Because we're bored...

we invent these sites, sites with no apparent purpose...yet.

Two of which I have recently come across are Cleverbot and Omegle, not entirely new ideas at all, just improved on with new technology.

I must admit that Cleverbot is by far one of the more interesting ai I've come across on the net as of late. It almost always makes sense, well, in some way. And when it can't it tries to joke, though humor is individual and can't always be inferred from its responses. Conversations are also often circular, you really have to take the initiative to steer the conversation although sometimes the bot will try, though randomly.

Omegle reminds me of old AIM Chats, before they became overly categorized, monitored, and difficult to access, ie., not fun anymore. On this site you are randomly paired with someone to chat with, and as expected it is already plagued with spam and xxx trollers. However, abuse Omegle too much, and they WILL ban your ip address, still, if you search the web for "funniest Omegle conversations" you will find some new/old chat humor with a twist that sometimes seem so well done you wonder if the two chatting are really strangers, or is it a clever screen shot edit?

So I suppose you could call them old ideas with an upgrade.

Every now and then sites like these pop up, and as they improve perhaps one day they will serve a greater purpose, until then, they are fun to play with.

OMG Captin Crawl Saved My Life!

Why?

Because it saved me a ton of green, that's why!

captaincrawl.com is a blog search engine specifically designed to search blogs for music files!
Often the blogs will be in another language like Spanish or Russian but after a little practice you can distinguish the download links and passwords. If you want to use this you will also need a copy of winrar which you can get here.

Its a free and safe download, tested true.

The free downloads often take a few minutes, or up to 15 min depending on your computers age, speed, etc. And so far none of the music files have be corrupted since they are being downloaded using the free -slow- version of legit sites in whos best interest it is to screen the files in the first place for malicious additives.

FREE is AWESOME!!!

So don't complain, just go do some laundry or something while that brand new cd is downloaded for free to your computer.

Rant about someone else's Rant

So we all went to see this fellow speak about leadership, or value, or something...


There's a picture of Peter Bromberg, looking all happy :-D Click it and you'll go to his website which links to his blog - Library Garden - which is located somewhere here on blogger, and which he so shamelessly plugged at the dinner (the food wasn't half bad, that said, it wasn't half good either... oh well, on to the talk)

His talk was about what librarians can do to keep their libraries needed by their communities.
He started out by giving a brief history about information and how some people failed at it because they thought they were only publishing it, disseminating it, or hording it.

I really enjoyed the part about the "Exponential Pace Of Change", and how the internet has made so much information available to so many that often, they really don't know what to do with it, much less how to make good use of it, or most importantly, find what they need.

I agree that libraries are less vessels from which knowledge is poured and more filters for those that don't have the skills, time, or want to put the effort into sorting it all themselves. Not that librarians sort through everything, though all information is sorted at least once by someone.(I think.)

He also used the metaphor of "Permanent Whitewater" to describe the changes we are all always going through with technology advancing so much faster every day. So hording knowledge doesn't work because before you know it, it may be irrelivant or divulged by someone else and made freely available on the web. In this kind of world, the role of librarians is to help direct people the right way by looking ahead at what kinds of information they will need, acting like guides as well .

He also talked about how important it is that libraries make sure they are important members of their community. That they are pleasant, useful places for patrons to come to. It is not enough to just make our services available, we must make an effort to draw patrons in, and keep them there not out of frustration but because they want to be there. He said that this is a tactic used by most peoples favorite businesses and that a library is like a business in that it is providing information management, filtering, educational and etc. services. We do not want to make the same mistakes as other businesses have by not changing. We can not be afraid of change.

This is why gaming is becoming more popular in libraries, because people want it and have responded to it. To all those libraries that say gaming has nothing to do with libraries, then please, remove all the computers, billboards, personal touches, maps, artifacts, and local lore from your facilities, and we will see how long you remain. A library is nothing without a community to serve. Remember, we are here to help them with their needs, and if you don't agree with them all the time, hey, fake it.

Wow, a new post! Isn't that dipity?

So I know I haven't posted in a while and I wanted to, so I'm posting about a fun site I found while looking for a collection of past internet memes...

meme = "cultural element or behavioural trait whose transmission and consequent persistence in a population, although occurring by non-genetic means (esp. imitation), is considered as analogous to the inheritance of a gene." - from the Oxford English Dictionary, take that you wikipedia bitches, lol, just kidding you know your great cuz your free, I will miss having access to the online version of the OED. :- ( *pout pout*

Or you could just go with, "an idea, behavior, style or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture." - from the Merriam Webster Dictionary



So I found a site called Dippity that lets you make interactive widgits, including a really cool sliding timeline, list, flipbook, map etc. that members can add to if the maker allows it. This tool is now one of the first links to come up when you do a search for internet memes on Google. Check out the MEMES!

