THING 13. ONLINE PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

I set up accounts with Ta-da and Remember the milk. I am a big list maker, and I wanted to see how useful it is to make lists online. I like Ta-da better because it's easier to use. Remember the milk is too complicated. It's more than I want to get into. I will probably keep making handwritten lists as well as using online ones.

I had fun playing with iGoogle and PageFlakes. I didn't make either my start page, but I might come back to this later.

I used Google Calendar to make a September sign-up sheet for cleaning the kitchen at SV. My group has two months out of the year. Google Calendar is a lot easier to use than Calendar Wizard. I've been using that for years, and it's a pain. As for the the other calendars, 30 boxes is misnamed. Their calendar only shows 4 weeks-- that's 28 days. You have to scroll down to see the rest of the month. Scrybe looks cool. I watched the YouTube video showing how it works. I didn't sign up for it, because I don't think I need anything that detailed right now.

THING 12. SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

Social media sites are tailor-made for news junkies who have a lot of time on their hands. For me, it's a time waster I don't need. Admittedly, there's an awful lot of interesting news out there. Some of it I wouldn't have seen if it weren't for the 23 things. I looked at Digg, Reddit, Newsvine, and Mixx. I liked Newsvine the best. But the bottom line is I don't have the time or enthusiasm to check social media sites regularly. Do libraries use these? RCL doesn't.

THING 11. TAGGING AND DEL.ICIO.US

I like del.icio.us. I set it up while trying to figure out how to do Thing 8. Del.icio.us was easy to set up and useful. I use 3 computers at work (the one at my desk and two at reference), so I can see the advantage of being able to go to my del.icio.us account on any of them.

I looked at the del.icio.us sites for the libraries listed. The one at San Mateo Public Library was interesting because there's an index by general Dewey numbers. My library isn't using del.icio.us. We do have a section on our website called Online Resources. These are selected websites grouped by subject.

THING 10. WIKIS

I watched the Commoncraft wiki video twice and didn't get much out of it. There was no sound. I turned the volume knobs on the speakers (on B's PC) this way and that. Does the video have sound? After reading the glowing comments about how wonderful the video was, I realized it must have sound. Several days later I discovered I can get sound on my PC through headphones. I wonder how long it would have taken me to discover that if it hadn't been for the 23 Things. The video is much more helpful with the sound.

I liked the video on Blogs vs. wikis that popped up after the Commoncraft wiki video. Blogs vs. wikis had old clips of the Kennedy-Nixon debates with someone doing voice impersonations. Kennedy supports wikis and Nixon supports blogs.

I looked at some of the wikis listed. The one from the Albany County Public Library staff wiki was especially interesting. What caught my eye was their list of tasks for TS volunteers. Besides processing, they also clean and dust the server area in the boiler room and make collages for walls.

I use Wikipedia frequently, but sometimes I wonder how authoritative it is. And how do people have time to contribute?

RCL has a reference wiki. It includes many types of info: notes on meetings, a list of fall computer classes for the public, a link to RCL Reader's advisory blog, podcasts to download, a list of SRP programs and more. The main benefit I see is that it collects this in one place instead of having to keep track of it in email.

I looked at the comments in the 23 Things On a Stick wiki but didn't add or edit an entry.