Podcasting

I subscribed to a Denver Public Library podcast where they read children's books. It's very cute, and seems like a natural thing for a library to do.

On the other hand, nothing can possibly replace a person, whether parent or library staff, reading to a child. The human contact, the actual voice, not to mention the book and its illustrations, contribute to a priceless experience for a child, and the interaction enriches the reader as well.

So while this podcast from the library could be useful for helping a parent learn about new children's books, or even for a child to sit and listen to, I would think something like Tumblebooks would be preferable for these purposes, because of the illustrations.

This exercise was useful, because I did finally learn what a podcast is, and I can see it as a possible tool for libraries to perhaps get some sort of message out, such as a speech by the library director or maybe a board meeting or training for staff, but I'm curious about just how much use the Denver Public Library gets of it's children's book podcasts.

Item # 19

I like Pandora a lot. I started by typing in Bob Dylan and it started playing Tangled Up in Blue. I then told it that I like that song, and it started putting together other artists and songs that I might like. This would be very handy for when I am working on the computer, but not online, as it came out of Pandora when I went back to Discover 2.0. I had thought I could listen while I continued to work. I'm sure there's a way to do that, I just don't have the time to figure it out right now!

I am also glad to know about the music genome project,which is similar, and also the gutenberg project. These are really amazing undertakings.

The other one I really liked was Mango, although I wish they had more languages. I am looking for a way to study Farsi online, but have not found it yet - certainly not on Mango.

I do think Mango would be good for the library to link to the electronic resources, since it's free. The only problem is that people would probably want to talk out loud as they went through it, which could be problematic in the library.

I also think Pandora, last.fm, and imeem would be good to have at a listening station. I think teens, especially, would enjoy their features and functionality.

Google Docs

I decided to make a spreadsheet using Google Docs that I could use to keep track of people I am inviting on a group trip. Since there are many possible group members, and they are all in various stages of "thinking about it", I am using the spreadsheet to remind myself of who I have asked, and whether they have committed to it, turned it down, or are still thinking about it. Here is a link to my spreadsheet:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHiVj6K1f7aXapzjnCMpyBg

I had to create this link by copy and paste. I never could see how to publish it directly from Google into my blog. I did publish it onto the web for the whole world to see. It's a hypothetical trip, and it would not have been my choice to do it that way, but either I am very dense or the settings have changed without updating the Help information. I spent a fair amount of time fooling around with it, and finally decided to just get the job done and do it this way.

I actually did create a real spreadsheet on GoogleDocs for this exact purpose of maintaining a group list for a trip I am planning. I was going to publish that one to my blog, but in the month since I created it, it seems to have disappeared from GoogleDocs. Another shocker. I will probably go back and recreate it, but if they disappear like that, it hardly seems worth it.

This application seems to have potential, but I would definitely need to work with it more to feel comfortable with it!