You know those sites that have a name that is in no way related to what it does? Lunch.com is one of those.
Lunch.com is a reviews site, with the goal of changing the way people think about each other. You rate things (books, games, movies, etc), and the site will tell you how similar you are to other people on the site. Cute, but not a whole lot of practical going on. However, it’s the newest feature, “Communities,” that really might make people sit up and take notice. This ability allows users to create their own niche review sites. There are already communities based on reviewing strollers, gluten-free products, obscure movies, college fashion, haunted locations and many more. Certainly, the possibilities are endless. There are major player review sites like Yelp that rate local businesses; this site has found its part of the Long Tail and is catering to interests that may have no other review outlets.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- As librarians, it’s likely the first thought to strike us about Lunch.com might be “Book reviews!” However, I strongly caution against actually trying this. There are already several large, successful sites that do this well: for example, Goodreads, Shelfari and LibraryThing. These sites have a critical mass that Lunch.com is unlikely to ever duplicate. People want to go where their friends are online. Lunch.com will likely succeed with niche interest groups, not mainstream ones. This could be a handy tool for a library’s book discussion group, but not as a widespread one for every patron.
- Lunch.com is not well-known and is still, technically, in beta. If you decide to start a new community, you will need to promote it heavily outside of Lunch.com in order to attract an audience.
- The site gives users the option to connect with their Facebook login (Facebook Connect), which is very handy.
- Reviews can be of two different lengths–full length reviews, which allow for uploaded pictures as well, and micro reviews, which are very brief.
![[Bloglines]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Fark]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/fark.png)
![[Furl]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/furl.png)
![[Google]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Reddit]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.meanlaura.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
What it comes to image editing, for either web or print, Photoshop is arguably the king of the roost. But let’s face it–Photoshop is darned expensive, and has a learning curve shaped like Mount Everest. Not to mention that you have to actually have it installed on the machine you’re working on. Unless you’re a professional designer, chances are good that you can get away with using one of the many free online tools that have appeared on the Web. Below are just a few to check out:
- Pixlr–has a fairly simple interface and yet includes more advanced functionality like layers and masks. Also has a neat browser extension you can install, called Grabber, that allows you to right-click a web image and have it open up automatically in Pixlr.
- Splashup–Allows for editing multiple images at once and integrates very well with photo sharing sites like Flickr, Picasa and Facebook. Advanced functionality is somewhat more limited than Pixlr.
- Picnik–Picnik has a free version and a premium version. It’s primarily a tool for editing photos,rather than creating anything from scratch. The free version may be enough for simple tasks such as resizing, rotating or removing redeye from existing photographs. One annoying thing about this tool is that it shows you options for unique features such as stickers, only to tell you that they are only available with the premium subscription if you try to use them.
- Aviary–This is a whole suite of tools (all of them have bird-related names) that are best suited for creating new images rather than photo editing. Tools include Phoenix (the base image editor), Raven (a vector editor) and even Myna, which is for editing audio. Up until a month ago, Aviary had a premium and a free version. Due to an influx of venture capital, they now offer all tools and feature for free.
- Photoshop.com–wait, what? Yes, it’s true; Photoshop itself has a free, online edition–but it’s only distantly related to the full package. It’s more of a pure photo editing and organizing tool than an image editor. You’ll need to sign up for a free account to upload your photos. It does allow you to import photos from other sharing sites (more even than Splashup) and it also does some video editing. It also has apps for both iPhone and Android.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- Most image editors have similar interfaces, even if they don’t all have the same features. Learning to use one often means that using others will be simple. If you already know how to use full-scale programs like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, then all of these will likely be a walk in the proverbial park.
- Some of these have a limit on how much you can store on their servers. Photoshop.com, for example, has a 2 gig limit for free accounts (upgrading your account primarily gets you more storage for your photo albums, not more functionality).
Any web-based image editors you’re fond of (or not)? Let us know in the comments!
