Thing 13_Online Productivity Tools

For several periods during 2008, my prior laptop lived at Best Buys service center where people looked at it with pity... while it waited for yet another new part. Why the sob story? Because it meant I was without the bedrock of my life - Outlook's calendar and tasks. Thus began the search for web applications to help keep my life in order.

First, I tried out Google Calendar, which worked fantastically. I upgraded to the beta version of Google Talk which provides pop-up reminders on whatever computer you've downloaded it to. It also allows you to click and instantly pull up the calendar. Other amazing features: getting directions, sharing the calendar or selective appointments and setting reoccuring appointments. The daily option for e-mail reminders or cell phone text messages is cool too. This is a good application and I can see libraries that want to get away from the Microsoft Suite model using this.

Next, I tried Remember the Milk because I wanted a more developed task/project management web app. It may have been my patience for those few days or just a fluke, but I found it too complicated and not very rewarding for the work. It never integrated into my life.

Now that I have a new laptop, I've also tried Rainlendar which is a lovely, minimal calendar & to-do list gadget that stays on the desktop. It's been a bit buggy but I really love having it right on my desktop. I found this one through LifeHacker, by the way. This is not something I can picture a library using especially because it doesn't network or share, but it's a great personal tool and would be nice on a multi-use desk computer, if it included people's shifts. It can be set to make a soft chiming sound or simple a desktop pop-up reminder. There's even a snooze button!

And finally, I am also using Fruitful Time Task Manager (the free version). So far, I've used this program to plan and execute moving to a new apartment and fundraising and traing for a bike tour. I should really spring for the paid version but I'm goin to keep hunting for a really intuitive, free project mgmt application or web-app. For a library that needs project mgmt. software, this may be a good invesment. As someone who hates Micrsoft's Project Mgmt software... I would say, spend less money and use something more intuitive like Fruitful.

So Lifehacker... aka the blog that has far too many posts each day. This is definitely an RSS Feed worthy blog. I quickly scan through the posts, stopping only at the ones that picque my interest based on the relevant program (iPhone... meh). I'd suggest having one or two people in a library browse these posts, rather than having everyone get bogged down reading about iPhones and Firefox extensions.

In conclusion, I already use and have tried quite a few of these programs, sites and applications. I think that their usability within a library setting will definitely depend on the type of library, their audience and their needs.

Thing 12_Do You Digg

Why yes, yes I do digg, as of today. This was yet another area of web 2.0 that was within my awareness, on the horizon within my vision but that I'd not bothered to tinker with it. I have an account on Digg. Honestly, "digging" news is not something that really excites me and when I started sifting through what other people had dugg within the news, I was rather saddened by all the hard, sad news stories. And thus, I have chosen to digg one of my new favorite blogs - Zen Habits. This particular piece provides a detailed look at how to re-evaluate ones use of time so that it can be re-focused on goals of meaning or simply relax more!

I can definitely see libraries introducing their patrons to this... possibly having a Digg account where the librarians and staff would spend time digging library related stories and other news of interest. If they had a blog as well, they could use it to blog these items... which is time savings and a fun way to shake up the usual blog post. For colleges, I could see subject specialist librarians and staff using this as a way to point students toward current news stories of interest.

My favorite site for new related posting continues to be Plastic.com however I don't spend much time there and can't say its current situation. It's definitely not as flexible as digg, mixx, etc. However, Plastic provides more of a sense of community within the site and it's primary focus is having members of the community create write-ups that are a summation of the news stories available on a topic, with hyperlinks to their sources. Then members of the community who have risen to the rank of moderators vote on whether those stories will be posted to the front pages. Comments are also ranked for purposes of moderation.

Finally another site that is one my mind is Babbledog, which is also more single community intense. Overall - there is a fascinating world that is culling through the online news.

read more | digg story

Music Ref Services Preview

Things 11_Tagging, Del.icio.us & Furl

Just recently, when I was sorting a number of websites trying to find the ones that matched my current information need I thought to myself "Gee, I really need to start tagging sites." With having recently picked up an RSS Feeder addiction, I've been developing my love of tagging good posts with my feeds but that's so limited!

I absolutely see this as a tool for research, particularly for Web 2.0 and tech topics that are fluttering about on the blogosphere and other sites. And these are also great resources to share with other people (and techie librarians)!

However, at the same time there are draw backs. I'm still figuring out how to create memorable yet unique tags that will allow me to point others toward them and share what I'm finding interesting.

Of course, I also wish that these programs allowed for more interaction. My temporary solution is to have a wiki where people can interact with me about items I've tagged... but I just noticed that Furl does allow for comments, so that's a step in the right direction. This is definitely an area, where I'm going to continue to tinker because I see a lot of promise.

Thing_10 Wikis!

This particular thing couldn't have come at a better time in my personal life. My boyfriend and I are apartment hunting together, and I created a PB Wiki for us to coordinate our list of prospective apartments, which we both add to and access at times. We have a set list of information that we list about each location, including a link to the orignal online ad, if available, and then, we also list all of our follow-up by location. This allows us both to be calling and following up with landlords/apartment managers and maintain our common knolwedge. To complete the story, we are also using a shared Google Calendar with maps to the apartments embedded as links so that we can access and print from anywhere.

On to a library perspective toward Wikis - I see this as a fantastic place for librarians and staff to collaborate in an easy to use space. I love that St. Joseph has created a simple guide to their library and commonly searched topics; this is a fantastic example of using new technology to allow increased flexibility without requiring HTML or other web programming.

I'm definitely going to continue exploring the Wiki concept. I have plans to use them in other areas of my personal life for coordination (because I love organizing).

Thing_9

Requested permission to edit both the Google & Zoho documents but haven't received a response yet. I'm going to skip on to the next item for now.

Thing 8_Share Your Creation 2

On to Vuvox! I am really enamored with this site and the possibilities it offers. I was first exposed to it during a presentation by the New Media Consortium on the 2008 Horizon Report. They used the Vuvox collage to create their mixed-media presentation, which caused me to have two immediate reactions. I did not like it for a traditional presentations, having the edges visible as is somewhat inevitable, seemed distracting. BUT at the same time, I saw amazing artistic opportunities. I first tried the publically available settings which were cool but disappointing in their cookie-cutter nature, but I applied to try out Collage, which is currently in private beta testing.

Below is my first attempt with Collage, which has all of the customizations that I'd hoped for: