Summing it up ~ MToaS Evaluation

I'm doing the happy dance now. I know that the deadline for finishing More Things on a Stick was extended into June, but I really wanted to finish by today. And so I did. Yeah me. Now I can go back and play more with some of the things I learned, not to mention returning to a more personal tone with the blog. I'm happy about that, too.

(Just in time for my birthday on Saturday! Forty!! I've been making ice cream. I decided, it's my birthday and if I want homemade ice cream and brownies, then that's what I'll have.) 

So, as for More Things on a Stick:

Again, I find myself wanting to stand on a mountaintop and shout out to fellow library staff: DO IT. I think there is just so much in current web technologies that could be useful to us and our patrons. Again, I am frustrated by the inertia that seems to happen when trying to keep up with something that, by its very nature, changes so much and so often that it cannot really be kept up with. It takes a lot of effort and time to not just learn about these technologies and programs, but also to use them enough to reach enough of a comfort level to use them in the public eye where any typos, mis-uses, and misunderstandings will be out there for everyone from our neighbors to our supervisors to our mothers to see. Eek.

So, I keep hoping that we will reach the tipping point with some of these ideas. At GRRL a few things have really caught on. Ironically, one of the Web 2.0 tools that has crossed the barrier from geek- to general-use is not one that I've seen covered in either 23 Things or More Things. It's SurveyMonkey. In a word, fabulously useful.

Again, I really like the way that the Things program is set up. I like that its designers don't (seem to) have any strict assumptions about what kinds of web tools will be useful for people working in a library setting. So we get to manipulate photos, try our hand at Twitter, learn about on-line money management tools. All of these things will be useful to some participants and useless to others. I like that Things staff throw it all out there and trust participants to decide.

That said, I do think that there was too much emphasis put on Twitter, and I would like to have seen something exploring strengths and weaknesses of alternative search engines, especially Wolfram Alpha. [Okay, that was a joke. Look here or here.]

So, good job. I hope we can do this again next year!

Web Junction (MToaS 46)

I admit, I tend to forget about Web Junction. I signed up for it even before the first 23 Things on a Stick, so I've been a member for a while. But I've actually used it very little. However, when prompted to go back I do find interesting things ~ mostly in the area of courses. I've taken a couple of Web Junction courses online and found them to be pretty good. The webinar on Social Software and the Rural Library looks like an interesting one.

I think, for me, part of the problem with these kinds of discussion boards is simply finding the time to use them. Perhaps it's a matter of making it be part of my day or week ~ create time to do it until it becomes a habit. But so far this has been a hurdle that I haven't quite managed to jump over. Intellectually, I love the idea of having a resource for Minnesota librarians to use to communicate about topics relevant to our work, help us keep abreast of changes in technology, legalities, etc., bring up new ideas about ways to reach and reach out to our communities. I want there to be something exactly like WebJunction. And there is. So why is it so difficult to fit it into my working life?

In a moment of overload I found this ShelfCheck toon by the inimitable Poesygalore. It sort of sums it up.

by poesygalore | Create your own Cartoon at www.toondoo.com

Head in the Clouds (MToaS 45)

After reading some of the recommended readings on cloud computing I did some more research into this brave new world of data collection. It's a fascinating thing.

Yes, I do many things "in the cloud." Google docs, wikis, online banking, etc. etc. It's useful and, generally speaking, for anything you could want to do (ie. write a letter or report) there is someone out there who has figured out an easy way to let you do it, often for free. The hardest part sometimes is simply sifting through all the different kinds of applications, widgets, etc. to figure out which one you want to use.

Oh, and remembering your passwords and usernames.

I also think it's interesting to see how online storage is becoming the new way to think about protecting your valuable information. Create an online library of all your books, DVDs and CDs, upload all your photos, scan and make PDF's of all your important documents and store them in the cloud, and if your house burns down or gets busted up by a tornado then at least you can recover these things. Strange how making something virtual somehow makes it more secure against loss.

Of course, security concerns still linger. What if someone hacks into your data? What if the company you're using suddenly vanishes from the Internet-o-sphere? What if a glitch "out there" affects my ability to create something right here?

In the spirit of the thing, I found a listing by GoGrid CEO John Keagy about the future of cloud computing. GoGrid is one of many companies that are set up not so much for individuals but for companies, with the idea being that the organization uses GoGrid for information storage instead of worrying about servers and on-site storage (what happens, I wonder, to IT departments then? Do they get smaller or larger with cloud storage?). Regardless, without further ado, ten predictions for cloud computing in 2009:

1. Asking “is the Enterprise ready for the Cloud” will be analogized to “the Internet is a fad”
2. There will be some Cloud security breaches that will become super high profile
3. Questioning the security of the Cloud will become less vogue
4. The demand on companies to develop Cloud strategies will be likened to Y2K certification
5. Cloud strategies will be proven to be more important than Y2K certification
6. SAN storage will not emerge as being relevant to Cloud Computing
7. NoHardware.com will illuminate the spirit of the Cloud movement
8. RackSpace stock will claw back to $10.00
9. Al Gore will announce he invented Cloud Computing
10. Cloud Computing will (fill in the blank, for example, ...be the silver bullet to slow or stop the recession? ...enable companies to maintain profitability? ...bring government into the 21st century?)

I think it's interesting, cool, and could be a real boon to libraries, both in terms of productivity with wikis, GoogleDocs, etc., and in the archival sense of scanning and saving books, art, oral histories, etc.

Brave new world and a little CYA for the old one. Could be an all-around good thing.

