YouTube is not an unfamiliar name to me. As a matter of fact, it had been recommended by friends for a very long time. I was never curious enough though to sign up and explore until this morning.
I was a little frustrated at the mere stage of signing up. User name, for instance, did not please YouTube. It complained time and again that my various login names had been taken. Finally I had to use my real name. Once in, I was disappointed at pages of FEATURED VIDEOS. For some reason, they failed to strike a chord with me. It was not until I flipped through all 5 pages and saw Origami Animation video by nariomaru. From there I was further pleasantly surprised by video clips of funny cats.
Also from there, I was met with another pleasant surprise. In less than 5 minutes, Victor, one of our three capable tutors, kindly showed me how to use Embed, how to post a favorite video in my blog and how to conduct a search in YouTube. He also cautioned me about the limit of video time duration after his and Jessica's video posting experience in YouTube.
With Victor's help, I was able to experiment with one video per posting. To push the envelope, I managed to cluster a group of four videos (or more) per posting by including all those talking cats.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Quality Control in LibraryThing
I am glad that LibraryThing is one of the three nominees in the Books category of Web 2.0 Awards. It has won the following results in the five areas examined:
To introduce Davenport Cement Centennial, a book neither in Library of Congress nor in Amazon, two major sources for one to import books from in LibraryThing, I added the book manually by choosing the option of other ways to add. Little did I realize that adding was the easy part. Days later when showing the title to the author, I found out that the site had arbitrarily reversed the author's first name as her last name.
There is a file for AUTHORS, but it is read only. One can also make changes in Your Library, as suggested by Abby (Librarian with librarything.com) after my contacting the site, but your change will not make any difference to the main catalog. Once wrong, always wrong. The problem of reversing author's name has remained unresolved at this time of writing, whereas my follow-up question to Abby has been buried somewhere in her mailbox. So be aware of quality control in LibraryThing.
- Usability 4 / 5
- Usefulness 4 / 5
- Interface & Design 3 / 5
- Content Quality 4/5
To introduce Davenport Cement Centennial, a book neither in Library of Congress nor in Amazon, two major sources for one to import books from in LibraryThing, I added the book manually by choosing the option of other ways to add. Little did I realize that adding was the easy part. Days later when showing the title to the author, I found out that the site had arbitrarily reversed the author's first name as her last name.
There is a file for AUTHORS, but it is read only. One can also make changes in Your Library, as suggested by Abby (Librarian with librarything.com) after my contacting the site, but your change will not make any difference to the main catalog. Once wrong, always wrong. The problem of reversing author's name has remained unresolved at this time of writing, whereas my follow-up question to Abby has been buried somewhere in her mailbox. So be aware of quality control in LibraryThing.
A Visit to Zoho Writer and Google Docs
This afternoon, I went to the sites of Zoho Writer and Google Docs and had very fruitful visits.
For some reason, I like a lot Zoho Writer for creating a Wikie file, for it has far more desktop publishing options than plain Google documents, such as inserts, styles, page setup and view.
Google Docs make up for the lack by providing its users with a full spectrum of applications, including DOCUMENT, SPREADSHEET (Excel) and PRESENTATION (PowerPoint).
Despite the fact that there are some differences in the use of terminology, e.g., IMPORT in Zoho is in fact UPLOAD in Google, the two applications in question are fairly easy to use, with their user-friendly interface. Just a word of caution: if you want the public to use them, please let them know that they need to sign up first with these two sites.
For some reason, I like a lot Zoho Writer for creating a Wikie file, for it has far more desktop publishing options than plain Google documents, such as inserts, styles, page setup and view.
Google Docs make up for the lack by providing its users with a full spectrum of applications, including DOCUMENT, SPREADSHEET (Excel) and PRESENTATION (PowerPoint).
Despite the fact that there are some differences in the use of terminology, e.g., IMPORT in Zoho is in fact UPLOAD in Google, the two applications in question are fairly easy to use, with their user-friendly interface. Just a word of caution: if you want the public to use them, please let them know that they need to sign up first with these two sites.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
eAudiobooks from Netlibrary
I am a late bloomer in utilizing eAudiobooks, even though I have written about them in two of my papers, Library Innovations in the 21st Century and Language Learning Resources at Santa Cruz Public Libraries.
Even though a new adopter, I do have fun with those cdless and cassetteless eAudiobooks. There are a number of advantages in doing so: 1) I do not have to wait a long time for Cataloging and Processing to handle new titles; 2) I do not have to wait in the queue for popular titles. I can acquire in an hour, instead of months; and 3) I do not have to worry about damaged cds or cassettes during the playing.
To utilize eAudiobooks, you may consider the following steps:
1. For first-time users, sign up with Netlibrary by creating a user name and password;
2. Conduct a search at http://www.netlibrary.com/Search/SearchResults.aspx;
3. Click Download this eAudiobook;
4. Select Check Out & Download CD Quality;
5. Login with your user name and password;
6. Choose either Open with (Window Media Player (default) or Save to Disk;
7. Open the downloaded file an hour or so later, depending on its size;
8. Put in your user name and password again the first time to acquire a listening license for 21 days;
9. Renew as needed, if you cannot finish listening in 21 days. At CHECKOUT, choose option 3: Check Out (No Download. Only license to play file); and
10. Trash the file from your computer or player, when you have completed listening.
So far I have managed to download two titles: The Italian Secretary and Set in Darkness. The downloading time is not as formidable as I was warned. The quality is excellent. What is more, there is no trouble at all when you resume your listening later.
