The Mix Tape Grows Up!

This may just have usurped Musicovery as my favorite site now. And to think Musicovery usurped Woot!....well sorta. Just love making playlists that I can share with my friends, tag the artist or songs and comment as well - all very Web 2.0!

If you are interesting in my playlists I'm mlibrarianus on finetune.com
All Over The Place



Hard Hits



Broadway Bound


No One Style

OMG the coolest site ever!

Musicovery

Clicked on my StumbleUpon toolbar that I installed the other day and was greeted with this amazing site this morning. Internet music radio that allows you to select your mood (energetic, dark, calm, positive and anything in between), choose your genre or decade .... the possibilities are endless! Also you can go to Amazon, iTunes or eBay to purchase the music if you like.

The Guild - webisode from YouTube

These are just too darn funny!

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Blogs consist of 2 parts....

...and I've been busy doing the 2nd part - commenting on other blogs! I've been spending my lunch time reading my fellow 23 Thingers blogs and trying to comment. I haven't commented on everyone's yet but that is a goal I'd like to reach (we will see if I can get there before 23 Things ends).

So look around for a comment or two from me! :)

Fozzie Bear

Every time I see the word Wiki I can't help but think of Fozzie Bear from the Muppets. He would say "Woka, woka, woka" .... yeah, I know it's a stretch but for some reason Wiki sounds close to Woka and I think of him.

Anywho....I posted to the Maryland Libraries Sandbox wiki. It's not really a Wiki in the true sense of the word. To me, it's more just like people posting to a giant blog. To me a Wiki is like Wikipedia - where it is factual and people edit the pages to correct things or add more information. Most of the pages I saw on the Sandbox were like blogs - just people's opinions.

With that said - I didn't make it any better. I posted more opinion to the Favorite Dogs page. The paragraph about 3 dogs in my life and what they have given me.

Not sure I'd be the person to start a Wiki but I'd be happy to contribute to it if it was an area where I felt I had some expertise.

I know a lot of folks (including myself) pooh-pooh Wikipedia. It is not what I consider a legit site. However, it is a great place to start your researching and is quite often full of trivia that you don't get at some of the more "legit" sites. Wikis may come and Wikis may go just as long as they remind me of Fozzie Bear I'm okay.

24th 1/2 Thing - too cool!

oSkope is a very cool free online service that searches Amazon, eBay, Flickr, and YouTube (more sites to be added). The intuitive visual interface displays your results letting you browse quickly with minimal amount of paging. If you register you selected items can be saved to your account.

Amy Degroff sent this to me and within seconds I was hooked.

Web 2.0? 2.1 and beyond!

Helene Blowers, the creator of 23 Things (originally called Learning 2.0) has taken her library system beyond the number 23 - they are doing Learning 2.1.

I think a lot of staff at our library and other systems aren't quite sold on this idea of Web 2.0 or Library 2.0. To those folks, I have to say - I'm sorry but it is here to stay. Long gone are the days when a customer just wanted a good book to read or an answer to a homework question. Information staff have certainly seen their job, and the skill set needed to do it, change from just being able to find the correct paper source to give someone the correct answer to things like electronic databases, web sites and more.

When we did a survey of our customers and why they used our PACs we discovered that many of them saw it as just another service (not unlike our collection and programs). Many of our customers are already familiar with the Web 2.0 technology and in order to serve them better, staff should be familiar with the technology too.

I know change scares a lot of people. But the power lies with the individual - you have the power of choice. You can choose to ignore, run or hide from technology. It won't go away and you'll just be further behind when you are finally forced (either by necessity or otherwise) to face it. Or you can choose to embrace the fact that technology has changed every one's job (not just library staff) and the best thing is to learn it now. Learning it now gives you the edge - it helps build stepping stones to the the next technological advance.

I love how Web 2.0 has put the power of the internet into the hands of the people. No longer are "just the experts" allowed to comment, share or instruct but your average Joe who happens to know a few things too can do the same.

Power to the People!