Stumble On

I have recently become a stumbler through StumbleUpon.com. I have a cautious approach to new technology. I enjoy finding them and playing with them but I am not that interested in adding more to my online experience. I am trying to simplify my online environment and adding plugin after plugin or toolbars or widgets is a waste of time and a good way to muddle up my computer screen and browser.

But when I came across a blog post about using web 2.0 tools to be more efficient with your information I took the plunge using StumbleUpon (SU). I am cautiously hooked. SU takes a set of personal preferences and with a click of a button starts feeding you websites that match your preferences. If you like the website you can rate it with a thumbs up and if you dislike it you can rate it with a thumbs down. Sites that have not been rated before will open up a box for you to review the site for other Stumblers. By consistently rating the sites that you see you set the pattern for the type of sites that will be fed to you in the future.

The best use of this for me is combining SU with Del.icio.us. When SU sends me a site that I think will be helpful for personal use or for library use I will tag the site in Del.icio.us for future reference. The amount of great library sites that I have found through SU is tremendous.

The aspect that I have not totally grasped is how to use SU to locate the best sites on a particular subject like you would using Google. You can go to SU and do a keyword search but I assume that the value of the site is based on Stumbler reviews which would limit the options because of a potential for many sites not being reviewed.

When using any search engine I often get the feeling that many times there is an "on the nose" website that is just beyond my grasp. SU seems to feed you quality websites and your ability to rate the sites instantly customizes what comes next. I am still in the "new toy" phase of using SU but I don't foresee myself eliminating this tool anywhere in the near future.

Web- based Applications

I use Google Docs (which includes a spreadsheet application) frequently and find excuses to use it more often. What a wonderful use of web technology. You take the most common elements of Microsoft Word and Excel, allow global web use, sharing capabilities, and convenience and you have a recipe for a really great product. Who wants to worry about disks or jump drives that we often lose? Who wants to worry about sending attachments that we may forget to include or the person we are sending it to has trouble opening it?

What exactly are we missing by not using the Microsoft Office products? Enhancements, shortcuts, and advance uses are for expert users not for the average office worker, educator, or student. In a recent ministry effort in our apartment complex my wife and I had to keep a current database on our residents. We did it all on Google Docs and it was a simple, lifesaver. I am all for web-based applications and see them only improving as the open source trend continually advances these products.

Play Time!!

Inspired by the activities that I have chronicled on this blog and the work of Meredith Farkas et al. and Helene Blowers, I am starting a training program among our staff and faculty on web 2.0/library 2.0.

The program consists of me presenting a quick and simple overview tutorial on the topic of the month (June will be on blogging) during a library staff meeting. At the end of the instruction session, I will present the group with an activity for them to do on their own before our next session in July. I will also provide weekly emails chronicling the discoveries that the staff have made through their own "play time" with the technology. Then, once a month, we will all gather together for a "play time" where we can discuss the technology and practice using it ourselves.

I announced this activity at our staff meeting today and it was well received though with some apprehension by our more tech inexperienced staff. I encouraged them that this was a low stress exercise that was focused on the play aspect and the need to have fun with things we find intimidating. I hope to detail some of my observations through this blog.

Wiki Mania

Of some of the web 2.0 applications, Wikis have been the least approachable for me. Blogs I understand very easily but wikis have a element that I am just not comfortable with. I think it is the edit aspect that puts the html scare into me and makes me think that one false move will cause the whole page to come crashing down. For sure, I need to play with this technology and get over this apprehension that I have. To this end, I have created a wiki through PBWiki. I am not for sure what I will be doing with this wiki but hopefully I can make it a productive and useful tool. Otherwise, I can trash it right?

Library 2.0 - What it means to me

I am good with noticing buzzwords and trends but terrible with definitions and even understanding. If you asked me what Library 2.0 is I could give you examples of 2.0 environments (Flickr, MySpace, Wikis, Blogs, etc.) but that doesn't mean I could define it. I am forced to dig deeper though and ask myself what makes these things fall into the category of Library 2.0. Through this exercise, I see three things that make up a 2.0 technology.

1. One touch - With a click of a mouse or touch of an enter button, your contribution to the web is published and viewable. No middle man, no publisher, no editor.

2. Simplicity - The technology is not shrouded in code and tech-speak so as to inhibit practitioners in other areas from using the technology for their own purposes. In other words, most users can teach themselves the technology with little effort. The product is high end and the labor is low.

3. Social - With most of the 2.0 technologies, there is a component to contribute to the technology through comment boxes, friend lists, or bookmark clouds. What I produce can be shared with others, critiqued by others, or enjoyed by others and that is part of its purposes. The goal is for collaborations, conversations, and community.

All of this may sound simplistic to the professional but the list helps me to view Library 2.0 from a perspective where I can analyze its true value above a buzz word or trend.

My Favorite Blogs

Here is my list of favorite blogs. In no particular order.

- Agent B Files
- Jesus Creed
- D.C. Sports Bog
- Dan Shanoff
- Crunchy Con
- Mavs Courtside View
- Ubiquitous Librarian
- What I Learned Today
- Kept Up Academic Librarian

Technorati Top 100

I recently glanced over the Technorati Top 100 blogs to see if I can observe any trends. Here are some of my musings -

- A sports blog didn't show up until number 76 (AOL Fanhouse). I subscribe to several sports blogs and find sports to be a natural blogging topic. I would have thought that there would be more sports blogs on the list.
- Only two of my subscriptions showed up on the top 100. The Freakonomics Blog at 61 and Stereogum at 80.
- It looks as if Technorati determines popularity based on number of unique links to blogs and by the number of people who have marked a blog as a favorite. What about subscriptions? Wouldn't a good way of determining popularity be to determine how many people subscribe to the blog? Maybe since there is such a wide variety of blog feed readers there is no way to determine the number of subscribers. Surely there is a way from the blog itself to chronicle subscriptions. Maybe I should seek my answers in one of the many tech blogs out there that are so popular.
- The blogs on the list that tempted me to subscribe were PostSecret and 43 Folders.