Bloggie Importer Thingies August 20, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Librarianship, Web/Tech, Weblogs.Tags: Ann Z, Facebook, import blogs, Myspace
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For those of you who don’t know (and the only person I can say for certain who DOES know is the incomparable Ann Z, cuz she told me about this in the first place), but some social networking sites, like Facebook, have this awesome little feature that allows you to blog in one place (say here, for instance), then import it over to the most blog-like feature at that site–in Facebook’s case, the Notes application. The effect is that I can blog from one place and have my thoughts broadcast (in Hi-Def! no, not really) at other places fairly soon afterwards, with no additional effort.
I think this sort of thing is great, particularly because I’m one of those people who has footprints all over the net.
(Seriously, I’m pretty easy to find. If you know any of my usernames–and I have several–you can pretty much map out a good chunk of my life. One of the women I recently dated told me some pretty surprising things about myself, though nothing really unsettling. Still, it makes you wonder how much of yourself is really out there. If SkyNet ever comes after me, I’ll need a miracle.)
Digressions aside, I think it’s more than a little appalling that a popular social networking site like Myspace doesn’t have this same awesome capability (or if they do, I sure as hell can’t find it). For those of you interested in tracking down even more of me, here’s my Myspace page, but I don’t really maintain it that well anymore. I check in, occasionally do a survey or something, and sometimes re-connect with people who have found me, but that’s pretty much it. I’m much more active on Facebook (such as it is), primarily because I’ve found their applications to be a little more user friendly. But the Myspace blog hasn’t been touched in over two years, in part because of limitations like this.
Now, I’m holding out hope that Myspace will change its ways. The application is still pretty popular with the young adult and teen crowd (though others are gaining ground), and they have made some pretty nifty modifications in the last couple of years. They need to work on the functionality of their blogs, and internal calendars if I’m going to continue using it as an outreach tool to advertise YA programs and services to Houston-area teens. Still, I continue to hold out hope that they’ll improve. Until then, check for my updates on Facebook.
And, oh yeah… it’s been nearly 6 months since my last post. Miss me? 
Word Processor, Part Deux January 5, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Web/Tech, Writing.Tags: lost file, MS Office, MS Word, OO Writer, OpenOffice, script
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Well, it looks like I’ve finally recovered re-typed the work I lost in yesterday’s MS Word debacle. The script isn’t exactly the same as I’d previously written, but it’s close enough that I feel good about it. Hopefully I won’t have any more file saving issues.
In the mean time, I’ve started using the OpenOffice word processor program, Writer, for my script. It functions in mostly the same ways that Word does, but is an open source version with some slight differences. It opens and saves programs in Word format if you wish, which already makes it a lot more flexible than Microsoft’s product.
I don’t claim to know much about open source software, but I’ll say this much: if OpenOffice is to Microsoft Office even half of what Mozilla Firefox is to Internet Explorer, then I won’t have any problems leaving Microsoft and not looking back.
Your Word Processor Did WHAT?! January 4, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Rants, Web/Tech, Writing.Tags: flash drive, lost file, MS Word, script
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I had an extremely frustrating encounter last night. Preliminarily, I blame MS Word.
After writing another couple of script pages for my graphic novel, I saved it to my flash drive. Then, I went to save another copy of it on my computer’s hard drive, but instead clicked ‘Save’ by accident, initiating another save on the same document. I immediately got an error message (something to do with file permissions, I believe) and lost the entire document from my flash drive.
No prior draft, no warning, no nothing. The document was simply gone, erased from the flash drive. Thank goodness I’d thought to keep a copy on the hard drive.
A little research told me that this isn’t an uncommon problem, but that there are also no ways to recover documents lost in such a way. I can re-visit the script on my hard drive (breathes a sigh of relief), but the pages I was working on last night are gone.
All because I (accidentally) saved twice in a row.
I’ll re-type and recover the pages, more or less. I remember enough of the script not to worry too much about the minutiae of how it was composed. It’ll take a little extra effort to maintain 182,500, but hey, it’s early in the game. Just push through and do a little extra writing.
Still, I’m pretty upset with Word. It’s just left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. Somehow, the punishment just doesn’t seem to fit the crime.
Alright, MP3 Player NOT Going Back… January 2, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.Tags: Chip, ebooks, mp3 players
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A big hearty thank-you to Chip, who showed me how to change the settings on the player itself to a mode that would accept e-audiobook files. This arms me with another important piece of knowledge in terms of helping out patrons who want their e-audiobooks to be truly mobile. And, of course, now I can start listening to The Gunslinger!
