Technorati Tamed

Technorati has some cool stuff if you are really into blogs, but I’m prettyu much inclined just to take feeds from the blogs I want to keep up with and discover other stuff via Google. I guess the outstanding feature is the way Technorati ranks blogs.

[chislib]

Thing 23 – the end???

Finally there. I’ve posted my comments on our 23 things blog, which I’ll link to when the comments are published

Library 2.0 – Thing 22

If using Web 2.0 apps in libraries means that Library 2.0 is a reality then Q.E.D. But, I do have some lingering reservations. The concept or principles  are certainly overhyped and fluid, but I guess that’s what it is all about?

iGoogle – Thing 21

Had an iGoogle account before staring 23 things, but left it pretty much alone foe a while. Now I have customised it and actually made it my homepage! Well, in IE, which I don’t use that much, preferring FF by a mile. Still iGoogle has some nifty features and cetainly fills you screen if you add 20+ gadgets and feeds!

Google Books – thing 20

Quite a project – while still in beta and controversial in terms of copyright, it would seem crazy for publishers to campaign against it. After all, if a book is out of copyright it provides an interface to buy the item, so in effect it is another sales channel for publishers!

Some of the scanning is a bit dodgy though and to quote Wikipedia “…some pages are not scanned or are scanned in such a fashion as to make them unreadable”

Google Docs – thing 19

Although not quite there yet in functionality, I’m sure this is the future, or at least part of the non-Microsoft future. Cloud computeing is surely the way of the future. In practice there are a few glitches, e.g. my PowerPoint opresentations were stripped of their themes when uploading, minor problem but a worry. Word docs fared better and surprisingly a .pdf file uploaded perfectly – no edititing though, which would be expected.

Google Maps – thing 18

I’ve found this pretty useful and a good alternative to Wheris when Wheris does not cut the mustard. Google maps still does not know about Eastlink yet and when I got directions from Frankston to Camberwell the route was a little strange – perhaps optimised for distance rather than speed?

Social Networks – thing 17

Well, I’ve had a Facebook account as well as a Linked in account for a while now, but I have to say I’m not overly active in either of these spaces. Its a time thing I guess.

I’m not convinced about establishing Library SNSs, at least in the context of Chisholm, without some research that would justify setting one up.

Youtube – thing 16

What can you say – so much stuff and some of it is actually useful. Before I bought my new camera I checked out a video review on Youtube!

Anyway, check out this great soccer skills tutorial – the text is in German , but its fairly self explanatory.

Flickr – Thing 15 – done and dusted

As I already had a Yahoo account setting up was easy. Flicker is very easy to use; I have uploaded a heap of photos taken recently at the Women’s Premier League Finals series (soccer) featuring Ashburton Women’s Soccer Club.

To make uploading easier I downloaded and installed Uploadr but could not get it to authenticate so I fell back on Juploader which is an open source app and does the job well. My photos have been tagged and placed into Flickr sets!