ChatGPT Has Opinions--and Imposes Them on Translations

The first indication of editorializing:  

ChatGPT inserted an editorial comment "according to this line of reasoning" into a discussion of the social effects of the Great Society welfare programs. Apparently the AI didn't agree with the right-wing interpretation, and decided to add its own opinion.

 

Then extensive sections of text were simply omitted.

The omissions were even "covered up" by renumbering the sections 

First omission--Here is the original text in Russian:

Чуть позже, оправившись от шока, я вспомнил, что ведь и высоко чтимые западными левыми Маркс и Энгельс могли, забыв об интернационализме и классовом подходе к истории, поставить крест на целом народе – если он насквозь пропитан зловредным капиталистическим духом. Или очень уж далеко и безнадежно отстал в своем историческом развитии. Скажем, кто глубже всех народов погряз в капиталистическом грехе? Евреи!  И настолько в нем увязли, что их придется убрать с исторической сцены, растворив в окружающей среде. Эту светлую идею Карл Маркс высказал в статье 1844 года “К еврейскому вопросу”

Here is the (quite accurate) translation from LaraAI:

A little later, having recovered from the shock, I remembered that Marx and Engels, highly revered by the Western left, could, forgetting about internationalism and the class approach to history, put an end to an entire people if it was thoroughly imbued with the malicious capitalist spirit. Or if it was very far behind and hopelessly lagging in its historical development. For example, who is more deeply mired in the sin of capitalism than any other people? The Jews! And they are so mired in it that they will have to be removed from the historical stage by dissolving them in the surrounding environment. Karl Marx expressed this enlightened idea in his 1844 article “On the Jewish Question”:

Here is the ChatGPT translation:

Later, recovering from the shock, I remembered that even Marx and Engels — so revered by Western leftists — could forget about internationalism and the class approach to history and condemn entire peoples if they considered them hopelessly steeped in capitalist corruption or irredeemably backward.

That's it. Everything in the paragraph after is missing from the ChatGPT translation. The end of the paragraph in the original--

"Скажем, кто глубже всех народов погряз в капиталистическом грехе? Евреи!  И настолько в нем увязли, что их придется убрать с исторической сцены, растворив в окружающей среде. Эту светлую идею Карл Маркс высказал в статье 1844 года “К еврейскому вопросу”

Plus the subsequent three paragraphs, quoting from Marx's article:

Что есть мировая основа еврейства? – спрашивает автор статьи. И отвечает - Корысть. Что есть мировой культ еврея? Торгашество. Кто его настоящий бог? Деньги… Деньги — это ревнивый бог Израиля… Банкнота — вот подлинный бог еврея! (Читаем дальше)

 Евреи – так уж сложилась их историческая судьба – олицетворяют капиталистические начала в человеческом обществе. Для того, чтобы преодолеть эти начала, необходимо растворить еврейство в окружающей их среде. Иными словами, сделать так, чтобы они исчезли.[2]

Доставалось от Маркса и русским: нация сомнительного происхождения, народ, скорее всего, не славянский, а пришлый – потомок то ли татар, то ли монголов, который не  способен к развитию, не стремится к модернизации.  Потому как живет в государстве варваров, политика которого остается неизменной на любом отрезке истории... 

More ommissions: The end of Part 4 and beginning of Part 5: 

All the text highlighted here

– Но откуда у .ас убеждение, что это навсегда? Что русские никогда не будут свободными? – этот вопрос звучал особенно настойчиво. Из Диминых ответов мы узнали, что Россия тут не одинока: есть еще немало народов, которые вполне обходятся без демократии, плюрализма, свободы слова, капиталистической экономики. У них такой культурный генотип, сложившийся исторически на протяжении столетий. И преобразиться он может только в результате мутации, которая возможна лишь при одном условии: если происходит полная катастрофа, государство разваливается, и на обломках прежней национальной общности формируется обновленная нация.  

