Booktalk - Acceleration

Task #10 - Posting the video booktalk

First problem: I couldn't download the flipcam software to my computer--"insufficient privileges." That's an irritating start to things. Then I read the instructions after I'd filmed Kim's talk and I guess I should have done that in reverse so I could have tried a little zooming for variety.

...[later] ok, software got installed. The process was straightfoward to put it up on youtube, but here are a few things that could be added to the task details:

• do I choose delete from videocam when I save it?
• you can't just log in to youtube--you need to set up an account
• look for video on left side of page when you go to drag it over to share

Hey, it's up! And really it was a breeze. Too bad I wobbled the camera at the end in trying to turn it off. I was hoping I could clip the last two seconds in the youtube edit, but no luck. Thanks to Kim's fantastic delivery though I think it's not bad for off the cuff filming. That completes the work more or less!

Task #9 - Plan a video booktalk

Well that was easy. Kim was able to do a one minute booktalk without a script or any planning. She's good! Let's hope the flipcam worked and that I can post it easily.

Privacy and web 2.0

I'm wondering if privacy issues should be touched on at the start of the program. It's alluded to in the reminder to think before posting and noting that you can set up a accounts not using your own name, but I wonder if it needs to be dealt with more directly?

Task # 9 - Video booktalking

Hmmm, well I'm not sure about this one. I like Kayleigh's spot. Smart writing, smooth delivery, brief--nice. As for the other samples, the one walking down the street was nicely done, the Scholastic one was a bit boring I thought, and the kids' one I abandoned (over 3 minutes! too long!)--and do you notice: 667 hits. Is it worth the effort? On the other hand, it might be fun for some staff to do one or two (or maybe a TAG group.)

I'll think some more about what I might do with this assignment. Just learning to use the flipcam and how to upload to youtube would be useful.

Task #8 - Twitter

I just tried following TrainingKFPL and KFPLtraining (which one is correct?) but still no luck. I've noticed before that twitter's search function is not reliable and sometimes it seems to take a few days for a new account to show up. Will try again later.

Task #7 - Podcasts

You can listen to podcasts on a computer or you can download podcasts to your mp3 player or ipod. My ipod is filled with podcasts which I subscribe to through itunes so I don't have to remember to download them each week. I'm more apt to listen to a podcast than to turn the radio on these days....

Here's what I listened to on the weekend while I puttered around and made rustic rolls for a potluck and ginger cookies for a cookie exchange: two episodes of The sniffer (a 5 to 10 minute podcast about current trends with Cathi Bond and Nora Young which is one of my favourites), Mark Kermode's films reviews from BBC Radio 5, CBC Spark (the CBC's now hourlong tech show with Nora Young) CNET UK's Crave (another tech one) and an episode of Alexander McCall Smith's The dog who came in from the cold which the Telegraph is offering.

Task #6 - Wikis

Oh my, that's not the most user-friendly interface. (Sorry.) I had trouble signing in and then I couldn't put my blog address into a new page under blogs of interest, but maybe that's me not understanding how it works. I have an aversion to reading instructions whether it's on the computer or putting together something from Ikea. Something that is well-designed should be usable right away. Anyway I was able to add it under discussion.

We used a wiki on a project at Central a couple of years ago here (pbwiki) and it was hard to get staff to use it. This version is maybe a little slicker, but still not intuitive (at least for me.) Ok, I only played with it for less than 5 minutes so maybe I should take another look...

I know some libraries use wikis for booklists which seems like a good possible use. And I suppose doing projects together would be a possibility. The branch librarians just used Word when we did a revision of the page manual and the sticky notes and comments and so on were a bit of a pain, but my brief look at this wiki doesn't make me think it would be a lot better. On the other hand, I've made a few changes in wikipedia and that process seemed ok.

Task #5 - Shelfari

I set up the account--it's a breeze, and more attractive than Library Thing which I've used before. I'm not sure if there's as much community here though. Library Thing has been around for a long time.

I easily added a shelfari widget to this blog. Couldn't find any friends yet though, but will do that later.

In the end though, much as I like gadgets, keeping track of my reading in my little moleskine works best for me.

Faceless

Saw Manu Luksch's film Faceless last night at Agnes Etherington. It's a film entirely made from CCTV footage. Scary. And depressing. There's a Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's...

Task #4 - RSS

So that's task #4 taken care of too. I think this is one of the harder concepts to get if you don't use rss feeds. What's written here seems clear, but I'm not sure if it will be enough. Maybe could mention that KFPL's site has rss on (and what happened to the new dvd feed? not available anymore?) Could also consider having people look at the "Explore" feature on google reader to get an idea of what's out there.

RSS feeds

I used to be a big fan of rss feeds. I had amphetadesk on my desktop way back when we could actually download programs onto our work machines and back then I read library blogs religiously.... Then I graduated to bloglines which was a much nicer interface and right there on the web. I still have that bloglines account and also use google reader, but for the most part the only rss feeds I see are the small handful I have on my iGoogle page and protopage, and even then I mostly just read the headlines. TOO MUCH INFORMATION! (And not enough time.)

Task #3 - Post a comment

I guess that's taken care of too now.... I don't post comments very often, but have once in awhile.

Task #1 and #2 - set up a blog and personalize it

Ok, that's done. Set it up, edited posts, changed colours. Will try adding links and photos as I progress through the rest of the task list. The instructions seemed fine.

Poetry afternoon

I spent a nice couple of hours sitting at a kitchen table with some wonderful women today, drinking tea and reading out poetry. One woman read her own works, including a strong series about the killing of the women engineering students at the Polytechnic 20 years ago--and then we read poems by Jane Kenyon, Mary Oliver, Robyn Sarah, Erin Moure and Wendell Berry among others. It was an excellent way to spend a damp grey day in late November.

Bread!

Made 4 lovely loaves in the new oven yesterday from Local Breads: Sourdough and Wholegrain Recipes From Europe's Best Artisan Bakers by Daniel Leader--two plain, one with raisins and dried cherries and one with raisins, dried cherries and chocolate!

To begin...

I just finished reading Lorna Crozier's, Small Beneath the Sky, a readable memoir about this likable writer's childhood on the prairie. Also, Denise Mina's Still Midnight. She's a seriously good Scottish mystery writer.

Now I'm onto Margaret Drabble's The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History With Jigsaws which looks like it will be a quiet kind of book. I'm listening to the fabulous Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I love that Lisbeth Salander!