#10 Big Generator

Ten points to anyone who gets the obligatory daggy music reference in the blogpost title.

So, since blogs and librarians are apparently all about cute kittenz, I figured I had to play around with the LolCat Builder. And here are the spectacular results:

It's kind of funny, I remember once creating a little icon the hard way, in Photoshop, adding text layers and painstakingly aligning everything. God it was a pain. (Insert crotchety "In mah day..." tone). This was way easier.

I also remembered a superhero generator I read about on Librarian Avengers and decided to give that one a whirl, now that I have a blog to put my creation into. This one is pretty sophisticated and way customisable; there are options for all kinds of paraphernalia, and the colour is a nice touch, too. The only bad was that I accidentally cleared my pic halfway through and had to start over again.

(Keep in mind that I did this on the desk, so if the TEMP directory gets cleared, so will all of these beauteous pics.)



You can make your own at HeroMachine. They have boys, too.

And finally, because it has been a long and mostly unexciting desk shift (great way to limit the time I spend playing), have some shocking (!) graffiti created at LetterJames.

#9 So much feeding I'm feeling a bit bloated

I thought I kind of already did this in Thing #8, but apparently not. Even though at this point I am looking for less to occupy my work time, not more, I decided I would check out these whole feed search tool thingies. You never know, they might come in handy someday.

The problem I had with all of them is that I didn't really know what to search for. If you thought googling for "librarians" or suchlike brought up a depressing number of irrelevant results, don't try searching Feedster or Technorati for it. On the other hand, I did like Technorati's interface and actually did find another interesting library blog when I clicked on the "blog" tab (to look for blogs about or by librarians instead of as a keyword in any blog post anywhere). Like the catalogue, it's simply a matter of having an idea of what you want to find and searching accordingly. Which takes me back to my original point—because I didn't really have a clear goal, it was a bit hard to feel like I was getting anywhere.

I think I liked Technorati the best, although the Google blog search wasn't bad either, and had less of the eyeball-scalding colours (though Feedster certainly comes top in that particular department...my colour-blind brother would love all that lime green; me, not so much).

Anyway, I also think that this whole 2.0 thing is showing an alarming tendency to eat my life. At least I'm not as bad as the people who, not content with spending their RL (Real Life) telling people where the X is and answering the odd reference query, have started up a SL (Second Life) doing the same thing. They're even keeping statistics, having debates about collection development, etc. I find this unutterably sad—and I am not a technophobe and do enjoy playing computer games. It's all about keeping a sense of proportion.

#5 revisited

While conversing with one of my compadres on this great Library 2.0 adventure about the ins and outs of Flickr, and the difficulties of embedding a Flickr photo into one's blog, I decided to behave like a librarian and poke around a bit more. Apparently the reason I was unable to do so was because I didn't create a Flickr account. If one has a Flickr account, one can see a little "Blog this" button over public photos which then allows photos to be embedded into blog posts.

Aha.

This could be a mite clearer.

This also annoys me because it is yet one more username and password to have to remember. I am accumulating these at an astonishing rate. I shall have to create a secure website with a list of all of my Web 2.0 services and their associated login details. Then I can forget the password to access it and will be free of the madness.

Or, since I think I've exhausted my patience with Flickr, I could just spare myself one password, especially since I think I'll have to set up a few more before this learning adventure has finished.

#8 feeding you, feeding me

I have set up my Bloglines account. I actually did this last week, I just didn't get around to posting about it. And sorry, those of you who were eagerly awaiting whatever little nuggets of interestingness you were going to get out of finding out what I like to keep up with, I'm not sharing. It's mine, all mine!

Seriously, I do have a slight issue with the sort of compulsive publicising that Web 2.0 seems to encourage. I think social networking and things like that are fine, no dramas, no issues. I can see how sharing your feeds could be productive in a professional context. But why on earth would you want anyone in the world with an internet connection to be able to access your bookmarks? Sorry, but there are some things the world a) doesn't need to know and b) probably isn't very interested in knowing anyway. Just like the world doesn't need to know what I had for breakfast, or the cute thing my cat did today, or how long I've spent bludging on the internet when I was supposed to be doing meaningful work.

I realise I am coming across as slightly grumpy here. The thing I want to stress is that it's all about context. Social networking online is simply that, social. Some aspects can translate into a professional context, others not so much. For example, I don't particularly think that blogging works for most organisations, because most organisations seem to use it as another marketing tool (hey look at the neat new programs we've got/products we've produced/books we've bought/widgets we've widgeted). And sorry, but no one cares. Blogs are personal, they're about connecting people with people and appealing on that individual level. And just like you wouldn't go out and try to make friends with every single person you met on a particular day, you wouldn't want to read every single blog (even were such a thing possible). Most of them will seem mundane, pedestrian, dull. But amongst all the corporate dross and meaningless chatter, you'll find someone who sees things the same way you do, or makes you laugh, or has something interesting to say—the way you might see someone who has a nice smile, or is wearing a really interesting combination of shoes and handbag, or says "thank you" like they mean it.

So, in lieu of publicising my Bloglines account, I tender Miss Information, a blogger who has that effect on me. I've added her blogs (and the other ones I've embedded in my profile, as well as a select few others, including my favouritest webcomic) to my Bloglines account, which will remain as a private tool for my private use. And I actually think it will be useful, and I probably wouldn't have given it a go had it not been for this program, so elephant stamps all round.

#7 technology

Arguably my last post was about technology, too, but I'm sure I can find a few more things to say.

