The Digital Me

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Monday, November 19, 2007

Week 9, Thing 23

I've finally reached the finish line, and it's been a long tough trip. I have learned quite a bit, been frustrated a number of times, and had to try really hard to find the extra time to work on this project. In spite of the title of this post, I think I'm actually well past week 12 (16?!).

The one thing that I found truly useful for the way I live and work is RSS. It would be at its most useful if tied into a web browser that is RSS friendly and not through Bloglines, but I still like the concept of having content pulled to me instead of my searching for it (or even visiting multiple sites to get it).

As for the experience as a whole, while I learned plenty and consider this to have been a useful exercise, it was very difficult to find the time to do the work. Part of the problem is my strong need for a formal structure (I'd never pursue online degree work), which is just exacerbated by my busy work schedule. Quite a bit of the work I did while at the branch was actually after my shift ended. I would have to think strongly before volunteering to take part in a similarly structured training opportunity.

In spite of my difficulty with the program, I know a umber of folks who flourish with just such a program (a few have completed degrees online). Because of this, I would never dismiss the concept. It just has to do with learning styles and scheduling.

Week 9, Thing 22

Overdrive is a great service for libraries to offer. Although the circulation of books on CD and, to a lesser extent, books on tape are still high, digital audio formats are slated to replace them. Like we did in moving from LPs to cassettes to CDs, we need to continue to migrate to the media that are dominant and used. Otherwise we should just get out of the way. This is a solid use of technology that libraries can adopt (and obviously many already have).

I was very pleased to find a BBC full-cast performance of a Wodehouse Jeeves title! I'd definitely be interested in downloading this, as well as the other traditional narrated Wodehouse audio books.

Week, 9, Thing 21

I have listened to a small number of podcasts before, but never used a podcast directory; I've always known where to find the podcasts in which I am interested (i.e. podcasts of shows I regularly listen to). These directories definitely open up a wider world; my searches brought back hundreds of results. Not all were on target, or things I'd be interested in, but still I did find some gems.

In keeping with the name of my blog, I searched for opera podcasts, selected and listened to an extract of a Puccini opera ("La Boheme" with Pavarotti and Freni), but could not find an RSS feed. Because I knew that "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me", an NPR show, has an RSS feed, I subscribed to it.

Week 9, Thing 20

I've looked a YouTube a few times when someone has suggested I check out a video or two. It's interesting, but mindlessly so. There may be a good use for it, but much of it is just pointless and silly, not that there is not a need for such things (God knows we need more levity in this world). I do find it intriguing, however, that folks can share things so readily, especially across oceans!

YouTube and its ilk are a good creative outlet for folk with that bug. They make it much easier and cheaper to produce and share videos. I can see it helping musicians to get their music out their without having to rely on the traditional method of convincing someone at a record company to take a chance on them. Although I can't think of an example, I know there are bands who have taken this route and actually become successful as a result.

Week 8, Thing 19

I Checked out Yahoo's Upcoming, which provides events listings for a location you specify. You can also search by band, type of event, etc...

It was okay, a good place to start if you have the time to explore. It's big weakness is that it does not allow you to filter by type of event or even musical genre; you just get it all. When I searched by a musical genre for the Baltimore area (opera, of course), it brought up operas, but also events taking place at the Lyric Opera House that were far from opera. It obviously uses a very simple keyword searching. I would also like to see at least basic details about each performance. It is still necessary to go to the venue's website to get even a basic idea of what the event is if you've never heard of the band or play, etc... Sad to say, this was the first place winner in its category. Still more work to do folks!

Week 8, Thing 18

I found Zoho to be interesting, and quite intuitive based on my experience with Word and Wordperfect. I can see a use for people who do not always work in the same spot, especially if they are working on collaborative projects. If one is working independently, I'd think that a laptop would answer most needs as far as taking work documents along on the trip, but it does not facilitate easy collaboration. E-mail attachments are all well and fine, but have their limitations in a truly collaborative, back-and-forth, working relationship.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Week 7, Thing 17

I had some difficulty with the Sandbox, specifically with the "Point and Click" edit feature. It didn't work, so I had to revert to the classic mode. I was able to limp along, although I have no knowledge of HTML. I basically just copied the code from previous postings, and it seemed to work. No room for creativity on my part, however.

If things had worked as advertises, I would have probably completed the exercise much quicker than I did. The floundering wasted a bit of time.

