It scares me a little as to the pervasiveness of Google - my email, YouTube, GoogleNews, GoogleDocs, iGoogle, are all sites that I use and refer to often. What happens once I discover I don't like Google anymore? Yikes! With that said, it is extremely convenient to use iGoogle as a homepage or a jumping off point prior to an Internet journey. Especially when it comes to reference in a library setting, efficiency is critical. In this 'information age', where we are inundated with info, a librarian must be able to conduct valuable research efficiently, as to provide a specialized resource. As an online application, iGoogle provides vital tools in a readily available format. To have email, news, and calendars provided on a single page makes things a bit easier for a researcher. My Mac computer provides many of these tools. I rely on the Mac calender to organize both school and work - the fact that I can sync my phone with my computer and vice versa is super helpful. Again, the idea is efficiency is the foundation of this. In many cases, though, a public library does is not able to offer the most up-t0-date technology (which may or may not be a good thing - the digital divide is one thing that may be affected by this buffer in acquisition of new technologies...). In the case that the computer or software used doesn't provide these tools, then those offered online are invaluable. Also, I think in a situation like a computer technology center in a public library - a place where the public can go to ask questions and learn about computers and technology, as well as a place where online job searches can be conducted, these tools offer a great learning opportunity.
I enjoyed exploring the widgets, and created the one found below to remind me when all my LIS 635 work needs to be completed by!
Created by OnePlusYou
Rollyo
Rollyo offers the ability to search the content of a list of specified websites, allowing a user to narrow down the results to pages from specific, personally chosen websites. This reminds me of a study I read that concluded that most Google users review only the top 3 search returns of a list usually consisting of thousands of returns. An application like Rollyo could change this, as supposedly only relevant articles or info will be returned after a search. Personally, I wonder if this could be as useful as Yahoo Pipes. Pipes is a bit more difficult to set up, but the returns seem to be much more in depth. The idea, though, is valiant - keep searches confined to trusted sites that have already been determined to be useful.
When completing this assignment, I used the Rollyo quote roll to use as an example. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of returns - and I didn't have to weed through them to find the most useful - which is pretty awesome.
In the library world, I can definitely see how creating topic specific rolls could prove helpful at the reference desk. Acting like ready reference, a roll could be created for a popular topic and information could be found and provided quickly and efficiently. The danger, of course, is that a truly reliable source may be ignored and not included in the roll, thus leaving many helpful sources untapped.
I created a roll for this 23 Things Blog:Rollyo
Rollyo offers the ability to search the content of a list of specified websites, allowing a user to narrow down the results to pages from specific, personally chosen websites. This reminds me of a study I read that concluded that most Google users review only the top 3 search returns of a list usually consisting of thousands of returns. An application like Rollyo could change this, as supposedly only relevant articles or info will be returned after a search. Personally, I wonder if this could be as useful as Yahoo Pipes. Pipes is a bit more difficult to set up, but the returns seem to be much more in depth. The idea, though, is valiant - keep searches confined to trusted sites that have already been determined to be useful.
When completing this assignment, I used the Rollyo quote roll to use as an example. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of returns - and I didn't have to weed through them to find the most useful - which is pretty awesome.
In the library world, I can definitely see how creating topic specific rolls could prove helpful at the reference desk. Acting like ready reference, a roll could be created for a popular topic and information could be found and provided quickly and efficiently. The danger, of course, is that a truly reliable source may be ignored and not included in the roll, thus leaving many helpful sources untapped.
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