Dippity is interesting to me because like Del.icio.us it lets you put all of your bookmarks in one place, in addition to letting you link to all your pictures, videos, social networking sites, etc. in a graphical format that I like. However, while viewing some timelines on Dippity is free, premium accounts cost $$$.

I have not joined Dippity yet, but I am thinking about getting the basic free account. I wonder what my information would look like, as friends update blogs, as news feeds come in, and as I upload images... I'm sure it would be interesting to see ...

Internet Memes on Dipity.

Some Rant Related Thoughts

I think I want to keep this blog active, somehow.

I want to continue to make a notes here of new technology, trends, or just stuff I find online. Once I started this project, I really got into it. I like checking it to see what the other librarians have posted in their blogs. I liked learning about new technologies, however brief. That said, there are definitely some things I would like to go back to and look at(and perhaps post about) in even more detail.

It was a relatively painless process (apart from the repeated creation of new accounts) and while some of the technologies aren't for me, it was useful to do more then just dismiss them and to take a look at what they can do so I could make a more educated decision.

I'd say that flicker was my least favorite, I'm just not that into photography. And while I may like YouTube, I would not like posting videos of myself there either. I use YouTube like I use hulu, for entertainment and educational purposes, not for viewing me. My classmates would like hulu, they should check it out. Tv for free :) I really hope that site grows.

A couple of my favorites were the image generators and Del.icio.us Bookmarking! I really love Del.icio.us because it was the most useful tool for me that we explored. I love being able to have access to any of my favorite/useful web sites and not having to write them down (too many to memorize now). It's so easy to add to and search. And for me, the image generators were a fun and creative part of the project. And usually I embrace creativity.

As far as if there were another program like this one, would I do it? Yes, I believe so, I suspect I am addicted to learning : D ... must learn ... new ... things!

"We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people to learn"
- Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005)

Like learning, it's good for you, similar to carrots. ; - )

Below is yet another video from Mike :)

And check out the Web 2.0 Search Engine !

YouTube Rant + a little about podcasting and audiobooks

"Television is called the new medium. Its called a medium because nothing is well-done"
- Fred Allen (1894 - 1956), on the radio program The Big Show, Dec. 17, 1950
I wonder what he would have thought of YouTube?

I really don't know any other video hosting site as well as I know YouTube. By far it is the king of free video hoasting today. Other popular sites are trying to catch up, or get some 'market share' of their own. I see that GoogleVideos and YahooVideos exist now but they don't seem to have as polished an interface or appearance. Originally what attracted me to YouTube was the ammount of original content, and lack of excessive advertisments complemented by the white background color(although now there are adds on every video site, even them.) In fact, GoogleVideos is actuley pulling most of its content from YouTube and allowing Google users to organise them. Only a few videos on the feature page were from video.google. And, of course, in an act of shameless self promotion, all of the recommended videos were from video.google. The YahooVideos seemed to have more variety as far as where the videos were coming from(their original hoasting sites). It seems as if YouTube is the only site where the bulk o the videos hoasted are its own.

My brother and I have even used it for school(heck I'm doing just that right now aren't I?). He is in a film class right now and has to rent all different videos all the time, and they are often out of them by the time he gets to the store or library(he's not exactly prompt about doing homework...some boys) So in terms of providing homework help in libraries YouTube could be a valuable resource. If librarians can post videos on how to use services provided by the library, perhaps more people would use them if they knew how? YouTube can also be used to promote libraries as useful facilities that serve a purpose in communities. They could post video testomonies from patrons about how the library helps them, or videos of fun activities. However, librarians would have to get premission from individuals in videos, and locations as well(not all library activites have to happen at the library).
We can find almost any of the videos he needs to see in 10-15 minute clips online for free. We just preload all the clips and go to the next one when the first one is done. The quality may not always be the best, but it serves his purposes and does so for free and at his convience.
I'm sure this violates some kind of laws somewhere, but the problem is YouTube can change its terms of service and contracts in weeks or days if they want to while laws can take years to be passed. Clearly YouTube has the upper hand here.

