Thing 12: Social Bookmarking (Week of 3/2)

This week's topic is Social Bookmarking.

Social bookmarking allows Internet users to save web addresses to an account where they can organize, search, and share their bookmarks. This is different than just saving it to Favorites because it is accessible on any computer with any Internet browser. Users can tag bookmarks with descriptive words to help themselves and others find the web addresses. Some of the social bookmarking sites even recommend other sites people have bookmarked based on the web addresses and tags in your account. You can see how many times a tag has been used and look at all of the bookmarks to which that tag has been assigned to. Watch this video for a visual explanation:

Social Bookmarking in Plain English


Social bookmarking has been around for over 10 years, but didn't gain much popularity until del.icio.us popped up. Del.icio.us was the first site that allowed users to tag their web addresses. You may have heard of some of these other social bookmarking sites: Digg, Diigo, Furl, Ma.gnolia, Newsvine, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. Most of these sites allow you to make the bookmarks public or private. When they are made public, other users can see who created the bookmark. This can help your network of online friends grow. They may have bookmarks that would interest you. For this week's exercise, we'll use del.icio.us.

This Week's TechPlay Exercise : del.icio.us

1. Go to www.delicious.com
   
2. Click the green box in the top, right hand corner labeled "Join Now."
3. Fill out all of the boxes. For username and passwords, you may want to try using the same ones as you have used for previous logins.
4. When you get to the next screen, click "Skip Step 2".
5. Skip the next screen as well so click "Skip Step 3".
6. Enter a web address (also known as a URL) in the box you wish to add to your saved bookmarks. If you can't thing of any to add, use www.lagrangelibrary.org, www.mls.lib.il.us (MLS), or www.loc.gov (Library of Congress). Click "Next".
7. Now you can add more information. You can make notes that you may want to remember about what on that particular website is useful to you. You can also add tags (remember those from Thing 11?). The tags will help you search for the bookmark. For www.mls.lib.il.us, you could add MLS, libraries, SWAN, meetings, workshops.
8. You can make the bookmark unsearchable by other users by checking the box "Do Not Share". You can also leave it searchable to help out other users.
9. Click "Save".
10. Note that at the bottom of the screen, you can add these bookmarks into your RSS Feeds!
11. You can keep adding bookmarks as you find new websites worth remembering!
12. Blog about social bookmarking. How do you feel about others being able to see what you've bookmarked? Do you have concerns about privacy issues?
    

Challenge 1:

Try using the network feature. Find a coworker who has done the previous exercise. Trade usernames with them and add the username to your network. You will be able to share bookmarks. You could use this when planning a family vacation. Bookmark a bunch of websites for ideas on where to go, share the bookmarks with family, and then everyone will have an easy way to access the list. You can also add notes like which time of year it is best to visit each location.

Challenge 2:

If you have websites already bookmarked at home or on a specific computer that you want to add to Del.icio.us, under settings in Del.icio.us learn how to import them. Now you'll be able to log into you Del.icio.us account and view your favorite websites no matter which computer or internet browser you're using.

Thing 11: Tagging (Week of 2/23)

This week's topic is Tagging.

You may have heard of a tag before... and not the kind you look at when you're shopping. A tag in the Web 2.0 world is a description attached to a piece of information. Librarians have been tagging pieces of information for years. We call them subject headings. Assigning a tag to a piece of digital information is just like assigning a subject heading to a book. There are two big differences between a librarian assigning a subject heading and a person assigning a tag. The first is that there are no rules for tagging to follow like the Library of Congress Subject Headings. You can tag whatever word you think is the most appropriate for the information. It may be the date and place a picture was taken or it may be keywords to describe the plot of a book. The second difference is that anyone can tag. You usually just have to log into an account whereas library catalogs do not allow patrons to add subject headings.

You've probably seen tags before. Amazon.com was one of the first websites to use tagging. Why pay someone to add descriptions when the users can add keywords and enjoy doing it? Last week you looked at pictures in Flickr. Users of Flickr will tag their pictures so other users can find them. This is how you are able to search for the term "flower". Flickr searches the tags of the pictures to find the ones using "flower" to provide search results.

