Productivity tools and documents in the clouds

I began saving large work/library related documents in Google Docs over two years ago, as a result of the limitations on Outlook email account size.  I saved the MRQ there and the Sub Training Notebook which amounts to hundreds of pages of material, my PPE reviews and more.

It works great cause even though I have an external hard drive, it gives me universal access to these documents from any computer.

Biometrics

7.

Interesting how biometrics are the wave of the future for identifying indviduals for all sorts of purposes.  Iris scans, fingerprint scans, head scans, blood vessel maps of the human body, etc. Ultimately, this recordation of humans will be the ultimate big government trap.

There's fear around the maintenance of electronic medical records, but what will happen when your face can be scanned and registered when you walk into a grocery store or library and the feds can pick you up in minutes for unpaid child support?

Wiki's weally work

http://23things.info/category/14-create-a-wiki/

16.
After seeing the following memo from Andrea Castrogiovanni at Olney, I thought it might be a good idea to create a wiki for Bethesda Library.  The link above takes you to it, and the password to view it is 'library'.

A memo from the Assistant Manager at Olney Library-
From: Castrogiovanni, Andrea
Sent: Fri 9/25/09 2:22 PM 

To: Unruh-Manteuffel, Ronnie; Chung, ToAnh; Farshori, Raeesa; Buck, Patricia; Pogue, Kimberly; Schofer, Joan; Gardner, Jane; Fowler, Stella; Bolt, Ann; Sandra B. Dowling; Sarantis, Laura; Jiau, King-Hwa; Kime, Nancy
Cc: Legarreta, Carol; Eagan, Joseph


Subject: Keeping Olney's Sunday Staff "in the know": Olney's Wiki
Hi, Olney Sunday Staff -
Earlier this year, I developed a resource for Olney Staff to keep abreast of developments/changes within the branch, as well as to provide reminders/FYIs/notices of interest. This resource is the Olney Wiki.


What's a wiki?
A wiki is a website that anyone can create, using a simplified language.


Why does Olney have a wiki?
here are several purposes:
- to introduce all staff to Web 2.0 (e.g., "interactive website" = wiki)
- to make available a forum for discussion on ongoing issues
- to provide a "quick reference" resource for staff (e.g., practices/procedures/FAQ)
- to house links/resources/modules for in-house training


Why should I (as Sunday Staff) have access to this?
You're part of the Olney team! The wiki is a "living document" and is regularly updated.
Within the next week, you'll receive an invitation with instructions from PBWorks to join as a wiki Reader. The wiki serves as Olney's "intranet" -- no one from the outside will be able to view this (that is why the invitation is required). The wiki serves as the new "Only @ Olney" newsletter -- plus! It'll include news tidbits of what's happening at Olney, in MCPL, in the library service profession...and more!


You are not required to join the wiki...but you may find it helpful to keep informed of Olney's happenings. This can help you give good customer service when you're working your Sunday shift.
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know!

Newsreaders

4

A newsreader is an application program that reads articles on Usenet (generally known as newsgroup), either directly from the news server's disks or via the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP).


There are several different types of newsreaders, depending on the type of service the user needs — whether intended primarily for discussion or for downloading files posted to the alt.binaries hierarchy. Although Usenet originally started as a message board without any file attachment ability, many Usenet users today do not participate in NNTP discussion groups, as was common during the 1980s and 1990s before the emergence of website forums, and only use Newsgroups for downloading files such as music, movies, software and games. Therefore, their needs call for a streamlined client for quickly grabbing binary attachments, and without the extraneous clutter of text reading and posting features for which file downloaders have little use.

Promoting digital library resources

(7)

David Lee King has an interesting article on his blog about competencies for today's librarians. Follow the link to read it. 

librarian blogs

9.
      Here's a few blogs I researched which interested me.

•   http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/
•   http://www.davidleeking.com/
•   http://www.nypl.org/blog/
•   http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/
•   http://www.davidleeking.com/2008/10/09/what-can-you-do-with-a-facebook-page/

mashups a combination of overlapping source links or photographic links

6.
Mashups differ from portals in the following respects:

• Portal style: aggregated content is presented 'side-by-side' without overlaps
• Mash-up style"Melting Pot" style - Individual content may be combined in any manner, resulting in arbitrarily structured hybrid content 
• The portal model has been around longer and has had greater investment and product research. Portal technology is therefore more standardised and mature.
• Over time, increasing maturity and standardization of mashup technology may make it more popular than portal technology. 

• New versions of portal products are expected to eventually add mashup support while still supporting legacy portlet applications. Mashup technologies, in contrast, are not expected to provide support for portal standards.