Fun with Blogs

I don't know if you noticed, but up on the header of most blogger pages is a link to "next blog". Click on it and it takes you to random (I guess) blogs. This will give you a sense of how large and diverse is the blogging community. Blogs from families, in foreign languages, different genders and ethnicity, all sorts and shapes of blogs.. Try it, you will like it.

New fun with wifi at branches

We at this large western area branch, and at other branches, are beginning to see patrons using their laptops with our wireless and using one of the Internet phone software. After being informed of that being against library policy some patrons want to argue that they are not using phones so they should be allowed to make their calls. Remember computers make you life simpler and easier.

Web 2.0 or What I did on my summer "vacation"

This summer the powers that be asked us to immerse ourselves in the web and new technologies. A few random thought about the process.

One of the main thoughts I have is the easiest to say, but perhaps the harder to understand. The Web and all of its positives and negatives require a computer, access to the Internet and time. Many people have a computer or access to one through public terminals, some do not. Many of those that have a computer have web access, but at an increasingly costly rate. I saw recently that AOL is ending dial-up service, once the only way to access the web. Now there are T1 lines, Fios, cable and other broadband. To do most of the Web 2.0 activities you need broadband, esp tools such as you-tube, the social networking, twitter, etc. The Web accelerates a digital divide, further splintering our society into haves and have-nots.


It had been my intention when starting this post to provide a laundry list of the requirements of Web 2.o and my actions/reactions to them. However, in the process of writing the first paragraph my thoughts and plans changed. So just some general ideas:


I have gone on enough about my thoughts on privacy and the web, (see previous posts), but it is good to realize that the Web is a thing, not a person. It will not care if you lose your privacy by too candid postings in blogs, social sites, etc. It is up to you to determine for yourself as to what liberties you allow yourself in postings on the web.


That said, I have enjoyed (mostly) blogging and hope to continue, esp helping others in their Web 2.0 adventures. I have always tried to be a part of the larger community, in grad school, in bicycling organizations, in reading groups, in volunteer activities. However, blogging is time consuming and there are books to read, bicycles to ride, cats to pet and people to talk to.


The Web 2.0 journey has caused me to post pictures for myself and others(on picasa, not flickr), start a on-line version of my book journals (on Gale's books and authors not Library thing), to look at and consign to oblivion social net work sites, twitter and most of wikis.


It has been and will be a long strange trip my friends.



Your humble servant


TomLATI

Privacy, blogs and the web : part 2

Orangerful and Don's comments and posts to my last privacy rant got me thinking(I know it being in the morning and me thinking doesn't seem right, does it?). Anyway, Orangerful also had a comment about my reading/ listening post:
"I know you probably shouldn't judge people by what they read or listen to but...oh we all do it! It adds a bit more personality and gives a few more hints about what the person might be like."

So if we get hints and judge people about their choices, what does that do to privacy? Don suggested we should adopt web persona's. So if I am conducting a persona, should I post my reading logs? Web 2.0 participants are posting links to their library thing pages, do I judge them by their links, their choices? Are these choices, my reading lists real or made up? I guess I will be careful as to my postings from now on, too much personal information leads to invasions of privacy.

But, a blog just about my Web 2.0 explorations would probably just be stale and dull. If you explore around some of my comments, esp to Gnaritis Vox's blog, you probably learn more about me than is useful and wise. We have all heard about people with problems when employers access their blogs, my space, you tube, etc sites. We know that library employees are looking at these blogs (which is one of the points of the Web 2.0 assignment), so am I being "judged" by them because of my postings, choices?

I guess I will be more circumspect about what I post and take down the "personal" posts and just go back to the asignments. Safer, probably; duller, for sure.

A Semi-rant

A good way to waste time

Sigh, My lovely and talented wife just sent me the link to the newest "Simon's Cat" video. If you are owned by a cat (dogs have owners, cats have staff) or know someone who is, Iencourage you to waste some time, esp. if need a giggle, with these.

http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat

Simon's cat reminds my of our male, Blackie, who knows when it is time for us to get up so we can fullfill our duty and feed him.

Privacy and Community

Del.icio.us sounds great, you are able to save and retrieve bookmarks from any computer, anywhere. Like other social network programs however, in delo.icio.us you are part of a larger community and as part of that community you reduce your privacy. When I set up my Picasa page, see last post, I thought about the negatives about putting pictures of myself and friends out on the web, such as since they are "public" posts you have no copyright or expectation of privacy about their use. Anyone can view them, download them, use them without your permission, However, I wanted the pictures available to the others on the trip to use (as I have added pictures to mine from their postings).
We, on this Web2.0 exploration, are to "Make sure you pick an appropriate user name. I would recommend avoiding using your full name as your user name" so to be "private". Yet, we all have an idea who we are, where we work. Do we realize that others in the blogosphere can access our blogs, photos, del.icio.us sites? We want to be part of a community, but how large a community? How much of our privacy do we want to give away?

Some semi-rants

Picasa

Yes, I made the plunge, I created an album on Picasa, google's pictue software. I have not downloaded the software, need to consult the IT cat. I used Picasa since I already had a google account because of the blog, one less sign-in to forget. I do not know the tech diferences between it and fickr, just slothfullness on my part.
I decicide to do it to share the pictures of my bike trip with my compatriots and others. Matt, one of the bikers, already posted 2 albums of his pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/matthedt/2RLXBikeTour2008

We will see how far this goes.