Thing # 7

e-books

While I don’t think e-books will ever completely replace the experience one has with real hands-on paper books, I love this technology.

I can now read anywhere I can take my Lifedrive - on the bus, plane, train etc. It also means I am not lugging lots of books with me every time I go away. And if I am waiting in long queues - like at the airport last week - it shortens the apparent time wasted and turns it into 'fun' time.

While some e-books cost to download (buy) there are quite a few “free to download” websites out there.

Just do a search for "e-book" on your favourite search engine.

Luckily for me, I am a Sci-Fi/Fantasy freak so Baen suits my purposes perfectly.

I also love Project Gutenberg. This has transcriptions of out-of-copyright books from all over the world.

[NB: Project Gutenberg has also just recently set up a system so that their e-books can be downloaded to your handheld in a format set up specifically for handhelds, without having to download a large document file. Yay!]


A lot more websites are setting up their files so that they can be read as downloadable e-books…

In New Zealand, the NZETC has the Microsoft reader format available - so I can download and read early NZ books on my Lifedrive. Including an early edition of the Edmonds cookbook, The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945, The Life of Katherine Mansfield and numerous other titles.

There are several different readers available to read e-books and they can be used either on your PC or on a handheld.
Some of the different readers available are Microsoft Reader; Palm, Psion and Window CE; i-Silo; Plucker; Rocket EBook; etc… And formats also available include HTML; pdf; Rich Text Format…
Most readers are made to be compatible with different OS, and many are available for free download.

For more info check out these articles…

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051229_155542.htm

http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/column001204.htm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/127635/Electronic-books-EBook-Fad-or-Future

http://www.psfk.com/2005/09/the_future_of_t.html

http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=122

Thing # 6

After being away on holiday to Melbourne (love that city)... I am back on the ACL learning 2.0 trail.

I tried some of the mashups, ok, a lot of them... that was loads of fun.

I made a Simpson character of me (sort of)... I used the dice program to make a customized dice with my pretty pictures on it... i did some other funky stuff and am now ready to move on...

Unfortunately I forgot my Flickr password and now cannot remember lots of things to do with the original info I put in. After an hour of frustration i have finally cracked it and can now log on to my Flickr account and load more pics etc. And do more mashups. And finish off Thing # 6.

You can link to my Flickr account to view the results when I was playing with different mashups.

I loved http://www.dumpr.com/ but I also really enjoyed the Hockneyizer too!

Thing #5... Discovery Exercise 2

Ding Dong the gate is dead,

Which old gate?

The wicked gate,

Ding dong the wicked gate is dead...






Our research centre has been gated for many years - meaning only library members or paying guests could come in and use our 'public' library facilities.
Now, after a 10 year battle we have finally managed to get rid of it.




Check out my Flickr - "Ding dong the gate is dead".


Here are some of the tools used during its demolition, and the gates last gasp...

Thing #5

flickr...

Well just from looking around Flickr it seems quite neat plus there are an amazing amount of photos to view and download, which is great. And I now know what a tag is and will join a couple of groups soon too...

I have already found some fun groups that i might join in with already... such as "Springfield Public Library" where you make up a Springfield cartoon image of you or your favourite librarian; "Duck Balancers United"; "Guess Where Auckland"; "Weekly Scavenger Hunt"; "New Zealand Splendour"; "This is New Zealand too... (life as we live it) "; "Crossing Signs"; "New Zealand Clouds"; "Inflight meal" and many more...

Here are a couple of shots I have already come across that I love...