Well, all in all it has been a learning experience. I've learnt while I'm still fairly oh-fay with technology, it's been a while since I've been on the cutting edge of whats what.
I'm still not so sure about the whole social networking thing; my paranoia of strange and perhaps interesting (or not) people being able create databases of my life (for whatever reason, be it nefarious, marketing or whatever) may just outweigh my desire for conclusiveness into the new digital fold (I consider myself part of an inbetween generation, facilitating and transitioning the world to a new reality but not fully comprehending what is being unleashed).
This program has definitely helped me want to expand my horizons beyond the wee bits of the net that I'm currently occupying.
Friday, 7 December 2007
22. Netlibrary
Well, when I first looked at Netlibrary, I was surprised to discover I didn't need to create an account (where many of my colleagues had difficulty), so obviously I've been on before, and recently.
I can't say I've been a huge fan of reading actual books online; I've read all kinds of manuals, how-to's, faqs, news articles, newspapers and so forth, which may as well be books. But to have a digital representation of a book or such is trial to try to read sitting upright in front of a monitor (or, as in my case, slouched below the monitor). Similarly reading a digital replica of a newspaper (as can be achieved through our website) is difficult on systems lacking in either bandwidth (ala work network) or grunt (ala my home pc).
Still might be useful if I can download the entire book onto my phone or pda or such and take it away in a more portable and tactile format it might get used.
I can't say I've been a huge fan of reading actual books online; I've read all kinds of manuals, how-to's, faqs, news articles, newspapers and so forth, which may as well be books. But to have a digital representation of a book or such is trial to try to read sitting upright in front of a monitor (or, as in my case, slouched below the monitor). Similarly reading a digital replica of a newspaper (as can be achieved through our website) is difficult on systems lacking in either bandwidth (ala work network) or grunt (ala my home pc).
Still might be useful if I can download the entire book onto my phone or pda or such and take it away in a more portable and tactile format it might get used.
21. Podcasts
I've experimented once before with podcasts, downloading some from the BBC website. It was pretty good (I often slumber with the BBC world in the background, catching bits of interesting discussions but wishing I to revisit later), but at the time I was on dialup, and mp3 player would not stop in the middle of a track (it was bought in 1999, lost in late 2006, and still mourned).
One thing I'm going to work on is organising my home pc better, so I can get a podcast every hour or so with the latest news bulletin from bbc (or some simlar celubrious institution) to play in the background as I work. This should be very doable, especially with an broadband connection (when I first got it I was streaming music whenever I was on the computer. Then I got my first bill. It wasn't pretty).
Finding podcasts wasn't too difficult; one issue was that some sites seem to view all their segments of video or audio as podcasts, while others seem to only use it as segments pushed out through rss feeds. Still, all very interesting, and one of the things I'll be experimenting with further.
One thing I'm going to work on is organising my home pc better, so I can get a podcast every hour or so with the latest news bulletin from bbc (or some simlar celubrious institution) to play in the background as I work. This should be very doable, especially with an broadband connection (when I first got it I was streaming music whenever I was on the computer. Then I got my first bill. It wasn't pretty).
Finding podcasts wasn't too difficult; one issue was that some sites seem to view all their segments of video or audio as podcasts, while others seem to only use it as segments pushed out through rss feeds. Still, all very interesting, and one of the things I'll be experimenting with further.
19. Discovering Web 2.0 tools
I choose to re-discover www.biblio.com for this section. I used this a fair while ago to find some rather obscure trash war novels now well out of print that I remembered reading in my youth.
The web2.0-ness of this site comes into play as an early example of the long-tail theory of retail (this being the idea that because there is no need to display stock, and the ease of searching, web retail enables stores to cheaply house huge catalogues of items which almost nobody wants but that 1 sale in a 1000 makes it worthwhile). Possibly second-hand bookstores were the originator; the web just made such businesses more accessable.
I know it goes against the 2.0 ethic of mash-everything-together, but sometimes I just don't want the purile and inarticulate review of an over-opinionated person I havn't met (and might just be working for the publisher or author anyway) when I'm looking up an author. I just want to see what books are available, quickly, cleanly and without too much hassel. This is what biblio provides; provided you are simply looking for second hand books. Some recent books have reviews, but given the speed of the site and the lack of wiz-bang which usually take so long to load, I can forgive this.
I can see this being helpful if we were looking up what to charge a patron who destroys a book; it may give a reasonable approximation, and generally people have provided descriptions of the condition of the book when it was put up for sale.
