Baxterville

Celebrating turtles everywhere

2007-10-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Locating feeds about raising turtles or just about how wonderful they are was extremely easy and prompted me to search for feeds relating to all my interests. I found all of the search tools relatively easy to use but I preferred Syndic8 because of the additional information provided about each feed/blog found. But rather than sit and search for all of the feeds I might be most interested in perusing everyday I've decided to just add as I find things in my internet travels. So far my experience with feeds has been similar to my first job at a library where I checked out about 20 books in the first week just because I could. Since QLthings has introduced me to the wonder that is RSS I've been suggesting that everyone subscribe to a feedreader.

What a great idea

2007-10-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Whoever came up with RSS feeds is a genius. I am not an internet surfer and only stay on long enough to find the answer to my question. RSS feeds will save me so much time and energy that I'm probably going to subscribe to about 200. The real benefit to libraries will likely be an increase in individual's productivity on the public computers. Most people check certain sites regularly and then use the rest of their allotted time to complete any other miscellaneous tasks and searches. I'm not exactly sure how to phrase this but with less time spent browsing their regular websites, user's will free up more of their half hour for everything else, whatever that might include. If individuals only make use of one half hour, a greater number of people will have the opportunity to use the stations. Apologies because the words are really escaping me today.

If you think kids really are the future

2007-10-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is a nonprofit program whose purpose is to introduce basic educational technology to children in the most underdeveloped of nations. Faculty members from the MIT Media Lab have designed a basic laptop that is inexpensive enough to distribute to millions of children. The XO features wireless Internet connectivity, a video camera, flash memory and an eight-hour battery that can be recharged without plugging into a power supply and is rugged enough to resist water, dust, and the harshest of environments. Details are available from the organization's website but what prompted me to find out more about the program is the low price of each laptop: $100. Access to technology does not have to be cost prohibitive. When everyone has access our community can truly be considered global.

It's also RSS

2007-10-17T09:47:00.001-07:00

FlickrNotifier is actually an RSS feed that allows you to view your friends' updated photostreams right on your desktop. I don't completely understand the how of it but it is supposed to save you time and energy by instantaneously displaying photos published by your friends via an RSS notifier that displays images. Sounds to me like I would not have to create/regularly check everyone's pages on social networking sites. What seems pretty great about the third party tools on Flickr is that each is designed to make the steps in the photo posting/viewing process a little easier.

Just another quiet place

2007-10-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cubby/19454168/

It looks like a place only staff would venture but every undergraduate had to brave the dark hallways where each foot step echoed off of low ceilings and endless rows of shelves. Butler library keeps the majority of its collection in "the stacks" - a column of floors located in the center of the building with one elevator, one staircase, and no other way out. It's not the most inviting place but just on the other side of the wall is a state of the art library with beautifully designed and decorated study spaces, lounges, computer facilities and a cafe for the all-nighters. But the stacks aren't really scary once you become accustomed to them. Finding a book here is like discovering a gem hidden in a cave among millions of plain old rocks. It may sound dramatic but the first experience among those shelves feels just that way.

Better habits not on the list

2007-10-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

The very first habit discussed in the tutorial is one I have been struggling to acquire. In college I almost never began a paper with a rock solid thesis because the information collected during the research phase inevitably put me on a track I hadn't considered. A workable strategy in the classroom but in real life, where logistics include more than just time constraints, a more clearly defined end makes the planning process a little easier.

Whenever a problem arises I always think back to the wise words of the oracle from The Matrix: everything that has a beginning has an end. All problems can be resolved so the challenge put to the individual is to come up with the best resolution. Each problem is an opportunity to try something new and learn something you might have missed before.

I hope that's enough words.

My first time

2007-10-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

A very boisterous applause goes to the creative minds who came up with this idea.