I admit it; I’ve put off writing about Second Life for a while. Mostly because I’ve gotten very tired of uninformed people making judgements about it based on the hype, rather than the reality. Last year, an ignorant speaker at Computers in Libraries declared Second Life to be “dead.” The only thing that has died is some of the hype…finally. Second Life is actually thriving in many ways. Virtual meetings and educational opportunities abound. So do librarians.
Let’s start defining Second Life (SL) by first defining what it is not; it is not a game. Games have rules, goals, objectives, points and so on. These kinds of parameters do not exist for SL. Rather, SL is a 3D virtual environment or virtual world. What people do in that environment is as varied as the human beings who populate it.
So what can one do in Second Life?
Almost anything one can do in real life (RL), one can do in SL. Activities include (but are far from limited to) concerts, lectures, classes, dancing, shopping, socializing, traveling, historical role play, book discussions, contests, theater and many, many more. If you get bored in SL, it’s only because you’re not looking for anything.
What makes Second Life unique?
Second Life is perhaps one of the oldest virtual worlds (there are hundreds of them!), and it is certainly one of the largest. What truly differentiates SL from many others is the philosophy about intellectual property rights. When one creates something in SL, that person owns it. That means they also have the right to sell it. There is a thriving, real economy in SL. A rare few can make real life livings selling and/or creating custom virtual items, but most do it for fun. Second Life is also a very diverse community; 60% of the residents are not from the U.S. This gives an interesting, international flavor to many areas of SL and gives SL users a chance to interact with people from around the world.
What are libraries doing in Second Life?
A lot! Most libraries/librarians in SL collaborate within the Community Virtual Library (CVL). This project is huge and has many volunteers from all over the globe. Activities run the gamut; lectures, art galleries, book discussions and training are all popular. The CVL maintains a reference desk as well to answer questions from SL residents. The CVL encompasses partner organizations as well, including many college and university libraries and library-related organizations, such as TechSoup, the American Library Association, and OPLIN.
Where can I learn more about Second Life?
OPLIN offers free, inworld classes on Second Life. You can learn more at http://www.oplin.org/secondlife, or feel free to contact Laura Solomon at OPLIN (laura@oplin.org ), also known as Lebachai Vesta in SL. The official Second Life web site is at http://www.secondlife.com and the site of CVL is at http://www.infoisland.org.
As more people start using smartphones (e.g., Droids, Blackberries, iPhones, et al), we’re also starting to see a lot more applications that can be downloaded and used on them. One I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting with is Qik (prounounced like “quick”). While the tagline for YouTube is “Broadcast Yourself,” I feel that might actually better suit this particular app. Qik allows you to not only record video directly to a web page from your smartphone, but it allows you to do so live. That’s right–you can be broadcasting your library’s events, as they’re happening, to an online audience.
So, what do you need to do to make this happen? Not much, as it turns out:
- Smartphone that can run the Qik app (supported phone list here)
- Qik app, downloaded and installed to said smartphone and
- A free Qik account (which will create a broadcast channel for you).
I’ve done a couple of public videos you can check out, to get an idea of the quality of the video; you can see them at my Qik channel, http://www.qik.com/laurasolomon.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- This could be a quick and dirty way to capture and broadcast library programs and/or meetings. Keep in mind, however, that there can be some delay between what you are broadcasting and it being captured on the Qik channel. (I noticed about 3-5 seconds of lag during my most recent test.)
- You can’t edit the video before it is broadcast or captured, so make sure that you’re comfortable broadcasting whatever it is before you start.
- You can make certain videos private and others public.
- The Qik site also has some social media features; videos can be tweeted directly, and people can also comment and discuss individual videos. Live chat is also available, so if you’re broadcasting live, you can also see chat feedback in real time.
- You can also add a map (location) to the video, to let people know where it took place.
- Yes, you can embed Qik videos in a website, much like YouTube videos.
- Conveniently, you can also sign in with your Facebook account.
