Blog Posting #12: The Crackdown...

Wow; I cannot believe that this is the last blog entry of the semester. Time has seriously flown by this spring, and I am finding it incredibly hard to believe that this is my last semester of school. I have learned so much about technology from my classes in SLIS, and I really hope to learn more while on the job.

I start my internship in about a month, and will be working with the Genealogy Cataloger with the ACPL. I know that there will be a lot of new technologies that I will encounter in the field of technical services and cataloging in the future. I guess what I am the most apprehensive about is keeping up with the influx of technology. Right now it seems almost impossible, but I know that once I am dealing with it on a daily basis, it will be easy to keep up with the newest additions in the technological world.

So, my World of Warcraft free day trial ends tomorrow and I am strongly considering getting a subscription (you were right, ‘Drea). This weekend, my boyfriend and I were trying to play together, and somehow, when he tried to connect his laptop to the Internet connection, I was booted from World of Warcraft. Therefore, I could not get my Internet connection to work, which you need to play the game. I found myself getting kind of irritated with the fact that the game did not work. Wow, literally, should I get a subscription?

At any rate, I will be extremely busy with my internship and trying to work full time in about a month. I think that I am entitled to have my pointless fun right now. Of course, I am still trying to finish up my projects. For my other class, I have to try to integrate technology with my topic: women poets. I am still trying to figure out a way other than incorporating audio. Oh well, the ideas will start flowing soon.

Blog Posting #11: I Have Lost the Battle...

Okay, so, I gave in to “World of Warcraft” when my boyfriend gave me a ten-day trial pass. Last night, I was up playing it for a while, and decided to quit when my eyes were bugging out of my head. So, we had to go buy more RAM for my computer in order for it to play World of Warcraft, which ended up costing me forty dollars. Oh, well, I am almost done with school and am on track with my projects; so, I am allowed a little entertainment, right?

I guess I am lucky that I have had to work for the past couple of evenings, which has prevented my potential indulgence of playing that videogame. I never thought I would be one of those people: sitting in front of the computer with my cute little gnome, attempting to fight troggs. I had a lot of fun designing my character; a gnome I named “Miaopal.” I really do not want to be one of those dorks that sits around playing games like World of Warcraft in my pajamas all day long (even though that does sound appealing right now).

The one thing that irritated me about this game was that I was so confused on how to play it, and no one would assist me when I asked him or her questions. I felt like such a dork lying on the floor of my boyfriend’s apartment with my laptop, playing World of Warcraft on a Saturday night. That was when I really felt the needles of technology piercing itself through my body. So, I woke up the next morning with my back and neck incredibly stiff and wished for an electronic device to make it feel more relaxed.

So, technology and games are fantastic for leisurely fun, but my downfall is that I like to feel productive and that I am doing something worthwhile. That is when I feel guilty for allowing myself to indulge in virtual games. Although this is a ten-day trial game, I cannot help but to wonder what happens when one gets further in the game.

Blog Posting #10: My Chicagoan Friends...

I used to wish that I had moved to Chicago with my friends when I finished up my B.A. in 2004, but now, I really do not know. A couple of weeks ago I imagined myself living in Chicago; I love the air, the city life, transportation, history, diversity, and the opulent opportunities I could have with my MLS. I was just in Chicago this past weekend and all I did was sit in my friends’ apartment playing “Rock Band,” “Guitar Hero,” and “Sing Star” on their game systems.

Every time I go to Chicago my friends have the newest technologies. When the Wii came out a couple of years ago, they were the first people to purchase one. I sat in their apartment in Chicago playing on their iPhone, showing them videos from “The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and telling them about my favorite character, Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere, and her song “Woe Is Me.” So, why did I even go to Chicago just to sit and play video games, stare at a HD television, watch videos on an iPhone: to be with my friends. Wow, I sound kind of vindictive, but I had so much fun sitting in my friends’ apartment and getting my dose of their videogame systems and newest technologies.

I was even thinking about purchasing an iPhone with my tax return check, but decided against it. Fortunately, my cell phone contract is with Sprint and iPhones are through AT&T currently, so, I would have to break my agreement if I really wanted one (and pay all of that money). How nice would it be, though, to have one’s iPod and cell phone together in the same place? I have enough difficulty locating my cell phone when it is ringing one of Belle and Sebastian’s songs in my purse; a larger device would be easier to find in a bag, though.

So, out of all of the things to do in Chicago, my friends and I sat in an apartment playing videogames. We did go out for dinner and martinis at this place called Dave and Buster’s. I am always sad when I drive down Lake Shore Drive to go home; time in Chicago goes too quickly (especially when one is playing a videogame that has the addiction equivalency of crack).

