Just for Fun

Fixing Computers and Other Stuff

/ dwakimoto

Sorry for the delay between posts. I’ve been gone the last week and am just now catching up on all the RSS feeds and other news. So today’s post is about fixing computers, reducing waste and having a little fun, naturally.

Do you remember all the talk about how using computers would lead to a paperless office? Didn’t really happen, now did it? I think as we have found out, if anything, it seems like there is more paper around than ever before. To help us all get into a less paper-intensive existence, here is Lifehacker’s great article on Going Paperless. I especially like the ideas for using a digital signature and getting rid of all the junk mail. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go completely paperless, but this article definitely helps to cut down on needless clutter.

Speaking of going paperless, you should check out PC World’s article on your printer and whether it is stealing from you. Basically the article talks about the best and worst printers in terms of cost of printing. You know how printers are cheap, but the ink is super-expensive, right? So check this out and if you are in the market for a new printer, definitely stay away from the “Most Wanted” list. Just another reason to go paperless, no?

Lifehacker has done it again with a great summary article on 10 computer hardware fixes and upgrades. This is a great list to help you successfully upgrade and fix your computer. I really want to try the ideas on how to quiet a loud hard drive on my work computer, but I think the IT department would probably have a heart attack so I’ll try on my home computer instead. Again, great stuff from Lifehacker.

And finally, something fun: check out Unshelved. This week is all about the Internet and the library and the strip is absolutely hilarious.

Have a great day, read a lot, and I’ll be back later in the week with more.

Tips, Tricks, and M&M's

/ dwakimoto

Sometimes, there is more to life than talking about libraries and technology. Specifically I’m thinking about M&M’s and packing fractions. I’ll get to that later. I often feel like there is way too much good stuff to talk about on the technology in libraries front, not to mention too much just fun, random stuff to share. But never fear, once again the Waki Librarian has picked out a few great articles and distractions to make your Friday a little brighter.

You probably write a lot at work, right? There are always emails, reports, proposals and grants to write. All those drafts need to be proofread and perfected before sending out. So here is an article on 10 quick tips for powerful proofwriting. These are really helpful. Do you have any tips on proofreading? I’d love to hear them.

Are you tempted to buy the iPhone or do you already own an iPhone? If it is the former rather than the latter, check out Lifehacker’s:
Bad Apple: An Argument against Buying an iPhone before you buy. I think alienating developers is a really poor move. I think the iPhone look great and have truly changed the mobile landscape, but I wonder if the way it is going is sustainable.

Okay, in a totally different vein, I know it is only the end July, but you should really take a look at Lifehacker’s guide on avoiding holiday debt. Especially with the economy being what it is, it is never to early to think about saving money during the holidays.

Because it is Friday, we need to end with something completely geeky and very fun. Check out the video about guessing the number of M&Ms in a jar. This is a fantastic use of physics and a great problem to give students! I hope my office does a guess the M&Ms in a jar contest soon so I can use packing fractions to my advantage!

Have a great weekend, read a lot and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more.

Books in Social Networking

/ dwakimoto / 2 Comments

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. Somehow, I always picture summer as being quiet in the library (as in I’ll be able to get everything done that I couldn’t during the academic year) and yet, it never ends up being as quiet as I imagine it.

But no matter, I still have had some time to round up some interesting tidbits when it comes to books, networking and even photo manipulation. So without further ado here they are:

First there is Bookseer. I love the look of this site: old fashioned art and an amazingly simple interface. You just type in the title and author of a book you just read, and Bookseer comes back with recommendations from Amazon, BookArmy and LibraryThing. This is a great use of recommendations from these sites and Bookseer is much better about recommending “what to read next” than a lot of other programs I’ve used. I especially love that below the recommendations there is a line that says “Of course, you could go ask your local bookshop or your local library.” So go forth and play–it might even help with some reader advisory questions. Though, as Bookseer acknowledges, nothing beats a knowledgeable human being for talking about books and recommendations.

So, do you participate in social networks? How about those networks especially for bibliophiles? Well, check out 100 places to connect with bibliophiles. This is a great annotated list of places online where you can indulge and share your love of books and reading. I am a fan of GoodReads, mainly because another friend recommended it to me. And that’s what this list and social networks are about, connecting people together–and what better way to connect than over a book?

