Little Miss Muffet Waiting for a Spider

class="tr_embed_arg_blog">Blog Information
class="tr_embed_arg_username">Profile for econnie

Social v. Virtual

Questions of the week: Give us your impression about Tom's MySpace page and record his zodiac sign. Share with us your reaction to the game and include your score.

The instructions for the first part of the exercise were incomplete, but I assumed “Tom” was someone in the CMPL, so I searched MySpace using search terms “Tom Charlotte,” and came across this page for the Steele Creek Teen Library in Charlotte:
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=75537897
The site was so huge and graphics rich (nice way of saying pimped up) that it messed with my computer and was pretty much unusable. If this is the site is I was supposed to find, Tom is a Leo.

I looked at the billiards game, but it was not compatible with my computer—I could only see the top half of the table, and I didn’t want to reconfigure my screen. I would not be tempted by this site, but I did find a fun game site recently in Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professisonals. It is BrainBall and can be accessed at http://brainball.playwithyourmind.com/. The games were developed by a neurobiology student to test logic, spatial sense, and memory. Happily, the site does not try to make you feel as if you are socializing with others.

A well-designed teen library site on MySpace or other platform could be a great way to connect teens to their library. But as far as human interaction is concerned, and as popular as MySpace is, you can't be a social creature once removed. Ultimately, social websites aren’t really very social.

Doppelganger

The questions of the week: Post an altered image on your blog and tell us about this week's experiences. What tools will you continue to use?

To the right, you see my Doppelganger--"Library Lady." Isn't she lovely? She was born in www.doppelme.com on 10 October 2007. I had wanted to include an avatar on Ask-A-Librarian, and now, thanks to Play-To-Learn, I can!

I read about Library Thing in (I think) Library Journal, and thought it sounded very intriguing, but I have privacy concerns about the sharing of the contents of my personal library. I think I would feel awkward seeking "people with eerily similar tastes." What if we had nothing in common?

This is what Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor in New York University’s interactive telecommunications program had to say in today's New York Times , ["E-Mail Is Easy to Write (and to Misread),"] about interacting online : "When you communicate with a group you only know through electronic channels, it’s like having functional Asperger’s Syndrome — you are very logical and rational, but emotionally brittle." Which gets me back to connectivity. Sometimes, you just have to be there.

Feed Me

Questions of the day: What do you like about RSS and newsreaders? How might this technology be used in your work or personal life? How can libraries use RSS and benefit from this technology?

Before I begin, I must thank my co-worker Tim for his help with RSS. I confess I had some trouble at first. I finally did set up a Bloglines account, but I switched to Google Reader which I find much better designed and easier to use.

I was vaguely familiar with the concept of newsreaders before we began this exercise, but I had not used one previously. They are a very efficient way to keep on top of news and blogs that you otherwise miss; however, I can also see how newsreaders could become a time-sucking black hole. It's a tool, and we must be its master.

I have added a few of my favorite personal feeds--the New York Times, Slate, Salon--to Google Reader already. I have also added my daughter's university and city newspapers, so I can keep up with her world. And for my professional reading, I will add a few more links such as the New York Times Review of Books, so I can keep up with what's happening in the literary universe.

I can see all sorts of possibilities for RSSs. Libraries could have a feed for their patrons that would push news about new books, library programs, and other news of interest. RSS technology is just another tool of connectivity.