Scrapblog

"Welcome to a new photographic community. This is a site for people who want to create their own photoblog but don't have a host or the tools they need to create one. It's simpler to use than sites like Webshots or Shutterfly. You can create new albums in a flash." [via Recently approved feeds from Syndic8.com]

Actually, this is a neat idea since it allows for comments on pictures. Theoretically, it should also offer an RSS feed for your new albums, although I don't see that in place at Scrapblog even though it's powered by phpNuke. Interestingly, there are direct links from the individual pictures to "print this photo on Shutterfly."

Forgive me as I tie up loose ends on my site regarding the whole RSS/Copyfight thread (which Donna already brought full circle). The upshot is that Alex Macgillivray is now providing a second RSS feed for Copyfight, and this one includes titles, permalinks, and the first 150 words of the post, plus it's updated every 20 minutes. Thanks, Alex!

Dave Seidel also chimed in to extoll the virtues of the Lazyweb approach over using a third-party tool like RssDistiller:

"Sure, this empowers Jenny, but I like her approach better because it's the activist approach: teach the content providers that they need to syndicate to participate more fully in the information ecosystem."

However, I have to note the choice quote Donna received from her brother-in-law, chiding her for lack of an RSS feed:

"Wrote Pat: 'The size of my RSS/RDF news feed doubles every 6 months...IMO, you're either syndicated, or nobody's reading you.' "

Wow - I wish I'd tracked how quickly the number of feeds in my aggregator has grown - can't believe I didn't think to do that. Sigh. Jim McGee refers to himself (and therefore Pat and me) as "RSS Bigots." The only thing I would add to that is to prepend the word "avowed" and print it on my business cards.

I had a long day at work today, and I was able to sit at my computer for all of five minutes so I wasn't able to read my aggregator at all until 9:00 p.m. tonight. I'm now reading 190 feeds in there. It took me ONE HOUR to scan every post on those 190 sites today. I'm now going back and reading through some of the ones I saved, but I basically got up to speed on the entire day's events in ONE HOUR. If you don't think RSS saves you time and makes you more efficient, then get a stopwatch and see how long it takes you to manually scan 190 sites. You can't even click to 190 sites in ONE HOUR.

Did I mention it took me ONE HOUR?

This is a test post to show how blogging works.

I was thrilled to read in the January 24/31 issue of Entertainment Weekly that Matthew Broderick is starring in a remake of one of my favorite musicals, The Music Man. The blurb includes the following quote:

"Zadan and Meron updated the orchestrations but left the 1912 tale mostly intact, including dated ditties about the evils of billiards. 'It's pretty hilarious what Hill is terrifying these people about,' says Broderick of the lyrics. 'Today, if people had children who went to a pool hall, that's pretty much like going to the library."

Add your own punchline here, especially if you think libraries should filter their internet terminals, ban Harry Potter books, or report their patrons' reading habits....

Thanks to the LIS450LW class blog, I found the Urbana Free Library's Construction Updates blog! Excellent use of the blog format from a library where I spent many a day avoiding homework during graduate school.  :-)

First Come Blogs, Now Swikis

"Chris Sherman introduces readers to another kind of Web-based communication tool called a swiki. A swiki, he explains, is 'a set of tools that makes it easy for anyone to set up and maintain a collaborative web site. Swikis are like group weblogs, since they make it easy for anyone without technical knowledge to publish to the web.' Learn about the Searchers' Swiki, which encourages 'information professionals to collaborate on the searching experience.' " [TVC Alert]

I really wish I had more time to explore Wikis, Twikis, and Swikis. I'm intrigued by the concept, but I just don't have time to do them the proper justice at the moment.

Bush Wants to Close Book on Library Flap

"Not long before it was revealed that Gov. Jeb Bush planned to close the Florida State Library, lay off the entire staff and move the collection to Florida State University, the governor issued a proclamation declaring February as Florida Library Appreciation Month.

Bush, who has said promotion of reading is a top priority of his second term, wants to shut down the state's main library and move almost 1 million books and historical items, including 16th-century maps, early documents on Walt Disney World and some of the oldest photos of Florida....

Told last week that the flap doesn't seem to be going away, Bush answered, 'So, stop writing about it.'

The governor's proclamation praised the importance of libraries and said the month is 'to encourage recognition of all of our Florida libraries that provide outstanding service to our communities.'

Good thing he didn't proclaim 'Florida Library Year.' " [The Orlando Sentinel, via LibraryPlanet.com]