Tuesday, June 26, 2007

week 3, thing 6: flickr mashups

Good afternoon,

Before exploring much deeper into flickr, I had to figure out what a mashup was... duh...

A mashup, for the unfamiliar, is a hybrid web application that uses data from an outside source to drive a web service. Mashups can be created using data culled from RSS feeds, public databases, or any open data source.
(from: http://www.webmonkey.com/06/08/index4a.html)

From that article, I used captioner!, which allows you to add cartoon balloons to pictures. I tried saving one captioned picture and then posting it to this site, but the caption didn't get saved. Another staff member was able to save his caption, so I guess I would just need to spend a little more time with it. Did some good ones of places and people... webmonkey is right, it really does bring out your juvenile streak :)

I enjoy sudoku, so I also looked at the flickr sudoku mentioned. My goodness, how hysterical. I was given a sudoku with 9 different pictures of hamsters! I switched the set of pictures, putting in the tag, "pig," and got even better pictures. This is a little more difficult to complete than the pencil and paper version; with the pictures (which fill entire squares), it's hard to distinguish between rows and columns. I didn't finish (but, for the record, could have).

I had a little trouble getting back to the list of flickr applications once I got to the home page. It seems like the basics (uploading, searching) are relatively easy, but there's so much to do on Flickr, you'd have to spend quite a while exploring.

week 3, thing 5: flickr

i took a look at flickr last night and was amazed. i browsed using the world map. i recently took a trip to france and plugged in arles france just for kicks. at first i was looking for the results on the page with the map, but then realized you have to focus in a little (in this case, that meant clicking on "lots").

i didn't like the slideshow feature, where the map stays in place and the results just slide back and forth in a little bubble. however, i can see how it would be helpful if you were doing several different searches or were not picky about your results.

i was amazed by all the images as well as by the geotags. i even found pictures from my armpit of a hometown... woo-hoo! i also sent a few pictures that i found to friends, just for fun.

aside from the humor factor, libraries and patrons could make use of flickr too. it seems like it would be an easy way for students to find "real" pictures of places for reports, or for travelers to get a better sense of where they're going (as opposed to the bureau of tourism websites which always show the best sides of everything), or for people who like to decorate their own greeting cards/letters/stationery/scrapbooks.

flickr also provides users with the chance to join groups, which can be private or public. these would be particularly helpful for users with interests that are partly visual, or could be shared visually somehow... i'm thinking here like gardening, orchids, antique cars, things like that.

It's amazing that someone in France can take a picture, then I can copy it, put it up using Snapfish, and make my own prints of other people's pictures!

week 2, thing 3: easy and difficult habits

of the 7 and a half habits, i think that the two habits i have the most difficulty with are the first and ironically the last. the stuff in the middle i am okay with. beginning with the end in mind is difficult because i'm often not really sure what the end is going to be.

when we have had branch workplans to develop new areas or layout collections differently, we have no idea what the end result is going to look like. i guess that's where a good vision statement comes in -- just having an idea that you want to do x and y and you want your work to result in z for groups s and t. seems like that can be your "guiding light" when you don't have a very concrete end set out for you.

it's also difficult to "play" at work. there's too much to do! and we don't have a pool or a bike here. i guess in a larger sense it means to let your brain noodle around when faced with challenges, to not throw any ideas out prematurely, and to keep a sense of humor in hectic times.

week 1, thing 2: pointers from learners

good afternoon.

i found the tutorial from charlotte-mecklenburg pretty interesting. they pointed out that learning stretches across so many things (for lack of a better word). developing a new swim stroke, brushing up on french, and communicating better with trainees - all of that is learning. how can you not be a lifelong learner with that sort of a spectrum?

i also liked that they pointed out that a toolkit can consist of not only electronic and print resources, but people too! people who might have skills that you don't already possess... this is a big system - if no one here can help me out, chances are good that someone at another branch or in ao can.

week 1, thing 1: about the program

i am pretty excited about getting involved with this, after just taking a quick skim through the activities. i like it because it starts out with several things that i am familiar with (blogging, uploading pictures) and then goes up from there to things that i have no idea about (technorati, library thing).