tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104694172011-10-18T14:14:56.644-05:00technogeekery for librariansTechnogeekery is any form of hardware or software which is used by technology geeks. This blog is for librarians and is an attempt to see how all that stuff fits in with all our stuff.Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.comBlogger831100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-37130935343320683382011-07-21T08:48:00.002-05:002011-07-21T08:51:02.086-05:00UGME Curriculum RenewalThis week my delicious links are heavily skewed towards looking at Undergraduate Medical Curriculum documents. I am primarily interested in recent Canadian Universities statements, goals and objectives on their undergraduate medical curriculum. My place of work (POW) is undergoing a curriculum renewal project and I'm one of the cast of "thousands" involved. If you see anything missing from my Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-37942664152894086382011-07-01T14:11:00.002-05:002011-07-21T08:48:10.110-05:00This week in delicious h1 a:hover {background-color:#888;color:#fff ! important;} div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div ul { list-style-type:square; padding-left:1em; } div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div blockquote Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-25468599447051019552009-05-22T13:08:00.016-05:002009-05-29T14:42:53.095-05:00This week in delicious25 Useful Social Networking Tools for Librarians - College Degree.com
Posted: 29 May 2009 10:09 AM DTDeclan’s Blog » Yahoo Pipes
Posted: 28 May 2009 08:50 AM PDT
Using String Builder to Augment the Title
Using Regular Expressions With Yahoo Pipes « Brooks Bayne’s Blog
Posted: 28 May 2009 08:36 AM PDT Lifehacker - Yahoo! Pipes master feed update - Aggregation
Posted: 28 May 2009 08:03 AM PDT
editCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-55819326329142652672009-05-19T09:54:00.006-05:002009-05-25T09:35:11.105-05:00Feedburner/ WORD oddityOkay, a colleague of mine came to me and asked me why Feedburner wouldn't burn her Twitter feed when the feed was perfectly valid.
For those of you who don't know Feedburner is a nifty tool that you can use to add functionality to your blog, twitter etc. RSS feed. With Feedburner you can get statistics from how many people are using your feed, what browser they are using and where in the world Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-52060266049793546302009-05-13T13:15:00.005-05:002009-05-19T10:40:12.918-05:00Delicious findings h1 a:hover {background-color:#888;color:#fff ! important;} div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div ul { list-style-type:square; padding-left:1em; } div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div blockquote Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-80310331034728406402009-05-12T15:57:00.006-05:002009-05-13T11:02:38.417-05:00Twitter language/short cuts anyone?I am new to Twitter and have been wondering what all the @, # and short forms mean. I had thought that people were being rude but the friends/organizations that I am following just don't seem to be the type, so I started looking for more information.
The Twitter Support site was sort of useful under the section "Fun Stuff" and gave me this information.
@ directs a twitter at another person, andCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-86249565642755041382009-05-12T13:09:00.004-05:002009-05-12T14:33:20.876-05:00Delicious meanderingsIntegrating Twitter and YouTube with MediaWiki Posted: 12 May 2009 10:57 AM PDTCubeTree Launches As A Facebook + FriendFeed + Twitter For Enterprise Posted: 11 May 2009 12:22 PM PDTThinkGeek :: Stuff for Smart Masses Posted: 11 May 2009 11:25 AM PDTCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-4547797354929756132009-05-07T09:30:00.002-05:002009-05-07T09:31:59.601-05:00Social Bookmarking in Libraries: Simply del.icio.usCheck out this SlideShare Presentation: Social Bookmarking in Libraries: Simply del.icio.usView more presentations from cacemlis.
Presentation given at SLA/MLA Prairie Partnerships Conference 2008 in Regina, SK on May 1, 2008.Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-450904576492007082007-05-31T22:58:00.001-05:002007-06-01T08:55:46.152-05:00Libraries and Facebook - cautionsI posted a while back about academic libraries and Facebook and a friend sent me along some interesting cautionary links I thought I would share.
Facebook & Privacy? a blog post from Rhonda Gonzalez of "@ the library".
She links to a compeling video entitled: Does what happens in the Facebook stay in the Facebook?. It's short and well worth the listen.
This came across my desk today from the Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-82506256785255133022007-05-31T22:09:00.000-05:002007-06-01T08:54:45.061-05:00Encouraging reluctant web content providers to ... provide contentI'm sure you've run into them if you are a web developer... or may be you are one. The reluctant web content provider. These are people who feel they have nothing to contribute to your library web site but are veritable fonts of specialized subject information that REALLY needs to be shared.
