NING-A-DING DING

I wasn't familiar with Ning & haven't heard anyone talk about it. Clearly, from all the activity on it, I've been out of the loop.

Random observations, thoughts, etc.:

• I won't do an account because Facebook is plenty for me... but this is an interesting site.
  
• I see that ALA is moving from Ning to their own site: http://connect.ala.org/
  
• The "Open Source ILS Song" sounds like something that should have been playing over the closing credits of the movie "Juno."
  
• There's a site for the American Surrealism Society. They have 5 members. Their catchphrase is: "Who's your dada?"

Okay ... a couple of days have passed and I realized that I had been on Ning before. A librarian that longer works here set up a community for the library: http://fwplworkers.ning.com/ There was some activity on it in early '08 - but then the librarian in question left for greener pastures. So it's just kind of sitting there - the cyber equivilant of space junk. I forgot all about it. I sent messages to a couple of friends on there & they all replied with "Oh, I forgot about this..." type messages. I wonder how many of these "abandoned kingdom" sites are floating around out there.

Ning is nice. But Facebook's more fun.

MORE FACEBOOK

I've joined Facebook groups and pages right and left since I joined up a few months ago - without really knowing or caring about the differences. So the Howard Greenstein article on Mashable (great site name!!) was very helpful delineating between the two.

I've become a member of several groups on Facebook. None library related. I'm in Pre-Code Hollywood, and Slam Bang Theater, The Underground Garage and When I Was Your Age - Pluto Was a Planet, among others. In honor of 23 Things - I joined the Texas Library Association Members' group. I joined the cause: I Love Banned Books.

I was a member of the Kimball Art Museum group - but they changed to a page. I'm a fan of their page now, and get regular updates on what's going on w/ them. The same for the Modern. For 23 Things, I've become a fan of the Libraries page. This lovely page has pictures of some of the more famous and historic libraries all over the world. Some other pages that count me as a fan: Texas Daytrippers, Texas Native Plant Society, Dallas/Fort Worth Thunderstorms, various arts & music pages. Among others.

The Library should have a page (or pages, even) & invite everyone in our database of emails to become fans. That would be a free & extremely simple way to notify our patrons of upcoming programs, news, new materials... everything.

I've had a Facebook page for several months now. I use it mostly for personal communication - although some work friends are there as well.

It was great fun to set up. A friend recommended I do it - he was putting together a reunion of sorts. People who grew up in Dallas in the 70s and supported local music at this one particular bar. (Drinking age was 18 then - you could still be growing up and legally hang out at a bar.) It was called the "DJ's Class of 79 Reunion." This is as close as I will ever come to attending a high school reunion - so I got on board and set up a page. It was really fun for those first few days - as people I hadn't seen or talked to in 30 years were contacting me to be friends and I was talking to them all at once. It was very multi-dimensional and kind of surreal. (I'm a fan of Surrealism on Facebook).

I re-connected with some old friends and got some of my family and current friends on there as well. I would sit & watch TV and chat w/ my friend in Seattle while another friend in Austin uploaded pictures of his Cardoon plants. (a relative of the artichoke). It is very addictive. I'm not at the point where some of my friends are - updating their status many times a day with things like "I'm going to eat some empanadas" or "I'm going to work out now." I mean ... who cares?

I have friends that make things or are in bands - and that all keep me updated with pictures of their stuff or videos of their shows - as well as upcoming events. We all post pictures and commentary from our lives. It's a great way to stay in touch without actually seeing anybody. Although I went to the actual reunion this last weekend in Dallas and it was a blast. Still, I don't think I would be as enthusiastic about it if I actually had to see and talk to all those people all the time. It's staying in touch without actually touching.

I'm a fan of local museums and music venues - so they post regular updates with schedules and such. This is where I see it working within the Library system - with programs, new books, blogs, etc. (if the city would ever permit it). I get updates from THE DAILY SHOW. People recommend blogs and sites they like. That's how I discovered Texts From Last Night. Be warned, it is quite raunchy which also makes me see how hard it would be to control content if you were worried about that sort of thing.

Some of my FB friends gripe about the applications (Aps). They consider them an invasion of privacy - as they pull all your profile information and that of all your friends as well. So every time you send a "Punk Rock Single" or take a "What Movie Psycho Are You" quiz - you're invading everyone's privacy. I suppose if you are of a paranoid bent - that might be a problem. Personally - I don't have any real personal information in my profile - (DOB, Phone number, address etc.). My thinking is - if you want to stay private - why are you on a social networking site?

Get a Brain, Morans

Get a Brain, Morans
Originally uploaded by Eexlebots

I don't really have a blog to go with this picture.

I just think it's awesome.

Luddite-ittude: A Cranky Take on Blog Readers & RSS

Perhaps it's because it's Monday. Perhaps I'm just feeling a little more luddite-ittude than usual. I think I may be suffering from information overload.

Thing 6 was helpful - as I'd heard the term "blog reader" & never checked it out before, due to laziness & afore mentioned luddite-ittude. I still don't see how this saves time versus just adding a blog to your favorites in IE. (she said, crankily).

For Thing 7, a problem is that - due to a City IT issue - many staff PC internet browsers have not been upgraded past IE6 - which doesn't provide for RSS subscriptions. So we'll do it at home. If you're like me, the sites you subscribe to will not all be work related. I'm following some of my workmates 23Thing blogs - as well as a local news feed, some random celebrity gossip (a shameful habit), and a thing called The Hound Blog that I don't even remember how I came to it but I think it's cool. I suppose I should subscribe to something to do with issues in the profession - not that I'll ever have time to read it. (Hrrmph)

Me made of zombies

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

Warholized

My creation
Originally uploaded by shebax9

Do you think this is what Andy had in mind??

When you think of his philosophy of everyone having their 15 minutes of fame. He always said anyone could make art or movies.

I bet he'd be enjoying all this... everyone with access to a computer creating their own "movie." Isn't that sort of what blogging is?

Things I'm having trouble with:

1. Major time-suck
2. The narcissism of blogging & twittering at el
3. Does anyone really read anyone else's blog?

Things to ponder as I go spell my name with zombies or whatever...