Maryland Public Libraries have a created a Sandbox Wiki connected online with PB Wiki. The term is usually used to denote a segment of the website for entertainment or play. This is supposed to document or record your participation in this website.
To be able to use the MD Library Sandbox, create your own login information with password. Once in the Wiki you can see favorites which give you choices of favorite wikis, favorite blogs, favorite books, favorite news, etc., with the idea of just playing and adding your own personal blog into your favorites. (Again, make sure to login and create an account.)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Library Thing (# 11)
It is a special treat to learn about Library Thing(LT). You will know why I am so glad about this. Just look at the attached photo. I have been trying for many years to catalog these books. I want to put these books on nice book shelves according to my categorization. I will create an online catalog registration for membership.. Actually I just created an account with LT.
It will be a big project, but I am ready to tackle the "pains" of cataloging. With LT I can share my catalog with others. Surely this is an example of social cataloging networking.
I will be able to use LT to rate and find reviews of the books I have read, and reviews written by others. I will join groups so that I can discuss books and get recommendations for good books to read. The other good thing is I will also be able to read books online.
I just received my first LibraryThing newsletter and I am posting some sample articles of what is in the news & features.
Message-----
From: sonya@librarything.com [mailto:sonya@librarything.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 2:13 PM
LibraryThing: State of the Thing
Dear P.T.,
Welcome to the April State of the Thing, your guide to all things LibraryThing,. This month we have an exclusive author interview with Anne Lamott, author recommendations from David Lipsky and Robyn Okrant, 2,123 free Early Reviewer books and 446 Member Giveaway books available. If you'd rather receive a plain-text version, edit your email preferences. You can also read it online.
Free books: Early Reviewers
Read and review free books, before they even hit the shelves! We've given out a whopping 43,548 books so far through Early Reviewers. Sign up here.
The April batch of Early Reviewer books contains 2,123 copies of 94 different titles. The deadline to request a free book to read and review is Friday, April 23rd at 6pm EST. The next batch will be up during the second week of May.
The most requested books so far this month (to long a list):
From: sonya@librarything.com [mailto:sonya@librarything.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 2:13 PM
LibraryThing: State of the Thing
Dear P.T.,
Welcome to the April State of the Thing, your guide to all things LibraryThing,. This month we have an exclusive author interview with Anne Lamott, author recommendations from David Lipsky and Robyn Okrant, 2,123 free Early Reviewer books and 446 Member Giveaway books available. If you'd rather receive a plain-text version, edit your email preferences. You can also read it online.
Free books: Early Reviewers
Read and review free books, before they even hit the shelves! We've given out a whopping 43,548 books so far through Early Reviewers. Sign up here.
The April batch of Early Reviewer books contains 2,123 copies of 94 different titles. The deadline to request a free book to read and review is Friday, April 23rd at 6pm EST. The next batch will be up during the second week of May.
The most requested books so far this month (to long a list):
Interview with author Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott's Imperfect Birds is the third in a series about the characters Elizabeth and Rosie (and now-husband James). First in Rosie, then in Crooked Little Heart, Anne writes of the growing up children do, and the growing up parents do as well. In Imperfect Birds, the first-person narrative shifts between mother and teen daughter. Elizabeth is simultaneously dealing with her own demons of depression and alcoholism while dealing with her child's growing freedom. Rosie pushes boundaries to the breaking point, with serious drug use and lying forcing Elizabeth to view the unpleasant realities of her daughter's actions and her own desire for polite fiction over impolite truth. Imperfect Birds has become a New York Times bestseller.
The title Imperfect Birds comes from a Rumi quote: "Each has to enter the nest made by the other imperfect birds." What is it about this quote that fits this story?
Author interviews—you ask the questions
Next month, we'll be interviewing Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, about his new book Beatrice and Virgil. We'll also be interviewing David Baldacci, who's new novel Deliver Us from Evil, will be out April 20th. Have a question for Martel or Baldacci? Post them in the Author Interviews—you ask the questions group.
Author recommendations: David Lipsky, author of Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace
Robyn Okrant shares what books influenced her Living Oprah project, started as a popular blog which documented her 2008 experiment to follow every piece of advice offered on Oprah's show, website or magazine, for an entire year. The blog was the basis for her book, which came out in January. Robyn's new project is called Ready, Set...Wife!", which looks at what it means to be a wife in 2010.