These are the people that don't have time to learn how to create web pages or really just don't want toCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-30247954283932083942007-05-19T16:32:00.000-05:002007-05-19T17:03:17.688-05:00Facebook in librariesI admit to being behind the times when it comes to Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and other social networking sites. I became interested when a colleague of mine gave a presentation at the Manitoba Libraries Conference earlier this month. [Note to Mark: I'm still awaiting that podcast!] It was one of those instances that you hear about something and then every time you turn around it's there.Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-47872855632335236592007-05-11T16:07:00.000-05:002007-05-11T16:10:21.160-05:00A little more conference bloggingKeynote: Elizabeth Lane Lawley (Forecasting the Future)
Liz Lawley - Tagging and Folksonomies
Liz is a very compelling speaker. If you ever have a chance to attend one of her sessions you won't be disappointed.
Linda White and Kenlyn Collins - Technology on a Shoe StringCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-77617695541544083712007-05-08T14:56:00.000-05:002007-05-08T14:59:33.559-05:00A little spot of conference bloggingManitoba Libraries Conference (Winnipeg, MB)
Keynote address: Bill Richardson
Mark Leggott - Weaving a social tapestry for your library
Jocelyn Phillips - E-booksCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-70501357732615616492007-05-07T20:35:00.000-05:002007-05-07T20:38:15.055-05:00Gone but not forgotten?Okay, so maintaining this blog was a little more work and required a lot more commitment than I expected! :) I am back on the blogging circuit but a little more low key. If you're curious I can be found at: Carol's Space
I hope to get back to up dating this space soon.Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1119893302867111532005-06-27T12:03:00.000-05:002005-06-27T12:31:11.556-05:00Internet Searching: Variety is the spice of lifeSince I spent so much time in my last post focusing on Google searching, I thought I would share some more of the things I discovered while preparing for my seminar on internet searching.
Simple search interface
The first thing I discovered is that I like a nice clean simple search interface. I have to admit that Google spoils me that way, but you can find this with other search engines. If Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1119885110519125102005-06-27T09:14:00.000-05:002005-07-15T15:48:33.963-05:00GoogleTips and Internet SearchingI recently finished teaching my first seminar on internet searching. It's hard to imagine that I've gotten away with not teaching something like this for so long! It was wonderful to have a good excuse to take a closer look at some internet search engines, it was also more challenging than I expected. This is why I was so excited when a colleague recently e-mailed me this excellent site regardingCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1118283406103013252005-06-08T21:12:00.000-05:002005-06-08T21:16:46.110-05:00Meta... what?One good thing about attending a local conference is running into people you have a passing aquaintance with and striking up surprisingly, interesting conversations.
One colleague I ran into at the last conference I attended was Lisa. She works at a different campus than I do and we sort of knew each other but hadn't had the opportunity to chat. The short story is we were so interesting in Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1116870552808955772005-05-23T12:38:00.000-05:002005-05-23T12:50:04.546-05:00Linking to Map ServicesThis is a very simple project that could easily benefit people visiting your library web site. Provide them with a link to a map from which they can locate your institution. An added benefit would be if they could get driving directions from that map.
A lot of you are probably thinking, duh, did that a long time ago. Sometimes though nifty details like maps can get lost in the mad rush to put upCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1116185312213027722005-05-15T14:25:00.000-05:002005-05-15T14:28:32.216-05:00Quotation update and thank youThanks to Stephen Abram and Robert Eiffert for finding the quotation I mentioned in my last post!
“The net is like a huge vandalized library. Someone has destroyed the catalog and removed the front matter, indexes, etc. from hundreds of thousands of books and torn and scattered what remains? “Surfing” is the process of sifting through this disorganized mess in the hope of coming across some Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1115686575123351272005-05-09T19:51:00.000-05:002005-05-09T19:56:15.136-05:00This quotation is driving me bats!I am currently preparing a presentation on searching the internet and I'm struggling with a way to introduce the presentation.
That's right I have never taught a session on Internet searching. I've always done presentations on specific aspects of the Internet but not this, I'm actually pretty excited about the prospect. I'm going to cover the big three search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN), Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1115259431068094932005-05-04T20:54:00.000-05:002005-05-04T21:17:11.163-05:00Manitoba Libraries Conference 2005 Day 2Whew! Day 2 of the Manitoba Libraries Conference has come and gone bringing to an end the blogfest I have participating in the last two days.
