CPL 2.0 - Twitter

Armed with a bit of knowledge about what Twitter is all about, share your thoughts on this fast growing online phenomenon.

I admit to having pre-conceived prejudices about Twitter prior to doing this particular CPL 2.0 assignment, and those prejudices haven't been completely wiped away. I do see potential for Twitter--it was interesting to read about possibilities for businesses using Twitter and real-life examples of those possibilities put into practice, and I also really liked the Country Hills Library tweets that I looked at, as I thought many were catchy and cleverly written--but I don't know how much Twitter is really used for stuff like that. It seems to me it's just one more way for a seemingly ego-centric, celebrity-driven society to express itself publicly, which it seems to do ad nauseam. Not that I have anything against free speech or public expression, but is it really vital that the world know right now that "It's always the people you wish to forget that you'll always remember" (an actual "Top Tweet")? As with some other social networking tools, perhaps I just haven't caught the joy of Twitter yet, but I don't forsee when I will...

CPL 2.0 - LibraryThing

Do you see any practical applications for LibraryThing either at home or at work? Will you start using this site?

I can see that LibraryThing might be helpful for keeping track of books that one has read both personally and professionally. In this way, it would serve as a useful reminder of plots and what one thought of a particular work and also would be helpful in recommending books to others. However, I don't, at this point, see myself using this site. While I didn't find it difficult to navigate, it seems a little overwhelming with all of the information and opinions of others...sometimes a tool such as this just seems to me to be more of a time waster than an actual "streamliner" for my life.

CPL 2.0 - Online Productivity Tools

Love Google Docs! This is a tool I can see myself using on a regular basis. In the past, if I'm typing a document for work at home, I save it on my laptop and then email an attachment to my work email. Now, I can create a document on Google Docs or upload a document to Google Docs, and then I can easily access it at work. This tool would have been fantastic for group work in library school. Group members would make changes to a Word or Excel document and then we had to consolidate all of the changes. With Google Docs, creating group presentations would have been so much easier and faster, with everyone working off the same document and all of the edits happening in real time. I can certainly see myself using it now in group situations at work.

CPL 2.0 - Flickr & YouTube

I found Flickr and YouTube user friendly. I hadn't used Flickr much prior to now, but I enjoyed searching different areas of interest. I particularly enjoyed watching slideshows of different individuals' photos. YouTube I have used quite frequently, mostly for entertainment purposes (i.e. to check out a funny commercial or TV show clip), but I have also learned some things through it, such as how to pronounce certain words in other languages. There was a customer in the library the other day looking for books on how to make French pastry. He took one book, but I just did a little searching, and it might not have been a bad idea for him to check out YouTube...some good instructional stuff here!

CPL 2.0 - RSS

I was able to successfully set up my RSS feed, which made me very happy, as I had looked into RSS a year or so ago and for whatever reason (can't remember what) wasn't able to set anything up, got frustrated, and just gave up. Now, however, I have a few of my favourite blogs set up under my Bloglines account, and I'm actually looking forward to having one account from which I can keep track of things, without having to go into each individual blog to see if it has been updated. I think it will definitely save me a bit of time, and the fact that I can check that Bloglines account from anywhere in the world is fantastic. Wish I had been able to figure all of this out sooner!

CPL 2.0 - Google Universe

The Google product I chose to look at was Google maps. While I have used Google street and satellite maps in the past, I had never before looked at street view. Loved it! Street view allows you to view continous, actual images of streets in cities around the world as if you were really there. I was able to check out old neighbourhoods where I had lived and reminisce about times there, check to see the yet-to-be-visited streets on which some of my siblings live, and do some armchair travelling of areas in Edinburgh, Scotland that I'd like to see (i.e. I checked out Scotland Street of the '44 Scotland Street' series written by Alexander McCall Smith, and now have enhanced my impression of his written descriptions). You can experience places much more fully than any set of photos would allow, as you're virtually driving down a street! I liked being able to view a continuous run of streets, being able to zoom in, and to adjust the viewing angle. I didn't like the fact that you run into "dead-ends" or streets that are not included in the street view, which can be frustrating. It's an easy to use product, however, and definitely one I would recommend to friends and colleagues.