Task 11 - Google Books

I like Google Books and to eventually have a tool to access the world's books is quite amazing. I've found some interesting and recently published books that are available full view. I'm not sure what Google mean that libraries will be able to 'subscribe' to the collection on Google. Well, of course it means money, but there I was thinking Google were doing this out of the goodness of their heart.

"My library" of books on Venice and its architecture is available for viewing.

Task 10 - LibraryThing

I like the way it recommends books and definitely they are ones that I've put on my 'to read' list. Of the 5 books I chose, I've only read 2. The problem with this list is accessing it when I'm actually standing in front of the library shelves. I rarely remember a title, so I end up browsing and choosing some obscure and random titles.

I don't see myself as a regular user of LibraryThing but it's fun to play with. My profile is rather bare but you can view my book selections.

Tasks 8 and 9 - RSS Feeds

This is my third feed reader account now and I've had a bit of fun, but too much time searching for some interesting blogs to subscribe to. Subscribing to feeds is definitely useful-there's so much interesting stuff out there. I've got feeds to a couple of fashion sites and librarian blogs. I'm not sure about subscribing to so many news sites as the feeds just come pouring in, and how much news does one really want to/need to keep up with?

The thing is you need to log in to the feed reader each day to see what's new. I find this goes in waves of daily logging in and then weeks of not going near it.

In libraries and the research world RSS feeds are very useful-as you can get feeds of 'Table of contents' of latest issues of journals as well as feeds of new articles that match searches as well as citation feeds.

I've given up trying to put the link to share my feeds, the instructions on both the 23Things blog and blog lines aren't very clear.

Something technical

I've recently been playing with my ipod Touch. I've got some songs on there and I've subscribed to a podcast. I tried to put songs from a CD on it, but I'm stuck. The songs are in itunes but I can't figure how to get them onto the ipod.
I'm much better when someone shows me how to do these things - practical demonstration is my learning style. I'm not a big user of technology for entertainment, DVDs, CDs are my limit.

I do have a digital video cameral and my aim is to get some video editing software to edit recordings of my life and travels in Japan. I see myself as a mini documentary maker.

Blogging

It's been fun exploring others' blogs. Some are so attractive - with the images, fonts and colours - mine is so boring by comparison. I do think the Wordpress templates are much more attractive so perhaps next time I decide to have a blog I'll go with Wordpress, I think I chose Blogger because I have a Google account.

I find I like reading the comments and I tend to read them more than the actual posts. When I was posting on the SSAH blog I felt like I was writing into some great void as no one commented.

Task 6 - Picasa

I've had a quick browse of Picasa and I prefer the way the photos are displayed. A webpage of thumbnails makes it much easier to browse than Flickr.

I saw Italy as a tag and then chose a photo of Venice, the most beautiful city in the whole world. At least this one describes what it is and exactly where. So many photos on both Flickr and Picasa, especially photos of sites and places, don't have any details - that's disappointing. But then so many of these travel photos are disappointing and quite boring anyway.

Some of the arty and experimental shots are great, and some of the nature ones are quite stunning, especially in Flickr.

I'm not going to create an album in Picasa. I have very few digital photos and am not going to borrow a digital camera to take any. Maybe I'll get to it at some stage in the future. Though from others' comments it seems Flickr is the best option.

Flickr - Task 5

I've set up a Flickr account but I can't ever see myself using it to share photos, at least not until I get a digital camera. I'm still using a film camera-and post photos in letters to family or friends. I know there is a picture of me on Flickr-photos taken at the New Librarians' Symposium that was held a couple of years ago.

I can see how it's a useful tool for sharing photos with your friends or showcasing your photography talents but then these things all take time.

I browsed a bit and tried searching for photos using tags. I finally chose my photo by looking at all the photos for a specific date and found this beautiful owl from somewhere in South America- a sentinela. Athena is often depicted with an owl, so I thought it appropriate.

I can't work out how to add an image to my blog.