These are today's posts:
Manitobia, Mark Leggott Riding shotgun down the avalanche: strategies for keeping current, Roy Tennant Tools for the non-programmer working with the web, Peter Scott Navigating the library catalogue: how FRBR helps our Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1115177646172746102005-05-03T22:22:00.000-05:002005-05-03T22:34:06.313-05:00Manitoba Libraries Conference 2005 Day 1I and a few colleagues are trying to blog the Manitoba Libraries Conference. Day 1 has come and gone with yours truely blogging the following:
Dusting off the CBC Archives: Exploring the rich online resource of CBC Book Lust with Nancy Pearl: The Perils and pleasures of a life of reading. Information for All: Using new technologies to provide library service to those with perceptual Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1115154616702195462005-05-03T16:07:00.000-05:002005-05-03T22:22:14.500-05:00Welcome to Blogging for Beginners!My name is Carol Cooke and today my colleague Carolyn Minor and I will be introducing you to the wonderful world of library / librarian blogs.
Documentation for this presentation is available in the form of PDF documents of our powerpoint presentation and our handout.
Want to learn more about Blogger? Tutorials are available from:
Blogger Help Getting Started With Blogger: A Tutorial fromCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1114481913242868482005-04-28T21:25:00.000-05:002005-04-28T21:27:30.620-05:00Problems with printing? CSS solutionTechnogeekery for librarians uses one of the many standard design templates provided by Blogger. Like all novice bloggers I assumed that once I had selected the template that I could quite happily forget about design and focus entirely on content.
Not so! Over time I've modified the template to include a "list of contributors", an RSS feed, a blogroll and some images.
The other day Walt Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1114360997741184162005-04-26T08:25:00.000-05:002005-04-26T08:50:35.080-05:00Mac Update: What do you mean read the manual?When I got my Mac a few weeks ago I opened the box expecting to see a nice hefty manual that I would either have to pour through or ignore depending on how I felt. I was surprised to see what amounted to a few pamphlet sized handouts. The PowerBook user's guide is only 107 pages (including the index) and the "Welcome to Panther" guide (the Mac Operating System is also known as Panther) is only 24Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1114363286430638842005-04-24T12:05:00.000-05:002005-04-24T14:50:01.756-05:00Impact of technogeekeryI just read this in my Bloglines account. It's from the Associated Press Health Feed and the article is entitled "The Blind Struggle As Gadgets Proliferate" by Vicki Smith. I really hadn't thought of this before but I can see how this is a problem.
"As technology has evolved, it's become lighter, smaller and more portable. For most people, that makes it more convenient. For millions of blind Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1114361578238328232005-04-24T11:45:00.000-05:002005-04-24T11:52:58.240-05:00Another New Librarian GraduatesYes, it's that time of year again. A new crop of librarians are getting ready to graduate. Ordinarily I wouldn't pay much attention to this, but this year I know one of the graduates. My colleague and co-author of technogeekery, Allan Chan is attending class for the last time this weekend.
I've been having fun watching Allan attend Library School for the last few years. It has brought back Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1114352999210603632005-04-24T09:18:00.000-05:002005-04-24T09:36:38.613-05:00Geographic meta tags: let people know where you arePeople have been using the internet to obtain directions for destinations for a few years. I've been using MapQuest to help me find driving directions. It's easy, convenient and mostly accurate and if you're directionally challenged like myself... a real time saver.
It was only a matter of time before the search engines got involved. Now you can do a keyword search for a business or location inCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1114010409523114362005-04-20T10:16:00.000-05:002005-04-20T10:20:09.526-05:00Blogging by mental telepathyThere's audioblogging, podcasting, and screencasting, with all this technology it's a wonder they haven't come up with something that will allow you to blog by mental telepathy.
I haven't posted much recently due to two impending presentations and an article deadline. I hardly feel guilty about this however because a new phenomenon has taken over my brain. I tend to think in blog postings! I Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1113415659180612772005-04-13T12:56:00.000-05:002005-04-13T13:07:39.183-05:00Philadelphia Plans First U.S. Citywide Wi-Fi NetworkI'm extremly excited for Philadelphia. A citywide Wi-Fi network appeals to me as I am one of those people that likes to be connected to the internet at all times. When I am on the road, if there is a choice of hotels with or without Wi-Fi, the hotel with the Wi-Fi wins out for myself. The exponential growth of the information age has turned me into a person that feels naked when I am not on Allan_Channoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1113010221376724982005-04-08T20:18:00.000-05:002005-04-08T20:30:21.376-05:00Mac switch updateI've had my Mac PowerBook for two weeks now and I am still messing around trying to figure things out.
