Thing 10

I downloaded an ebook from the library's catalog for the first time. It was a mystery, titled, "The Abbot's Gibbet," one of the few that was not on hold. I did not explore the entire list of downloadable ebooks in the library's catalog, but it seemed that most of the fiction books, at least were all by established writers. I guess there's little or no call for ebooks by little known authors -- like me. As for the library's website, it is amazingly comprehensive -- I can't imagine there's much room for new services to include, but librarians more imaginatiuve than me will come up with some, I'm sure. Up to now, the only areas of the website I have used have been the catalog and my library account. One service that I just thought of that may or may not be practical is to enable patrons to tap into the Library of Congress or other specialized libraries through the SPL website.

Thing 9

Taking even a superficial look at all the products/tools offered by Google Products and Lifehacker, my head is spinning. (Charlie's eyes have glazed over). I had no idea the spectrum of tasks one can accomplish with Google, other than search for info. This is truly amazing, especially the idea that people in remote areas can work together on projects simultaneously, if I understand it correctly. The potential for people, companies and institutions to get the word out about what they're doing is enormous. So is the potential for interaction among groups. THis is not your grandfather's communications!

Thing 8

I contributed an item to the Wiki page on authors and books, writing about the most fascinating book(s) I've read in the past two years -- the two-volume biography of Elvis Presley. It was fun adding my item to others' and also reading others' comments on books and authors they loved. I really never knew what a Wiki was although I had heard of Wikipedia. This was very informative and in fact the whole Ten Things program has made me more aware of the amazing communication and information dispensing and sharing techniques and technologies that have been devised and are continuing to be added.

Thing 7

Charlie was an immense help on this one. We went to Learn Out Loud educational podcasts, the Lit. Summary section and listened to "Frankenstein," "Robinson Crusoe" and "Pride and Predudice," and added the RSS Feed for the selected podcasts. Obviously, this would present an important tool for library patrons who could listen to summaries of various books before selecting to read them or even buy them at bookstores. The same technology could be applied to films, and other library materials. Beyond that, libraries could set up techology and appropriate hardware where patrons could obtain specialized information from podcasts quite apart from books or other printed materials. Podcasts could be another medium, along with books, periodicals, movies, music, etc., where prtrons could find information.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Non-Green Leaves on Greenleaf St.

More Non-Green Leaves on Greenleaf St.
Originally uploaded by theskokieten

This was taken with my camera phone in sepia mode before the rain came and changed the textures and crispness of the sidewalk leafscape on Greenleaf St.