So have you got the social networking down pat, but still feel awkward about networking, as in at conferences, events and for work? Then check out this article from The New York Times on networking for introverts. These are some commonsense tips on networking that are worth reviewing before you go out to an event that you hope to use as a networking opportunity. I think what helped me most with networking is to not call it networking. If I just think of it as talking with people, it becomes a lot easier. So what are your favorite networking tips?

And finally, we need to end on something completely off topic and fun. So check out the ever-helpful Lifehacker’s article on Repper. This is fun and turns your photos into abstract patterns that are great for background graphics. When you are ready to play, just go over to repper.studioludens.com. Repper has a very intuitive interface and it is really fun. Plus, I love that all the patterns that are created are licensed under a Creative Commons license. So check it out and let me know what you think.

Have a great day and I’ll be back with more technology and library related news later this week.

Fun for Summer

/ dwakimoto

Hi, all. Sorry for the long gap between posts. Between actually taking a vacation (outside, away from technology) and then getting sick, I haven’t really been up to blogging. But never fear, here is a post full of interesting tidbits and summer tips to help you through your day.

Okay, so the serious stuff first and then we’ll have the fun. Okay, I can’t believe that: 1. Chris Anderson plagiarized from Wikipedia and 2. that the “apology/reasoning” for plagiarizing Wikipedia was so weak. And I wonder, with stuff like this happening, why it is so difficult to get my students to understand the huge intellectual and academic offense of plagiarism.

Here is something semi-serious and kind of fun: CNN’s cost of living in another city calculator. Type in your current salary and select where you live and the city you want to compare it to and you’ll get a handy chart of differences in cost and equivalent salaries. It is quite depressing if you live in the Bay Area.

Okay, I don’t know about you, but I always want to tackle new projects in the summer. So here is a really cool project for those of you who want to do something crafty: create an inverted bookshelf. This looks awesome and as long as you aren’t doing this to house your first edition copies, I think you should be safe. I would love to do that in my office simply for the puzzled double-takes.

Now we are getting into the heart of summer. Everyone, but everyone takes vacation photographs. So, do you want to take better photos? Of course you do! So check out these tips on how to take better vacation photographs. Then, go take a vacation (even if it is just to the park down the street or the library in the next town over) and start snapping those pics!

If you anything like me, you probably get stains on your clothes occassionally. Or a lot if it is summer. Luckily for those of us that are slightly more clumsy (or unlucky) than others now have this handy guide to getting out stains. So summer should be less of a disaster on our clothes.

So get out there and enjoy the summer–just don’t forget your sunscreen! Next week The Waki Librarian will be at a conference so check back here for conference session summaries. Fingers crossed for working wireless access at the conference. Until next time, be waki, read a lot and have some fun. Have a great weekend.

What do you do outside of work?

/ dwakimoto

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately. It seems that many of us are driven to always do more at work and are defined by our work. But what, outside of work, is a part of who you are? Not to go completely philosophical on a library blog, but I think it is an important question.

In that vein, check out this short article on taking 1 hour for yourself each day. What would you do with an hour? Sometimes I think I would just sleep an extra hour, but mainly I think about all the non-work things I would be doing. I think I will try to implement this in my life; I’ll let you know how it goes.

If you follow the advice of the above article, and need something to fill your time with, check out these 10 DIY Projects from Lifehacker. These are some very cool, kind of funny, and definitely awesome DIY projects.

And lastly, for the designers and dual-monitor users among us, check out these amazing Dual Screen Desktops available through Smashing Magazine. These are so gorgeous. I can’t wait until I get my second monitor at work to apply some of these desktops to my monitors.

That is it for The Waki Librarian for this week. Sorry for the lack of updates but the end of the quarter is upon us and it has just gotten a little crazy around here. More forthcoming next week.

Music on Friday

/ dwakimoto

I love music. I think most people love music. Now I’m not suggesting piping music throughout the library, like they have done at some libraries. I think that is just, well, kind of weird and I wouldn’t want to inflict muzak on everyone. Besides, everyone has different tastes in music. So why am I bringing up music on a blog dedicated to libraries and technology? Well, for three reasons:
1. It is Friday and, well, Fridays call for something a little less serious.
2. I really think music can improve a person’s mood.
3. I love the online applications that let you create your own music stations and find new music.

So I thought, hey, why not share some of those online applications. I’d love to hear which ones are your favorites.

Hands down, my favorite online music application is Pandora. It is a great music discovery tool. Plus, you don’t have to download anything on your computer, so even if your work computer is locked down, you should still be able to stream music from Pandora. I quite like that.