Week 7, Thing 16

Although I was somewhat dubious when I began this exercise, after looking at a few wikis I am convinced that they can play a good role in libraries. SJCPL's Subject Guides, Princeton's Book Lovers, and Meredith Farkas' Library Successes wikis all showed me a specific situation in which wikis can play a useful role.

SJCPL's wiki seems to me to be a good instance of applying a team approach to maintaining a library's website. While BCPL takes this approach to it's Intranet-based policy file, with a wiki, it could do the same with its subject pages, like SJCPL does. This would allow for quicker, rolling updates to the site, and take pressure off of the webmasters, allowing them to concentrate on major site changes rather than content changes.

Princeton's wiki provides a great way to get customer actively involved in the Readers' Advisory process. While many libraries have a place within branches for people to contribute recommendations of their own (i.e. a bulletin board, notebook, or table), this web-based approach allows customer to do the same thing from the comfort of their homes.

Library Successes applies the collaborative/best practices concept in a much wider scope, beyond local meetings or associations. At least in theory, it allows librarians worldwide to contribute and learn form each other.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Week 6, Thing 15

I enjoyed Michael Stephens' short essay regarding his conception of Library and Librarian 2.0. I fully agree that Libraries and Librarians must be in tune with what is going on around them, not just within the profession. The world is indeed a big place and seemingly going at a faster and faster pace. If we ever had the luxury of slow paced planning and decision making, we no longer do. Technology has encouraged folks to expect, even damand, quicker response times, and many times the expectation is legitimate, not just the result of impatience.

It is also refreshing to see the opinion that technology is not the end all and be all definition of progress or accomplishment. As with all customer services, technology decisions must be made based on the needs of customers and of the staff who work to meet those needs. Low tech can still work and many times might be a better solution than just buying the latest hot gadget. The primary question is, "Will this help us to better serve our customers?"

Technology for technology's sake is out, the thoughtful application of technology is very in (and always should be).

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Week 6, Thing 14

I found Technorati to be quite intriguing, not because it can be used to search blogs (although that it interesting), but because of at least one concept borrowed from academia and the parallels with searching an OPAC. The concept of authority is taken directly from the world of academics, i.e. the more folks cite you work in theirs, the more important you are within that field of study. At Technorati it's the number of blogs that link to yours that count, the more the better.

As far as searching is concerned, searching by tags will, of course, provide a much more focused and relevant results list. Essentially, tags searching and post searching have the same relation as subject and keyword searching in OPACs. I realise that this will be no revelation to any librarian, but I find it interesting how some ideas from librarianship have leaked into the rest of the world somewhat in disguise. I'm not sure what that proves, if anything, but it is worth remarking on. Maybe we are having some sort of impact, albeit a quiet one.

Week 6, Thing 13

Del.icio.us just doesn't work for me or for the way that I approach things. Like other things I've blogged about, I can see how other folks may find it of use, but I'm just not online enough (outside of work) for it to be useful in my life. The social aspect also leaves me very cold; I'm afraid my social life tends to revolve around actual people in close proximity to me. Very old-fashioned, I know, but it works for me. Heck, I never was even interested in having a pen pal when such things were "in" and up-to-date!

In spite of the fact that I might never use Del.icio.us, I am glad to have learned about it. At the bare minimum it keeps me in touch with what is going on in the world of Internet-based technology, which is critical in librarianship. Sort of the electronic parallel to knowing the titles of best-sellers whether or not you've read them.

Week 5, Thing 12

I checked out Rollyo and created a searchroll about the arts in Baltimore and DC (http://rollyo.com/rmaranto/baltimore-d.c._arts/). With all of arts happening in both towns, it can be quite daunting to figure out what is happening where. My searchroll searches the Kennedy Center, the Baltimore Opera, An Die Musik, the BMA, the Walters, Center Stage, and the Washington Perfoming Arts Society websites. Like man of the tings I've done as part of the Maryland 23 Things project, I found this quite easy and intuitive.

Although I liked Rollyo, I prefer RSS because it actually sends the information to you. With Rollyo, it is obviously still necessary to do a search, even though it is much easier than visiting each of the sites seperately. Sometimes technology can actually make life a bit easier, and searchrolls are a good example!

