23 Things

So here we are, the end of the road. It's been quite an interesting journey, with lots of things learnt.

Thing 23, StumbleUpon, was quite pleasant to use. I suspect that it will become a first rate time-user-upper, much like Facebook, ICanHasCheezburger, and other news aggregate and picture posting sites.  It was fairly easy to figure out, although the picture posted on the 23Things blog did not match up with the website's setup on my web browser. I'm not sure if that's an upgrade of the site or just a difference in web browsers, but I eventually figured it out where the settings was.

I have to say, I was surprised to find that my favourite part of this whole process is this blog. I was dragged into it kicking and screaming, but once I got started (after deleting 3/4 of what I wrote for my first post before publishing it), I found it surprisingly easy to write. There is something liberating about putting your words in writing, and being able to speak without being interrupted!

The most useful of the things we learnt about for me is Pinterest, simply because of the wealth of ideas I can find for displays and children's programming, and even ideas of books to read!

I was surprised at how difficult it was to navigate the Creative Commons images, as I hadn't realised how different rules for images from different countries are.

As for how I plan on using what I've learnt, I will probably continue on with this blog and use it to post book and movie reviews, as that seems to be what I enjoy using it for the most. Perhaps I'll expand that further in the future to write about other things that interest me. I will continue on with Pinterest, as it is something I was already using for work, though less so for home use. I don't know if I will keep up with Scoop.it or StumbleUpon, though they seem interesting they do take a lot of time to browse through, and that's something that must be used judiciously when at work. I may just migrate them to home use instead... Wordle was OK to use, but I remember seeing a different word cloud generator previous to the training that seemed like it had more versatility. I may try to find it again to use in some display ideas in the future. Vision is something I use already, so that has not changed, though I may look into GoodReads more in the future. I don't know that I will use podcasts much in the future, and I probably won't be posting many youtube videos, although you never know! I can't say much about Apps at the moment, since I don't have an app enabled device, but if I do in the future I will revisit that. As for Twitter, although it was easier than I thought to use, it's format and uses don't really fit in with my lifestyle at the moment. I will have to revisit that in the future as well.

All in all, exploring these different facets of the web was enlightening, and wasn't as hard as I though. I am hoping that this will make me more open to trying new things in the future, though I know that I will probably remain more of a real world girl than a virtual world one. But at least now I know what people are talking about when they mention Scoop.it or Twitter!

Things 20 to 22

It seems that I will have problems participating in week 9's things, as I don't have access to an app device at the moment. I own a first generation Kobo, but I don't believe I can install apps on it as it doesn't have Wi-fi or internet browser capabilities. I also don't have a cell phone, wonder of wonders!

I'm sure I'm not the only library clerk without one, so perhaps a group workshop for those of us without devices would be a good idea. I will certainly try the Overdrive version for my PC and download then return an ebook to my Kobo through that in the meantime.

update: I tried out downloading Adobe Digital Editions for my PC and Kobo (the program reccomended for it rather than Overdrive). I seemed to manage downloading ADE to my PC well, but when it came to Authorizing my PC and eReader with an Adobe ID, things did not go as predicted in the instructions. There was no Digital Setup Assistant window, the ID setup asked me which ebook vendor to use, something which was not listed in the instructions. Also, when I finally got to the step of authorizing my Kobo, Adobe would not let me! Since during this process it seemed as if I had tried to do the setup in the past (an ID already existant with one of my email addresses), I thought that it would work ok. But for the checkout and download step, I was not sure where to download the book (it did not say anything about that on the website), and when I tried to find it with ADE and on my Kobo, I was unable to locate it.

Maybe it's easier to use with the App, I'm not sure. All I know is that currently I can't seem to borrow ebooks from the library, which is a real shame. Perhaps I will eventually figure out how to do it.

Movie review

Just watched an interesting movie last night, so I thought I would review it. It's called Man with the Screaming Brain, starring Bruce Campbell.

