Lactose Intolerance

So, I did the minimum this time around. Again.

I had read the short description of the week three offering some time back and I've been rolling my eyes at the thought of this particular assignment ever since. Between Wikis and Google docs and traditional email and the still-very-handy scrap of paper and manual writing implement, I couldn't see a very strong need for these particular Web 2.0 tools.

Plus I saw from our email that more passwords were needed to access the tools for this weeks assignments. And goddess knows I just can't get enough passwords in my life. Let the eye-rolling begin.

Well, Stef's course podcast for this particular lesson seemed to anticipate my reluctance and basically told me (and everyone else, of course) to quit whining and do it.

So I did it.

Using Remember the Milk, I was able to send the list a reminder and add a couple of comments. But I couldn't figure out how to add my phone number to the Jott list. And the Jott FAQ page wasn't working when I poked around for help.

Nevertheless, I now feel I can whine freely.

It's not that it's a useless tool or that it might not have features that could be exploited successfully given the right needs and environment. I just don't feel any urgency to add another layer of technology to the list tools we've already been given. The calendar features and reminders on Remember the Milk do give it some features that other tools lack (particularly the connectivity and sharing features), but I didn't familiarize myself with them because, frankly, I don't see myself using this particular tool past this assignment.

The same holds true for Jott. Maybe more so. I've mentioned before that I don't own a cell phone. That in itself removes the most useful feature that Jott possesses, the ability to convert a voice message to text while you're away from your desk/email/internet connection. Granted, this would be a useful tool to have if I was that mobile (I'm not) and constantly creating to-do lists (I don't) and adding to them on the fly (yeah, right). [BTW, does anyone know if it's true, as stated in the Wikipedia article, that "speech is then transcribed to text using a combination of software and of human transcribers?" Definitely a few steps back from the cutting edge of technology if true]

And another thing. Don't tools like Blackberrys and iPhones have a lot of these capabilities and features built-in? It seems as if Remember the Milk and Jott are somewhat cheap "kludgy" alternatives to some other existing (and perhaps more powerful) tools. If I needed this kind of connectivity, wouldn't it be to my benefit to supply myself with the type of tools that would work more seamlessly?

So, for me, neither of these tools seems destined to become part of my particular toolbox. I think they're remarkable, in their way, but given the wealth of tools available, these two don't provide this particular lack-0f-power-user with any compelling reasons to make them a part of my personal or work tools.

Feel free to persuade me that I'm wrong though.

Google Docs

Still catching up.

So I've been using Google mail for some time and have had some experience (but not much) with Google Docs based on that. I admit I haven't given it the attention it probably deserves after seeing some of the formating that others have done on our Project Play assignment. It always just seemed kind of clunky/unwieldy when I worked with it. There definitely seem to be more features than I noticed in the past. Maybe I just noticed more since they're so eerily similar to what we use when editing in Blogger. (Wonder why that is?) I think part of my problem is that my monitor is widescreen and that makes everything seem a little "off" if that makes sense. Like I'm still used to layouts existing in "portrait" format instead of "landscape."

Anyway.

I liked the possibilities that were demonstrated in the class assignments. I was really impressed with the gardening spreadsheet layout. Although that was more of a wiki with numbers. It was really well done. Excellent formatting. One of our condo association members recently set up a mailing list for all our members using Google groups and I'd like to start using the documents feature for treasurers reports and spreadsheets. (I'm the treasurer-- God help us.) I'm going to have to spend more time figuring out the formating that was used on our spreadsheet assignment. I definitely see some possibilities there.

I've mentioned during our assignment on wikis that our department has lots of documentation, some of which I've already got as Microsoft Word documents. Instead of having them spread across individual hard drives with somewhat spotty records when it comes to keeping updates current (ahem. who me?) we could probably port them over to Google docs and keep everything in one place, with revisions open to everyone who accesses those particular documents. But I envision lots of set-up work involved in making such a transition though. Not something I want to tackle in addition to all the regular work.

Which, admittedly, is an extremely short-sighted way to look at it.

As for using Google Docs in the library, I'll just echo what other people have said and say that it's got some real possibilities. (Good luck training the masses, though.) We've gotten pretty used to having Microsoft Office available on most of our machines for so long that I imagine it will take us quite a while to come to the realization that we could probably live without that particular piece of software. That may be why MSFT stock hasn't gone up in years.

But, that makes speedy and reliable internet connections even more critical. And Google could quickly turn into the most hated corporation in the world-- now that Microsoft is becoming less of "the only game in town." Not that that should bother libraries. Unless Google starts charging for access. Or making their ads more intrusive. Or something even more nefarious.

But, that's a worry for another time. For the moment, Google Docs seems to be a rich, full-featured software suite that's familiar/easy, free and convenient. What's not to love?

Stay tuned.

Your comments, as always, are welcome.

Another thought or two on instant messaging

... and maybe text messaging. Although they might not be synonymous.

