Twitter

I had no idea that Twitter even existed. Once again, I am truly amazed at what all I'm learning. I believe that Twitter is fascinating simply because of the fact that it enables us to see what others are doing throughout the day...something we once thought would be an interesting concept yet never thought it could happen...and here we are...making those "interesting concepts" reality. I had already gotten used to the idea of making posts throughout the day that let others know what I am doing through facebook and myspace. These two applications enable me to update my status whenever I'd like to let the world know (or atleast my friends) what I'm up to. Myspace even has "mood" updates to inform people of my current mood-ha! It is interesting to be able to login to your computer and look at these updates and know what someone is up to that day...know their mood...what their plans are for later that day...ect...without even talking to them...
While it seems interesting and neat to be able to do these things, I also feel that modern day technology is taking away our ability to communicate on a personal level. Writing a letter and mailing it to someone today is almost absurd to most people. Email is much more efficient...who needs a handwritten letter...typing is so much faster...
Think that's bad? Now we're all about "instant messaging"...it has gotten to where email has almost gotten outdated...why send an email and wait for the recipient to check it when you can instant message them and get a response quicker...
Not to mention phone calls...I'd say 99% of college students today would much rather TEXT someone than pick up the phone and have a one on one conversation with someone...
WHAT HAPPENED TO ONE ON ONE INTERACTION PEOPLE?!
Slowly but surely we are losing our communication skills...
So, to answer the questions for this week's lesson...
Yes...I find Twitter fascinating...however, I don't think that I would use it very frequently...
Implementing Twitter for library services...not so sure this would be extremely beneficial...could possibly use it within our staff to inform eachother of the projects we are currently working on...let eachother know when we are out to lunch, running an errand, ect....but once again...i'd much rather pick up the phone and talk to someone...less miscommunication that way...
All in all, yes it is an interesting concept...
Want to visit my Twitter site? Click on the link below and see what I'm up to...
http://www.twitter.com/bmize

Using Wikis

I actually really enjoyed learning about Wikis. It is an interesting way to communicate with others, and can be a good tool to organize events and such. It is definitely a good way to make sure things are taken care of...much less of a hassle trying to remember who was bringing what...if something was forgotten...much more convenient...
Librarians do not recommend using Wikipedia as a research resource because it isn't reliable when it comes to reliable information...Wiki is a fun site to play around with, but not such a great site to rely on when it comes to needing facts...
I was excited that our site involves posting our favorite recipes. This may come as a surprise to many of you that know I don't cook...however...it is encouraging me to start. I most definitely love food, so I might as well learn how to cook. I've found some good recipes that I'm going to have to try for sure! They all look good to me!
You all can thank Allrecipes.com and Southern Living for my recipe postings! haha I did look up two of my favorites though, so hey...that counts for something right? =) Who knows...maybe I'll be so inspired I may be the one to bring one of these delicious dishes to work for us all to try...I'd like to ask you not to hold your breathe though... ;)

Lake Ouachita

The pictures I have uploaded to my Flickr account are from my trip to Lake Ouachita a couple of months ago. My fiance and I went with his family to the lake for a weekend. It was so nice to get away for a couple of days and enjoy spending time with eachother. The last day we were on the lake, I snapped a picture as the sun began to set. It was absolutely beautiful! I was so glad I brought my camera to capture that moment.

The other picture I downloaded is a picture of Lily...or shall I say my "niece". Justin's sister considers her as her child...she actually calls me Lily's Aunt Boo haha...She is spoiled rotten, but as cute as can be...as you will see in the picture. =)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30981446@N05/

Love Music

I started browsing pictures through Flickr, and when I happened to click on March 29, 2008 (which just so happens to be my birthday), I found it rather interesting that one of the photos was a picture of a heart and tape. When clicking on that one particular picture, it brings up the subtitle underneath the picture-love music. I had to post this link, because I thought it couldn't describe me any better...and the fact that not only the picture was posted in March, but on the exact date of my birthday was so neat.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/size-queen/2370799455/

Social Bookmarking

I am impressed with the whole "social bookmarking" concept. I really never used a "favorites" tab before, however, I think that this social bookmarking can be very useful, and I do plan on using it in the future.

I can incorporate this tool into my personal life because the tags that I created all link to sites that are of interest to me. For instance, three of my favorite things in life are music, theatre, and photography. Through my site, you will be able to go to Deezer Music and listen to just about any music you'd like, add it to your playlist...and all being free without downloading! I am very excited about that! Music, like I've said before, is my passion. Another site I've tagged is the Arkansas Rep Theatre's site.

Starting last month, I began volunteering for the theatre in Little Rock once a month. The site has this season's calendar postings and reveals information about the upcoming plays. This has been a very exciting experience for me, and I am looking forward to the future performances.

The other site I've tagged is Matt Terry's photography page. Matt is an excellent photographer. I love going to his site on a regular basis to see what new work of his he has posted. Social Blogging allows me to have access to all of these sites in one location, and allows easier access to them. Also, if any of you are interested in the same...you can search for my page by going to the delicious site, click on People, then enter in my username which is bdm2008. Now you can find information on plays coming to the Rep, search and listen to music, or look at Matt's beautiful photography...ENJOY! =)

RSS Feeds

I've seen the "little orange icon with squiggly lines" before, however, I had no idea what it was used for before reading about it through our lesson. I thought I was pretty computer literate, yet the more I read in this course, the more I realize I do not know as much as I thought I did. I'm very excited to be learning so many new things, and the best thing is that it is all so very useful.

There are several ways I can utilize RSS feeds. First of all, it could prove to be extremely useful if the library had a blog of its own for students to access and within that blog could be RSS feeds that would be benefical to students.

Implementing RSS feeds on my personal site can improve communication with my readers in that my readers will be more familiar with my personal interests. They may also be interested in the same things I am, and that always brings people closer together.

The RSS feeds I chose to add to my site are the link to learning 2.0, the monticello live site, and a link on health and fitness. I've just recently started working out and TRYING to eat right, so I thought it would be helpful to have a feed on this topic specifically.

I like the fact that I can simply login to my blog and have the most up-to-date news links available on my site without having to log in and out from different websites. I love simplicity.