First of all, and I have to get this off my chest, I think it is hilarious that the podcast for this "thing" talks about how easy it is to edit wikis and that they don't have a complex markup language. This is false. Wikis do have a complex markup language - it's just that one can avoid it if they don't want to do anything more than type in content.
For example, I'm a member of a collaborative-writing/role-play group that draws its material from the television show Heroes; however, String Theory is set in an alternate universe where the antagonist in the first season was not defeated. Like most online roleplaying communities these days, String Theory has a wiki to organize information on plots, characters, and individual "scenes." String Theory uses Wikidot, and I have yet to see a game that uses another wiki service (such as Wikispaces or Pbwiki). Anyway, this is all just to preface the sorts of things that can be done with a single page on a wiki using the syntax. Wikidot really phrases it well when they say, "master this and you can do magic ;-)" on their help page.
As an example of what I've been able to do with wiki syntax and time, I'm linking the character page for Matt Parkman, a "feature character" (or character from the television show's canon) I play on String Theory. Matt's page has a variety of examples of what can be done with wiki syntax. There are collapsible fields, tabbed fields, pictures, tables, embedded videos from Youtube, and edited links to other pages.
I have used PBwiki for a smaller collaborative writing project, but it did not seem to me that their interface allowed for much customization via the use of syntax. Wikispaces allows for the use of a "text editor" versus a "visual" one where raw syntax can be typed in. I would normally prefer it, but since the only time I use Wikispaces is with the DUSEL wiki when editing pre-existing pages, I can't justify fiddling with the code and risking throwing off the established look and feel.
Maybe it's because, back in middle school, I made webpages using raw HTML and nothing else, but I prefer working with raw wiki syntax than grappling with the user-friendly editors in place in some cases. So maybe that's why I like wikidot the best.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Thing #15
I think that the RCPL embraces Michael Stephen's view on Library 2.0. We are user-centered, timely, trendy (without being ga-ga over every bit of shiny new technology), and efficient in gathering, linking, and posting content.
These are all great things, but we are also impacted by some of Rick Anderson's icebergs. From my experience, there are plenty of patrons (usually Baby Boomers or Classics) who would rather have a print resource than try to follow my Google-Fu or navigate one of our online databases. That and the fact that many patrons are apprehensive if not downright against attempting to tackle the basics of computer use, not to mention the Internet.
While I adore the idea of the "knowledge spa" that Dr. Wendy Schultz presents, I'm not sure what to think about her Library 3D. I'm a digital native in the strictist sense (not the generational one - I'm a Gen-Y, but the sort that values the same things their parent's valued, if I remember my Virtual High School training), but maybe I've been living in the only bit of habitible space that is under a rock on the digital playground. Before reading this, I had no idea what Library 3D is. After reading it, all I can think of is a serious drain on my computer's processing speed. Will a swing in the way we interface with the internet turn everyone into audio-visual learners? I still enjoy reading text on a screen, and while at times I'm sure I'd understand it better if it were being patiently and verbally explained to me (take cataloging for example), I can't imagine our society as anything but text-based. Even my online recreation is text-based, but I could just be the odd one out in that case.
It's either that, or I am just that notorious (and lonely) torch-bearer for King Alfred the Great.
These are all great things, but we are also impacted by some of Rick Anderson's icebergs. From my experience, there are plenty of patrons (usually Baby Boomers or Classics) who would rather have a print resource than try to follow my Google-Fu or navigate one of our online databases. That and the fact that many patrons are apprehensive if not downright against attempting to tackle the basics of computer use, not to mention the Internet.
While I adore the idea of the "knowledge spa" that Dr. Wendy Schultz presents, I'm not sure what to think about her Library 3D. I'm a digital native in the strictist sense (not the generational one - I'm a Gen-Y, but the sort that values the same things their parent's valued, if I remember my Virtual High School training), but maybe I've been living in the only bit of habitible space that is under a rock on the digital playground. Before reading this, I had no idea what Library 3D is. After reading it, all I can think of is a serious drain on my computer's processing speed. Will a swing in the way we interface with the internet turn everyone into audio-visual learners? I still enjoy reading text on a screen, and while at times I'm sure I'd understand it better if it were being patiently and verbally explained to me (take cataloging for example), I can't imagine our society as anything but text-based. Even my online recreation is text-based, but I could just be the odd one out in that case.