Here is another music application, Sourcetone. Lifehacker talked about Sourcetone a while ago. It is an interesting concept; you move around a box to a spot on the color wheel that fits your mood at the moment and Sourcetone will play music that fits your mood. You can change the genre of music you want as well. I like this concept in theory, but haven’t had much success with it yet. Then again, Sourcetone is getting a lot of heavy traffic, most likely due to said Lifehacker article, that could explain some of the issues I’ve been having with it. Plus the ads on the bottom kind of annoy me. Let me know if you’ve had success using Sourcetone.

Music Artist Cloud is a super-simple music tool–just type in an artist whose music you like and there you go. I think it is a great mash-up idea with YouTube videos and tag clouds of other artists that you might like. This is so easy to use and another great way of checking out some new music. Plus you get to watch music videos.

And because I’d feel guilty if I didn’t link to at least one, obviously useful at work article, here is Lifehacker’s Five Best Free Data Recovery Tools. Seriously, take a look at this, because it is super helpful and at some point, you will need to use one of these tools.

Have a happy Friday and a great weekend. The Waki Librarian will be back next week.

100th Post

/ dwakimoto

Wow, I can’t believe that I am up to 100 posts on The Waki Librarian blog. I know that isn’t super impressive, but I’m amazed that I’ve written that much and that you, faithful reader, are still reading. I don’t have anything special planned for this post, just the usual assortment of helpful techie stuff and some library news.

First I need to do my public service announcement. ATM Skimmers have been making the headlines lately and I thought I would do my part to get people to pay attention when they are at the ATM. Thanks to the Consumerist, here is a great article (complete with pdf) on how to id an ATM Skimmer. Definitely check this out and protect your account. As I tell my students, identity theft can happen to anyone so at least make the thieves work for your information and don’t just give it to them!

In the vein of ridiculous challenges and bans to books that I wrote about a bit ago, here is ALA’s 2008 Top Ten List of Most Frequently Challenged Books. Although this came out a week ago, I wanted to offer the link just in case you missed it the first time around. And, for another year, And Tango Makes Three is the number one most frequently challenged book. Who knew that penguins could be so divisive?

Now for some fun, check out Unshelved’s Publisher Confidential, a very funny booklet of “frank feedback for publishers from librarians, booksellers, and readers.” Created in conjunction with BookExpo America, this is a superb comic booklet. Really, take a few minutes and have a laugh–it’s good for your health. Oh, and then RSS Unshelved if you haven’t already.

Now Prezi has been making the blog rounds lately. Thanks to Lori for the heads-up on this as I was buried in conference paper preparation and almost missed it in on my Lifehacker feed! Prezi is a web-based presentation tool with a difference. You create your whole presentation on one stage and use the cool zoom and path features to make sense out of your one master stage that holds all the information for your presentation. You can sign up for a free account and there are lots of helpful video tutorials on how to get started. As always, I suggest watching a couple tutorials and then diving on in. There is nothing like playing around with a new application to learn it. It is really fun and a time sink so you are now forewarned!

I think Prezi would be great for presentations at some conferences, but I have to admit that some of the zooming makes me a little sick. So one little hint: just because you can use a fast zoom while twisting your presentation in Prezi, doesn’t mean you always should. Remember when animated GIFs were all the rage? I rest my case.

Have a great Thursday, read a lot, get off the computer and outside at least once if you can, and the Waki Librarian will be back with more fun and helpful information soon.

Realizations and Fun

/ dwakimoto

I know it is just stating the obvious, but it is Monday. And what a Monday, we are in the middle of a mini-heatwave out here and it is the fourth week of the quarter which means the first midterm panic/rush is upon us. But that will not stop us, faithful readers, from having some fun and perhaps coming to a few realizations about the academy and librarianship. Maybe they will not be new realizations, but they will be realizations none the less.

I think that this blog entry, 5 Things I Didn’t Realize I’d Be Working On, should be required reading for any new or aspiring librarians. I have to say that it rung true for me. So much of my day is spent troubleshooting computer and printer issues on the desk and a lot of my teaching time is spent creating online modules and videos. The face and work of librarians are changing, even while our core values of service, access and learning are not. I met quite a few people in library school who talked about working by themselves, away from the public, and reading a lot. Thus, this post is very timely and there are those that still need to be reminded that the librarian’s work is always evolving and literally never done.

