Assignment 8: Mashups

Mashups

I chose the mashup, Lazy Library at http://lazylibrary.com, to explore. Lazy Library searches Amazon to find books on specific topics that are 200 or less pages long. I was less than impressed with the searching algorithm as my search for "Macs" found quite a few false hits. The first hit was for a book, Volume II - Natural Penis Enlargement: Methods of Avoiding and Curing Impotence, Premature Ejaculation, and Erectile Dysfuction Safely . . . .  Only one of the first ten books listed were actually about Mac computers. I got the feeling that I would need to spend quite a bit of time skimming the search results, time a reader who wants to read as little as possible might not appreciate investing!

Rollyo

Looking through the librarian blog postings I found on privacy in Rollyo, the one entitled "How Public is Your Privacy?" caught my eye.  The Shifted Librarian, author of the blog entry, links to two articles that take opposing views of privacy.  The second article was published in the New York Magazine and discusses the various ways young teens and adults live their life on the Internet now. The Shifted Librarian speculates that for our own protection, we should consider registering our names and that of our children on the Internet to prevent identity theft.

Finally, I created a custom searchroll of ten consumer health and patient information Web sites I commonly search. The searchroll is available at http://rollyo.com/marciafrancis/consumer_health.

Marcia

Assignment 7: Podcasting

Podcasting, in my view, is just another technology libraries can use to reach their patrons. Library podcasting may focus on news about events and activities, information about collections and services, instruction regarding how to find information or use resources, etc. 

Libraries need to know their local population and tailor their podcasting activities appropriately. It is wonderful to make information available on the Internet to everyone in the world, but libraries still need to remember to serve their primary clientele first. Some libraries may find their user population is not interested in podcasts yet, but they should continue to monitor the situation in case that changes.

I never thought of using YouTube videos to help with staff training, but I found this mock instruction session that could be used for exactly that:

 

And finally a brief vent:

I have been subscribing to podcasts via iTunes for at least a year without any problems and regularly view and listen to podcasts on my video iPod. I found using Odeo frustrating and plan to avoid it in the future. The interface is cluttered, the searching clunky, and everything I was interested in said "Subscribe in iTunes." What would I bother with Odeo? iTunes is available in both Windows and Macs, so I would encourage others to try it out if possible.

Marcia