Blog Posting #9: On Being 27...

I feel very lucky to have experienced both card catalogs and OPACs, integrated library systems, modules, etc. On Sunday, I turned twenty-seven, and although I do not have that much wisdom yet, I would consider myself fortunate to have experienced the influx of technology. I remember being a little girl playing “Simon Says” and enjoying the flashing of the vivid colors, but oh, how the times have changed.

A couple of weeks ago I had friends over for margaritas and to play “Clue” on DVD. I have never played a game like this, so, I thought it would be interesting to see how these interactive board games come to life on one’s DVD player. Honestly, what frightened me the most was the nostalgia and simplicity that was offered with games like “Clue,” “Chutes and Ladders,” “Candyland,” and “Scrabble” on a board. Now, though, it seems like children can no longer experience the minimalist feel of moving their game piece from tile to tile and calculating their money. Hmmm, what a transition that started with game boards to DVD games around the television; what will be next?

So, our wiki is up and running and I can speak for my group in saying that we are relieved. On Friday evening, I sat at the computer for over four hours trying to figure out how to embed widgets on wikispaces. Finally, I figured it out! Now, it seems like all I want to do is search for the “perfect” most “idiosyncratic” widget. On Monday, the client will be emailing me pictures of headstones and the deceased to put embed on the wiki (I have put up filler pictures until we get the actual ones). Our wiki seems to be coming along nicely and I know that I feel more relaxed that we now have a concrete structure on which we can place our work.

Blog Posting #8: I Heart Technology This Week...

Okay, so I had a bit of panic when I heard on the WBNI that this museum in Fort Wayne would be closing at the end of June. I have always enjoyed going to this museum, but what really concerned me was that I am planning on doing my internship there this summer as a cataloging intern. I was so excited when the collection manager responded so quickly to my email about doing an internship there this summer, and was even more enthusiastic when I was offered it.

Right now I am sitting at work, and sometimes I listen to the radio just for background noise. As I was on the phone with a coworker, I heard that the Lincoln Museum was closing. Panic-stricken, I immediately emailed the person for whom I will be interning in the summer. Less than a half-an-hour later she responded to let me know that they were still planning on using an intern during the summer. Hurray; I feel so relieved!

I guess I never really considered the significance of email until I really had to get in contact with someone (without having their phone number). Lucky for me, many of the people I strictly correspond with using email are really good about getting replying in a timely matter. The solace of email; you can write it at all hours of the night and it is in the recipient’s mailbox before one can lose their audacity (and the regret of sending something).

This is why I feel great about technology this week. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that I finally allowed myself to have some fun with technology. On both Saturday and Sunday I went to Best Buy and Circuit City to look at technology. I was hoping that they carried something like a Kindle, but they did not. Then, I decided to use my gift certificate to purchase a computer game (hurray; I have finally allowed myself to have a little virtual fun).

Blog Posting #7: Battling the Temptation of Virtual Games...

Hurray; I love the snow, and Fort Wayne has received an exceptional amount overnight and through the day. How does technology relate to this? Well, I live in an apartment complex and the snow plows barricaded my car in with snow. Therefore, I had to dig myself out with a shovel just to leave my apartment. I guess we have it well nowadays, because technology has made us lazier, more dependent, spoiled, and luckier in having it. (I really have no idea how I went get out of my apartment complex if we did not have snow plows).

So, my boyfriend is trying to convince me to purchase “World of Warcraft,” so that we can combat creatures together. As enticing as that really sounds, I really do not think that I should. I mean, I only allow myself to play “The Sims” when I am on breaks from school, because I know that it sucks one’s life into a virtual world. I have played “World of Warcraft” at my boyfriend’s before, and it really is something I think I would like to play on a regular basis, it is just that I hate feeling unproductive when I need to get things done. I am not saying my boyfriend is unproductive, because he is not; it is just that I allow myself to feel guilty for playing games like that. Wow, I sound entirely too based in business. Maybe I should allow myself to have virtual fun once in a while.

Besides, I promised myself I would spend my free time writing and reading for fun. In doing so, I feel better about technology, because I do not have to spend every waking hour utilizing it. This is exactly why I write in a journal and refuse to use a computer when recording entries.

Blog Posting #6: Cyberchondria: Is the Internet Creating More Neurosis for Worrywarts?

