Quest 8....Social Networking part 1

"Take a look at a few and detail your reactions in your Quest 8 blog."

The blogs/articles I looked at were,Building a Social Networking Environment at the Library , Libraries Use MySpace to Attract Teens, How to Talk to Young People about Socializing Safely Online.

I think using MySpace to link libraries is a great idea. It can serve as a way of keeping up with what every one else is doing as well as a way to gain guidance on current library issues that we may not be familiar with. Sharing ideas and socializing with others in the industry.

In my general observations and reading, it seems as time goes by and technology advances, the younger generations are quicker to jump on the bandwagon than the older generations. This being said, it makes perfect sense that Libraries should use MySpace to attract Teens and Tweens. It's a great way of getting them to feel comfortable with the library, our services, our collections and to encourage their reading habits.

At the same time, I believe that one of our additional services should be to educate these young people about online socializing safety. As I was reading that particular article, it occurred to me that a TLC class on the subject would be a perfect setting as well as maybe having programs on the subject which could include the police department speaking on the subject.

Quest 7.....Photosharing

Option A:Take a look around Flickr and discover an interesting image to write a blog entry about.

When I was exploring the "mapping" feature on flicker I looked at our grand city of Charleston and came across a few pictures, one of which reminded me of the events of June 18th's fire. I then did a search for the "Charleston 9" and it pulled up several pictures. All of which brought back memories and feelings I have been dealing with since then. This Picture encompasses all of those feelings.

My husband Todd was there that night. The feelings I had worrying for him and our friends. Once footage started playing on the news channels, every time I saw one of our close friends I couldn't help but say a prayer that they were still safe and that they would remain that way. My heart went out to them. I didn't sleep that night. When Todd finally came home late the next morning, he was changed. The exhaustion, and the burden of loosing men he thought of as family was etched on his face.

When I was told who was lost my heart broke. I either knew them personally, had been introduced to them at one point, or had heard of them in conversations previously. I can't even begin to convey how I felt then or the emotion that wells up now as I look at these photos.

Bottom left is a picture of the blaze in progress. The thought that they didn't know what was yet to happen is my first feeling. Top left is the exhaustion and beginning realization. Top right brings back my memories of the Memorial service. My first thought that Friday morning when I first walked into the auditorium was that it felt unreal. Then as we sat there, it sank in. Who they were, how they lived, who we lost.

Bottom right is the procession of fire trucks. Every day Todd had to report to the parking lot of the Citadel mall. That is where they organized the trucks for the processions. I was only able to make it to one of the funerals. Melvin Champagnes. He went through training with my husband and was his relief for about a year.

When Todd and I arrived to Citadel mall the day of Melvins Funeral. I was touched by the fact that Chick-a-filet's owner was out there supplying EVERYONE with breakfast. Completely free and out of appreciation for the men and their families.

I was told of the story that the night of the fire, he was at the scene and that he along with the help of some others went back and opened one of their stores so they could make sandwiches for all the firemen and rescue workers their that night. I was also told of Pizza stores supplying food for the men as well. And other local businesses pitching in. I was in aww of how the community seemed to have come together.

When it was time, we loaded the buses that were to follow behind the trucks. As we pulled out in the procession, we crossed over Sam Rittenburg Boulevard, past Quadrangle shopping center to Hwy 17. We took a left and I knew we would be passing by the remnants of the Sofa Super Store. When we passed by, I could not hold back my tears.

As we continued along people came out from businesses, stopped their cars in the road and got out, saluted, waved or just stood their in awww. It helped knowing that most people felt some degree of emotion and that it wasn't just us.

But there were those people that stayed in their cars talking on their cell phones and impatiently sped around those that had stopped. Those are the people that don't car until it's them, and when it is, it won't be good enough.

User name Ladybug1016 is the creator of the above picture. I think she did a wonderful job.

quest 6....Part 2

Technorati. Need I say more? Yeah, I thought so....

First I took a look at Technorati's Advanced Search and tried doing a search for “Library 2.0” in Keyword Search. The results were all different. Keyword Search pulled up many hits but only if they included the word library or 2.0 . It didn't matter if it was really about Library 2.0 only that it had those words. One article that pulled up was
Essex Police send electronic case file details... which had nothing at all to do with Library 2.0.

