Library Things

I am already a member of Library Thing, but I did link my collection to my non-27things blog today.
People are always asking me about what I've been reading, so now I can easily refer them over to my blog.

I checked out Shelfari, but I'm already biased against them, beacuse Oprah has been pushing this sitein her magazine. Also Shelfari claims to be the original book cataloging social networking site, but Libray Thing actually is. Shelfari came into existence in October of 2006 and Library Thing got its' start in May 2005. This I know from looking at both websites. I don't like misleading statements. I also notice that Amazon is funding Shelfari.

Libray Thing also has a more grass roots feel to it, and it seems to be attracting a more eclectic group of readers.

Gurlib lost my interest because it includes music and videos. I would like to stick with literature for now.

Technorati

So I gave Technorati a whirl. It seems to do its job well. I tried searching "web 2.0" in all three categories, but I've got to tell you that it is such a big topic that I couldn't really interpret much from the differences.

So to really see how this works, I searched the name of a blog that is eponymous with its author. Her writing has been controversial of late, and I got a very good idea of how this all works.

So I first looked in the blog directory and I found nothing, though she is a popular blogger. She must not have registered her blog with Technorati.

Then I looked in blog posts, and I found over six thousand posts about the blog and blogger. But I still couldn't find her own blog posts. Interesting.

Then I searched the tags. Photos from her Flickr account came up along with many of her blog posts mixed in with others that tagged her name.

What I am seeing is that alot of people are wasting alot of time writing about flame wars within the blogosphere. I'm also seeing that Technorati allows me to research what bloggerers have to say about people, politics and other bloggers. I can track themes, which isn't personally interesting, but for anyone who is researching a topic in real time, or trying to discern a new trend or trying to keep track of new innovations, this is a terrific tool. Librarians can use this to help people achieve these goals. We can also use it to follow library current library trends.


Now I'm going to try the same thing with "kcls27things". KCLS is impacting the blogosphere. "kcls27things" is the number 10 search term at this point in time. So we're skewing the results. It seems as though a small group of people could wreak some havoc with Technorati if they wanted to. Also at least one blogger is commenting on kcls27things being on this top ten list. This person called it an "A-List Blog" So now we are A list!

Anyway, I checked tags and saw the Flickr photos, etc. This is all very interesting and I'll need play with it more to really understand it's impact.

By the way, the original blog is called Althouse.

Social Networking and Information

I just finished looking at the de.lic.iou.us material. I think it's a great way to track new trends, and to combine information. I think it will serve as an interesting kind of market research, especially if eventually we will be able to break information down geographically.

I'll have more to say once I play with it more.

Myspace and Friends

I easily created a Myspace account and had more difficulty with the confirmation email. It turns out that KCLS email was not working this Sunday.

Anyway, I have my first friend, and explored the site and possible options for awhile.

What I've discovered is that it could easily be a giant time sucking machine, with all the options to personalize and search for Friends.

I was mildly amused by the dead famous personalities I found, and the "relationships"they had with one another.

As a youth, I would have found countless options for fun, mayhem and connecting using Myspace.

One interesting note, I did find my niece, but curiously, she has not logged in since February.

Exploring Myspace

I've read the featured articles about social networking sites, and it makes sense for libraries to be represented. Personally, unless I have a product or idea to market, I'm not very interested. The majority of my life outside of work is spent offline, and I wish to keep it that way.

Interestingly, a recent article in Salon explores the State of Israel's Myspace page. The article concludes that Israeli officials were interested reaching out the the international youth demographic. After some polling they discovered that youth outside Israel consider that nation to be irrelevant. Take a look at the site. It's hip and busy

RSS and Chowhound

Chowhound
Originally uploaded by miridris.

I was thinking about when having an RSS feed would be useful and I realized that I am a viewer of Chowhound a restaurant review message board.

Boards are geographically arranged, and I check them out when I'm traveling to a given area. I also regularly check into the Northwest Board. So having easy updates to new posts would be great.

I think RSS is most useful for those who need quick updates regularly. This is useful for Journalists or and business competitors, or anyone who is a news junkie or addicted to Hollywood gossip.

Salutr

Salutr is a mashup that allows the user to create greeting e-cards fromFlickr photos. I looked at alot of the other applications. Some were fun but didn't have any practical use for me and some were complicated to install, and I didn't have the time to do that. Salutr is something that is simple to use, fun, and has a purpose.

Some of the applications look as though they will be useful for my blogs. For instance, there is one that allows you to link to your Flickr albums directly from your blog.

Paris Window

Window
Originally uploaded by miridris.

I've uploaded this photo directly from Flickr.

It's easy to upload from here, but I cannot add links to my blog text.

Flickr

I just completed setting up my Flickr account. I was impressed with it's simplicity of use and power. I have not yet uploaded photos using Flickr to the blog. I will do that next.

List Mania

The Guardian takes on book lists with a piece ostensibly reviewing The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favourite Books, but the article is actually an exploration of our growing dependence on "best of" lists and prizes. With the increasing onslaught of reviews and publishing information available on the web, the reader is increasingly reliant on these lists as comforting way finders.

Does the reliance on lists create a homogeneous reading public?