Thing 9 - Google Tools!

'ello again,

Today I'm going to tell you about a few of my favorite Google tools. Google is not just a search engine any more. It is a super search engine!

Google now offers much more than your basic searching, now you can find images or video or even maps all at the click of a button. Google has a ton of applications that you can use just by having a Google account. Don't want to pay Microsoft's outrageous prices for Word; use Google Docs. Looking for that great Thai restaurant your friends keep raving about; use Google Maps. Want to see what your house will look like with a new family room; use Google Sketch-up. The possibilities are endless.

I think that my two favorite Google tools have to be Google Earth and Google Maps. These applications are amazing! I first found aout about Google Earth about a year and a half ago, and it has changed the way I look for directions. Google Earth is a program that is available for download. With it you get an entire map of the world via images that are pieced together to form a topagraphical map of the Earth. The detail is spectacular. You can zoom in, on some areas, so close that you can see your car! Google has transported the technology over to its online Maps feature. So now when you are looking for directions you can choose map, terrain or satellite. In addition, they have started to add the street view in some areas. This feature gives a street level view so you can see the neighborhood you are going to be traveling through. So far there are half a dozen cities or so that have the street view but they are adding more every week. I love it!

Another Google feature that I use daily is iGoogle. I have it set as my homepage so it is the first thing I see when I open up my internet browser. I love this tool because it is so customizable. I have a ton of stuff on it; a link to my Gmail and Google Calender accounts; a widgit that gives me local, national, and world news and weather; Dictionary.com's Word of the Day and Quotes of the Day. All add by me. Anytime I get sick of one I can delete it or, if I find a new one, adding it is just as simple. Gotta love how much effort Google puts in.

Cheers!

Thing 8 - Wiki's

Hello,

Today I'm going to talk about wiki's and how they work.

A wiki is basically a website that anyone can contribute to. The most famous is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that has over 2 million articles and it's growing every day. Because articles are written and maintained by individuals who do not need to prove their expertise on the subject that they are writing about, articles are prone to misinformation and even vandalism.

Wiki's work on the idea of "Radical Trust" which is to say that we trust that the community will work together, for the most part, to ensure that the the information that is given is correct. I think this is a great idea but I would never stake my life on anything that was printed on wikipedia. For one thing, we don't know when the article was last edited. If someone who was trying to be malicious edited an article minutes before you looked at it, the community would not have time to correct the misinformation before you view it. This would be a bit of an extreme coincidence, but it can happen. The fact that an article could house misinformation means that it cannot be trusted completely.

Now I use wikipedia quite often and I trust (radically) that what I am reading is correct because (1) I don't actually believe there are enough people out there who are actively trying to post misinformation on wikipedia and (2) when I use wikipedia it is not generally going to harm me in any way if the information that I get is incorrect. So when I use wikipedia, I generally believe what I read but always with the knowledge that it might not be 100% accurate.

Till next time,
Cheers!

Thing 7 - Podcasting

Hello Again,

The next topic we are going to talk about is Podcasting. Podcasting is a great way to get information in audio format. I've been subscribing to podcasts for a while now and I'm totally hooked. I have never been a big fan of talk radio, mostly because when I get in my car and turn on the radio, the program is already halfway over. Enter podcasting. Now I can get some of the best radio programs and start them when I want. Fabulous! My favorites are PTI; a sports program published by ESPN and This American Life; a weekly NPR radio broadcast.

Podcasting would be a great way for the library to present news about what is going on in the library or even a way to give presentations or classes to patrons who can't always make it to the library.

Till next time,

Cheers!