If you want some information about what part of the DCPL’s massive photo archive is going into the collection you can visit the Flickr Commons project page on DCPL LABS.
Better yet, take a look at the post titled “Photo Contest: DC Then & Now” to see how the library is encouraging people to interact with its photos.
The quick summary: to enter the contest, people can submit photos related to the DCPL Commons to a Flickr group called DC Then & Now. The intention here is to get people interacting with our stuff and gently guide them to participating in something online that might be new to them.
Once again, this was a great team effort. Mark Greek uploaded the colorized images, Bill McClendon rescued image metadata, and Chris Tonjes assembled the team and signed off on the project.
Enjoy the photos and add some tags and geocode data if you into that kinda thing!
This article is interesting, but the Culture > Books > Libraries heirarchy and resulting breadcrumbs are perhaps even moreso. Nice colors too.
Right now I’m in Xalapa, Mexico for the Peer Learning Meeting of the Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries Project. People attending the meeting have either received, or will be receiving grants from the Gates Foundation and I’m along to talk about Web 2.0 and library usability.
We’re going to do a few site visits, including some Web enabled all-terrain buses that travel around Mexico providing access. Does that sound as cool to anyone else as it does to me?
Here I am in full turista mode at Zempoala, where Cortés headed after arriving in Mexico.
I’m looking forward to Computers in Libraries later on in the month. One of the things I’m doing is giving a presentation called “The Best of the Web.” It is about “websites and tools that you can use to connect with your community, make your website better, and make your job easier and more fun.”
I have a list of sites and some strategies that I want to share but hey, I’m only one person. You know about things that I haven’t seen yet and it would be great to include some collective intelligence in the presentation.
Be assured that if you email me with your favorite new tools and websites you’ll get full credit as I’m doing my show and tell and maybe even a little thank you gift if I use something you send in.
THANKS
I’m convinced swissmiss deleted a post just so she could show it off.
It has the biggest searchbox I’ve ever see on a library website or maybe any website period. And I like it.
Yes it is nearly novelty size, but it is easy to see and use. I bet you might not have even noticed the little searchbox at the upper right.
Lovely Charts is an online diagramming tool. It’s worth playing around with but I in particular liked the language they used for skipping past the optional introductory screencast. It could have read “Close” or “End Screencast” but they chose a friendly phrase that, even if it is in a small way, turns you into an enthusiastic user if you click the button.
When I used multiple computers throughout the day it made sense to use web apps to read RSS feeds and email. I’ve been working exclusively on my MacBook Pro for some time now and I never considered I was still using tools more appropriate for a bygone situaion. No longer!
It all started when I decided to do some Spring cleaning and organization of my RSS subscriptions. My feeds were organized by topic and, like many of you I’m sure, a few times every day I’d skim though all of the new content and then “Shift-A” to mark them all as read. I became unsatisfied doing this over and over. Not only could I devote a seemingly endless amount of time processing all of the new info arriving but I was paying less attention to feeds that happened to appear at the bottom of the new items. Would I miss something? Gasp! This routine became less interesting overall. It became more of a chore or compulsion than anything else.
Organizing my feeds by priority and then topic seemed like a nice solution my RSS doldrums. I’d be assured to keep up with important feeds by reading stuff in the “First” folder, and if I wanted to devote more time I could go on to the “Next” folder or even the one labeled “Last.”
Google Reader Fails
I tried to use Google Reader to do this, but reorganizing my large collection of feeds was painfully slow. I also discovered that the program doesn’t support folders within folders so my organizational scheme wasn’t a possibility. I use the Better Gmail 2 extension to make a small hierarchy of folders for my mail and there might be something like it for Reader but I didn’t bother looking.
I just exported my subscriptions, downloaded NetNewsWire and haven’t looked back. Its nice features include an ecto compatible “Blog This” tool that I’ve been using for work, not to mention standard desktop app features like offline reading. (I’m aware of Google Gears and Reader, yes, but it seemed to take forever and be buggy). There’s also a nice NNW iPhone application that lets me read some or all of my feeds and automatically syncs over the air to the desktop.
