Back to School Web 2.0

Searching in Quintura for kids by Angelina Jolie I was truly amazed to have only 1 search result: the Official Kung Fu Panda website. So it really works! Safe searches for kids! I also found a list of the Top 20 Websites for kids according to the Parent magazine. The list has some other search engines designed for kids like Yahooligans. Click here to see the list.

Finally...Collaboration Software

I personally love Google Docs, for some reason I'm having troubles logging into Zoho so I haven't tried it yet. If patrons at the Library used Google Docs more often they wouldn't have any problems with flash drives or saving attachments. Since everything is online and auto saved every minute they would never loose anything. I used it a lot with other TCSS when we were working on class schedules for the branch. I would send him the classes I wanted and he would edit the document with the classes he wanted and the changes were seen by both. From there the 'Word' Document was created for the submission form. It worked perfectly since our schedules were opposite. And we didn't have to be printing anything wasting paper.

Search vs Navigation

Well, usually I search everything on Google. If I compare it to some other engines I can see some differences and I always see a variation on the search results. I like how Lexxe creates a cluster of related search terms to the left hand side of the screen. I like how Hakia shows image results along with the search results. I like how Quintura has an interactive cluster of related terms related to your search and if you hover over them the list of results simultaneously changes. And I like about Bing that it keeps a history of your searches in the current session which you can see on the left had side of the screen, that way you can keep track of what you searched already.
Those are not the only search engines I know about, there is also ask.com, about.com and metacrawler.com. Ask.com will show you the search results along with questions that people have asked similar to your search results. About.com has a list of topics and categories aside from the search bar. and Metacrawler.com searches several search engines (google, yahoo, msn & ask) so searching here is like searching in all of them at once. Also it will show you a list of the most popular searches at the moment that way if that is what you are looking for, you can just click on it instead of having to type in the search bar. I guess it all depends on you, since we have different preferences, different search engines exist. Hopefully one of so many will fit your demands.

Mobile Web 2.0

Well, mobile web it's really useful if you are always on the go. Anyway it's only useful when you have fancy devices like the Ipod touch and similar, if not everything looks super tiny and you can hardly see the webpage in question. So even though it is nice I can survive without it (still). Plus in my case, anyway, is not so necesary to spend a couple of hundred bucks in one of these devices I have some other more important things to pay for.

Other than that Internet from a Wifi hotspot is just as useful.

Social Networking 2.5

Definitely Facebook and Twitter are getting to the public and they are a great way of communicating with people. It's insane you can't find someone by email or phone but you can definitely find them on Facebook. Even a movie will come out about the story of Facebook. Click here to read about it. (it already has more than 700 'tweets' by the way).
The Library could really use it to promote the events, services and programs offered.
When this module came out on Learn 2.x a co-worker tested out promoting the Mango Languages database to her friends on Facebook, and in a matter of minutes people where asking her more about it and how they could use it. Even though some of us might not like some of these technologies there are thousands (maybe millions) of people that do, and if we want to reach out to them we have to do it through the means they constantly use.

Second Life and Virtual 3d Reality (and the Library)

Well, I'm impressed on how popular is this second life concept. A few months ago I was watching an episode of CSI New York in which the case they were investigating was entirely based on Second Life... But I always though it was a game! And now I know I was wrong.

I didn't know so many companies were even present in Second Life to promote their services and provide some sort of customer service.

I think that what our library is doing so far is ok since a presence on Second Life has been established and we are contributing to this virtual learning world with projects like the Central Florida Memory Project. But we could do more in the future like offering our classes on Second Life, present the Meet the Author Programs but virtually and maybe we can arrange with authors that already have a resident avatar on Second Life to be on them first. It would be nice to offer a section in which they can pay their fines or buy books from our book store. Of course all of this has to be located on an Island for this Library and obviously the virtual building, that's why I say, 'in the future'. We should even have a presence on the Teen Second Life to promote more of our library services we have for teens, maybe we can even get 'virtual' Teen Volunteers to be present there as well and they can share their experiences at the library.

Definitely the Second Life concept is something that cannot be taken for granted because it hasn't stop growing and everyday even more widely know companies are there as well providing services to their customers. I think that since the library is an institution that provides information and is committed to: 'connect our changing community to the evolving world of ideas, information and technology. Through continuous innovation, the Orange County Library System will create a well informed, well connected community, making Orange County a great place to live, learn, work, and play.'-(as stated in our mission statement) we should continue looking into more ways of being present in Second Life. It's something different than what we are used to see, our community has changed by this evolving way to interact through technology, it's a place in which we can create anything without having necessarily to be limited by budgets or resources. And it can be used to keep us connected to a virtual world in which we can virtually live, learn work and play with this growing community!


Check out how libraries can be seen and toured in Second Life!



Check out Second Life Reference

The Dark Side of the Web -Internet Malware

Well thankfully, as for now, I have not been a victim of malware. But I have received messages in my email that look suspicious. Usually the email server will warn you about it or block it from you. For example, at Hotmail you might see a red exclamation point (!) next to the subject line. Yahoo usually filters them as "spam" mail.

Frecuently some login sections on websites will let you choose a key image or seal to help you make sure this website is legitimate before you enter your login information.

Be safe!