Second Life Sarah

Just so that this blog doesn’t get overtaken with the kudzu of Second Life posts, I’ll be keeping track of my progress with the Law Librarians in Virtual Worlds seminar on the blog “Second Life Sarah.” I’ll also be posting stuff to the class wiki, but I’m having trouble getting Wetpaint to do what I want it to do right now and I want to get this stuff down before I forget it.

Of course, I didn’t really get to put too much on the SLS blog because I had to actually answer reference questions. Funny how that works out. But hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to work on it some more. And I definitely want to take another picture for the header. Dang SL pictures are addictive….

Second Life tour

As part of the Law Librarians in Virtual Worlds workshop I’m participating in, I took a tour of some sights around Second Life. Here’s an album. ETA: LINK FIXED.

That album in a Power Point presentation converted to the web by Calameo. It’s a nice alternative to Slide Share. I can’t seem to make in embed, but that might be a WordPress problem.

Mapping Anthropology

I really dig maps. No, I REALLY dig maps. One of these days I will figure out an idea for a Google Maps Mashup that my library can use. Until then, I will admire UC Berkeley Anthropology Library’s mashup of their collection of Anthropology dissertations completed at Berkeley 1901-2002. If you’re not good at coming up with test searches, here’s a link to a dissertation whose research basis was Kentucky.

It appears that the Berkeley Library community is doing an system-wide innovation program called “New Directions.” You can check out the blog or wiki for more information. I found Mapping Anthropology by scanning the “Nuggets of Innovation” section on the wiki.  As I said during the UK Libraries faculty meeting earlier this month, a big part of Blue 2.0 ( and Web 2.0) is sharing what you learn with others so that people like me can steal your ideas and use them for their own nefarious uses and personal advancement. People laughed, but I totally wasn’t kidding.

Gabbly

Discovered a new chat service thanks, once again, to my Twitter list.   It’s called Gabbly and it works by putting a chat frame around any webpage.  There’s no embedding, you just put your website URL after Gabbly’s.  So, if for some reason I wanted to host a chat with readers of my blog, I would send everyone a link to http://gabbly.com/http://technologicaltortoise.wordpress.com/

This isn’t permanent solution for a chat reference service, but I think it would be a great way to have a committee meeting with people across the country, especially if you’re working on planning a website or using a Wiki to collate notes.  Not sure if it could work with Google docs or similar servcies.  (Without going into too many details, I have some hearing issues that make phone conferences a chore, so I’m always looking for text-based ways of accomplishing these tasks.)  I’m not sure how it works with subscription databases, but just flipping around my blog with the Gabbly overlay, it appears that the Gabbly stays as you change pages.  So maybe it could be used to talk a patron through some web based research.

Yet another thing to put on my “play with this and see what it can do” list.

Google SketchUp

It’s funny the ways one learns about new things….

I was perusing my twitter friends list while waiting for inspiration to strike on a travel grant essay I’ve been trying to write all week.  (It’s amazing how my opinion of twitter has changed so dramatically in the past two weeks.)  One of my contacts linked to this story about a Unicycle-Motorbike-Segway hybrid.  One of the quirks of twitter is that everything is transformed into a tinyURL, so I had no idea what the link was until I clicked and honestly, had I known, I probably wouldn’t have clicked on it.

It’s actually not an article that really interests me, as I am not really that much of a gear head.  However, one line did catch my eye: “Ben designed the 120-lb vehicle himself, using Google SketchUp to help with the plans as he couldn’t afford professional software.”  Google SketchUp?   What the heck is that?

So I, well, Googled “Google SketchUp” and discovered it’s a free 3-D modeling program.  I have even less artistic skills than technical skills, so I’m pretty excited about the possibilities for this.   One idea that immediately comes to mind is that one could do a library tour/map out of it.  After creating a model, users can make “movies” out of the models which I’m guessing could be somehow embedded in a website.   Administrative types may be able to use it for presentations to higher-ups about library redesigns.  Those are just two ideas off of the top of my head.  There’s also a searchable database of already existing models (3D Warehouse) that I need to peruse and which may provide some inspiration.

Sprout

As I say repeatedly, to anyone who will listen, I am not a techie.  (Nor a trekkie, but that’s another story.)  Don’t ask me to fix your computer because all I will do is unplug it and walk away.

So, this is why I love Web 2.0 (and will probably also like Web 3.0) .  It makes it really easy for people like me to create decent looking content for the web/SNSs.  That’s pretty much my only goal in life: to connect with other people and to not look like a schmo whilst doing it.

Today I discovered Sprout. It allows anyone to create a webpage or SNS widget with no more technical knowledge than the ability to drag and drop.  I’ve been playing around with it for the past hour or so and it really is easy.  I’m not posting any examples here yet, though.   Why?  Because I can’t think of any content that doesn’t suck right now.  And that’s one thing Web 2.0 will never cure.

Second Life Question

When does the novelty of taking pictures of yourself in Second Life wear off?

Here I am visiting the Alliance Library.

