I once knew a girl named Pandora...

What did you like or dislike about the tool? What were the site’s useful features?

I've been playing with Pandora for a while now and I think it's really fun. I impute my favorite songs and artists and then it spits out other songs and artists that have a similar sound. I have already found some new favorites. If you finda new song you like, it will link you to Itunes to purchase. Sometimes it pulls up stuff that isn't so great - but you can vote if you don't like and it won't play it again. A downside is that if you're only allowed so many "skips" in a session. They want to just sit and listen - which would be great if you liked all the songs! All in all, it's pretty fun and you can listen to good tunes while you're on the computer!

Could you see any applications for its use in a library setting?

Yeah, this could be a fun feature - especially in a teen section. What would be neat if there could be a computer, with speaker, dedicated to Pandora. A patron could type in a favorite song and then could get other fun songs to listen to. Well, this could also be a reference tool as well - if you wanted to wait for a bit for the results!

Recess Is Over

Recently I was wanting to work on my Resume, but didn't have the most recent copy in my work folders. I was thinking, in hindsight, that I should have used Google documents and could have worked on my resume anytime - anywhere. Well, now I know what to do! I'm starting to really like this feature - especially since it does the automatic save feature that I love on Gmail - no more lost work! I rememeber when I was going to school at Snow College and the town of Ephraim frequently experienced short blackouts. I learned fast to keep saving my work as I completed assignments! Is there a size limit of how much space we can use on this sort of program? Now I have no excuses for not getting things done. I'm already thinking of ways to keep documents at my fingertips -thanks Google documents!

Search Engines and Hair Pieces

Keeping on the Star Trek theme - Paul and I had a discussion about William Shatner and the issue of his potential hair piece. I think Shatner is sporting one - Paul disagrees. Well, I decided to use that topic as my search while testing out these different search engines. We'll see what the results conclude!

Keywords: william shatner hair piece

Exalead:

I liked how it has little screen shots of the websites. It has a similiar look and feel of Google - and the options of searching for images and even in Wikipedia! It brought up more than 5,000 websites with my keyword search. The first website was a discussion board with this topic at hand. Hair Loss Help Forums - William Shatner's Hair. Here are great pictures I gleaned from the site:

The majority is saying that he has had a hairpiece since Star Trek - maybe even during.

Clusty:

Once I typed in my search terms, I was little confused with the layout of the results. I then caught on with the purpose of the sidebar and the the included tags. Then I realized - it's a "cluster"! Well, unfortunately it brought up some junky websites for results. I did see a similar website: Emmy Nominee William Shatner Supporting Actor "Boston Legal"

William Shatner is nominated for 2005's Most Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series for his work as Denny Crane on ABC's "Boston Legal."

Seriously?

This was interesting:

"It's a question that I find like asking somebody, 'Did you have a breast implant?' or 'When did you get your lobotomy?'" -William Shatner when asked if he wore a hair piece.

So...does that mean yes?

Kartoo

This search engine was similar to Mooter and I'm not sure how I feel about it. They have these topic clusters - but what I liked about Kartoo was that it showed the connections of the search terms with little lines and when you scrolled over a link it would show a screen shot of site.

I found this great site: First Church of Shatnerology. Ok, it's not that great it actually really silly and hopefully not real - but it had some intriguing poetry about Shatner and his hair.

Take it off and turn around
Don't let it fall to the ground.
I worship you all the way down

I kiss the head on which you crown The sweet fragrance of your "hair" Do I dare? I want to kiss the head Of which I have no dread I see it there and want to die This in no lie! What is this wonderful thing for this which bells do ring? This for what my homage does pay Is none other than Shatner's toupee!

Ok, so after searching in these different search engines I haven't found a replacement for Google. I like how it's straight forward and user-friendly. Well, it's good to be more informed of what's available for our searching needs!

Should've been a librarian

Captain Kirk wishes he had decided to become a librarian in the TAS episode "Bem". Spock, as always, responds by speaking the truth.

The Final Frontier

Library 2.0

The final frontier

These are the voyages of the Salt Lake City Public Library

Its 5 month mission

To explore strange new worlds

To seek out new life and new civilizations

To boldly go where no man has gone before

The Web moves from simply being sites and search engines to a shared network space that drives work, research, education, entertainment and social activities—essentially everything people do. You and your mobile and nonmobile devices—PDA, MP3, laptop, cell phone, camera, PC, TV, etc.—are always online, connected to one another and to the Web.
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm

This is so true. How did we ever survive without computers? (Sarcasm added) I have a friend who always wears his blue-tooth everywhere and all the time. Does he have a job that requires him to be on-call? No. Why does he constantly wear it? I don't know. Putting that aside, it's amazing seeing how we can all be connected to information - here and now.

As a Web 2.0 reality continues to emerge and develop, our patrons will expect access to everything – digital collections of journals, books, blogs, podcasts, etc. You think they can’t have everything? Think again. This may be our great opportunity.

This is a great opportunity - there is no excuse for anyone to not know what is going on! Ignorance is NOT bliss! We can access anything and everything. Right here. Right now.

Libraries are poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching.

I find this is a true statement - how often do I have to show patrons how to use a computer? I understand when they need help finding a book, but I don't have the time to show kids how to finds games on the Internet. I'm sorry!

There was a time, not very long ago, when libraries exercised something close to monopoly power in the information marketplace. During the print era, if you wanted access to pricey indexes or a collection of scholarly journals, you had no choice but to make a trip to the library. http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm

I have no comment - but Paul helped me found this swell picture!

The key principles of Library 2.0 are not just about access to books and information. It is about innovation, about people, and about community building, enabled through the participation that social computing brings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0

Hear hear!

My Worlds

Visited States

create your own personalized map of the USA or check out our California travel guide

Visited Countries

create your own visited country map or check our Venice travel guide

This is an amusing site and it's fun reminiscing about where and when you visited these places! It makes me want to travel more!

Generating Something

Look what adventures I had on the The Generator Blog:

Take THE **ULTIMATE** HARRY POTTER NAME GENERATOR today!

My new Harry Potter name is Harry Potter!
(try this out, you always get the same name...)

Funny Face Generator
This site is way too entertaining!

And, the LetterJames site was diverting:


Also, FDToys was very interesting - I'll be sure to visit this one again!

Honestly, I don't see how this could benefit libraries. Maybe the YA department could have fun with these features - but I don't see it being of any use. Well, it's good to be aware of such features and fun things t0 refer to them to patrons? I have a friend who is a amateur photographer and he said for any picture to look good you have to do some tweaking with it. And needless to say, my mirror-image face never looked better! (hehe)