Minnesota Mystery Authors
What fun! I added a bunch of books to my LibraryThing - all mysteries, since that's the area I maintain at my library, and I like to read them, too. I wasn't surprised that my selections were pretty popular, since they're books that are popular in our public library. The suggestions were fun to check out, and if I didn't work in a library, I'm sure I would have found some new authors. The UnSuggester was kind of fun, but I couldn't think of a practical use for it.
I spent some time with tagging and chose to add a "Minnesota Mystery Authors" tag to one book from each author. With that tag, I could choose to display just those books, which is what appears above. I can see using this on our website to highlight new acquisitions, or as a nice visual for a sign in the stacks. We provide suggested reading lists on our website, and maybe using LibraryThing could add some zip to the way those books display.
I have a lot of brothers and sisters who don't live here in town, and we all read the same kinds of books. LibraryThing would be a nice way to share book information with them. I can see book clubs finding this really useful, too - within their own club and in a broader sense, too.
One thing I've noticed with this Library 2.0 stuff is, if the application website isn't functioning, things don't display well on your own website either. For example, I lost a couple of things from PictureTrail on my blog, when PictureTrail wasn't working well. They reappeared the next day, without me changing anything, so I think it was something on the PictureTrail site. The same thing happened today, when Library Thing was really busy for awhile and the books on my blog weren't displaying. That really pointed out to me how much everything in Library 2.0 is so inter-dependent. It's great when things are working, but there's a potential for wide-ranging problems, when they're not.
Showing posts with label Online Productivity Tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online Productivity Tools. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
#13: Online Productivity Tools
I chose igoogle for my start page, and I absolutely love it! It was so easy to set up and add gadgets - so intuitive, it was painless. It's definitely my new start page. A little weather, a calendar, time & date, bookmarks to my email, driving directions, a little news, a little humor, a to-do list, and my own little aquarium world. Plus, the daylight theme coloring changes as the day progresses. For some reason that was very cool to me (I guess I spend too much time indoors). Many of the tools I need during the day, all from my start page. Gotta love it!
I tried "Remember the Milk" (yet another account) and it looks pretty powerful, with lots of ways to manage tasks. One thing I liked was being able to group tasks by location, to make things more effecient. Maybe I just don't have enough to juggle, but in reality, the simple notepad gadget on my igoogle page makes more sense for me. It takes a lot less time, doesn't require an extra login, and meets my basic needs. But I can see where the sharing aspect of "Remember the Milk" would be a major advantage, if that was needed.
Things I'd like to spend more time with later:
I thought I'd come across something like this during the 23 Things and I found it today on the "Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps list". It's a password manager called KeePass. I'd really like to be able to keep track of all the accounts and passwords I've created, and while this looks a little complicated, it just might be the answer.
I watched the scrybe intro video and that also looked very intriguing for calendaring. It had what looked like a great option for working offline, with automatic synching when going back online. It seemed easy to use and kept things in context, so you could really tell what was going on. Too bad they're not taking any more users at this point.
Bottom line:
I love igoogle. It's already set as my home page.
I don't have a need for real detailed calendaring at this point, so I probably won't use any of those.
My list-keeping needs are basic, so I don't require many bells and whistles. The basic igoogle to-do list is good enough for now.
But, now I'll know where to go, when I do need higher-level tools, and that's always a good thing.
I tried "Remember the Milk" (yet another account) and it looks pretty powerful, with lots of ways to manage tasks. One thing I liked was being able to group tasks by location, to make things more effecient. Maybe I just don't have enough to juggle, but in reality, the simple notepad gadget on my igoogle page makes more sense for me. It takes a lot less time, doesn't require an extra login, and meets my basic needs. But I can see where the sharing aspect of "Remember the Milk" would be a major advantage, if that was needed.
Things I'd like to spend more time with later:
I thought I'd come across something like this during the 23 Things and I found it today on the "Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps list". It's a password manager called KeePass. I'd really like to be able to keep track of all the accounts and passwords I've created, and while this looks a little complicated, it just might be the answer.
I watched the scrybe intro video and that also looked very intriguing for calendaring. It had what looked like a great option for working offline, with automatic synching when going back online. It seemed easy to use and kept things in context, so you could really tell what was going on. Too bad they're not taking any more users at this point.
Bottom line:
I love igoogle. It's already set as my home page.
I don't have a need for real detailed calendaring at this point, so I probably won't use any of those.
My list-keeping needs are basic, so I don't require many bells and whistles. The basic igoogle to-do list is good enough for now.
But, now I'll know where to go, when I do need higher-level tools, and that's always a good thing.
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