The dark side of the web

I count myself very lucky in that I have only had one real experience with malware in the form of a Trogan Horse attack.

I had just visited Google images and searched for pictures comparing ants with termites, when one of the pictures I clicked on set off my Internet Security software's alerts.  I was able to request immediate action on dealing with this and then did a thorough scan of my entire computer for any residual nasties without any lasting, negative consequences.

However, this incident was enough to seriously scare me and I now only search/ click on images from reputable sites rather then just clicking on any image found in google images.  This is possibly one area that other people don't really think about when searching unlike with websites where you can get an idea if it is reputable.

Mashups Revisited

One of the mashups listed in this weeks session which I liked was Flickr Memari.

This mashup allowed you to "Create, customize, and send a memory matching game from your Flickr images".At first it just looked like a relaxing fun activity, kind of quirky and cute but then I thought of some other very useful reasons for creating this game. 

Instead of just using pictures from your flickr account you could also have tiles with

A. Maths equations 
e.g. 5X 8 with the answers e.g 40 needing to be found

B. Language translations 
e.g one (english) and satu (other languages - Indonesian translation) needing to be found

C. Combination of maths and language translations
e.g. maths equation -->  3 X 3  and answer --> novo (Italian translation)

These games could then be used as helpful learning tools by people trying to learn.

Instant communication

Instant Messaging - nice if you can do it!

Despite numerous attempts using Hotmail's Messenger service, I was unable to start a chat session with one of my approved contacts.  We were both online at the same time and available (according to messenger) and had not limited access to each other and yet we were apparently not available.  We ended up sending each other emails for a short while to communicate but soon both decided we had lost interest.
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I'm not sure how popular this form of communication is but considering how easy it is to just send an email or text or even just pick up a phone (as skype not an option) it is probably not something that I would personally use.

One of the main reasons being that my schedule for work, commuting and personal "free time" was rarely in sync with most of my friends and family for instant communication.

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I did like the Topeka and Shawnee County Public library's
Ask Us Service page.


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For a library, having a dedicated Reference Service accessible via instant messaging would be a great way of assisting members.  

Presumably, the librarian on call to assist is focusing only on this service and not also working on the public Information Desk at the same time. We all know how hard it can be to assist someone with an indepth reference query when the phone is also ringing and 8 other people are hovering in the background tapping their fingers..