RSS feeds there are lots of them!

As I was jumping around gmail reader, starting with Unshelved which I have followed for a number of years, I found a great box next to the Feed you are looking at called "More like this.."  This is a great tool to find sites that may interest you. Most will not grab you but there are some which will surprise you.  I found 2 websites that I created a RSS feed from called Library Stuff and LIS news: -the Cream of the Crop. Library Stuff is American based weblog for Library development but posts headlines about libraries. Some are surprising, like one of my favourites, 'Stick to lending Books, suburb mayor tells library'.  LIS news is more world wide and can be fun as well.

Some RSS feeds are about news reports, which a lot of people now use instead of reading the headlines.  these feeds provide headlines as they come available so people feel more up to date. One which I found interesting was not run by one of news services which a lot are, but by Library Interact and it provides headlines which you can then read more if they grab you.  The name of the RSS Feed is called Citation from -Library Interaction which you find though Google reader. 

One Feed that I could not pass was the National Library of Australia - Library news and events.  This is a great Australian based one that tells what is happening here.

These are just ones that I have looked around in a short time, I am sure there are more out there that I will love or like better than these.  More come out all the time and any library could have one to promote and interact with staff and community.

Images online: What is out there??

It is likely that while you are on the Internet and looking around you will find a photo of yourself or someone you know.  This photo is likely not put up by you or that person, this is because there are a lot of photo's online and many different organisations and groups now post online. They also have put up old photos and  archive materials online for easy of access.

Now that people have digital camera's, it is easier to put their photo's online as they are already on the computer.  There is also a growing trend for people to storing their digital photos in their own 'photo libraries' on the web so they can have access anywhere they want and to share their photos. This can be also linked to be part of people's social networking pages (facebook and LJ) or their own web page that they have created.  Some of the Photos can be on things that you think are fun, different or stranger as teh photo below.



Sign at a Bali Temple



It is getting easier and easier to to get photos online so don't be to suprised when you are surfing the web you come across a picture of yourself.  A picture that may be one you don't expect to see or in some cases what to see.  Your library could put up photos of what the library looks like so people can see before they go or if it is the outside recognise what they are look for when going to the library for the first time.

The Blog

What does it actually mean to use a Blog??     

What to put on a Blog??

For these two questions, I had to think about before starting to write this blog.  The second question for me is the hardest to start off on.

To me, a blog has been something that I used for personal reasons to keep in touch with my friends that I don't see very often and see what they are doing.  It hasn't been something that I use to post to very often but it gives me access to my friends blog for content that they don't want the whole world to know as well as a easy way to follow their blogs.

This is due to Blogs having 3 type of information in them that is accessible (not all blogs have this and may have different names). 

1. Public Content and Access = everyone can see and read the post.  You need to be careful and understand what information you are allowing any person in the world to see. Or more importantly, sometimes the post is about information that you don't what a certain person to know about.
2. Friends Content and Access = people that you have given permission to have extra access, not all the people that follow your Blog.  You need to have a idea who this person is in some way because otherwise what is the point of giving them extra access to your Blog? You are removing the reason behind the Friend only access.  You need to remember that once you have given permission, you can take it away when ever you like.
3. Private Content and Access = Only you the author can see and read the information.  This is one way to have a diary and no one can access or see this information.

A blog is something that can you a way for you to connect to people through friendships or people with similar interests.  It is also showing the world and people that read your Blog one or more aspects of you, depending what they read and what you decide to put out there to be read.  Your Blog can change overtime as you change and your idea for what the Blog is to be as changes.

This Blog is just one aspect of Stepham who could be just an aspect of a unknown person. This depends what I have decided to write in this Blog and make available for you to see.  If I decide to write under another name or in a different place, another aspect may be viewed to all or to a select few. 

This is what it means to use a Blog.