At last

Well, I have made it. It has been a interesting journing. I do enjoy learning. Whether I will use all of the 'things' is another question. Some of it yes. But it is good to know what it is all about when the tech savy people talk about it. The expection of the customers are very high and sometimes I think the lines are rather grey about how much we can do for customers. I know we are in the information trade and expections are changing very fast. Keeping on top of everything is not easy.
A bishop in Italy has suggested people forget about fasting and give up Facebook for Lent "to cleanse themselves from the virtual world and get back into touch with themselves." I think that is a mouthful and something to think about.
I am glade it was only one month long. I think it was long enough.

Stumble through social pages

Digg - seems to have it all. Looks very simple but only after using the website, one can work out the pro and the cons. Too American I think.

Stumble is more to my liking. The main plus thing is that you can limit it to you particular interests. The search can be personalised. It is the one stop for all your web pages, picturesand blogs. Being able to rate the website is really cool. The help index is a handy too. I chose to sign up for Stumble. Downloading the tool bar took too long, so I had to stop.

Reddit is very similar to Digg. You certainly get some int resting information. Some of it is , what shall I say odd? interesting? after having read the article, i start wondering did I really want to know that?It is said curiosity kills the cat. I did not like the language on Reddit.
The two stories I read were about police's reaction when some teenagers went onil, onik. I was
curious about peoples comments and then I wondered why on earth I read that. Headlines do catch my eye. You can also buy blessed Christian salt on line. How about that.

Animoto

Animoto is certainly interesting. It can be a lot of fun.
The only draw back is that it is slow. There are never enough computers for staff. I started twice
creating a video, but both times it took a bit too long.
Animoto is very useful for up coming bands and artists which is a excellent thing. It also could be very handy for anyone one the look out for new talents.
This can also be used in promoting the library service especilly for customers who are reluctant readers.

Go Animate

http://goanimate.com/go/movie/0BlTh4OYDmpA?utm_source=emailshare&uid=0x2mjJmK279g

It is fun going into the website. I spent too much time looking at other peoples creation.
I think this would be very poplar with the young ones and some not so young ones.
You certainly need broadband for this. This episode is work in progress.

bookjetty

http://www.bookjetty.com/people/latestarter/books

Signing up on bookjetty was straight enough. It did take a while to figure out what to do. This site very handy for people who want to buy books. It is very handy that you can see a review of the book by other readers, where you can buy the book and the price.
You can also check out where you can borrow the book from. More time for reading if everything is just a click away.
I did feel that the site was encouraging people to buy books rather than boorrow. Not so good for libraries trying to entice more readers .

Litlovers

My first impression of the site was that it had information overload. Once you navigate around, it is interesting and does serve a purpose. The site would be very useful for someone running or starting a book club. The recipe's section felt as if it was an afterthought. I looked two countries, in both instance the comment was why bother making the dish when you can buy the item.
Some reviews gave too away too much I felt.
The general discussion questions is a handy tool. I like talking about a book I have enjoyed but not in a very structured manner suggested.
The book I would select for a discussion in a book club would be 'The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'. The site gives all background information you could possibly want. e g the background of the author etc.

@uthors on line

http://www.authoryellowpages.com/
@uthorson the web just proves that there is more getting a book published than just writing it.
It is very good tool for someone writing a first book. Marketing plays a very big part I think.
For readers it is a good way of keeping track of what your favorite author is up to. Most of the authors have their own blogs, newsletters etc.
Just launched is very handy link for all.
Authoryellowpages.com is good if you want to read all the books of any one author. At the moment it is very American. Hopefully, in the near future we will see New Zealand authors on these sites.