The web2.0-ness of this site comes into play as an early example of the long-tail theory of retail (this being the idea that because there is no need to display stock, and the ease of searching, web retail enables stores to cheaply house huge catalogues of items which almost nobody wants but that 1 sale in a 1000 makes it worthwhile). Possibly second-hand bookstores were the originator; the web just made such businesses more accessable.
I know it goes against the 2.0 ethic of mash-everything-together, but sometimes I just don't want the purile and inarticulate review of an over-opinionated person I havn't met (and might just be working for the publisher or author anyway) when I'm looking up an author. I just want to see what books are available, quickly, cleanly and without too much hassel. This is what biblio provides; provided you are simply looking for second hand books. Some recent books have reviews, but given the speed of the site and the lack of wiz-bang which usually take so long to load, I can forgive this.
I can see this being helpful if we were looking up what to charge a patron who destroys a book; it may give a reasonable approximation, and generally people have provided descriptions of the condition of the book when it was put up for sale.
18. Zoho
I am fairly impressed with the polish and the capabilities of this tool. I was expecting something a little more limited, but was pleasently surprised when I uploaded a reasonably complex word document (involving tables, various styles and tabbings). I like the inclusion of New Zealand English in the spell checker.
Just as a test, I uploaded a 23 page document with images, multiple fonts, a contents page and a bunch of other things and it all seemed to come through without any problems (albeit rather slowly which is to be expected when uploading documents), and once uploaded was actually very fast to browse through, which was a happy surprise. An issue I have with it is that it doesn't show page breaks (or possibly I haven't found the option), which makes me think that the reason for it being so smooth is that it doesn't try to work out the paging and such until it is actually getting ready to print (which is a good plan; yay the paperless office).
One other issue is that it seems to need to have a file open all the time; so if the last document you were editing was huge, just getting into the site to quickly open another document could be a problem (well, if you don't have a fast internet connection).
Internet connection is also another issue; the reliability of the connection and such things as proxy or page errors could be troublesome, not to mention if you are on dialup or have a relativly slow computer.
I'd rate this as having potential; but requires better infrastructure than NZ has before it will become the preferred option.
Just as a test, I uploaded a 23 page document with images, multiple fonts, a contents page and a bunch of other things and it all seemed to come through without any problems (albeit rather slowly which is to be expected when uploading documents), and once uploaded was actually very fast to browse through, which was a happy surprise. An issue I have with it is that it doesn't show page breaks (or possibly I haven't found the option), which makes me think that the reason for it being so smooth is that it doesn't try to work out the paging and such until it is actually getting ready to print (which is a good plan; yay the paperless office).
One other issue is that it seems to need to have a file open all the time; so if the last document you were editing was huge, just getting into the site to quickly open another document could be a problem (well, if you don't have a fast internet connection).
Internet connection is also another issue; the reliability of the connection and such things as proxy or page errors could be troublesome, not to mention if you are on dialup or have a relativly slow computer.
I'd rate this as having potential; but requires better infrastructure than NZ has before it will become the preferred option.
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
17. Our PBwiki
It's nice and easy to use; I was worried that it would be another excessivly laggy site, but was plesently surpirsed when it all popped up smooth & easy (I like the colour scheme too, very easy on the eye).
The format is pretty simple; but this one doesn't need complexities. I'd think a full library version would need to include a lot more structure, which might require a while to set up.
Seems like a useful tool, really.
The format is pretty simple; but this one doesn't need complexities. I'd think a full library version would need to include a lot more structure, which might require a while to set up.
Seems like a useful tool, really.
16. Wikiring
I like the concept of the wiki; harnessing the abilities (and, more importantly the time) of the random people in the world. It appeals to my sense of chaos. Everyone who is interested enough to be looking up a subject will have their own information they can add to the mix, something not thought of by the originator of the article; and if nothing else, when one must refute anothers misinformation, one often needs to reflect on their own ideas.
As a tool for collaboration, wikis are pretty amazing. They combine the ease of communication shown in online forums and listservs with the read-only 'final product' of a web page. As emails fly about, new document versions get passed around and such, it is easy to lose track of what the 'last word' on an issue actually was, and to disseminate that information easily.
And I was always curious as to why our reference desks in Central don't have a book of general knowledge (which are readily available; we have a couple in our collection, even) at the desk. We have Fitch which is along the lines of a wiki, but doesn't seem as easily editable.