Hopefully you have all had a chance to try Encore, SWAN's new catalog. You can tag in Encore which allows other users to see your descriptions. It provides more information on materials and gives patrons a collaborative environment to do it in. Have fun checking it out in this week's exercise!

This Week's TechPlay Exercise: You'll need your library card number and your pin. Your pin is the same as it was in the old catalog. If this is your first time signing into your account online, it will ask you to create a pin.

1. First, go to http://swanencore.mls.lib.il.us/iii/encore/app
2. Click "Login" in the upper-right hand corner. Use your library card number and pin to login.
3. After you are logged in, you will be automatically returned to the search page. In the upper-right hand corner, it will say "Welcome, Doe, Jane M."
4. Search for any book or other material that you have already read/enjoyed.
5. Click on the title you have selected to tag.
6. Towards the bottom under Community Tags will be a box labeled "Add a Tag".
7. Type in your tag and click "Submit".
8. Your tag should appear under "Community Tags" and "My Tags". You can delete your tag by clicking the red "x" next to the tag if you have made a spelling error or simply wish to delete it.
9. Blog about your experience. Do you think this is something you will use? Where else have you seen tagging used?

Challenge: Have you noticed when you are composing one of your blog entries the area "Labels for this post"? Blogger is simply calling tags Labels. If you've added any information in there before, then you have tagged. Try tagging your blog for Thing 11, this will make it searchable for others to find.

Thing 10: Flickr (Week of 2/9)

This week's topic is Flickr.

Digital cameras have made it much easier for us to take lots and lots of photos! But many of us are bad at remembering to download them to a computer or share them with friends. New photo sharing sites make it easier to do both.

Here's a video on Online Photo Sharing in Plain English:
Flickr is the most popular of the photo sharing sites. As you can see, Flickr gives you a way to back up your photos, organize them, and share them.

This week's TechPlay Exercise:

1. Go to http://www.flickr.com and search "LaGrange Library" Try it both with and without a space in the city name. Can you find our Flickr photos?

2. See how various libraries are using Flickr by checking out some of our neighbors:

• Brookfield Public Library has some Flickr photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/36819620@N00/.
• See Thomas Ford's recent remodel at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasfordmemoriallibrary/.
• La Grange Park has put some photos on Flickr, then put them on their website at http://www.lplibrary.org/about/photos.php.
• And from further afield, here's a whole group of libraries and librarians using Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/librariesandlibrarians/.

3. Take a look at our own Flickr photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lagrangelibrary/

4. Post to your blog about today's exercise. Any suggestions for photos we should put on our Flickr account? Do you have digital photos of the library that you'd like to share?

Thing 9: YouTube.com (Week of 2/2)

This week's topic is YouTube.

YouTube.com is a host site for viral videos – that is, video clips that can be easily dispersed around the web. The sheer number of clips is staggering, but they are catalogued in various ways and it’s easy to browse by keyword. Users can post clips to the site, view them, and share them with others; it’s not necessary to have an account in order to view video clips. Warning: While this site is highly addictive, it does require high-speed Internet access.

This week's TechPlay exercise:

Step 1. Go to www.youtube.com. In the white search box below the word “home,” type “noel zethmayr” and hit your keyboard’s “enter” key. Scroll down and click on “Book Talks – Blackthorn Winter.” View the video.

Step 2. Return to the white search box, which is above the video you just watched. Now type in “gertie the dinosaur” and hit “enter.” On the task bar below the video, find the volume icon. To the right of the volume, find the “full screen mode” icon and click on it. View the video. (This is an excellent example of YouTube’s archival function; many old and obscure video clips can be found here.)

Step 3. When the video is over, click the red "share" button on the upper left side of the screen. This should present you with two options. Click on "email this video" and send the video to ya@lagrangelibrary.org.