Week 5, Thing 11

Although I doubt I will maintain my LibraryThing account, it is an interesting concept. I can understand the attraction to folks who are Internet and blog focused. Overall, it is rather intuitive and I had to check the help files only once (although I did not actually find an answer to my question). The one weakness I see in LibraryThing is that you are not always guarenteed to find the edition of a title that you actually have in your collection. (Maybe with a bit more searching on my part, it would have been possible. Who knows?) This is probably not a big deal for someone who is looking for a casual way to share their book shelves with the world, but it would not serve the needs of a serious collector (I'm not one). Maybe that is asking too much, but I couldn't help noticing.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Week 5, Thing 10



Seeing as I jumped ahead of myself with my last posting by having created an avatar, I decided to checkout some of the other image generators. Because I have no digital photos of my own to use, I decided to use Glassgiant.com's cereal box generator. It actually gave me a chance to combine my love of opera and my twisted sense of humor; I hope I haven't offended.

Week 4 , Thing 9

Well, I've used the RSS search tools, and was not really impressed with them. In my brief experience, the results lists seem to be too large and packed with too much junk to be really considered useful. I'm just not one of those cutting-edge techies, not that I'm worried about that!

I explored Merlin, which I had seen before; a great idea with much potential. Through Merlin, I linked over to Meez.com, and created an avatar. I really enjoyed doing this, and figured out how to post the avatar to my blog; quite easy! Anyone who knows me will admit that I didn't actually go wild in designing my avatar. It probably looks a lot like I actually look in real life; boring, I know.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Week 4, Thing 8

I found the RSS exercise to be relatively intuitive, as I had hoped it would be. Although I viewed the introductory video, as suggested, I decided to avoid any other tutorials in order to see how much of the exercise I could complete by just stumbling along. I was actually able to create an account and add feeds without having to consult anyone or any help files/tutorials. Of course I went about adding the first few feeds in a less than elegant way before I discovered the simplest method. Noodling about may be a good way to learn, but it can waste time!

I do agree that using RSS can be a time saver, especially for folks who regularly visit a large number of websites. It's practicality, however, is limited for someone like me, who's Internet habits can best be described as intermittent. I use the web regularly, but mostly for work. My personal use is very targeted and goal specific, such as online purchases, checking out a performance schedule, etc... My primary sources of news are newspapers and the radio. I use the web selectively for updates on ongoing events or to learn details about major events I hear murmurs about during the day. I guess the best way to describe my use of various media is cherry-picking; I use what best fits my needs and habits, not necessarily the latest and greatest.

In spite of the fact that RSS may not play a big role on my life any time soon, I can understand why someone else might use it regularly. It borrows a time-saving concept from print media, namely home delivery verses going to the newsstand. Some concepts are timeless and technology neutral, it seems.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Week 3, Thing 7

A few months ago when our television died, my wife and I purchased a High Definition set. Usually not ones to buy the latest techy gadgets (horrors!), we splurged a bit and got one, then upgraded to HD cable. I would never have thought that television could produce such increadibly clear pictures; amazing! It's like what the world would look like if you had better than 20/20 vision (is that possible?). I never really noticed how crappy the image on a CRT is until I saw the alternative. Who'da thunk?

HD is definitely an incredible application of technology to everyday life. It's just a shame that the programs on telelvision don't match the quality of the image. I'm afraid the television is still mostly a video monitor for our DVD and VHS (too many tapes to ditch it) players; we don't watch much network TV. Newton Minnow is still right, it's a vast wasteland.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Tag, I'm it!

I was tagged about three weeks ago, so it's time that I respond.

Here's how it works: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged, and asking them to read your blog to find out how it works!

On to the facts about me:
1) I have two dogs, both mutts, whom I absolutely love.
2) From first-hand experience, I know how cold it is 70 miles above the Arctic Circle!
3) I logged over 1300 flight hours as an Air Force aircrew member (C-5).
4) Opera is a passion (Does my blog's name give that away?).
5) I love my beer (craft brews, of course)!
6) I once went out for a beer in Santiago, Chile with a member of President George H. W. Bush's communications staff.
7) I have set foot on four of the seven continents.
8) I thoroughly enjoy cooking and wish I had more time to develop my skills.

I am tagging these blogs: Wine Knot, Tangled Web, scuba-do, Queen of Wii, Red Wine Voulet, Not Easy Being Green, Historyportal, and Birdwatcher

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Week 3, Thing 6

In browsing through Flikr mashups, I came across Yahoo Travel's Trip Planner. I must admit that many of the mashups seemed to be nothing more than toys (which may be the point!), but Trip Planner is very practical.