It's either that, or I am just that notorious (and lonely) torch-bearer for King Alfred the Great.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 23 Things: Thing #14
So I guess I'm reluctant when it comes to looking for information in blogs, but on the occasion that I might want to find a bit of information I know to be in a blog, I can't really do better than Technorati. I take a little bit of an issue with the portmanteau that is the engine's name - I don't consider many bloggers to be members of the literati - but such things have gotten in my way before, and I've learned to shrug them off like Bertie often shrugs off Jeeve's subtle reproaches.
I already use tags in this blog, as I have in others and on the wikis that I am a member of. Maybe this is one of those difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. I hate to group myself in with the rest of my generation at times, mostly due to the fear of being labled stuck up, entitled, or naive when it comes to the difficulties of my elders, but this is one of those cases where I guess I have to.
I already use tags in this blog, as I have in others and on the wikis that I am a member of. Maybe this is one of those difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. I hate to group myself in with the rest of my generation at times, mostly due to the fear of being labled stuck up, entitled, or naive when it comes to the difficulties of my elders, but this is one of those cases where I guess I have to.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 23 Things: Thing #12
I really enjoyed searching for and in Rollyo. I made one for quick reference, even though "reference" is a category within Rollyo. Oh well! The only downside I can see is that some searchable resources available at the library wouldn't be searchable alongside web sites, but I guess that's something I can live with. Using something like Rollyo is a lot easier compared to Google, especially if you find yourself using the same resources (Wikipedia, Snopes, etc.) over and over anyway. Just another thing to help sift through the sand!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 23 Things: Thing #13
After poking around a bit in the PLCMLC2 del.icio.us, I decided to go out on my own limb and search for tags relating to Sims 3. Those who pre-ordered the game get it shipped out to them on February 20th, but I haven't yet made the decision to purchase the software.
So I decided to do some research. Now, I know that if I were to pop the search term "Sims 3" into Google, I'd get whatever Google deemed the most relevant and usefule links. However, in del.icio.us, the only problem I found in doing research concerning what the game would include was that there were multiple tags for the official Sims 3 website. But I guess that's just part of the nature of folksonomies.
One of the links I looked at broken videos (no sound!) but otherwise I learned a lot about the different features that Sims 3 will have. I like del.icio.us as a research tool, because the results are automatically sorted in a way - I mean, after all, it takes time to add something to a del.icio.us, so even if it's only an extra few seconds/mouse clicks, people aren't going to do it higgildy-piggildy.
So I decided to do some research. Now, I know that if I were to pop the search term "Sims 3" into Google, I'd get whatever Google deemed the most relevant and usefule links. However, in del.icio.us, the only problem I found in doing research concerning what the game would include was that there were multiple tags for the official Sims 3 website. But I guess that's just part of the nature of folksonomies.
One of the links I looked at broken videos (no sound!) but otherwise I learned a lot about the different features that Sims 3 will have. I like del.icio.us as a research tool, because the results are automatically sorted in a way - I mean, after all, it takes time to add something to a del.icio.us, so even if it's only an extra few seconds/mouse clicks, people aren't going to do it higgildy-piggildy.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 23 Things: Thing #11
I had a hard time remembering books to put into my Library Thing, and will have to scour my shelf at home for ISBNs to really capture how eclectic my tastes are. There are some things that should be noted, however, chief among them being that I have not read all of the books I own. Perhaps I meant to at some point, but I probably got distracted by another book or some other form of entertainment or edification.
Also, I don't own 3 AM. I still put it on my Library Thing.
Also, I don't own 3 AM. I still put it on my Library Thing.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 23 Things: Thing #10 (3 AM #1: The Reluctant)
(Typed on The Internet Typewriter, part of Thing #10)
There was a shrub that served as a frame, like a cruder, natural version of the cardboard box turned television crafted by a child. She didn't know she was being watched. She merely stood there, leaning against the lamp post to catch her breath as she hugged her torso with her thin arms. Her skin was flushed from running. I knew that to reach out and touch the glowing flesh would be like pressing these cold fingers to a kettle about to whistle. The air pushed from her chest with each laborious exhalation would surely be like the steam rising from that same kettle's spout. Her eyes were wide with frantic fear, and for good reason. It wasn't hard to guess why she had been running so hard. It wasn't hard to guess why she was here.