Not too long ago I read an article titled “Internet Makes Hypochondria Worse,” which I thought was very interesting; therefore, I decided to post a blog about it this week. My friend from Chicago sent me this article, because I was telling him about people with certain personalities and how information can drive these types of people crazy. Yes, I am referring to the “information” that is being posted on the Internet and how people believe it to be the ultimate truth about their medical conditions.

For example, someone with a headache may visit WebMD to see what is causing this condition. The user of WebMD types in “headache” in the search engine, and a whole range of conditions like cancer, tumors, aneurysms, sexually transmitted diseases, sinus infection, MRSA, etc. pop up in the results. The person doing this search on their medical condition tends to think “worst-case scenario” and has now convinced himself or herself that they have brain cancer (because of what WebMD said).

The article states “the easy availability of health information on the web has certainly helped countless people make educated decisions about their health and medical treatment, but it can be disastrous for people who are likely to worry. Hypochondriacs researching an illness used to have to scour books and ask doctors for information. Now a universe of information is available with a few mouse clicks.”[1] Of course, this has proved to create more poison in the minds of people that are inherently worrywarts. Have people that naturally tend to worry lost their minds because it is easier to diagnose themselves on the Internet instead of letting a professional do it?

It is overwhelming to look at one of these “diagnosis yourself sites” and to see all of these virtual identifications that are retrieved by typing in something general like “joint pain” or “headache.” Many of these sites do have reputable doctors giving their feedback and diagnosing based on symptoms, but how can this really be done in the virtual world? I do not mean to be negative about technology these past couple of weeks it seems like it has done more damage than good. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that we are too bored, so, we put miniscule problems under a microscope to further scrutinize. I guess there is a lesson in all of this: the Internet cannot diagnose one’s physical ailments; go to a doctor!

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[1] “Cyberchondria and the Internet on MedicineNet.com,” http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51845

Blog Posting #5: My Whiny Blog Posting...

This week I feel disappointed with myself because of technology. Of course, it has only really come to a head this week, but I have finally realized what has been vexing me for quite awhile now. Ever since I was fifteen years of age, I have devotedly kept a journal, but as of the present moment, I have not made an entry for the past five months.

I am the type of person that needs to write; it allows for me to disperse myself of negativity, elations, emotional poisons, etc. However, it seems like I spend all of my time in front of a computer now: I do homework in the morning before I go to work at 3 pm, then, I go to work and stare at a computer screen for eight and a half hours, and finally, I go home to stare at a computer screen for a bit longer before trying to go to bed. My schedule is so diligent anymore that I really do not have time for anything but sleep, homework, reading assignments, and work.

Of course, all of this will officially end in a couple of months, and I will find myself feeling unproductive (and probably wanting to go back to school again). I actually complained to my mother a couple of weeks ago that “I no longer write,” and I remember her telling me “it is probably the last thing you want to do after staring at a computer screen.” I used to write all of the time, and I found great pleasure in doing so. Now, though, I feel like my brain has been sucked of every creative undulation and my mind is going to start speaking in binary numbers (probably not).

Blog Posting #4: Overachievers, Please Try Harder!

I took the title of this blog from the band, Camera Obscura, and flipped it around (instead of using underachievers like they do for the title of their album). So, this week has been pretty interesting in terms of technological feats. Yesterday, I deleted my whole webpage and decided to start anew. Of course I decided to do this after I spent the whole morning cracked out on coffee and in my pajamas, putting up images. I always tend to do things like this; do more work than necessary (oh, the life of an overachiever).

I remember when it happened: I was unlocking my apartment door yesterday evening, and all of a sudden it clicked. Yes, this was the moment when I decided that the topic for my website assignment was too broad and would require more work than it needed. It is amazing how these epiphanies hit me all of a sudden, and then, I have to start all over again.

This, too, can be applied to technology. My iPod will no longer download playlists, podcasts, or anything else I have put on it recently. Therefore, I am thinking of erasing the entire contents of my iPod, and starting over. Of course, I will not erase my entire music collection, but something is missing from it. Perhaps, my technological and mental philosophy this week is to “throw it out and start all over.” Is that ever a good philosophy to have when it comes to technology, though?

I guess what frustrates me is that if something does not work; I just want to erase it all and start again. Now, though, I am finding it hard to believe that I erased my whole website; I put many hours into it already! To think that all of those late nights after getting home from work, staring at a computer screen for a bit longer, has been entirely deleted from my computer! Maybe I will get over my neurosis later…

This weekend I went to Michigan for an evening, and brought along my iTrip for my iPod. The iTrip is an interesting contraption, because you have to tune it to your radio, and it picks up its frequency. I usually turn my radio up louder when my iPod is connected to the iTrip, but when it picks up the frequency of another station it blares piercingly. Other than that, I would strongly suggest purchasing an iTrip if you have an iPod!

