MySpace, Facebook and Ning

My major concern with using social networking tools such as MySpace, Facebook, and Ning are that photos that are uploaded to these sites can never be taken back. The photos may also be used by others in ways that they were not intended. I realized while taking this class and encountering these social networking sites that I am more of a private person. I feel that many people are revealing way too much information about themselves on these sites and that information may harm them in the future. I guess I am just very cautious.
On the other hand, I can see these social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook being used to promote library programs and especially to encourage younger patrons to use the library. This is the "place" where we are going to find our younger patrons - MySpace and Facebook! I liked the concept of Ning, being more private and professional.

Flickr and Avatar

Flickr would be great to use for personal photos. I am certainly going to upload my photos onto Flickr. It is a great place to store your photos to have an extra safe keeping place. You do not have to make them public or share them, so you have nothing to lose. It is free! It is comforting to know there is a back-up copy of photos just in case your computer crashes, taking all your photos with it. Also, it would be much easier to find a photo, since you can put the photos in sets with the use of tags. That would cut down on the time it takes to find Aunt Edna's photo from the family reunion!

I thought that Avatar was fun to check out. I'd probably use it if I had more time to really play around with it and get it just the way I wanted...

Wikis and their uses

I am beginning to see the advantages of wikis. The only wiki I was really familiar with was Wikipedia, and I thought that the material on it was not to be trusted. I realize now that Wikipedia has software in place to check the edits that are created and verify the information that people put into the site.

I like the idea of using a wiki and keeping it private. There are so many uses for wikis in that way. You could plan a family reunion, work on a group project for school and work, plan a party and set out lists of things that people need to bring. I can see myself using wikis in the future.

Podcasting and Video Sharing

It is hard to say which one I prefer more, podcasting or video sharing. I think they both are great. I have used podcasting several times when I missed a radio program that I enjoy. Video sharing is great for laughs, but also can be very educational and beneficial. I am a visual learner, so watching a video on how to repair a faucet is more beneficial to me than just listening how to do it.
The YouTube video that I found amusing is "sneezing panda."

Thoughts on Rollyo and LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing a lot. It is great to be able to catalog your own personal library collection. I was also thinking that it would be useful if someone had a very old book and wanted to know what it was worth. They could find someone else on LibraryThing who had the same book and maybe be able to find out something about it's value. I have an older children's book, and I typed in the title, but there were no other people with that title in their collection. It was worth a try. I think next time I get a reference question about a book's value, I will add LibraryThing to my list of sources to check.
I thought Rollyo was fun, but don't see that I will be using it too much.

Advantages of RSS over bookmarking

I think that RSS feeds are much better than simply bookmarking. Firstly, if you are bookmarking using the "Favorites" on your computer, you can only access the bookmarks from that computer only. Secondly, there are more steps (clicks) involved in bookmarking. You have to "go" to each bookmarked site. In RSS feeds, your "bookmarks" are brought to you in one area and updates are noted. You do not have to waste time finding out if the blog you bookmarked has new posts.
When I searched for my 3 blogs on Google Blog Search, I was overwhelmed with the results. There were many results that were job listings. I found it better to use the Advanced tab to narrow the results.

This is not a photo of me, of course. It is the cover of a new book that we recently received at the Oak Lawn Public Library, Lana : The memories, the myths, the movies, by Cheryl Crane.