No reader is an island reading

I really liked this article. One.. because it was short and to the point. =) But I also think that it made some very valid points in regards to RA technologies.

I have to agree with the three key points that the author brings out. Technology is more than just the wave of the future. Now a days, it very hard to survive in the real world unless you are somewhat knowledgeable with the different types of technologies out there. Is there a fear that technology will have a negative effect on people, particularly in the social realm. Yes. I do think it will. People no longer are talking face to face but are using phones and computers to talk to others. But technology is making the world move at such a rapid pace that is pretty hard not to keep up with unless you go for the ride. Libraries face this dilemma because the world of books and knowledge are no longer found  just on paper but in the internet.

I fully agree with the three points the author discusses. Yes, we need to make it personal- get the patrons involved and consider their input. Not only will it make the patron happy and want to use the services of the library, it will work out for libraries to have an idea of what their patrons are looking for! 
Yes. We need to get social. Those who say they want nothing to do with social networking sites.. well.. you may be digging yourself in a grave. Especially when it comes to our younger patrons, it is important for librarians to be in the know. Facebook, Twitter, LinkEd and other social networks allow for libraries to stay connected with their patrons.
And YES, we need to go where our patrons go. GoodReads, Shelfari, LibraryThing. All great websites promoting books and reading. Creating blogs, podcasts and websites gearing towards the interest of our patrons and for the library- great idea!

Library's need to evolve. If they don't, I can't see them surviving in the digital age.

19.5 miles!!

19.5 miles in 3 hours and 45 minutes!

only 5. 7 miles and itll be my goal... which will be done a week from today!

It's Friday!!

As ridiculous this song is, I have to say... it's catchy. Plus it's B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L out!! I'm really looking forward to this weekend having lots of plans including a broadway show.. some delicious waffles.. the shooting range.. (yes that is correct) and maybe catch a movie... oh and ofcourse my 22 mile run!  Two movies came out today that I am looking forward to which I plan to see either this weekend or the upcoming week!

This one is The Raven with John Cusack

and..

5 year engagement! I love Jason Segal and Emily Blunt!


Hope you all have a fun filled weekend!

Social Cataloging

Before divulging into this topic, I was already a member of both Shelfari and Goodreads. When I was in school ... for another degree at a another time... my professor told us about Shefari. I investigated the sight and I instantly fell in love with it. I am a proud book lover and am always looking for good books to read. I really like Shelfari because it allowed by the catalog the books I love. I was also able to store books that I had heard about or planned to read and add them to my collection. There have been many times when I would look back at my shelf and I would remember certain books that I wanted to read but completely forgot about. I found the website to be very easy to navigate and I continue to use it today.

Then I was introduced to Goodreads. A friend of mine is a member and I joined because it was another way for me to network with a community that I like (the readers community) and be able to connect with people about books. What I like about Goodreads is that it is connected to my Facebook account and I am able to look at my friends shelves (if they have an account) and see books that they may have read or plan to read or books they disliked. I'm still a little overwhelmed with the website and I have to take the time to learn to navigate it... but I like this website.


THEN I tried LibraryThing. I created an account and it is a good website. Again, like Goodreads it is going to take me more than a class time to look at the website. But I like the features that it has. I think it is also a great website to connect with patrons. I actually connected with social cataloging website with my Twitter account so now i can share my books with the Twitter world with this website and then I can use Goodreads to connect with my Facebook friends.

I'm not going to lie..I had added my Shelfari shelf to my blog awhile ago. : P I recently added some more books to my shelf-- whether is they are books that I had already read or books that I plan to read.


I highly recommend people using one of the three websites and create their own online bookshelf. My personal favorite is Shelfari. If you guys join.. come find me or just click on my shelf via my blog!)

run

17.3 miles!!

I can't believe it but I ran 17.3 miles yesterday! in 3 hours! and I feel great today!!

Next weekend I plan to run 20 or 21... maybe even 22!!

AHHH the races in less than 2 weeks!!

13.5 miles!

Yesterday I ran 13.5 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes! And I felt great afterwards! Tired.. but great!

Evaluating Blogs... Are they any good?

So for this assignment, I looked up two different blogs. One pertains to the theme of my blog and the other is one that I was just curious about. Using what we have learned in class, I looked over, evaluated and determined, in my opinion, if I think that these blogs fit the criteria to be a successful blog.

Blog #1: Training Peaks Blog:
       TrainingPeaks is the ultimate training log and food diary designed to help motivated individuals and professionals achieve health, fitness and peak performance. This was taken directly off of their blog. This sentence alone answers the follow criteria: 
1. Why it was developed
2. Who the intended users are
3. The AIM of the blog

Appearance: Very appealing to look at. It is clean, it has lots of photos and it is not distracting at all. It is organized in a very simple manner.
User Needs: In addition to the basic purpose of discussing how to train, there are many other resources on the blog that will benefit users. Such resources include: RSS feeds, additional websites, video clips, twitter and facebook links, apps for iphone and andriod, a link to apply for their newsletter , tags, An index to their blog that provides site information, support, contact info, educational resources, blogs, community forums, etc.
Links: Has several different links that are authentic
Navigation: VERY easy to use
Currency: The site is updated every day.
Authority: Gives a description as to who runs the website, who sponsors its, etc.
Format: Format is impeccable.

does it fit the C.A.R.S criteria?

