A New Year

Well people, it is now 2009. Time to start a new year and perhaps actually contribute to my blog more often. It all started as a work exercise, but I feel I should turn it into a more personal one. gods knows what I will actually write about, but hey, it's good just to have a bit of a rave.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

It's time to shop with distinction!

Select...exquisiteSearch The Web

#13 And I thought "wouldn't it be awsome...."

Technology!! I think that in a way technology is really only catching up to things people have thought about or wanted. I often thought, back in the days of microfiche, 'wouldn't it be awsome to have a computer to actually do a search for this stuff, you know, key words and all...." We had online catalogues for the books when I started work, the old green writing, black screen thing, but the idea of just searching a database for other things, like Books in Print was not realized for many years. Particularly not having all of these things available in a central place like the internet..... I do think the internet has had a profound effect on society. I also remember in my early working days thinking, this 'internet' thing is good, but not at all user friendly, it should be GUI, it should be easier to access and use....a few years later I found myself learning HTML and creating a webpage on this fabulous new creation the world wide web. It changed my perspective on things really, I love the technology and the ease of searching for information, in my job and personal sphere. The other strange effect it had on me was to stop me collecting 'stuff'. I used to collect articles, ephemera, recordings, bootlegs, you name it of certain bands and used to love finding all this amazing stuff, but the internet pretty much killed it dead. It took away the chase, the excitement of hunting something down. It was all just there in front of me, whenever I wanted access to it. Information overload in fact and it seemed completely pointless to collect things anymore. I still buy music, I have downloaded music from iTunes, but more just one off type songs, I still like to buy CDs.....it's about owning the object. And the JB frenzy, where will all of those DVDs go.....landfill most likely. The price of these things just does my head in, I can buy 2 DVDs for the price of a meal....it is just such a weird society we live in now. Anyway that is my rave about technology, love it or hate it, it's here to stay.

#12 Edit with ease....

Just checked out the online word processors, spreadsheets, calendars, etc. Very handy for people on the move. I thought that it may drive me to distraction having to wait for documents to load however...I do like the instantaneous access of a hard drive! This is definitely a move forward, and possibly will have a useful application in public places like libraries. SLV has no word processing facilities and people often want to edit their resume or other such document before sending it off via the internet. Having these online editors will make that possible, as long as they are willing to spend the time to create an account.

#10 & #11 Flicking the switch....

Flickr, it has to be said, is quite amazing. It is a vast resource of photos on just about any topic. I like the fact it can be used as a tool by individuals or groups of people as a storage (wouldn't use it as a primary storage place....technology is just too fickle) or sharing space. There is a lot of control with this product. The idea of sticking all my photos on the web for all and sundry to use and abuse as they see fit does not apeal, but the ability to place copyright statements alleviates this somewhat. Libraries can make use of this technology, they already do, Picture Australia and the SLV treasures site was all about the masses uploading their photos. The other stuff in this exercise was a whole lot of fun. Very silly really, but some of the 'toys' can be useful in design. I love the 'make your own magazine' thing and the colour selector is very groovy. It does astound me that all this technology is now available over the internet. These things were often do-able in software packages, but the introduction of broadband has allowed the shunting of larger files over the net and thus all these crazy applications. I did spend rather too much time playing with these! The warholizer was pretty hillarious also!!!

This is a great shot of the library from Flickr called 'Library' by The Lab. It almost looks olde worlde, very beautiful.

#8 & #9 Tagging, Tagging, Tagging.....

It's gotta be said that these technologies are pretty cool. The ability to bookmark on the web and 'take them with you' so to speak is very useful. Still not entirely convinced about the 'sharing' thing.....probably just a personality trait.....I have issues with privacy.....I'm sure it is something that we will all get used to eventually, but I think any of the generations apart from the young probably still feel a little uneasy about this issue, think "Australia card". So the tagging thing is obviously fantastic for finding other bookmarked sites on a particular topic. Likewise, The Library Thing is a fantastic resource for finding books on a topic as well, and even though I believe in standards and bibliographic control, being able to type in a subject that actually makes sense (ie not Library of Congress Subject headings) makes searching very easy. I typed in "Books about Books" and found lots of hits. This is a general term that people use to refer to any books about books or the book trade. In our library catalogue, there are headings like Books -- Europe -- Storage -- History, Shelving for books -- History, or how about Rare books -- Australia -- Bibliography. So I think tagging is great for this popular searching. The fact that so many people have put their collections onto Library Thing is pretty amazing, I don't know if I'd have the time or the inclination (the privacy thing again) but I certainly do like it. The other major worry about all this web stuff for me is that all the info is sitting on some server somewhere and if the company folds etc, it can all be lost. The thought of doing all that work and losing it all is freaky. All up these technologies are very useful and I'm sure can be applied in libraries.

Love this stuff....

Fantastic website and work....Just thought I'd put it in... http://www.gracialouise.com/