Step 4. Return to the white search box and type in any keyword you like (e.g. Sarah Palin, Disney, Marilyn Monroe, knitting). You'll find there are videos on almost every subject! Choose a video and watch it. (Hint -- if a video keeps "buffering," or stopping and starting, hit the "pause" key on the lower left side of the video screen. You'll see the red timer bar turn to pink as it crawls from left to right, loading the video. Wait until the video is loaded, then hit the "pause" key to resume playing.)

Step 5. Post an entry on your blog describing the video you chose, as well as your reaction. Have fun!

Thing 8: Social Networking Sites (Week of 1/19)

This week’s topic is Social Networking Sites.

Social networking sites are online communication tools used by millions of people all over the world. Three of the most popular sites in the United States are MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. People use social networking sites to share information about themselves and their interests, as well as music, videos, and pictures. All require users to sign up for an account, and in most cases users must be over the age of thirteen to use the site legally. This, however, does not stop the under thirteen crowd from using the sites, as age verification is nearly impossible.

While these sites are immensely popular among teens and adults, some are not as wary as they should be about putting personal information out there in cyberspace for anyone who is at all tech-savvy to read. There have been recent reports of colleges and employers checking the major social networking sites before accepting or hiring individuals, not to mention kids being suspended from schools and other activities for appearing on their sites with pictures of them engaging in some underage drinking.

Still, these sites offer great opportunities to keep in touch with friends and family who may be widely scattered, or to find people with similar interests. Through the network, it is also possible to get back in touch with long-lost friends or classmates. Here is a little bit about how the most popular sites work:

Social Networking in Plain English


This Week's TechPlay Exercise – My Space
The original and most popular site until April 2008, when it came in #2 to Facebook.

1. You can access MySpace by going to http://www.myspace.com/ .
2. Once there, you can set up an account, or log in if you already have an account. Without having an account or logging in, you will already have access to many people’s information.
3. Try clicking on “Find People” on the task bar on top, and type in the name of someone or someplace you know, such as LaGrange Public Library. When you find it, find out if it is listed as "male" or "female", and its age.
4. See how many people have your name!
5. You can also search for people by school name, or look for people with similar interest in books, music, or movies. I do note that librarian is not one of the searchable careers. You can also “Browse People” and go looking for love, based on age, sex, and marital status. There are forums set up to put in your two cents on many topics from automotive to sports to television, as well as a place to post music and videos.
6. Post a message to your blog about privacy. How would you feel about posting this kind of private information to the web?
   

Challenge Exercise One - Facebook
Facebook began as a networking tool for college students, but it has grown and expanded to include people of all ages.

1. Access the website at http://www.facebook.com/ , where you will have to set up an account if you would like to be able to see anyone else’s information. You need only enter the bare minimum of information, if you like.
2. Once you have created an account, you may log in with your e-mail address and chosen password.
3. Once logged in, you have the opportunity to create your profile and go looking for friends. Clicking on “Friends”, then on “Find Friends” brings up a screen that will walk you through finding people you may know. It will first suggest people who are in your e-mail address book. The more you have in your profile, the more suggestions it will make. For example, if you specified your elementary school, high school, and/or college, it will search for others who also put those schools in their personal profiles. For others to be able to access your whole page, you must agree to “friend” them. If you don’t agree, they can only see your thumbnail picture if you have one, and your name.

Optional Exercise Two - LinkedIn
LinkedIn is aimed at a slighter older, more educated crowd than MySpace and Facebook, and promotes itself as a “Professional” network. To obtain access, go to http://www.linkedin.com/ and create an account. It will ask you to set up a profile which includes your educational background and place of employment. You will then be able to search people, jobs, or groups.

Thing 7: To Do Lists (Week of 1/12)

This week's topic is To Do Lists.

I know that you, like me, might usually scrawl your to-do lists on a scrap of paper and then either stuff them in your purse or pocket, or adhere them to your refrigerator with a magnet. Online listmakers allow you to be much more high tech in your approach to making to-do lists, shopping lists, and lists of just about anything you can think of. Even better, you can share your lists easily with others, or have your lists sent to you via e-mail, cell phone, or RSS feed. No more calling home from the grocery store when you forget your list, when you can read it on your cell phone!