The latest thing was trying to determine how to change my default browser from Safari to Firefox. It's not that I don't like Safari... it's just that I like Firefox so much and I haven't finished playing with it. Whenever I try to use the Mac help (which is frequently) it automatically opensCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1113009459764079942005-04-08T20:08:00.000-05:002005-04-08T20:17:39.770-05:00OPML: an easier way to grab RSS feedsIn my latest post I implied that blogroll can be used to teach patrons about RSS. The best way to teach patrons about the value of using RSS for current awareness is to get them started using RSS aggregators. Once you have taught them how to add feeds to their aggregators give them the opportunity to import a collection of RSS feeds that you have evaluated and found useful given their subject Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1112841370604489392005-04-06T21:25:00.000-05:002005-04-06T21:36:10.606-05:00Blogroll?You may have noticed that technogeekery now has a blogroll. It's over there on the right hand side.
What is a blogroll? This is a listing of blogs that you regularly read and which may influence your blog. There are a number of ways to create a blogroll. If you are using Bloglines you can easily create a blogroll of all your subscribed feeds that you have made publicly available. If you Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1112667403176989512005-04-04T21:03:00.000-05:002005-04-04T21:16:43.176-05:00Help - Nifty library blogs wantedI am co-presenting on "Blogging for beginners" at the Manitoba Library Association conference. I am hoping to provide the audience with interesting examples of the use of blogs in libraries.
Specifically I am interested in locating examples from academic libraries. I have enough examples of libraries providing new/events/announcements to their patrons. What else is out there?
In an Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1112478563401940142005-04-02T15:49:00.000-06:002005-04-02T15:49:23.403-06:00Geocaching: A possible explanation for missing library booksI have a good friend to thank for bringing this interesting use of technology to my attention. She told me that geocaching is her new hobby and I said "Whaaaaat"?
According to Geocaching – The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt, geocaching “is an entertaining adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a GPS Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1112401581215020002005-04-01T17:31:00.000-06:002005-04-01T18:38:57.360-06:00I got booted off my PowerBookMy husband and step-son just booted me off my PowerBook. Apparently I've been monopolizing it the last few days. Perhaps you've noticed a significant lack of posting? :)
Since I last posted about my switch to the Macintosh OS I have received a lot of really useful information and encouragement from people in the blogosphere.
Michael (you know who you are) e-mailed me some links.
"I was lost inCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111930650589293302005-03-27T07:28:00.000-06:002005-03-27T07:37:30.590-06:00Not much into delayed gratificationOkay, so I'm switching to a Mac. I decided originally to go with an iBook but learned I would have to wait two weeks for it. Obviously excited and out shopping I was looking around at a local computer store and spied demo models for both the iBook and PowerBook. You can see where this is heading.
A colleague, thanks Bill, mentioned the PowerBook and I thought I would have a closer look at Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111767801644835782005-03-25T10:13:00.000-06:002005-03-25T10:23:21.686-06:00Google scholarGoogle Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) was released in beta version in November 2004 and is an effort by Google to create a database of scholarly articles for which citation and abstract information is widely available to all users. Google Scholar is not stating where they are getting the citations from, but PubMed, ACM, and IEEE all appear in the search results. Google Scholar also Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111762903438294162005-03-25T08:56:00.000-06:002005-03-25T09:07:20.616-06:00USB Flash DrivesUSB Flash Drives, Memory keys, thumb drives all refer to the same thing. This is a removable storage device that in most cases is about thumb sized or smaller. You plug it into your computer via a USB port and use it like you would your old floppy or zip disk. The difference is the amount of storage that can be squeezed into such a small space. Typically USB Flash Drives come in a variety of Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111624359294190482005-03-23T17:58:00.000-06:002005-03-23T18:32:39.296-06:00I'm almost leaving the Borg CollectiveOkay, I've finally done it. I've crossed over to the dark side.
I've been a PC user for the majority of my life and today I ordered an iBook. A what? An iBook, I bit the bullet and ordered a Mac laptop. I've been wanting to purchase a Mac computer for years but haven't been able to justify the purchase.
I'll get my new techno-gadget in about two weeks. Until then I'll probably post as Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111586502912981112005-03-23T07:50:00.000-06:002005-03-23T08:01:42.913-06:00VoIP in librariesUsing VoIP (Internet telephony) in an academic library setting makes a lot of sense. This is especially the case if you are offering distance education library services. Sherri Vokey of the University of Winnipeg is considering doing just that. I hope she'll post more about this.