C- redible? -- Absolutely. 100% all of their resources are accounted for, the information is reliable and absolutely believable.
A- ccurate? - Absolutely again! The information is factual, detailed, backed up with sources and is up to date
R- easonable? - I guess that is determined by the user. I think it is. I am a runner and I very much like the way the information is presented and I think it is very useful
S- upport- All of the information on the blog has additional resources to where the authors attained their info.

Final Grade: A++
so.. first blog checks out!
http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/

Blog #2: "Obsessed with Bones"

For my second choice, I wanted to find a blog about one of my favorite TV shows... Bones! The first one I found was a blog called "Obsessed with Bones" and my findings were quite different than what I found with Training Peaks

Did it answer any of these questions?
1. Why was it developed? It was developed to discuss about one girls love for her favorite tv show
2. Who are intender users: Anyone who likes the show
3. What is the AIM of the blog: Not necessarily clear.
4. Is the Aim realized?  Yes and no.

Appearance: Simple. Not too boring but not overdone.
User Needs: From what I got out of this blog,  the purpose of it is to simply discuss the show. Who is in it, what episodes are, promotions of the show, links about the show, etc. There is no RSS feed but it does have additional links about the show. The author does have a twitter account but because it hasnt been updated in almost 2 years, it doesnt really fit the users needs to current episodes.
Links: Has several links
Navigation: Simple to navigate. Its a blogger website so its pretty basic
Accuracy: Blog doesnt require for much accuracy being that it is mostly an opinion based blog.
Currency: No currency at all. If it were 2010, I would say it was very current. However, being that the author hasnt posted anything since 2010, it is not up-to-date.
Format: nice format

does it fit the C.A.R.S. criteria?

C- redible? : Yes. the information that it does provide is reliable and is backed up by photos, videos, and other info. Again, it is an opinion blog so being that it comes from her mouth, its pretty credible.
A- ccurate?: No. Last updated in 2010. Show is still running and its 2012
R- easonable?: Yea. Its a pretty consistent with the theme of the blog.
S- upport?: Yes and no. She has plenty of videos and photos to support her arguments and opinions, but not all of her info comes from sources that are "reliable" Again. Opinion piece.

Final grade: C+/B-

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

       Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope everyone's week is going well! I've been doing a lot of thinking about ... well just about everything. Life, school, work, relationships, media, the past, the future, you name it. And while I was thinking .. my 11th grade peer educator teaching kept popping in my head. Her name was Mrs. Ingoglia and every morning she would come on to the announcements and before school began and would say:

Make it a great day, or not, the choice is yours. 

It's so true. Life gives you lemons, now what will you do with it. You could let them sit and sour, or you can make lemonade. Today is a beautiful day and regardless of what is going on today, try to make it the best day you can! Because today is all you have. =) 

Just a little morning inspiration for you all!  

glog?

my glog? is that what they call it?

http://www.glogster.com/shannoalexa/unfinished-glog-2/g-6lk86opt43p5auuq0ddvoa0

Pinterest has become by newest obsession

thought this picture pertained to the theme of my blog.

And yes, im still training : ran for an hour yesterday and an hour monday =)

Glogster

so i made a poster from glogster but I don't know how to get it on here. I don't own a Mac so does anyone know how I can copy and paste it?

Zoho

So when I came home tonight, I went to check out Zoho and see what it was all about. I have done googledocs before and I like how it functions so i wanted to see how Zoho works.

I am a fan of the Zoho calendar. I am a very big planner and I even have a paper planner in which I color coordinate and everything (yes, i am a very big dork) but I think this account would be very good in regards to a business or even if you wanted to let others know what your schedule is like ahead of time.

Zoho Writer: It's exactly like Microsoft Word but I guess the difference is that instead of you saving it to your computer, you would save it on this website. I don't really think I would use this, especially if I have a program on my computer that works the same way- but I guess it would be good to use if you travel and are working on some documents.

Zoho Show: you mean aka Powerpoint?

One positive thing about this website is that is allows you to work on your documents even if you are not connected to the internet. Thats pretty cool.


Overall: I don't really think I will be using Zoho. I am more familiar with GoogleDocs and would probably refer to that first before Zoho. It is a cool website though.

Animoto

Animoto is really really really cool! Tonight when I go home and have access to my photos, I will make a 30 sec free video of something. Don't know what I plan to do yet but you'll just have to wait and see =)

Happy Easter Everyone!!