Very Easy RSS Creation Tool!

This is so super cool! Makes it easy for you to create an RSS feed for any page that doesn't have one yet. Give it a whirl for some of your library pages!!!

FeedYes

Nifty On Demand Movie Device

MovieBeam may not be the ultimate answer, but it is an interesting step in a happily inevitable direction. TiVo has plans to offer similar service, but this is here now and is just pretty darn cool. Where is the library in this equation?

More Keep Up! Workshops Are Coming

Check it out! More Keep Up! Practical emerging technology for you and your library Workshops are headed across the western US very soon!:

• Monday, April 3rd at the University of Hawaii Manoa in Honolulu (sign ups available now).
• Tuesday, April 18th and Wednesday, April 19th at the San Francisco Public Library.
• Friday, May 19th at Albertson College in Caldwell, ID (Just barely outside of Boise).
  
• Thursday, May 25th in Helena, Montana.
• Midish-May somewhere in the general Los Angeles area.
  

This will be an updated version of the class with a fair amount of new material. Beginning in July or August we will also offer a new batch of Keep Up! Workshops as well. Early speculation envisions us very likely seeing the class headed back to Oregon, Washington and...? Any suggestions? Please let me know!

Also, several libraries and library systems have had us bring the workshop to their library exclusively for a day or two or three. These "custom trainings" as we call them can often be arranged outside of the schdedual mentioned above. This arragnement allows you to bring as many of your library staff (and they have to be from a single library system) to the training as your like. Some libraries have had us (me;) stay an extra day or two to do a couple/few three and 1/2 hour hands on practice sessions with class attendees as well. This has worked out VERY well! Make a blog, start using an aggregator and subscribing to RSS feeds, it's all covered! Sweet!
Please do bear in mind that due to scheduling it often takes 1-4 months for a mutually aggreable time for these trainings to arise.

Thanks so much to all of you that have come to the workshops! I really, really hope you took away some new, exciting, interesting and practial things to use in your library. Several people have told me they have and there are even blogs and RSS feeds out there to prove it! Woo Hoo!

See you soon!

-Michael

Told You So!

Well, well, well... Via the del.icio.us blog we discover that Yahoo! has just acquired our beloved del.icio.us. Less than a week ago during a lunch break from a "Keep Up!" workshop in Oregon someone wondered aloud if this might happen. "I really don't think that will happen, at least not according to what I've read. The founder is all about open source and doesn't want to sell.” I chimed in.

Someone then said "Well, everyone has their price". Indeed!

http://blog.del.icio.us/

Michael and "The Long Tail"

Here is a picture showing Michael's venture into "The Long Tail."

Here we sit

So, we can sit, listen and post at the same time. So, we're learning hands on.

Now, can I add this blog to my dashboard so I don't have to remember multiple user names and passwords (even if they are easy)?

Why Bother With RSS?

If you follow this link to the "Official Feedburner Blog" there is an excellent post that links to the .pdf for a market report entitled "How feeds change the way content is distributed, valued and consumed". The whole report is very interesting if you are intrigued by the whole RSS thing.

BUT even if you aren't intrigued by RSS, the graphic you will see on the blog post page really helps make it clear why RSS is being touted by so many people as such an important tool. Look at all the "things", people and orgs that send out RSS feeds! It's important that we as library staff and information professionals have a "lightbulb moment" for RSS if we haven't already.

Remember, if you have a news site for your library, you can easily add an RSS feed to that pre-existing page. Have you done that yet?

is anyone thinking of a gaming night?

Is anyone looking into setting up a gaming night because of the workshop?

I really loved that idea.

irma

rss usage/rss startups

Has anyone tried to get an rss reader for free? And if so which one are you using?

I

Social Networking Diagram

For all you visual learners out there, here is a link to a fascinating Social Networking diagram on Dave Pollard ambitiously titled blog, "How To Save The World". At the very top? "Finding Experts". Other major section headings include: Connecting, Collaborating and Learning. These themes sound familiar after class, eh? Cool stuff! Remember Web 2.0=Library 2.0!