Mashups/Trading Cards

Okay, for this "assignment," I pulled one of the few pix I have on my flashdrive memory stick and made a trading card. I was able to add icons, but didn't like them, so took 'em back off. And since I didn't have card stock, I just saved the "card" back to the memory stick and printed off a few copies. One for me and one for the person in the photo. I could see how this could be really fun if you were working with, say, a kids' sports team. Make trading cards for everyone to hand out, etc. Or...for cutesy pix of grandbabies. Hmmm. I have photos of THEM on the home computer....(HG wanders off, thinking of creative ideas to attempt from home.)

Facebook

Hmmm. I think I messed up. I don't have to write anything this time, do I? Just put in the url to my new exciting Facebook account somewhere...Okay, I'll try that.
Oh, and if anyone wants to "be my friend" on facebook--well, check in and say hello. Unlikely I'll check it lots...but it COULD happen.

MySpace/FaceBook

Interesting. Not being a teenager and not having anything to sell, I haven't made the venture into either of these social networking worlds. So after reading all the required/suggested materials, I decided to check out FVRL's MySpace account. Congratulations, Jen! This is great. I'm not so far removed from those years (though some would argue with me) that I don't remember what it felt like to be that age. I'd think any kid who wondered into the site would have a good time and would (we hope!) be further pulled into the library world and activities of FVRL.
Right now, this is the kind of use I can see libraraies making of such things as MySpace and FaceBook. Traditionally, I've been kind of "old school" in terms of library use--"what's wrong with BOOKS, anyway???" But I can see the value in keeping cutting-edge in the world we live in. If the library isn't going to stay on top of those things, who is? I'm still concerned that we could turn into an internet cafe, but as long as we keep our priorities straight(!) and don't forget about BOOKS, I think we'll do okay.

Instant Messaging

This is one area of technology I have experience with, so I wish I could say this part was easy. Well, most of it was, but the directions, again, were less-than-helpful. Anyway, I guess if I want to comment on that, I should post elsewhere. This page is supposed to be about how this technology could be helpful in a library envirnoment.
From what I understand, we already have access to IM at FVRL, but I don't know how much it is used. I'm not sure if it's available to patrons to Tel Info or if that's email only.
I can see the Rooms feature of Meebo being useful to librarians or other "communities," but don't know about the value of leaving the room open continually unless people have decided to be available continually.
I compare it with my bank that has an online chat feature. It was a good idea and has been helpful once or twice, but the other times, the person who was supposed to be manning the help line wasn't there...and they didn't bother to say they weren't there. No one answered my question, I just got messages every moment or two saying that someone would be right there. Ten or fifteen minutes into it, I gave up. From what I've heard about how the IM feature has been used here, I think that's happened here, too. If both parties are glued to their seats, IM can be helpful. (I HAVE IM'd IT from time to time with computer problems from the branches, and that helped...but IT types are the most likely to be close to computers when you need them, too.
IOW (see, I've learned SOME new technology!) I'm ambivalent, as usual. It could work but it still seems like more work than it's worth. I'll probably wait til the tech gurus work out the bugs, then try again.