Different tents are set up by theme and topic to make it easier to find stuff. Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun and also learning new skills from each other (one group was learning how to pick locks-really!)
Also got a good laugh from an article that said, "A widow and grandma spent the morning in jail, arrested for refusing to give a policeman her name when he tried writing her a ticket for failing to water her yard." Linked in boing boing: http://www.reason.com/blog/show/121852.html
Boing Boing is now one of my favorite blogs!

UN-Del-icio-us

Thing 13

I'm sorry. I just can't deal with all these links and tags and millions of bloggers. I read through and looked at Del-icio-us and I just don't see the point. Also Technorati. Do we really need to have hundreds of tags to find a few blogs? There are some nice blogs/websites on these places but I don't really need to find so many. Isn't there an easier way to find a few blogs? Does Google search for them? Even if I attach my own blog to one of these things, I doubt that many people would get much out of it.

The other thing is that all this techno language is becoming a bit much for me.

Words I have learned about today (and other days): tags, wii, widgets, clouds, wiki, folksonomy, social bookmarking, wii, boing boing (a nice blog). The idea behind all these things (to help people connect with one another?) is a nice one. But it feels like an awful lot of work just to get it all set up and then more time to keep checking everything you want to connect to. This is the same way I felt about the RSS feeds. Isn't it just as easy to bookmark the sites you like under Favorites on your browser?

Also I don't like having to read blogs, email or any site where the person can't take the time to spell simple words correctly (I'm not talking about shortened IM words like "r u ok?") I mean really misspelled words. It seems more and more acceptable to write as fast as you can and make as many mistakes as you want.

Guess I'm getting old and cranky!!!

Rollyo

Thing 12

Created a Rollyo search engine. I only put a few websites in the search box for genealogical searches. This is the first tool I have used that I can see a possible use for the library! It could be created for special assignments that students need (temporarily) or for projects staff are working on. Maybe to create special booklists or look for ideas for library programs, crafts, etc.

LibraryThing

Thing 11

Created the beginnings of my own library catalog with LibraryThing. So where did my link go?
Huh???? Why does it take so long to load? And now the link is being blocked by BCPL's wonderful filter. see right side

Thanks for the help

I must thank the fellow blogger who showed me how to use html to add pics to my posts!
What fun:))))))))))))))

peeps on patrol.....

pooh!

close your blog and your email or we get peeped off!

das peepenburgens

Simpsonized...

Thing 10

Another picture of my wonderful owner Sue.
This is how she looks when she goes to work at the library!
She looks completely different at home;) See avatar on the right...
Donut lover Librarian created with Generator Blog.