Tech Trek 2.0.9

The last library exercise involves YouTube and podcasts. For those of you who remember, I wrote about this podcast I subscribe to a while back. Also, when I was in my last year at WSBF the computer engineer set up podcasts for every show. That was a great way for SWP to have archives of our work as well as make our "Best of Sunday School" freestyle compilation CD. I've always had the ability to create podcasts with my Mac and recording equipment, but I've never tried. The Odeo Studio page has a great tutorial as well as some basic lo-fi recording software anyone can use.

One of my favorite things to search for on YouTube are what I call superfan video compilations. Those are highlight videos for single athletes. I'm usually pretty critical of these videos because they are either made with horrible music or edited poorly. Today I searched through some Dwyane Wade mixes and found one with a song I like but subpar editing as well as lo quality footage. Check it:

Overall, I think podcasts are a more useful tool for the library overall because they work like RSS feeds and automatically update. It would be relatively easy for the media services department to record one of us listing the new materials of the month and have it automatically distribute to people who subscribe (but it would be even easier to just type this list out and start a mailing list). I'm not sure how useful YouTube is for other departments, but it is fantastic for media services because we can post videos of bands playing at our Blues Bash and Local Blend concert series, but we could also place video clips of upcoming Metropolitan Opera Simulcasts (more to come on that soon) as well as the films that we show in our Independent Lens series.

Into the Wild

Last Night, I went to see Into the Wild at the Terrace with Ben and Emily. It was a really great film. Sean Penn wrote the screenplay (which he adapted from Jon Krakauer's book by the same name) as well as directed. Emile Hirsch starred as Alexander Supertramp, and he should definetely be up for award consideration. Great performance. I don't want to ruin the film for anyone, so I won't go into any detail; but it's an inspiring story about a young man who decides to make his own way in the world all by himself. If you want to check it out (which I would recomend), it's playing at the Terrace Theater every day at 2, 5, and 7:45.

Tech Trek 2.0.8

The latest Tech Trek exercise is about web-based applications,specifically word processing. I used Zoho's writer application to create a document about a movie I was last night, but it would not allow me to publish the document I created to my blog. I kept receiving messages that the program was "unable to connect your blog. User name or password may be incorrect." I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. I added my blog URL, and I am typing the only user name and password I've used for every exercise. I find it easier to use blogger to post, so I won't use Zoho for that purpose any more.

The only real use I have for the writing application is to transfer word documents to my Mac. I've never been able to access emails containing word attachments on my home computer, but if I open the attatchment with the reader app I can save it there and read it at home. This should help me keep up with changes to the desk schedule at the library while at home, so I guess that is good.

I'll get that post about the movie up as soon as I can rewrite it in blogger.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Poodles

Found this picture on the Turntable Lab blog. This should prolly be Keiko's Halloween costume?

Tech Trek 2.0.7

Before this exercise, I was not very familiar with Wikis (other than wikipedia, and I know better than to believe everything I read there). I explored around this site and was blown away at how many uses there are for wiki technology in the library. I think it would be cool to have a wiki site for media services to post our collection and allow users to make reviews, comments, and maybe even a synopsis of materials (especially DVD's) in order to help those patrons who make their reserves on the web. Here at the main library branch, I notice that we have quite a few patrons who simply make reserves online and come to pick them up. These patrons very rarely browse the physical collection, so I think creating a space for them to find out more about the materials they are requesting could be very informative. It would also allow our more active and interested patrons to share their knowledge of what they have already checked out with those patrons who have yet to consume a piece of our media collection.

I also really liked this site because it helps patrons find what they are interested in without requiring them to know title or author. This could be very useful in media services because we frequently get patrons who are looking for "a video or DVD on World War I" or "a DVD biography on an African-American leader".

This may be the most useful tool for our department introduced by the Tech Trek exercise yet

People I Steez With (Part 4)

This is Panda (Amanda). Today is her birfday. Don't let her unassuming visage (yeah I said it) fool you, she's scrappy. She isn't around enough... something about having a job and living in MtP, which I don't understand becuase me and Diddy both got those problems and you know how we do. Basically... get on that, Amanda.

American Gangster Update

In case you hadn't heard yet, the newest single from Jay-Z's American Gangster album/unofficial soundtrack is called "Roc Boys". You can peep it on the latest edition of the Rub's online radio show mixed by DJ Ayers (tracklist here). You can also peep it here if you don't want to appreciate good DJing and would rather stare at a static picture on youtube while listening. Unfortunately, Great Hova has been removing all the links to sites like Zshare that let you download the jam, but you can always pull little stream rip tricks if you know how (and get down with piracy.... yarrrrrgh). Check the lyrics to Roc Boys here and a little back story on S Dot and Diddy working together here. Want to check the video for Blue Magic (first single from the album)? Well you're in luck, pimp:


Also, here is a great remix by DJ Green Lantern of Jay's vocals from Allure (off The Black Album) over the beat to Kanye's Flashlight (off Graduation). I thought the Allure remix on Dangermouse's Grey Album was the best ever, but this kills it.