Thursday, May 31, 2007

Exploring brand new Web 2.0 sites

I really liked looking at Webware. Not only does it explore the concepts around developing 2.0 sites, and put them in a context, but it has a wide range of sites featured, from super techie - to silly, fun and useful.

I specifically explored the networking area, thinking it would give me good ideas for connecting with teens. But the one I found was kinda silly, but something I would totally use all the time if my telephone had the web technology needed for it.

MizPee is a site where people can list and rate public bathrooms. So if you are out and about and suddenly find yourself desperate to go, you can just log on and not only see the closest ones, but know which one is least likely to be disgusting our out of paper. Simple and a bit goofy...but some of the most basic essential problem solving I've seen one of these sites address.

And, why not put all your public library's bathrooms on it? We always talk about finding new ways to get patrons in...why not promote this service, in which we rarely brag, but almost always excel. Library loos are some of the best around! And people might come in for a quick visit, and discover just how much more we have to offer :)

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Exploring Google Labs

I had not heard of this before, and had no idea that Google had so many irons in the fire! Very interesting stuff they are experiementing with. Here is what I explored:

Ride FinderFind taxis based on real life locations. Now, I don't use taxis very often, so perhaps I'm really not the target for this one. But I am curious what this could mean for the future of how we move about. Right now it is showing a Yellow Cab within a mile of my library. Are these all available cabs? Otherwise, who cares where they are. If it showed competing companies, and you lived in a more isolated area...it would be very good to know who had a cab closest. One time this would have really come in handy for me, was last summer in New Orleans. A friend and I took a cab out of the city to go see a movie. Getting back took hours, because we had no way of knowing which company had a cab near by. This tool on a portable device would have been a godsend.

Google SuggestI think this has been in place in the Google toolbar for some time. I really like it, and think it could be a handy feature for library catalogs, too. Even an expert searcher like me gets good ideas for keywords to use, and it doesn't get in the way of the search at all. I like it.

Google Music Trends: Could be a good way of keeping up with what teens and other patrons are listening to. I'm terrible about keeping up with pop music, so this could be handy.

Google Trends: Again, a good way to keep up with pop culture news, and see what is buzzing out there. The search function I didn't find so interesting, but the hot trends of the day are facinating.

I was also interested that Google, in the experiements section, is working on keyboard shortcuts. I confess, part of me misses the days when you could generally avoid using the mouse altogether...just for the speed factor as much as anything. This intregues me about as much as any of these other ideas!

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Using online applications

Today I played with both Zoho's word processing program, and Google Docs. At first I felt a little uncertain about them, but by the end of the exercise, I was sold. This is so great for folks who can't afford to buy software, but want to be able to access their documents regardlessly. And I like the idea of group access to a document, though I'm not totally sure how that would work best.

Some of the ways I think this could be handy for a librarian:
1) working on booklists over time...being able to add books without having a disc handy
2) working on articles...can just add a bit at a time when a new thought comes to mind
3) working on booktalks...could have multiple librarians add their own variations
4) any ongoing project you need to take notes for.

I'm going to have to explore these further!