There's a light...

Well, the time has come. I have completed all the 23 exercises of my Learning 2.0 Training. I have really learned a lot during these past six weeks or so, and I really think that I'm going to be able to apply a lot of this to my life outside of the library. The most beneficial thing I've gained was my change in opinion on how I regarded blogging. I always used to scoff at it thinking that it was dumb and pointless, just a way for people to spew their thoughts out and hope someone would read them. Rather, I've learned that it's more for fun than anything else. I've really valued getting to know my friends at the library a lot better, and you can't put a price tag on that. Tear.... :'(

But it's not all bad! Let's have some more fun!

To celebrate the completion of my Learning 2.0 Training, join me in singing the Llama Song!



Llama llama duck!

Or if you are embarrassed by your singing voice, you can always dance the Time Warp with me! It's just a jump to the left...



I'll miss you all! It's been golden!

Truthiness on my iPod

Overdrive is amazing! I can't believe that they have Stephen Colbert's I am America! (And So Can You!) available for download. I'm truly in awe. I really think that Overdrive could be huge if we get the word out. We wouldn't have to disappoint customers by telling them that we don't have the book on the shelf. We could just tell them to download it and listen to it or read it on their computers. I can't wait to download Colbert's book!

Podcasts, Schmodcasts

Podcasts are, in my opinion, one of the most revolutionary things to come from Web 2.0. I love how diverse and opinionated they can be. I surfed through some of the directories to see if I could settle on one to listen to.

I decided to subscribe to the Lou Dobbs Podcast. I love to watch his show on CNN because I love to watch him get all bent out of shape over something the federal government has done. Watch him in action in the clip below where he has some not so nice things to say about economists.



But, now with the Daylight Savings Time change, his show is on one hour earlier, at 4pm instead of 5pm. So now, I can only watch half of his show before Jeopardy! comes on. You're crazy if you think I'm going to miss Jeopardy! I have my priorities you know. The Lou Dobbs Podcast is the perfect way to catch up on what I missed. Plus, I can get a little bit more of his tirades that they don't put on the air. It's glorious!

The Farecast calls for sun, with a high in the....

As a man who reads travel guides for fun and buys them even if I've never visited the place, I definitely have to check out Farecast.com. This site is supposed to be able to predict whether or not the price of an airfare will rise or fall over the next seven days. I decided to give it a try. I'm thinking of going to New York in November for Veteran's Day weekend so I figured I'd see what the going rate for a plane ticket is right now. According to Farecast, the best fare is about $350 right now. I take a look at the "7-Day Low Fare Prediction". It's telling me to wait to buy and that there's an 80% probability that fares will drop. I remember checking a few weeks ago on Orbitz and the fares were in the $400s, which means fares are dropping. Farecast must be right! How cool is that? So easy, so fun, and so useful, especially when my money is on the line.

Farecast seems to me like it would be more useful than Priceline, but Farecast doesn't have...WILLIAM SHATNER!



P.S. How on Earth did Technorati win for Best Blog Guide?! That site is impossible to use! Kathy, back me up on this one!

Writely so

I really think that Google Docs and other web-based apps are the perfect solution to overcome format issues. I think it's a really novel idea. Leave it to Google!

I'm working as a research assistant for a couple of professors in the Dept. of Political Science at school. We were trying to use this spreadsheet in Excel to enter some data, but the file was made with Excel 2007. All of the assistants, myself included, only had Excel 2003. So, of course, none of us could open the file. Needless to say, there was this whole hullabaloo over how to work around the formatting problem. If we used Google Docs, we could have avoided all that mess. THAT is innovation!

I used the Google Docs Slideshow program to create a slideshow with my favorites, some of the things that I listed in the last exercise on pbwiki. Enjoy!

Flight Attendants!!

In case you were wondering if whether or not the woman in the Delta Safety Video I posted earlier was an actress or not, she's real!!



FLIGHT ATTENDANTS ROCK!!!

I prefer jelly on my pbwiki.

Pbwiki is so much fun! I really enjoyed this exercise. It was so easy to add content to our SPLS "sandbox". That is, after looking everywhere for the password to get into the wiki, only to realize it was right there on the front page of it (Don't laugh at me, Rossan! I'm not crazy, I swear!). I can definitely understand the appeal of the wiki. I also loved getting to know the other people in the System better after reading through everyone's favorites. I had fun listing my own as well, trying to see what I have in common with the others who have listed things. I can see the point of some of this new technology, networking and being closer with the people on the internet.

