Just popped over to Rollyo and created an account for my searching needs. When I tried to add Google as one of my sources though, I was told the results would only be from Google's corporate page because the website is limited to static (non-dynamic) search results.
[Edit 7.19.2024]
Another casualty of the information revolution. Rollyo is now defunct. Here's what it was - for the historians out there:
Rollyo was a Yahoo!- powered search engine which allowed users to register accounts and create personalized search engines. Each search engine could include up to 25 websites/blogs chosen by the user. Search results were limited to the sites included in a particular search engine. Additionally, users could share their "rolled" engines with other contributors or post a mini search box to the user's website using HTML. It was also possible to add each "searchroll" to the Mozilla Firefox search bar and to make Rollyo the default search engine for Firefox.
In other words - I could search Google's privacy policy because this doesnt change - but search results which are dynamically generated aren't browsable by Rollyo. This is a strange limitation for a metasearch engine (an engine which searches and obtains results from other engines).
Personally - I don't see it replacing Google anytime soon - because I found myself searching google for the links i was gonna use in my "roll". Considering you can also use google to search individual sites through the advanced search option - the usefulness of this product drops even more.
http://rollyo.com/secretsketcher/mesoamerican_art/
But for what it's worth - here's my lean and mean Mesoamerican page. Mostly art and manuscripts - with some general information and cultural sites thrown in for good measure. And to round it out - I threw in amazon for links to relevant books - which explodes the search results into the tens of thousands - because there is no intelligent filtering going on under rollyo, unfortunately. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
It came from the library lagoon (thing #11)
Can I just say - I love Library Thing?
Previously - Amazon was my library thing - but this is much more efficient, user friendly, and customizable. I love that I can use it on my blog (it looks great as one of my page elements on the right hand side here) and it's probably gonna make its way onto my myspace page in a few more minutes here...
And actually - I'm seeing that Library Thing has a way of importing items from Amazon - but I haven't figured out how to do it yet... hmmm - more poking around will be required.
Ok - I think I got it - you open your Amazon wish list - copy the url - go to the "add books" link on Library Thing - import books - paste the url and click "grab"... The Thing will queue your books and add them to your library. My estimated wait time was between 30 and 50 minutes for 20 isbn numbers - so Im not sure if this will do the trick...
While we wait for the magic to work - you can browse my awesome titles of doom to the right...
Previously - Amazon was my library thing - but this is much more efficient, user friendly, and customizable. I love that I can use it on my blog (it looks great as one of my page elements on the right hand side here) and it's probably gonna make its way onto my myspace page in a few more minutes here...
And actually - I'm seeing that Library Thing has a way of importing items from Amazon - but I haven't figured out how to do it yet... hmmm - more poking around will be required.
Ok - I think I got it - you open your Amazon wish list - copy the url - go to the "add books" link on Library Thing - import books - paste the url and click "grab"... The Thing will queue your books and add them to your library. My estimated wait time was between 30 and 50 minutes for 20 isbn numbers - so Im not sure if this will do the trick...
While we wait for the magic to work - you can browse my awesome titles of doom to the right...
mixing up the medicine (thing #10)
This post referers to a Bob Dylan messaging site that lets you create your own messages to Dylan's famous flip card video Subterranean Homesick Blues. There's a way to embed this video into a website - but the code expires every so often - so if you can get it to work in more than a simple email - kudos to you...
This week's foray into image generators turned up this gem on The Generator Blog and I must say I was pleased as punch to come across it. The autoplay feature now gives my blog a little musical edge to it - and you can still mute it if you find the musical note option in the upper left corner fast enough - but everyone could stand a little more "medicine" in their lives - so why would you want to?
Honorable mention should also go to the haiku generator (found the link on the same page) which came up with this....
happily, egg rises
humbly, ducks hallucinate
tiredly, seagull speaks
Oh - and there are 844 more generators where these 2 came from - so you should definitely stop by and take a peek. Go ahead - I'll wait...
[Edit 7.19.2024]
The video generator is gone, but this is what the clips looked like and they were awesome. Sucks to not be in 2008 anymore...