Even though a new adopter, I do have fun with those cdless and cassetteless eAudiobooks. There are a number of advantages in doing so: 1) I do not have to wait a long time for Cataloging and Processing to handle new titles; 2) I do not have to wait in the queue for popular titles. I can acquire in an hour, instead of months; and 3) I do not have to worry about damaged cds or cassettes during the playing.
To utilize eAudiobooks, you may consider the following steps:
1. For first-time users, sign up with Netlibrary by creating a user name and password;
2. Conduct a search at http://www.netlibrary.com/Search/SearchResults.aspx;
3. Click Download this eAudiobook;
4. Select Check Out & Download CD Quality;
5. Login with your user name and password;
6. Choose either Open with (Window Media Player (default) or Save to Disk;
7. Open the downloaded file an hour or so later, depending on its size;
8. Put in your user name and password again the first time to acquire a listening license for 21 days;
9. Renew as needed, if you cannot finish listening in 21 days. At CHECKOUT, choose option 3: Check Out (No Download. Only license to play file); and
10. Trash the file from your computer or player, when you have completed listening.
So far I have managed to download two titles: The Italian Secretary and Set in Darkness. The downloading time is not as formidable as I was warned. The quality is excellent. What is more, there is no trouble at all when you resume your listening later.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Favorite Restaurants in Santa Cruz County
Gilda's and Severino's Bar & Grill are my favorite restaurants in Santa Cruz County. The former is a family-run business, legendarily the original Stagnaro on Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. The moment you enter its door, you will be greeted informally but warmly, and before long you will be served and pampered by waiters and waitresses of all ages. Everything is designed specially for you, just as your parents remember your childhood favorite dishes. Go there Wednesday evening for spaghetti night and meet the matron, Gilda, herself.
In contrast to Gilda’s, is Severino's Bar & Grill. It is very modern and staffed almost exclusively by young attractive waiters and waitresses. Unlike some businesses you will immediately be treated as a second-class citizen if you refuse any fancy drinks. Here you are the most important guest, with or without drinks. Despite its expensive-looking premises, you can actually stretch your money to an amazing degree. The key is to remember which night it offers pork chops or other special dishes.
In contrast to Gilda’s, is Severino's Bar & Grill. It is very modern and staffed almost exclusively by young attractive waiters and waitresses. Unlike some businesses you will immediately be treated as a second-class citizen if you refuse any fancy drinks. Here you are the most important guest, with or without drinks. Despite its expensive-looking premises, you can actually stretch your money to an amazing degree. The key is to remember which night it offers pork chops or other special dishes.
Favorite Places in Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and Capitola Wharf, Venetian Hotel & Village are my favorite places to frequent whenever I have time or friends, and family members come to visit Santa Cruz. On Municipal Wharf, you can take a long and healthy stroll to make your doctors happy. At this time of the year, you might want to stop to admire night colonies of sea lions migrating from their designated perches at the end of the wharf to the dry decks of Stagnaro’s and other families’ docks. Despite their weight and size, those poor creatures must feel cold when the darkness falls.
You can visit Capitola Wharf, Venetian Hotel and Village in one breath. They are so cutely clustered together, just like three peas in one pod. Come here whenever you think that your life is too busy and too out of control. Here time and place stop and even freeze for you. But don’t think that all is quiet in here. A few months ago, my whole family witnessed the burning of a boat on the water until a rescue ship from Monterey County came to put out the fire. “Be a tourist in your own town,” as Bob Holmes once said to me.
You can visit Capitola Wharf, Venetian Hotel and Village in one breath. They are so cutely clustered together, just like three peas in one pod. Come here whenever you think that your life is too busy and too out of control. Here time and place stop and even freeze for you. But don’t think that all is quiet in here. A few months ago, my whole family witnessed the burning of a boat on the water until a rescue ship from Monterey County came to put out the fire. “Be a tourist in your own town,” as Bob Holmes once said to me.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Wikis in Libraries
It is very interesting to see libraries using wikis for various purposes. For instance, Subject Guides by SJCPL (St. Joseph County Public Library) are, totally devoid of graphics or other web devices, list 10 major subject headings. BookLoversWikie by Princeton Public Library sprinkles a couple of logo and book covers. Indexes to the Reviews are well-organized. For some reason, I wish that those indexes would be served as a cover page. "Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki" is very informative but its format is just like any typical wiki entries.
For some reason, I like ALA 2006 New Orleans wiki the best. Since it is used for a specific event, it is short but sweet, with Welcome and Topics two main sections subdivided and connected by many mini sections and files. It is not too wordy or flashy at all.
For some reason, I like ALA 2006 New Orleans wiki the best. Since it is used for a specific event, it is short but sweet, with Welcome and Topics two main sections subdivided and connected by many mini sections and files. It is not too wordy or flashy at all.
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