On a side note, the winner of the Designing Women poll was Charlene! Thanks to everyone who voted!



How cool are these pictures?

Time for a new poll! Which dog do you like better?


The Amazing Japanese Praying Dog

OR


The Southwest Airlines Bulldog

Be sure to vote!

Happy Friday!! OMG!!!!!

Wiki Tikki Tavi

I like the concept behind the "Wiki". It makes information a lot more user-oriented, both because it makes it easier to access and because it gives you a feeling of being better connected to the content that you access. By having the option of editing or creating your own content on a wiki, you can not only derive a sense of ownership in what you're reading but have a better understanding of the types of interested in what you're writing, because you're one of them!

The speed with which you can change the content on a wiki would make it easier to fix it when something goes wrong. Statler and Waldorf of the Muppets put it perfectly when they say:

Waldorf: Well, you gotta give them credit.
Statler: Why's that?
Waldorf: Well, they're gonna keep on doing it till they get it right.

Library 2.0

I think that the article about Library 2.0 by Rick Anderson best develops the ideas of this new concept of librarianship. In my opinion, it is important that libraries adopt the ideas of Library 2.0 because the needs of our customers are changing and libraries to change with them.

The "just-in-case" mentality, particularly with regard to the collection, is outmoded. Coming from a bookstore environment, I can see how important this shift is. Everything we kept in stock had some sort of sales history. If it didn't sell, we didn't keep it on the shelves. Similarly, I think that the libraries need to refocus their attention to what we know the customers want, instead of what we think they may want eventually.

Learning 3.0

It's time for a different kind of learning.

Reach into the depths of your memory and recall the Pinball Number Count, with music by the Pointer Sisters. A true Sesame Street gem! I am proud to say that I know how to count to twelve.



In case you weren't aware, I want to become a flight attendant at some point in the future. What better way to practice than to view some inflight safety videos. There are 3 emergency exits in this library...

I'm completely lost

So I'm supposed to be learning about the website "Technorati" and how it's revolutionized the blogosphere. I'm not quite sure how. I tried to use the site and find information about "learning 2.0" and see if I could locate any of the blogs by my coworkers and other people who are involved in the learning 2.0 program. No such luck. I guess I just don't see the point of this site especially when I could just as easily use another site, like Bloglines, that has an easier interface to use and actually gives me the information I want. Argh.

Hot-lanta Awaits

In a previous post, I said that I like to read travel guides for fun, and Rossan asked what my next destination is going be. While I haven't quite planned this out yet, I intend to go to Atlanta, Georgia. So, I am learning to harness my inner Southern belle by taking inspiration from one of the finest television programs of the eighties, "Designing Women".

I'm working on getting the sayings down and learning to love sweet tea and mint juleps.

Aww, bless your heart for reading this post, you are cute as PIE!

Janice, an Intimate Portrait.

Yesterday, I was chatting with Rossan about our mutual love of Muppets, and I brought up how I adored Janice from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

For your reading pleasure, go to the following link http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/editorials/portrait_janice.shtml and read "Janice: An Intimate Portrait".

She's "rully" swell!

Mmm deli.cio.us

I kinda like the concept behind deli.cio.us. It seems like a handy clearinghouse for the websites that you would most frequent. It would definitely have a place in research as a way of finding a central location for resources on a given subject. It makes me think of this one website called TrackStar that I used back in high school. My teachers or the Amazing Information Goddess named Linda Schallan who Palomino is lucky to have would prepare the list of links, or a "track", that would assist my class in online research.


Despite the usefulness of deli.cio.us and its linky goodness, I probably won't use this site. I don't go to enough websites to really warrant it. I mostly go to CNN.com and Facebook (see previous post, haha).

My name is Ben and I'm a Facebook-aholic.

I signed up for Facebook a few years back, thinking "Oh this will be a great way to keep in contact with my friends now that they've moved away for college." Now it's become a complete obsession. I check it daily and spy on my friends using the "News Feed," the screen you see once you log in that shows in detail each and every activity of my Facebook Friends. Creepy? Stalkerish? No no. AMAZING!

