Sunday, February 18, 2007

Week 5, Exercise 12

Here are my observations from my explorations using Rollyo.

Public Domain e-books Search (http://rollyo.com/onfire4jc/public_domain_ebooks/)
I found the title of this to be just a bit misleading, unless I'm missing something altogether. I went there expecting to find resources in e-book format. What I found, chiefly through a link that took me to the Internet Public Library, is a lot of websites. My search term was "graphic design." It brought up a few related sites, but many more that were not. Searching "graphic design" in quotes and with a boolean "and" included did not alter the results. It was not altogether disappointing though, for like a visit to a physical library, I "bumpted into" s a lot of stuff that I might not otherwise have thought to look for. Here's a sample of what I'll be coming back to later and exploring on my own:

Architecture:
Design-Build Magazine
http://www.designbuildmag.com/

Art Competitions:
Art Deadlines List
http://artdeadlineslist.com/

Garden:
Garden Gate Magazine
http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/

Graphic Design:
Design, Typography and Graphics
http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/

Online Marketing:
Website Success Monthly
http://www.lrsmarketing.com/newsletter_home.htm

Popular Culture:
Mastermind Magazine
http://www.lrsmarketing.com/newsletter_home.htm

Photography:
PIN: the business journal for the imaging market
http://www.quiltmag.com/

Quilting:
Quilt: America’s Favorite Quilting Magazine
http://www.quiltmag.com/

Writing:
WriterOnLine: the professional ezine for writers
http://www.writer-on-line.com/index.html

Rare Book Library Search (http://rollyo.com/byblos/rare_book_library_search/)
A search for the "Gutenberg Bible" brought up a German text and English text link to the same source, the British Library. Here's the detail on their holding:
Title: Biblia latina
Place: Mainz
Publisher: Johann Gutenberg, Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer
Date: 1454-55
Library: The British Library
Shelfnumber: C.9.d.3
Provenance: From the Library of King George III, presented to the British Museum in 1823
Document type: Incunable or postincunable
Subject: Bible

Free Photos Search
I thought it could be useful to look for images of "Reading." The results were all hosted by Flickr:
Reading in the Flowers (http://www.flickr.com/photos/norby/152723505/)
Annabel's toes help her read El Rinoceronte Rojo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/j-pride/106479115/)
In the Library (http://www.flickr.com/photos/murn/6469712/)
Inside the Words (http://www.flickr.com/photos/elettra/367951791/)
Wisdom (http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_oracle/341250159/)
No (http://www.flickr.com/photos/68245328@N00/335695871/)
I Want to Live (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbird/36362014/)
Two Friends Reading (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaroslavd/74106006/)
Look at Me (http://www.flickr.com/photos/onlystardust/17259167/)
Though by no means a 70's baby, I can otherwise identify with this one:
She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain 44/365 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/peskymac/293347771/)

I thought I'd try searching the same word using the link to "royalty-free," but didn't have the chance. Clicking on that link told me "Sorry, we couldn't find any searchrolls matching your criteria."

So I moved on to check for "reading" in Quick Quotes Search, and found the following to be most useful:
Quoteland.com (http://www.quoteland.com/topic.asp?CATEGORY_ID=122P)
WorldofQuotes.com: http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Reading/1/index.html)
The Quotations Page (http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/books/) where I found these contrasting bits of advice:

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Don't join the book burners. Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book... Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969

Could not get the Searchroll code to paste = kept getting the message: Your HTML cannot be accepted: Closing tag has no matching opening tag

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Week 5, Exercise 11

Hoping to relocate in two years, so I decided to check out the Real Estate category. Here's a rundown of what I found at each site.

#!
PROPSMART.COM
Launched 12/05; indexes a majority of the listings in the top 25 US metropolitan areas
Brag points: Google-based searchable maps; RSS feeds of listings
Lists 4 types of property: Homes, Land, Commercial & Apt. Rentals

After you enter your City/State:
* Sort by price
* Filter by: price, beds, size, hide props w/o pics
* Set number of listings per display

Limiting my exploration to just the Homes category covering U.S. & beyond (other property types are in beta) ---

Map on the page is populated by "pushpins" locating properties. Run your cursor over the pushpins to display price and address. Inset map places map view within the larger region.

Text listing dislays: Price, Bd/Ba, Sq. Ft., Address
Clicking on map pushpin displays bubble with same info with added detail - number of nearby properties.

