Thing #23: 23 Things Wrap-Up

Wow! It's hard to believe that I've now completed all 23 Things! Knowing that the current list of 23 Things was created almost 3 years ago (if not earlier), I wonder whether there are 23 newer things to explore and not what they will be. (They'll certainly arrive if they haven't already.) Over the course of explorations, it was pretty easy to tell which of the original 23 Things are here to stay (in one form or another) and which might have been flash-in-the-pan fads (the concepts with the most broken or outdated links?).

As I noted in an earlier post, podcasts seem to be the most faddish of the bunch since none of the feed directories or search engines had many recently updated podcast listings. The news outlets seem to be the only groups using it this technology regularly. Libraries had started to make use of them and then it looks like they just stopped for one reason or another. Lack of use? More effective use of other technologies?

The Thing that most surprised me was the general exploration of Web 2.0 technologies in libraries. It was interesting to see how even library catalogs have taken on aspects of social networking via reviews, comments, tagging, recommendation lists, etc. (a lot like Amazon.com!). Maybe someday we'll get to that point in my county..... How far we've come from author cards, subject cards, and title cards! (I probably just dated myself a bit too much by admitting that I remember those, haven't I?)

Until the next 23 Things.....

Thing #22: (Downloadable) Audiobooks

The first thing that occurred to me when I started this unit was why was just about audiobooks? Did e-boosk really not exist just a few years ago when 23 Things was first created? This unit should really incorporate both since many of the resources (i.e. Overdrive) we're investigating here do.

To me, it seems like downloadable audiobooks are one of our most underused resources. Maybe it just seems that way because this is one resource that people don't have to come to the library to access so we never see it being used like books. Audiobooks on CD get some of our best circulation numbers so it seems only natural that there should be a big audience for their downloadable counterparts. Part of the problem, at least in my library system, is that we don't do a very good job of advertising them to those who would be most comfortable using them (children & teens). When we first starting getting them, we mainly had adult titles but now we have more and more children's and teen titles available. (More than most of our staff probably realizes.) We've tried to ease access to them by adding them to our regular catalog and linking to the download page, but the link is a bit hidden within each record (and it literally is a link - a small icon of a chain link -- not instantly intuitive if you ask me). Of course, the fact that Overdrive and NetLibrary were unable to offer iPod compatible titles early on didn't help either.

I haven't made much use of these resources myself, sad to say. I think I am more of a visual learner so it's easier for me to focus my attention on printed text. One of these days I may try a downloadable audiobook though. Now, if only we could find a way to offer music in the same way.....

Thing #21: Podcasts

Well, it's clear in my explorations on the topic of podcasts, that they may have just been a passing fad. Judging by the write-up on the 23 Things page, they were quite the rage 5 years ago, when "podcast" became the word of the year in the New Oxford English Dictionary. Now, in 2010, of the three links to podcast directories that 23 Things gave us to look at, only one (http://www.podcastalley.com/) still works. 23 Things included a link to podcast.net, which is now non-functional, but I did find that there's usable directory at http://www.podcast.com/. Of the two, podcast.com is easier to browse through via the category listings and podcastalley.com seems easier to search using the search box. Searching in podcast.com didn't seem to bring me very reliable results when I tried looking for library-related podcasts. Podcastalley.com brought me much better results with the same search. Unfortunately, one has to wonder how long these podcast directories will last. In doing my searches and in browsing, I found that other major news organizations (ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX, NY Times, etc.) there were few recent podcasts to be found. Even SirsiDynix and ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) don't seem to have created updated podcasts since at least 2008. (Maybe the directories just aren't finding them?) I could see that a few libraries (college and public) tried them early on, ca. 2006-2007, but most didn't last long. Perhaps it was easier for people to read their websites for information about upcoming events and the like rather than listening to a podcast.

Thing #20: YouTube

Probably no site on the Web has gained more popularity and widespread recognition since the 23 Things project was created than YouTube.com. Unfortunately, searching the thousands of videos here is not easy unless you are looking for something extremely specific (i.e. a song title, artist, TV show title, etc.). YouTube offers the option of browsing channels, but the channels don't have subchannels. So, browsing the entertainment channel just brings you to a wall of videos that subscribers linked to that channel. It seems that finding anything by subject is very serendipitous. After seeing the Library Dominoes video that 23 Things linked to, I decided to search for other library humor videos. However, I found that my search results were very hit or miss. Some were close to the target but others were only barely related to the topic at hand. (Maybe I just didn't use specific enough search terms though.) It's interesting to note that it is this difficult to search through these digital materials considering that YouTube is now owned by Google.

