Google Docs

I've used Google Docs in the past while collaborating on a project with one of my sons. And I just discovered another use similar to delicious - I can put favorite quotes, self-created lists or other personally created documents on Google Docs and access them from any computer.
As far as how GD will help in my day-to-day work I think the same perks that I discussed above will help on the job: if I want access to a document I'm working on from any computer then I could put it on GD. And GD would streamline collaborative work on presentations or reports.

Learn & Play @CML wiki

After spending way too many frustrating minutes trying to figure out how to log in (I don't know what I was doing wrong - once I was shown how to do it it seemed like a no brainer) and then having to be shown where to type a message, I'm not all that happy with wikis. It feels clunky, sterile and ugly. I'm cranky. Perhaps it would be best if I calm down and reconsider before I continue.

Wiki - wacki

As mentioned in earlier posts, I'm a visual learner. Make it intuitive AND pretty and I'll be your RSS slave. The wikis I've looked at are dry, unexciting, and pretty much a collection of lists - many of them have a Craig's List look to them. The ability to interact, share and update info is the attraction but the format is boring. I can't see me creating a wiki.

Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

I read all five articles of "Web 2.0: Where will the next generation of the web take libraries?" from OCLC Next Space Newsletter and thank God I did. As I read one through four ("Away from Icebergs", "Into a new world of librarianship", "To more powerful ways to cooperate", and "To better bibliographic services") it became harder and harder to slog through the technospeak. I was almost blinded by all the shiny bright ideas but not the least bit intrigued.

And I noticed that the authors of these guesses, these resurrectors of today's version of the 'new math', are all men. So I finally had an "aha" moment...of course they're men. They work in an industry overwhelmingly staffed by women so they rise to the top and become the 'experts'. And, stereotypically, men like their shiny new gadgets, the newest toys in a world choking on technology, these answers to all our needs. The library as a sterile experience.

Then I read the fifth article, "To a temporary place in time...On the way to the library experience of the future" by Dr. Wendy Schultz. Dr. Schultz suggests "as more information becomes more accessible, people will still need experienced tour guides" and "focussed expertise", that "the avalanche of material available will put a premium on service, on tailoring information to needs, and on developing participatory relationships with customers. So while books may get in your...face all by themselves, people will prefer personal introductions".

In the past "Librarians were stewards, trainers, intimate with the knowledge base and the minds who produced it. Librarians today are not just inventory management biobots: they are people with a unique understanding of the documents they compile and catalog, and the relationships among those documents." My hero!!!!

"With Library 3D, we have strayed far into virtual reality in the flight from bricks and mortar into software. Yet many businesses are demonstrating that storefronts can still draw customers, if they offer a compelling experience: a clearly defined environment that is authentic (true and good); humane (emotional, irrational); experiential (designed, theatrical); impassioned; relevant (understandable, timely); and participatory (open, lived, shared). What would Library 4.0 be like? It will completely connect the digital and the sensual".

Dr. Schultz further posits that her vision of the library of the future, "Library 4.0, the neo-library...will be the library for the aesthetic economy, the dream society, which will need libraries as mind gyms; libraries as idea labs; libraries as art salons. But let’s be clear: Library 4.0 will not replace Libraries 1.0 through 3.0; it will absorb them. The library as aesthetic experience will have space for all the library’s incarnations: storage (archives, treasures); data retrieval (networks—reference rooms); and commentary and annotation (salon)....But Library 4.0 will add a new mode, knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought....a WiFREE space, a retreat from technohustle, with comfortable chairs, quiet, good light, coffee and single malt. You know, the library."

Oh my God, couldn't you just die? Who wouldn't want to spend time in this paradise? A place that nurtures the intellect, that encourages discussion and supports discovery through choice (variety). A home to thought, to jumping off the treadmill, to spending hours browsing for treasures. I don't need an introduction to bestsellers, I want access to titles I've never heard of - those are the treasures.

Delicious!

Delicious. Good name. I've already used it to list 13 of my favorite sites and I anticipate I'll add more over time. So far the biggest advantage is having my favorites being accessible from whatever computer I'm using. I noodled around a little looking at other people's favorites but haven't seen a big advantage yet. I'll spend more time with it once I catch up on Learn & Play.

Twitter

Twitter...I don't get it. Trying out Twitter, 'playing' with it, adding contacts, has demonstrated one big component of my personality - I am antisocial. I couldn't think of anyone with whom I wanted to share that much of my life. I did accidently participate in my first IM (instant message) and that was pretty cool, even if my son was eventually sorry he acknowledge being online since it gave me the opportunity to quiz him about his life - he loves it when I do that. But he was too polite to totally ignore me (though I could tell that his responses were the written equivalent of "Mmhmm...yeah...oh...ok." God bless him.)

My Twitter username is patob1495. I'm so excited that I have another username to memorize!! Thank God I have a razor sharp memory. Looking back on my Twitter posts I realize that under ordinary circumstances I would never have thrown those posts out there for just anyone to read - I would direct it to specific people.

Libraries could use Twitter in place of general emails about needing materials for projects (paper towel tubes, trashed CDs, bubble wrap). It would cut down on emails. I personally can't see using Twitter because it's usefulness is in it's immediacy and I don't have a cell phone that can receive Twitter (mine is VERY basic - for emergencies). So - I'm a twit about Twitter!

Good Reads (rather than Library Thing)

I already have a Good Reads account which I use rather than Library Thing. Why, you ask? Basically because several people I know already use Good Reads so I'm tagging along. No, not that kind of tagging. Though I have 102 books listed I haven't tagged them by genre or other identifying factors.

I don't utilize Good Reads as I should because I always forget to add to it and, though one function of this tool is to keep one organized (and to share titles with friends), if I was organized enough to use it I probably wouldn't need it. Well, that explanation makes sense to me.