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! :)