Blog Posting #3, Coded Frustrations...

So, I was up relatively late last night, trying to get my website together for my other class. I guess I forgot all of the nuances that go into making a website and how temperamental it can be. As requested by the instructor of this class, we are to use Google Pages to create our website, which seems easy enough, right? Hah, what kept stumping me was that a web page of my website kept coming back as the homepage. I have no idea how this happened, and tried to fool around with the settings, but I cannot find any option that would fix it. Therefore, I just erased the whole website that I initially had, and decided to start from the beginning.

Although I would consider myself “technologically brave,” RSS feeds kind of frighten me. I mean, thankfully there are aggregators, but as I was reading the assigned chapters in Blogging and RSS: A Librarian’s Guide, by Michael Sauers, I began to get confused about XML, the language in which the feeds are written, with HTML tagging. After looking at the author’s description of each and every tag on a line-by-line basis, it did start to make eventual sense. I noticed that some of the tags that appear in XML do not appear when using HTML.

I guess it all depends upon the day; sometimes, my mind is not capable of deciphering codes, while others it is very astute in doing so. I remember when I was making my first HTML website for L401, and the biggest frustration I had was making sure that the image tag followed the coding. Honestly, I recall that the code was correct, but for some reason the image would not show up on my page. Maybe humans are smarter and shrewder than computers when it comes to editing codes; however, the frustration never seems to leave when one knows that they are right!

Without Technology?! Blog Posting #2

Well, I have been back from New York City for almost a week now, and really would not consider myself "here" yet. My boyfriend brought along his computer, so, I had no choice but to contribute to my Internet addiction along with him. Although I did not check my email everyday while I was in NYC, I did check it more frequently than I would have if I did not have a laptop so easily accessible.
I guess this is what frightens me about technology: not having it. What did I do when I did not have an iPod (I made mix tapes and CDs to put in my walkman). Everything is so much easier now; at the press of a button you can have your whole music collection shuffled. Personally, I get kind of overwhelmed by my iPod shuffling the entire contents of my collection. One second I am listening to "The Lark Ascending," by Ralph Vaughn Williams, the next, I am listening to "The Pyramid Song," by Radiohead. The good thing about it is that if you do not want to listen to a song you can easily surpass it. Another overwhelming factor with my iPod is that I am always searching for the "perfect" song for the moment. What happens, though, is that I have gone through 1500 songs, and I still have not found the "perfect" song. Maybe I am a spoiled millennial.
As technology has been at a constant flux since the 1990s, many services have proved to serve a more autonomous crowd. We no longer have to run to Sears or Macy’s for the perfect sweater; we have the capability of ordering it from an online catalog with the input of an address and credit card number.
In reading about the technological expectations of the millennial generation in Courtney’s Library 2.0 and Beyond, it almost seems like the writer is making them seem indolent and spoiled. (I am not quite considered a millennial; I was born in 1981). Perhaps, though, I am fearless when it comes to technology, although sometimes I would consider myself somewhat deficient.

Blog Posting #1: A New Semester...

It is amazing how quickly breaks from school go anymore. I always have these mental plans that I make for the break, but hardly any of them ever get completed. Between sleeping, working full time, and recovering from the semester’s fatigue, I suppose I just got tied up in practicing relaxation techniques anticipating the following semester’s levels of stress. Here it is though; the spring semester has arrived, and I am elated to state that this is my last one of academic work!

I am very excited to be alive in this day and age, and also to be a library student at this time. If any occasion would prove to be the best time to be learning about technology, it would definitely be the present. Technology is constantly at a flux; all of the information I learned at the beginning of my library school career has now been replaced by more up-to-date technological measures.

I have learned quite a bit about wikis, making a podcast, and blogging from some of my other classes. It seems, though, that in this class we will be using them quite frequently. Last semester, I took Dr. Ball’s Online Searching class, and had the opportunity to make additions to Butler University’s music wiki, but I did not really build it up from the beginning.

Although some people in the library world have claimed that Library 2.0 has existed from the beginning, while some have argued that it has never existed at all. Fundamentally speaking, when Library 2.0 is encouraged, it makes sure that library services are regularly assessed and change with the needs of the library patrons. Of course, this can be applied to the library’s OPAC, the electronic formats, the computers, and, the way in which information is exchanged between the library and the patron.

I am excited about technology, although I find it difficult to keep up with the newest additions in this field. One thing that I am looking forward to in this class is building the wiki for a client.