Most libraries now have access to the Internet but not all are able to afford a toll free line to help patrons Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111456920875625742005-03-22T18:20:00.000-06:002005-03-28T12:20:49.826-06:00VoIP, not the sound your corduroy pants makeVoIP actually stands for "Voice over Internet Protocol" also known as Internet telephony. VoIP turns analog telephone signals into digital signals which can be sent over the Internet. Phone calls using V0IP can be made cheaply or in some cases freely over the Internet with the only charge being the one from your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
VoIP Wiki - What is VoIP How VoIP Works (Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111111291456624712005-03-17T19:38:00.000-06:002005-03-17T20:09:23.536-06:00Technogeek speak... do you IM?I've been blogging a little about doing Instant Messaging (IM) and trying to sort out what what I want to do about it professionally. I've been trying to find other librarians who want to mess around with the software so that I can improve my skills and be able to speak knowledgably about the topic. Okay, I'm playing! :)
I've been using Trillian software to manage 5 IM accounts on (Yahoo, AIM, Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1111109822192315692005-03-17T19:09:00.000-06:002005-03-17T19:37:02.196-06:00Alternative Browsers: What is your library doing?In January I posted about some alternative browsers and recently I have come across two more which look interesting.
Maxthon browser [via local technoguru]
http://www.maxthon.com/
Deepnet Explorer [via Peter Scott on Web4Lib]
http://www.deepnetexplorer.com/
Both of these browsers appear to offer as much functionality as Firefox and Netscape. They also say that they are Internet Explorer Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110815099566610702005-03-15T21:30:00.000-06:002005-03-17T09:36:19.386-06:00Not your regular RSS aggregatorThere are three types of RSS aggregator software.
Desktop based - software is downloaded to your computer and you run the software from there (e.g. Pluck) Web based - you access and interact with the software housed on someone elses server on the internet (e.g. Bloglines) Web server based - you find a technogeek with the rights and privilages to download and install the software on your Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110916977827022702005-03-15T13:10:00.000-06:002005-03-15T14:17:03.120-06:00Treo 650 ReviewSo the time came for me to purchase a new phone. At first I was going to just upgrade to a Treo 600. However being on MTS (Bell Mobility) and with MTS using CDMA technology they took a lot longer to receive it. MTS finally released it in November of 2004 after delaying it for months and months. Howver, the week they released it, PalmOne announced the release of the Treo 650 in the states on Allan_Channoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110859409479484842005-03-14T21:58:00.000-06:002005-03-14T22:03:29.483-06:00iPod (facts and figures)Thanks to Michael Stevens for posting this link to his Tame the Web blog.
This is an excellent overview of the different types of iPods. It discussed all the important stats like number of songs they can hold, number of hours it will play on a single charge, cost and other interesting features.
Read more: Playlist: Picking your 'Pod
Don't forget to check out the article on the iPod photo in Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110857476523709922005-03-14T21:14:00.000-06:002005-03-14T21:31:16.526-06:00Parse: to analyzeI subscribe to the Dictionary.com Word of the Day RSS Feed. I did this so that I could challenge my vocabulary and learn something new each day. It's a fun feed and I recommend it to all librarians and budding philologists [:)].
On sunday it sent me the word "parse". I had to smile with pride. This is one technogeekery word that has quickly become a part of my vocabulary.
While parse meansCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110855363343148192005-03-14T20:25:00.000-06:002005-03-14T20:56:03.346-06:00Firefox extensions for BioMed Central and PubMed!As if I didn't already like Firefox more than was healthy for me. Now near and dear to this librarian's heart comes two new plugins for the handy search window in Firefox.
Firefox background
Skip this section if you're familar with Firefox. For those of you not familar with Firefox, read on! One of the nifty features available with Firefox is a built in search box. You can grab plugins to Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110658579149382102005-03-12T13:28:00.000-06:002005-03-12T14:16:19.156-06:00Convergence"The process by which originally distinct technologies may become more compatible or integrated as they develop, so that an increasing number of devices (esp. in electronics, computing, and telecommunications) are multifunctional and interoperable." [Oxford English Dictionary Online]
The issue of convergence between different technologies has been a hot topic for years. For example, using TV to Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110549766372179572005-03-11T07:42:00.000-06:002005-03-11T08:04:24.200-06:00We now have RSS feeds!I'm so excited. Our library now has RSS feeds!
I posted a while ago about why I'm not blogging at my library in this posting I talked about software our institution purchased to to facilitate the creation of news and events announcements. This blog-like software product is called nTreePoint and is made by Unidigm.