Web 2.0 – not just for public services

Some graduates of Blue 2.0 spoke at this morning’s UK Libraries Faculty meeting.  All of the presenters were great, but I was especially interested in what UK’s systems librarian had to say.   She talked about her personal experience, but also showed some examples of how other library systems are utilizing Web 2.0 technologies in their catalogs. Check out the following screenshots:

uwcatalog1

kstate

For those of you that didn’t click through, the University of Washington is linking their catalog records to Google Books, which may allow the OPAC user to access a digitized copy of the book immediately.   This OPAC also lets users share their records via social bookmarking sites (such as del.icio.us) or social networking sites like Facebook.  Kansas State is letting users tag their books on del.icio.us.  Nifty.

back in the saddle

-After a week of easing back into work post-vacation (read: chatting with co-workers, catching up on correspondence/reading and watching out for rats…um, without going into too much detail about that last one, let me just say this: THERE IS A REASON WE WANT YOU TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT FOOD IN THE LIBRARY, KIDS!!!), I am now back at 100%. And I learned about and/or experimented with a whole bunch of neat stuff this week. Let’s review:

- I decided to give my Twitter another chance. The last time I tried it, it seemed to be plagued with technical problems and, as I didn’t have many contacts that were real people, it all seemed sort of pointless. However, this go around I’ve added a bunch of real people and many of them are in contact with each other. Now I can see that Twitter can be used almost as a substitute for Instant Messaging. It also is a really great way of sharing links with people, especially when you don’t have a lot to say about them. As an added bonus, it hasn’t crashed on me once.

-The long awaited Facebook Chat has finally hit my network. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. The good:

1. I don’t have IM addresses for many of my Facebook friends, so this would be a way of contacting them if for some reason I wanted to chat.

The bad:

1. Much like Meebo, I found it hard to remember to keep a tab open to Facebook (which is necessary to remain logged in from what I can tell) and there was no sound notification that I had a new message.
2. The IM box was too small for my taste, but I guess I could have used the pop-out IM function.
3. I have IM addresses for everyone I like to chat with, and I’ve consciously kept people on certain networks so that, for example, if I want to talk to X I log in to Google Talk, but if I want to talk to Y, I log into Yahoo. And actually, I’ve sort of fallen out of the chat habit lately.
4. I’m not actually FB “friends” with my students, which is necessary for the chat function. I keep my profile open to my network and they’ve messaged (aka emailed) me through FB, but I can’t see that I’d get much student use out of it.
5. I am peeved that it has co-opted the “notifications.” I have grown accustomed to looking at the top right hand side of my FB homepage when I log in to see if anyone has started a scrabble game or superpoked me or what have you. And now that area is blank and I am saddened by this until I remember to look down. Does that make me pathetic?

-The Law Librarians in Virtual Worlds workshop had its initial webcast this week. The rest of the workshop will take place in Second Life, a platform that I heretofore have not been wildly enthusiastic about. However, I am hoping that this will be just the kick in the pants I need to really get in there. I’ve created a (new) account and have started playing around so that I’ll be able to really devote some time to it after finals. Meet my alter ego Gemma Szarbark:

I thought I was being all creative in having her initials being “G.S.” (whereas mine are S.G.) and making her hair blue and eyes brown (whereas mine are the opposite.) And you know, gosh darnit, I thought she was kinda hot. And then my sister posted on my Facebook wall, “Why is Mom your second life avatar?” *sigh* Oh well, back to the drawing board. Maybe I’ll become a turtle.

Thus far I’ve made it off of Orientation Island, although I think I may have left a little too early. I can walk okay, but I do seem to have the awful habit of bumping into people and things. Flying is definitely much easier. I’ve done a little exploring. This weekend is supposed to be cold and rainy, so I think I’ll spend Saturday getting better acquainted with everything.

-Found some neat blogs that have found their way into my RSS feeder:

• Internet Duct Tape
• Infodoodads
• SheGeeks

- In the four months since I last posted about it, my FB friends list has grown significantly. Some people from high school found me, I gained a couple because of my SEALL talk, and I gained lot because of the Blue 2.0 module. I’ve sort of given up on being actual friends with my entire FB friends list. And I guess that’s okay. It’s certainly not impeding my contact with my actual friends (none of whom live in my area code) nor with my UK students and colleagues. Anyhoo, here’s what the old Friend Wheel looks like now:

Hopefully that’s too small to read any of the names clearly. I’m posting it to show the connections (green is UK; reddish orange is IU; purple is high school; light blue are law librarians). But just know that Yoko Ono finally has a mutual friend on my list.

-Typepad has created a Facebook application called “Blog It“. Instead of being a feeder for external blogs to appear in your FB newsfeed, in this case you create a post within the Facebook plateform and it sends it out to your externals sites (blogs, twitters, etc.) Does that make sense? It sort of turns the standard set up on it’s head.

The various tech blogs seem to be excited about it, but my reaction can be summed up with “meh.” Personally, I have different presences on different Web 2.0 sites because I put different types of content on each. I can’t imagine any content that I’d create that would be appropriate for all of these services. Like the FB Chat, this is just another step by the Facebook creators to make FB a one stop destination for all of one’s Internet needs. I don’t know that I see that happening, but what do I know?

Get Ready for National Library Week

AL Focus, the video component of American Libraries magazine, has created a whole set of videos for libraries to use as promotions during National Library Week.  You can access them at AL Focus’ channels on either Blip.tv or YouTube.

Here’s a fun example:

My librarian friends think that because I work in an academic law library, I don’t get to meet the – let’s say eccentric- people that frequent libraries.   I always respond, “Not only do we get them, but our patrons have legal problems on top of it.”