Week 6...#13..Tagging, Part 2

Discovery Exercise 1:

HA! I only have to read the article article by Thomas Vander Wal on the origin of the word “folksonomy” and the role he played in coining the term...I don't have to blog about it! Yay!

...and I've officially reached my exclamation point quota for today...

Discovery Exercise 2:

Silly me, I tried searching vespa again. The tag cloud was predictably small, and a bit odd (community colleges , japanese, public welfare, and secret service, huh?). Not very effective in this instance. Since I obviously have a one-track mind as of recent, I decided my next search would be on wasps. Vespa is Italian (I think) for wasp, and the Vespa scooter was thus named because of its likeness in shape to wasps, the buzzing, flying, stinging, insect that is ever so abundant in my office during the summer months. This tag cloud was much more interesting, and I can definitely see how it could help a student narrow down (or broaden out) to the specific information he/she seeks. For example, the tag cloud produced by searching wasps would allow a student who was looking for the insect to pinpoint that information, while also allowing a student seeking more information on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (the Freshman First Year Book, Mercury 13, includes some interesting footnotes about this group) or White Anglo Saxon Protestants to pinpoint that information.

I don't teach classes...yet. I can imagine that this would be an interesting way for students to discover and dig deeper into a topic of interest (or a topic forced upon them by an instructor).

Discovery Exercise 3:

del.icio.us could definitely be a useful tool. Personally, I spend my time at no fewer than four computers (1-3 at work, one desktop at home, one laptop at home, one desktop at my parents, and any number of computers on UK's campus). Being able to access all my favorites from any of these computers, not having that information tied to one, physical locale? Well, that seems like a great idea. Of course, while I have played with del.icio.us, I have not REALLY put it (or my use of it) to the test, yet. We'll see how things go...will I or won't I use it? Only time will tell.

For teaching a class? Well, see my comments on how it benefits me personally, and change those personal sites to class/subject related sites that I trust and frequent, often depending on the class/subject at hand. Now those sites are not tied to my laptop (which could go on the fritz or have a low battery) or the classroom computer...any computer with a connection will suffice. Plus, I can share that information with my students. My students can share sites with each other if they are working on a group project/paper. So, yeah, I guess it could be useful. Of course, I don't teach...yet.

As for how it benefits the library...if it benefits our patrons, the chances are good that it will benefit us. Granted, the idea and the way our patrons use it may not be library-specific, but why not let them know it's available and that it is an easy way that they can check all their favorite sites from any computer, home, dorm, lab, library, etc...

Discovery Exercise 4:

Checked out technorati...found my blog (had to dig just a bit)...so I'm done.

Week 6...#12...Tagging!

EXERCISE 1:

Okay, let's do this step-by-step.

1. Go to Google and type in a topic that interests you. See how many hits you retrieve.

About 10,800,000 for Vespa.

2. Do the same keyword search in eQuest and see how many hits you retrieve.

Two hits for Vespa.

3. Now search for the topic as a subject (or author if it is an author) in eQuest.

Ummm...nothing.

Google gave me lots and lots of Vespa specific hits (and I'm sure there are some not-so-relevant hits in the mix). An eQuest keyword search resulted in a grand total of two hits, while a subject search gave me nada. Of course, our library is an academic one. Maybe if I had chosen something else...anyway, now the rest of the exercise:

1. Can you see a parallel between the catalog and tagging in Web. 2.0?

Sure, there is a parallel of some sort there... although my own search was not necessarily the best example.

2. Do you think tagging is a reinvention of library cataloging? Or, do you think that tagging is a continuation of tradition of library catalogs, but an expansion of that tradition into new and exciting possibilities?

I am not really sure. I can definitely see how tagging is useful/helpful/necessary, but I am not entirely sure whether I would consider it to be a reinvention or expansion of traditional library cataloguing. I'm leaning towards an expansion...or maybe neither...

3. Or, do you see another angle to tagging?

I have no idea.

EXERCISE 2:

1. Review the tags in your blog, in Flickr and in Library Thing. Think about the terms you have used.

I have not made good use of tagging in any of these venues; in fact, I have not tagged ANY of my blog entries!

