#10 Image generators

A wonderful opportunity to just play and have fun, I started off with a really simple exercise at http://cherubs.signgenerator.net/

then a bit of library street art, unfortunately you're unable to choose upper/lower case, guess that's part of the whole graffiti ethos.

had another romp with mosaics using http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ this time with just a few of my photos

finally a video at this address Music to grow to again thwarted from choosing which of my photos have which effects.

#9 Feeds

I found the sheer scope of news and blog feeds astounding - searching 50 million blogs!

However the ability to set up feeds that can perform 'watches' on specific words and/or phrases is impressive and advantageous.

Checked out and added feeds to my Bloglines account including some library related ones - Librarian's Internet Index, one I'd bookmarked previously, Unshelved a comic strip about a library, really loved their T-shirt range, and the library weblog Library Stuff. See "My Blogroll".

#8 RSS

I guess all the effort is in the setting up of RSS feeds, having done that it saves the trouble of individually checking sites to see if there have been any developments, especially useful for locations which appear to have spurts of activity.

Having activated a Bloglines account, I went trawling for sites with feeds. After visiting some sites which I felt would/should have this facility, but didn't, I added the ABC's TV guide, Lonely Planet Travel Blog (which had a bit on the Californian fires - so I saw the benefit of RSS imediately).

#7 Technology

I guess time is the one aspect of technology I've noticed. Terms like 'time rich' and 'time poor' have been created to express recent situations people find themselves in.

Time has been important through history, long before the 8 hours work, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest. Computers and their related technology were heralded as massive time-savers, lately some are using the term time-wasters.

From Fritz Lang's movie - Metropolis

From the library operation perspective, in pre-computerisation days huge amounts of time was spent shuffling paper and card: issuing & returning, cataloguing & filing, sending letters and overdues. Now a loan is just a swipe of a barcode by staff or patrons themselves, catalogues and searching are generally online, and overdues direct to email boxes, et cetera et cetera.

The tools themselves like databases, e-journals, Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 expand the field even further. Libraries can now undertake a whole range of operations they could not conceive a scant few years ago, and offer a plethora of services to complement their stock and trade.

Where to from here?

#6 More flickr fun

I can see why people can spend soooo much time playing with these toys (read tools).

It's also heaps easier to manipulate artwork or publishing copy, try different styles, etc. with these applications.

Here I've used a Mark Cross painting and composed a movie poster around it, using http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ - it's sure to be a box-office hit!

#5 Flickr

I could spend ages looking at different people's photos on flickr, some images are really well composed/thought out - it does give you ideas. What amazed me was the sheer number of photos assembled!



I chose to construct a photographic mosaic of flickr images http://www.mosaickr.com/ the only thing I'd do differently next time would by to de-select the images I didn't want from the random list rather than select the 200 plus individually.

Grass trees

Xanthorrhoea australis (grass trees) in flower
Originally uploaded by flipsockgrrl

I've always admired the photographic symmetry of grass trees, but I found this photo even more impressive.
The spot is in the Brisbane Ranges and was burnt in the Yanakie fires in October 2006.It shows the restorative power of the grass trees and bracken fern, the flower spikes are particularly numerous and large.

A small beginning

My first posting to the blog.
I believe the mantra - Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated, as you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
So this will be my giant leap into the sphere of Library 2.0 and all it portents.