There is always in my mind the issue of non-experts and opinionated posts. The consensus of wiki faithful seems to be that the community of contributors will spot and edit obvious misinformation, but does this require a large community of posters? It seems the size of the wiki will scale with the size of the community (a wiki should, perhaps, start small so a large community can expand it as the community requires), but if there are few posters how much time can they spend editing things? Unless editing and publishing rights are enforced, in which case the word 'encyclopedia' come to mind...
But yeah, a library wiki for policy, procedures and such forth would be useful; with editing and posting rights etc it would help to get things standardised across the system. Especially if video posts were allowed.
As a tool for collaboration, wikis are pretty amazing. They combine the ease of communication shown in online forums and listservs with the read-only 'final product' of a web page. As emails fly about, new document versions get passed around and such, it is easy to lose track of what the 'last word' on an issue actually was, and to disseminate that information easily.
And I was always curious as to why our reference desks in Central don't have a book of general knowledge (which are readily available; we have a couple in our collection, even) at the desk. We have Fitch which is along the lines of a wiki, but doesn't seem as easily editable.
There is always in my mind the issue of non-experts and opinionated posts. The consensus of wiki faithful seems to be that the community of contributors will spot and edit obvious misinformation, but does this require a large community of posters? It seems the size of the wiki will scale with the size of the community (a wiki should, perhaps, start small so a large community can expand it as the community requires), but if there are few posters how much time can they spend editing things? Unless editing and publishing rights are enforced, in which case the word 'encyclopedia' come to mind...
But yeah, a library wiki for policy, procedures and such forth would be useful; with editing and posting rights etc it would help to get things standardised across the system. Especially if video posts were allowed.
Monday, 3 December 2007
15. On Library 2.0...
Web 2.0 seems provide people not only the ability to communicate across streams and media, but with little or no cost other than that involved in production and getting online. A lot of it feels like people communicating because they can; the 'Hey look at what I can do' factor.
The ability to put things like technorati tags onto an article or blog alerts others to what you consider the blog to be about; but perhaps you have missed the point of the blog entirely? Or you follow a tag to a 20 page blog where only the last paragraph has anything to do with the tag? What I am wondering about here is the aspect of moderation. At least with librarian generated subject headings, you can be certain that the item in question does have some form of relevance.
So looks like the role of a librarian in the up coming library 2.0 future will be one of a guide; of being knowledgable enough to be able to swim the many different streams of the web, evaluating the content and accuracy of information sources to help their patrons not only discover content but also create their own and collate their own information.
The ability to put things like technorati tags onto an article or blog alerts others to what you consider the blog to be about; but perhaps you have missed the point of the blog entirely? Or you follow a tag to a 20 page blog where only the last paragraph has anything to do with the tag? What I am wondering about here is the aspect of moderation. At least with librarian generated subject headings, you can be certain that the item in question does have some form of relevance.
So looks like the role of a librarian in the up coming library 2.0 future will be one of a guide; of being knowledgable enough to be able to swim the many different streams of the web, evaluating the content and accuracy of information sources to help their patrons not only discover content but also create their own and collate their own information.
14. Technorati
A very good FAQ section on here, gives an extremely good explantion of blog paradigm and like concepts. Just putting in a couple of search terms netted me interesting posts and blogs to look at on the very first page; something that hasn't happened with other blog searches thus far.
I don't like the changing sidebar; at one point there was a really cool wordmap with the most popular searches and hot topics - the size of the word indicated the popularity of the term (or it might be tag). However when I went back to the page I thought it was on, the bar had changed.
I very much like the idea of the wordmap though. The Listener has (or had - it's been a while
since I picked up a copy) where they listed various current affairs topics against two axises, hot vs not and bored vs exciting (or something similar). How they got their data I'm not sure (I think they had a website one could play with - or now I think on it, the SEEK website might have been involved). It's one thing to see '500 people have used this tag', it's quite another to see how the tag compares to other tags.
I don't like the changing sidebar; at one point there was a really cool wordmap with the most popular searches and hot topics - the size of the word indicated the popularity of the term (or it might be tag). However when I went back to the page I thought it was on, the bar had changed.
I very much like the idea of the wordmap though. The Listener has (or had - it's been a while
since I picked up a copy) where they listed various current affairs topics against two axises, hot vs not and bored vs exciting (or something similar). How they got their data I'm not sure (I think they had a website one could play with - or now I think on it, the SEEK website might have been involved). It's one thing to see '500 people have used this tag', it's quite another to see how the tag compares to other tags.
