#30 File and Folder Organization

I actually had a really great time with this exercise. The oldest files I deleted were those just barely over two years old that were held in a young adult folder since before I took my position...so I took what I could from the previous staff and refashioned and reformulated the labeling schema and file organization to best serve the needs we have now.
I also went through my personal folder and was able to delete several files that I no longer needed (just a few months old), such as proctoring forms, forms I'd downloaded to fill out but are available on Harriet, etc.
I was a little surprised by how organized our files had become by default or organically developed over time. Yes - there was some overlap and inconsistency with labels. Yes - there was some confusion as to what belongs in what folder. But with just a little clean-up I was able to affirm that I had become organized, that defunct files and folders were deleted, and I have done my duty to help keep the cost of storage down :o)

#29 E-mail and Other Waves of the Past

I'm still more comfortable with e-mail than almost any other form of communication. I suppose I'm just a text kinda gal (although I'm a terribly slow texter on my phone; I no longer regularly IM my friends as I did in high school and at the beginning of college; and I don't really post messages to forums, discussion boards, or MySpace pages). I prefer shooting an e-mail off to folks rather than trying to catch them on the phone; leaving an e-mail is almost like leaving a phone message...except I can delete, edit, rephrase, and reorganize my thoughts in a WYSWYG kinda way.

All that said, I am extremely rigorous about deleting e-mails (sometimes deleting things that I probably should've kept....and then needing to have someone resend me the e-mail that they had smartly tucked away for later). With both of my personal e-mail accounts (hotmail and google), as well as with my work e-mail, I have a series of (perhaps not clearly) labeled subjects that seem to work okay for my purposes (such as health insurance, identity theft, online shopping, family, recipes, articles, outreach, programming, etc.).

If I need to hold on to an e-mail for future reference (perhaps I'm working on something in particular and I need to make sure I have a whole group of e-mails to facilitate an ongoing project), then I'll keep it aside in a folder. If the e-mail seems just like an FYI or a "how're you doin'?" note, then I usually delete it if it holds no sentimental value (like a love note from a J.A.M. would certainly be kept). I do a better job of maintaining order in my work e-mail than within my personal e-mail accounts, but it has worked for me so far :)

#28 Getting Things Done & Other Flights of Fancy

I'm an avid list maker. I sense a great feeling of release (and perhaps excitement) in making a To Do list and checking off everything that I have completed. I suppose I'm a little bit behind the curve in not integrating my To Do's and schedules on the web. I'm just too attached to my spiral notebook and daily/monthly planner to forfeit the joy of physically writing out my goals and visually seeing them completed with the scratching-off motion and aesthetic.

I'm a planner. I love making short-term and long-term plans. My To Do lists almost always include a list of things easily accomplished today, followed by more intensive projects that might find completion in months or years.

I'm a librarian and pride myself on my multi-tasking, prioritizing, and organizing capabilities. This whole ideology behind "Getting Things Done," for me, does not seem particularly revolutionary. I feel I already do an alright job of maintaining an organized workflow, of recognizing what can be done immediately and what is worth a more intensive time-commitment, and of eliminating junk.

I'm thinking that the whole "Getting Things Done" system of "establish[ing] a work flow process, us[ing] 6 levels of focus and the five stages of the natural planning method" does not really prevent one from spending more time organizing than actually doing (which is giving as a sort of warning or threat). In fact, getting a little too crazy about defining your work flow, six levels of focus, and five stages of planning might actually just be confusing the whole matter.

#27 Podcasting

I'm comfortable with podcasting technology and of making my blog's feed podcast-ready. I developed and hosted a podcasting program for teens at the Library last fall; of course, although it is realitively straight-forward and simple, the teens seemed to think it was "too hard." Mastery in a few minutes seems to have been the attendees' expectation. I've made podcasts in the past and, while I feel it could potentially be an awesome service, I do not feel I have the "stage" presence necessary to provide an exciting podcast or one worth the time of prospective users - just like some audiobooks are better than others based on the reader, some individuals are better at projecting excitement and at engaging with a distant audience.

I think what some people don't seem to realize is that having a successful podcast is extremely dependent on a vast amount of organization, planning, preperation, and patience in editing, as well as just having a basic knowledge of the technology. Knowing the technology is available and knowing how to mobilize it does not make a good podcast or one that people are willing to hear however often the podcasts are posted. I believe that is why so many of the most successful podcasts are coming from independent, alternative, as well as mainstream media sources; people who have a knowledge of how to put together a "package" seem to have had more business in terms of downloads. Just my two cents :)

#26 Online Music Creation and Re-Mixing

Online music mixing sites and freely downloadable recording softwares can be really fun to play with and, without doubt, totally awesome for those who want to make their own music or recordings but have no interest in shilling out hundreds of dollars for pricey software packages. For Teen Tech Week some of the teens and I played around with several online drum machines, Splice Music, and Tony-B - and I have to say, even though several of them were often frustrated with how complex the online music mixing sites turned out to be, I was excited to see them expanding their knowledge of online tools and using their creativity to enhance their web presence (such as uploading their tunes to their MySpace pages, rather than illegally using some horrible sounding version of the new, hit song). As I mentioned in my previous post, it seems our notion of collaborative art has been developing with exciting new possiblities for the future. Relationships and new networks based on collaborative creativity bring a new dimension to to the term "world music."

#25 Argh! Piracy!

Yes, I still use CDs and I often burn my own mix CDs for the car. I even (gasp!) burn an entire album onto a CD-R so that my original purchased copy can be retained snuggly at home in its appropriate case, not having to face the risk of scratching and my own clumsiness. I guess since I was in high school and beginning college I've been fairly comfortable with burning music (as well as other files) onto CD; I've never found it too much of a challenge, but keeping all of my music files organized and appropriately labeled has sometimes been annoying.

I personally think the "music business," and the Recording Industry Association of America in particular, needs to get with the times. As a librarian I believe in giving credit where credit is due and certainly want to protect the rights of intellectual property holders; but, I also believe that our understanding of ownership (especially diffuse ownership in the age of the web) and the processes of recording human creativity and ingenuity have totally changed over time. I find the RIAA's position to often protect the recording industry and record labels over the rights of artists and musicians; it isn't a surprise that several artists (notably Radiohead and Trent Reznor) are circumventing recording labels entirely and making money from their craft by mobilizing online distribution of music and music-associated paraphernalia (such as t-shirts, collectible sets, booklets, etc.). I'm certainly not a pirate - but I understand that until the recording industry can learn to better compete with, challenge, or make use of (often illegal) online music distribution, that the debate (and alleged problems) will not cease.

#24: The hills are alive

I've been a fan of online radio for a few years now (including, but not limited to, pandora...which I approve of theoretically more than in any sort of practical application), most especially news radio. My experience of downloading music has been rather limited. I've downloaded from iTunes (incredibly disappointing selection) and I've indirectly enjoyed the benefits of free and legal music downloads via my husband, but I'm just not very interested in downloading digital music. Most of the time (although certainly not always), the sound of compressed audio is annoying to me. I guess I'm a little bit of an audio snob.