Books, books, books...

Status: -25% zombie, 125% perk

Also mentioned in this week's 2.0 assignment - GoodReads - a site for keeping track of the books you read.

Here's mine.

I'm finding it pretty handy to keep track of the books I'll want to use for booktalks when I do school visits in June. Much easier than keeping a file folder of photocopied book covers...

Cheers!

Let's be friends...

Status: 14% zombie, 86% perk

Well, here we are again - Monday - must be time for my 20 for 2.0 post! I've discovered that it's best to just tackle this at the beginning of the week and get it out of the way. The weeks are very hectic, and I keep thinking it will calm down...not a chance!

So, let's see - what are we doing again this week? Oh yes - Friend Networks. Hmmm...think I've been there already. Let me check.

Oh yes - I have a MySpace site. I've had it for a while, and don't do much with it but do check it regularly. Not too long ago one of my friends from Library school tracked me down there, so that was cool. I occasionally check to see if I can find people I know from high school, but so far I haven't found anybody that I'd actually like to make contact with. I definitely DO NOT use MySpace for making new friends. My primary use is to keep track of the bands that I like, find out if they are playing in town, and maybe listen to a few songs to check out a new band. I did recently "pimp" my site (that is such a silly term - since I actually didn't get any money in my pocket from it) - added a new flowery background, and a couple of photo slide shows. But, as with anything, if you want to keep your site nice it takes time to maintain it.

I suppose people like social networking sites because it is an easy way to meet people. It can be frustrating to meet people in person - around here my only choices are the bar or the library...right. By going online I can cut straight to a group of people that share a common interest with me - music and/or photography. That is a very big deal, actually - no filtering through a lot of people to find a few that I really like. Just filtering through a few...saves time - and money!

There is one downfall to social networking - no matter what site you're on, if you're there long enough, you will witness some sort of drama between people. My general policy is to not get involved - and that works quite well! But it is there, always will be there, and as hard as you try to avoid it, sometimes you might be sucked in a little bit. But by and far the majority of people I've met online are not drama-causers. They are actually very nice, and aren't leeches or criminals of some sort. I think those folks are hanging out in places where, sadly, they can easily find vulnerable targets. But then - the same thing can happen when you meet people in person as well. Crap TV likes to make a big fuss over the dangers of the internet, but most folks are just like you and me and looking to have a nice time. As long as you've got a brain and some common sense, you'll be fine. There are bad people out there doing bad things, but they are a very small percentage who just happen to get all of the attention. After all, people just making friends doesn't bring big ratings, does it? Kind of...mundane and normal, really.

Without further ado, here is my experience with social networking...

It all started with MOG (see my streaming music post for more on that). There, I met a number of nice people that all have a common interest - music. When MOG started having, shall we say, growing pains, a bunch of us moved over to a new site that offered a bit more variety - it was easier to socialize there, and get to know people. After a while, it's pretty easy to tell who you like and who you don't like, and you can maintain your contact list accordingly. Every now and then somebody ventures out and discovers a new site, then brings it back and shares with the group. People scurry over there to give it a try, and ultimately a smaller number of people stick with it.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Maybe not - I have essentially narrowed down my group of online friends to a small group of people that I really enjoy spending time with - unfortunately we just all happen to live far-flung across the country and even overseas. I have other online acquaintances that I still maintain some contact with (generally through commenting on their posts, or them on mine). I can easily imagine our group sitting around the campfire swapping stories one day soon...it's just the logistics that are a bugger.

Here's the deal though - I'M DONE. No more new social networking sites for me. I have enough friends to keep me happy. I'm more interested in quality - not quantity. I am officially boycotting Facebook, and Twitter, and any other sites that want to suck me in. I've officially hit my social networking wall!

I'd say it all worked out for me rather well though...

More Flickr fun...

Status: 27% zombie, 83% perk

Just a few more things I enjoy about Flickr...

• People - If you spend much time at all on Flickr, you'll eventually find particular photographers whose work you enjoy. As you leave comments, or as other people leave comments on your photos, you get to know people a little bit better. There are of course jerks and creeps - no different from the people we encounter in our daily lives. The only difference is, if you aren't comfortable with somebody on Flickr, you can block them from leaving comments on your photos! Can't do that with the people that walk through the library door...
• Organization - photos can be organized into sets and collections. I haven't used the collection feature much, but I do use the set option frequently. It's a handy way of presenting related photos, perhaps for a special event or on a particular theme. Here's my set from the Seattle Zombie Walk last fall.
• Groups - groups can be fun and addictive. You can join a group, then post your photos that fit the theme or specifications. Some of my favorites are the Monthly Scavenger Hunt, and Stick Figures in Peril (only look if you have a lot of time to spend and can laugh out loud without disturbing anyone). You can find a group about anything you can think of (yes, even those things...)

Cheers!

I am a Flickr freak...

Status: 110% perk

I like to take photos - most people know that about me. But they may not know that I just really took up photography fairly recently - within the last four years. Anyhow, a while back a friend suggested I might like Flickr. Ha! Once I got going, I was ADDICTED.

