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the Librarian Newbie
Originally uploaded by merlibra
“Ants carry letters and words up an ant hill and their traffic spells out “Catch the Reading Bug,” our theme for this years summer reading program. Colorful paper butterflies float overhead in a ‘leafy’ glen. A net is perched to swoop up a blue butterfly. This display was created on top of the picture book shelving.”
For my first Flickr post, I decided to share the display I am most proud of… My ‘woodland glen’ of butterflies and industrious ants!
Getting set up with Flickr was a classic, clean and easy sign- and set-up. I’ve known about it since it came onto the web when a number of friends made immediate use of it. Through Michael’s abundant Flickr posts on TTW, and the wonderful examples set by other Web 2.0 embracing libraries, I’m finally beginning to warm to the idea.
Since I’m already using Google Reader (GR), I decided to sign up and try Netvibes (NV) to see what differences there are in how these two subscription management (RSS) tools present the same service. Let me tell you, there are some differences! My initial impressions?
-Then-
Google Reader: “That’s nice.”
-Now-
Netvibes: “Whoa!”
Adding subscriptions through GR was pretty simple, and after a few add’s, I had the small sequence of clicks down pat. NV starts out in a pretty basic manner… but got a little confusing when some blogs would come up with 3 or 4 different options like “RSS,” “Atom,” “RSS 2.0” or RSS .95” or something like that and I’d panic with choosing “which one, which one?!”
But adding subscriptions to any RSS manager one by one would be time consuming… which is why I learned how to Import/Export my subscriptions from GR to NV. That is a skill I’m sure will come in handy again.
NV also offered a Firefox toolbar button – which I was only oh-so-happy to install (and it made me fall in love with Firefox a little more all over again). But it did make me wonder – what about those who have not yet discovered the joys that are Firefox? Do they have an easy-peasy button to escape tedious subscription adding?
Layouts also differ. GR’s layout is simple and clean with a static list to the left that shows the blog title and number of new entries. Clicking on the blog name provides all the posts to the right of my screen. NV offers little movable widgets for each blog and you can group them together and make different tabs instead of tags (Google) for similar-interest blogs (or however you want to divvy them up).
I am a dork for customization. One of my minor little gripes with GR is all the WHITE. Everything is just so white! With NV, you can customize using themes and wallpapers, and you can even have different themes for your “private” and “public” pages.
“Wait, where’s that one post I read…?” I like to “Star” my favorites and mark some posts as “Keep Unread” in my GR. I make regular use of those features. NV will let you mark posts as “unread” as you see fit which is nice, but their Star adds to “private/public activity,” not “my favorites.” Although I’m sure I’ll figure a way to readjust my thinking…
“Do you come here often?” NV is more upfront about their social networking interface than GR. I didn’t even know GR offered social networking features. Besides your “private” reader pages, NV offers “public” pages, a profile to set up, friends to add, and a comment wall reminiscent of Facebook.
Overall Google Reader is simple and straightforward. It keeps basic users (like me) happy. Netvibes appears much more involved and intricate. Set up at first feels a little intimidating, but the built-in walk-through and support helped to eliminate any “overwhelmed” feelings. GR has many of the same features as NV, but in my opinion, NV made theirs more visible.
Maybe that’s the trade-off… maybe NV only at first seems a little intimidating because everything is right there, while GR’s simple, clean-cut look is accomplished by having their features tucked-in in seemingly unobtrusive ways. I dunno.
Netvibes is definitely a step (or several) up from Google Reader and it’s going to take a little getting used to. I like Netvibes. A lot. And while it even offers a “General” page that reminds me of my iGoogle account, it’s going to be hard for me to make the RSS reader switch because right now it’s really convenient to see my GR subscriptions whenever I log into my Gmail (main email) account.
It’s amazing how we can deem ourselves a little inconvenienced by something as simple as a few extra mouse clicks. We’ll just have to see how it plays out over time.
SLJ’s 2.0 Program Begins July 21
July 9, 2008Have you heard of 23 Things, the self-guided program for learning about 2.0 web technology? It was developed by Helene Blowers a couple of years ago at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and since then has been adopted across the country by public and school libraries, districts, and even entire states. It consists of a number of “things,” or small exercises, that you do online to expand your knowledge of the 2.0 web and social networking, from blogs and podcasts to wikis and Twitter. …
…Beginning Monday, July 21, Michael will author a blog here on SLJ.com that will lead us through the different exercises, offer guidance, answer questions, and even provide a little hand-holding. We’re calling it “All Together Now: A 2.0 Learning Experience.”
So I’m totally going to do this. Or at least do my very darndest to keep up and follow along. I’ll be posting all my efforts (whether they be successes or failures) here on the blog, and they’ll be appropriately tagged, “23 Things.”
Happy Web 2.0′ing!
I’ve been reading, I’ve been working, I’ve been getting settled in… I’ve been keeping busy… But I’m still incredibly miserable without my laptop.
This year’s summer reading program feels a little lax compared to last year – it feels like the level of excitement and buzz that was here last year is not being matched this go-around… and I’m wondering why. Our promotions went VERY well, kids seemed very enthusiastic, and I feel like I’ve been really making some connections with people… and while our enrollment in the reading program is up by about 26%, the number of books being read seems as though it will be lower this year than last. However, last year we didn’t count books until the end of the reading program and this year we’re tracking it week by week – so it may be that many readers just haven’t been faithfully recording, or are away on travels… so hopefully counts will be spiking at the last minute.
The other thing I’ve noticed too, is that we were thinking with the gas prices, less people would be traveling out of town, so we were hoping to see higher attendance at special events – but not so – our numbers have been low, across the board. Where have all the people gone? Was their something in promotion that went awry or neglected, are our activities not as interesting this year, or is it an impact from two larger public libraries in neighboring areas airing actual COMMERCIALS on TV for their summer program this year? These are things I’m concerned and thinking about at work.
A few Web 2.0/Library 2.0 things…
First of all, I read a very interesting article written by James Grimmelmann on “The Google Dilemma.” You should go and read it too. I learned A LOT from this piece and I have a total new appreciation for our First Amendment rights, as well as the inner workings of the internet and search engines. Just… Wow. Definitely food for thought.
I revisited my Twitter account yesterday, and am a little on the fence about how I’ll decide to use it since I’m only a small-town librarian with no illustrious career and I’ve never been to any conferences. It’s times like these I wish I had someone to “chat” with on Twitter.
Also discovered Library Thing: very, very awesome. And addictive. I have posted up all the things I’ve read thus far for 2008 and have done my best to rate and write a review.
Very curious about giving this Flickr thing a try. When I get my laptop back, I am determined to use it regularly for at least a month. How do you use Flickr?
Anyway – back to work!
