Day of the Longtail

A funny (but true) look at the Longtail and blogging and... well, see for yourself.

23 things Assignment number 2 aka "Babies"

I decided to use a couple of pictures of my nephew and my niece, as well as the the weird Baby head from the Art Gallery in Ottawa.

I was looking at some of the mashups with flickr and liked this one - splashr. I'm not sure it is at all useful but it is fun to play with. In keeping with my baby theme, I typed in "baby" as the flickr tag to look for. And got these as a result:

http://splashr.com/show/reflect1/baby/25/

I found this through the Great Flickr Tools Collection.

I also like the flickr colour picker. I chose Doors and Windows and got some great pictures in specific colours.

23things Assignment #1 - again!

I went through much of the 23 things training online at the Charlotte and Mecklenberg Libraries but I wasn't doing it at the same time as they were, and I never completed it. Now I will!
I went over to Blogs Canada but on their first page they link to a monthly Top 10 Blogs list. When I click on that, it takes me to a page from 2005 saying they no longer do a top 10 list. How odd and not exactly reassuring.

Edited to add: As I was wandering about, I discovered an interesting blog by a local illustrator who has done some children's books. Interesting writer.
It is here.

Using Web 2.0

Obviously web 2.0 and all of its components can be useful when trying to get information out there. But in many cases, a critical mass is needed for something to be noticed and you can't create critical mass on your own.
In order for a blog to be noticed a lot, many people have to talk about it and link to it. Searching Technorati shows how difficult that can be. Yet, unusual things show up as bigger than they are.
Yahoo has a site called "Upcoming" where you can post an event and others can post if they are attending. The attendees can then post that they are attending other events and the first one gets posted as an "You might also like" event.
For instance this one http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/185007/ about a charity screening of the movie Serenity has sushi making and Open Doors Toronto as similar events when they aren't at all. The only thing in common is the person attending.
It is, a little like browsing through the book truck of returns or someone's personal bookshelves.

And a happy New Year

Dark is Rising to be filmed

I just listed this as one of my favourite books in the world. I really hope that Susan Cooper is involved in the process because then I have some hope that it will be as wonderful as it should be.
Some details here:http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952563.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Wikis

As part of the Be a fit Librarian, I've been playing around a bit with a wiki and I will be doing more with a group of people trying to organize a world wide event next June. Wiki's are clearly very useful.
I'm also enjoying reading about people's favourites - or favorites!

I've also discovered that there are certain terms that elicit comments in blogs that are essentially ads for their own website. I deleted the comment but can't delete, it seems, who it is from - and that is really what I want to delete. Hmmm