Here is a link to my Flickr account, Librarianguish. Normally the photo above would link directly to the page, but Blogger layout squished part of the photo off the side.

I liked it so much, I even wrote a poem about it...


Oh how I swoon for thee Flickr!
I post my photos – faster – quickr
I am obsessed…all the people snickr
I’ll take photos of everything
From a basket of wickr to a clock (called a tickr)
You cannot stop me!
And that is the kickr
Just try it yourself, there’s no need to bickr
Be a camera clickr!
Whether you’re a nose pickr, city slickr, or even boot lickr
Sharing photos is slickr with Flickr!


Sooooo...where was I? Oh yeah - I think I'll go for option two on this weeks assignment.

1. Create a free Flickr account - CHECK! Did that on October 2nd, 2005. I was thinking way ahead for this.
2. Use a digital camera to capture a few photos - CHECK! Carry one with me just about everywhere I go - you never know what you might see.
3. Upload your photos to Flickr and tag at least one - CHECK! 23,024 times!
4. Write a blog post about my photo and the experience of getting it uploaded to Flickr - CHECK! Well, I'm doing that right now, so it's almost a check.

About that photo...last week I and a couple of friends attended the Ghostland Observatory show at the Showbox Theatre near Pike Place Market in Seattle. One thing that I've discovered is I really enjoy taking photos of live music performances. Fortunately my friend is rather type A about getting in the front for shows, so we always have a really good spot. I really think that this time I personally had just about the best spot of all. Ghostland Observatory puts on one of the best live performances I have ever seen - the lead singer, Aaron Behrens, is incredibly charismatic and really draws the entire crowd into the show. And if you're in the front, like we were, you really get a special treat as he likes to walk back and forth at the front of the stage and reach out to touch people. People like to touch him as well - and not just the women. EVERYBODY wants to touch him. There is something very other-worldly about him. But I digress. Back to the photo - the lights and lasers made for a bit of tricky photography, but when things came together...WOW. This is one of my favorites from the show.

And about my experience uploading the photo... I use the uploader tool so I can upload big batches of photos at once. It takes a bit of time to get them into the tool - I often crop and adjust photos as I go, and sometimes add titles, descriptions, and tags - but once they're there I can just let it run all night. It's a very spiffy tool. Occasionally it glitches and stops running, but it's a minor detail when I can get a lot of photos uploaded in one fell swoop.

So - there you have it. Actually, I could go on quite a bit longer about Flickr, so I'll write another post later this week about the fun features and social aspects of the site.

It's time for me to go home - walking today, and I have my camera...maybe I'll see somthing to take a photo of!

Cheers!

Music to my ears...

Status: 100% perk!!! (zombie is on holiday)

Anybody that knows me well knows that I am completely music obsessed. I have music playing as much as possible. I don't watch television, and I rarely watch movies because that would mean turning off the music!

So this week's "assignment" was really completed long before it got started.

It just so happens that I already have accounts with LastFM and MOG. I also listen to streaming radio from time to time, primarily KEXP or BCB radio. WFMU also comes highly recommended, though I have yet to give it a try (too many good choices!)

As you can imagine then, I'm a big fan of online music listening of one sort or another. I'll just kind of run through my experience with the various things I've mentioned, and a couple of others, too.

MOG

Music is social - no question about it. I was introduced to MOG over a year ago, and used to spend a fair bit of time there. It is essentially a blog with a music focus. People write about their favorite artists or songs, shows they've been to, post videos, and sometimes even share the more hideous things they come across out there (believe you me, there is some REALLY SCARY music available in the world). I quickly met a lot of nice people with similar interests, including a friend that I now go to shows with from time to time who happened to go to high school with on of my college roommates - small world! In fact, some of the people that I met on MOG have essentially become my online community - the friends I choose to spend my time with online and in person, when possible. MOG opened up the world to me - and let's face it - Oak Harbor is not exactly a hotbed of music and other culture. I've been introduced to a lot of great music through the posts I've read on MOG.

MOG does have a few drawbacks, however - enough to cause quite a few of us to venture elsewhere to a top-secret, undisclosed location for our online socializing. See that cute, fluffy little bunny up there? That's Schloopy. Schloopy is THE MOST HATED fluffy bunny in the world - because when Schloopy arrives, it means MOG is down. For whatever reason, MOG seems to have technical difficulties more often than other sites. It can be very frustrating to create a post then have it just disappear into the ether. I think MOG has troubles with growing pains, so every time there is a big influx of people the site crashes. They also recently changed the music listening aspect, and for full listening you are required to have a subscription to...ha! I forget which service. The MOG-O-MATIC software which keeps track of the music in your personal library and what you've listened too sucks up a lot of computer resources. If you have a large music library, it cause all sorts of problems. I just occassionally download it for a couple of days to update everything, then get rid of it.

Overall opinion - MOG can be a great place to discover new music, but there will be a few bumps along the way.

LastFM

I'll admit - I like LastFM not so much for the streaming capabilities and social aspects, but because I am a statistics geek. That's right - I just like to know which artists I've listened to the most, how many times per week, and the overall listen count since I joined. Very geeky, yes?