If you know Bruce Campbell movies, you'll know that they tend to be tongue in cheek, cheesy, B-movies that are so interesting that they deserve an A-rating. In this case, the plot of the movie centres around a rich American who comes to Bulgaria with his wife on business, and gets embroiled with a taxi driver and his psycho Gypsy ex-girlfriend. And I do mean that, she tends to stab first and ask questions never.
And here comes the requisite sci-fi twist. A Russian neuroscientist has been working on an inhibitor serum that has the potential to allow any donor to be matched with any receiver, without risk of rejection. I'll let the movie's title tell what happens next, and the rest to your imagination.

I highly recommend this movie if you enjoy campy sci-fi action movies!

Things 18 and 19

Here's another book review:
Raising Steam, by Terry Pratchett
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11275323-raising-steam

This is book 40 of the Discworld series, and it stars Moist Von Lipwig, as well as Lord Vetinari and a few other new and recurring characters. Ankh-Morpork is taken by storm, or by steam, by a brand new invention called a locomotive. The good citizens rush forward to take advantage of this novelty, and Moist is at the forefront as usual. Just as the clacks have changed things, so does the steam engine bring new opportunities, and new dangers to Ankh-Morpork. Dwarf terrorist attacks, goblin's improvements, and the possible creation of a new goddess are just a few things you'll find in this book. As always Pratchett's writing kept me reading avidly. I did find that the pacing of this novel was perhaps a bit choppier than in the past, but maybe that is intentional, or perhaps a side effect of Mr. Pratchett having to use voice recognition and dictation software, as well as using human assistants... Somehow this novel had a bit of a melancholy tone to it. It wasn't overtly so, in fact it was as enjoyable and entertaining to read as ever. But I found that I came away with the feeling that the author was trying to tell us something. To say that all things change, and change is good. And that sometimes you have to let go of things, let go of the past to move forwards. I don't know if Mr. Pratchett is planning on wrapping up the Discworld series soon, but it seems like he's trying to pave the way with his writing, to prepare his readers, if you will. Hopefully he will continue to entertain us with his prose for a while yet.

Thing 16 and 17

I'm a bit behind for week 7, but here it is at last.

For thing 17, I listened to the podcast from Q, the Read on Libraries - is this the end of Libraries as we know them? (the podcasts listed in the Booklist webinar archive seemed to be missing except for the 3 most recent)

I found that although I could understand the argument of John about the potential that the libraries might be giving up their collections in order to provide more social space, I don't agree with his fears that the library will become nothing more than a hyped up Internet café. I don't think that libraries see the issue as being Internet vs. Books, or Social space vs. Research Library. It seems that, at least in this situation with the New York library and other American libraries, the issue is with membership and usage of the libraries, and keeping funding. Although moving 2 million books into storage seems shocking to some people, what I'm wondering is what type of situation it really is. Will there be electronic scans done of the stored books to provide access to them? Can a patron order the books from storage in order to use them? Which books are being moved? Is the storage location meant to be permanent, or will the collection be eventually moved again to another research library? In the podcast John seemed to have this fear that books were being threatened, like in Fahrenheit 451 perhaps? I think the discussion was very good, though Chris and Jian Ghomeshi did not seem to address the underlying issue that seemed to concern John. Chris's view that making libraries more accessible and welcoming to patrons will increase library usage is a very good point, but I think he probably did not see books as being the most important carrier of information that John seemed to. In any case, it was a very interesting debate, and if I have time I will look for further debates on the subject.

For thing 16, here is a video on the origins of the words geek and nerd. I thought it was interesting, though I'm not sure which category I would fall into :).