Дима держался спокойно, на наши разгоряченные вопросы и реплики отвечал тихим, бесстрастным голом, строго придерживаясь академического, сугубо научного языка. Я никак не ожидал от него такого подвоха: мой протеже, ненавистник тоталитаризма и автократии,  убежден, что некоторым народам только такие режимы и нужны! И будут нужны всегда, пока эти народы живы! Мне на минуточку показалось, что передо мной  не ученый, а судья, выносящий приговор населяющим Землю народам. Одним суждено жить свободно, другим – в добровольном рабстве. 

Я поинтересовался, что думает докладчик о будущем немцев. О народе, 12 лет жившем при тоталитаризме и – на востоке страны – сохраняющем тоталитарный режим иного типа. «Нацизм был результатом временного помрачнения национального сознания,  – не моргнув глазом ответил Дима. – И коммунизм в Германии тоже не приживется: это западно-европейский народ, который рано или поздно объединится на демократической основе». И тут мы с ним стали перебирать нацию за нацией. Я называю, а Дима назначает ей судьбу, вытекающую из ее истории. Одной выпадает вечное демократическое будущее, другой – вечное авторитарное.

Жесткость этой схемы, которую я тогда принял в штыки, а потом признал лишь частично (о чем я скажу позже), что-то мне смутно напомнила. И я подумал: а не отрыжка ли это отвергнутого Димой марксизма? Той его известной черты, которая получила название детерминизма и обусловила чрезмерную категоричность некоторых марксовых выводов и предсказаний? 

In section 7 (section 8 in the ChatGPT version)

A long (three-verse) excerpt from a poem by Joseph Brodsky, "On Ukrainian Independence," is omitted. Maybe ChatGPT objects to profanity?

…Скажем им, звонкой матерью паузы медля строго:

скатертью вам, хохлы, и рушником дорога!

Ступайте от нас в жупане, не говоря – в мундире,

по адресу на три буквы, на все четыре

стороны. Пусть теперь в мазанке хором гансы

с ляхами ставят вас на четыре кости, поганцы.

Как в петлю лезть – так сообща, путь выбирая в чаще,

а курицу из борща грызть в одиночку слаще.

Прощевайте, хохлы, пожили вместе – хватит!

Плюнуть, что ли, в Днипро, может, он вспять покатит…I

Excerpt from an interview with Korzhavin completely omitted:

In 1997, Korzhavin publicly admitted to the "city and the world" that he was and remains a supporter of preserving the empire: 

Please don't stone me, but I am an imperialist. I was and still am one. I am not a violent imperialist; I don't want to conquer anyone, I don't want to reclaim Sevastopol by force. But who conquered Crimea? The Russian empire! You are against the empire. When the Baltic states separated from us, they separated not from slavery, but from freedom. When there was slavery, they sat quietly. When it was necessary to move towards freedom together, they engaged in more interesting things. I certainly always sympathized with the Armenians, but at that moment when it was necessary to save ourselves together, they turned out to be the same Russian intellectuals as you and I. In any case, in terms of the level of irresponsibility.

A long discussion (4 pp)  of Russia's turn away from democracy and back toward totalitarianism in the 1990s is omitted. It begins:

Иными словами, народы СССР должны были добиваться свободы, дружно взявшись за руки и оставаясь в имперских рамках. Когда страны Балтии начали добиваться ухода из империи, Наум Моисеевич призвал (в «Литературной газете») деятелей культуры этих стран одуматься и не расторгать брак с Россией. Ему ответили, что это был не совсем брак: «Нас изнасиловали!»  Отвергнув призыв русского поэта, прибалты двинулись к свободе сами и уже добились некоторых успехов.  В то время как Россия, после неудачных экспериментов со свободной экономикой и демократией, переменила курс и двинулась в обратном направлении, к обществу закрытого типа. Русский язык обогатился новыми словами: прихватизация, дерьмократия, демшиза, либераст, Гейропа. Американцы, пытавшиеся помочь русским модернизировать страну в 90-е годы, превратились в презираемых и ненавидимых америкосов-пиндосов. Сталин, считавшийся одно время тираном и убийцей миллионов, стал эффективным менеджером и великим стратегом, победившим фашизм.,,, [etc] 

And 3+ pages omitted at the beginning of section 8

Basically, all of section 8 (9 in ChatGPT) is just a bare-bones summary, 106 words vs 588 words. The summary is accurate as far as it goes, but I didn't ask for a summary!

