Question-week 8 – mashups
Posted by bsydelko on May 14, 2008
This was a really great treat for me and the only topic of the course I had not already investigated at all on my own. I am absolutely amazed at what has been created by “mashing up” data and the possibilities of what can be mashed seem endless. Thinking about what data you have available and how it can be combined with something else requires creative thinking – something I seem to lack to some extent. I’m sure there are many creative minds out there who will be working on mashups for some time. It would be particularly beneficial, I would think, to those with archival collections.
I discovered this website that lets you search and compare multiple search engines. Here’s a quote from the site: “It is a search visualization tool that enables you to compare, remix and share results from the best web, image, video, blog, tagging, news engines, Flickr images or RSS feeds. You can embed searchCrystal as a Widget on your site.”
The site uses a search of Van Gogh as an example. You can look at his art work from image databases including Flickr images, Google images, etc. Then you can look at web sites, news, and more. If you want all of that in a mashup, you can choose that option. For anyone who likes visual rather than text, this seems to be a great tool.
As to using the searchroll created by Gabe to find librarian blogs addressing privacy, I quickly discovered that the search engine isn’t all it might be. Actually finding a good “hit” to read wasn’t much fun.
I enjoyed this post from the shifted librarian on October 3, 2007:
Little Mama Library and Trust in the Digital World
Librarians are in a good position to try to help our users understand the online environment and how to protect our online identities. We should work harder at that.
