Summing up

I decided I could finish this project in time if I came in to Main as a customer on Sunday.

My home PC is allergic to the Internet. I can log on, but the browser claims it cannot find any servers.

>:-[

So...here I am in the Grand Reading Room, the first one to arrive!

I've already been using Bloglines, del.icio.us and PBwiki for several years, because I like their functionality and they are directly or indirectly relevant to my daily routines.

Of the new things I tried, it was good to finally experiment with Flickr, though I rarely need to post or share images outside of my blogs. I can see the values of Technorati, LibraryThing, podcasts and OverDrive, but again not stuff I would usually use much myself—though I definitely am glad to have learned about them for the sake of helping customers.

The most interesting in terms of potential personal use is Zoho Writer. Second to that—though I haven't had time to explore it yet—is the notion of online desktops in the Web 2.0 Tools.

The project gave me enough of a nudge to overcome enertia and actually try out apps I was curious about...but told myself I didn't have the time to try. It has generated a short list of things I want to go back to for further exploration and potential use. A good follow-up to the NEFLIN-sponsored "Social Software in Libraries" course in 2006.

Re improvements: I agree with Carol Bailey's critique.

• The actual time commitment needed was much more than a lot of staff could spare.
  
  This sort of learning is essential for JPL staff, as is other e-technology learning. Although I think self-guided work on one's own timetable is crucial for the subject (everyone's learning curve is different), I also think the training needs to have a mandate analogous to the one for Destination: LEADERSHIP.
  
  In other words, supervisors can fit time for participation into their overall scheduling needs, but they must fit it in for every employee.


• In addition to Carol's concern about inconsistent links, I found that occasionally instructions were incomplete or incorrect. For example, see the description of my problem subscribing to a podcast using Podcast Alley.
  
  I managed in each case—eventually—because I've been doing this sort of puzzling out of online software apps for years. And because I'm a stubborn curmudgeon who won't give up.
  
  I share Carol's concern about much of this being "very confusing to [newbies] who didn't know their way around a Web site." We want to encourage JPL folks to keep exploring, not discourage them.

I would definitely participate in another program, and I urge JPL to increase the amount of e-tech training it does. I'd like to see the time when more of these skills become part of job descriptions, or at least part of core competencies which we would expect probationary staff to gain.

I'd also like to encourage the discourse about "what all this means" in terms of the public library mandate to serve the "immigrants" and the "refugees." As you've seen, I've added a number of my own rants along those lines. It may not be the sort of discourse for the 'Net, but JPL should build more safe venues for that sort of discussion behind the scenes.

All in all: Excellent program! Thanks very much to all of you who made it possible.

Mike

Zoho Writer: Using online apps

For some reason, my first few attempts at using Zoho Writer were bombs. I couldn't figure out how to get a new document started. Even though I was clicking the New button, it didn't work right.

However, anything I'm trying to do online while at the REF desk is likely to blow up. All those pesky customers interrupting. (See "Customer Service for Curmudgeons.")

Having now gotten a document started, I think I'm going to like this. I'm a bit wary of saving my stuff online...but, of course, all my blog posts are online...including the blogs you folks don't know about...so....

Anywho....

Let's see what it does with images.

Hmm....

A lot of trial and error here, trying to figure out how to get the image where I want it on the page...in a way that makes the text wrap to the left of the image.

However, being a trial-and-error sort of person, I've gotten at least some of it figured out.

That, by the way, is perhaps the key criterion for success using computer applications—especially online apps. You have to be willing to figure a lot of it out for yourself. In other words, you have to spend a LOT of time...a lot a lot a lot...playing around, goofing around, trying this and that and the other.

It's not for the timid...or the impatient.

But, as I used to tell the senior citizens to whom I was teaching Beginning Computers ages ago, "You can't break the hardware or the software unless you really know what you're doing. The worst that usually happens is you lose your work and have to start over."

I'm going to try one other toy for the moment. I put an anchor up at the start of this post. If you click the word "anchor," it should take you back there.

Now let's see if I can publish this to my blog.

Hold onto your hats.....

Mike

PS: WOW! I'm impressed! It did pretty well...although, once I saw the blog post, I had to come back to Zoho and edit the size of the image. The big plus was, I could click Publish again and get the option of updating the post I had already published.

I like it!

One complaint so far: If I use Zoho in 800x600 pixel resolution...which I need to use in order to read text on a screen...the popup editing windows overlap the edge of the screen, and I CAN'T USE THEM!!! This is a major pain, because I have to toggle back and forth between 800x600, which I can see, and 1024x786, which I need in order to use the popups. Grrr....

PPS: Another couple of problems:

• When Zoho Writer publishes to a blog (i.e., translates into HTML code), it reads each keyboard Return as a paragraph break. That means if I do Return + Return, as I normally would to put a blank linke between paragraphs in a MS Word document, I get two blank lines in the HTML. So...one has to remember the formatting differences between word processing and HTML coding.
• Even though I've saved this document in Arial font in the Zoho Writer, when it publishes to my blog, the font isn't saved. I get Times New Roman instead.
• As you will have noticed if you clicked on "anchor," the link didn't take you to anchor but, instead, to the login for my blog.

All this means that one may still have to clean up coding in a Zoho document after it's published to a blog.

Still, the app is probably worth it, since one doesn't have to carry around a flashdrive or get be at one's own PC to work.

PPPS: There's another excellent app I've mentioned elsewhere: EditGrid.com. Great for publishing Excel spreadsheets.