Friday, 30 November 2007
13. Del.ici.us
The most useful part of this exercise to me was the Beelerspace introduction to Del.icio.us, or rather from that blog to a rather obscured link to another post by the same author about how Gmail uses tags instead of folders to organise email's (which is a ramarkably good system).
I tend not to use bookmarks on the web; generally I have too interest in going to sites other than the ones I can get to easily via google (yay google), as well as having so few subjects I would actually either go to or remember I have previously searched for to make it worth my while.
I wonder how long it will take dubious advertisers to start spoofing tags? Google's extremely effective search strategy was a response to people who abused meta tags to gain site rankings in search engines; I can see people creating bots to create accounts to add tags to their site to gain eyeball traffic (this can be seen on some big software download sites which allow comments and ratings - because the site is so big the comments arn't moderated so arn't exactly useful).
I tend not to use bookmarks on the web; generally I have too interest in going to sites other than the ones I can get to easily via google (yay google), as well as having so few subjects I would actually either go to or remember I have previously searched for to make it worth my while.
I wonder how long it will take dubious advertisers to start spoofing tags? Google's extremely effective search strategy was a response to people who abused meta tags to gain site rankings in search engines; I can see people creating bots to create accounts to add tags to their site to gain eyeball traffic (this can be seen on some big software download sites which allow comments and ratings - because the site is so big the comments arn't moderated so arn't exactly useful).
Thursday, 29 November 2007
12. Rollyo
I can see this having potential uses, especially the example one for quotes (since I have done many searches for quotes for our roster, where many of the same sites would show up each time).
It took me a little thought to work out the difference to Google, though. Usually a Google search provides accurate enough results from pages that I trust within the first page that I don't really need to have it narrowed down further.
It does seem useful if I did have a collection of sites that I searches all the time; but I don't have enough to make it worth my time setting up a rollyo for the few sites I do search. Still I might revisit this sometime.
It took me a little thought to work out the difference to Google, though. Usually a Google search provides accurate enough results from pages that I trust within the first page that I don't really need to have it narrowed down further.
It does seem useful if I did have a collection of sites that I searches all the time; but I don't have enough to make it worth my time setting up a rollyo for the few sites I do search. Still I might revisit this sometime.
11. Librarything
Very nice site; I's very impressed with the layout and the ease of use. Almost naivly simple to sign up to an account.
I like the suggestor and unsuggestor searches; I looked for a fairly popular author with lots of books (Terry Pratchett), and it actually came up with not only similar and appropriate books (which I had already read) but also a few I shall have a go at. I'm a little annoyed that they seem to focus quite heavily on results from Amazon, but I suppose if they have access to that behemouth's database of ratings, suggestions etc then they would be foolish not to use it (not that I've had much success with Amazon's suggestions before).
What would be great would be the ability to export our reading history from My Info so it can be imported into sites like this (or even a home based database, of which there are many).
My bookshelf; http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=radnom&shelf=list
I like the suggestor and unsuggestor searches; I looked for a fairly popular author with lots of books (Terry Pratchett), and it actually came up with not only similar and appropriate books (which I had already read) but also a few I shall have a go at. I'm a little annoyed that they seem to focus quite heavily on results from Amazon, but I suppose if they have access to that behemouth's database of ratings, suggestions etc then they would be foolish not to use it (not that I've had much success with Amazon's suggestions before).
What would be great would be the ability to export our reading history from My Info so it can be imported into sites like this (or even a home based database, of which there are many).
My bookshelf; http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=radnom&shelf=list
Friday, 23 November 2007
10. Bob knows where it's at
It's not always easy to work out where to get the tags or how to use them to embed the image or video that one has generated; if I didn't know things about things I'd probably give up in disgust and confusion. But when it works it can be amusing.
9th task, willy nilly subscription
Well, I have found and subscribed to the essential rss feeds; Unshelved and Tales from the Liberry.
I have been attempting to get on to the LIANZA website to see if they have any rss feed but I am being stymied by the cursed lack of bandwidth our internet connection (and fairly likely the LIANZA website as well). From searching I've found a few conference blogs from the LIANZA 2007 conference, but nothing that really looks like a useful feed from LIANZA itself (I was hoping to find an rss version of the mailing list but to little avail. Perhaps if I ever manage to get on their homepage I'll find something there).
I have been attempting to get on to the LIANZA website to see if they have any rss feed but I am being stymied by the cursed lack of bandwidth our internet connection (and fairly likely the LIANZA website as well). From searching I've found a few conference blogs from the LIANZA 2007 conference, but nothing that really looks like a useful feed from LIANZA itself (I was hoping to find an rss version of the mailing list but to little avail. Perhaps if I ever manage to get on their homepage I'll find something there).