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Pic credits: Image: 'Sunny Side Up' www.flickr.com/photos/74122471@N00/233472093

Cloud Computing

by chezbrandi | Create your own Cartoon at www.toondoo.com

Money Tools (MToaS 44)

This Thing could not have come at a better time. As of yesterday, I am no longer the treasurer for St. Cloud OUT, a small community group that, among other things, puts on a GLBTA Film Festival every year. As I was thinking about how best to hand over the checkbook after four years as treasurer, I was stumped. I had the checkbook information on Quicken, but what if the next treasurer doesn't have access to the program? How best to handle the transfer of checkbook and responsibilities?

When I came on board as treasurer four years ago, the books were a mess. Yes, all the records had been kept, but messily so. It took me a couple of months to figure out what was what, and even then there were a couple of things that I looked at, pondered, and finally gave up on. What I want, as someone who's put years into a small, sometimes fragile, very worthwhile community organization, is a way to make leadership transitions smooth and provide the checks and balances to make sure that the funds are being handled properly.

Mint.com and ClearCheckbook both look like reasonable ways to answer this question. My concern with Mint.com is that our bank is not included in their on-line service (ReadWriteWeb complains that only large banks are included, and why is that when this could be such a boon to smaller banks?). I couldn't find a way to manually upload information, but perhaps I'll look again. What I like about Mint.com, if the bank is included, is that (from the sounds of it) transaction information is automatically uploaded and e-mailed out to one or two accounts. No one needs to find the time to manually do the job - and we all know how hard it is go get to those "little" jobs, especially when it's a volunteer duty and not our real work.

This sounds like such a good idea for community groups and non-profits. In my experience, few of us have treasurers with professional accounting experience. Greater transparency and checks and balances (ie. the account transaction e-mails go to both Treasurer and Chair) would only help the fiscal health of the organization.

Makes me want to stand on a mountaintop and shout it out to all FOL groups. Makes me want to change banks so that we can use Mint.com.

ClearCheckbook also looks like a useful option. You don't have to rely on the bank being part of their system, you can manually upload information (although, when I tried uploading my Quicken file it turned all the dates since Feb. 2002 to Jan. 1, 1970. That was aggravating!). Again, lots of options. I have a meeting scheduled Monday to sit down with the new Treasurer and Chair, and I plan to show them both Mint and ClearCheckbook and recommend that we go with one or the other.

As to the other links on this Thing: some more useful than others, of course. It was nice to find out that I was correct about which gas stations had the lowest prices in our area. I loved MadCity Chickens (love those Madison folks!). Made me wistful. I grew up on a small hobby farm with lots of chickens, goats, horses, etc. I love the big brown hens, and have often thought it would be fun to have a few (even if I can't eat the eggs). They're just such pleasant and silly creatures (the hens, roosters are awful!). I must admit tho, the Eglu pic above made me laugh out loud! Smart, inventive, but all I could think when I saw it was, "Yeah, that'd be the home of yuppy chickens!!"

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Speaking of the economy and chickens... I couldn't stop myself from looking at the price of the Eglu that's pictured at the top. $995. Holds "up to" 10 chickens. Oh my, oh my. That is not the hobby farm I grew up on!!

Online TV and Video

I adore Hulu, and have been using it since I discovered it during 23 Things on a Stick. I admit that I most appreciate it when I'm sick ~ I curl up in bed with my itty-bitty laptop snuggled under the covers with me and watch sci-fi channel re-runs. It's great. I also know some people who have cut costs by dropping their cable and now catch all their TV online. It makes sense.

In fact, I watch a lot of TV online. If I miss an episode of one of my favorite programs ~ because of a TiVo glitch or because I didn't discover it in time to add to TiVo ~ I go online to find the episode.

It's been interesting to see how TV networks are adjusting to this trend. They make money by selling the full season DVD's, so I'm seeing more and more shows where the episodes are only available on Hulu for a limited time. After that, you need to catch it on re-runs ... or hope that your local library forks over the money for the DVD.

I haven't taken part in the video sharing opportunities, although that might be more interesting to me if I had a Facebook or similar account. I don't. I can't bring myself to want to, even if I can see how it would be interesting to hook into groups with similar interests to make new discoveries. In spite of this, I don't feel left out. I have friends who don't watch TV at all, yet they're bright, articulate, interesting and informed. Imagine it.

Another thing of note: a recent Time magazine article about The Mentalist described it as so old fashioned (it has definite nods to Columbo) that you couldn't even watch episodes online. The only way to see Jane catch the bad guys is to watch it on television. However, CBS execs aren't completely ignoring the Internet-TV phenomenon ~ you can watch teasers/trailers online!

Music and More (MToaS 42)

I love the opportunities for discovering music online. I've been a huge fan of Pandora for a while, and am getting to know Last.fm thanks to the MToaS prompting. There are some things I really like about both programs.

Pandora is great about bringing forward artists who have not found wide release, and I find the program easier and more intuitive than last.fm. However, Pandora playlists have a tendency to "bleed" into each other. I have very eclectic music tastes, but that doesn't mean I like to listen to everything all together. I like Counting Crows and Katie Melua equally, but I don't want them playing one after the other. 

A couple of days' sampling suggests that last.fm does a better job of keeping distinct voices separate.

By the same token, Pandora seems to recommend based on the sound of a piece much more than the genre that the artist is identified with. Last.fm seems to group more by genre. I guess it depends on which way of grouping a listener prefers.

What I love about both is the ability to discover new artists, voices, sounds. I've discovered lots of great songs through Pandora. I expect I will with last.fm. 

I do really like that last.fm gives me information like artist bio, tour dates, etc., and that I can play an artist's song on demand.

As for Internet radio, I love it, and have enjoyed it for a while. I really like WFUV out of New York and Live Ireland out of Dublin. Both have great songlists. My favorite source for finding new Internet radio stations is actually the easiest: iTunes. It's all built right into the iMac system and couldn't be easier (same is true for subscribing to podcasts, another thing I love about iTunes).