The Joys of RSS...

Ok, I have to say, first I was down on the whole RSS thing. As someone who worked in the field of comics on the web (cough...webcomics.) I wasnt too pleased with the idea that people could subscribe to my strip without going to my site at all thus lowering my visits crippling my advertising cache.

But now I'm not doing it anymore so what do I care?

Honestly though, I found most the sites I was subscribed to required me to visit their site anyway after the intial blurb or teaser and I never really found Google Reader to be that intuitive in the first place. HOWEVER, since I got my iPad I have found several very cool apps that rearrange the RSS feeds to essentially look like a virtual newspaper or magazine which is GREAT.

So in this case I didnt really search or add anything to my feeds as they're full enough right now, thankyouverymuch, but I can certainly talk about what I'm already subscribed to.

As should be of no suprise to people who know me, I follow a lot of Comic book sites. In fact that covers the most of my RSS feeds. Sites like Newsarama, Comic book resources, ifanboy, Comics Alliance, Webcomics.com and the-isb.com are just a few of the places I check up on.

Besides those, I have a folder that keeps tabs on various library blogs(Librariansmatter, tamingtheweb), as well as folders for Science (I intend to check these, I do. Hey I have a degree in Environmental Science. I will check these..just like I'll read the New Scientist magazines I keep collecting...), Technology (Engadget, Wired, that kind of stuff) and Entertainment (Dark Horizons, /film, you get the idea). Finally I do follow a few Videogame Blogs as well (Gamelife, Toucharcade, Kotaku and so on).

So a good mix of Work and Play there I believe.

The Adventure Continues! FLICKR (yes, its s'posed to be missing an 'E'. Really!)

Ok, so my post for Week three is about Flickr (as is everyone's, true). The picture I've chosen has no deep meaning I'm afraid. As most people who know me would be aware of, I'm quite interested in Graphic Novels in Libraries, having worked in the comic industry for quite a while now. (Lowest possible rung of the comic industry but I'll take what I can get than you very much)

I'm very interested in altering a few things with Cockburns current collection just to get things all purty like and I'm excited that I may be able to influence and help shape and grow our collection in the future.

My pic shows Canton Public Libraries GN collection. Its nothing amazing but it seems to show that everythings grouped together by title rather than by author which is a big bugbear between me and the state library. I may actually make this a thing and see if i can find various pictures from different libraries showing their graphic novel collection. I'm kinda interested in actually starting a Graphic Novel collection for Libraries type blog (why do i keep capitalising everything) but I need to look around and see if that niche has been filled or if there's even space for one in the first place.

Excelsior! )(sigh...sorry.)

Wow.

Just checked out the other blogs that are particpating in this course and suprised to find all the pseudonyms and mystery going on. I feel a little exposed and vulnerable now. Erk.

Plus what the heck was I thinking with that title!

Seacrest out!

I am NOT Pharnabus Filch

Ok. I have no explanation for the title. I needed a name for the Blog and thats what I came up with.

On to business.

I am currently doing my grad dip in Library and Information studies at Curtin University. Actually i just started. I'm doing it externally and veeerrry part-time (one unit. cough). The unit I happen to be doing this semester seems to cover exactly the same material as this course....except its 1500$ more expensive dabnabbit. On top of that I am fairly familiar with web 2.0 already, having participated in my fair share of twittering, facebooking, podcasting and blogging. Once upon a time i made a living (meager though it was) through comics and these tools are vital in promoting and maintaining a community to pay your bills. :)

Still, its always good to refresh your skills and potentially develop new ones. I think it's a great idea that all staff are encouraged to complete this course. Computer skills and knowledge and understanding of the internet, web 2.0 and how the library can use this to interact with our clients is very important in todays digital age. Courses like this are one of the reasons i decided to to (try to) become a librarian. I'm very interested in lifelong learning. I hate stagnation. Despise it. I'm the type of person who needs to be continually working towards a goal and this field enables me to be always learning, always developing new skills which is a huge incentive for me personally.

As for blogs, due to my Uni course i have a plethora of pages I try to visit (although I'm not getting to visit most of them as often as i should (including my course co-ordinators Librarians Matter )), i think theres around 15-20 in my rss feed, so yes, i'm kept busy with reading.

One blog i do hope to spend more time with is our own. I'm trying to start writing a Comics (or graphic novels if youd prefer the more literary (or snooty) definition) column for our public blog once a week but I havent written anything for public consumption for quite a while so I'm very out of practice. I think its a great idea to have more conversational pieces on the libraries blog, its the sort of thing that can only improve the community that the library wishes to develop.

Thats it for now..I'm hoping those bulletpoints were only suggestions for the blog post and not actual topics that we needed to write about.

I'm sure they were just suggestions..

right..?

yeah..