Thing 6: Fun With Flickr -- Picture Association

My favorite Flickr mashup so far has been Retrievr. It's basically an application that searches Flickr for images that meet certain criteria. Doesn't sound like anything fancy, right

The catch is that Retrievr searches from image rather than text. It finds similarities between a picture that you either draw on a little pallet or upload from your computer or website. The search engine recognizes the shading and basic structure of the picture you give it, then gives you back a cornucopia of similar images on Flickr.

What you get back may not be what you're looking for. But that isn't really the point. The fun of Retrievr is exploring Flickr and finding images that you never would have seen before.

You can turn it into a game of association. I started by sketching a picture of a red book.

I didn't get any red books back, but the shapes and colors are similar. Clicking on an image takes you directly to the Flickr page. Mousing over an image pops up a magnifying glass which you can select to generate a new search starting with that image.

Now you're exploring (and having fun with Flickr).

Thing 5

Shelf Messages 1
Originally uploaded by MrShin

I really enjoy photography. I think it's my favorite art-form. I could (and maybe did) just sift through Flickr for hours. As much as anything else, it's fascinating to see what has captured other people's attention, and what has struck other people as important enough to remember or share with others.

One of Flickr's features that I particularly enjoy is geotagging. Google does a similar thing with their maps (and I assume Picasa). Place is an important part of the context for some pictures, part of what gives them meaning, or significance.

These are just pictures I took in the library stacks. Nothing fancy, I just thought the coincidence of these particular books being placed next to each other on the shelf was funny.

Shelf Messages 2

Shelf Messages 2
Originally uploaded by MrShin

This is another of the coincidences on the shelf. The book to the right of this grouping is The Daring Book for Girls. Just as with the other shot, I'm not saying the shelf is right; just that it's got something funny to say.

Thing 3: 7.5 Habits of Highly Effective Learners

I think the easiest habit for me will be either #4: "Have Confidence as a Competent, Effective Learner" or #7.5: "Play!" I already think of myself as a lifelong learner and player (well, maybe not so much), and have for a long time.

Learning, for me, is an end in and of itself. It's the process that I enjoy: feelings of progress, mastery, and discovery, WOW moments. In particular, being exposed to new ideas is exciting. It's easy to understand how you can play, tinker, and discover with new technologies and gadgets, and the same feelings are there, but I've always found that playing with ideas is most fun. The biggest wows come from finding out about a new or different way of looking at the world, and playing with the implications in the way you've always understood the world to be or to work.

Having said that, I think the hardest habit is #1: "Goals." It's important, when you are trying to learn how, to understand what it is you are trying to learn how to do, and to direct your learning to meet that goal. But for me, when I'm learning and playing, I'll be learning about. I'll be excitedly learning about Flickr (and maybe Picasa too), delic.io.us, feeds, and all the other interactive web media. And while I'm learning about these 23+ things, I'll be thinking about how they might be used in the library and what that means for the library.

Playing @ Work

Like just about everyone else who is entering the blogosphere for the first time through Learn&Play, I'm really excited to be trying out all this "new" technology. I'm even more excited to be getting paid to do it. During my last job search, one of the really important things I was looking for was a playful place to work that would encourage learning and professional development. I don't know how it could get much better than this.