Month: November 2008

Another big announcement….

Post author By Robin
Post date November 17, 2008
5 Comments on Another big announcement….

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook or FriendFeed are probably already aware of this, but for the rest of you…. I’ve just signed a contract to write a book! I’ll be banging out lots and lots and lots of words on the phenomenon of microblogging (think Twitter and Tumblr) and lifestreaming (think FriendFeed) and how libraries can use such phenomena to reach out to their patrons. This book will be part of a series of books all on various aspects of social media/phenomenon and their uses in libraries. I’ll let the other authors announce their own titles, but from what I know so far, the series is going to seriously kick some ass. Emphasis via profanity totally intentional there, by the way….

Anyway – this gives me a bit of pause as to the future of this blog (at least in the short term). Now that the blog has helped me on my way to lots of writing assignments (don’t forget to check out my Library Tech Report from ALA that will be out about the time this book is due in to the publisher next year…), I’m so busy writing other things that I may not have time to write here. Hopefully I’ll be able to do *some* posting, but I will definitely be keeping up with my Twitter and FriendFeed accounts, so posting will continue to happen – albeit in a shorter format – there.

presentations

Interview with the Webgoddess, pt. 1

Post author By Robin
Post date November 12, 2008
3 Comments on Interview with the Webgoddess, pt. 1

The folks over at InMagic contacted me a couple of weeks ago about a new series they are doing on folks who deal with information in some way or another. The first part of the interview (if you all hadn’t noticed by now – I’m a wordy wench and they had to split the interview into two parts to keep from overwhelming everyone…) is up now at http://inmagicinc.blogspot.com/2008/11/our-inaugural-info-pro-file-robin.html. It’s accompanied by my standard headshot. Cindi Trainor, seriously, I’m going to tackle you at the next conference I see you at and make you work your magic with your camera and make me look pretty in a photo… If you can do that, I’ll owe you more than a couple of refreshing beverages, I’m sure!
Anyway, the interview is up and available if anyone wants to take a look!

Tags inmagic, interview, Robin

conference travel Writing

My netbook

Now that I’ve had my itsy-bitsy laptop for about a month, I’m ready to give you all a full review of it. I love it! Ok, that’s enough, right?
No, alrighty then… The specs for my baby (the Acer Aspire One in sapphire blue) are:

Windows XP Home
1.6G Atom Processor
1G RAM
1.3 MegaPixel Webcam
2 media card readers – one multi-format, one SD only
160G Hard Drive
802.11b/g Wireless
VGA and Audio out
3 USB ports
1 free mini-PCI slot
Ethernet port for wired connections
Size (LWH): 6.7 inches, 9.8 inches, 1.14 inches
Weight: 2.2 pounds

I got the 6 cell battery option, which gives me around 6 to 6 1/2 hours of regular use between charging – which is pretty freakin’ nice! That makes it a touch bigger/heavier than it would be normally, but not so much that it bothers me at all. It’s got a standard keyboard layout with the keys at about 90% of the standard size – so my little hands have no problems and even men with larger hands seem to be able to use it easily. The sapphire blue is gorgeous – but shows fingerprints like nothing I’ve ever seen – I’m constantly wiping the cover down…
It has a quick boot time – under 30 seconds – and is pretty speedy, considering the limited amount of processor in there! The screen is 8.9 inches and it’s fairly small for everyday work (though I end up using it a lot – I only use my desktop setup for writing, and that’s just because I’ve got a dual monitor setup for that one) but absolutely perfect for traveling.
I took the netbook with me to Internet Librarian this year and found that it was just about perfect for carrying around during sessions and such. There were a bunch of folks with these tiny little laptops around, but I still got a bunch of comments about it every time I sat down and fired it up. Helene Blowers has one of the original netbooks – the Asus – and we had to set them down and compare our teeny tiny laptops – you’ll note mine (on the left) is a touch bigger, but not so much as to be really noticeable.

All in all, I love my little tiny laptop and I’m pretty sure that I have found the perfect traveling companion (at least until my phone beefs up and can start to compare with some of the specs I posted above…). For the price ($400.00 at Amazon.com), it just can’t be beat!

Tags computer, laptop, netbook, review

presentations

Planning for Success Cookbook

Post author By Robin
Post date November 5, 2008
No Comments on Planning for Success Cookbook

The new MaintainIT cookbook is out – with lots of great advice from librarians and library staff from all over the place (including yours truly…). This one, Planning for Success, covers planning & decision making, communication and partnerships, buying and deploying technology, maintaining & sustaining technology, networking & security and innovation. Go download it – right now! Next time you are at a conference, look for their booth – they often have bunches of these all printed up and available.
When you come to the quotes from me, however, please remember that they were given over the phone, so that I couldn’t see the person I was talking to or get any non-vocal cues for just how stupid I was sounding… I really do sound somewhat better than that in real life (or at least I hope so, since people pay me to talk!). They did a great job of transcribing my statements – word for word – all the silliness and crazy sounding-ness is mine.

Tags cookbook, maintainit, quotes