Next was the Tag Search and that brought up every blog, video, post and photo with those words. But the difference I noticed was that the hits actually seemed relevant. I think it's because the writer/poster/photographer/etc. can actually choose what searches they want it to come up for since they are using their own tags.

In the Blog Directory it pulls up only blogs that contain Library 2.0 and the results seem relevant.

I've perused the popular blogs and blog searches and every so often you might come across something relevant, but overall I didn't find it much fun.

Overall I don't really care for Technorati. I don't think I will be using it, but you never know until you have a need.

Claiming my blog as my own-via Technorati

Technorati Profile

For some reason my user name and password are not processing for the claim so I'm trying this method. I hope it works!


Update
It worked :oD

Quest 6....Part 1

I tried to do the tutorial but both links gave me an error message. That's ok, I had already registered and started using this site a while back anyway, but it would have been nice to view the tutorial.

Hear the praises of the Del.icio.us web site! I originally learned about this site during a TLC class. The fact you can be on any computer and access your personal bookmarks is great! Here is the link to my bookmarks, http://del.icio.us/librarygirlsc .

Mostly knitting or knitting related sites, bill paying, and a few media links I've found helpful.

Update (9/24/07)

Thank you Techtrekker for your prompt suggestion. I have now viewed the "Getting started with Del.icio.us" you tube video and am very glad you directed me to it! I've already learned that I can set my personal stuff (ie. bill paying links) to private. All I had to do was change my settings first and now it gives me that option every time I add or edit. Cool!

Quest 5....Let's Play

I know it isn't mandatory to blog for this quest, but I figured, "Why not?"

I've heard of 4 of the sites listed but before today had only visited 2 of them.

Pandora: Kevin introduced me to this sight a while back. I really like the concept. You tell the site what kind of music/artists you like and then it uses your preferences to select other music for the station you've created. I was just listening to Bananarama "Cruel Summer" on my 80's station I created.

Trip advisor: My sisters and I used this site when finding a hotel in Asheville for our recent trip to Biltmore. It's nice because it has reviews from people who have stayed there before. You do have to take the reviews with a grain of salt because everyone perceives things differently. You can also post candid pic's from your trip to give others an idea of what the hotel really looks like.

Simpsonize Me: This site was promoted by Myspace. I never really gave it much thought but figured I would try it. Since I don't have random shots of me lying around I used one of my son. I must say it didn't look much like him at all. If I find myself with a lack of things to do I may play around with it some more.

Craigs List: I've heard Peter talking about this site many times. He listed his condo on there and had several responses. I think he even rented it to one of the people. This seems to be one of those sites that you would need to have a need for before you used it. Kind of like Trip Advisor.

I have never heard/encountered the others but had fun playing with the sites.

Big Huge Labs Trading Card Maker: Perfect for the proud Parent or Pet owner. If it weren't for the fact that I already buy playing cards of Aiden when he has his sports pics taken, I may have used this. But I may use it for my cats!

Image Chef: Is a great site. Even if you have no graphic arts background, it's so simple it walks you through it. I've already created a graphic for my Myspace page.

Palmetto Biz Buzz: This could end up being a helpful site. I like how it automatically gives you a map to the location.

That's where I stand so far on Quest 5. Thanks for Playing!

Quest 4...RSS feeds

This is what I've been looking forward to; learning about RSS & newsreaders. I started by viewing the discovery resources: Feed Me: A gentle introduction to Internet feeds and Using Bloglines Tutorial (how to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday) , and I found both very helpful. Then I created my bloglines account http://www.bloglines.com/public/librarygirlsckaty.

All I have to say is Wow! This thing is neat! It's kinda like a personal e-mail /favorites list all rolled into one. The best thing is you can access it from any computer easily. Another feature that I like is that it gives you a title and a blurb so you know whether or not your interested in that one or not and can move on through the others. I checked out the other feed search tools just so I could see their format differences and I think I'm more fond of the Feedster site. I think it's great you can do a search on a subject and it will keep track of ALL of them for you!

This is definitely something I will use. Once I started adding feeds it was hard to stop. By time I got to 22 is when I started playing with the Folders feature to organize them. Since I had so many feeds I would find things that I wanted to come back to later and that's when I started playing with the clipping feature. I've found Bloglines to be extremely user friendly. The hardest thing was getting my public bloglines URL!