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
So, we're up to the 8th bit. RSSell
RSS make it really easy to be excessively inundated with information, so much so that it can take over from actually surfing the web and such. When I first started using the greatest browser yet created, Opera, I discovered that it had an RSS reader built in, which then prompted me to subscribe to all the websites I usually browsed through on a daily basis. Utter disaster.
The sites I subscribed to - admittedly they were news and current events and industry news type sites - were so big that the number of updates they sent through ended up being completly unmanagable. As the number of unread posts grew I found I started skimming the title of each post instead of going into read the blurb the posts contained, and missing a lot of really interesting information that I would otherwise have come across if I had been skimming the page itself.
On the other hand, on really the big websites that update a lot if you don't keep looking at them, specific articles often get archived or pushed off the front pages before you have a chance to look at them, so having a big list of all the articles that get posted can come in handy.
The trick for me is to either keep the rss browser open so you can stay on top of any new posts that come along, or to subscribe to sites that don't update very often so don't inundate you with a pile of messages every hour. Some sites have daily upates, while others have weekly collections. I like the daily updates myself, but again, if it's a big site it can take a while to chew through all the posts. I also really only subsribe to sites that I won't go to on a daily basis as they don't often have interesting things to read but like to keep track of for the occasional useful article.
I use an actual rss reader rather than a web version, as I always prefer an actual stand-alone program where possible becuase trying to run things through browsers - like bloglines - always seems so clunky, slow, resource heavy and uncustomisable, despite the benefits of being able to access the feeds I want anywhere. Hence most of the feeds I've sub'd to won't show on my public bloglines feeds, but heres a link anyway: http://www.bloglines.com/public/radnom
About the only thing I like about Bloglines is the ability to blog the interesting articles for easy access later.
The sites I subscribed to - admittedly they were news and current events and industry news type sites - were so big that the number of updates they sent through ended up being completly unmanagable. As the number of unread posts grew I found I started skimming the title of each post instead of going into read the blurb the posts contained, and missing a lot of really interesting information that I would otherwise have come across if I had been skimming the page itself.
On the other hand, on really the big websites that update a lot if you don't keep looking at them, specific articles often get archived or pushed off the front pages before you have a chance to look at them, so having a big list of all the articles that get posted can come in handy.
The trick for me is to either keep the rss browser open so you can stay on top of any new posts that come along, or to subscribe to sites that don't update very often so don't inundate you with a pile of messages every hour. Some sites have daily upates, while others have weekly collections. I like the daily updates myself, but again, if it's a big site it can take a while to chew through all the posts. I also really only subsribe to sites that I won't go to on a daily basis as they don't often have interesting things to read but like to keep track of for the occasional useful article.
I use an actual rss reader rather than a web version, as I always prefer an actual stand-alone program where possible becuase trying to run things through browsers - like bloglines - always seems so clunky, slow, resource heavy and uncustomisable, despite the benefits of being able to access the feeds I want anywhere. Hence most of the feeds I've sub'd to won't show on my public bloglines feeds, but heres a link anyway: http://www.bloglines.com/public/radnom
About the only thing I like about Bloglines is the ability to blog the interesting articles for easy access later.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Whats-it the 7th... confessions of a long term puter geek
Ah technology, where would we be without thee?
I've essentially been a computer geek since... oh my family got a C64 way back in the day when these were cutting edge. Way WAY back in the day. Made my first website in html 2.1, an intranet site for my highschool library (yes, indeed I was head librarian - that is how geeky I was and possibly am...). I have up until recently kept abrest of technology and such, however I have never had the bankroll keep up with the latest and greatest. Recently I've found things change too fast and require infrastructure that NZ can only dream of in order to make full use of - and I've only just gotten broadband (well we call it broadband... I live with a German flatmate who continuously ridicules NZ style internet access; she is used to much faster access).
This year I've discovered the hidiously addictive world of online multiplayer gaming; more specifically, the game World of Warcraft. The trick that the developers of computer games have discovered is of continuous small rewards, coupled with an environment where one needs to cooperate with other human players to defeat dastardly computer controlled critters. The aspect of team membership and character development drive one to compulsively play.
One of the first and most successful games was called Everquest, which quickly became knowen as Evercrack as more and more people became hopelessly addicted. (Everquest was the first computer game where a major Pizza retailor allowed players to order and pay for real life pizza in the actual game - it was ordered by the character then billed to their game account then delivered to the players home). As always, the technology the game was based around changed and improved, a new game (WoW) came along; eventually the new will supercede the old.
