Yesterday I experimented with Zamzar, a free, online file conversion service. I uploaded one Publisher document (twice) and had Zamzar convert it into both PDF (.pdf) and Word (.doc) formats and then I waited. And waited. And waited a little longer. After an hour, I got an email alert that the first document had been converted (into PDF format). I was hopeful that the Word version would arrive soon... but it took another hour!
While I am happy with the conversions (it is especially nice to have that Publisher document available in Word - since not all of the computer stations here at work have Publisher installed), and I can see the great utility of this service, I'm not sure that it will be the saving grace for our patrons that it COULD be. Let's face it, when (for whatever reason) our computers can't open the file that the patron wants to open, they're often already in "crisis mode" - they need the document and they want it NOW... the good news/bad news aspect of Zamzar might not go over so well -
"The Good News is that Zamzar will take your strange file format, and turn it into a nice Word document that our computers just LOVE!... The Bad News is that it might take a couple of hours..." Our patrons get a maximum of two hours of computer time per day - that math just doesn't work out too well for them.
Maybe my experience wasn't typical - maybe Zamzar was slow last night, or maybe Publisher documents are tougher for Zamzar to deal with. I'll definitely share this tool around with my co-workers, but I think I'll reserve final judgment for a little longer.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Video may have killed the radio star, but Pandora brought 'em back...
So, I already knew that my favorite local(ish) radio station (DC101, if you care) had a live stream - I've listened to it before. I tried to bring it up just for this Thing, but there's apparently some glitch in the stream - matter of fact, the morning show guy mentioned something about this morning, so there was no joy there.
After reading the descriptions, I decided to open up Pandora's box - and yowza, what a treasure I found inside! I immediately set up a channel called "Bowling for Soup Radio" (my favorite band) and while Pandora didn't come up with many bands I hadn't heard of before, it did let me listen to some music that I really enjoyed. I got a kick out of the thumbs up/thumbs down feature - (I love how basic that is!), and though it took me a little while to find, I made pretty good use of the skip forward button. Apparently, I made a little bit too much use of the skip forward and thumbs down features... Pandora issued a polite pop up that said that there is a limit to the number of songs you are allowed to skip per hour! My immediate response was frustration, but Pandora also lets you know that you can just create another station that will let you skip more songs. Whew! I was a little bit more careful about skipping after that, though.
So I set up a new station, this time based on The Dropkick Murphys song, "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" - Pandora wasn't too picky when I typed in "shipping" and suggested some titles and artists, which is nice - how often do you know part of a title? Happens to me pretty frequently, so I appreciate that function. After Pandora tried to get me hooked on Flogging Molly (bleh) twice, we hit the jackpot! Pandora queued up Korpiklaani - who knew I'd totally dig Scandinavian folk-metal? Awesome.
Well, personally, I'm VERY pleased with Pandora - easy to use, offers you a 'getaround' when it gives you a roadblock and I really like that it lets you click around and away from the site without losing the stream! From a work standpoint? It's a bit like Reader's Advisory for music, isn't it? Of course, I don't get an awful lot of folks asking me "what should I listen to next?" but hey, if they do, I'm ready for them!
After reading the descriptions, I decided to open up Pandora's box - and yowza, what a treasure I found inside! I immediately set up a channel called "Bowling for Soup Radio" (my favorite band) and while Pandora didn't come up with many bands I hadn't heard of before, it did let me listen to some music that I really enjoyed. I got a kick out of the thumbs up/thumbs down feature - (I love how basic that is!), and though it took me a little while to find, I made pretty good use of the skip forward button. Apparently, I made a little bit too much use of the skip forward and thumbs down features... Pandora issued a polite pop up that said that there is a limit to the number of songs you are allowed to skip per hour! My immediate response was frustration, but Pandora also lets you know that you can just create another station that will let you skip more songs. Whew! I was a little bit more careful about skipping after that, though.
So I set up a new station, this time based on The Dropkick Murphys song, "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" - Pandora wasn't too picky when I typed in "shipping" and suggested some titles and artists, which is nice - how often do you know part of a title? Happens to me pretty frequently, so I appreciate that function. After Pandora tried to get me hooked on Flogging Molly (bleh) twice, we hit the jackpot! Pandora queued up Korpiklaani - who knew I'd totally dig Scandinavian folk-metal? Awesome.
Well, personally, I'm VERY pleased with Pandora - easy to use, offers you a 'getaround' when it gives you a roadblock and I really like that it lets you click around and away from the site without losing the stream! From a work standpoint? It's a bit like Reader's Advisory for music, isn't it? Of course, I don't get an awful lot of folks asking me "what should I listen to next?" but hey, if they do, I'm ready for them!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
SlideShare and Go Seek
Just a quick example of some of what SlideShare can do:
(And of course, I know it's not library-related - but the marketing ideas are pretty interesting, as TB racing really does need a pretty major image adjustment... a little like libraries.)
What did I think about SlideShare? It's pretty cool, and could really be useful for folks who present "away from home" - It could save you from needing to keep track of your thumb drive or CD, and hoping that the laptop you've borrowed has PowerPoint already installed. Of course, you do need to be in a place that has internet access... but we won't go there. In touring SlideShare, I actually found quite a few Library related presentations - including an interesting one on libraries in Second Life (OK, so it's 2 years old, but still interesting, especially as it lists a number of caveats for those who are considering jumping into SL).
I also like the idea of using SlideShare as a way to connect people with a presentation - even if they couldn't be there physically. I've been to plenty of workshops and conferences where the presenters had some really good slides, but didn't provide printouts - with SlideShare, I can get right into that presentation from home, and find that one perfect slide, or just share the whole darn thing with my co-workers!
SlideShare is well organized (though I'd like it if they put a "Help" link somewhere near the top of the screen, rather than hiding it in the small print at the bottom) and the interface's extreme similarity to YouTube meant that I didn't have to spend much time learning how to navigate the site.
Short version - SlideShare gets a thumbs up from me, even though, as a general rule, I HATE PowerPoint presentations. I'm going to share it with co-workers who are currently taking part in LATI, so that they can use it (as a backup, maybe?) when they have to present their projects at the LATI Showcase.
(And of course, I know it's not library-related - but the marketing ideas are pretty interesting, as TB racing really does need a pretty major image adjustment... a little like libraries.)
What did I think about SlideShare? It's pretty cool, and could really be useful for folks who present "away from home" - It could save you from needing to keep track of your thumb drive or CD, and hoping that the laptop you've borrowed has PowerPoint already installed. Of course, you do need to be in a place that has internet access... but we won't go there. In touring SlideShare, I actually found quite a few Library related presentations - including an interesting one on libraries in Second Life (OK, so it's 2 years old, but still interesting, especially as it lists a number of caveats for those who are considering jumping into SL).
I also like the idea of using SlideShare as a way to connect people with a presentation - even if they couldn't be there physically. I've been to plenty of workshops and conferences where the presenters had some really good slides, but didn't provide printouts - with SlideShare, I can get right into that presentation from home, and find that one perfect slide, or just share the whole darn thing with my co-workers!
SlideShare is well organized (though I'd like it if they put a "Help" link somewhere near the top of the screen, rather than hiding it in the small print at the bottom) and the interface's extreme similarity to YouTube meant that I didn't have to spend much time learning how to navigate the site.
Short version - SlideShare gets a thumbs up from me, even though, as a general rule, I HATE PowerPoint presentations. I'm going to share it with co-workers who are currently taking part in LATI, so that they can use it (as a backup, maybe?) when they have to present their projects at the LATI Showcase.
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