Blogger ‘Gadgets’, and the R.S.L.’s ‘Wikipædia’ page.

‘Grrrrr,’ and stamping of bunny feet! Tried three different Twitter ‘Gadgets’, and all kept making my Blog disappear: stern messages from my bunny chums at the Seaside Hospital. However, following Bunny Auntie Penny’s excellent instructions, I have installed a gadget to display my Flickr pictures. This was disappointing. They do not scroll along the bottom of the screen as hoped, and I had to change permissions to allow them to show: thanks for the tip, Bunny Auntie Gigi. Thought I had forgotten my Flickr user-name. However, the addition of the ‘gadgets’/‘widgets’ to Blogger is pleasingly intuitive. The ‘click and drag’ to arrange is simple and easy. It’s going to be a good week after all. Perhaps I should start a ‘Daily Bodley Bunny’ gadget, for those who dislike dogs...?

Then I had to try and remember what iGoogle was all about. Logged in to my page and cleared all my news-stories as ‘Read’. Must remember to un-subscribe to all these R.S.S. feeds when this is all over. Again, the gadget instructions were easy to follow, and, apart from a hiccup in the internet link with much ‘hour-glass’ displaying, my Delicious gadget was installed. Shuffled them around to keep the Calcutta weather at top left, and deleted the ‘You Tube’ window to make space. All seems to be working so far. See picture as follows:

Bunny Uncle James has given me some figures about library usage in 2008/9, so I have added them to the Wikipedia R.S.L. page. How long will it be before some know-all living 5,000 miles away says the statistics are invalid? Again, it is all rather easy, and I look forward to a more comprehensive entry about the Bodleian and other Oxford libraries. Took a snap shot before it is changed:

Is that it...?

Executive Bunny Stress.

After a week off for Easter - busy time for bunnies! - I must get this finished by Friday. Hope to put my £10 Amazon voucher towards the 'Cardiac Arrest' series on D.V.D.: a vital part of Medical training. Trying to remember all my web-sites and bunny pass-words. Now got 14 Followers. It's all too exciting...

Wee keys, Docks, and Open Offices.

Namaste, bunny friends! Falling behind, due to Keeper’s runny nose, and excess admin., so only time for one cute bunny piccy this week: Shabana Bunny, a blur (almost) of satchel and Bodley saarii, speeding an urgent message to the Cataloguing Grotto, for the Faerie Cataloguers to wave their magic wands over a problem book, and make O.L.I.S. perfect again...

More pictures after Easter, I hope.

Had a quick look at the ‘Social O.U.L.S.’ (R.I.P.!) Wet-paint site, and was told three times by an advert I was the 999,999^th visitor... Didn’t know about this site, but it looks relatively quiet at the moment. So I went straight to Wikipedia, and tried changing the Bodleian’s entry page. Had no idea it was so easy! Changed my editing back again, and must have a think about how I could expand the information. Thinking I had little to contribute to such a venture, I discovered a page about drinking chocolate! Madhuri Bunny and our Keeper will be fighting each other off to add to this information, I fear. I have signed up for a Wikispace page, but am not sure what to do with it yet. Editing the latter is somewhat trying, with font options, etc., seeming to change from pts. to percentages at random. Perhaps I could write reviews of drinking chocolates? Or a monograph on its various methods of preparation?

Now to Open Offices. All seems a good idea, really, although it suggests a blind faith in the reliability of one’s connection to the inter-web. The novelty of typing at two characters per second soon wears off, mind you. If staff had the same programmes on every computer (or we all used Sun-Rays?) we could save I.C.T. time. As a devotee of ‘Word’, I did not expect ‘Google Docs’ to do everything, but it seems to write adequate documents (although the Divine Baskerville font is absent). All reasonably intuitive to use, after a little experimentation. The only complaint is the ‘link speed’, and basic nature of the editing available.

Asked Bunny Auntie Gigi to ‘share’ my Google doc., but not allowed her to edit it. Examined the ‘forms’ option, which was actually a survey template: looks very useful. Got through to ‘Think Free’, and have started a brief monograph on drinking chocolate, a subject close to some... Composing and editing seems reasonably easy. I do like the idea of ‘cloud computing’. Whilst a dedicated deleter of ‘cookies’ after every browse, I would not trust Google with any data of mine, but as a concept it is first rate. If we could all use Sun Rays (but with an easier system of saving to Memory Sticks!), and have every programme needed on a common Desk-top, how much easier life would be! More time to spend cuddling bunnies! On a serious note, I heard a programme on Radio 4 about a company hiring ‘black boxes’ to men in suits and with Mobile ‘Phones, instead of their using Lap-tops. I wish I could remember the details, but all their programmes and documents are held on a central ‘server’, and they needed only an internet café from which to work. Is this correct? It sounded like a good idea for our Brand New Bodleian Library. Hope this cloud computing takes off!

Service interruption.

It is with regret I have withdrawn the Live Radio Tele-tweet relay gadget from my Bunny Log, as I think it kept interfering with some browsers, causing the screen to flicker or vanish completely. You can follow my (or usually cousin Madhuri’s!) Telex Relay from the Reading Room on twitter.com; I am “kboxf23”.

Apologies and bunny hugs,

Konnie.

x

More Illustrations to Accompany Monday's Telex Relay.

Bunny Patrols throughout the day keep a discreet eye on readers...

Clambering up furniture with grappling hooks, the best vantage points are obtained to report events...

...until the Reading Room is handed over to the Night Shift, and it is time to return to the Bodley Bunny Base for a snack before dinner....

Some Illustrations to Accompany Monday’s Telex Relay.

The first (‘Dawn’) Patrol of the day poses for the camera, armed with riot shields, tickle stick, and Manisha Bunny carrying the radio-teleprinter (with a pretty girly bow atop, to stop accidents with the ærial), ready to herd any stray mice, and check the traps.

Establishing a temporary base, a report is sent to Lank. Floor Control.

From 08.30, the movements of patrols and readers are plotted in Smarties on the Floor Control Table Map (blue for patrol, purple for confused under-grads., red for naughty readers under surveillance, etc.).

Re-inventing the Wheel.

Move over Konnie, Madhuri Bunny’s toy this week!! I started the task the Thursday before because it looked so exciting. Subscribed to Twitter, watched a brief video of explanation, and sent a few test messages (“tweets”), before being told, on Monday, to include “#ox23”: Whoops! Just like the accursed mobile ‘phone’s use of Morse to indicate an incoming S.M.S. message, so Twitter has not forgotten its history: 70 characters is the standard width of a teleprinter line. Glad to see ‘the ghost of telegraphy past in the machine’—extra Brownie points!!

Transmitting messages is the easy bit. However, if one wants to do anything else, it seems rather more difficult. The web-page does not ‘refresh’ unless transmitting, so one has difficulty checking for messages from ‘Followers’. These are included in one’s list (“Personal Time-Line”), which is annoying. Can one move them to a new folder (‘List’)? Not after their transmission.

I am of two minds about editing messages after transmission: either they are short-lived, in which case not worth correcting or keeping on display for long, or they are of use for many days after transmission (so might need correction). The Twitter web-site stresses the ‘immediate, ephemeral, transitory’ nature of the messages, but some use it for the latter (why not just re-transmit the message, corrected?). I cannot see why one would wish to forward (‘Re-Tweet’) a message, unless it is so short a gloss can be appended.

Final Verdict: for relating the fast-paced drama, excitement, and thrills, of a Bodleian Reading Room, nothing but a telex machine can beat Twitter. I hope to have more chances to portray the daily cutting-edge of information provision. Is there a bunny at BOD LRR that can offer a similar commentary...?