Having learned a little more about tagging, consider changing your tags to make them more searchable.

Yep. I should definitely do that.

You may even want to add more tags. For instance, in case you haven’t noticed, Flickr allows up to 75 tags per photo. Please don’t be like the cataloger writing these words who learned that in traditional cataloging 1 to 3 subject headings are enough.

Again, I should do that.

Go wild with your tags if you want to.

Woot!

Add a few words to your blog about the joys of tagging.

Geez. I don't know yet. Tagging is GREAT! Okay, it is obvious that I have never truly catalogued anything in my whole life, and, if you go to my LibraryThing shelf, you can see the wonders of my tagging. I'm still out on all of this; I can see how it's useful and necessary, but I don't know what else to write. I absolutely understand that it would be hard to find the stuff I want if it had no tags. Additionally, I'm sure we are all familiar with how the language of the patron often differs from that of controlled vocabularies; often, our patrons do not use the same terms that our controlled vocabulary dictates, so user-based tagging would definitely be neat and/or helpful in some instances. Then, on the other side, willy-nilly tagging across the board could lead to some wild times. So tagging vs. controlled vocabularies...do we like it?...do we hate it?...control/no control...bad/good...does it really have to be an either/or situation? I think the University of Pennsylvania has a very interesting idea with their PennTags. User added content in addition to all the things we *know* and *love* about libraryland...not too shabby!

Week Five/Play Week: #11

The second lesson of Week Five/Play Week introduced me to an interesting little thing called Rollyo. Essentially, Rollyo is a searching tool that allows you to create your own personal search engines (teehee...roll your own...) with no programming required. You just name your search, list your preferred sites to search (up to twenty-five) , and Rollyo creates a little custom search engine for you. If you have no clue what/where you would like to search, Rollyo has created a list, or "starter kit," of Searchrolls that can be personalized by adding and/or deleting sites. You can create a Searchroll just for yourself, or you can "share the wealth" and make your Searchroll public, allowing others to use and benefit from it. You can create as many Searchrolls as you like, in addition to saving and editing (and thus "claiming for your own") the Searchrolls of others.

Inspired by a shopping Searchroll, I "rolled my own" search and created a Searchroll that will allow me to search a few sites that I trust enough to purchase snowboard gear from; I thought that this Searchroll could help me find out who has what without actually visiting these sites one by one. Here...have a look. I also added my Searchroll to my blog using the "Create a Searchbox" tool, per the Optional Discovery Exercise.

Kind of nifty...or so I thought. The problem comes in when I performed a search for Burton Stow Cargo Pants, an item I picked because I know at least a couple of the sites I chose for my roll carry these pants. I got 809 hits (from the five or six sites in my search), with the first three pages being the same site/same pant. Hmm...nifty, huh? Maybe it just doesn't work so well for shopping, or maybe I need to explore a bit more. I'm not giving up, but I'm not quite sure how useful Rollyo and Searchrolls could be based on my very limited--and not so shiny--experience.

I do think that, while maybe Rollyo isn't working for me, I will show it to some of our education majors. I know one of our student workers always returns to the same few sites for lesson plans, and I think Rollyo may prove useful to her. She could create a Searchroll for just those sites she trusts, and she would not be bombarded with thousands and thousands of hits in a search engine like Google, but she would also be spared the time it would take to search each of those sites individually. Maybe she could also use it in the classroom later...who knows!

Week Five/Play Week: #10

Discovery Exercise #1: LibraryThing

LibraryThing is definitely an interesting thing. It is also pretty simple, quick, and painless to use. I have created an account, added a few books to my shelf, tagged (don't laugh...I admittedly did not put much thought in this) them a bit....all very interesting, but I am not sure whether I will keep up with LibraryThing on my own, post-Learning 2.0. As with many of the other Web 2.0 tools we have investigated, the social side or aspect of LibraryThing is the most interesting thing about LibraryThing. It is neat to see who owns what you own (especially when the number is small...one of my books is "owned" by two other peeps), and the "real person" reviews are interesting/helpful/funny, and the reading recommendations also seem pretty good. Of course, you also can see all these neat tag clouds for books in LibraryThing, and it is definitely interesting to see how people tag certain books, especially in terms of the most common, least common, and most unusual tags. Maybe when I get home and do a bit more exploring in my collection, I will find more uses for LibraryThing. For now, I find it more interesting to explore other people's collections.



