Twitter

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

I've been tweeting for the library for a few months now under the name of ShannonatCPL. It can be a good way to promote library 'business'. That said, I usually don't spend much time on Twitter reading other people's tweets because most of them are tweeting to promote a business, event etc. and that gets boring after a while. I also feel a bit ADD after reading too many tweets.

LibraryThing

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

I use Goodreads to keep track of my books. I like Goodreads over LibraryThing because it's prettier. LibraryThing is so very text heavy. However, I like the Zeitgeist page in LibraryThing with the 25 most reviewed books etc.

Online Productivity Tools

Do you see yourself using these tools or will you stick to more traditional methods. If you were to use one of these tools regularly, which would it be and why?

I already had a Google Docs account, which I never used, I only set it up when a co-worker wanted to share a work-in-progress document that way. Adding new documents (either uploading or writing new ones) was quite easy.

Google Calendar on the other hand: not so much. I tried importing my Outlook Calendar and got mixed up and frustrated.

I don't really need to use Google Calendar - my paper planner is my friend, and as for Google Docs I'll probably only use it when I'm part of a group that uses it to share documents with one another.

Flickr and Youtube

Comment on Flickr and YouTube. Were they user-friendly?

I've only explored Flickr a bit before, so today I spent some time looking up topics that interested me. I ended up looking at one woman's wonderful photostream ( {studio beerhorst}-bbmarie ) of her 'urban farm' and got incredibly inspired by the beautiful pics.

I also LOVE this picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bibbiw/3545422140/
It makes me long for blossoms and Vancouver.

YouTube is fairly user-friendly for finding videos of interest. I'm not interested in signing up for an account though. Some of the videos people put on Youtube about their personal life are just excrutiating.

RSS

Were you able to successfully set up your RSS feed? If not, where did you run into problems? If you were successful, does this make information-gathering more convenient for you?

I set up an RSS feed to a few blogs and websites like Librarian.net, Library Stuff, Publishers Weekly - Bestsellers News, and book reviews from the Guardian. I can see how it would be useful,if you needed to keep on top of a specific topic for work, or if you're addicted to gathering information for personal interest. I get overwhelmed by all the information that's pressed at me everyday, and I think the amount of time I spent on a computer is inversely related to my quality of life, so I think I'll avoid RSS feeds unless I need to keep track of a specific issue for work.

Google Universe

What do you like about the Google product? What do you dislike? Would you recommend the product to friends and colleagues?

Google Books caught my eye so I decided to review that one. First off, I really liked how the site was laid out with headings for various topics like interesting, highly cited, philosopy and body, mind and spirit. Navigating the site is easy and intuitive.

That said, I wouldn't use the site because I like reading books in paper, not online. I would recommend it to customers however, if we didn't have the book in question, and if Google Books did.

The "Find it in a Library" feature is nice, but it doesn't always work. I looked up Teacher Man: A Memoir in Google Books and it listed Mount Royal, U of A and EPA as holding it but not CPL.

Social Networking

For you, is Facebook useful or a time-waster?

For myself, Facebook is both useful and a time-waster. It's useful because it's an easy way to keep in touch with friends and post and rsvp to events. It's a time-waster because I easily get sucked into checking it a few times a day, when I could be doing something more productive instead.

Wikipedia

How easy or difficult was it to find articles that needed editing? Were the errors you found factual or grammar / spelling?

I looked up the posting for Calgary Public Library. It was easy to find something to change. The post said something to the effect that CPL's funding situation would be "even be worse" if we didn't charge cardholders the yearly administrative fee, and were it not for the efforts of the Calgary Public Library Foundation. This didn't sound terribly professional, so I deleted it.

Delicious

How comfortable are you using Best Websites, after this practice? Do you have any tips for using Best Websites on Delicious?

I am quite comfortable using Best Websites on Delicious. The most frustrating this about Delicious is how long it can take to load. Apart from that, it's a great way to store our favourite websites.

My tips are quite simple: always use the tag bundles to find the information you are looking for, sort your lists alphabetically and use ALT - F to find whatever term you are looking for on the page.

Web 2.0

Which part of web 2.0 are you most intrigued (or scared) by?

I'm fairly familiar with most of the topics, except RSS feeds, so I'd like to learn how to use RSS feeds productively.