Week 9 # 20

Discovering You Tube was one of the exercises that brought me more guilty feeling for me. It was kind of strange taking time from work to watch You Tube, while some carts were right there, full of books, waiting to be shelved. It was a big test for my responsibility skills too, since I had to avoid the temptation of exploring You Tube a little more than necessary. ;-)

At the library, because of privacy matters, we can not just put images of our patrons on public sites without their permission, which limits what we can do on the website. However, I think using some features of You Tube to divulge library programs and events would be something good and feasible. I am sure we can think of yet other uses for it; all we need is to free our imagination.

Finding videos worth noting as an entry in my blog was not hard; choosing only one was. I saw some videos about working dogs, for example, that were really interesting and I almost put one here. But then I thought "why not choose something that relates to my roots?" That's when I decided to put a Brazilian singer who I really love. And, despite the fact that the video quality is not really good, there will be no doubts that his voice is extremely beautiful.

I chose the video where he sings with James Taylor, just so you guys have a familiar face to look at. Unfortunately, I didn't find a music that they sing both in Portuguese and English, so you could understand the lyrics.

I hope you enjoy it!

Week 8 # 19

Now I can see clearly what is happening in my "relationship" with computers. Every time I think I am starting to understand them, someone creates a new tool and the learning process gets longer.

 

This time I am learning about Zoho. Looks like it's something that many people are going to use. Very practical. I've already told about Zoho to some friends and asked at home if they knew it. My husband, a computer guy, had never heard about it, and I will have the pleasure to show him.

 

Right now, I've decided to put my abilities to test and I am using Zoho's publish options to post to my blog. I hope everything works fine.

 

week 8 #18

Social Networking is the theme for this exercise. This is THE THING that people really love when spending time on their computers. If you think about it, that was a big step on the technology field and one of the most used tools that are available out there. I'm not a computer person, as I have said before, but I must admit that I understand why people are so addicted to Social Networking sites.

You can use them to get in touch with friends, to make new ones and find the ones that were long "lost." You can find communities that share common interests and discuss them anytime you want. You can get ideas, advice, exchange experiences related to jobs, hobbies, everyday needs, and anything you can think about.

What worries me is that people are spending so much time on these online communities, that they will slowly forget how to really interact with each other, ("really" meaning face to face). It's like the world is going to have a bunch of lonely people, pretending that they are not alone.

If I were to join only one of the sites that appeared on exercise #18, it would probably be "Rate My Space".

week 7 #17

Technology... That's one thing that could be totally wonderful, but in my opinion it is not. Are you wondering why I am saying this? Well, what is negative about technology is the addiction it brings. Imagine a room with people talking, making new friends and cherishing old ones. A real pleasant situation, don't you think? Now, put one computer in this same room and turn it on. What happens to all the talking?

Do you remember many years ago, when a family was on a car trip, everybody looking through the window? If you saw something all you had to do was to say: look to the left, or to the right, and a conversation would start.

Well, try it now with your kids. One has his IPOD on, the other one is busy with his Nintendo DS, and I don't need to tell you there is probably a cell phone, a DVD playing, and God knows what else. No one is going to hear you. And that is imagining that you are actually trying to talk to them, because probably what is happening is that you are talking on your cell phone too.

By these examples what I mean is: technology should be something that is here to help us improve the quality of our lives, to help us achieve more things, but instead is taking the quality of our relationship with family and friends away from us, because people are always by themselves involved with some electronic gadget, or taking home their work with them.

week 7 # 16

One more thing done. Reading and learning about wikis was good. My kids had introduced me to Wikipedia some time ago, so I had some idea about it already. I have added my blog to the favorites on the iHCPL page. Wikis are a good source of information although not totally reliable. I don't see a really good use for them in libraries.