Essentially, you can use it to plan your trip (hence the name!), but in a much more seamless and elegant way. Not only can you gather together information on your planned destinations (i.e. lodging, restaurants, museums, landmarks, etc...), but you can link everything to an an interactive map. In making plans, that map can also be used to locate nearby hotels or attractions, thereby becoming not only a tool to tie everything together, but one that is an integral part of the pre-planning exploration which is half the fun of travelling.

Once your trip is fully planned, you can print out driving directions to take with you. In addition, during the trip, you can record your experience in the journal feature, and afterwards post your photos to create an album/travelogue.

This is definitely an example of well-applied technology with a purpose; I think I may actually use it the next time I travel.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Week 3, Thing 5

Have had the chance to mess about with Flikr over the past month, but not the time to actually post about it. All I can say is, "Wow!" It can be quite overwhelming.

I checked out the map, which allows you to see what photos were taken at which site. It is a bit random, in spite of the geographical organization. I looked for photos taken near both my home and my worksite, and it was either an overwhelming number of photos or very little. Considering the two places I focused on, it might actually speak to the digital divide as the two are generally in different economic brackets, with my neighborhood being the lower of the two.

Not having a digital camera (I feel so left out!), I decided to post a link to an interesting photo posted to Flikr by someone else. Because my wife and I have just returned from vacationing in Cooperstown, New York, I decided to search for photos taken at the Alice Busch Opera Theater. The Busch Theater is the home of the Glimmerglass Opera Company, which has been in Cooperstown for about thirty years. Although Cooperstown is best known for the Baseball Hall of Fame, our main reason for going there was to attend an opera! What can I say? (We did visit the Hall of Fame!)

The link below will take you to a photo posted by Jim Van Meter; it is of the stage towards the end of the opera, and should give an good idea of why I did not enjoy the performance as much as I had hoped. The singing and musicianship were outstanding, but the staging was questionable at best, outlandish at worst. The best way to enjoy this production would be with closed eyes to avoid seeing what was happening on stage, which mostly had nothing to do with the story and got quite embarrassing after a while.

The opera was Monteverdi's "L'Orpheo", the production was heroin chic (as far as I can tell). Orpheus seemed to be stoned throughout most of the opera, and Euridice's passage to Hades was represented by (wait for it...) the soprano being taped to the wall (you can see remnants of the tape on the wall at the rear of the photo)! (If you are unfamiliar with the Greek myth of Orpheus, after his lover Euridice dies, Orpheus travels to the underworld to convince the gods to allow her to return with him.) Truly bizarre! I understand the NYT music critic was less than kind about this production; I hope to see the review soon.

Enough of my blather, just click the link below and take a look at the set for yourself.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/90139128@N00/1174124969/in/photostream/

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Week 2, Thing 4 - Register Blog

My blog is now offically registered, and within a few days will appear on the system list of Maryland 23 blogs. Is this a good thing? From a learning standpoint, yes. From the standpoint that others will now have easy access to my ramblings, I'm not so sure!!

I am happy to note that the bandwidth has been with me thus far, although I have not really done much, except listen to the program's podcasts, that might tax the network. Things might get a bit more dicey from here on, but keeping the 7 1/2 Habits in mind, I will strive mightily to look upon any problems as challenges to be overcome. Have I mentioned that this Habit is the one I find the most difficult to practice????

Looking to the future, and staying positive...

Week 2, Thing 3: Setting up Blog

My blog is obviously set up, and I've been playing with it a bit. I was able to add a photo with little trouble, and over time hope to glitz it up a bit.

I've happily had the time this morning to really get into this, catch up on the time I've lost since registering for Maryland 23 Things. The next step is to actually register this blog with BCPL, announcing my presence to the system.

Week 1 Thing 2: 7 1/2 Habits

I'm back, on the same day no less (making up for lost time).

As this post is intended to be about the 7 1/2 Habits, here it goes...


I would have to say that "Play" is the easiest of the habits for me as I innately gravitate toward peasurable pursuits. Not that that distinguishes me from many people! If I were to choose one of the Habits as the most personally difficult, I'd have to say it is "View problems as challenges". My usual habit when faced with a problem is to internally panic, although I typically will rebound after a short time and then tackle the problem with a reasonable amount of success.

Week 1, Thing 1

Well, I have now tentatively dipped my toe into the 21st century! I'm not sure of the temperature just yet, but I guess I will figure that out eventually.

So far things have gone rather well, moderately difficult, but I've made it this far; I'm actually looking forward to working on this project. Although, I must admit that I am somewhat of a blog sceptic, the thought of gaining a deeper knowledge of the way all of this works is exciting.