For one of my classes we learned about an anthropologest Mike Wesch at Kansas State University. He says on his YouTube account,

"My videos explore mediated culture, seeking to merge the ideas of Media Ecology and Cultural Anthropology. Currently we are analyzing anonymity and pseudonymity on YouTube, throughout the web, and in the "real world" throughout all times and all places. You can check our progress at http://mediatedcultures.net/"

It was his video I posted way back in the beginning of this blog, and I'll be posting another one. The video below is about an hour long, you don't have to watch all of it if you don't want to. 5-10 minutes is plenty to get the general idea, but if you like it i recommend watching the whole thing.





Also Podcasts.

I don't use podcasts personally, I haven't had a use for them. I just got an mp3 player last year, before that I listened heavily to radio and still enjoy it time to time, but the mp3 player lets me listen to what I want when I want to without interruptions, and to replay things, skip things, etc. However, I still like radio.

It seems I've been doing something similar to podcasting for years. I'm doing it right now. I'm listening to some video on my computer instead of watching it, and I switch to that when it sounds interesting to see. I do the same thing with my computer or with radio. This is nothing new to me, I do a lot of multytasking. It's not the same as podcasting, but the idea is the same, to make use of that time on the bus in transit, or while waiting for something else to begin. I don't like it for use as a primary tool, such as listening to podcasts in place of regular addendance to meetings or classes. I don't think they serve well for that, well, not for me anyway.

And eAudiobooks

I am not really a fan of audio books either.

I really, really love reading.

I'm a good listener too, but I like reading because I can use my imagination, even if it is just an audio book on, say, something Library Science related. Maybe I don't want to hear the inferences in the readers voice, maybe their voice irritates the heck out of me. Well, I can always read it myself.
Unless I'm blind that is, in which case, this is a great service. It is easer to share audiobooks now then before, and they can be shared by more people then brail books can be. Even if I were blind I'm sure I would be irritated by the way the books are read...I just know it.
I looked at eAudiobooks but was not impressed. I would not use it just to listen to a book being read. Perhaps for conference speeches or somthing like that, but never for fiction, or even some kinds of nonfiction.

Rant on Web-Based Apps and Web Tools

I took a look at a web-based app site called ZOHO, similar to Google Docs (which happens to be my preferred wbap [wbap = pronounced wE-bap - stands for web-based applicatons, yea i just made that up now, deal with it] but no reason not to explore another one, after all we are supposeto be life long learners here!)

Like Google Docs anything created on ZOHO can be saved there and edited by others that are allowed to make changes to a document, spreadsheet, etc. (they also offer e-mail hosting) You can download your work to a computer and save it there as a backup copy, or to edit in another program but like Google Docs there are still some bugs to be worked out as far as being able to convert work from ZOHO format to another program.

After creating yet another account (((...yarg, is that getting old fast...))) I began to explore the virtual world of ZOHO

It offers, among other things a ...
word processor
presentation tool (think powerpoint)
web aplication creator
web conferencing
note taker
...and so much more!

Much like Google Docs, ZOHO is easy to use, most applications contain only the basics in terms of styling and editing tools. In the future, I can see these being expanded on as people find being able to collaborate simultaniously more useful and much easyer then constantly swapping e-mails and being sure to have the most up-to-date document.

With tools like web conferencing and online invoicing it seems to me that the original intent of the site was to be a place that offered for free services that small businesses previously had to pay for.
Yet the site can be used by big businesses, organizations, groups, communiteies, individuals, and of course librarians too.

One thing I could do without is the tendency to reiterate identity of the site by throwing ZOHO this or Google that in front of every aplication. I get it, I'm using your application, now quit trying to brainwash your name into my head and let me work, sheesh.



Then I took a look at one of the top web tools from the Web 2.0 Awards List.

I chose to take a look at music because I have only recently found Last.fm! So for once I didn't have to make another account since I already have one. I must say I love this site, it lets me find new music that I might like, or learn more about artists I'm already interested in.



For instance, I did a search on Meatloaf* (I <3 MEATLOAF!) and up comes a breif bio on the artist, some pictures, some artists that I might like in terms of sound, music videos, and the option to play the Meatloaf radio station and add it to my favorites.

This site is great since it lets you listen to almost anything for free, and you can switch stations just like the ol'fashon radio, when you want to hear something with a differnt style or beat. There are differences, such as the radio does allow you to skip to the next song in the que and there aren't any commercials. And the stations are usually themed, a lot are themed to your favorite artists, but they can also be themed to the style of music, era, etc.

*a little side note: he is also very interested in acting, most people know him as Bob from Fight Club :)



First the SPAM! thing and now Meatloaf,
what is it with me and processed meat products?