In that vein, I think that coming to the profession with an open mind and retaining the same open mind is one of the best assets a librarian can have. Oh, and a desire to learn and understand applications of new technology. Oh, and a love of helping people. And, well, as you know the list goes on and on. Librarians are, without a doubt, some of the people most likely to be polymaths and very happy that their jobs allow them to explore so many varied areas and tasks.

This article, Admissions of Another Sort, is really not ground-breaking news, but rather a re-realization and confirmation of just how important and necessary librarians are to student learning. Long live the information literate individual! (and the librarian that helps him/her become so)

Now for a little fun. I think this must be one of the coolest applications I’ve seen in a while. DoInk is a free, web-based animation application. I just finished watching the video tutorial and was super-impressed by how simple the interface is but also how powerful it looks for creating animations. Just think of the cool videos you could make with DoInk. I’m definitely trying this out and seeing what I can create for my classes.

Have a great rest of your Monday and the Waki Librarian will be back later in the week for more fun and productive tidbits from the web.

Friday Productivity and Fun

/ dwakimoto

Fridays are great days. Not only is the weekend almost here, but the actual day–Friday–is usually one of the best days at work. People are more relaxed and getting ready for the weekend, there are less students on campus (which means more work can get done) and well, I just like Fridays. But sometimes productivity can suffer on Fridays when people go into weekend mode too quickly. So here are a few tips for productivity and work and some fun too, because it is Friday after all.

Don’t you hate it when your Internet connection is out? It almost always happens when you really, really need to be online and then you are stuck twiddling your thumbs wondering how anyone ever survived without the net. But here is Lifehacker to the rescue with what you should do when your internet’s out. These are great tips for organizing your space, your headspace and your computer. So pull the plug, even if your internet isn’t out, and get organized.

For all the Firefox users in the world, Lifehacker has another great article on the Top 10 Firefox Extensions in 2009. Get ready to customize your browser and get more organized and productive. If you have a favorite add-on that didn’t make the list, leave it in the comments so others can benefit from your knowledge.

AlternativeTo is an interesting site that lists alternatives to many popular software titles. So if you don’t want to splurge for Photoshop or want an alternative to iTunes, check out this site. It is always nice to have an easy way to start comparing software.

And finally, here is just something incredibly fun: The Easter Egg Archive. I love finding Easter Eggs on DVDs and with this site you don’t have to try all the various combinations of buttons on menus trying to find the Easter Eggs. You can just search for a title and get instructions on how to find the Easter Egg. Score one for being more efficient and getting to enjoy more Easter Eggs.

Have a great Friday and weekend. More next week.

Working smarter

/ dwakimoto

So it is Thursday and I’m feeling really bad about the lack of updates this week. But I have an excuse, really I do. Loathe as I am to make excuses, dear reader, this time I will. I’ve been at jury duty and now am on a jury for the immediate future. So that is my excuse–I truly am sorry for the lack of updates.

But enough of that, there are still hours in the morning before my reporting time when things must be accomplished, blog posts must be written, lectures must be finished and articles must be edited. So, you’ve guessed correctly, today we will be discussing, once again, how to get things done.

I have to admit, when I want to get serious writing or editing done, there is nothing like working at home for me. I don’t check my email every five minutes, I turn off my phone and just dive into my writing only to surface hours later to check communication with the outside world. And, amazingly, the world hasn’t fallen apart because I’ve not emailed anyone in the last couple of hours. That is how I get work done.

The lovely Lifehacker has this great post by Gina Trapani on reusable solutions to common productivity problems. This article has lots of links to other helpful resources and tackles productivity issues that are larger than say what a Google gadget hack will fix. I think this is fantastic and a very helpful read. Just remember, in the end, it is really all on our own shoulders to get the work done–in and outside of the library.

Here’s a site that will definitely help you with your productivity, in terms of learning a new language: Open Culture’s Free Foreign Language Lessons. Links to 37 different languages and each one offers links to iTunes, a feed and a website for each language so you can pick which way you are going to get your lessons. Just be careful as some of the lessons are free up to a point and then want you to pay for more advanced ones. But I’m happy, finally a site that has Swedish listed!

Finally, we have to end on a fun note, so here is a link to another great Unshelved comic strip. I just love it–rock on librarians for exposing people to new and different, even dangerous ideas.

Have a great day and with any luck, the Waki Librarian will be back with more techie fun soon.