Other Blogs that I read

Rachel--if you read this, I'm sorry, I'm pirating your blog again....

So...Rachel Singer Gordon put up a couple of interesting posts this week about how the library blog world is rather small and that many posts and comments seem to be overlapping. She asked what "big name bloggers" that her audience reads. A light selection for mwah:

1. The Liminal Librarian
2. Free Range Librarian
3. LibrarianInBlack
4. Walt at Random
5. OA Librarian
6. Information Wants to Be Free
7. Librarian.net

Then there was her next post, about what blogs that we read that aren't in the library world but that we use to keep up to date on information or other areas of interest:

1. Discovery.com News: The latest stories from Discovery, usually before they show up in the free paper I pick up when I have to work morning shows at the theater. Interesting, amusing, and all the latest from Discovery

2. Medscape Medical News: A year in medical publishing so engrossed me in the latest news of the medical world that I had to wean myself off of it when I relocated. Now, I just get my daily fix from the physician perspective (as opposed to the WebMD side)

3. Yarn Harlot: A knitting and insanity of life blog by a well respected author. She just spent a week remodeling her bedroom, complete with updates and pictures that every subscriber waited on tenterhooks for.... check out the burning sawdust--seriously!

4. Secrecy News: Release of information from the US government. I'll admit this is often a "skim" blog--but I do like to see what's coming out.

5. Running a Hospital: By the president of the BIDMC--who offers a new perspective into his job. A lot of the posts are interesting in their candid nature--whether lauding or criticizing. Occasionally heartwarming.

Hmm...and to tag a few people? Brian Gray and David Rothman---consider yourself dully nudged

Who's Saying What about Second Life

As the cat makes one of her daily rounds of sprinting back and forth behind my chair and meowing piteously...

There's been some chatter again this week about Second Life. I did some exploration with it in January, but couldn't really find anything interesting to do at the hours I was usually conscious and available to do it (3 a.m. CST). It seemed to be getting a huge amount of attention in the press and in the biblioblogosphere at the time and looks to really be launching into something huge.

Now, it's March and the momentum seem to have slowed. I haven't heard of any other countries jumping on board with massive office openings in cyberspace. Most of the people I know don't seem to be aware of what it is--and once I explain it, a number have said instantly that they doubt their systems could handle it. I don't think my desktop computer could--even though my laptop does. My best friend was frankly skeptical when he viewed the homepage and the "number of US dollars spent in the past 24 hours." (I have to agree--how are they spending $1.5 million every 24 hours? Does your avatar really need THAT many clothes?)

But it's good to stay current on what's available:

Walt has a 'cautious post'--which has turned into an interesting discussion mostly with Jenny Levine-- about whether or not librarians need to push to meet our users in Second Life.

Rich Hoeg at eContent has a well-timed post with some tutorial and informational links in case (like me) you're still trying to figure out what you're supposed to do with this avatar you've created.

and the fabulously recuperating LiB (welcome back Sarah) put up a link to a tutorial on trying to explain it to your staff--if you are desirous of incorporating SecondLife into your library.

Rettig for President Video

Jim Retting had a YouTube video up that I was hoping to link to for his ALA Presidency candidacy. I liked it! It was simple, effective, and got his name and ideas into my brain. However, when I just checked the link...it's been removed by the user. I wonder what happened.

I hope we get to see more videos like that! It's nice to put a face with a candidacy....

Thanks to the Librarian in Black and David Rothman for the link. If anyone knows why it came down--please let me know!