23 Things, Week 8

Cloud computing-- how cool is that? As stated in the 23 Things: Cloud Computing blog, we've all been cloud hopping to some extent. Recently I set up web based credit card processing for our family business: updates are automatic and statements and customer information are stored on the service provider's servers. Nothing physically "lives" onsite, so I don't have to worry about server maintenance or security issues (unless the provider gets hacked!). I can access all that information no matter where I am.

For this assignment I chose to work with Google docs because my work email is Google based. I've never created a Google doc, but I have used a form someone else created. I decided to try out presentations-- found the interface straightforward if somewhat stripped down compared to PowerPoint, but it does have the basics. So I created a very short presentation and sent out invites to several people to collaborate on my Google docs presentation about "What I've Learned From 23 Things." That didn't go as smoothly as I'd expected. It seems that Google docs disputed my right to share my presentation with others who were not of the @lawrence.lib.ks.us domain. So I shared with a couple of LPL staff and copied to myself, then forwarded that email to 2 other 23 Things participants. Let's see if I get any nibbles. Back in a few ... (tempus fugit) ... Discovery? I believe that even though my work email @lawrence.lib.ks.us is Google based mail, it is not "pure" Google (i.e., not @gmail.com) and therefore won't let me share docs with outsiders. Or maybe it's a firewall issue. I downloaded my presentation to my desktop, then uploaded to my personal gmail account, and am resharing with the people who couldn't share previously. I was allowed to share directly from Google docs this time. On the plus side, 3 co-workers have collaboratively edited my presentation. Woooohoooo!

23 Things, Week 7

I created a Twitter account (davenportwinery) for my family business about 6 months ago and have used it to post changes in store hours, upcoming events, and availability of our various products to our followers. We are a small "stealth" winery and generally do not use paid advertising, preferring instead to rely on the occasional newspaper/TV piece and word of mouth. Twitter seems to fit this model very well as it allows our customers to choose whether to follow us. We have a link to our Twitter page on our website, and our following has been steadily, if slowly, growing. We tend not to tweet as often as we probably should, but I follow a couple of individuals who tweet about every 20 minutes, and frankly, it wears me out. I hope not to have that effect on others.

I have posted vineyard and winery related pictures on Twitpic and posted them to our Twitter page—very handy and very similar to what I can do on Facebook. I am looking forward to making our tweets display on our Facebook page in the same way that my blog posts do: one go-to spot for everything!

For the 23ThingsKs assignment, I began following qtbooboo (a co-worker), davidleeking (I have continuing interest in all things tech), lybrarian (I like the way she spelled "librarian"), and the 23thingsks group (to help keep me updated on 23ThingsKs). I haven’t really followed long enough to know if their posts are helpful, but they’re certainly entertaining!

Microblogging is an excellent way to deliver small format info quickly, so it’s great for our business. For personal use, since I’m already on Facebook, that will suffice for now.

23 Things, Week 6

I’ve heard about Delicious for some time, just never had the inclination to investigate what it was about. Now that I’ve set up an account (fermentedlibrarian) and played with it a bit, I can see the value of using it, if only for organizing private bookmarks. I sometimes use a different browser (Firefox instead of IE), and it sure will simplify trying to keep my bookmarks synched between the two. It’s also easier to figure out what some of those bookmarks are, since I’m able to include notes about each one. The tagging option provides a myriad of ways to arrange and rearrange lists of bookmarks – something not possible with IE Favorites. Lists that I refer to most often can then be bundled.

The option to send individual bookmarks to others is great, as it the ability to share public bookmarks and bundles. I’m still looking for a way to send a bundle other than emailing the URL—is that possible? And one other thing I want to try out is using a cloud format tag roll on my own website.

23 Things, Week 5

Since I already have a Google account, I decided to use Google Reader for my RSS feeds. I have previously used RSS feeds, back in the “olden days” when they weren’t nearly so easy to set up. Google Reader is very similar in appearance to other Google products and I expected my learning curve wouldn’t be too steep, but I found it a little confusing relating Andy Wibbels’ “How to Use Google Reader” to my experience. That may have been because Wibbels was using the Firefox browser and the Beta version of Google Reader. With a little exploration, I was able to locate everything I needed to subscribe to a few feeds. The feeds I chose: 23 Things Kansas blog (of course!), blogs of 2 other 23 Things participants, local news source Lawrence Journal World, CNN.com, and The Daily Beast. One thing I appreciate about Google Reader is the “Posts per week” guesstimate that displays when I’m considering adding a new subscription. It gives me an idea of my time cost involved in following a feed. Subscribing to and reading more than a very few news feeds can really eat up your day!

23 Things, Week 4

I spent quite a bit of time browsing through images on Flickr. Originally I began searching for library related images, then I strayed a little to other topics (cats, cars, etc.). I wanted to find something library-ish that was edgy or out of the ordinary. I clicked past the Nancy Pearl shushing figurine, the cat-who'd-broken-a-librarian-toy, the librarian tattoos and the erotic librarian bookjacket (sheesh). Still not happy with what I'd found, I added a new search term: zombie librarian. Just the ticket! I found this lovely shot by Matthew Stewart* of a clever makeup/costume job for the 2009 Zombie Walk in Brisbane. Can't imagine how the book stayed in place for any length of time. I believe libraries could attract a whole new audience if this manner of dress became the norm. (Tongue firmly in cheek, folks.) This is the first time I've used Flickr and didn't really know what to expect. It was fun to see how many oddball images there are. I'll definitely be a return visitor.
*See more of his work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/aramisfirefly/