I can write blog posts there if I want, but don't find it at all necessary. Noooo - I just want to know

HOW MANY HOW OFTEN HOW MUCH!

It's really pretty cool - and then I can add widgets here and there to share my geekery~~ see my widget over there to the right!


STREAMING RADIO


KEXP is the king when it comes to streaming radio. They have been at it for a long time, and have it down. They run a real-time playlist, which is archived so you can track down songs you may have heard in your car while out and about. They also archive all shows for two weeks, so if you miss your favorite you can go back and listen later. I usually just listen on the computer at home on Friday nights for my favorite show - Shake the Shack. Nothing like some rockabilly to start your weekend!

So there you have it. Online music - I'm a fan!

Oh dear...

I almost forgot to add my status in that last post!


1% zombie, 99% perk

RSSsssssssss

Last night while talking to a friend about RSS feeds, I had an epiphany (I never used to like the word "epiphany" but that is besides the point). RSS feeds are sort of like turbo-charged magazines.

I am a magazine junky. I subscribe to a few, buy them often, and sometimes eventually cut them to bits for art. I like the glossy photos, and the excitement when a new magazine arrives in the mail or I see it on the newstand at the store. They come once a month, or even every other month, allowing me plenty of time to enjoy the articles, pictures, and even the classified ads in the back. I can carry them with me, and read them in spare moments I might have throughout the day (very rare, but they do occur!).

Fast forward to RSS - a constant stream of information from all of your favorite websites...and then some. I have toyed around with RSS feeds in the past, and have a Newsgator account languishing around somewhere. It's probably blown up from being overstuffed by unread feeds. I find RSS to be a bit overwhelming for me, especially if when I didn't keep up with it. Some of the sites I selected spit out 30+ posts a day - AAAACK!

INFORMATION OVERLOAD!

The idea behind RSS feeds is great - keep up with all of the information you need in one spot, when it comes out. Rather than checking in at the various sites each day for new content, have it sent to you. Okay - I get that. But the truth is there are only a few sites I check in with every day, and I want to go TO the site - not receive the information in a sterile little reading window. Perhaps it's the equivalent of holding the magazine in my hands - I want to experience the site as it is designed to be experienced.

So I set up an RSS feed, and suddenly feel the pressure to keep up with it. No thanks. I suppose it would be useful if one was required to keep up to date on a particular topic, and needed to know what was going on right away. But here at work, and at home, I don't really find that to be a necessity. If it's really important - somebody will tell me. They can photocopy an article and leave it in my mailbox, or send me an link in an email. That way, if somebody knows me well enough they will know what it is I'm interested in...you get the picture. I've got my bloglines feed set up for this assignment, but didn't add much to it. A few "word of the day" sites, a site that tells me where in the world there have been earthquakes over 5.0 (note that both of those types of feeds have very small bits of information associated with them), and a couple of librarian sites. I'm not particularly impressed with the format for reading feeds though, and again, would probably be happier just visiting the sites when I want to.

But that's the great thing about all of these different applications, and getting to learn about them - we can decide what works for us, and what doesn't, and MOVE ON!

Now - before I go - a few things for you to think about with regards to information overload. I wrote an article in June of 2005 called Information Inflation (good heavens, was it that long ago?). Here are some statistics worth pondering, from the How Much Information? 2003 report by researchers at Berkeley:

Table 1.1: How Big is an Exabyte?

Kilobyte (KB)

1,000 bytes OR 103bytes

2 Kilobytes: A Typewritten page.

100 Kilobytes: A low-resolution photograph.

Megabyte (MB)
1,000,000 bytes OR 106 bytes

1 Megabyte: A small novel OR a 3.5 inch floppy disk.

2 Megabytes: A high-resolution photograph.

5 Megabytes: The complete works of Shakespeare.

10 Megabytes: A minute of high-fidelity sound.

100 Megabytes: 1 meter of shelved books.

500 Megabytes: A CD-ROM.

Gigabyte (GB)
1,000,000,000 bytes OR 109 bytes

1 Gigabyte: a pickup truck filled with books.

20 Gigabytes: A good collection of the works of Beethoven.

100 Gigabytes: A library floor of academic journals.

Terabyte (TB)
1,000,000,000,000 bytes OR 1012 bytes

1 Terabyte: 50000 trees made into paper and printed.

2 Terabytes: An academic research library.

10 Terabytes: The print collections of the U.S. Library of Congress.

400 Terabytes: National Climactic Data Center (NOAA) database.

Petabyte (PB)
1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes OR 1015 bytes

1 Petabyte: 3 years of EOS data (2001).

2 Petabytes: All U.S. academic research libraries.

20 Petabytes: Production of hard-disk drives in 1995.

200 Petabytes: All printed material.

Exabyte (EB)
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes OR 1018 bytes

2 Exabytes: Total volume of information generated in 1999.

5 Exabytes: All words ever spoken by human beings.

NO WONDER YOU FEEL SWAMPED!!!