Sad and Interesting is the Order of the Day

Days can be thematic sometimes. Today, sad and interesting appeared to be the order of the day. It was a long day, and I got home after 9 pm. As I was parking, I was inspired by a new song that I heard on the radio on my favorite radio station, Air1. It was by Britt Nicole, who I find very inspiring and talented. (Side note: I actually got to volunteer at her concert with radio promotions for Air1 Radio several years ago when she performed a concert in my area). Well, I loved her new song with Lecrae, and I was inspired to get on Myspace, which I don’t do much at all these days, but I still like it for the music and for reminiscing. Anyways, I was stopped by “the new myspace”, saying not only had myspace changed, but that my current browser was not supported to login. All I wanted to do was add the song to my profile as #1 song, but I had to go through the steps to get a new browser to meet my goal. So, I added Mozilla Firefox as a browser, which truth be told, I should have done ages ago, since I hear it is an excellent browser. Funny how when you can’t do something you want to do that takes “two seconds”, it is quite annoying to be slowed down with technical delays. Anybody else agree?

So, after getting my new browser, I tried to login and got stopped by the “new myspace.” Of course, I had to agree to the privacy policies, video policy, and other various policies before proceeding. I also noticed that it APPEARS that unless you are a MEMBER of myspace (i.e. the NEW myspace, not the classic myspace), you CANNOT listen to music! You can only search for music. Why would anyone want to search for music but not listen to it? Sometimes I used to listen to music in my old myspace player without logging in. This probably sounds funny, but I would listen to my playlist when I didn’t realy care or need to login, and when I didn’t care to be tracked for every song I played. Anyways, so, unless I am missing something, it appears the new myspace is EXCLUSIVE for members ONLY to listen to music, which I find sad and, well, exclusionary. I like music being free and for the people. And, don’t quote me on this without double-checking, but I believe that when I tried to check out Spotify app for music numerous months ago (which my friend raved about), I couldn’t login in because I don’t have a Facebook account. I don’t think that is very fair.

I am a person who does not like to sign something or click accept when I have not read something, especially when terms say that I have read terms, etcetera. Granted, I don’t like reading 40 page terms verbatim, but I try to pay attention to privacy policies and rules. But, I got tired of reading and really ONLY WANTED ONE SONG. It is already late, so I decided to table the new myspace for another day and make sure I am reading when I am less tired. Here is the super sad other thing that I want to comment on- when I was clicking about how the new myspace is different than the classic myspace, it said some things will not carry over in the new experience- things like blogs and comments. That makes me so sad! I always considered my old myspace like a digital record or journal as part of my life- so many happy memories are tied up there, plus blogs that I never saved that were before I was on wordpress. I think I also lost some of my poetry which I may have only had a digital copy of, which of course, I did not save. It is too late now, but I wish I knew more about archiving and stuff that seems taught more in librarian circles. Sometimes it feels like I a babe in the woods, but it is sad once it is too late to do things maybe you should have done, but didn’t think something would be totally taken away from you. I was never warned by myspace by e-mail with the changes, and I knew there was a newer version, but I didn’t use it a ton recently. Still, I don’t think they promoted the switch with a deadline, and I don’t think they publicized what people would lose until it was lost. Maybe I am wrong, and I not trying to speak something untrue, but with so much of our identities wrapped up in the digital realm, I wonder how many people would be upset if their Facebook profile got wiped out, or how would they feel if Linked In pulled the plug? We are all vulnerable.

Once I decided to pass on the new myspace (for tonight anyway), I got on Air1 Radio (www.air1.com) to stream the mixology live. Of course, I got distracted by their home page with “trending now” news headlines. Here is the one that caught my eye. It is about new Lego figurines being more grumpy than in previous years. I think that is interesting, but sort of sad. Here is the article:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/11/18904238-do-legos-need-anger-management-figurines-grumpier-than-ever-study-says?lite

Also, an article I was reading earlier in the day was in the Chronicle of Higher Education about privacy, law, and government. It was highly thought-provoking and troubling. If you are interested in privacy laws, logical arguments, or freedom, then I definitely recommend it. It fits my theme of the day- sad, yet interesting.

http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Privacy-Matters-Even-if/127461/

Text Messaging is taking over the world!!!

Text messaging is taking over the world!!!  I did think that honor was unofficially bestowed to Facebook, but text messaging may actually usurp Facebook, which is a high honor, indeed.  Case in point: we all know that we can send text messages to our family and our friends, or get free promo codes by text from companies like Redbox, but now text messaging has gotten a foot in the door in the library and information science field.  This foot in the door phenomenon may revolutionize customer service as we know it.

