Facebook- Friend or Foe

I decided to Like the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine. To be honest, the main reason for choosing it was because our old chum, Sarah Brown (Reference Librarian extraordinaire), moved there.She has posted some gorgeous photos of her library, and it seems to be a splendid establishment. This is their very nice website-
Curtis Memorial Library

I found the information about the privacy settings really helpful and took the opportunity to review my Facebook settings. Gosh, I am ashamed at how lax I had been and quickly tightened up some of the options there.

I can see that Facebook  is a great tool to reach large groups of library patrons with not a huge amount of effort and with a greater scope for detail than tweeting. There is the potential for the library to gain positive feedback with comments posted by patrons, but also the reverse. I'm not sure the image of the library would benefit if a patron decided to post vitriolic comments about an unsatisfactory  library experience.It could prove to be a tricky situation if the library didn't respond; it could be interpreted that the library didn't care, or the response may not satisfy the patron and others contributing could make for a pretty nasty experience.

Tweet, Tweet, Twitter

I have to be honest, I am struggling with Twitter. I have signed up for a Twitter account, I'm following a few of my favorite celebs, but I've only managed to pluck up the courage to write one tweet. Intellectually and rationally I get the idea of Twitter. I can see how it is an effective and efficient means of getting or relaying information, and creating social connections. I suppose I'm just not emotionally committed to it. I don't want to put myself out there in the cyber world and that's what one has to do to be immersed and gain from the Twitter experience.

In terms of  the library using Twitter, then it could be a great resource.How about a book club discussion on Twitter? Maybe I could get excited about it then.

The potential of Picnik

Rhossilli, a photo by alicymru on Flickr.
While the original photo of the lovely Lambo (above left) was not as grainy as it has turned out here (not sure why I can't get a better resolution), the photo on the right provides an example of the wonders that can be achieved using Picnik.This module was great fun playing around with the various options - cropping, saturation, resizing. I was even able to give Lambo a touch up of whitening to enhance his natural grubbiness. I can definitely see how Picnik could be used to being some drama and glamor to posters and displays. I'm not sure if I missed it,but I couldn't find an option to directly transfer the modified picture from Picnik to the blog. I uploaded the picture from Picnik to Flickr then posted it on the blog. Was there a more direct way?


An aside- can you spot the hang glider?

To RSS or not to RSS, that is the question...

A couple of weeks ago I set up a Google Reader account,subscribed to a few feeds, and organized them neatly into appropriately labelled folders with the honorable intention of using this information source to keep in the loop with the selected sites. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm a creature of habit, but I haven't gone back to the reader to view the feeds preferring to visit my usual website haunts. I subscribed to the TCPL feed and I can see how that would be useful to quickly check if there were programs taking place, and at which branch etc. but to be honest, if I'm at work at a shared computer where I might not be automatically logged in, there's not really a time saving element to logging in to Google Reader to get the information over just going directly to the Homepage. I suppose it's purely a matter of preference.

I've decided to give the RSS/reader thing another chance by subscribing to a news source I know has a horrible website. I may regret this decision; the website is that of my home town's local newspaper. The newspaper itself is pretty dire so I can only hope that carefully selected feeds will ease the pain of local news reporting.

South Wales Evening Post - links to the awful local rag's website, just in case there was any doubt that home town news might be interesting.

alicymru's photostream

alicymru's photostream on Flickr.

Pretty Pictures

It's all very well me going on about Wales in this blog but I haven't shown any pictures of this lovely place. I had a little rummage around on Flickr searching for tags of this fair land and there were plenty of marvelous images to choose from. However, not feeling that comfortable about using other people's photos and not really fully understanding what I could or couldn't use, I decided to go ahead and set up my own Flickr account so I could share my own delightful pics. I have to put a disclaimer here; please be aware that the following photographs may create a false impression of the Welsh climate. Most of the time it is raining so please don't be fooled by the sunshine present in the pictures;it is the exception not the rule.Also I have to acknowledge the presence of Lambo (beloved Campus mascot and seasoned traveler), and of course, Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/67534086@N05/

Okay, this did not work out quite as planned as I have accidentally already posted my photostream from Flickr on the blog.

Rugby

Aah, rugby, the national game of Wales.Traditionally, fifteen burly men (though many fine women's teams exist, there isn't much television coverage unfortunately)throwing themselves at the opposing fifteen equally burly men. The purpose is to run to the opposite end of a field and land on one's face placing an odd shaped ball over a white line painted on the ground in order to score five points. Then one man kicks the ball a long way over an extremely large H shaped set of posts to get a conversion for an extra two points. Points can also be scored by the same kicking method in the form of a penalty kick or a drop goal. These are worth three points. The team with the most points wins, hurrah! There are, of course, complicated aspects of the game rucking, mauling, the lineout, and scrum, but I don't understand how that all works. All I know is that it is very physical, exciting, and I tend to get a bit emotional about supporting my national team.

Well, another four years have passed so it is time for the Rugby World Cup.This year it is being held in New Zealand(known as the All Blacks, because their kit is all black, ingenious eh?!) and the host nation is the strong favorite to win- well they are awesomely brilliant.Wales, though a pretty decent side, should make it through the group stage to the quarter finals. Now I have a RSS feed to Google Reader I should be fully aware of all the little intricacies of the Rugby World Cup fever. So far, my first impression is 'too much information'. Maybe there's a way to be more selective with feeds from within a site. Some exploration is required methinks.

So my hearty best wishes go out to the other side of the world cheering on those burly fifteen men in red.

2011 Wales Rugby World Cup Squad