In the midst of this move I realized that while I’m good at keeping my email inbox empty I hadn’t really been doing so in the spirit of Inbox Zero. Having multiple instances of Firefox running, each with a Gmail tab somewhere amongst the many was an incredible distraction since I’d see email right as they arrived. Note: I’m not blaming the Interwebs for distracting me. It wasn’t Gmail’s fault that I felt compelled to immediately process incoming mail, it just gave me the option. I was reading email as they arrived to always be on top of things but sacrificing more time, effort and attention than it was worth.
Going Local
So not only am I using a desktop RSS reader for the first time, I’m also using a desktop mail program for the first time in ages. Mail.app is collecting my Gmail but set to only look for mail when I tell it to. Same with mail on my phone. I’ve also set NetNewsWire to update only manually. In the end I’m getting the same amount of information, but I’m getting it on my terms and when it is convenient for me. OS X has a feature called Spaces which provides multiple desktops. I’ve been using it increasingly to partition the different parts of my life on the web. A Firefox window with a bunch of tabs in a few Spaces is easier to handle than one instance with 40 tabs. (Browser tabs are another dragon to slay evidently.) I’ve sequestered Mail and NetNewsWire to their own Spaces and am left with a few distraction free zones for projects and hobbies.
What’s most interesting about all of this is the fact that my information habits were just that. Habits. My way of doing things had evolved over time and I hadn’t given that development much thought, mostly because I’ve never had trouble accomplishing what I need to accomplish. (Mostly!) But in the past few weeks I noticed that things were taking a little longer to accomplish. Working from home allows for many, many potential hours of screen time and left unchecked, distractions can turn those potential hours into actual hours. I like my work and my computer but spending more time on either isn’t a priority. If it isn’t a priority for you either, consider taking some time to make sure your tools are working for you and you’re not working for your them.
Maybe I haven’t been paying attention, but I haven’t seen too many new widgets for displaying flickr photos recently. Yeah, it’s made with Flash and makes my browser a bit wonky, but I still like the concept of this one that Roy Tanak has made available on his website.
Hurrah for alternative OPAC interfaces! I’m very pleased to let you know that the DCPL iPhone app went live last night. You can download it from the iTunes app store here. Functionality in this version includes:
searching for library materials
seeing an item’s cover and reading a summary
placing a hold for pickup at the location of your choice
finding the hours, locations and phone numbers of DC public libraries
If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, please download it try it out. We’d love to know what you think and what we can do to make it better. You can leave feedback through this form.
To my knowledge, this is the first iPhone application put out by a library. A big congrats to DCPL CIO Chris Tonjes who assembled a great team, and a big thanks to Brian Farmer for his coding skills, Bill McClendon for his knowledge of the SirsiDynix backend and Gilbert Luwaile for testing. You can read more about all of them at the DCPL Labs Staff page.
What’s even more exciting about this is that it is just the start of our efforts to provide mobile library services to the residents of DC. I have a bunch of notes written about improving the look and behavior of the application, expanding it, and we’re planning a mobile version of the forthcoming DCPL website.
For those interested in taking a look at the code for the iPhone application, we’re going to make it available for download at the DCPL iPhone Application page soon.
I’m happy to finally be able to announce that the DCPL is now part of the Flickr Commons. The library’s photos just went public. 
Not only could I devote a seemingly endless amount of time processing all of the new info arriving but I was paying less attention to feeds that happened to appear at the bottom of the new items. Would I miss something? Gasp! This routine became less interesting overall. It became more of a chore or compulsion than anything else. 
OS X has a feature called 
To my knowledge, this is the first iPhone application put out by a library. A big congrats to DCPL CIO Chris Tonjes who assembled a great team, and a big thanks to Brian Farmer for his coding skills, Bill McClendon for his knowledge of the SirsiDynix backend and Gilbert Luwaile for testing. You can read more about all of them at the 