As interesting as actually playing the game is, is joining guilds and interacting on forums devoted to the game. Guilds are groups of people who band together in order to vanquish the evils of the world - and for mutual protection. Usually guilds form from people that play at similar times and learn each others play styles and exchange knowledge. Grouping obviously allows people to leverage the strengths of several type of characters, which will allow them to take on and defeat ever bigger and nastier pixelated creatures. Sometimes the content demands 10, 25 or sometimes 40 people to combine their efforts in order to beat the game; curiously it is as much for bragging rights amongst the guilds and the feeling of accomplishment rather than any particular ingame reward that drives most of the main serious guilds to put absurd amounts of time and energy into the game.
The guilds usually have websites and web forums where their members can exchange ideas, brag about the Phat Loot they have and essentially be a community. The forums are not actually hosted by the game makers; they are independantly created by the guilds, and hosted on servers that make their money through advertising on the page (good 'ol google ads).
One thing it highlights for me is the need for a social network to have a purpose. It seems alien to me to have something like Facebook where the purpose is... to have yourself on the net for people to look at/track where you are. Where as a network like a guild, or a development team working on an opensource program (ala sourceforge projects or Linux development) is actually a useful tool for coordinating the team's efforts. Which I guess Facebook et al are good for too; it just requires one to think of mobilising their friends etc as a team dedicated to the development of Project: Social Life.
I've essentially been a computer geek since... oh my family got a C64 way back in the day when these were cutting edge. Way WAY back in the day. Made my first website in html 2.1, an intranet site for my highschool library (yes, indeed I was head librarian - that is how geeky I was and possibly am...). I have up until recently kept abrest of technology and such, however I have never had the bankroll keep up with the latest and greatest. Recently I've found things change too fast and require infrastructure that NZ can only dream of in order to make full use of - and I've only just gotten broadband (well we call it broadband... I live with a German flatmate who continuously ridicules NZ style internet access; she is used to much faster access).
This year I've discovered the hidiously addictive world of online multiplayer gaming; more specifically, the game World of Warcraft. The trick that the developers of computer games have discovered is of continuous small rewards, coupled with an environment where one needs to cooperate with other human players to defeat dastardly computer controlled critters. The aspect of team membership and character development drive one to compulsively play.
One of the first and most successful games was called Everquest, which quickly became knowen as Evercrack as more and more people became hopelessly addicted. (Everquest was the first computer game where a major Pizza retailor allowed players to order and pay for real life pizza in the actual game - it was ordered by the character then billed to their game account then delivered to the players home). As always, the technology the game was based around changed and improved, a new game (WoW) came along; eventually the new will supercede the old.
As interesting as actually playing the game is, is joining guilds and interacting on forums devoted to the game. Guilds are groups of people who band together in order to vanquish the evils of the world - and for mutual protection. Usually guilds form from people that play at similar times and learn each others play styles and exchange knowledge. Grouping obviously allows people to leverage the strengths of several type of characters, which will allow them to take on and defeat ever bigger and nastier pixelated creatures. Sometimes the content demands 10, 25 or sometimes 40 people to combine their efforts in order to beat the game; curiously it is as much for bragging rights amongst the guilds and the feeling of accomplishment rather than any particular ingame reward that drives most of the main serious guilds to put absurd amounts of time and energy into the game.
The guilds usually have websites and web forums where their members can exchange ideas, brag about the Phat Loot they have and essentially be a community. The forums are not actually hosted by the game makers; they are independantly created by the guilds, and hosted on servers that make their money through advertising on the page (good 'ol google ads).
One thing it highlights for me is the need for a social network to have a purpose. It seems alien to me to have something like Facebook where the purpose is... to have yourself on the net for people to look at/track where you are. Where as a network like a guild, or a development team working on an opensource program (ala sourceforge projects or Linux development) is actually a useful tool for coordinating the team's efforts. Which I guess Facebook et al are good for too; it just requires one to think of mobilising their friends etc as a team dedicated to the development of Project: Social Life.
Friday, 5 October 2007
Library Thing the Sixth: Mashn
Much frustration involved in attempting this part. The only one I could get to work was the colour picker, which admittedly was a fun toy (and useful for them as are into proper design principles, I'm sure).