This week's foray into image generators turned up this gem on The Generator Blog and I must say I was pleased as punch to come across it. The autoplay feature now gives my blog a little musical edge to it - and you can still mute it if you find the musical note option in the upper left corner fast enough - but everyone could stand a little more "medicine" in their lives - so why would you want to?
Honorable mention should also go to the haiku generator (found the link on the same page) which came up with this....
happily, egg rises
humbly, ducks hallucinate
tiredly, seagull speaks
[Edit 7.19.2024]
The haiku generator above is broken so I've included another here, with a haiku about homeless people in libraries:
Quiet refuge sought,
Pages whisper stories warm—
Hope in the margins.
Oh - and there are 844 more generators where these 2 came from - so you should definitely stop by and take a peek. Go ahead - I'll wait...
Fed up, and down, and all around (thing #9)
So - having created an account in bloglines - I set out to explore some of the other rss search engines and see if I could find any diamonds amidst the roughage...
My first step was Feedster, and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. The site does offer a cute widget option which you can post to your own blog page (which will update your feeds for you) - but most of the hits being returned for my searches were coming from the site Topix - which I'll review below. I will say the layout was a little more user-friendly than the others - with ads only taking up the right third and banner - but the results were kinda, meh...
What I liked about Topix.net is the combination of forums and rss feed results. There are polls, wire feed for the latest news on your topic, and the feeds themselves - but what I wasn't crazy about was the fact that almost 2/3 of the page on the right is ads and self promotion...
Technorati had a strong showing - with user ratings for feeds, videos, photos, and news articles about search topics. Very few ads and a user-friendly layout. They also had a sexy live update on their topics page - which spewed newly updated blogs in a constant stream.
And Syndic8.com... more ho hum... lots of useless stats - poor layout - didnt even bother to check search results after Technocrati - because it was anti-climactic...
So the clear winner is Technorati on all levels. Topix did seem to have a pretty robust user community - but it wasn't enough to tip the balance past the poor layout and annoying ads.
[Edit - 7.19.2024]
Here are six RSS Feed Readers or Aggregate Apps: From the RSS.com website. None of the original websites are still functional.
My first step was Feedster, and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. The site does offer a cute widget option which you can post to your own blog page (which will update your feeds for you) - but most of the hits being returned for my searches were coming from the site Topix - which I'll review below. I will say the layout was a little more user-friendly than the others - with ads only taking up the right third and banner - but the results were kinda, meh...
What I liked about Topix.net is the combination of forums and rss feed results. There are polls, wire feed for the latest news on your topic, and the feeds themselves - but what I wasn't crazy about was the fact that almost 2/3 of the page on the right is ads and self promotion...
Technorati had a strong showing - with user ratings for feeds, videos, photos, and news articles about search topics. Very few ads and a user-friendly layout. They also had a sexy live update on their topics page - which spewed newly updated blogs in a constant stream.
And Syndic8.com... more ho hum... lots of useless stats - poor layout - didnt even bother to check search results after Technocrati - because it was anti-climactic...
So the clear winner is Technorati on all levels. Topix did seem to have a pretty robust user community - but it wasn't enough to tip the balance past the poor layout and annoying ads.
[Edit - 7.19.2024]
Here are six RSS Feed Readers or Aggregate Apps: From the RSS.com website. None of the original websites are still functional.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Feed Me, See-More (thing #8)
What can I say about Bloglines except yummm!
RSS Feeds are like an information smoothie; you put in the raw web pages (with their flashing ads and diversionary tactics) - grind them up - extract the usable content - and present it in a clean format that saves you valuable search time.
They're faster than using a browser for surfing - easier to browse than the unfiltered internet - and personalized for the user (with options for blogging about news items or easy email forwarding for sharing news items with friends.)
The interface resembles a table of contents - and that's essentially what it is; the book in this case being a Frankenstein monster of my own informational needs ;)
My recipe for madness?
Take a healthy dose of library science, add some liberally slanted news, a dash of techie, some establishment propaganda (keep your enemies close - I'm looking at you CNN), a touch of finance news, and voila!!!