It's flexible, is easy to use and produces a nice end product. A while Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1110377573910355662005-03-09T07:49:00.000-06:002005-03-09T08:12:53.913-06:00Open mindIt's amazing what you can learn in an airport. Okay, maybe I didn't learn it in an airport ... but I got to thinking about it in an airport.
I have noticed for a while that I've am resting on my laurels and not learning much of anything new. I have also noticed that when someone approaches me about a new software, new technology or a new way to use these things that I have been extremely Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109787008539508752005-03-02T11:56:00.000-06:002005-03-02T14:49:12.140-06:00Instant Messaging - Trillian and MunduFurther to Carol's entry regarding "Instant Messaging -an almost newbie's experience", I looked into the world of "all in one" IM interfaces.
I have downloaded Trillian and here is my review. As an avid user of ICQ and MSN, the user is allowed to keep some of the most important features of each program. Of particular, the emoticons and avatars are highlights for myself. The whole notion that Allan_Channoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109704442711160002005-03-02T10:40:00.000-06:002005-03-02T10:41:32.536-06:00Firefox extension fatigueThe Firefox enthusiast can get carried away with the many extensions (not to mention themes) that are available from the Firefox website. I found I was beginning to forget which extensions I had, and the whole thing was getting out of hand — that is until I found a simple little program called InfoLister.
Once downloaded as an extension, InfoLister lets you designate a file that will be Mark Rabnettnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109780064897312922005-03-02T10:07:00.000-06:002005-03-14T09:39:46.093-06:00Canadian universites and libraries who blogCanadian university libraries who blog
McMaster University Libraries
site: feed: software:
Mount Allison University Libraries
site: feed: software:
Simon Fraser University Library
site: feed: Software: developed in house
University of Alberta Libraries
site: feed: [too many to add! ] software: MovableType
University of Saskatchewan
site: feed: software: MovableType
University of Victoria Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109773482902446992005-03-02T08:24:00.000-06:002005-03-02T08:24:42.903-06:00Librarian Bloggers Unite blogperson Originally uploaded by cacemlis. There oughta be a t-shirt. Thanks to Michael Stephens for the idea and and Greg Schwartz for the work.Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109644999174915112005-02-28T20:18:00.000-06:002005-03-01T09:31:15.373-06:00Instant Messaging - an almost newbie's experienceLibrarians in the blogosphere are talking about providing reference services through Instant Messaging (IM) software. There is a general feeling that the best way to do this is to get yourself an account with all the major IM services (Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, mIRC, MSN) and fill out your profile. Create a common userid / nickname for all these services and then advertize it on your business cards or Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109261270148936922005-02-28T07:49:00.000-06:002005-03-01T10:19:27.226-06:00ScreencastingPodcasting is turning out to be a very interesting trend in the internet world. Perhaps more useful for libraries is the concept of screencasting. Screencasting is when a multimedia presentation is created using content gathered from your computer screen. How is this different from podcasting? Well, rightly or wrongly, I think of podcasting as purely an audio experience.
Jon Udell has posted on Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109535817463814982005-02-27T13:36:00.000-06:002005-02-27T14:38:15.456-06:00Michael Gorman on BloggingRecently Michael Gorman, president-elect of the ALA published an opinion piece on librarian bloggers and blogging.
Original Article
Revenge of the Blog People
by Michael Gorman
A few of the responses from the library blogosphere
Revenge of the Blog People?
LibraryStuff.net is written by Steven M. Cohen
An Open (yet personal) letter to Michael Gorman
The Tame the Web Blog is written by MichaelCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109255277999024072005-02-24T08:20:00.000-06:002005-02-24T08:27:58.006-06:00Switching from Windows to MacI'm getting tired of my Windows environment. I've been a PC user since 1980 (yes, I know this dates me but you don't know how old I was when I started using it!) and have been intriged by Macs all along. However, due to the fact that my work environment is Windows based I wanted my home environment to match. Less confusion that way.
But I must admit to getting serious Mac envy over the last Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109254085188711292005-02-24T07:36:00.000-06:002005-02-24T08:08:05.193-06:00Meme and the OEDAnother technogeekery type word has been hounding me for the last week and begging me to post about it.
Meme
This word has come up time and again in the context of mailing lists and blogging. I didn't really pay much attention to it until I started posting about technogeekery lingo, and then I started to see it everywhere.
Then I got to thinking about the Oxford English Dictionary and using Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1109251735899322162005-02-24T07:27:00.000-06:002005-02-24T07:35:42.810-06:00Ubiquitious technology?I've been recovering the last little while from a nasty cold. It's amazing the kinds of things you think about when you are sick.