Author chats
Author Chat lets you talk to authors—ask questions, get answers, and find out more about how or why a book is written. The schedule of upcoming chats is posted too, so you can plan to read the author's book ahead of time.
Current chats
Judith Tannenbaum discussing By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives
David Burrows discussing The Prophecy of the Kings Trilogy
Gabriel Wilensky discussing Six Million Crucifixions: How Christian Teachings about Jews Paved the Road to the Holocaust
M. T. Kingsley discussing With Malicious Intent
More free books: Member Giveaways
At any given time, there are hundreds of books available from our Member Giveaways program. Member Giveaways is like Early Reviewers, but isn't limited to select publishers—any author or member can post books. Request books, or offer your own!
Popular this month
1. Last Song by Nicholas Spark
2. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
3. Soulless by Gail Carriger
4. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
5. Beautiful Creatures by LibraryThing author Kami Garcia
6. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
7. Let the Great World Spin by LibraryThing author Colum McCann
8. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
9. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
10. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
That's it. Questions, comments, ideas, suggestions? Send them our way.
—Sonya, one of the LibraryThing librarians (sonya@librarything.com)
WHY YOU GOT THIS: At some point you signed up for LibraryThing's monthly "State of the Thing" email. This message was sent to p.t.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Project GUTENBERG (#22)
Project Gutenberg is a webpage that has free eBooks and audiobooks. The free books are mainly classic books that have been released into the public domain, such as Don Quixote and The Count of Monte Cristo. The ebooks are a bit odd to read since it's just text on the webpage.
Audio Books
One of the the audiobooks I downloaded to my MP3 is Somebody's Luggage by Charles Dickens which I ran into have been a non-human reader and sounds very robotic. Still, the resource is good to look audio books online if you can't access a physical copy at a library.
The other title I downloaded to my MP3The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. This title was human read , as opposed to Dickens computer-generated audio.>
Project Gutenberg began offering Audio eBooks on September 2003
Titles are available in non human-generated and human voice formats. The computer-generated voice audioBook list is no longer being expanded Human-read titles are still being added. multiple sites as well as mirror sites.
Net Library and Overdrive
I have used both Network Library and Overdrive audio books for some time now. I am very familiar with these 2 databases for quite sometime. We are continously being asked by patrons on how to use these two databases. My colleague made a "How To Download Audiobooks" flyer to help patrons but unfortunately it is too complex.
I use the downloaded books to an MP3 and listened to audio while I am driving to work or doing some gardening. I like the Overdrive more than the Net Library because it is easier to download the titles to an MP3.
Audio Books
One of the the audiobooks I downloaded to my MP3 is Somebody's Luggage by Charles Dickens which I ran into have been a non-human reader and sounds very robotic. Still, the resource is good to look audio books online if you can't access a physical copy at a library.
The other title I downloaded to my MP3The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. This title was human read , as opposed to Dickens computer-generated audio.>
Project Gutenberg began offering Audio eBooks on September 2003
Titles are available in non human-generated and human voice formats. The computer-generated voice audioBook list is no longer being expanded Human-read titles are still being added. multiple sites as well as mirror sites.
Net Library and Overdrive
I have used both Network Library and Overdrive audio books for some time now. I am very familiar with these 2 databases for quite sometime. We are continously being asked by patrons on how to use these two databases. My colleague made a "How To Download Audiobooks" flyer to help patrons but unfortunately it is too complex.
I use the downloaded books to an MP3 and listened to audio while I am driving to work or doing some gardening. I like the Overdrive more than the Net Library because it is easier to download the titles to an MP3.
FLICKR (# 5 & #6) (Growing up with Orchids)
These are my favorite orchid pics. The yellow orchid picture, I changed into Flickr Mashups.
Flickr is a photo data bank that people use to share the photographs with their friends, colleagues, family and etc.
For my future project, I will try to work on collecting photos of a display we have at our branch that exhibits different themes (i.e., Black History Month, Women's History Month, Banned Books, etc.). I am planning on taking pictures of different displays and upload to Flickr to share with some colleagues at other branches as examples of, or inspiration for displays they may be created at their respective branches. The library system will hopefully have a databank comprising of gathered information from different participants of the project. This is to help make it easier for informed decision making on different websites to visit.
