30 Boxes Online Calendar

For an exercise in the Web 2.0 new and interesting contributors, I chose 30 Boxes. 30 Boxes is an online calendar system that allows me to keep track of all important events (whether social or otherwise). I often use the calendars associated with Outlook or Hotmail to keep my schedule on track, but I like the layout of 30 boxes better. It is larger and instead of clicking on times and days to make an entry, I can type in a single entry box to enter my important dates. I can also add pictures and friends to the calendar system, so it's pretty much a social networking site wrapped up in a calendar. I can see this as a useful feature for library events. It would be fun to be able to add pictures to the days that an event takes place in order to provide a more interesting and attractive program layout.

Google Labs

I discovered Google Labs for a project I had to do for an Ethics class.
I was instructed to create a free-standing, hypertext document of an Ethical code, in other words, I had to create a website.
I know a bit of HTML, but I am in no way proficient in making and completing a website. Google Pages made it so easy for me to create my own code of ethics website. It's basically like creating a document in Word but it's published on the Web! I even added pictures.
It is a Diversity Code of Ethics. Check it out if you want:
http://jessmex77.googlepages.com

Zoho and Google Docs

I very much like the idea of on online word processor that I can access from any computer. The most appealing aspect aside from the fact that it is free is that I don't have to worry if my computer crashes. Just this year, in fact, my laptop met an untimely death at the side of the freeway (loooong story, I won't bore you with the details). We were lucky to have been able to recover the hard drive, so I didn't lose my infinitely valuable data and pictures. However, if I had saved everything on Google Docs or Zoho, despite the sadness of losing my laptop, I would have been relieved to know that my data was floating somewhere in cyberspace rather than on roads of 520.

Library Experiences and 2.0

Osman Hamdi Mihrab

It does seem that Web 2.0 is a direction that libraries should consider taking. However, it is also important to realize that there are about 29% of U.S. households without Internet access. So, not only must we address the future trends but also we must work to help those affected by the digital divide. Remember that although we are creating websites, learning about wikis, chatting on MySpace and just accomplishing every day Web 2.0 stuff, there are many people out there who are just learning to use the mouse. Many of these people are our patrons. This is also why computer classes are important in libraries.

Rollyo vs. Google Custom Search Engine

The idea of being able to customize searches allows us the search only the websites that are relevant to our needs. I can see the advantage of a customized search engine geared for libraries to ensure that the websites found actually contain relevant and useful information for our patrons. Also, it weeds out the junk, for profit websites that distract us from finding the information we really need.
Additionally, it is nice to have a search engine that doesn't assume I want information about Turkey (the bird) when I am actually looking for information about the country. Alas, this is one of my Google pet peeves.....
As for a preference of one custom search engine over the other, I don't really have one. It seems to me that functions and layouts are inherently quite similar, it is just a matter of choosing between the two. I chose Rollyo this time because I kind of feel like Google is going to take over the world and that could be scary.