Help With 182,500 January 1, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, General Incoherency, Web/Tech, Writing.Tags: 182500, spreadsheet
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I’m wondering if there’s a more efficient way of keeping track of my word counts for this year. When I last failed attempted this feat, I tried keeping notes on an Excel spreadsheet, which wasn’t terribly difficult, but a little cumbersome. I’d like to see if there’s a way I can better automate the task and still keep accurate tabs on my progress.
Any suggestions?
MP3 Player Going Back January 1, 2008
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.Tags: DRM, ebooks, iPod, mp3 players
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One thing I can’t stand, as an information professional, is a surprise brought on by a lack of information that I should have had from the get-go.
I’ve been wanting to get an mp3 player for quite some time, and I knew pretty much from the start that I wouldn’t be going with an iPod of any type. Main reason: they work with iTunes files only, they have a well-known lack of battery life after a certain point, and the digital media providers that my library contracts with have stated that iPods will NOT play their files.
Seeing as I planned to use my mp3 player to download and listen to e-audiobooks through these services, I made sure I got a player that was: 1. not beholden to any one proprietary playback format; and 2. equipped with a file converter of its own. That way I had a good deal of flexibility in dealing with the formats issue.
After downloading an e-audiobook from one of the services, acquiring the license, and transferring it to my mp3 player, I encountered a most unpleasant surprise. It wouldn’t play the audiobook. My COMPUTER could play it just fine, but somehow the license didn’t make the jump to my mp3 player when I synched them up. Windows Media Player informed me that it was because my device was “unable to play subscription files.”
What?
It turns out this was a firsthand introduction to the issue of digital rights management (DRM) that I’ve read about so many times. Don’t get me wrong, I figured it would come into play eventually, given that I was downloading freely and legally a copy of material that, ostensibly, is made to profit the publisher creator. What I wasn’t figuring on was having to confront it from the point of purchase.
Apparently, neither were the salespeople. I went back to the store and asked them about the issue after explaining what happened, and while they could point me to at least one player that could allegedly play subscription media, it clearly wasn’t an issue that came to their attention very often. After listening to my story, I was very sympathetically told that I should probably return the player and look for another one.
I guess what I don’t understand is why this isn’t a bigger issue for consumers. Based on what I’ve discovered so far, the more popular players won’t play these kinds of files. And yet, they’re the best kind I would think the public would be interested in: free (with a library card, of course). I looked up mp3 players in Consumer Reports, and couldn’t find anything that really dealt with the issue of DRM capabilities in their findings.
Many patrons who have mp3 players that come to my library want to know how to download these titles, and I, as a big fan of portable information technology, am always the first one out of my seat to show them how it works. But without a readable, current, and easy-to-find list of players that support the services, it could become a headache trying to put the ‘portable’ into that phrase (“Well, ma’am, at least you can listen to it on your computer at home!” 
).
If anyone knows where I can find information that would help me stay on top of this issue, please feel free to let me know.
At Long Last, Civilization RETURNS! April 11, 2007
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, General Incoherency, Web/Tech.4 comments
Well, now that life’s more or less stabilized, I am pleased to announce that Sarabeth and I have again attained reliable, stable, and convenient access to the Internet and can again communicate with the world at large on a basis that isn’t strictly one-on-one!
I am also pleased to announce that I began training earlier this week as a librarian in the Houston Public Library system, and am looking forward to my work in children’s services. It’ll be a major shift over from serials work, but I think it will be a rewarding one nonetheless.
For those of you who wondered at my unusually long (even for me) Internet silence, please allow me to extend my apologies and reassure you that it was due to an extraordinary combination of professional, financial, personal and domestic circumstances. I had to prioritize, and unfortunately, Internet capability (and for some of you, my only medium of communication) was knocked THAT far down the list for a while. I’m hopeful (and reasonably confident) that it won’t happen again any time soon.
In the meantime, let me say thanx to those of you who still have this blog in your regular feed. Your dedication is impressive. 
I’ll talk at further length about what I’ve been up to later, but in the mean time I’d suggest travelling over to Sarabeth’s illustration website. Many of the new pictures she’s added have been over the last few months during our sporadic-at-best access to the Internet, and I think they show an improvement and maturity in style that she’s attained during this period. In particular, the Turtles drawings rock!
More later!
Everybody to the Qunu! August 10, 2006
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Geekery, Librarianship, Web/Tech.1 comment so far
Following a post I read about online reference services, I checked out Qunu, an expertise matching service
that provides its searchers with a list of experts on a search topic
instead of a list of websites. Experts set up a Jabber-compliant chat client on their computers (I currently use Miranda) and create an agent with self-created subject tags to interface with Qunu and through which they can receive IMs from users of the site who run across their area of expertise.