Flickr is a photo data bank that people use to share the photographs with their friends, colleagues, family and etc.
For my future project, I will try to work on collecting photos of a display we have at our branch that exhibits different themes (i.e., Black History Month, Women's History Month, Banned Books, etc.). I am planning on taking pictures of different displays and upload to Flickr to share with some colleagues at other branches as examples of, or inspiration for displays they may be created at their respective branches. The library system will hopefully have a databank comprising of gathered information from different participants of the project. This is to help make it easier for informed decision making on different websites to visit.
Flickr MashUps#6
This is the Flickr MashUps I made into a valentine card.
This is the original picture.
This is the Flickr MashUps I made into a valentine card.
This is the original picture.
Podcasts (#21)
With my new iPad, I've been playing around with it and have found that I can search and subscribe to podcasts right through iTunes relatively easily.On my new iPad, I went to iTunes, and selected Podcasts. There, there are a more than 20 substantive categories, so I chose Health. There I found 24 podcast options, with the number of ratings on each of them. I chose the Discovery Health Channel, as they bring you the latest health news, tips on living well, etc. There are 70 episodes displayed with the amount of minutes for each, so I chose Heart Health, with Dr. Peeke.
Podcasts are short broadcasts of information (bite size chunks ;-) that one can either listen to or watch. They were originally made for downloading to the ipod so that people could listen to information or be entertained wherever they took their ipod. Thus the name podcast. Now anyone with an MP3 player can download a podcast. The iPhone and iPad can also play podcasts.
Most savvy communicators now include podcasts as part of their offerings. So you'll have NPR and other new agencies offering podcasts. Not just of news but entertainment shows like Car Talk. Even the president of the United States has a weekly video podcast you can download. Once he did it while flying in Airforce One to an international meeting which was cool, but a bit hard to hear him with the airplane background noise.
iTunes is an application that helps you search for relevant podcasts and download and manage them for your iPod, iTouch, iPhone, etc. But it's not necessary to have iTunes as you can download a podcast from the relevant website directly.
Subscribing to a podcast is when there's a regular podcast and you want your iTunes, for example, to download them at the regular interval.
Using the example above, my daughter subscribes to the President's weekly podcast and her iTunes will download it weekly. She sets it to delete a podcast after she has listened to it so every week it will download and then deletes the old one if she has listened to it. If she hasn't, it will keep it. The managing of the podcasts downloads and storage can thus be automated!
Podcasts allow us to be entertained or informed while we are "offline" because they're downloaded to an ipod. And because the information is in chunks, you don't get bored or run out of time with the podcasts.
Podcasts are short broadcasts of information (bite size chunks ;-) that one can either listen to or watch. They were originally made for downloading to the ipod so that people could listen to information or be entertained wherever they took their ipod. Thus the name podcast. Now anyone with an MP3 player can download a podcast. The iPhone and iPad can also play podcasts.
Most savvy communicators now include podcasts as part of their offerings. So you'll have NPR and other new agencies offering podcasts. Not just of news but entertainment shows like Car Talk. Even the president of the United States has a weekly video podcast you can download. Once he did it while flying in Airforce One to an international meeting which was cool, but a bit hard to hear him with the airplane background noise.
iTunes is an application that helps you search for relevant podcasts and download and manage them for your iPod, iTouch, iPhone, etc. But it's not necessary to have iTunes as you can download a podcast from the relevant website directly.
Subscribing to a podcast is when there's a regular podcast and you want your iTunes, for example, to download them at the regular interval.
Using the example above, my daughter subscribes to the President's weekly podcast and her iTunes will download it weekly. She sets it to delete a podcast after she has listened to it so every week it will download and then deletes the old one if she has listened to it. If she hasn't, it will keep it. The managing of the podcasts downloads and storage can thus be automated!
Podcasts allow us to be entertained or informed while we are "offline" because they're downloaded to an ipod. And because the information is in chunks, you don't get bored or run out of time with the podcasts.
Technorati (#14)
I'm still new to this whole blogging thing, so I wasn't sure what Technorati was about. It seemed like a site that ranked blogs based on the "tags" on the blog. When I figure out how to tag my blog, then maybe I'd have a better idea of what the website actually does, but for now, I'm just focusing on how to post things properly on my blog. Maybe and update later when I figure out how to tag my blog.
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