Thing #3: Twitter

I have had a twitter account for a few months (jsizemo), but I have to say I haven't exactly embraced the technology. I've only tweeted a few times. I follow about 45 people/organizations, but I only look at their tweets once every couple of weeks. I think my problem with it is that I find it to be a huge time suck. Some people tweet too much inconsequential garbage. I follow some librarians and libraries who tweet great stuff, but then that's just more professional reading I have to do. And I already have too much!

I might be more on-the-bandwagon if I had a smartphone with a data plan. Then I could read tweets while standing in line at the grocery store. But as it is I just don't have time for it.

Libraries are doing some good things with Twitter. University of Illinois -- Urbana/Champagne tweets from their Undergraduate Library with updates on services and resources. NYPL tweets intriguing quotes from books.

I do think that we need to remember who exactly uses Twitter. I've read a study (I don't remember now any citation information for it, but I've got it on my other computer -- will update) that says that a high percentage of undergraduate-age students don't tweet. So when we create Twitter services, we need to think about our audience.

Thing #2: RSS

Our assignment for this week is to set up an account with an RSS reader. I currently use Google Reader to keep track of the blogs I read. Google Reader saves me a lot of time, because I subscribe to over 75 blogs. And, no, I don't read everything on those blogs. I do lots of skimming! I have the feeds organized into folders: book review blogs, family and friends, libraries and technology, and quilting/crafting.

Google Reader keeps a count of how many unread posts you have in your Google Reader, and mine's currently at 406. Hmmm, it may be time to do some cleaning out. :) I've found that when I find a new blog that interests me, I subscribe to it, read the next few posts, then either it becomes a favorite that I always read or I start to ignore it in my reader so that unread posts pile up. Eventually it becomes obvious that I'm not going to get anything out of this blog and I unsubscribe. There's so much content out there, if one blog doesn't do it for me there's always another to take its place!

Thing #1: Blogging

Belk Library is doing "23 Things" as a staff development program. I'm so in, because playing with technology is fun. Plus I want to win an iPad. Really want an iPad.

So here is my 23 Things blog. Our first task was to make this blog. This was not too hard for me, as I've actually been blogging (on and off) for about 5 years. I talk about books at jennie's b[ook]log and my favorite author at the Mary Stewart blog.

Our other task for this "thing" was to give an example of a blog we like. I read waaay too many blogs. I can't choose just one. So here are a few.

Libraries:

ALA Techsource -- Lots of interesting technology-in-libraries stuff.

info-mational -- Very thoughtful posts about information literacy.

ACRLog -- All about academic libraries.

Web Design:

A List Apart -- "For people who make websites."

Design Reviver -- Tutorials, downloads, and inspiration for web designers.

Quilting/Crafts:

Film in the Fridge -- Prolific maker of beautiful quilts.

Posie Gets Cozy -- All kinds of cozy crafts.