Podcasts #21

Podcasts are a lot of fun. I especially enjoy listening to my favorite sports announcers who basically just tape their shows and put them online (Mike and Mike are my personal favorites from ESPN Radio). I plan to listen to a lot more podcasts when I get my mp3 player for finishing my 23 things!! I used Podcastalley to find some other sports podcasts that I think I might enjoy. I was surprised once again at how easy it was to add the feed to my bloglines account and there it was. I think there is a lot of potential for library use, but I wonder if the time is right. There needs to be a compelling reason to listen to the podcast. I could see local libraries taping podcasts by authors who come in to talk about their new books, or I heard someone suggest that children's librarians tape themselves as they read their favorite books. I think that Podcasts in general are a ton of fun and definitely have niche' market appeal, we just need to find the right way to produce meaningful library podcasts.

YouTube #20

I have used YouTube before, but I am still continually amazed at the power of this one site. There are numerous other video sharing sites, but YouTube by far has the monopoly on these other sites. What has impressed me lately about YouTube is the role that they have played in the CNN/YouTube debates where individuals submit question online for the presidential candidates to answer if there video is chosen. Along these same lines, I discovered the music video Yes We Can, which takes Senator Barak Obama's speech of the same name and puts it to music. It is one of the most inspirational pieces I have ever seen. This video, which has been posted by several different people, has been viewed over 4 million different times. This truly speaks to the power not only of this site, but of the internet in general. There certainly is a lot of junk on Youtube, but there are also very practical applications as well. I also like their new interface, which changed about a year ago I believe. I am such a sucker for new interfaces though! In general...you must familiarize yourself with youtube, if only so that you can stay with a conversation among your friends, coworkers, kids, etc.

Discovering Web 2.0 Technologies #19

So, I have a new favorite website. It is called Pandora and it is a free music site that allows you to pick what type of music you like to listen. All you have to do is type in an artist or song that you like and "they" will find other songs and musicians that are similar. For a non music person like me this is fantastic. If you see me at the front desk with headphones plugged in I am listening to Pandora. I just had to sign up to keep listening, but it was easy to do and I liked their explanations for the information they required. They do offer a paid subscription that allows you to listen on your mobile phone or if you have specific players you can listen to Pandora in your house....I don't really get this last option because as long as you have your computer, why wouldn't you just play it off of your laptop. I shared this site with a few of my buddies who are not workers in the library and they had never heard of it. However, I don't know if they would use something like this because they already use their own music programs. We shall see.