 



 

 

Things 13 to 15

Here is another book review for this week. I just finished reading the excellent book The Golem and The Jinni, by Helene Wecker. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15819028-the-golem-and-the-jinni
This is Ms. Wecker's first novel, and it's a brilliant debut. I was entranced by the rich background of late 19th century New York's Little Syria and Jewish neighbourhoods, as well as the vivid characters that were brought to life on the page. Chava and Ahmad, the main characters of this story, are poignantly estranged from the world around them. One is a golem, built to be a bride but widowed and adrift before she was even a few hours old. The other is a Jinni, a creature of fire from the arid desert who finds himself flung a thousand years forward into a world he doesn't know full of puzzling humans. Together they timidly enter this new world. This is a truly unusual story, not a passionate romance but a patient taming of the smallest embers, but what a bonfire it lights for the reader! The book left me with that fabulous feeling you get from those marvelous tales such as Scheherazade might tell. I'm going to be thinking about this book for a good while, continuing to assimilate the fantastical myths that the author has brought to life for me.

Things 11 and 12

For Things 11 and 12, I thought I would use a subject that has recently piqued my interest, the steampunk culture. I've always had an interest in science-fiction and fantasy, but I find myself gravitating more and more towards the romanticism of the steampunk movement. Something about the brass and copper pipes,gears, and the beautiful Victorian inspired language inspires me.

I found that locating a Creative Commons image was a bit harder than I thought. A lot of the images I found were either of the Public Domain, or other copyright types and had multiple exceptions. I'm sure there are many places to find more specific CC images, but Wikimedia Commons does have a lot to offer, for one who's willing to put the time in.
The image I chose is a photograph posted by the author, which is of Steampunk cosplayers taking a look at the steampunk exhibition at Utopiales 2011 (Nantes, France). This seems to be a convention, which I would love to attend if I ever had the chance.





By Ceridwen (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


As for Thing 12, Wordle was OK to use, but it is time consuming to type or paste the words into the categories. I used the advanced function so I could put the 'weight' to the words I wanted emphasised. The site is a bit too randomised for my taste, as if you switch between two settings and then back again you won't get the same result twice. There are probably other word cloud sites which have more customisable settings than this one, but it's OK for a beginner. After much head scratching, I finally figured things out, so here is my word cloud:

Things 7 through 10

I thought I would do a few movie reviews this time, as I haven't read much in book format the past few weeks, but have watched a few movies.

First, the good review: The Fall, a 2006 movie by Tarsem Singh. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460791/

I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie, but it seemed an interesting premise: A 1920s stuntman is in hospital and meets a young girl, for whom he starts telling an epic story. The movie was visually stunning, and made me think of the Arabian nights tales, or Gulliver's travels. The girl of course brings her own touches to the story, so that it morphs around the teller and the listener into something that brings them together. There is a darker undercurrent that becomes apparent early in the movie, but I won't tell what it is so as not to ruin the surprise, but suffice it to say that there are quite a few tear-jerker scenes here. Some of the scenes could be seen as unsettling, since the main character is telling a story to a very young child with quite a bit of violence in it, but as it is a main part of the plot I don't think it would detract from the movie, but rather adds realism to it. It's a must see in my opinion.

Now, the ambivalent review: Nightwatching, a 2007 movie by Kees Kasander.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446750/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I'll admit it, I only got this movie out because the main role is played by Martin Freeman, the actor who plays John Watson in BBC's Sherlock. I was expecting something historical, somewhat romantic, and with some intrigue from what I saw on the back of the cover. What I got was something else. The movie is set up quite like a play, with the actors advancing on stationary sets and the camera mostly moving in and out from the characters when a closer shot is required. The language the actors use is contemporary, and by that I mean more street language than Shakespeare, though I expect the effect is meant to resemble a contemporary version of what Shakespeare would have written on this subject. The main plot of this movie revolves around Rembrandt's painting of members of the militia, where he discovers various plots and schemes and decides to incorporate them into the painting in retaliation, as a form of vengeance for the victim of the main plot.
Now while that all sounds like the makings of a great movie, there was a major element of the film that detracted from my enjoyment. I found that virtually all the characters had a crude enjoyment in gossiping about sordid deeds of their neighbours and contemporaries, which we would today call horrible crimes which we would report to the authorities. The fact that in those days there were no authorities to speak of does not detract from the fact that the characters, Rembrandt included, are absolutely phlegmatic and unemotional about the plight of the victims. I don't feel that this element of the artist's time should have taken such a large part in the movie's plot, but the directors and producers felt different. So most of the movie is spent in sordid gossip, political blackmailing and backstabbing, foul language, and sexual escapades. While there were some moving moments in the movie, the overall effect for me was more depressing than anything else. Overall excellent acting, but very dark subject matter. Perhaps someone of a more cerebral taste will enjoy this movie more than I did.