Sympathy was hardly an option; there were too many things about her to envy, such as the rise and fall of her chest and the vitality that glowed in her hair and skin even in the unflattering light of the lamp above her. Whatever was chasing her, she must have deserved for some reason or another. She wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case.
They weren't far behind. They could have overtaken her in an instant had they wanted to, but they enjoyed a good game. People - prey like her were as much entertainment as they were nourishment. The chase would not end until her potential for amusement had dried up. It was true of the young and the old, but the old were more subtle. The young did it this way, running down their prey in packs in order to appear more threatening while in actuality only one would be feasting tonight, and he wasn't even here yet.
The sound of their approach was muffled by the roar of the bellows her lungs had become, but they could not hide themselves for too much longer. Her ability to sense danger so acutely was another reason to envy her. Even in her exhaustion, where the andrenaline that pumped through her was the only thing keeping her from collapsing in defeat and depletion, she still retained her faculties. Though still wide, her eyes flared with a passionate anger so intense that it reached the leafy frame when they came into view. They only laughed at her as she stood with her post at her back, as if she were an accused witch about to break her bounds and flee from the purifying pyre.
She was soon surrounded like a cornered rat. They moved slowly, eyeing each other as much as they eyed her.
It could have been described as a primal sort of roar - the cry of a stronger, more dominant creature - but it did it's scripted job in scattering the others at the same time it encased her in ice. There had been words to it, but they were lost in the echo that bounced against the stones in the walls and road. Alone, she stared into the blackness, clinging to the pole as much as she clung to the light that emanated from it.
The dark is nothing to be afraid of. No child is afraid of the dark itself. It is only what is potentially lurking in that darkness that is worthy of fear. But when he emerged, some of that fear fled with the darkness as the lamp's light encircled him. She was grateful, but only because she had no way of knowing.
I watched in horror as he led her away.
There was a shrub that served as a frame, like a cruder, natural version of the cardboard box turned television crafted by a child. She didn't know she was being watched. She merely stood there, leaning against the lamp post to catch her breath as she hugged her torso with her thin arms. Her skin was flushed from running. I knew that to reach out and touch the glowing flesh would be like pressing these cold fingers to a kettle about to whistle. The air pushed from her chest with each laborious exhalation would surely be like the steam rising from that same kettle's spout. Her eyes were wide with frantic fear, and for good reason. It wasn't hard to guess why she had been running so hard. It wasn't hard to guess why she was here.
Sympathy was hardly an option; there were too many things about her to envy, such as the rise and fall of her chest and the vitality that glowed in her hair and skin even in the unflattering light of the lamp above her. Whatever was chasing her, she must have deserved for some reason or another. She wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case.
They weren't far behind. They could have overtaken her in an instant had they wanted to, but they enjoyed a good game. People - prey like her were as much entertainment as they were nourishment. The chase would not end until her potential for amusement had dried up. It was true of the young and the old, but the old were more subtle. The young did it this way, running down their prey in packs in order to appear more threatening while in actuality only one would be feasting tonight, and he wasn't even here yet.
The sound of their approach was muffled by the roar of the bellows her lungs had become, but they could not hide themselves for too much longer. Her ability to sense danger so acutely was another reason to envy her. Even in her exhaustion, where the andrenaline that pumped through her was the only thing keeping her from collapsing in defeat and depletion, she still retained her faculties. Though still wide, her eyes flared with a passionate anger so intense that it reached the leafy frame when they came into view. They only laughed at her as she stood with her post at her back, as if she were an accused witch about to break her bounds and flee from the purifying pyre.
She was soon surrounded like a cornered rat. They moved slowly, eyeing each other as much as they eyed her.
It could have been described as a primal sort of roar - the cry of a stronger, more dominant creature - but it did it's scripted job in scattering the others at the same time it encased her in ice. There had been words to it, but they were lost in the echo that bounced against the stones in the walls and road. Alone, she stared into the blackness, clinging to the pole as much as she clung to the light that emanated from it.
The dark is nothing to be afraid of. No child is afraid of the dark itself. It is only what is potentially lurking in that darkness that is worthy of fear. But when he emerged, some of that fear fled with the darkness as the lamp's light encircled him. She was grateful, but only because she had no way of knowing.
I watched in horror as he led her away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