Tonight I was searching my local public library catalog by utilizing their iPhone app.  I had a question about a library item that I desired.  Thus, I clicked on “contact us” in the library app and saw the normal phone and e-mail contact information for my local library.  However, my interest was piqued when spying “text” as an option to answer my question.  It is important to note that I am a text messaging convert (i.e. I was against text messaging for a few years before I finally gave in, changed my phone service plan, and began text messaging).  Now, I think text messaging is amazing, and I find it quite helpful in a plethora of ways like sending friends encouraging messages, for social planning, for information sharing, and for various functional purposes.  So it may come as no surprise to you that I used text messaging as my happy and instant solution to my library query.  Within minutes a library staff member answered my question, and I was moving forward with my library request.

I must say that this whole experience has made me wonder if text messaging is taking over the world? 

Pinterest Top Ten Tips (a.k.a. Pinterest is more than just Home Decor and Party Ideas)

For the last few months, I kept hearing about Pinterest.  I went to a baby shower and the creative and innovative food ideas were taken from Pinterest, and then at a good-bye party, one of the good-bye gifts was a blow-pops sucker knick-knack with a sign saying “You’re leaving here blows.  We will miss you.”  Thus, I sufficed that Pinterest was a hot new social networking site devoted to home decor and party ideas, and it essentially was a digital bulletin board (or pinboard).

However, it was only about 2 weeks ago that I realized that Pinterest had a much broader basis.  My friend, Amber, told me that she was on Pinterest, and she showed me a glimpse of her site.  She had a really pretty hairstyle that she had pinned that was inspiring for a wedding she was a bridesmaid for.  However, she explained more about Pinterest, but I have to admit that I was sold when she told me how she had repined a pin called “Books Rory Gilmore read.”  I used to be a huge Gilmore Girls fan, and I loved to watch the show, especially the early seasons.

As you can probably see from where this blog is going, I am on Pinterest now.  I find it inspiring, fun, artsy, cool, hip, interesting, and thoroughly diverse.  Here is my mini-tutorial on Pinterest, with personal insights gleaned from over two weeks of being semi-addicted to Pinterest.

Top Ten Helpful Tips and Info for Getting Started with Pinterest:

1. Please note the name is not pronounced Pin-interest, as I keep trying to pronounce it.  It is Pinterest.

2. You can get a free app for it or use it on a desktop computer or laptop.  However, the Pinterest website has a great deal more features than the iPhone app.

3. It is possible to login with Facebook or Twitter, but for those who are not connected that way (me and two other people), you can login with e-mail, which makes it more inclusive, in my opinion.

4. Fun things about it: you can follow people and have followers, like Facebook and MySpace.  You can comment.  You can like things. (Important tip from my observation and what a friend told me: when you “like” something on Pinterest but do not pin it, then you are AUTOMATICALLY signed up to follow the creator of that pin.  I had wondered how I ended up with over 60 people I was following initially.  I believe automatic followers may have also come from the pictures you Pinterest has you like at the beginning when you are creating your account.

5. You can add a profile photo or info about you.  The iPhone app does not have this capability (unless maybe it syncs with your Facebook profile pic?), but on the website for Pinterest you click under you name, then click settings, and then upload an image.

6. You create thematic electronic bulletin boards, and you pin things onto your bulletin boards.  You can repin other’s content (always with a link back to the original site for credit), download items like photographs, or pin content found on the internet.

7. It is possible to change the comment under something you repin.  If you just repin, then the comment is automatically the same comment as the person you repined from.  I find this slightly confusing and potentially problematic.  I felt like I was plagiarizing other’s comments, so after a while I started specifying something like “original pinners comment” to clarify.

8. One fun thing about Pinterest is you can explore many categories when you click explore, such as DIY and Crafts, Films, Music, & Books, Geek, Home Decor, Kids, Photography, Quotes, Technology, Travel, and Women’s Fashion.  Note: you can lose hours surfing around categories and repining things, so be careful.

9. You can set the cover of your bulletin board by editing it. This is helpful if you have a photo/pin that you particularly are fond of.  Otherwise the cover is the latest pin for that bulletin board category.

10. Finally, here is the link to my Pinterest site. Feel free to check it out and see what Pinterest is all about or for getting started ideas.  I only have 3 followers, so followers are appreciated, as well.  Happy pinning!

https://pinterest.com/hopeandheart/#