This Week's TechPlay Exercise:
One of the original and the easiest to use sites is Ta-da lists, found at http://www.tadalists.com/.

Step One:

Go to http://www.tadalists.com/. Sign up for a free account by clicking on the yellow box. You will be brought to a screen with the heading "My Lists." To make a list, click on Create a New List. You will have to make up a clever name for your list, like "Groceries" or "Things to do on Wednesday."

Step Two:

Type the first item on your list in the box, then click below the box where it asks you to "add this item." Add as many items as you like. When finished, you may choose to edit your list, reorder your list if you would like your tasks or items in a different order, or share your list. If you decide to share your list, a new screen comes up. You may e-mail this list to yourself or to anyone else. You may also share your list with the entire world, if you so choose, by clicking the box where is says "yes, share publicly."

Challenge

Optional Exercise 1: A slightly more complicated list making site is called Remember the Milk. Go to http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ and create a free account. Once signed in, you have the option of entering tasks in multiple categories, such as personal, work, study, etc. You may create a contact list of people with whom you would like to share your lists. Once you have recorded some items on your task lists, you may assign them priority levels, share them, or send them.

Optional Exercise 2: My current favorite of the list making sites is found at thingamalist.com. It is not as complex as some of the other sites, and it is all about food, which I found appealing. Sign up for a free account, and you can find all kinds of recipes, put the ingredients you need for the recipes on a list, and send that list to your cell phone, or your spouse's cell phone. No more running that paper shopping list through the laundry!

Thing 6: Podcasts (Week of 1/5)

This week's topic is podcasts.

A 'podcast' is a non-music audio or video recording that is distributed over the internet to portable players and personal computers. The distribution is what makes a podcast unique. It's also what makes a podcast powerful: interested listeners or watchers can subscribe and receive updates through RSS when new content is posted.

Confused? Here's a video on Podcasting in Plain English:


Find a Podcast
iTunes, free software from Apple, is the directory finding service most commonly associated with podcasts. It's tied to their online store, but podcasts are usually free - you can browse by topic or search by keyword. iTunes also includes an amazing capacity for actually downloading the content you subscribe to automatically. And anyone can submit content for inclusion.

But what if you don't use iTunes? There are plenty of other options.

• odeo.com
  
• podcastalley.com (Note: Some of the "featured podcasts" on the right are fairly risque, but there are plenty of others from which to choose.)

Library Applications
Libraries are using podcasting to post book reviews, stories, author visits, and other programs.
As one example, see Thomas Ford’s click-a-story: http://www.fordlibrary.org/children/clickastory/.

Other Applications
Any website can post a podcast. NPR fans might want to check out the NPR Podcast directory at http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php. The New York Times also posts podcasts at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.html.

This Week's TechPlay Exercise

1. Visit the podcast directory at odeo.com.
2. Search in the box for a topic of interest (such as library, knitting, Chicago White Sox, or whatever strikes your fancy).
3. Click on an interesting podcast title. Wait for the ad to finish; then a screen will load with your chosen podcast.
4. Click on a "Recent Episode."
5. Press the pink and white play arrow to listen. Click the same button (now the Pause button) to stop. It's that easy!
6. You can search for more in the box at the top. Once you find one you like, add the RSS feed to your Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/) account. (If you've forgotten how, here are the instructions for Google Reader: http://lgpltechplay.blogspot.com/2008/10/thing-2-rss-feeds-week-of-1124.html).
   
7. Post a note to your blog: did you find any interesting podcasts?

For a fun explanation of podcasts, watch this video from "Ask A Ninja." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEmss2lg-ug





Challenge:


Try listening to a podcast in iTunes. Every staff computer has the software downloaded, so just click on the icon from the desktop and get started. You don’t even have to sign in! After you have iTunes opened, click on iTunes Store in the left-hand column. You can search or browse for podcasts. You can even just double-click on a title and listen to it rather than downloading it. If you do download one, be sure to select one that is labeled as “get” rather than “subscribe”. Enjoy!