1. Queens Library Learning 2.0
2. batgirl was a librarian
3. The Shifted Librarian
4. Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week
5. NYT Book Review
6. Salon
7. Wired Top Stories
8. Lifehacker
9. CNN.com
10. Reuters: Top News
11. Guardian Unlimited home Guardian Unlimited
12. BBC News News Front Page World Edition
13. WSJ.com: Markets
enjoy!
RSS Feeds are like an information smoothie; you put in the raw web pages (with their flashing ads and diversionary tactics) - grind them up - extract the usable content - and present it in a clean format that saves you valuable search time.
They're faster than using a browser for surfing - easier to browse than the unfiltered internet - and personalized for the user (with options for blogging about news items or easy email forwarding for sharing news items with friends.)
The interface resembles a table of contents - and that's essentially what it is; the book in this case being a Frankenstein monster of my own informational needs ;)
My recipe for madness?
Take a healthy dose of library science, add some liberally slanted news, a dash of techie, some establishment propaganda (keep your enemies close - I'm looking at you CNN), a touch of finance news, and voila!!!
1. Queens Library Learning 2.0
2. batgirl was a librarian
3. The Shifted Librarian
4. Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week
5. NYT Book Review
6. Salon
7. Wired Top Stories
8. Lifehacker
9. CNN.com
10. Reuters: Top News
11. Guardian Unlimited home Guardian Unlimited
12. BBC News News Front Page World Edition
13. WSJ.com: Markets
enjoy!
Friday, October 19, 2007
the horror, the horror (thing #7)
If you've ever spent an afternoon in a public library, you've encountered them...
the Myspace undead...
shuffling from screen to screen - scavenging unused minutes from early departures; climbing over each other to claw at badly tiled profiles beaming virtual friends and celebrity/media carpet-bombing...
and then there appeared... a knight in blue and white :P
Its name was Facebook; and they looked, and they saw that it was good.
My technology is social networking - particularly Facebook.
Facebook is clean in design - its interfaces encourage networking along many lines (professional, interests/hobbies, schools, geography, looking for love, etc). But the applications and add-ons are where Facebook excels though.
Here's an example of librarian oriented groups that I discovered on google while briefly poking around...
http://www.5minlib.com/2015/02/from-ala-to-zuckerberg-librarian.html
the Myspace undead...
shuffling from screen to screen - scavenging unused minutes from early departures; climbing over each other to claw at badly tiled profiles beaming virtual friends and celebrity/media carpet-bombing...
and then there appeared... a knight in blue and white :P
Its name was Facebook; and they looked, and they saw that it was good.
My technology is social networking - particularly Facebook.
Facebook is clean in design - its interfaces encourage networking along many lines (professional, interests/hobbies, schools, geography, looking for love, etc). But the applications and add-ons are where Facebook excels though.
Here's an example of librarian oriented groups that I discovered on google while briefly poking around...
http://www.5minlib.com/2015/02/from-ala-to-zuckerberg-librarian.html
Saturday, October 13, 2007
I was a teenage myspace zombie...(thing # 6)
Teenage myspace zombie, originally uploaded by tastytreat2012.
Fun with flickr!
Here's my tribute to the human mass of teens that descend on our computers every afternoon.
I actually had a lot of fun with this one - but having photoshop definitely did help to get the picture just right. Really liked the fact that you can add icons to the side - and wish they had more to choose from - but it gives it a really "Magic" or "Yu-Gi-Oh" feel to it.
The website was BigHugeLabs.com - and they gave you the option of uploading it to Flickr or saving it to your desktop. I popped it into Flikr - then used Flikr's blog option to pop it into here... the wonders never cease :)
Welcome to Hell (thing #5)
Guildford Cathedral, originally uploaded by Ian Harding.
I was exploring Flickr's wares when I came across the group "entrances to hell"...
I've always been intrigued by gateways to the Otherworld, and this group showcased a lot of pictures which scratched that particular itch...
These pics range from eerie and beautiful, to whimsical and / or just strange - but the ones that are REALLY inspired leave you with a kind of dread which you wouldn't expect from an image of a doorway or hole in the ground...
check out the gallery for a bit :)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
These are a few of my favorite things (things #1-4)
Well - the hills may not be alive with the sounds of lifetime learning - but I
couldnt resist :P
So having gone through the 7 1/2 habits - I've returned to you, o reader, to share my mullings and musing.
