"MP3 players are, like, so cool..."

How will I use my MP3 player? A more appropriate question would be: How won't I? This baby's going everywhere with me. I'm really looking forward to listening to downloaded audiobooks at the gym (as soon as I can find one I really want, so far I've only been able to find stuff I've already read, but I'm probably just searching incorrectly).

This course has been really helpful (and extremely fun)! I hope we're all able to do something like this again. I think we're ready for even more in depth teaching, possibly in a classroom setting (or at least with an online video conference of sorts, eh?).

Thanks for everything, Tom (and those higher-ups that made this possible)! :)

~Lisa

Beg, Borrow, Steal?

I'm somewhat conflicted about the DRM debate. On one hand, what's the *real* difference between getting a song "legally" online and taping it from the radio? Aside from format, I mean. I used to record HOURS of music from the radio as a kid. I wouldn't buy that many cassettes (because I was usually saving up for more books, because I am a total geek) because I didn't need to. The "Hot 9 at 9" had every song I wanted at the time, so I would tape it. On this same hand, isn't music art to be shared with everyone? Wasn't that the original goal: to share your gift with others? To pass along a message in your own voice?

There are always* going to be people who prefer to buy the actual CD , myself included (*probably). I like getting the case, the booklet, the pretty CD all pre-labeled just for me... It's a hassle to download music. I don't have an iPod (gasp! sputter! choke!), so if I want to listen to music in my car (commercial-free music), it has to be on CD. So I have to purchase the song somewhere, DL it, burn it (and others I've saved up for this purpose) in random order, create a CD label (with either Sharpie or my oh-so-easy to use label-maker), and let it float around, case-less. It's not worth it most of the time. I'll just buy the CD usually.

On the other hand... People are getting less and less of their hard-earned millions if things are all willynilly and unregulated. I think the real reform needs to be that CDs and concerts are cheaper so that people are more likely to go down legal avenues to hear their favorite stuff. Bottom line: If you don't like something enough to pay for it, do you really need it in the first place or are you just getting it because it's "free"?

I'm as conflicted about this topic as I am about whether or not "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is going to suck as much as I predict it will. (At least the 5th movie will be excellent. It was a terrible book, so the movie is sure to look awesome by comparison. Woo!)

I really liked MusicMap more than LivePlasma, honestly. There were artists who didn't even show up on the latter (um, Lily Allen, Imogen Heap, and Regina Spektor to name a few), and the ones that did show up were connected to some completely ridiculous choices. What does The Offspring have to do with Green Day? Even more unreal: just how are Nirvana and Weezer linked again? Aside from both being Geffen Records artists at one point, I fail to see the connection. Counting Crows were/are(?) Geffen artists, too; why weren't they listed? Very poor form. But MusicMap correctly interpreted Weezer and linked them with some similar (and somewhat copy-catty) artists. Also, they had the three missing artists from above (and correctly linked some of them).

Very fun week! :)

Flick this...

Flickr was pretty easy to use. I didn't see any options for posting pictures to any social networking sites, though, which is not cool. That "other" photo upload site (that rhymes with MotoRucket) gives you the exact code you need to post your photo. Hrrumph.

Online learning is OK. I think you have to be disciplined though, moreso than with a normal, in-person class. I don't think I could do an entire degree online. I think I'd likely fall behind from lack of logging in, etc.

I've helped a few people. For the most part, though, everyone seems to be getting it pretty well, which is awesome.

(Can I say that I Just Now noticed that Blogger "saves your drafts automatically"? That is SO COOL! I can't tell you how many times I've typed up blogs (on other sites), gone to post them, and had the post not go through because of one error or another. What a great feature! Woot!)

I... can't believe this! I've run out of things to say/type. Guess I'll end here, then!

What do you mean there's no Web 2.0 App for zombies?

It's true, kiddies. Sad, but true!

I searched *many* different ways, searching, hoping against hope that I would find just one Web 2.0 App about zombies. Or plagues. Or some other apocalypse-awareness help site. Why isn't there a ZombieSpace? Or a WikiPlaguia? Or YouApocalypse, which would feature videos of apocalyptic signs people have seen (like Tom Cruise being normal, or Dunkin' Donuts ceasing production of their best donut)?

I'm very disappointed.

How are we expected to prepare for these things when the tools aren't readily available? Were I more of a tech-nut, I would work on creating something. But, alas... I can barely create a PBWiki let alone my own WikiPlaguia! But it would be oh-so helpful...

I did find this, however, when I searched Digg for "apocalypse." Rock On!

So, even jaded as I now am about Web 2.0 Apps and the severly lacking apocalyptic content therein, I searched for my next favorite thing: writing. I found Writely.com, which seemed awesome till I clicked and realized Google must've bought them out since it just directs me to the Google log-in screen. D'oh! Still cool, just Google-ized now. I went to my next choice, Writetomyblog.com and found a word processor, online, that will post to any blog site. Seems cool. I will need to investigate further of course, on my own time. It would RULE if I was able to use that to write blogs so I could save them in the (not so rare) times the blog does not post but just magically disappears instead. It's SO FUN when that happens and I lose all of my work! Yay!

