Joliet Public Library Discovers - Final Thoughts

I believe that Joliet Library Discovers was a very useful exercise. While it is unlikely that I will use every service I signed up for, there are some that I will use at least occasionally.

I probably should have signed up for a Flickr account months ago, as most of my family lives in Michigan, and Flickr is an easy way to share digital photos.

I will probably use delicious when the book mark I am looking for is not on the computer I am currently using.

I think Library Thing will be a neat way for me to keep track of books I have read, and discover new ones for future reading.

Last, but not least, I think that hotpads.com is not only useful to people who are looking for a home, but is also useful to people who want information about houses for sale in their neighborhood.

If another discovery program like Joliet Library Discovers is offered, I will probably participate.

Exploring Web 2.0 Tools

The website I chose for the Exploring Web 2.0 tools exercise was hotpads.com. Here you can look for houses available for sale or rent, and apartments for rent.

I like the fact that when you type in a city or zip code you see a map showing the locations of available properties and for each house or apartment, the number of bedrooms, and the price asked or rent per month. When you click on an icon for a property another window opens with more information about that property.

I believe this website could be a real time saver for people who are looking for a new place to live. I also believe that the site could help people who want to sell their home a set a realistic price, as they can see what other homes in their neighborhood are listed for.

I do not believe this website has any specific applications for libraries. That said, I believe the site is worth linking to the JPL website, and I will do that soon.

Google Docs

I tried out Google Docs today.

This is a neat idea; having documents accessible from any computer because they are stored by Google, not on the computer where the document was created, or a network server. Indeed I have read newspaper and magazine articles that state that services like Google Docs are the wave of the future. I believe the concept is called "cloud computing".

In its present version Google Docs will not appeal to everyone. I counted 11 available type fonts. The one I use for my monthly library board report, Bookman Old Style is not among them. Still, I think most people would do just fine using Google Docs.

I believe that cloud computing could become very popular relatively soon, if businesses find that it saves them money because they do not need to buy and maintain as many servers as they presently have.

Online Book Communities

For many years, before I became a librarian, I kept a paper list of books I wanted to buy, and crossed off titles I purchased.

This afternoon, I signed account on Library Thing, an electronic version of my old paper list. I think this is a neat concept. I like the idea of keeping track of books I have read. I also like the recommendations offered.

The social networking aspect of the site is not important to me now. Perhaps it will be some 10 or more years from now, when I am retired, and have more spare time.

Delicious

After looking over delicious I think it has two very good uses. The first as mentioned in the JPL Discovers blog, is to allow access to a specified list of bookmarks from any computer. As one who uses at least five JPL computers at one time or another, this feature will be very useful to me.

I believe another neat use for delicious is to find interesting websites that would otherwise be buried on a search engine such as Google.

I think the social networking aspect could be useful to students who are working on the same assignment, or to see websites used by other students as tools to assist them in doing a variety of assignments.

Podcasts

I searched 4 of the five podcast directories listed on the JPL Discovers blog.
I found them all easy to search.

A few thoughts occurred to me as I was searching.

I think podcasts can be particularly useful to the visually impaired. Instead of reading a braille copy of the New York Review of Books (assuming this title is available in that format) someone can easily find a link to the podcast and listen.

Most podcasts are not continuing series. As I searched, It seemed that most were singular events or short series.

Podcasts and videos could be valuable primary source materials for historians, if they are still accessible in 2109 and beyond.

Google Reader

I signed up for a Google Reader account and subscribed to several news feeds. I found it very easy to use. You can read news from a wide variety of sources.