Thing 6: Mashups and Third Party Sites

23 Things continues to be an in-road to a whole new vocabulary. WIKIPEDIA's source of origin for mashup is cited as a pop music term. Well, I would like to go back at least 55 years and offer this older definition of mashup....... the sacred term used by all children at the table for the after-church-Sunday-fried chicken-meal: you take the last, and the most tasty, morsels of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, the puddles of butter and gravy, and whatever other bits and pieces one has guarded for that last sacred bite, and you MASHUP everything for that one last delicious bite ! Now that is a true mashup! And a 3rd Party?That was the nosey neighbor who listened in on your telephone conversation when one had crank telephones and party lines.

After reading about the general flavors of mashups, I got a roaring migraine! I understood the concept visually, but after wading through the quotes, types, architectural aspects, mashups versus portals, etc., I thought my eyes would be permanently crossed! I gladly bow to a 3rd Party via a public interface to mashups to their heart's desire. I had collected awesome pictures from Flickr and had made my mosaic, however, even with help, we could not get the mosaic to post properly. Moving right along....

And then there are trading cards, magazine covers, and mosaic applications...bingo! Wonderful tools for any and all elementary disciplines.

Thing 14: Technorati and How Tags Work

After completing #13, a name appears now giving credit to Joshua Schachter, the programmer who invented tagging and launched the Web site Del.icio.us. Thank you Joshua! Well, somehow in this day and time, numbers with a tail of zeros seem to meet rather apathetic shrugs......a mere 84 million blogs?......yawn!
Technorati gives this number of blogs excellent guidance with its tools enabling one to search in a multiple of creative ways: keyword; content; top blog posts; news or the 'buzz'; top tags; photographs of "hot bloggers"; top videos; top news; top books; etc.......... a steady stream of useful search options for blogging Web sites, all public, to benefit people, peers and me! Technorati take the intimidation out of blog searching!

Thing 13: Tagging and Discovering Del.icio.us

Love the graphic rendering of Delicious! With 15 billion Web pages, hats off to those who came up with these great organizational tools.... they are so logical and easy to use... Web-based and public to boot! Wow! The Common Craft guys video was the most "definitive" for me. For educators, the social bookmarking for lesson plans would be so efficient and gratefully utilized and expanded! Tags can take on a life of their own! Who knew organization could be so much fun and creative?

Thing 11: Library Thing

Well, my first of five titles could not be located! I gave all the required information for M.F.K. Fisher's The Physiology of Taste and it was a "no show".

As I was persuizing the sites, I fond a member under "Interesting People", Sylphette (the name facinated me), an took a look at her book list. For my interests, her cultural studies book list was a veritable gold mine! Off to the public library I go! I will definately return to this site. Thank you for the source!

Thing 18:Online Productivity Tools

Why, if I have Microsoft Office installed on my computer, would I need to seek out another source when I haven't even begun to master what Microsoft has to offer, plus it serves my needs just fine? I realize my computer skills are wanting, and my lack of curiosity seems to be nil in this instance, but I am focused on what I have. My browser could not display Open Office correctly and all things Google are user friendly.

Thing 16: Wikis

For me, the jury is still out on a wiki. There is the ever present, pervasive belief that what is posted on the Web is the gospel truth, so help you God. That is a huge barrier for youngsters to hurdle. If a teacher is diligent having students note and correctly post their citations, maybe. For adults, not so much a problem. Obviously, some of the very "benefits" of wickis that make them so attractive, are also their greatest pitfalls. I noted one site, "Best Practiced Wikis", now requires an e-mail confirmation in order to create an account...seems there has been vandalism.

Thing 15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

Prior to delving into 23 Things, my gut opinion of L2 was: we were throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

After reading all five of the perspectives on L2, I found that Michael Stephens', Chip Nilge's, and John Riemer's blogs made my eyes glaze over and my mind wander... I found myself wishing I was at Nordstroms buying a pair of shoes.

However, after consuming Rick Anderson's "Away From the Icebergs"and Dr. Schultz's "To a Temporary Place in Time" I was ready to jump aboard Anderson's boat, commandeer Dr. Schultz, row like mad to Library 4.0, disembark, and settle into the Knowledge Spa......

I find myself with one foot in the well-mannered backlash against L2 and the other foot struggling to educate myself and come to grips with L2 as a vital and very real movement. No one ever seems to talk about funding. Are there magic money trees sprouting in the nether-lands? Lack of funding for public and academic libraries is notorious reality. One blogger, Laura Crossett, asks if L2 is just a club for rich libraries.

If I can keep focused on Sarah Houghton's definition of L2, supposedly the de facto standard, I can work with making libraries "more relevant".