So I had a few problems getting the widget to work. That lengthy list of comments on the week one page should have given me a clue. Anyway, I IM'd Stef about it. She IM'd back. Did you ever play IM tag? That can get annoying. Text/instant messaging may work better if you're using a cell-phone or Blackberry or some other personal device. A computer (desk-top for sure, laptop, maybe not as big a problem) doesn't have the portability. It does have the full-size keyboard though. So I think we're definitely losing some of the benefits of text/instant messaging when we're using desktops. One example that I read on a blog (can't remember where, don't know if I bookmarked it, don't want to check) was a library catalog that allowed patrons to text massage call numbers from their catalogs. No more scraps of paper and golf pencils. Neat! Right? But are scraps of paper and pencils really such a burden? A waste of resources maybe. But that can also be true of cell phones.

I really wonder if it's a generational thing. I watched the PBS special about wired kids called Growing up online (the entire broadcast is available online here with additional materials how cool is that!) and after hearing the follow-up story about one high-school student who joined the Coast Guard and had to give up most of his tech-communication tools during his first few weeks at the Coast Guard Academy. He seemed pretty relaxed about it, too. Like he was not really giving up all that much. And he sort of implied that he probably wouldn't be going back to it. At least not as heavily.

So I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, text/instant messaging isn't necessarily the essential form of communication for younger people. Maybe they just have more time to use it (they're not working fulltime or raising families), they don't have their own space (not everyone has their own computer in their bedroom, they're spending a lot of time in situations (classrooms) where talking on a cellphone is not an option, and the type of communication they're engaging in are not so serious that their lives will be seriously impacted if they miss (or misread) a text.

Sure, it's important to teens now. But life beyond high school will have different challenges. I think that text-messaging still needs to take a back-seat to other forms of communication. I did a little text-messaging today with a friend who was reading my blog (on work time) and wanted to chat a little bit (also on work time). And that was pretty fun. But we had to stop when someone walked into her office. So, we got to pretend we were young and carefree (alright, relatively speaking) and getting away with something in a situation where it really wasn't that big of a deal. It was quick and easy and bothered no one else. And, for me at least, that may be the only appeal of text/instant messaging.

Now if we can find a way to incorporate it into our workflow that actually improves our product output or provides greater efficiency, then I'll be ready to take another look at it. (I do like the idea of someone having the option of texting for help from the library catalog terminals.) But right now, I don't think IM and texting adds enough value to make it much more than an interesting distraction.

Not that distractions are bad. Depending on the distractions, of course. Your mileage may vary.

Your comments are welcome.

Instant Messaging

So, I'm a little late.

I finally got around to the first weeks assignment-- setting up an instant messaging account. Too many options to choose from! AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, and Google. Not to mention Meebo. So that slowed me down. Then trying to decide what ID to use and what password and didn't I used to have an account with these guys and what was that password?

Yada yada yada.

So, it's Sunday night, I've got it set up, and there's no one to talk to. I did send a message to Jean (or Stef or Beth) offline just to let someone know I've done something. So that part's done.

As far as using it in a library setting, it has potential. I read about David Lee King (or someone) using Meebo as a pop-up when someone is having problems using their library catalog and it sounded pretty cool. Then I thought about what it might be like to be on the receiving end when I'm looking up (oh, what's a common search term that's used in the catalog-- oh, how about fcuk?) So I type in my search term, don't get any hits, and all of a sudden a pop-up box appears on my screen asking WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Goodness.

Well, that might make me a little nervous. Sort of turn me off to the whole library-visiting experience. Younger users might take it in stride. Older users might freak out a little. Or be delighted. How do we know which type of patron we'd be messaging.

I can envision the patrons being the ones to initiate the contact. IM on their terms. Just a "Need help? Type here" box on the catalog page. That would be cool.

Yeah, it's probably still a good idea to do something with instant messaging. We've got off-desk reference personnel staffing phones/computers who could probably be available to IM patrons who are having trouble searching our catalog. But they (staffers) might find it easier to just walk out to the catalog terminals and talk to a patron. But what if the patron prefers IM rather than a human interaction? Lots of different patrons with lots of different needs/wants in their library experience.

I've thought how using it would help me in my work as a cataloger, but I not sure I feel the need for instant messaging. Email and the phone seem to work fine. Maybe others would like to have faster, more direct contact with me though. We've got forms for reporting problems with bib records that South Central libraries use to send email. I could see then using IMs instead-- especially if they can send them when I'm offline. But, again, this stuff isn't exactly time-sensitive so it might be easier to keep doing what we're doing with that. Email still works for a lot of the stuff we do.

Part of the reason I'm a little hesitant about using IM is I recently read one of Meredith Farkas' blogs about libraries attempting to add their presence to Facebook and Second Life and questioning whether we really understand the cultures into which we're trying to insinuate ourselves. And another point she had later made about doing assessments of what we've done and doing some thinking beforehand about how we're trying to serve our users, rather than jumping on trends that really don't lend themselves to the type of services our patrons want from their libraries.

So I think instant messaging might have a role to play in our library, but I'm not sure yet what that is.

Oh, check out my Meebo widget. I had to tweak the HTML to get it to fit in my column. That was fun. People can now Meebo me from my blog. But how many people visit my blog?

As always, your comments are welcome.