Things 4, 5 and 6

So when I saw that week two was about Twitter, I was apprehensive. I understand how it can be useful, and I even read the storm watch site's tweets about local cancellations, and others that are embedded in sites that I use. But I don't find I have much to say to the world at large, or at least not in 140 characters.

That said, I found that the page layout for twitter was easier to follow than the one for blogger, as far as changing settings is concerned. I prefer to change the privacy settings to the most private available when I create a new account on any site, though I refrained in this case so that my tweets would be readable by others in the course of this exercise. Perhaps I'll find it worthwhile once I get used to it; I will try checking twitter once in a while and see if what crops up is interesting.

A few negative aspects I found about twitter are first when you create the account, they prompt you to add 5 people to follow, then 5 more, then more, and I did not realise there was a 'skip' button at the bottom to go to the next step, since this button is pale grey and very small, very difficult to notice. I would have liked that button to be at the top, so that I could choose not to follow 'well-known people' or 'people you know' and just make my own choices. The unfollow function is very easy to use to mitigate that little irritation. The other negative aspect is that it seems that people or organisations tweet either too much or too little. When I saw what tweets were on my page I was dismayed that there were sometimes 20 or more tweets by one individual in a row, and very few by any others. I find this would make it difficult to find a variety of information from different sources, though maybe I'll discover a setting that changes that.

As for tweeting, I did post one, but I had difficulty finding something to post, and finally settled on one of my favourite quotes as a starter. Perhaps I'll get a liking to it later, but for the moment the jury is still debating.

Things 1, 2 and 3

You know when you're having a conversation with someone, and they start talking about something technical, and you have no idea what they're talking about, but you just nod and pretend you understand what they're saying? That's a bit how I am with new technologies. I'm not a complete Luddite, I get along fine with surfing the net, and doing bits and bobs on Facebook and whatnot when I want to. And if you give me a Popular Science or Maker magazine, I'll be ecstatic. But trying to convince me to adopt new online habits is a sure way to get my eyes to glaze...

I'm hoping that this training will get me a bit more comfortable with the wider online world. I may not adopt everything I learn here for my own, but I hope to know enough by the end to figure out what I like and don't like and why.

About myself, I'm the mother of an energetic preschooler, an avid reader, an amateur do-it-yourself-er, and a Jack of all trades when it comes to geekdom. If you name a fandom to me, if I'm not into it I will probably know someone who is. I quite enjoy the pride and open acceptance that geekiness and fans have been enjoying in the last couple of years, and my hope is that someday everyone can be geeky in any way they choose without being looked at weirdly by anyone. Even if they choose to dress in costumes when it's not Halloween.

Just to add a bit of librarian-ness to this post, here are a few book recommendations:

In the fiction category, I've recently read Mrs. Queen takes the train, by William Kuhn. It's a fictional look inside the life of our beloved British Monarch, and some of the thoughts and feelings hiding behind the formal façade. In this novel, the Queen decides to take an impromptu trip, which sends members of her household desperately scrambling about, fearing for the worst. Of course her Majesty is in no real danger. After all, they can't target her if they can't recognise her, right?
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13571784-mrs-queen-takes-the-train

In the non-fiction category, Below Stairs, an autobiography by Margaret Powell. She writes about her youth as a kitchen maid, later graduating to a cook in the 1920s. It's a glimpse into the lesser known facts about domestic service in the post-Victorian era, when the recovery from the first world war and the emergence of the flapper era was creating great changes in the world. It's a slim volume which garnered huge success when it was first published, and there is a follow up book titled Climbing the Stairs about Mrs. Powell's ultimately successful efforts to leave domestic service behind.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11966836-below-stairs