Kids Sites and Facebook

Glubble seems like the only interesting site listed. Unfortunately, children these days don't seem to care about kid-friendly sites and would rather have full access to videos they shouldn't be watching and visiting sites they probably shouldn't be on. For a lot of them, they don't have boundaries on what they view on the internet because they are not taught internet safety.

The article about ACLU's attempt to make Facebook users realize that we basically have no privacy on the social site is pretty interesting. Here's my problem with people thinking this is the worst thing in the world: Facebook is a social site. There is no privacy from the get-go. The only privacy you have is setting your profile to 'private', but that only limits people you don't want to see what you're doing. Your friends have full access and can share your information with anyone. Plus, with the quizzes, your information is used for advertising. It's used to get statistics about what should be advertised on Facebook. Big deal. Not that I care to look at advertisements while I'm on there, but I certainly don't care if they're there.

The only privacy setting on Facebook that I find to be great is the blocking feature. Once you block someone you never see what their posts are, or what their profile picture is and they can never see yours. But if you really think your profile is private from everyone, just by clicking 'private', then you're just being silly. And people who are appalled and surprised by the ACLU article need a reality check.

Searching...

I am certainly a creature of habit. It doesn't matter what new search engines pop up and how great people make them out to be, I will always be a Googler. Not that I don't try them, of course, but I always end up using Google.

What I like about Lexxe is that there are no ads to distract you while looking at the list of results. It's a very clean and specific search engine. I typed in 'draw manga' as my search and 100 results were shown, compared to Google's 2,090,000 results. The Cluster on the left side of the results is interesting too. It puts results based on your search into more specific groups like "Draw Manga books', 'Draw Manga Hair', or 'Anime Style'.

I instantly took a dislike towards Hakia. Once you've submitted your search, the engine turns up the results and puts them into categories that make it hard for your eyes to handle. It puts the web results on the left side, images in the middle with news results and user generated content underneath, with sponsored links on the right side. It's just bad organization.

I don't like Quintura's link cloud that is always on the left side of the page.

Bing is my second favorite to Google. I've played around with it before. Again, it's a relatively clean search engine and I like the related searches and search history on the left side of the results.

Information at Your Fingertips

I do not have a web-capable phone. I only recently (since Christmas) have I gotten a phone that can take pictures. Though, that doesn't mean I don't want an iPhone or even an iTouch. I'm on a family plan and refuse to get my own plan for a phone. It's the one bill I don't have to pay and I'm trying to hold onto that for a while.

I think it's great that there are smart phones or devices that can access the internet pretty much anywhere. I love the idea of having information at my fingertips. Maybe it's the Web 2.0 librarian in me, but I don't think being able to see which movie an actor is in should be deemed as 'App-noxious' as the article states.

As for use in the library, the idea is good. We've used the iTouch to record Customer Interaction Statistics as a test drive. The iTouch also let us use the card catalog while in the stacks with patrons without having to run to the nearest Info Spot. Perhaps with phone capabilities of some sort, and money of course, we could get rid of our Voceras and use the iTouch as an all-in-one reference device. Some can dream, can't they?

Social Networks are for Lovers!

I started social networking with Myspace.com. I was moving to Orlando and a bunch of my friends wanted to stay in touch (because who uses phones, e-mail, or 'snail mail' anymore, right?). I reluctantly agreed. After Facebook started allowing people to sign up without a college/university e-mail address, I decided to join to be able to share pictures with people I went on a trip with. After getting over the learning curve of Facebook, I never went on Myspace again.

Facebook is a beneficial way to connect with people outside of the OCLS website or actual standing libraries. I have Orange County Library System as a friend, and receive their updates and announcements in my news feed. I don't necessarily think that using a social network would benefit Library Central department or DRI, but I can see how it would benefit other departments, such as Children's or CRC, that can give updates and announcements about upcoming programs and classes.

I made an account for Linked In, but found it unnecessary for me to have. And though Facebook is more for friends as opposed to being professional, I need/want only one social network at a time. And don't even get me started on the horrible fad of Twitter. The name itself is annoying.

Here we are again... Learn 2.5

I tried Second Life about 4 years ago. I explored a bit but it definitely isn't my type of game. The more I read about SL and libraries, though, the more I get interested. I've been thinking about joining again, just to see exactly what libraries can offer through the game. My first impression of SL was that it was taking away from the daily social interactions between people. You can pretty much do everything. Buy a computer, attend classes, work... all through an online game. It's interesting and scary all at the same time.

I have also heard rumors that the reference questions that libraries get in Second Life refer mostly to the virtual world itself. I can see how having a library in SL benefits it's citizens. They have a place to go to if they need help with answering any questions they may have, or to find research for a paper they must write, exc. Just like we have a place to go to in RL (that's MMO speak for 'real life,' haha). The more technology that comes out, the more we sit at home on our computers and in front of our televisions. Why not have a library that can reach everybody, instead of just one community?

The Dark Forces of the Internet

I have recently experienced a complete computer crash due to viruses and spyware. I was using my computer as normal, didn't go on any new sites or used something new, and all the sudden an antivirus downloaded itself onto my system and scanned my computer. It said I had many viruses and what not on it, but to get rid of them I had to buy an antivirus. Knowing that I didn't have to buy an antivirus to get rid of them, I went online to download AVG or Avast!. When I went to the webpage that would allow me to download them for free, or any other free antivirus, the page wouldn't load. But if I were to try to access a page that had antiviruses I had to pay for, the pages would load like normal and prompt me to purchase the antivirus. My friend told me that some of the antivirus companies make viruses so that you have to purchase one to get your computer work as normal. I've had the computer for over two years and never had an antivirus on it because I'm very careful about the sites I access and e-mails I open and answer. My friend worked on it for three days, got rid of all the viruses, but couldn't access the internet even though the connection was perfect. At that point, I told him to do the emergency recovery of my system so I could be done with it. I lost all my documents, except for my pictures.

The lesson learned from that fiasco? Buy an iMac. And that's just what I did.

Oh, and I now have an antivirus on my computer. Though, a free one.