I came to the rather startling realization that a significant amount of technology has made its way into our library and has become almost ubiquitous. However, I'm resonably certain that this may not be the case in the minds of other librarians.
I'm talking about Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1108571637248213612005-02-16T07:45:00.000-06:002005-02-16T10:36:39.726-06:00Phishing: technogeekery lingoThis is a term I have heard before but really didn't understand. This tidy description comes from an article at Lockergnome entitled "Microsoft, eBay, Visa form Phish Report Network"
"Phishing scams are online crimes that use spam to direct Internet users to Web sites designed to look like legitimate e-commerce sites, but which are controlled by thieves. Users are asked to provide sensitive Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1108401582770778202005-02-14T10:40:00.000-06:002005-02-14T11:19:42.773-06:00Grok? Profile of a technogeekOnce I was a technogeek. Then I stopped paying attention for about 5 years and now I'm playing catch-up.
I was and still am an "early adopter". I like learning new things, especially things that make my life easier in some way. I eagerly attend conferences hoping to spot and speak with the rare technoguru. You know those people, the ones who seem to be constantly on the bleeding edge of Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1108394067348815082005-02-14T09:12:00.000-06:002005-02-14T09:14:27.350-06:00New look, faster load?A number of people have told me that they have been having problems loading the technogeekery blog. I have made a template change to see if this improves matters. Please let me know if it still takes a long time to load.Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1108311310375315332005-02-13T10:08:00.000-06:002005-02-13T10:15:10.376-06:00More RSS feeds worthy of noteThis is really just a mental note to my self to add a technology section to my list of Current Awareness RSS feeds.
Include in the list:
Lockergnome's feeds - provides excellent content on new technologies. Very accessible.
Wired News - already listed on the page.
Cnet News - a whole host of RSS feeds on a variety of technogeekery type topics. More for the technician than the layman.
Any Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1108310094900696572005-02-13T09:30:00.000-06:002005-02-13T09:54:54.903-06:00PodcastingThere is an interesting article that made the front page of USA Today called "Radio to the MP3 degree". This article has a good description of what podcasting is and what sort of impact it could have on the world of radio and tv. An excellent example of a podcast is the movie "4 minutes about podcasting" by writer and blogger Lisa Williams.
There are a number of librarians exploring this Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1108068628004473842005-02-10T22:20:00.000-06:002005-02-10T22:27:07.996-06:00Flickr: social bookmarking with a differenceMost people when discussing social bookmarking will group Flickr in with Furl, Spurl, Connotea, CiteULike and so on. It is a social bookmarking tool but one with a difference. Instead of bookmarking websites it allows you to load and collect images.
This free, beta software allows registered users to easily load images on their web site. Once the images are there you may add titles, descriptionsCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107969627966668592005-02-09T11:15:00.000-06:002005-02-09T11:20:27.966-06:00Comparison of Social bookmarking toolsDon't take my word for it. A very intelligent person has created a comparison chart of the features of a number of social bookmarking tools (PDF). [via Librarystuff.net]
It looks like there is more to Furl than I thought.
Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107552848020239652005-02-06T11:27:00.000-06:002005-02-06T11:36:07.053-06:00Social bookmarking useful or not?From a personal stand point I am finding the idea of being able to use my bookmarks from different computers very liberating. I also like the idea of being able to share my bookmarks with interested colleagues (if the list of collection development tools is on the web why bother to set up your own set of links?). I can even see the value of notifying my colleagues via RSS feed that I have added aCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107536672144866222005-02-04T10:54:00.001-06:002005-02-04T11:10:46.616-06:00Another useful Firefox extensionFeedview is a Firefox extension that shows newsfeeds/blogs in a more stylish way. Without the extension Firefox just shows the default gobbledygook XML stylesheet.
Feedview supports all Rss and Atom formats. There are some issues on showing malformed & bad content-type feeds, which the author is working on.
Current Version: 0.9
new in 0.9: save settings, menu bug fix, item dates, size Mark Rabnettnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107533106873935972005-02-04T09:36:00.000-06:002005-02-04T10:05:06.873-06:00New version of Total Commander releasedWindows Explorer is to this excellent file manager what Chef Boy-Ar-Dee is to Italian cuisine. Total Commander (formerly Windows Commander until Microsoft's lawyers intervened) is said by many to be indispensable for the power user. Version 6.51 has just been released.
