#14 IM

I have the same problems joining chat programmes as Roel. The server van Gemeente Haarlem just won't let you. Chatting not allowed they tell us.
I can't say that I'm too disappointed. If you've got Twitter etc. Why should we also need to chat. It's too much. Maybe there is a moment where it could be easier but for me Twitter is easy enough.
I did however try to chat on the 23dingen website - can't remember what happened sorry...
Now for some Nancarrow - check out the same in an arrangement via my twitter link to Spotify.

#13 Google docs

I have had some experience with Google Docs before and it is certainly a useful application. I've made a new document which I've published on the web and I've invited Razende Roeltje to participate in the document.
Well there is not much to say about this than it's useful.

So now back to Cathy Berberian which I forgot to use during the Haarlemse Stripdagen in June.

#12 Twitter

If you had asked me six months ago if I would twitter I would have looked at you incredulously and asked why, what for? How many people want to know what I'm doing?
But now I've started - three tweets to my name already.
It's important to differentiate between the personal tweets and the professional. I still have my doubt about tweeting "had a good lunch" (pace Jan Klerk) but thoughts about things you care about are worth tweeting about and sharing. And for libraries of course it's a great marketing tool.
So for me Twitter is not so much the answer to the question What are you doing? but rather What do you find interesting, funny or mind boggling? That's the basis on which I choose who to follow.
And the act of twittering? Well it takes getting used to. There are certain tricks to make your tweets more effective for example include a link and other stuff which I still have to get under the knee.
Having a smartphone (which I don't have) might help I think. Tweets and mobility go hand in hand...
So join me on twitter!!
In the meantime Cathy Berberian

#11 Wiki

It's almost impossible not to come across wiki's, especially wikipedia, while surfing on the internet. The information is sometimes good and sometimes not so. That's not surprising because it all depends on who has provided the content. This applies to all media of course but what makes wiki's special is that "anyone" can join in. There are advantages - sharing, interaction.
I think wikis work best when there are some restrictions but perhaps that is a contradictio in terminis. Nevertheless I'm going to stick with this because the wikis I like are either (strictly) regulated or work on a small scale with some restrictions - see for example Lydia's reaction to Razende Roel's #11 and the example given in the Wiki's in plain English video on 23dingen.
For music just as Razende Rold I like the ChoralWiki (CPDL) but the Petrucci Libary is just as good if not better. The principal is the same. Anyone can add new sheet music if the guidelines are followed. For example the music must be legal i.e. in the public domain. So you have to be registered and there is a monitoring committee behind the scenes to ensure everything works smoothly and everybody obeys the rules. Strictly speaking this may not be a Wiki in the spirit of the word but it works very well and is enormously beneficial to many music lovers worldwide in particular library professionals.

The sandbox I'm not really interested in as a library professional. It could entice somebody to share really interesting content but unless it's regulated in someway how are we to find it?

So let's use wikis on a small scale or with some sort of coördination (monitoring committee)

Enough words. Now for some exciting music by Pierre Boulez who is 85 this year. The first clip is Notation2 (complete) from a concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by the composer. The second is a rehearsal of the same piece with the Wiener Philharmoniker including some commentary by Pierre Boulez on danger in music!!

#10 Delicious

Why the name Delicious formerly known als del.icio.us? It all comes down to eating cherries - yes you've guessed it - they're del.... Well del.icio.us was also used for convenience as Joseph Schachter who invented Delicious has revealed in an interview.

Now that's out of the way let me say straightaway that there are certainly advantages in using Delicious - sharing tags is probably the most advantageous. I don't find adding tags or keywords particular exciting although it's very connected with library work - in the olden days at least. But of ocurse we must do it for the greater good and for the rewards from sharing in a library context. The key lies in the art of being precise and inventive in using your tags.

I've added Spotify to the 23 dingen Delicious account and there are more than 600 other people who have tagged Spotify. The tags are variable - music seems fairly common, yawn! And sometimes the tags are completely irrelevant radio maybe but Mp3?? iphone??.

The various commentaries often just read as advertisement material.
Sometimes the tags are just right like those by 李华顺 (20/6/2009) whose tags *
* community
* music
* sharing
* social

do sum up what Spotify is all about for the library world at least. Maybe was xkimox right with his comment 6/5/2007: Ett nytt, bättre eller överflödigt Last.fm?
i've made my own account on Delicious: Borthwick_i@yahoo.com. I've also made a tag bundle (is that the same as a cluster?).
And now it's time for some delicious music:

#9 Web 2.0

Why should librarians embrace Web 2.0 applications?
Well the title of this weblog gives the answer, I think. We have to contact our public in such a way that they feel invited to participate in their library. Provide a platform for them not only to comment on but to add to the library with their own content - in other words to share opinions and knowledge about the library with us who work in libraries.
And what's in it for us professionals? Well it's an effective way of marketing our products and services without losing sight of the needs and questions of those using the library.
By bridging the divide with web 2.0 applications we can come in contact with our users in a way to regain the social relevance that libraries are in danger of losing.
I've already mentioned some advantages of using Flickr for these ends in my previous post. RSS can be used as a digital reminder for our members and others who might be interested about what is happening in the library. And we as professionals can also keep track of developments of others. it works both ways

#6,#7,#8 Flickr

I felt that I've spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what Flickr is about. I'm not a very visually oriented person. Nevertheless we live in a visually dominant culture and as a librarian it's something not to forget. Libraries tend to be focussed on texts - as is Google by the way - sometimes to the detriment of the visual. If we are looking for pictures or video we can only find them through words (tags or otherwise) used for description.
So tags are very important - more opportunities for librarians!? It is one of the special features of Flickr to stimulate the user to add tags.

If we accept the premise that the visual is very important in our contemporary culture then using Flickr to connect to our public seems to me essential.

A number (50!!) of ways we can make Flickr work in our library is linked to on the 23dingen website. Give a virtual tour, Share event photos, Share history, just to mention three are obvious really - but which libraries use Flickr in this way?
Slideshows made by public and/or personnel via Flickr can easily be shown in the library next to "normal" foto exhibitions and also on the library website of course. Slideshows of past activities and those coming up could be amazing promotion.

So what have I done with Flickr? Much more than I can show here that's for sure. First of all a mini slideshow and then a picture postcard transformation thanks to Picnik. Then a link to a mashup with the maps application. This is a very attractive way of linking pictures and places. It's a pity that you can't put your map from Flickr directly on to the blog in the same way as photos. Which is the easiest way of doing this?



Before and after Picnik



It's a shame that you can't transfer the map application directly from Flickr to a blog so I've linked it here or Hugo Wolf's Birthplace in Slovenia

And now it's only three days before the 200th birthday of Robert Schumann.