Flickr Mash-Ups and Third Party Sites

So far, this task has been the one that kept me playing the longest. The Third-Party tools Flickr has available on their site kept me entertained for a good hour and a half because they're so fun!

The one that I thought was most intriguing and most ingenius was the Flickr Retrievr, which finds photos for you based on sketches you draw yourself using their very simple graphic-design widget, which is embedded in the page. You simply select your color and make a dinky little drawing (it functions much like the Paint software that comes on PCs), and the Retrievr will find photos that have the same color and composition as your drawing. I can imagine this would be a fantastic tool for artists who are looking to create art projects using photos that all have a similar "look" to them, and also, it's just wildly fun to play around with!

In addition, I checked out FD's Flickr Toys, which has too much for me to even explore in a day. I got lost on the LOLCAT generator and the website of examples. I think a few patrons wondered what I was looking at that was so funny, but I can't help but laugh when I see something like this:

And since this 23 Things program is all about learning to be computer savvy, I'll share a tech geek joke picture as well:

Also, just as some general feedback about Flickr:

It seems to me that I would never need a Flickr account myself because while I do take the occasional picture, this website seems more geared for professional or semi-professional photographers who are interested in showing and sharing their portfolios. If I take a photograph myself that I would like to host online, I don't need to have a huge account in a site like Flickr...I can upload it to a photo hosting site like Photobucket or TinyPic. Flickr seems to me like it would be better if I had a whole series of photos I wanted to upload rather than just one or two, which is generally all I have. That said, I think Flickr can be a great resource for those of us who don't have an account. It's almost like a stock photo archive (similar to Getty or Corbis) that you can use to search for pictures you need for projects or anything else non-profit. Of course, I'm sure some Flickr users would prefer their photos not be used for websites or other public forums, but that could always be solved by crediting the photographer or requesting permission to use an image for whatever purpose.
It's a fun website, and I use it myself a lot, but I don't think I would need to have an account for myself. I'm content browsing through everyone else's.

P.S. I hate, hate, hate how every time I add a photo or edit a post in Blogger, it adds about five spaces between my paragraphs. How annoying. I just gave up and added the html myself.

Flickr

Browsing through photographs of bookshelves on Flickr is one of the most enjoyable "learning experiences" I can imagine having. Page after page of books stacked in shelves stretching to the ceiling, rainbows of spines, and architecture as monumentous as the knowledge contained in the millions of books within...well, I could have spent a lot longer than an hour looking at images like this.

But the photo to the above right is the one that got my attention the most. The instant I saw it, I wanted this room. I can almost smell it, the picture is so vivid - the scent of old, dusty books and a candle that smells like baked goods, apple pie and cinnamon. I think photos that are truly good do this - they excite senses other than sight.

I can just imagine what is behind this door... If it were my library, the door would lead to a secret room with big leather couches and overstuffed armchairs, a thick carpet on the floor and old lamps scattered around on antique end tables. Maybe even a window that lets in just enough evening sunlight to highlight the specks of dust floating in the air when you settle down with a blanket and a cat in your lap to read your next thick novel.

Everything about this photo just makes my imagination go crazy. I always said I wanted a library of my own with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves crammed full someday. Now I think I'll add "secret room with hidden revolving bookshelf door" to that. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Creating A Blog

I know this isn't technically one of the topics I'm "supposed" to blog about, but in the spirit of going gung-ho into this lifelong learner thing, I figured I'd go ahead and share my thoughts. I'm a writer by nature anyway, so if I can't write a few hundred words on blogging, that doesn't say much for my talents, does it?

This is the first time I've used Blogger, although I'm very familiar with a few other popular online blogging sites including LiveJournal, GreatestJournal, and WordPress, as well as the embedded blogging software offered by social networking sites like MySpace. I guess since I'm not a first-time blogger, I noticed a few things that I definitely did not like about Blogger as compared to other websites that offer the same service.

Number one, it requires a gmail account, which is just inconvenient. You cannot create a blog without a gmail account, and you can't comment to a blogger blog without a gmail account either. Since I doubt the majority of the world has gmail yet, this can't be convenient, especially if a blog is being created for library use, in which patrons are encouraged to interact. For convenience, any email address should be able to work with the site if you want the greatest ease of use.

Number two, it's got some decent default templates to choose from for layout, but they're kind of boring, and I wouldn't have even realized that you could change the color of your layouts if I hadn't just chosen one at random and then gone to edit it. The widget editing page is equally as mediocre because it isn't evident to an amateur eye that you can shift your spacers and drag the newly-created elements up from the bottom of the page to the sidebar, or that you can rearrange them. Overall, I found it to be fine, if you have a familiarity with blogging software already, but I can see how this website would be very confusing for a first-time user. WordPress is much more userfriendly for blog "newbies." LiveJournal and GreatestJournal are also more user-friendly, but they fall under a more social blogging software category than a professional self-publishing software, although they do function on the Moveable Type platform, which is handy software to be familiar with.

Overall, this was more of an exploration of what else is out there in terms of self-publishing software than a chance to learn something new. The bottom line for me is that Blogger wouldn't be my first choice for a personal or professional blog, but it does the job all right.

7 1/2 Habits

So today I began the first step of my lifelong learner project, and I have to admit that I don't think I understood the distinction between learning and lifelong learning. Before I started, I thought to myself, Oh, I'm certain that I'm already a lifelong learner, and after having read through the introduction and having viewed the 7 1/2 Habits slideshow, I still think I am...I just think that I am an informal lifelong learner. I'm always curious to learn new things and pick up facts and information everywhere I go. Sometimes I think that my mind is a steel trap for everything except what I want to learn, but at least stuff is sticking in my gray matter up there. Perhaps I should be grateful!

It is this tendency to be an informal learner that allows me to easily identify the habits that will be easier and/or more difficult for me. It is obvious to me that beginning with the end in mind will be the most difficult task for me. I rarely sit down and think, "I am going to master the art of making an omelette the size of Texas" or "I think I will read about my favorite musicians until I see their family tree floating behind my eyes while I sleep." It just happens naturally. I'll see a random non-fiction book about forensics on the library shelf, pick it up, devour it, and then return it to the library, happy and with a few more gruesome snippets to share at cocktail parties. Mastery of a subject is what I tend to think of as lifelong learning rather than mastery of a skill, although I realize both count. I'm very much a Jack of all Trades, Master of None sort of learner. Therefore, beginning with an end in mind will be a novel concept for me and definitely difficult to achieve.

The easiest task for me is a tie between viewing problems as challenges and using technology to my advantage. As a reference librarian, my job is an exercise in viewing problems as challenges, and it's one of the reasons I love doing what I do. In my more romanticised notions of myself, I feel like a Sherlock Holmes of the shelves, able to track down any hidden information, no matter how esoteric. Similarly, having grown up in the age of technology, I think NOT using technology to my advantage would be more difficult for me than having to use it. I can't imagine life before google.

Overall, I think this program will be a good opportunity for me to review some of my knowledge on web technologies and learn a few new things in the process. If I'm a good little lifelong learner, maybe it will teach me how to be more organized about increasing my knowledge and skill bases as well.


My 'We Value Your Opinion' Comments
(for PLCMC's online tutorial)

-Having both the text of the dialogue on the side of the page and the audio is very, very helpful.
-The length is just long enough to be informative without dragging on.
-Some of the pages and audio didn't load for me in the slideshow, but thanks to the text on the left, I could follow along anyway without missing anything.
-Informative and easy-to-use without feeling stodgy. Not intimidating at all.
-Good job, guys and dolls!