This is pretty cool stuff, in my opinion, as it seems to represent a great leap forward in terms of connecting users with the information they seek. I mean, there are plenty of great website resources out there, but they tend to be limited by their content (and, sometimes, the form), which often isn’t as wide-ranging or in-depth as a user’s particular needs. It is at this point that having people proficient in, for instance, a particular academic discipline (like chemistry) or the use of a particular software, fills an important potential information gap.
After trying a couple of Jabber-compliant chat clients, reading and re-reading the connection instructions, and puttering around with the service’s website interface a bit, I’ve volunteered my services as an "expert" on this site, mostly with regard to providing general help with research. Whenever I’m online through Miranda, I’ll be available to anyone looking for a helping hand with their assignments. So far I’ve just used the tags Luke mentions in his post about Qunu, with "general reference" added.
Some things I’ve noticed thus far:
- From what I’ve seen browsing other expert tags, there is a LOT of emphasis on helping others out with software, programs, and computer applications. I’ve so far seen very few subject disciplines tagged, even among the sciences. This is potentially very fertile ground for subject librarians to connect to patrons who may need their services. For that reason, librarians should strongly consider creating a presence through this or similar services.
- For Miranda users: The agent sometimes doesn’t acknowledge when you’ve responded to a help request, even when you actually do. I’m not sure if this is problem is indigenous to Miranda, the Qunu site, or somewhere in between them. Just remember to reset your status in the agent message interface to get yourself re-listed, or you’ll be considered "offline" the next time someone else searches your tags on Qunu.
This is a fairly new service, so a lot of bugs are being worked out. Still, it looks like it could be yet another interesting change on the forefront of library services. I’m really excited about seeing where this goes!
Mapping Program Features — Any Thoughts? August 9, 2006
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in General Incoherency, Travel, Web/Tech.2 comments
I’m about to go running around the city on errands and such, and since I’m still re-learning where the main thoroughfares and good routes are, I’ve been using mapping programs such as Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, and Rand McNally to find any businesses and locations good enough to give me their addresses (you’d be surprised who sometimes doesn’t do this). In doing so, I’ve noticed a few things about mapping software.
All the gripes about these programs aside, we still use them if they’re onhand. They’re convenient, even when they’re not. I’ve been misled, lied to and otherwise bamboozled by Yahoo Maps (powered by "Trapquest"!), though I still use it out of habit sometimes. Google Maps is nice from what I’ve seen, but I rarely use it because it’s not tied to Yahoo, where I often check email and Groups postings. Rand McNally, which to my knowledge seems to have been making maps forever, has actually corrected many of the mistakes I’ve seen in Trapquest. Their mapping program looks highly reliable so far, though I rarely use it aside from finding big errors in Yahoo.
I’m also becoming aware of a feature that I’d really like to see in mapping software, but have not witnessed anywhere thus far. Usually when I go out running errands, I need to go to several points in a city. I can type in addresses indivdually, but have to map each one from either home or where I think I’ll be when I go there. This can be very cumbersome and time-consuming, not to mention more than a little frustrating.
What I’d really like to see on these programs in the near future (like, yesterday) is a plotting feature that allows you to store several addresses and plot them from one to the other, more or less simultaneously, so you can figure out your overall flight path for the day. I’ve done a little exploring on the three programs I’ve mentioned, and haven’t yet found a feature I can use to this effect. I’m thinking that, with people’s lives sometimes taking them all over the place, this would be a useful and fairly popular feature for mapping software.
Of course, I’m not above the idea that I just haven’t found out how to do this yet with the existing programs. But if anyone has any ideas (how to use the existing programs like this, or any new software that can easily do this), please feel free to let me know.
Until then, I’ll continue re-acquainting myself with Houston…
I Just About Laughed Myself Breathless July 22, 2006
Posted by tonywgoodwyn in Complete and Utter Hilarity, Web/Tech.add a comment
Sarabeth has become quite the YouTube addict. For the 3% of you who both read my blog AND don’t know that it exists, go check it out. It’s basicly a collection of film clips people put on there, and being the geeks we are, we dive right into the humor aspects of such a site.
This particular clip made me laugh so hard that I nearly couldn’t breathe. I haven’t laughed that hard in a LONG while, so I figured I’d show everyone what my twisted psyche considers funny nowadays.
A quick disclaimer: this clip isn’t G-Rated, strictly speaking, it probably gets PG or maybe PG-13, so if you get offended easily by anything other than Disney cartoons, please don’t bother. Everyone else, enjoy.
