Another social network--Classmates.Com

OK. This one you will have to trust me on. I can give you a picture, but I can't link you into my profile without giving you my password. And that ain't gonna happen!!!

The home page for this social network is http://www.classmates.com/. You start by selecting your state and then the city or town where you went to high school. Then the site tells you how many classmates they have listed on the site from your school. And they ask you to fill out some information about yourself. You can upload your picture after that. After you are in, they send you an email message with your password. You can change the password at any time. You can fill out more information about yourself and write a brief catch-up bio about yourself, which they will make available to your classmates. I think you are limited to your school, as far as whose information you can see. You can do make privacy decisions about how they may use the information you post.

My picture on the site should look familiar. This social network looks like it has potential for me. And it does. Of course it comes with a price. If I want to play, I will have to pay! I'm going to have to think about this long and hard.

I have done some exploring on the site and found a fairly good representation of my classmates on this site. It occurs to me that, if they use people's day to day email addresses for the mail, I would have a good chance of reconnecting with a number of friends from my past. I even found my brother registered.

Without paying, you can set up an informational profile, and have a limited amount of time to post to a message board, besides being able to see who is a member. To send email, set up smaller private groups for sharing photo albums and participating in their message boards you have to pay--quarterly, yearly or biennially. But this site has definite possibilities over the social networking sites used the younger crowd.

Podcasting and me--no fun!

I knew this was going to be a troublesome task. I didn't know it would take me so long to get to the end of the tunnel. (I am not sure there ever was any light when I got to the end. This is an audio adventure.)

I started this adventure by reading about podcasting and listening to a few. I went on to download Audacity to my personal laptop. It is fairly easy to use. I plugged in the microphone and created some test files to see what could be done. I learned how to delete some strange background noise from my recording and also how to delete dead space within the recording. (I didn't do a lot of this, as I was pressed for time. So don't expect a polished podcast. But this was interesting and given the time, I think I could have improved the quality of the podcast--given A LOT OF TIME.)

I wrote a script based on an early experience in library school and how it affected my career as a librarian. The podcast is meant to be funny. I am a great admirer of both Dr. Allan Pratt and his mentor Jesse Shera. It was fun to see where our paths crossed, and the influence both men have had on my career. I wonder what Dr. Pratt would think of the way my career developed.

After recording and some minimal editing, I was ready to publish my podcast. That is where things got very sticky. I went to PodBean, but couldn't figure out how to upload my podcast without incurring the monthly fee of $1.99. Having some Scottish blood, I couldn't see doing that for one experimental podcast. So I moved on to the ourmedia site. They had a way to upload small podcasts via the web, but my podcast must have been too big, since I couldn't get it to work. To use the ourmedia site, you have to be a member of the Internet Archive site. Then to upload to Internet Archive, I had to add SpinXpress software to my PC. I think I set up 4 new accounts to get this podcast on the net! In the end, I think I could have skipped the ourmedia site, and just used Internet Archive with the SpinXpress software. Internet Express even created the code I needed to post this podcast to my blog!

So here it is: MSUGR - a Librarian's Motto



Internet Archive provided code to post the podcast on a website. I tried using the first block of code provided, but that didn't work. The second block, Embed an Archive item with MP3 (64kbps -- lower bitrate) music files on your site! worked for me. It puts a player in the blog with a direct link to the podcast. This is pretty cool and was the easiest part of the process. Who knew?

I am soooooooooooo glad I can say this task is completed!!!

Update on Facebook ...

Mary Spencer asked to be my friend in Facebook. She is so sweet. If she didn't ask, I wouldn't have a friend there!

I sent her a message in Facebook and it looks like it made it. So maybe tomorrow I will have a reply. This is getting interesting.

I finished my podcast script. I have to get that task done, and also try one more social network before I have completed all my tasks. Only two more days to get this done. And I am still trying to keep up with my real work.

Are we having fun yet???

Facebook and me

Well, I'm in. I am disappointed that I didn't recognize any people who were active from my high school or college past. I looked around and tried to find someone I felt safe in poking. The familiar names showed up on the wrong lists. I did manage to join the "Blue 2.0 at the UK Libraries" group. I uploaded 2 pictures that should be familiar now. I am using them for lots of activities. I added Keeneland to my list of events. Now I need to find time to go!

I wanted to use my UK email address and kept getting turned down for getting into the Find Friends area. What am I doing wrong, or do I have to dredge up an old Yahoo account that I thought was history? Actually it may already be dredged up for something else we did earlier, but I really don't want to use the account for email. (I think I resurrected the account when I got involved with Flickr.)

Anyway, here is the url for my Facebook profile:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1196763296

MySpace was a frustrating place

OK, so maybe I am not a good candidate for MySpace. I did get two friends. But I never was able to change my background color and my pictures came in a bit strange. My WeeMee gained a fushia background that is totally NOT mee. (I couldn't help it. The extra e just happened.)