I'm having a frustrating day with technology today. I've had a couple of users here at work who can't get wireless working on their laptops. This is particularly frustrating for them both because they have both previously used wireless here, so all the usual troubleshooting tips which cover 95% of questions relating to wireless aren't working. They're registered, they have a wireless card, they've configured network and security and firewall settings and there's no reason why it shouldn't be working. The whole experience has left me feeling like I want to seize their laptops and throw them out the window—probably a good thing there aren't any windows in that particular area of the library.

Anyway, what it's making me think about is the fact that librarians are increasingly becoming help desk assistants. We're expected to know how all different kinds of technology work, and I mean everything. Palm pilots, firewalls, wireless access, patching and updates, security certificates, virtual reference, JAWS, installing (or not) .exe files, anti-viral software, javascript, printing frames, reformatting for printing, file sharing, illegal downloading, phishing, the list could go on and on. Often we don't have the answers, or just have a basic working knowledge of how to troubleshoot, how to try to fix something that isn't working, a good grasp on the essential principles of tech support: shut it down and start it again, working from small (application) to big (network); don't be afraid to try something on the off-chance that it might be the answer; read the error messages because sometimes they actually do tell you what the problem is.

Not only that, librarians need to have the ability to cope with the varying skill levels of the users who are asking for help: from the "computer illiterate" to the tech nerds who insist the problem could never be with anything they've done, it must be the library's fault.

So yes, informally-trained help desk assistants as well as trained information professionals. Technically "how come this isn't working" is a request for information, but it's pretty specialised.

I don't have an answer here, but just more questions: when did the medium become the message? When did technology (a tool) become an end in and of itself? Are we as librarians becoming more powerful because we know that technology is just one tool, and if it isn't working, there's always another tool to try?

Maybe the future will be ruled by librarians.

Ha.

#6 flickr again

You'll notice that uploading a photo that I've saved to my hard drive causes me no problems. This is the proof of me mucking about with Mosaic Maker. The obligatory credit code is as follows:
1. Verve 501 - blue hour, 2. BHP Biliton prefab concrete slabs, 3. Mirror of the World bookmarks, 4. State Library Victoria front lawn, 5. Pigeons attack the State Library of Victoria, 6. State Library Victoria reseeding lawn, 7. State Library across Swanston, 8. State Library Victoria reading room, 9. Dome at State Library, 10. Ned Kelly Jerilderie Letter, 11. Jerilderie Letter, 12. Shakespeare, 13. Early morning in the dome., 14. Shakespeare window, 15. Cowen Gallery, 16. Mirror of the World banner, 17. Painting in Cowen Gallery, 18. Keith Murdoch Gallery, 19. Art of the book, 20. How I entered there, 21. How I entered there I cannot truly say, 22. Bookshelf above the Dome Gallery, 23. Redmond Barry Reading Room, 24. Newspaper Reading Room, 25. Shaving heads, 26. Leukaemia Foundation, 27. Nova broadcast, 28. Dylan Lewis, 29. Nova van @ SLV, 30. Footpath Fragment at SLV, 31. dragon slayer, 32. reading room, 33. leather light and wood, 34. Sinking Library35. Not available36. Not available

More proof of how much time it's possible to waste on flickr, I played a game of Matchr. Besides taking me 3 and a half minutes to match the tags of sometimes incredibly different photos, it made me think about the whole tagging thing with relation to libraries. There have been some discussions here lately about user-contributed content and how to incorporate it into the revamped website.

Although I've previously been cautiously optimistic about the possibility, I'm no longer sure. I mean, let's face it, libraries have been "tagging" things for years—that's exactly what subject headings are. But the advantage of library systems are that you've got a controlled vocabulary which is actually organised and makes a modicum of sense, unlike "folksonomies" (could there be a more irritating coinage?) in which users can apply tags that are so general as to be meaningless—in which case, why bother having them? I know I never did very well with the whole LCSH exercises in Library School, but at least I could tell that it made some kind of sense. I mean, I could tag this post "fish" even though it has nothing to do with fish. It might be a meaningful label to me because it makes me think about metaphors with giving a person a fish and feeding them for a day while if you give them a fishing pole you feed them for a lifetime. Until the fishing pole breaks.

I'm sure I have a point there and I'm pretty sure it's that I'm grumpy. And need to get away from the computer.

#5 flickr

I am now irritated. I tried to embed this photo but it refuses to work. Go look at it yourself if you want.

I have to say that I am not fond of blogger.

Although I've experienced Flickr before, I didn't know you could turn your photos into stamps and things like that. I think it's cool that PictureAustralia has co-opted this tool to get more source material. I also can't believe some of the pictures people have taken of the State Library...pretty neat.

Also a potentially huge waste of time. When do people find the time to do all of this stuff? It could eat your life and then look around for someone else's life to eat. Get away from the computer and go for a walk already.

Some thoughts on learning

Came across an article in New York magazine called "How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise". Among other things, it examines research showing that kids praised for being smart often turn out to be academic underachievers compared to kids praised for making an effort, who can go on to achieve greater and greater things; how people with a strong self-esteem don't necessarily do better in school and at life; and how too much praise can turn kids into praise junkies.

As an adult, I found the article explains some of my attitudes about learning new things. And the end of the article has what's perhaps the most useful lesson—the author asks her son:

“What happens to your brain, again, when it gets to think about something hard?”

“It gets bigger, like a muscle,” he says.

#3 blogging

The inaugural post. Perhaps more of interest to follow.