Montagr seems to be the most irritating device of all time - honestly who writes a piece of software then doesn't describe how to use it? I know that minimalist/'clean' interfaces are the way to go these days, but only if what it's styled around is so brainlessly easy to work first go that people like me (with minimal attention span) won't get frustrated and leave after the first three goes. I've been back a couple of times but I still havn't worked it out. I presume one needs to load a tag to source the 'pixel's of the montage, then load an image to apply the pixels to? All I can get is either the one image I specify, or the first image in the tag list to show.
An example of poor user interface design? I think so. Which is a shame, it would be great to be able to make these things (though I don't know when I would). Maybe I'll check out one of the other ones.
The Mappr wouldn't even load, so had a wee bit of difficulty trying that one out.
The colour picker was pretty fun, I just wish I had one back in the day, when I was designing my first pages *reminisce* not that the colour schemes dreamed up by an angsty teen during the height of grunge would be particularly original, but you never know.
The issues with Mappr and Montagr both raise the issue of technical barriers to 2.0 interfaces, those of site useability. It is of little use attempting to use an app that doesn't explain itself to those who don't understand; or that you can't actually get into in the first place however fancy it is. I found this to a lesser extent with FaceBook, the amount of time it takes to sign in to, and load the pages of can be rather annoying if all you want to do is perform a quick change.
Montagr seems to be the most irritating device of all time - honestly who writes a piece of software then doesn't describe how to use it? I know that minimalist/'clean' interfaces are the way to go these days, but only if what it's styled around is so brainlessly easy to work first go that people like me (with minimal attention span) won't get frustrated and leave after the first three goes. I've been back a couple of times but I still havn't worked it out. I presume one needs to load a tag to source the 'pixel's of the montage, then load an image to apply the pixels to? All I can get is either the one image I specify, or the first image in the tag list to show.
An example of poor user interface design? I think so. Which is a shame, it would be great to be able to make these things (though I don't know when I would). Maybe I'll check out one of the other ones.
The Mappr wouldn't even load, so had a wee bit of difficulty trying that one out.
The colour picker was pretty fun, I just wish I had one back in the day, when I was designing my first pages *reminisce* not that the colour schemes dreamed up by an angsty teen during the height of grunge would be particularly original, but you never know.
The issues with Mappr and Montagr both raise the issue of technical barriers to 2.0 interfaces, those of site useability. It is of little use attempting to use an app that doesn't explain itself to those who don't understand; or that you can't actually get into in the first place however fancy it is. I found this to a lesser extent with FaceBook, the amount of time it takes to sign in to, and load the pages of can be rather annoying if all you want to do is perform a quick change.
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Fifth library whatsit FLICKRn on
Finally a pic on my blog from Flickr. I couldn't find an easy static link to the image; I eventually had to go through image properties to find a link that would upload from the Flickr website using Bloggers url upload tool. I could've saved the image to my pc, then uploaded that way, but it's more convenient to do it straight from Flickr's site (or so I thought). I guess not having a static link allows Flickr to stop bandwidth thievery.
Having keywords/labels/tags is a great thing; instead of a generic search engine spider crawling creepily through a page looking for keywords to index (how does it know what's relevant? And as many many old skool web pages showed, such bots can easily be spoofed), and Googles strategy (unless it's changed since I last heard about it, which it likely has) of ranking results based on the number of sites linking to the page doesn't give people a way to specify what they think their site/post etc is actually about (dredging back to the proto-internet for an example, I have heard of one website that was such an excellent example of bad design that the vast majority of links to it were of a 'what not to do' nature; the actual site I believe was about cooking... wish I could find the address).
Another site I have heard of but hadn't explored is Photobucket; powered by Google rather than Yahoo. Picasa came as a surprise - logging into there showed some pics that I uploaded to another blog I started from the same gmail account : / as it's part of the Google empire it makes sense to run off the same user space as gmail/blogger.
I must say that all the mobile phone (posting and browsing etc from mobile and such - that goes for face book etc as well) options make me jealous. I think I need both a new phone and a perhaps a new country (some options only work with certain - American - mobile carriers, it appears). But any phone that comes with a web browser will do... and a phone account with free data options...
Monday, 24 September 2007
Fourth Library Thing - Wait, what happened to 2 and 3?
Oh, apparently they were the creating & registering a blog ones, I see.
