sitepal and podcasting

I had a look at sitepal and really its just a gimmick to attract people to your site or blog. I can see the value of it for companies. It could be used by the Library to attract more students. Its a lot of grief to try embed this into your blog. I did not want to download it, and just emailed it to my gmail account. Thought I would be able to add it to my blog but failed.

with regard to podcasting I was familiar with this and have used audacity software to edit audio recordings. My personal feeling is that podcasting is useful for professional broadcasting organizations and educational institutions which adhere to quality standards. Its a good way of communicating your message. Reviewing the podcast directories there is probably some interesting stuff but you have to wade through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat. In other words do you really want to have to endure listening to some lunatic ranting on their verbal soapbox.

I suppose lastFM is a musical version of library thing, with all the information on bands that obsessive fanatical music fans would love. I had a look at the Roots a Jazzy Hip Hop Collective from the City of Brotherly Love, Philly. Everything you wanted to know about the band was there, including links to information about their backing singers who have also became successful solo artists.



I'm starting to think should we rename this programme 23 Usernames and password things.

YouTube video the Matrix runs on Windows.

I had a look around YouTube and was trying to discover something that would be relevant. I chose this clip the matrix runs on windows by College Humor since it lampoons a particular movie genre and the humour is supposed to appeal to students. Its also very relevant since ties in well with the lunchtime talk on gaming today. As you can guess I have fallen behind a couple of weeks and am trying to catch up.

The video has universal appeal since everybody has experienced those frustating moments when windows crashes. I was never a fan of the Matrix but as far as I recall it was originally a graphic novel, and I think it ultimately became a game. It developed into a whole cult thing that totally passed me by.


I don't know how you would incorporate this video into a library website,unless inject a sense of humour into it or were trying to attract the attention of Matrix fans. Maybe create sketches from common situations staff encounter when dealing with users, which could be used for training purposes. Since as the old saying goes "Laughter is the best medicine". And I must admit that this video was very cleverly done and quite witty.

Whirling around wikis.

I've had a look at a couple of Wikis and signed up for PBWiki. Of course the definitive Wiki is Wikipedia, which every student finds invaluable for assignments even if the content is not always correct.

I think The Cataloguers Wiki UL Scratchpad is a very good idea for updating a manual. I must admit though I was constantly distracted by illuminating adverts along the sidebar advertising everything from mobile phone games and dating sites. I whirred through Columbia University's New Media centre for Teaching and Learning conference video about how they created their own special wiki called Wikispaces which was taken up with great gusto by faculty and unleashed a torrent of innovative teaching methods.

I can see how wikis could be used in the context of the KBS by communicating with students regarding queries. Conducting information skills learning workshops by making them more interactive. The application of Wikis has great potential in a library context and its just a matter of sitting down and carrying out some serious brain storming sessions with colleagues to see what works.

Theres always a Brazilian following You!

For the Curious out there if you view the next blog after this one I guarantee you it will be Brazilian. Blogger must have cut a deal or has a some crazy strategy to place portuegese blogs along side english ones. I had a look at Friendly banter and the next blog after this contained photos of a family preparing for easter celebrations with pictures of chickens and miniature houses, which appear to be somewhere in Brazil. I couldn't understand a word of it since was all portuegese to me, but the photos told the story.

I had a look at Technorati, and had to read the instructions transcript since there were problems downloading the video explaining how to use it.Once I had read about all the great improvements to the site, I found it quite difficult to navigate around it. I can't really see it as being something I would use much or even at all.

Web 2.0 Awards List Cocktail Builder

I am still trying to catch up on last weeks assignment. I am nearly there and the last part was to choose a site from the awards list and blog about it. Since I am a dapper cocktail maker and enjoy nothing more than experimenting with the contents of the drinks cabinet by mixing and shaking them about in the cocktail shaker with plenty of crushed ice. Images of the witches in Macbeth suddenly come to mind as they stir the contents of their cauldron adding eye of newt to spice it up. I can assure you my concoctions are alway thoroughly enjoyed by delighted guests. The thrill for me is making the cocktail and seeing what will work.

I was immediately drawn to Cocktail Builder, which metaphorically speaking dangles a carrot in front of you by asking what are the contents of your bar and suggesting possible cocktails to make. AS you enter the ingredients the potential of being able to make one of their concoctions fades further into the distance since the recipe suggestions keep changing and you get the feeling I will never be able to make one of these. However I did like some of their recipes and will obtain the ingredients and try them out on guests at the next soiree.

Overall if you knew nothing about cocktails and wanted to obtain some tips, its not a bad place to start. You can even make up you own recipes and suggest them to the site but you have to calibrate each part in ozs. Some of the cocktails have some unusual names like 1960s Black Devil, Screw the Devil, and horses neck.

There is the ubiquitious Sex on the Beach which seems to be on every bar menu around the globe. Maybe a new one could be sand in your bum after all that sex on the beach. Which would have to come with a tiny umbrella, and plenty of brown sugar and quite a sour taste maybe a whiskey sour and some bitters and possibly a flavoured vodka and slice of lime. There you are I have just invented a new cocktail thanks to cocktail builder.

right hopefully you will be able to see my eclectic list of books chosen from library thing. A brief word about the choices, I have always had an interest in comedy and satire, and each of these book reminds of my travels. I picked up the Tin Drum by Gunther Grass in an old bookshop in Prague while inter railing and read the first couple of pages, and thought its too heavy to carry around with me. So I got it for christmas the following year.

I bought the Seinfeld Scripts in the NBC Shop at the Rockefeller centre in Manhattan which was a very apt since the comedy was set in NYC. I spent a summer working in a cherry factory in Germany and read Vonnegut's book in the cellar of a workers hostel which was quite appropriate. War and Peace Tolstoy's historical epic about a Russian aristocratic families fate during the Napoleonic wars. I started this in Perth Western Australia with the intention of reading it during the course of travelling around the country. I got about halfway through it and gave it up. I just remember leaving some characters in a drawing room and that was the end of that since never picked it up again. Raging bulls Easy Riders by Biskind was an illuminating journey through 1970s Hollywood, and half the people featured would not be out of place as characters in Joseph Heller's Catch 22.

Mattargorda apartment view Lanzarote

Mattargorda apartment view Lanzarote
Originally uploaded by jacquerocard

This is what you really call a clear blue sky