First - the habits
1. Determine goals and develop a plan
2. Accept resposibility and be proactive
3. View problems as challenges and opportunities
4. Maintain a positive outlook and mindset
5. Build a toolkit
6. Use technology
7. Teach others
And, as an afterthought, PLAY!
So - my easiest and most difficult habits to put into practice?
The easiest habit is, of course, play - which, if I was independently wealthy - I could devote a lifetime of learning to...
but if I had to pick - I would say the easiest would be the use of technology (#6).
although I am a late adopter of technology - this is purely a function of economics - and when given the opportunity to adopt a technology free of charge (like file sharing, web authoring, email, surfing, or whatever - I am very comfortable around computers and take to it very quickly). Paying 600 dollars for the latest iPhone though - that's another story...
The most difficult habit for me would be to determine a goal and develop a plan (#1). I'm more of a learner for learning's sake - and while my interests are wide ranging, there doesn't seem to be a method to the madness. Most of my interests don't have practical applications (like mythology and mysticism) - so developing a plan around my knowledge of Greek gods and heroes is pretty difficult. Also - creating lists and formalizing plans is more structure than I usually apply to pursuing intellectual interests - so it would take some getting used to (if I undertook it at all).
So there's 2 cents worth of opinion on 7 1/2 habits on the long road to 23 1/2 learnings. :)
So having gone through the 7 1/2 habits - I've returned to you, o reader, to share my mullings and musing.
First - the habits
1. Determine goals and develop a plan
2. Accept resposibility and be proactive
3. View problems as challenges and opportunities
4. Maintain a positive outlook and mindset
5. Build a toolkit
6. Use technology
7. Teach others
And, as an afterthought, PLAY!
So - my easiest and most difficult habits to put into practice?
The easiest habit is, of course, play - which, if I was independently wealthy - I could devote a lifetime of learning to...
but if I had to pick - I would say the easiest would be the use of technology (#6).
although I am a late adopter of technology - this is purely a function of economics - and when given the opportunity to adopt a technology free of charge (like file sharing, web authoring, email, surfing, or whatever - I am very comfortable around computers and take to it very quickly). Paying 600 dollars for the latest iPhone though - that's another story...
The most difficult habit for me would be to determine a goal and develop a plan (#1). I'm more of a learner for learning's sake - and while my interests are wide ranging, there doesn't seem to be a method to the madness. Most of my interests don't have practical applications (like mythology and mysticism) - so developing a plan around my knowledge of Greek gods and heroes is pretty difficult. Also - creating lists and formalizing plans is more structure than I usually apply to pursuing intellectual interests - so it would take some getting used to (if I undertook it at all).
So there's 2 cents worth of opinion on 7 1/2 habits on the long road to 23 1/2 learnings. :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
a day in the life of a queens librarian
first blog ever!
so - a bit about myself...
I have been with the Queens Library system for just over 3 months now and I have to say it has been a fun and sometimes wild ride. Sometimes fun and mostly wild? Well - the truth lies somewhere in between probably...
I graduated from Queens College CUNY in 2005 and actually had a difficult time landing a library job. My previous work experience had included many stints as a Library Assistant, Circulation Clerk, or Corporate Docsuments work with Wontauk but it was tough getting a foot in the door at the professional level.
Having been given the opportunity though - I must say it's been a rewarding and learning experience...
More on the rewards and lessons in the next installment of The Blog!!!
so - a bit about myself...
I have been with the Queens Library system for just over 3 months now and I have to say it has been a fun and sometimes wild ride. Sometimes fun and mostly wild? Well - the truth lies somewhere in between probably...
I graduated from Queens College CUNY in 2005 and actually had a difficult time landing a library job. My previous work experience had included many stints as a Library Assistant, Circulation Clerk, or Corporate Docsuments work with Wontauk but it was tough getting a foot in the door at the professional level.
Having been given the opportunity though - I must say it's been a rewarding and learning experience...
More on the rewards and lessons in the next installment of The Blog!!!
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