if by that you mean

Sites 4 students and more

2008-02-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

Quite a bit of very useful stuff here. I loved NoteMesh, the wiki style class note sharing place. How handy is that. But would it have encouraged me to (occasionally) cut class? Possiblly. On nice days.
Not quite sure I completely understand Stikkit, even after the tutorial. There seem to be so many ways to share bits of information, or to have a meeting, or to share ideas, is there a niche for Stikkit? Well, I guess so!
I gravitated to Jobster since I know a few young people who are job hunting. In fact I just might be related to one or two of them. I plan to get one of them to start an account so I can see how it really works. Not much to see without an account.

Twitter. 'Nuff said.

2008-02-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

Who names these things? The premise of Twitter reminds me of my 4 year old neighbor who asks anyone walking by her house "What are you doing?" or "Where are you going?" or "Why?" (It's a pretty safe street) In KRL Twitter posts, most people indicated that they were finishing up their KRL2.0 assignments and what a collective sense of relief ! Is Twitter like IM-ing, but with a bigger group?
Many of the assignments have been fun, useful, and mind-opening (and boggling?) but I am a little dismayed at how much time, potentially, one could sit in front of a screen!
Library uses for Twitter, for the people who would "subscribe", could offer up to the minute updates on changing conditions, new material, or even or even "write bites" (as opposed to sound bites) on what our jobs entail. Nuff said. What are YOU doing?

Social netmapping, or where are we?

2008-02-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Interesting article on social networking and libraries, but what I find most useful is the long list of posts and blogs and sites relating to MySpace, Facebook and more. The Denver Public Library's MySpace connection is very engaging as are some of the college sites.
The author of the article mentioned that many students 'couldn't' find the library on the university home page (though it seems easy enough, she commented) but could through a Facebook connection. In fact, visitors can even search the library catalog from some site profiles and in some cases, find lists of books, CDs and movies of interest to teens and college students.
Some good cases for social networking in and around libraries.

really wiki

2008-01-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is a challenge. Lots of reading and viewing tutorials before I got up my nerve to add information to my branch page. And then, hey, that wasn't so bad!
Maybe because Wikipedia is the first wiki I encountered (besides the Hawiian car rental agency, Wiki Wiki Wheels) I think of them as places for information, rather than something merely 'quick'. Along those lines, the wiki has many possibilites for KRL. Mainly, they could serve as places of information such as the afore mentioned branch page. In addition, they could be sites for FAQs, updates for programs, and a place for suggestions from patrons and staff. I love the idea of communication flowing all over the place. Communication, the great problem solver.

YouScreen, WeScreen...

2008-01-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

Everyone wants YouTube - to post videos, to view videos, to be seen, and in some cases, to not be seen. A Newsweek Magazine article called "How to Run to President, YouTube Style" claims that YouTube is the future, maybe the present, of campaigning.
But right now, hiding from politics for a minute, I watched several bookcart drill teams, the fishy SW adventure, a few other library-related ones, and a couple of the very popular funny videos that everyone recommends. Hard to believe that YouTube has been around for a relatively short time. Back to the screening room.

that thing you do

2007-12-31T11:25:00.000-08:00

Library Thing works exactly as one would hope it would. It's easy and the possibilities seem endless. I 'cataloged' 6 books, tagged them 'favorites', and then checked on a few other users who listed those titles. It's fun to explore 'Zeitgeist' and see 'top books' (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) and top authors and all of the various categories. I do plan to list many more titles in my library eventually. Library Thing is also good for reading suggestions from other users. Very useful!

mondegreens

2007-12-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

My favorite parts to flickr are the sharing and the making. And the maps. That about sums it up, doesn't it? I explored photos in 'galapagos' and there are some really outstanding images. When I open my account, after resolving an issue with Yahoo who claims I already have an account, I am looking forward to exploring "make stuff" and seeing how that works.

Tis' the season for everyone's favorite mondegreens.
Even if you are not familiar with that term, you are familiar with, and may have even committed misheard song lyrics.
Sylvia Wright coined the term in an article in Harper's Magazine in 1954. She realized that the last line in a poem her mother used to read to her which went, so she thought:

'Ye Highlanders and ye Lowlanders
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Murray
and the Lady Mondegreen'

actually ended:

'And laid him on the green.'

Mondegreens from Christmas songs:

Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly
Good King Wences' car backed out, on the feet of heathens
Round John virgin, margarine child

and many more.

Popular music has has a few zillion mondegreens, some posing as directions.
'There is a bathroom on the right', just so you know.

The search goes on.

The RSS experience

2007-11-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

It seemed like there were quite a few steps involved in the RSS experience what with the aggregator, the subscriptions, feeds, and checking out all the fun podcasts and stuff to subscribe to. I ended up with 18! I will delete some of them. My favorite so far is a podcast from GrammarGirl . I listened to one podcast about the use of the words addicting and addictive. Funny AND informative! Listening to podcasts could be addicting!

Beyond the giant ball of string or twine or whatever

2007-11-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

"43 Things..." is so yesterday, but I'm slow. On my list, besides actually finishing an oil painting, is visiting quirky roadside attractions. The ones I, or a very related person has seen:

Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska
While it's unlikely any Druids visited this part of Nebraska, the feeling here, amid these gray, planted-in-the-earth American cars (and one Japanese) is very spiritual in a prairie/desert/farmland windchiming kind of way. There are other 'henges' around - You may have heard of Stonehenge in England but have you heard of Stonefridge in New Mexico? It should have been called Fridgehenge...crisper!

The Giant Pinto Bean, Bow Island, Alberta
Though it's an expensive place to visit now that the Canadian dollar is better than ours, it's quirky AND humble.

Life-size Butter Cow, Iowa State Fair
"It's actual size but it seemed much bigger..."
Needless to say (but I will anyway) it's in a refrigerated room.

Trees of Mystery, Northern Califonia.
We didn't pay to see the actual Trees of Mystery. Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox near the parking lot were fulfilling enough.

Oregon Vortex, Gold Hill, Oregon
It was for sale in 2003. Property values look larger on one side of the room than the other. Optical illusion?

Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota
An ear for art!

I still need to see the Spam Museum in Austin, MN. and many other offbeat spots listed in roadsideamerica.com and others.

First lines

2007-11-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

"Context is everything. "
Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."
Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

"Come on, water, I know you are in there."
Me, shimmying to get the water running from a motion-activated faucet.
This is probably not a first line.