back to work. i kind of sloughed off on this Thing as it looks really long and tedious..
but here's the gist. or what i am aiming for as the gist.
1) google alerts.
i've never used this. how could it be useful for a library setting? i guess it depends on your audience or area of expertise. as a kids librarian, if it was the months between may and august, i might try things like 'summer reading' as key words to be alerted to in news stories, blogs, etc.
for this experiment i chose to put in 'running'. very very broad but we'll see what i think of how it works as those alerts start comin' in...
2) google news.
i messed around with this and read through the varying ways to tailor what kinds of news i could see, but quite honestly, i like the news sources i read and the sites i frequent just fine. i'm leaving this one be...
3)google search wiki
really interesting! i had no idea you could move things around like that in your own google search results wiki and keep track of what you find that way. the searching for a specific URL to add to such results is also pretty cool. say you want to go camping all over MN this summer. i can see looking at varying camp websites, state parks, national forest sites, etc and keeping them all in one spot so that you don't have to go re-search them all again when the time comes to actually reserve a weekend. pretty slick. i think i'd probably use it, but as with many other aspects of this assigment of Things, i'm a little overwhelmed at what i've seen so far just this evenin' and need to kind of file this idea away before i jump in and use it.
4)web history
hmmmm. yet another interesting tidbit. i did enable or turn on my history button. i hadn't prior. esp related to work, when i get patrons who want common sites like 'what do you recommend for a 4th grade boy?' it's nice to access other library sites and booklists to help patrons. i can see using this at work if i had a dedicated station.
i think that privacy is more an issue related to web things more often than not. have most of us become accustomed to most parts of the web being private or safe? yes. but you always have to watch your back and take precautions, just like so many other things in life. i'm interested in sharing browsing history with certain topics, but not everything.
5)gmail.
i've been a fan and user of this part of google for 3 years now at least. i know pretty much most of this part of google inside and out, including the new video/voice possibilities. i kind of like the proverbial curtain of email and chat, so being on camera or hearing a voice i can see being very cool for families or friends far away often, but not an every day thing for me. i LOVE gmail. it's handy. it's easy. it's intuitive. and it's what i use.
6) calendar
use it. love it. so far i only use it for personal stuff. but work stuff is a close second as something i want to use it more for. there's this meeting there, that meeting next week, program dates, etc to put in place, and i think it could be time to branch it out to work life.
it's nice to have a group of people be able to access the same calendar to keep everyone on the same page (pardon the pun). but it's true.
phew. this one took some delving into. but on a sunday night? it's time for some bad but addicting reality tv and dinner. have a great week ya'll....