Discovery Exercise #2: Web2List

Umm...wow. That is a lot of stuff! While there were many, many applications/sites listed in Web2List that I was not familiar with, I noticed a few that I was familiar with, including quite a few of the Web 2.0 tools or applications we are working with in Learning 2.0. Blogger was there...Amazon...LOTS of MySpace and Facebook look-alikes...I was happy to see BookCrossing listed. As for applications that may be useful in our roles as educators and library employees, I guess it would be a cop-out to say meebo.com, but other than that, I am not so sure. The list itself is a bit overwhelming, but I guess that is a testament to the growth and popularity of Web 2.0.

Week Four - Finding Feeds...or what I did last time.

Let's see...when I created my Google Reader account, I added some sites I already visit along with a few of the sites suggested by others (some by using the feed icon on the page), and used the browse feature. I also organized everything into descriptively named folders...yippee! The only thing left to do in Discovery Exercise #1 is check out some search tools....

....check!

I goofed off a bit with each of the suggested search tools, but to be honest I found very few feeds to add this way. It isn't that the tools don't "work." I'm sure that, for the most part, they definitely do. To be honest, I was not truly looking to add feeds while I was trying these tools out for a few reasons: 1. I added WAY too many feeds during the first part of this set of exercises, and may need to scale back; 2. I added many of my feeds through way of my other feeds (i.e. suggested sites); and 3. I added the rest based on what other trusted/admired librarians (some of whom I know in real life, some not) are reading. For now, I feel much more comfortable trusting others in terms of finding "professional/informative" blogs/sites than I trust my own searching, visiting, evaluating, and choosing. Some may call it lazy, but...okay, maybe it is lazy! However, until I get a bit more comfortable, I think I will keep it this way.

It appears that I am getting much better at keeping it short and sweet.

Week Four: Make it "really simple" with RSS & Newsreader

This week's Discovery Exercises promised to "make life 'Really Simple' with RSS and a Newsreader." Discovery exercise numero uno suggested that I watch another video from commoncraft, "RSS in Plain English." This video is another great one, and I love the style/format of these "in Plain English" videos.

Although I have known about RSS for a while now, I never seriously considered signing up for an account. I just didn't think I visited enough sites to warrant one; however, after creating a Google Reader account (Discovery Exercise #2 - check) and subscribing to some feeds (Discovery Exercise #3 - check), I quickly began to realize that I visit WAY more websites than I realized. At first, I just added news and a few sites I visit for fun or giggles. Next, I thought that I should probably include a few library/librarian related blogs, since I have been actively attempting to add more of such sites to my daily Internet rounds since being admitted to the SLIS. Before I realized it, I had tons of feeds! That's when I started to wonder just how much time I had been wasting visiting these sites, especially on days when there was nothing new to see. This is going to save much time and energy. Then again, I added quite a few new sites, ones that I had not been visiting. Now I wonder if I will be saving time by not wondering out to all of my usual sites one by one, or if I have made my site reading more time consuming by adding new sites. Hmm...I guess only time will tell. I can always delete a few.

I promised myself last posting that my next posting would be shorter, so I think I'll keep that promise...I have some feeds to read anyway!

Week Three: More Flickr Fun

i love you (some more)
Originally uploaded by niznoz

For Week Three's second Discovery Exercise, I got to explore some of the Flickr mashups and third party tools. I really liked the Flickr Color Pickr...very pretty and it actually works. I wanted to like the mosaic maker Montagr...and I probably would like it if it would work....grrr! After fighting with Montagr for a bit, I moved on to another interesting sounding application/mashup, which also did not work, but I won't name any names...

*cough...Associatr....cough*

So, this is a picture I found via the Experimental Graffiti Colr Pickr, brought to us by the same individual as the Flickr Color Pickr (Jim Bumgardner). It is pretty, I like it, and I am tired of trying to get anything else to work.