Mashup Mixup

I went back and reread the directions for week 2 and now see that I did in fact misread the directions. I have now gone and looked up mashups and tried spelling my name with "spell with flickr."



The flickr color picker was really cool, just to see the variety of color and images. Not necessarily a practical application, but fun!

Obviously mashups have some practical applications i.e. google maps, but I'd have to think on it a bit to figure out how we could use this technology here. I did read Erik's blog post on mashups and I like the idea of using it to create VHS scavenger hunts.

Ok more on week 4...

So I am cruising around Generator Blog and found the Random Fact Generator. That could actually be a neat thing for us to use on our Facebook page or website. We could gather interesting and strange facts about the VHS, VA history, items in our collection and use it to entertain and inform. Just a thought.

Then I hopped on over to Letter James and made an e-card, which I sent to myself and have not received...

Then I went on LibraryThing. I did not think I would spend much time on it, but I got sucked in. It is a very neat tool and I am very pleased that we are using it. I might use it for my home library.

Than I went to Jott (see a pattern here) and fell in love with it. I can be very forgetful at times, so I signed up for this and am going to try it out to see if it helps me remember things. What a great idea, why did I not come up with this?

Then...just when I though life could not get any better...I went to Livemocha! I have been wanting to dust off my Spanish language skills for some time now. Now I can do it on line at my own pace and it is free! This may be just what I need to haul my sorry self out of bed in the morning. I could make it a part of my routine. Perhaps it can help me break my FB additicion to useless applications that are fun but huge time wasters!

The 2.0 awards have the potential to be useful for me. I am running out of time, so I quickly skimmed the list. I saw some winners that looked useful especially in the realm of languages.

Overall, some of these things look like potential time-wasters, but all in all, I was very interested in what I found. I certainly think LibrayThing is a valuable tool for us. Jott could just be plain helpful for me personally. Livemocha is what I am most excited about though. I really do think that could be useful for me personally as well as professionally. I have already translated (albeit poorly) some Spanish letters while I have worked in the archives. I also think it is good to have a working knowledge of at least one other language other than your own!

Hello my name is Parkarette Brindie-Jade

Well so far on Generator Blog I have found out my Mormon name:

My Mormon name is Parkarette Brindie-Jade!
What's yours?

The onslaught of TMI...

Ok, so I am a total news junkie and as such I set up an RSS aggregator a while back. There is just too much out there for me, so I ended up abandoning the thing. It is a very neat tool and could be very effective if only I took the time to manage it properly.

So this time since we have this exercise I decided to use Google Reader. I looked at topix.net and syndic8, but alas I had that TMI feeling all over again. So I went back to Google Reader and clicked on "Discover," and chose some pre-packaged bundles: News, Fun, and Thinkers. This was much less stressful and I picked up the AP, Reuters, BBC, etc., which I like to check out. I also like that it is set up so after I scroll over it, it is marked as read. I can move through quickly, star the items I want to read, and go back to them later. I think I will customize the bundles I subscribed to and maybe subscribe to a few more items. I am glad to try this again and hopefully instead of the onslaught of TMI, it will the be nice steady flow that I am looking for.

Playing with fire...I mean Flickr!

Ok, first a small rant about technology...I hate passwords!!! I try to use the same one with maybe a slight variation, but I have such a terrible time remembering things. If people were honest the cyber world would be a much better place. End rant.

I took a quick pass through Flickr as I have been on it before to look at friends photos and also to help Paige and Laura with arranging and labeling photos for the Archives Fair next week. We are using a loop of photos at our table to help show what we do all day.

I decided to search for LVA on Flickr instead of using Katherine's link. I found it interesting that they were listed under "People" instead of "Groups" so it took me a couple of tries before I found them. I did find what I was looking for though. Yesterday a group of us went to LVA for a lecture and Frances mentioned their Rice photo exhibit and that they had put them on Flickr. I found them. That is a neat idea and maybe something the VHS could explore. At the very least I think it is a useful tool for personal photos and could also be of value to us as an institution.

We will have to report back on how the use of Flickr at our table at the Archives Fair works out, but I expect it will be positive. I also found in my few minutes of exploration a group of photos from UVA Law which I quickly forwarded to my husband and a group of photos of presidential graves. Of course, the presidential graves photos also had one of Jeb Stuart's grave, which I thought was hilarious! I can see Flickr being helpful to me as I do my work here in archives.

News about Flickr

I heard on ABC news this morning that some companies have used photos from Flickr accounts in their ad campaigns without permission or compensation. If you do not want anyone to use your photos without your knowledge, you should make sure your privacy settings reflect this. Something to remember when you post things on-line; be it your blog, or Flickr, or whatever. If you don't want it seen/read, the either do not post it or take the proper security measures.

Tales from the Crypt...the beginning

Hello all!
My first blog post. Not much to report other than it is time to work on those lovely MARC records. Here in the crypt an archivist's work is never done...

Cheers!