Total Commander offers a highly customizable, tabbed interface, file viewing, thumbnails, powerful searching, file comparison,Mark Rabnettnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107471184052632652005-02-04T07:34:00.000-06:002005-02-04T08:23:16.996-06:00Social bookmarkingWikipedia has a nice tidy definition of social bookmarking. "An online service genre that allows users to save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks. Distinct in that others may see the bookmarks that have been saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others."
In social bookmarking you create an account with a service.This Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107388287047928822005-02-02T17:44:00.000-06:002005-02-03T16:33:14.993-06:00Firefox: a few of my favourite extensionsAs with all new toys, it's more fun if you enjoy them with others. So the list that follows contains a few of my favourite Firefox extentions and some that have been passed on by colleagues.
ForecastFox
This nifty little extension allows you to connect to international weather forecasts and have them display within your Firefox browser. I have mine located in my "status" bar showing the text Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107223679279616742005-01-31T19:57:00.000-06:002005-01-31T20:19:04.873-06:00Firefox ... aka my new toySome incredibly intelligent person gave me administrative rights to my work computer (perhaps because I hounded them everytime I wanted to download something, which was fairly frequently). What this allowed me to do is download and play with Firefox. Erm, what I meant to say was "evaluate Firefox".
After watching numerous presenters at the Internet Librarian conference use this new browser, ICarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107221728950015822005-01-31T18:55:00.000-06:002005-01-31T19:56:41.656-06:00Alternative web browsersStatistics from my library's web site show that the majority of our patrons use Internet Explorer (IE) to access our web site (95% for Dec 2004). Alternate web browsers like Netscape and others made up the other 5%. This is most likely because IE is the only browser available on our public access stations. It is also the browser most supported by our institution.
This statistic is probably notCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107105044397913792005-01-30T10:52:00.000-06:002005-01-30T11:18:09.003-06:00Academic, Corporate Blogs and ISSUESPublic libraries or corporate libraries with small staff and little money, skill or time to create a web presence really are the best places and people to make use of the free blogging software. The software is easy to use and requires little technical consideration and you can probably easily convince your employers to go for the idea. It is free after all.
Large academic libraries and Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107103958709839772005-01-30T10:16:00.000-06:002005-01-30T10:52:38.710-06:00Why I am not blogging at my library .... yet.As you may have gathered from this blog and my last post I am gung-ho on the idea of librarians and libraries having blogs. To those of you who are knowledgable about blogs you probably recognized that the library e-newsletter I showed you is not your typical blog softare.
When the blog craze was in its infancy, most web developers were experiencing the need to put up news and events. Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107099341751506962005-01-30T08:59:00.000-06:002005-01-30T09:35:41.750-06:00So is blogging useful or not?In case you didn't know... you are looking at a blog. So much has been written about blogs and blogging in the news that you have to be at least peripherally aware that this is going on.
I started to blog about 5 years ago. The institution I was working at was in the middle of a strike and I was blogging strike news. No-one ever understood really how I got the web pages up so quickly. ;) By Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107031664921869032005-01-29T14:45:00.000-06:002005-01-29T14:58:38.863-06:00Walt Mossberg - Wall Street JournalWalt Mossberg is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. He reviews and comments on new technology in a way that is easy to understand. Have a look at his article archive.
Read his review of the Firefox browser (one of my new favorite toys).
I wonder if he'd consider an RSS feed of his work?
Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1107012860537659462005-01-29T08:31:00.000-06:002005-01-29T09:53:26.100-06:00So is RSS useful or not?Now, after my last post you've been happily running around collecting RSS feeds or you're still the skeptic and are waiting to see if I get around to talking about the practical application.
So having started my Bloglines account am I using it? Yes! Do I have a practical use for it? Yes!
I am now reading news and articles written on topics I am interested in. The neat thing is that Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1106952607555749382005-01-28T16:44:00.000-06:002005-01-29T08:07:06.403-06:00It all began with RSSI have to admit that I've been periferally aware of the RSS trend for about a year or so. I'm embarassed that I didn't see an immediate application of this technogeekery. I completely poo-pooed the idea as being of little interest in my context.
It took a session with Steven Cohen (LibraryStuff.net) and Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian) to set me straight!
RSS for those of you not in theCarol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10469417.post-1106951493698772542005-01-28T16:23:00.000-06:002005-01-28T16:31:33.696-06:00My head is whirlingSo, I come back to the frozen north in November 2004 from the Internet Librarian conference completely thrown for a loop. There in Monterey were 1000 librarians interested in talking about the Internet and what it means to them and their work.
I'm a web development librarian for the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library and my job is changing due to the advent of a content management Carol Cookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17713641672991008034noreply@blogger.com0