2.0 Alphabet

is for reddit, where users submit links to content and then vote on the links, so the most popular items bubble to the top. Similar sites are Digg.com and Newsvine. A study released in September 2007 by the Project for Excellence in Journalism showed a wide divergence in what the so-called "mainstream media" considers to be important and what "the masses" perceive as worthy of attention. This is proof.

"The site has discussion areas in which users may discuss the posted links and vote for or against others' comments. When there are enough votes against a given comment, it will not be displayed by default, although a reader can display it through a link or preference. Users who submit articles which other users like and subsequently "vote up" receive "karma" points as a reward for submitting interesting articles."[Wikipedia]

Web 2.0 Alpbahet:Part 2 (letters N-Z) were originally published in Information Today 24.10 (Nov 2007): p.15(2).

2.0 Alphabet

is for Pandora, which lets you create your own streaming Internet radio station that plays only music that you like. The technology at work here derives from the Music Genome Project, which parses a song using 400-plus attributes, making it easy to find more related or similar songs. If you love music, you've probably already found Pandora.

Take a look at the recent article from Information Today - "Pandora lets users create online radio stations.(Link-Up @ Home)." by Thomas Pack. [Information Today 25.5 (May 2008): p.38(2)].

Web 2.0 Alpbahet:Part 2 (letters N-Z) were originally published in Information Today 24.10 (Nov 2007): p.15(2).

Make it yours

Here is a nice and simple example of how a library attracts children and teens to use their homework help site. Check out the drop down menu on the right under the log in boxes -- Choose page style.

No April Fools Joke?

There's really a book for Amazon.com!

Amazon.com for Dummies. by Friedman, Mara. Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, c2004. You can learn all about the personalization services and how Amazon recommends items for you based on your searching and shopping preferences - wouldnt it be cool if the Library catalog did that?


Of special interest:

-Chapter 3: You Are the Master of Your Account
-Chapter 11: It's All About You!
-Chapter 12: Putting Your Two Cents In


You could just visit Amazon.com and check out how their recommendations feature works.

My Times

It's worth the time to personalize sites that you will use on a regular basis. Your reader, whether it is the Google Reader or another, is a highly personalized site, almost all the content is there at your request. A relatively new one that I like a lot is the My Times page on the New York Times web site. It allows you to use it as a news aggregator, pulling in headlines and other links from your preferred sources. Also, you can take a look at what sources your favorite NY Times writers are using on their own My Times page.

Here is my page:

And you can check out it out for yourself here.

iGoogle, do you?

Have you noticed those iGoogle/Sign In links at the top of the Google search page? Using iGoogle you can create your own, personal Google search page seeded with a huge selection of widgets, google tools and your favorite sites & feeds.

Sign in to iGoogle and...
*Indulge your creativity: Select a visual theme to decorate your homepage and drag and drop individual sections to rearrange the page however you'd like.
*Focus on your interests: Pick and choose from thousands of Google Gadgets to add games, news, pictures, weather and more to your homepage, all for free.

*Organize your cool widgets into tabs by topic.
*Change your mind: Switch back and forth between your iGoogle page and Google's "Classic Homepage" through the link in the upper right-hand corner.

Here's mine...