Clicking on address from the list, or detail page from map bubble takes you to the same detail page, where you'll get a very detailed description, plus access to a scrollbar activated slide show of good size photos and a zoomed in map locator for the property.

In addition to other types of property, the site has tabs for:
My PS (Edit Profile, Rated Properties, Manage Properties, Add Property)
Forum (Blog setup for different types of announcements from Propsmart)
Blogs (Access to blogs on a variety of real estate related blogs)

#2
ZILLOW.COM
Launched in 2005 to give home buyers the tools of an agent.
Lists only homes for sale.
Interesting features: satellite maps, My Estimator which lets you arrive at an estimate of any property based on information you fill in; see: http://www.zillow.com/howto/MyZestimator.htm

Home page links access:
(Info for) BUYERS
Valuations & homes for sale
Search — For sale, sold, and Make Me Move homes — on one map
Make Me Move™ — Homeowners willing to talk, for the right price
Zestimate™ — Estimated value vs. price: Take it to open houses
Comps — Recently sold homes, neighborhood trends
Buyer's Wiki — Home buying guide by buyers

Info for) SELLERS
Free postings, lots of buyers
Post For Sale — Your home on Zillow (place it on the map!)
Make Me Move — Test the waters with a price to entice
My Estimator — Your estimate based on improvements
Zestimate — What's your home worth?
Seller's Wiki — Home selling guide by sellers

(Info for) OWNERS
A home for your home
Make Me Move — The magical number you can't refuse
Zestimate — Estimated market value of your home
Claim Your Home — Add photos and comments
Search — What houses nearby sold for — or are about to
Get a Loan — Home equity and refinancing tips

Extras include the trival (Famous Former Lovers' Homes --- includes aerial view of adjacent properties with their price tags) and the useful (Quarterly Home Value Reports --- includes the Zindex Home Value Indicato, providing median values for a region and Local Reports for major markets)

Home page tab options:
* Map & Search
Opening screen shows U.S. map with what appear to be median prices for selected areas.
Enter preferred city/state. Displays regional map populated by flags with prices. Filter results by Price, Beds, Baths, Size, Lot, Type or Sold Within. Click on an address to bring up property details; zoomed in map with prices of surrounding properties; different map options, including Streets, Aerial, Hybrid (which is Streets + Aerial), and Heat (a regional view showing distribution of pricing from low (blue) to high (red), plus a bird's eye view or photos. My test site had neither.
* Post for Sale
Enter as an owner or an agent and list property at no cost.
* Real Estate Wiki
Numerous links for buyers or sellers providing education on all aspects of the process.
* My Zillow
Use this area to save and map favorites, create your own list of comparables, receive updates on homes your tracking and new Zillow features.

#3
TRULIA.COM
This is another website that focuses on Home sales. As with other sites you enter the city and state that you want to search. You can refine your search with the following filters: price range, property type, minimum # of beds, minimum # of baths, sq. ft., neighborhoods and nearby cities.

The initial listing displays price, address, city/zip, # of BR & BA, number of sq. ft. , a thumbnail photo of the esterior and the real estate compny listing the property. Over on the right is map poulated by inverted raindrops, color coded according to price range. An inset map defines the region in which these listings appear.

Clicking on a listing provides more detail, a link to a photo gallery, a zoomed in map, a graph tracking home prices in the area over 5-year period, a price comparison to other homes in the neighborhood. Using the heat map option provides a satellite view of the area, with a color coded map illustrating price range distribution. A chart provide the following comparative data: average listing price, average sales price. median sales price, price per sq. fit. and a column labeled Trulia popularity, which I assume refers to how popular each neighborhood is (based on visits to that part of the website? it's really not clear. Search similar homes brings up a chart listing 25 properties, showing address, proximity to original addrss, list price, the number of days it's been listed, property type, BR, BA, sq. ft., lot size, year built and price per sq. ft. As with other sites, the map markers display brief info when the cursor passes over them. You can also opt to listings of other homes that have already sold.

If the photo gallery is hosted at www.postlets.com, you also have access to the following tabs: a bulleted list of Features, Photo gallery, map, school locator and www.bankrate.com's mortgage calculator.

Week 5, Exercise 10

To borrow a phrase, "I can't believe I deleted the whole thing!!!!!" I accidentally exited my blog entry recording 2 hours worth of exploration. No way am I going to repeat those steps, so I'll just have to summarize what I remember.