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards

For this particular Thing, I decided to take a look at Last.fm, the Web 2.0 Awards winner for best music tool. (Winners were named in May 2008.) I have some familiarity with its nearest competitor, Pandora. One of things I liked about Last.fm is that unlike Pandora, when you search for an artist or group, you are taken to a page full of information about the artist as well as album and song listings. There are links from the albums and song titles to digital music sites like iTunes and Amazon.com where you can download these works. You can listen to snippets of each song right at Last.fm too. Pandora is much simpified and merely plays a "radio station" of music tailored to groups/artists similar to the group you are searching for. That group's music is played occasionally as well. Back to Last.fm..... it will create a similar kind of radio station for you as well. There are also links to music videos from Youtube. (Seems odd that that were careful about copyright by only sampling audio tracks of individual songs but yet they offer access to videos with full length versions of the same songs. I noticed in a second look that full versions are included for some songs. I don't what determines the availability of full tracks though.) I also noticed that Last.fm functions somewhat as a wiki in that after you create your Last.fm account, you can edit the entry for each artist or group. You can also create your own playlists, (Scrobble to include the songs you're listening to on your computer, iPod, or mp3 player), join groups of like-minded music lovers and see what artists and songs are the most popular on Last.fm each week. (This week the Beatles were the most popular artists and the most popular song was "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, in case you're curious.) Two of my favorites were in the top 10! ("Fireflies" by Owl City and "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon)

Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

Today I checked out Zoho Writer and Google Docs. I had forgotten that Google Docs started out as a different product until I read the Thing #18 page and listened to the audio feed. I have more familiarity with Google Docs as my ALSC Committee used it for past year or two to share and edit files. I know there are lots of bells and whistles in Google Docs that I haven't learned about yet. I still don't understand why it has to open up a new window everytime I open a document. It's confusing because I never know if I'm logged out or not since my "Signed In" info. appears in both windows. I just saw that GD has lots of cool templates to use in document creation from planners to calendars to resumes to budgets. ALA unveiled its new networking software early last year and it allows us to share documents but we can't them like we can in Google Docs. At MCPL, we occasionally offer GD as an option to customers who need to save their files. Our public PCs have moved beyond the floppy disk age and many customers still don't have flash drives so they are left with few options for file saving. Of course, you have to create your file in Google Docs to save it, rather than using Word, Excel, etc. but you'll still be able to open it from another computer or with Word, etc. later on if you want. How cool! My new laptop only has a sample version of Office 7 on, so maybe I will consider Google Docs and the like as cheap options to buy the full Office package. (If I can only find a table at the local coffee hotspot to logon..... lol)

Thing #17: Blinkx Exploration (Replacement for Sandbox Wiki)

Well, I finally hit a pothole on the information superhighway. (Does anyone still call it that anymore?) Thing #17 called for us to join the Maryland Libraries 2.0 Sandbox Wiki, but I couldn't figure out how to join. I saw nothing on the sign-in page telling me how to join if I wasn't a member. Maybe they automatically signed up the original participants? Anyway....

In its place, I visit a list of 43 Things by Stephen Abrams of SirsiDynix and chose to do a little exploration of blinkx.com which allows users to search a conglomeration of online video sites like Youtube (more on that in my posting for Thing #20). You can search by keyword or by clicking on one of a list of 20 categories, including TV shows, music, fashion, kids, for teens, home and living, etc. You can also browse by channel. (I haven't yet discovered what the difference is between a channel and a category though. There seems to be some overlap between them. One neat feature is the ability to see your search results in a video wall. The downside is that there's isn't much detail that way telling what each video is about. You can also see a video wall of selected categories right on the main page. The music and tv show sections are curious in that I have a feeling many aren't legimately online. I know AOL Television, YouTube, and imdb.com do offer some titles with permission of music labels, artists, and TV production cos. but I'm not sure if Blinkx links to any of these. Many of its links certainly fall outside of these realms. I know this has been a long term problem for the Web that is still being worked out.