Here is my profile in MySpace

I joined a group finally. I joined the Scotland Yard group. But I guess it hasn't been too long, since they won't let me post yet. There is a discussion going on about Scottish bands. No one has mentioned the Battlefield Band. I am very disappointed and wanted to add them into the mix.

My initial default picture was a scanned and cropped version of my UK ID, but the scanner was black and white--not to mention the picture was on a very bad hair day. I did figure out how to make a trade with a picture I had Kitty take yesterday. I played with it in Adobe Elements and uploaded it today, along with my favorite picture of me in Scotland. (So I could justify being in Scotland Yard, of course!)

Onward to Facebook. I still am trying to think of what to do for my podcast.

Libraries and YouTube

This was a great activity. I had fun perusing the YouTube to see what was there on "Libraries".

Here are my three favorite videos.

1) Cleopatra - The Burning of the Library of Alexandria
This is the classic Liz Taylor movie and she is really mad about this little event!

2) Mr. Bean - Library
Mr. Bean would really rile the preservation and rare book librarians with his interesting use of the rare library book. He really tries to follow the rules. He is creative in his methods to copy a figure in the book, using tracing paper and colored pencils. Unfortunate events follow that cause the disfigurement of the art work and then the accidental removal of the page. (Well maybe the page was removed on purpose to cover up the act of destruction.) You don't even want to know what he does next. This is classic Bean!

3) No Cookies in the Library - Classic Sesame Street
Cookie Monster visits the library. Excited about all the books he wants to read a book, but also a box of cookies, please!

I liked these videos, as they were all classic clips from other mediums--film or TV. They were all about preserving the written or printed word. Jesse Shera wrote the we should "Maximize the social utility of the graphic record." In order to do that, one of our responsibilities is to preserve that record. That is what these three clips are really about. How cool is that? Or for my generation -- Far out!!!

Far out! The Flickr Badges worked!!!

I am so pleased. My Flickr badges work. I don't know if you have to have Flash to be able to see the first one work. Please drop me a comment if you are unable to view my changing picture show in the Flash Flickr Badge on the right side of the screen.

Thanks.

OK, now that I can do it, what do I think? This is a great way to share photos. We could have a University of Kentucky Libraries group that uploaded our pictures after events. Then the person responsible for our staff photo archive could download the best pictures for saving, and the rest of us could enjoy everyone else's pictures for awhile, before we had to make room for more.

Some Flickr experiences

Well this had its ups and downs. I added 9 photos to Flickr after I created my new account. I actually had most of a post written and lost it when I tried to add a Flickr badge I created into the post. I tested it and it didn't do what I expected, then the post was toast!

So here goes again. I've added a lovely set of Campus Flowers - Spring 2006.
My photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24917633@N08/

I've created the HTML on Flickr for the Flash and the HTML badges. I will try to put them in a section of the blog on the right side. Wish me luck!

Later...

Picture editing with LunaPic Online

This was my favorite Blue 2.0 activity so far. I have lots of pictures to play with from my trip to Scotland four years ago. I chose the "Free online image editor" which turned out to be LunaPic. This site seems like it has limitless possibilities to edit, including some that I use all the time with Adobe Elements. (But please don't take my Elements away.)

The image on the left is of the Castle at St. Andrews. It was actually a beautiful day, with big white puffy clouds in the sky. The effect I used was animation-pouring rain! It looks great animated, but I couldn't seem to save the animation. It didn't like my RealPlayer version. It makes for an interesting jpg anyway.

The image on the right is a picture taken on the Isle of Skye. The effect is called

Photo Spread, I think. It was the example they had on their site and I thought this picture would work well. The picture at the right is a jpg. I first exported it as a gif, but it cut the top and bottom off the picture, and I didn't think it was as effective.

There are a lot of normal editing things you can do on this site, like change the brightness of the picture and work with red eye problems. I didn't upload any people pictures, but the red eye reduction would be something neat to test. I have more problems with my cat pictures and red eye!

I would recommend this site to anyone who wants to edit pictures, particularly to use in their digital or online scrapbooking!

Meebo is on the Blog!

OK, I got the Meebo IM widget up. Now I am trying to figure out how to use it. I think I need to talk to my buddies in AIM and see if we can try some more conversations. I am hoping this will make IM easier to use than AIM Express. It is easier to logon to. That is for sure!!!

And I had fun picking the colors.

Onward to picture editing.

Returning to the scene of the crime...

I am hoping to get back into the Blue 2.0 routine today. I've been out of it for three weeks, while trying to get into IRIS Business Warehouse work. I took the training online and passed the test. They had an interesting approach to online training. A PDF document that looked like it started in Word was used to step you through the training exercises. As long as you didn't make a mistake, it was easy. All the BW basic training is based on the Financial part of IRIS. That area is not my forte. AND I was playing in the sandbox, so I was using an interesting mix of data. I am glad I don't have responsibilities in IRIS for creating reports on that data.