I used http://www.customsigngenerator.com/banners/i-love-generator.asp to create this banner for my rascally, but totally lovable cat.


My eye is drawn to vanity plates. I used http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp?tid=License+Plate to create this one:



Gee, can you figure out where I want to live?


This will sign created with http://center-lane.signgenerator.net/ will clue you in on one of my biggest pet peeves.




Seriously, if we all applied the golden rule, there'd be no such thing as "road rage." It's simple really. Want to be able to merge onto the freeway tomorrow? Then don't speed up to prevent me from doing so today. My commute is mercifully short, but getting onto northbound 280 from S. Fourth can be as hairy as riding along with Ben Hur at the races.


My last bit of wisdom for the night: Nothing is ever...



Create your own funky text here: http://cooltext.com/

I'm calling it quits while there's still some time to get some shut-eye.
One can easily lose a day or more here: http://www.imagegenerator.org/

Monday, February 5, 2007

Week 4, Exercise 9

I decided to check what was out there in the blogosphere about "library marketing." I found that Technorati yielded the most results that were right on point. At the other end of the spectrum, Topix.net was quite disappointing in that most of what it found were references to people who had "Library Marketing" in their title.

Here's what I added to my feeds today:
The "M" Word - Mareting Libraries
Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book
Library Videos - the best of...
Lib Talk Blog

To check them out for yourself, find the feed at: http://www.bloglines.com/public/playtowork

The biggest payoff came from a Google search on "library marketing" where I found this link: http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Marketing The site includes links to several blogs on the topic.

2/14/07 Update: May have to revise the above statement. Tried a search engine called blogsearch.google.com and found this del.icio.us site: http://del.icio.us/chrystiehill/lbc+marketing

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Week 4, Exercise 8

What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
A: Pulls all your interests together into one access point. Saves time; very convenient.

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your work or personal life?
A: Am anticipating that it will help monitor SJMN's coverage of library news.

How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
A: 1) Alert customers when we have news to share. 2) Open a conversation with them.

OK - this was definitely useful to learn about, but... it took way too long to find co-workers' feeds to subscribe to. After what felt like hours, I still had located only three. I'm frankly not quite sure why I would want to subscribe to someone else's feeds. After all, I suspect that my own will present more than enough challenge to keep up with. That may be the flip side of technology - that it makes it incredibly easy to blow your time away without even realizing it. Unfortunately, today was another one of those weird "technology is not my friend" days. I set up my bloglines account, but the validation email never reached my mailbox, even after checking/rechecking that I'd entered the right address and requesting half a dozen times that they send me another validation email. Hence, Bloglines has not activated my account and I cannot share my feeds! I sent them an email asking "what's up?" and received an acknowledgment in my mailbox, so I know that we can communicate. Guess I'll just have to wait to complete this assignment another day. Sigh...

Two days later, I finally have an address for my feeds: http://www.bloglines.com/public/playtowork

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Week 3, Exercise 7

What interests me about technology, hmmmm...
I would have to say one of the greatest benefits is that it reduces creative inhibitions. Traditional art mediums are sooooooo expensive that the cost can be a roadblock. When faced with a piece of high-quality rag watercolor paper that set you back $10, you feel like you have to get it right the first time. You can't afford to make a mistake. With electronic mediums like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, you can experiment all you want and it doesn't cost you an extra penny (except for electricity) once you get over the hurdle of that initial investment in hardware and software. I suppose I could "waste" a lot of paper before reaching the cost of setting up a graphics-enabled computer system, but still, the process of making artwork is much encouraged by knowing you haven't wasted anything but your time when a piece doesn't turn out well. Beyond the similar savings in cost of development, a digital camera provides instant satisfaction. You get to see immediately whether your trip photo turned out well and have a chance to do it over before you get back home and discover your most treasured memory is just a blur.

One of the benefits of technology---speed---is also one of its downsides. Because you can get so much done so much faster, the expectations for what you can get done, whether self-imposed or imposed by others, can be unrealistic.

Oh yeah, to fulfill the requirement to comment on another's blog, see my post at Mana's Blogger Blog.

Week 3, Exercise 6


For someone who likes graphics, this week's exercise opened up a Pandora's box of toys. I tried out the Trading Card tool and used it to make a "travel card." What a neat way to keep track of or share the highlights of a trip. Check it out!