My addiction has reached new proportions with my new cell phone that is equipped with internet access. Now I never have to miss a "poke" or a "wall post" if I'm not at home or strapped to my computer.

I think I have a problem.

Also, Kerry, Rossan, Krissy, you're on notice! SIGN UP FOR FACEBOOK!! Thanks! :)

Literary Networking

I really like the concept behing LibraryThing. It's like MySpace and Facebook but for readers. Instead of finding people and friends geographically or based on what school you go to, you can make friends based on mutual taste in literature, or in my case, travel guides! It's MySpace with BRAINS!

Betty also pointed out that your catalog can be used as an easy way to give a listing of the books you own to your homeowner's insurance company in case your house burns down.
Another plus!

I own so many books that I can hardly remember any of them off the top of my head, but here are five of my favorites! Go to http://www.librarything.com/catalog/dochterben and check them out.

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Sweet! I'm off to Santiago!

Thanks to the Airline Ticket Generator at http://omatic.musicairport.com/ I can fly away to the Jewel of the Andes for free, instead of shelling out $2000 for just the ticket! How cool is that? You can't beat these prices. Anyone game for joining me?

Searching for RSS feeds is not RS

So I'm trying to use the search programs to find RSS feeds and I'm SO confused. I tried to do a Bloglines search and tried to use Topix.net and I'm still at a loss. Does this only find specific blog entries or news articles about my search topic or actual blogs? From my attempts, it appears to be only the former. I would much rather go to websites that interest me and subscribe to the feeds that they publish on my own than try to rely on a search engine. I guess I'm just going to have to find the feeds the old-fashioned way. :(

RSS feeds R RS!

I think using the newsreader is a great idea. I'm obsessive when it comes to visiting my favorite news sites and I think Bloglines is a great way to consolidate them all into one. It's awesome and such a timesaver to be able to get all the same information in a better, more concise format without having to hunt for the news I want on the original sites. They deliver the news to you. It's like a newspaper, only cooler.

Visit my account to see what interests me!
http://www.bloglines.com/public/bmwhaley

MY radio has more stations than YOUR radio!

Do you remember when you radio used to be just a few stations that would only broadcast programming a fixed number of hours a day?

Do you remember when you would tune your radio to pick up one of those stations?


Do you remember when you would physically TURN a dial to tune your radio?

Well, those days are over, thanks to XM Satellite Radio. I don't have to suffer through commercials anymore about cars I'm never going to buy or about how to convert my adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage. I can just sit back and listen to crystal clear music without the talking, how cool is that?!

Those crazy kids and their newfangled radios from outer space....

Completely Mezmerized

cooler master dream iii
Originally uploaded by inlinehacker

For thing #6, I decided to play around with the Flickr Color Pickr website to see what that was about.

I am now completely in love with it.

They say that certain colors can affect your moods and this site is a gold mine (no pun intended) for images in whatever colors strike your fancy.

My favorite color is blue and played around with all the different shades that the color wheel had. I felt like I was in a blue heaven. I found this picture that just seems so appropriate for Learning 2.0.

It's PRETTY, too!!

Santiago iluminado

Santiago iluminado
Originally uploaded by n_desc

I really love to travel and Santiago, Chile is the destination that is at the top of my list. Located in the center of the country and wedged inside a valley in the majestic Andes mountains, this capital city is the most cosmopolitan city in the whole of South America. This image of Santiago's skyline at night perfectly captures the beauty and energy of this city. I can't wait to visit!!

Learning the Seven Habits

Hi, my name is Ben and I'm a Circ Aide at Mustang Branch. I'm excited to be doing the Learning 2.0 Training and to see what other people in the Library System think about the new technologies that are being used in information science.

I think the hardest habit that I will have to use is Habit #3: View Problems as Challenges. It's so much easier, or at least what I'm used to thinking, to see a problem as something that must be tolerated rather than something that can be worked through.

The habit that I'm most looking forward to using is Habit #6: Teach/Mentor Others. All the SPLS people work as a team on a daily basis and I'm excited to help my coworkers out in any way I can during this training and outside of it!

But, of course, Habit #7 1/2: Have fun! goes without saying!