Thing 35 - Books

Lots of cool stuff in this one. I recently cataloged all my books using library thing, so I got that aspect of the Thing down before I ever got started. It was fun but without a bunch of other people I know using the site, it seems to have kind of limited application. I have it on my facebook now for people to look at if they want to, but so far I can't think of what else to do with it. I kinda like having it just for its own sake, anyway.

Reading books on your phone seems like it'd be really bothersome. I admit I have a really old phone, so reading anything on there would be double unpleasant, but even with a fairly new phone you'd think the text would be pretty small and the screen hard to read. The kindle supposedly fixes these problems by being completely designed for reading, so I'd be pretty interested to try it out. It's big enough for sure, but I'd have to see the screen before I decided whether I thought it was a good idea. I guess the backlight in the system is different than it is in, say, a gameboy, so you're not going to get the same eye strain. I'd like to try it. If anyone wants to buy one for me, I accept.

The swap sites were really interesting, too. Unlike traditional swap clubs, these go all over the whole country! So you could get whatever you wanted. Including books, I guess. This is why the internet was invented. You can get information and stuff from everywhere. I want to try this, too. I think I should sign up, I could get rid of all the stuff I don't want and get new stuff for it! I can not see a downside here.

Additionally, the site that encourages you to leave a book lying out somewhere and then putting a message up was cool. I would have loved this when I was young. I loved secrets.

Thing 34: Online Answer sites

It's been over a month. I would like to reiterate at this point that the phrase "Web 2.0" is stupid, overused and basically meaningless. Labeling a bunch of other stuff as "2.0" because it now involves the internet is also stupid and pointless.

I gotta say, I think people have been yelling about the death of the library for a pretty long time. I think it's people who just want to have their name in the newspaper for saying something shocking. I work in a pretty modest public library; we're not on the cutting edge of super technological urban expanse, but we don't have the dredges of society in here, either (depending on the day). And we certainly don't have thousands upon thousands of people coming in every day like some libraries. Yet even with this modest example of a library system, we don't feel anywhere close to extinction.

Think about it: all libraries suddenly entirely ceasing to exist. World leaders are going to come together and decide that one of the cornerstones of society as we know it should just end? All mayors are going to sign the orders one after the other til all library buildings become McDonald's? No one is going to be able to read anything they didn't buy, no one will be able to use a computer unless they own it, no one can ask anyone for something they don't know. Yeah ok, and then after that Michael Jordan will come to my house and tell me to stack rocks on his head until he dies.

People need to stop freaking out. LIBRARIANS need to stop freaking out. Just because the internet does potentially give people the ability to search for information DOES NOT MEAN that every single person there is alive will have the resources to access this, the ability to understand and utilize it properly, or the time and effort to maximize their reference capabilities and decide to therefore bypass all library services forever. I realize we don't always get as much respect as, say, firemen or nurses or whatever but I think saying we're going to be the last of the library workers because of computers is pretty gullible.

What percent of internet users primarily look up videos of people getting hit in the junk? A lot? I think we're good, then.