Friday Five

Lists are fun and it has been a while since I did a Friday Five, so here goes. The list is a mix of fun and useful things, as before.

1. Unshelved & PhD Comics: Because Librarians and Graduate Students Need Their Comics Too!
These are two webcomics I read regularly. I like PhD Comics more than Unshelved, but they are both fun. PhD Comics is about grad students; Unshelved is set in a public library. One of the good things about comics is that they’re light and easy on you and your computer; you read a couple strips in a few minutes and then move onto something else.

2. Authors @ Google: Watch authors talk about their work!

There are lots of these, including quite a few authors I like: Neil Gaiman, Richard Florida, and Jeffrey Sachs. Having regular events like that is one great job benefit!

3. Using More Than One Web Browser Is Good For You: Good for testing things and figuring out problems

If you use Windows, your computer came with Internet Explorer. If you use Mac OS X, then it is Safari. If it is Linux, it is probably Firefox. The important point is to have more than one, especially if any part of your work involves heavy use of the Web. Even for recreation, you should have more than one. While Firefox is my “primary” browser, I also have Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer. Switching around sometimes is fun and can be very helpful to test things or just give you a welcome change of pace. It also means that if I’m using a computer or device other than my own computer, I’m still comfortable using whatever is on offer.

4. Wiki Travel: Or Why You Might Never Buy a Lonely Planet Again?

I only heard about this website a few days ago and already I’m impressed with it. To test the usefulness of it, I looked at four cities: Toronto (needs some work), London (looks very good & detailed!),  Washington DC and Berlin. I’ve given examples of major cities, but it covers more than that. It has neighbourhoods of cities, provinces and country level entries. If you are traveling and need something in paper, there is a company that offers print on demand frequently updated Travel Guides based on Wiki Travel. The print side of things has much room for improvement still (I wonder how well Wiki Travel does maps? Maps matter a lot to me when I travel).

5. PB wiki: Or, You Really Should Learn When To Use Wikis

This is a free Wiki hosting service (as with most Web based companies, there is also a paid version with more features, but the free version is great). Wikis are one of the best collaborative tools out there – I’ve used them to manage several projects successfully. It is MUCH better than trying to use email to collaborate (email doesn’t do sharing well, it doesn’t manage files well, and it doesn’t support versioning/managing iterations well) on projects, share information and so forth. What I  have found difficult is that some people prefer to use a poor quality but familiar tool (email) rather than learn a high quality but unfamilar tool (wikis). I’m not one of those people who think that email is dead – it is still great for many things and so much still depends on it. However, wikis are good for many things and they are fairly easy. I’ll share one important rule of thumb though; if you are using to collaborate between a group of people that you know, then having somebody serve as the “curator” is worthwhile. Untended, wikis can grow in messy ways. Before you say it, don’t just say “Well, search it!”

Related posts:

1. Friday Five
2. A Friday Five
3. A September Friday Five