Anyway I already have a FaceBook account (as does most of the department) so I have already experienced the... joys... of being Booked. I tend to find it a tad busy - too many things happening that I can't be bothered immersing myself into, so I essentially end up just responding to other peoples requests : ) Also attempting to work out how to find people, what a network is, what a group is, finding a specific group and such is a fairly steep learning curve (well it was for me...). Easiest thing to do is to find someone who already has an account to send you a friend request then you can piggy-back off their account (although, that may be where my confusion lies - because I didn't really spend much time trying to work out how to do stuff I don't know how to do it. Hmm fancy that).
Bebo I like better than FaceBook - the interface seems cleaner and easier to navigate (although I don't have an account so don't know about that side of things). It does seem like a pretty good place to find interesting movie clips and such - although it is a tad dodgy having a movie of a tied up woman entitled 'Dream Lover' on the homepage : / Wonder if they have any WoW clips...
I like the time limited auto-login option - log in automagically but stop remembering me after two weeks is a good idea, especially when with all things faddy after a couple of weeks one tends to have found a new toy to play with.
And now for the dreaded MySpace *shudder* looking at the main page it looks slightly more comprehensible than FaceBook. I'm a little sceptical about the default search including relationship options : / Or perhaps I'm missing the point and MySpace is actually a dating site?
I've discussed with people, who tell me that the fields I'm seeing as being about dating are optional (so people don't actually have to fill them in) - as are the search options as well. I just feel that if the site is about making friends and being sociable, dating is only a part, rather than the first thing that you search for. Perhaps this is part of a bigger social discussion around the point of being sociable, dating habits/mores (it seems that when trying to find people on here the search strategy asks 'who would I like to date' which I guess is as good a basis for finding compatable people as any - but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't date most of my friends).
Maybe I'm just confused and read too much into it : / But I am a moral philosopher, so it is my calling...
Anyway I already have a FaceBook account (as does most of the department) so I have already experienced the... joys... of being Booked. I tend to find it a tad busy - too many things happening that I can't be bothered immersing myself into, so I essentially end up just responding to other peoples requests : ) Also attempting to work out how to find people, what a network is, what a group is, finding a specific group and such is a fairly steep learning curve (well it was for me...). Easiest thing to do is to find someone who already has an account to send you a friend request then you can piggy-back off their account (although, that may be where my confusion lies - because I didn't really spend much time trying to work out how to do stuff I don't know how to do it. Hmm fancy that).
Bebo I like better than FaceBook - the interface seems cleaner and easier to navigate (although I don't have an account so don't know about that side of things). It does seem like a pretty good place to find interesting movie clips and such - although it is a tad dodgy having a movie of a tied up woman entitled 'Dream Lover' on the homepage : / Wonder if they have any WoW clips...
I like the time limited auto-login option - log in automagically but stop remembering me after two weeks is a good idea, especially when with all things faddy after a couple of weeks one tends to have found a new toy to play with.
And now for the dreaded MySpace *shudder* looking at the main page it looks slightly more comprehensible than FaceBook. I'm a little sceptical about the default search including relationship options : / Or perhaps I'm missing the point and MySpace is actually a dating site?
I've discussed with people, who tell me that the fields I'm seeing as being about dating are optional (so people don't actually have to fill them in) - as are the search options as well. I just feel that if the site is about making friends and being sociable, dating is only a part, rather than the first thing that you search for. Perhaps this is part of a bigger social discussion around the point of being sociable, dating habits/mores (it seems that when trying to find people on here the search strategy asks 'who would I like to date' which I guess is as good a basis for finding compatable people as any - but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't date most of my friends).
Maybe I'm just confused and read too much into it : / But I am a moral philosopher, so it is my calling...
Friday, 14 September 2007
Second attmept at First Library Thing
So this is my (latest) contribution to the blogosphere... I have set up a few blogs before but they are all horrifyingly naive and personal and hence will not be referenced here. Good luck trying to find them, they are dispersed in random locations across the world. Which is the point of the internet, really.
What I'm finding useful is the post-by-email function... so instead of going through all the palaver of logging in to blogger such forth, one merely needs to check their email and dash of a quick post. Most convenient.
I must say the inducement of an mp3 player is most incentivising. Which is a word, inspite all grammar rules to the contrary.
What I'm finding useful is the post-by-email function... so instead of going through all the palaver of logging in to blogger such forth, one merely needs to check their email and dash of a quick post. Most convenient.
I must say the inducement of an mp3 player is most incentivising. Which is a word, inspite all grammar rules to the contrary.
Post and be damned
Yeah so it's another glorious day in the world, apparently.
The globe still round (well, actually more squashed spherical, but to all intents and purposes we shall disregard that fact) and the sky is still, against all expectation, blue.
Lets see how long this blog will last
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