I signed up for basically every site mentioned on this week's course, which is hilarious since I already have more sites to keep track of than I could ever hope to manage. Poor Shelfari! I haven't visited my shelf in weeks! Despite that, I couldn't resist signing up for Dogster, Traineo (omg, helpful!), and YouPlay. I didn't sign up for Blufr, but I emailed myself the link to check it out later. And why do we need sites for alcohol lovers? Don't they do enough talking about their favorite vices when they're imbibing them? I mean, really!

Great course this week! I learned a lot about the HUGE HOLE in the 'net when it comes to zombie and apocalyptic awareness/preparedness. I also (re)learned that you can find pretty much anything else on the internet if you search hard enough.

Insert Witty and Exciting Blog Post Title Here!

We have access to a lot of technological features through OCLS that I use both at work and at home. Some of my faves include (but are not limited to): the online databases (specifically Ref USA, CountryWatch, World Book, H&WRC, InfoTrac, Learnatest, and Opposing Viewpoints... wow, I'm such a nerd). I love that we have free WiFi everywhere, and I love to see people in the library taking advantage of that. I've checked out the features of MyLibraryDV, and it's really cool, too.

I'm not sure what else to write about really, so now, for your enjoyment: A tangent about Shelfari vs. Library Thing!

I'd never heard of Library Thing before today ("gasp! boo! hiss!"), and I was curious about the fact that it seemed like a replica of Shelfari. Turns out LT came first, at least according to the ticked off people on the LT forums. I searched the forum for the word "Shelfari" and came up with a laundry list of reasons why Shelfari sucks.

I think the attitudes I saw there are what sucks. Shelfari is not the first site in the world to take an idea (which isn't copyrighted, btw) and try to improve upon it for financial gain (see MySpace's improvements to the Friendster idea). I was able to find many like-minded readers on Shelfari (instantly, btw) , and I've made a few friends there. I've been in contact with the creators and shared a few of my marketing ideas with them, including how to improve their rather lackluster MySpace page, and they've been nothing by super-duper nice to me.

I just think it's sad that we're ignoring the big picture here which is this: Book lovers finally have lots of options to discuss their favorite topics. This is a GOOD thing, not something to be complained about to no end. Get over yourselves and start talking books!!

::end rant::

"Holy Lots of Reading Batman!"

Week four took forever to finish! (Pun intended, because I am lame.) So much reading, so little time. I love to read (um, duh), but... wow. There were so many new things to wade through and so much to absorb! Good thing I really enjoy learning, or I'd be way frustrated at this point.

I wasn't surprised to see OCLS mentioned on YouTube and MySpace. We are very forward-thinking like that. I love that one of the teens on MySpace not only saw our SRP add, but came to the page, commented on it, and also had the *great* suggestion to post the commercial(s) on the MySpace page! Future marketing major right there. :)

I can't wait to check out the rest of the sites mentioned at SEOmoz. I'd never even heard of "ConsuMating" before today, and I can't wait to sign up (they had me at "A new way to find people who don't suck"). There aren't words for how much I love that!

I'm going to have to look at the music and photo sites more extensively, fo'real. I just don't have time Right This Second.

Re: the Web 2.0 video - I was honestly a bit creeped out by it. I'm not a technophobe by any means (I'm at a computer for most of my week, at work and at home), but I just found the lack of any ACTUAL people whilst describing how "people oriented" the web has become incredibly disturbing. And that whole thing about "The Machine can learn..." etc.? Chills my spine since I already believe machines will wise up and kill us all one day (if the zombie hordes don't get us first). The eerie music (though cool) didn't really help lower the creep factor any!

More later!

Dogs and Writing and Muggles... Oh my!

I found Bloglines a lil harder to use than I think it was supposed to be. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how to add the RSS feed for the "Techno Teens" blog. Finally, I realized that I didn't have to use the "Search" feature on the right-hand side, but the "Add" feature on the left side. After that lil hiccup, it was all uphill!

I subscribed to what I think (or hope) are pretty interesting feeds:

AboutDogs.info - Learn and understand your dogs (0) (0)

Copyblogger (0) (0)

DogReader (0) (0)

The Life of a Puppy in Training (10) (0)

MuggleNet.com (10) (0)

On Copywriting (10) (0)

Quotes of the Day (10) (0)

Techno Teens LIVE (10)

Oh, tiny "FYI," when you're in "edit" mode for your feeds list, you can't actually click on your feed to visit it. Yeah. That one took quite a while to figure out, I'm sorry to say.

About Grokker... I liked the "map results" grouping thingee, but all I really found were either ad sites or really bad personal sites. I'm hesitant to use it exclusively when I find much better stuff with a good quotation-marks-and-plus-signs-included Yahoo! search.

That's all I have time for now. More later! :)

I tend to be less than appropriate. My bad!

Blogging at work is going to be... interesting, to say the least. People don't always understand that when I say something (anything), it's a joke 90% of the time. That said, please know that I blog the same way! For those of you who are scared about how "public" all of this is, just keep in mind that you are your own editor. You don't have to post about anything that would make you uncomfortable if someone else saw it. Unfortunately for me, my inner-editor is sorta lazy and thinks that everything is "just fine" to post. D'OH!

This course has been really fun so far, but I'm really looking forward to getting to the down-n-dirty technical stuff that I'm not at all familiar with.

FYI: Shelfari.com has a MySpace page! Check it out here http://www.myspace.com/shelfari

Happy Blogging! :)