Animoto Trial

Take a look.

Animoto Test

This afternoon I made a video using Animoto.com. I wanted to use our Kickoff pictures, but Animoto can't access the library's servers. So I used cat pictures from my Flikr account (yes, more cats). A 30 second video is free, and anything longer costs 3 dollars, so I chose a 30 second video. Animoto animates your photos and lets you select music. Once the video is done, it emails a link and posts the video to your account. I am impressed with the video and very excited to show it to you.

But. . . .

I've been trying to post the finished video to my blog with no success. When I give Animoto my blogger email and password, it says I need my blog! And while it lets me make a widget, the widget, unfortunately, is pretty useless. As you can see, it only shows a quarter of the video image. I'm wondering if this will work better from home. There is an option to post it to Youtube, and from there I know I can post it to Blogger. Still, the system is pretty glitchy. If you stick with it the results are fun and might even be worth 3 dollars for a long video. I'll have to experiment a bit more.

RSS Revised, More Twitter, and a Podcast

I went back to Google Reader and deleted all the BBC feeds I subscribed to a few days ago. I realized I just wasn't going to have time to read them every day. I replaced them with the URLs of my co-workers blogs so they would be easier to check. I found a couple of new posts, but then discovered I couldn't comment from within Google Reader. I understand from a fellow blogger that you can post comments directly from the RSS feed using LiveJournal. That would be much more convenient.

Last night my husband introduced me to a podcast called The Sword and the Laser. It is a Fantasy/SciFi podcast. They announce the book they are going to discuss, then after awhile have a podcast where they discuss the book. I recognized lots of my favorite books. It is hard to find people (besides my sister) who have read and enjoyed fantasy and science fiction. It is definitely the underdog genre in the library world--just look at the minuscule science fiction section in my branch! Only the westerns have smaller shelf space! I'm always happy to find a patron I can help with recommendations. Unfortunately, sci/fi fans also tend not to return their library books and there go my favorites, out the door, never to return. Anyway, the point is, I added the RSS feed for the podcast to Google Reader and I got the upcoming book today: Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco. This book is elfpunk. I've read some of the Dresden Files and Emma Bull; is supposed to be similar.

So last night my husband was sitting on the couch listening to the Sword and Laser podcast with me and then he says "They just found ice on Mars! There could be life on Mars!" He'd just gotten a tweet from the scientists on the Phoenix Mars project. Well, I think that is just the coolest thing. So now I'm following the Tweets from Phoenix Mars as well. In his blog this morning, my husband says he thinks that was how the news got out first: through Twitter. Because of that, the twitter page containing the tweet might be considered an historical record! See his blog at http://friendstoldme.blogspot.com.

Youtube Brings Back Memories of the Good Old Days

I've been exploring youtube a bit more. This clip reminds me of stories told by my branch manager about the "old days" in our system's main library. He and several other librarians used to make spoof videos of all kinds of funny library things. The videos were very irreverent. When one of the videographers retired last summer, we checked to see if he still had the videos, but alas, he did not.

Manager Gets Involved

TodayI impressed our computerphobic branch manager with our movie of Sneaks visiting the elementary school. He thinks it could be used for outreach or publicity. Then I teased him that he is waaaay behind in his Web 2.0 explorations, like, not even started yet. He then explained to me why blogs are dumb and are ruining society. I told him he should put his opinions in his blog. So tonight he wants me to help him start his blog. I'll keep you posted on this exciting adventure. (Bookpusher, you said you were going to help him too . . . . help!)

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

In my branch we are discovering that it is possible to waste a lot of time on Twitter and that it is very easy to convert other staff into Twitterers. So far not our Branch Manager. Is that good or bad? Do we want him to see our tweets? I think he would get a kick out of it. He just returned from the Alaskan wilderness where he saw bald eagles and some bear poop. Maybe he is rested and ready to tweet?

What if we could Twitter all those disorganized parents the morning of a program: Storytime at 10 AM! Make a rabbit puppet! Babies in Bloom this afternoon! I wonder if we could get more spur of moment attendance that way. The people who mean to attend, but keep forgetting, would have their quick reminders. Many times caregivers walk into the building as the program is ending and say "Oh, I totally forgot!"

RSS Feeds

This afternoon I logged on to Google Reader and subscribed to some RSS feeds: the Web 2.0 Exploration blog, Unshelved, BBC, and my husband's blog. At first I got confused by all the XML coding and couldn't figure out what to copy, then I realized you just copy what is in the address box. Pretty simple actually.

I wasn't really sure what to subscribe to, since in my personal life I mainly use the internet for shopping. I've got my credit card memorized along with that little 3 digit security code! My husband keeps up with technology as part of his work and he uses RSS to let him know when things have changed on the sites he follows. He links to all his podcasts from there which is very convenient. Then I overhear what Callie and Leo think about new technology, or listen to the crazy wine man, Gary Vaynerchuk, who coined the phrase "sniffy sniff." I thought "sniffy sniff" was something my cats do, but apparently wine lovers do it too!

Personally, I feel like I'm in a constant state of data overload, so I don't know if I'll actually use the RSS feed much. I will have to link to my fellow bloggers, however. I don't think it will substitute for going to someone's actual page, since the RSS misses all the cool sidebar stuff.

The library really ought to have a RSS feed going for its events, and it might be good way to pass along memos and information. Maybe it would be easier than faxing or emailing staff. Definitely something to experiment with.