IRIS is a very different kind of IT animal. It is closer to my "day job" of Voyager work. There are three main parts to besides this reporting part. I've already had some training in each of the three others: FI (Financial), HR (Human Resources) and CM (Campus Management). The BWx area I am currently trying to master is supposed to make it easier for me to pull together the extracts I need for Patron record updating in Voyager. You don't get to pull your own "report" together. You get to pull a "view" of an existing report. You can submit a request for a new report, if none of the existing ones have the information you need. I am currently looking at two reports that might be usable. I need a break from that, so I am back to Blue 2.0.

Later...

Now I am in Google Docs. It is easy to get into this. You just log on with your Blogger account.

You can do some basic things with your text, like Bold it, Italics, Underline, highlight, change its color. And the colors you have to choose from are neater than Mr. Bill's program. You can even make Font changes and size of font changes easily.

• You
• can
• do
• bullets

1. And
2. you
3. can
4. do
5. numbered
6. lists.

This is a sweet little program and it is Free to use!!! You just need an account on Google.

DEL_ICIO_US Tagging Task

This was an interesting task for someone who started out librarian-life as a cataloger. I didn't have a lot of time to poke around other del.icio.us sites to see if there was someone out there looking at similiar things. The one I did look at seemed suspiciously like another librarian-type working on a similar program of web 2.0 tasks!

When I looked at my tags in a cloud, I noticed that the UKBlue2.0 tag was red and had an exclamation point in front! I'd love an explanation of that. Any ideas???

Oops!!! I forgot to add the link to my del.icio.us account:
http://del.icio.us/taribytes

I am trying to be somewhat consistent, or at least I am keeping with a theme?

Playing with the Blog - dragging and dropping

I just added my WeeMee graphic, which I saved as a graphic, by "capturing" the little beggar and using elements to give her a transparent background so I could use her here.

I also moved my picture from Scotland down to a different section on the right, by dragging it and dropping it into the new section. It is a lot like moving the furniture around.

These were minor changes I was curious about.

Wikis and me

I enjoyed this activity. Most of the wikis I looked at were powered by MediaWiki. I looked at ALA 2006 and Computers in Libraries wikis that were aimed at conference goers. I could see the value in this, but I did get some bad links-where pages either were removed or never made it. I liked the Ohio U Business Information wiki pages.

I now have a wiki: http://expirawiki.pbwiki.com/ . This was fun to work with, but I think I would have to plan what I really wanted to do with it, before building it willy-nilly. I tried adding a calendar plug-in and adding an event to the calendar. That was easy, as was adding a picture. I added a new page, but had a little trouble with the link to the home page. I did get it eventually. The FAQ on pbwiki is very helpful.

Subscribing to RSS Feeds in Bloglines

Today I registered and successfully subscribed to 3 blog-feeds using Bloglines. Now I have added a third password to my Blue 2.0 collection!

The last of the three blogs I added to my account was the Blue 2.0. I couldn't find the little RSS symbol, old RSS icon, and I totally missed the Subscribe to: Posts Comments (Atom) at the bottom of the Blue 2.0 page. Once I re-read the instructions, I was able to add the blog.

I added the Dean's blog first. I love the picture she has on her blog of her at a horse farm. (I had to look at the blog to get the RSS feed link.)

I also added a link to the Bob Lewis blog for ComputerWorld. He writes an IT Management column. He covers handling IT project management problems among other things.

AIM experiences

After yesterday, I arranged to work with geologymary as another buddy. She helped me get my list of steps together to get into AIM Express. I've never seen so many windows open before, but she was patient.

Mary and I went back and forth for awhile. Later I contacted terricirc again. Terri and I had a good set of exchanges of IM and I feel much better about it.

I may not have time to attack Yahoo before I leave for my exciting week out of state! So much to do and so little time. (Not sure who said that, but I know it isn't original.)

Initial Blogging experiences

OK, setting up the blog was easy. I had fun coming up with a name, but I had heard from EKU friends that could be a stumbling block. What to post in the blog was the next thing to get past. Since I've decided not to obsess over what I do with Blue 2.0, other than to experiment and experience it, I just wrote the first thing that came to mind for my first post.

I am thinking there are lots of things I could put in a blog for work, like tips and tricks for Voyager or what I've learned about IE7 and Office 2007 that can be applied to work. And I could just share who I am, which might surprise some people, or it might not.

Going to the Blue 2.0 site and posting was easy.

Onward to instant messaging!

My name is Tari and I am a Systems Librarian.

The initial purpose of this blog is to explore Web 2.0/Library 2.0 tools through the University of Kentucky Libraries Blue 2.0 program during the Spring 2008 semester.

What it becomes after that is anyone's guess!

I have been in library systems for over 20 years, but the last few have seen more changes than the first 20! I want to keep up with these changes and use them in my work and maybe even my play time.

I will be experimenting with these tools, so don't expect anything coherent all the time. This will be my sandbox for these exercises. I'm excited about the possibilities.