2.05.2009

22:23

What have I learned and how will I keep up:
Well, one thing I have learned is not to put Adsense on anything because you'll never get rid of it. I have also learned a lot about the future of information for the masses. I learned that Wikipedia is only as good as the last guy who posted to it and that there are a lot of fun and relevant tools available now that a few years ago we hadn't dreamed of.
Keeping up, for me, will be on a need to know it-have it-use it basis since I do not work in information science or management. This was an informative exercise and I did enjoy running around the internet and learning new things!

assignment and research calculator

How cool. Invented at the University of Minnesota, there are now a few different versions of assignment and research calculators on the internet. No longer will students fantasize they can complete a major research paper the weekend before it is due. The assignment and research calculator, based on start and due dates and the subject, will break down precisely what needs to be done and when.
Here's a link to the original calculator at UM:
http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/date.php?bedTime=&SubjectID=8&ampm=&monthone=2&dayone=&yearone=2009&monthtwo=&daytwo=&yeartwo=2009

Nifty!

My 20th Thing...

Ask a Librarian, the Florida Memory Project, Florida on Florida, I will cite these as the "more than just articles" 2.0 part of FEL.
The website has a number of interesting parts to it but no mention of social networking or any of the other 2.0 types of things discussed in earlier 23 Things questions.
The Ask a Librarian is interactive, allowing you to chat with a librarian. The Florida Memory Project is just an awesome collection of photos and history from all over the state. As a Florida native I am in love with the reminders of days gone by found there and the same with Florida on Florida which is a digital archive of maps and information about the state.
The FEL site doesn't say anything specific about moving into the 2.0 age, but what a wonderful site for anyone needing or wanting info on the state of Florida.

1.24.2009

Direct from Wikipedia: "A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services...

MySpace and Facebook being the most widely used in North America;[1] Nexopia (mostly in Canada);[2] Bebo,[3] Facebook, Hi5, MySpace, Tagged, Xing;[4] and Skyrock in parts of Europe;[5] Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America;[6] and Friendster, Orkut, Xiaonei and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service

OH my- this turned into a rant!

OK, I did the MySpace thing and I am over it.
I had fun, met about 300 people I don't know, made them my friends, played Mafia and Poker with them, updated my status so they would know just what I was up to and deleted them all in a fit of who cares.
Maybe because I am 41 and not 14 I just can't get a glow on for chatting with a bunch of knuckleheads I dont really know. Oh, but I do want to keep my friends updated on my every move-- NOT. And I do not really want to keep up with their every move either- seriously. My close friends know my philosophy on hanging out. What makes a friend is not what keeps a friend. Distance and mystery is a Real Good Thing.
I can count on my one hand the number of useful relationships I have left behind that I actively think about. Some I miss and occasionally, when mired in melancholy, I Google a name or two. Most I know how to contact if I wanted too but for the most part, what we- as buds- had is lost in time and after a brief catching up it would be a big let down. People move on. Its a fact.
So why become cyber-social in the first place?
Novelty, for me. I am not networking and my husband would be annoyed if I were to start dating and I don't have a problem making friends face to face. But I had a lot of fun decorating my site, checking for messages and comments and finding just the right the add-ons to make my space all mine. It looked like Vegas.
So on my two hands I can count the number of friends I actually share my life with and they don't need me to update my status or send them a flashing red rose wrapped around a scantily clad cowgirl that reads Happy Humpday.

YouTube

YouTube was founded by PayPal and is now run by Google. No, not really, but three guys who used to work for PayPal started YouTube so the whole world could broadcast videos of absolutely everything to the rest of the whole world.
YouTube uses Adobe (who doesn't?) Flash video to show videos uploaded by users. Users can upload anything but preferrably not porn or violence and definitely not copyrighted stuff. Naturally things slip through but its still pretty cool, and it became so popular Google bought out the founding fathers. In my highschool day you were nothing without a Rubik's Cube. Now you're nothing without a viral video on YouTube.
This free service makes YouTube and Google about a billion dollars worth of revenue and has made the corporation big-dog enough to form partnerships with Sony and Warner and others. YouTube is even being sued by Viacom for copyright infringement- and thats when you know you've made it!