TPL 23 Things #7

Podcasts and Podcasting

In the Summer I bike or scooter to work. It is not smart to wear headphones while doing this. In the Winter I spent a lot of time on TTC. My much loved iPod Nano has wandered off somewhere and I dread facing a Winter without it. I hate to give more money to Apple but I might have to break down -- I am not stepping on transit without something to shield me from listening to people's long and boring cell phone calls (e.g., "I'm on the bus. I'm at Carlaw-no-Logan"... or "I was soooo drunk last night..."). I have had to listen to major relationship breakdowns while trapped standing in the middle of a streetcar. Do people really break up by cell phone on transit?
Some of my colleagues thought I was listening to Podcasts to be educated.

Podcast Alley certainly has a lot of podcasts but I found the sheer number of them a lot to scroll through. The keyword search seemed a bit useless and bought up a lot of garbage.I had been using iTunes to get my podcasts previously. I added the following to my other blog. I knew I wanted TWIT and Diggnation. The Technology subject has over 3000 podcasts and I couldn't find This Week in Technology in the top 27 . Even though This Week in Technology was listed as a featured podcast it would have been hard to find on the subject list. TWIT is very geeky but fun and interesting. I loved knowing ahead of others the new Apple gossip or reasons not to get Vista, etc. As I good Canadian I subscribed to Quirks and Quarks. As a good librarian I had been listening to the NYT book reviews.

My two non-serious fun things were Vintage Radio and Oxford Biographies. Vintage Radio gives me all sorts of old shows: Philip Marlowe, My Favorite Husband, Fibber McGee and Molly. I really enjoy them and have missed bus stops listening to them. The other weird one is Oxford Biographies. You would think this would be boring but I find them fascinating. They are very proper and very English and give short biographies of famous and not so famous people. The ones I have on the list include: Pasqua Rosee (coffee house keeper), Jimi Hendrix, Aldwyn Roberts, (calypso singer), Lindow Man (the body in the bog) and Charles Macintosh (inventor of mackintosh waterproof fabrics).

I tried searching Podcast Alley for the Oxford Biographies and couldn't find it so had to go to the original web site.

When I used iTunes I would add my core favorites and try a few others each week. Most of these got pushed off the list but some like the Economist highlights stayed on. I prefer podcasts that are formatted like radio shows and I prefer news and popular science. I have tried many others and most aren't worth listening to.

I am too much of a CBC listener to listen to podcasts minus the pod-so I doubt I shall be listening to these now but they will be ready for the first snowfall.

TPL 23 Things #6

I opened the Google email account at home and seemed to have no trouble getting on Google Docs. I did have a hard time trying to enter something on a shared document from my TPL computer. I kept getting a message that we weren't connected and I couldn't save anything. When I got home I tried my computer and everything went really well. So ...I am a bit concerned that I fowled up somewhere along the line. Any suggestions? I know it has to be something I have done because everyone else seems to be sailing through this assignment.

This (or something similar) could definitely be used by TPL. Since the edits can be tracked you could check who had changed the document and when. I think it would be good used for things like the What's On submissions. We send in our programmes. Marketing emails and tells us to check them a few months later. We do so and email back changes. If this was all done on one sheet and monitored by Marketing we could save a bit of time.

I also know when I was writing submissions for the Union way back when we would discuss the document and have one person write it from notes or divide up the topics (you do the argument around pay equity, you the history and background, etc.). We had to copy, email or meet, discuss and rewrite constantly. This might make that process easier (probably still just as contentious). Another great tool. I can't think what you have up your sleeve next.

P.S. I can never find the spellcheck option on these things. I am sure "collaborate" is not a word

23 Things Assignment #5

Bookmarking and Tagging

A couple of years ago I started to use Furl to organize my bookmarks. I have several emails of new websites coming to me (and when I bored at home I play with Stumble). I was always finding something that would be great for reference for the kids (e.g. the Poe site or the Dante site) but I had so many that the bookmarks weren't organizing it effectively and I couldn't access them from all the computers I use. For some reason I stopped using Furl late last winter and forgot to add any. I went back this week and found I have about 400 links in Furl. I know that Del.icio.us exists but hadn't changed to it because I liked Furl. I have tried Del.icio.us at home now and really like the ease of using it. The tagging is much simpler and very convenient. The reviews of the two suggest that Furl has some advantages because it archives the pages you tag. Del.icio.us just saves a link. I can transfer stuff from Del.icio.us to Furl but not vice versa. I would like to continue with Del.icio.us (mostly because when I asked a Manager about whether I could put Furl on the TPL computers I received a firm NO). I think with 400 sites that have been bookmarked but I haven't looked at for 6 months I should go through Furl and manually transfer the useful ones -- one can get carried away. I love browsing other peoples interests and found it much clearer on Furl. Since I've played around with Del.icio.us I am finding it OK -- I think my first love is Furl but I will throw it over for the TPL designate. I haven't had time to add the button at work (I did, despite the Manager, add the Furl and the world didn't end) but when I get a spare moment will. I am so glad after years of being told NOT to download we are encouraged to get a few important tools we should have had years ago (or a year ago at least--I end up thinking the Internet has always been here and went into a state of shock a few weeks ago when Google announce its 9th birthday--its still that new?).

P.S. As one of the aging population I have to admit that the font (pale lavender?) for Del.icio.us is impossible to read so I have changed it to brown.

23 Things Assignment #4

My mother visited this summer and informed me she did not want another gift of coffee from Bridgehead this Christmas. This is odd for her because we were taught to just accept gifts, smile and say "Thank-you". So either age is catching up with her or she is very, very sick of coffee. I realize that this is not a new idea but I loved Big Huge Labs so much that I'll make her a calendar for Christmas this year. Here are some family pictures that may be used.

Generators are a little silly for me. I like things that have a point and although an idea generator or name generator is good for a few minutes as a joke its not much fun after that. The Birth Chart Generator was a neat idea and seems like a good use of this technology. As a Sudoku
player I can always use a new puzzle. The generators appealed to me because they have a real purpose.

I think I may have accepted some of the ID generator's product!

23 Things #3

I am keeping this Blog going so I have some where to review all we are learning. I have added The Concrete Baby to the list of attached Blogs. This step was to show us RSS feeds on blogs and in general.