Footnotes omitted:

All the footnotes. And they were not embedded footnotes, just a numbered list at the end

The Violin is Consigned

 My online contacts with Sydney String Center inspired confidence. They were asking all the right questions and they even have an online form to upload info and photos if you want to consign an instrument. They seemed aware of their market and told me that they weren't interested in consigning the viola, since they were overstocked in that area.

When I actually went there, I was a bit dismayed. It's way out in the suburbs, in a very unimpressive little building (could be a dry cleaner). I had a `10:00 appointment and arrived early, before they opened, and there was no place to wait, or even a place to sit down. I just had to stand in the blazing (and I mean blazing) sun. Eventually I took a little walk around the neighborhood, which was basically residential but had a car dealership plopped in the middle of it. Weird. At least there were trees, so some shade.

When I finally got inside, I wondered if I was even in the right place. It certainly lacked the gravitas that I associate with a big city violin dealer. No low lighting and dark wood cabinets. Instead, there was lots of music-themed merch. A big business in rental instruments.  Definitely a focus on kids, on young students.

The rep who actually met with me allayed my fears somewhat. We went to a private room. She wanted to know all about the instrument, both technically and anecdotally. She understood everything I said and took it all very seriously.

She took the violin away to be examined by their violin maker. I wished I could have talked to him as well, but I can understand why he wouldn't want to have to speak directly to every customer. When she came back with her report, I could tell that she had accurately relayed my observations and concerns, and the luthier's comments were on point; specifically, that the bass bar was now where it should be for that violin, but that they would need to reset the neck because the instrument had not been played in several years.

The required repairs were $1500. The consignment arrangement was that they would keep 25% of the sale price (which I gather is good, since some dealers keep 30%). They will list it at $80,000. The extensive repairs (though well-done) and some other minor flaws may allow a buyer to knock that down a little.

They have another Smith violin on consignment, and several instruments by his students, so the rep said she was thinking of putting together a sort of exhibition of them. I gave her information about Geoffrey and a list of links to the YouTube uploads, which she thought she could use in the exhibition. She said potential buyers like knowing something about the history of the instrument.

Very Random Thoughts

 Are people treating me like I'm old because I'm acting old, or am I acting old because people are treating me like I'm old??

Family Matters

Michael

Michael is married to Larissa, who's very friendly. I think she said she's a school counselor. Her real interest is in sailing; Michael is a golf nut like his mother. 

Michael's daughter from his first marriage is Talei. She had a scholarship (Fulbright?) to Harvard to study Education but is currently unemployed. From his second marriage he has another daughter, Frieda, who's in high school. 

He was working as an electrical engineer doing something with mining safety but he was laid off. He's now doing something Janet doesn't understand; so I asked him and it's still something connected with mining safety, specifically the conditions that lead flammable substances to ... flame.

Rozie 

Rozie is married to Russell and has two children, Chelsea and Jack. Chelsea is an academic superstar and is now finishing medical school. Jack has learning disabilities but still did well with special support from his school. Rosie is currently commuting to work in Brisbane because research opportunities are sparse in Perth and getting worse. Grant funding usually goes to people who know people, so tends to center more and more in the other big cities.

In addition to Rozie's family money and no doubt generous salary, they have a ton of money from Russell's enterprises. He's a computer programmer but also, I think, an organizer and problem solver. He finds out what people wish a certain kind of software could do, and then he makes the software do that. He has worked with multiple startups, three of which turned into billion-dollar companies: Canva, Quora (like Reddit but less messy), and another I don't remember.

Helen and Joan 

Helen and Joan are sisters, daughters of Rose's sister. Rose's brother shot himself. Helen was tough and no-nonsense. 

I spoke to Joan on the phone, a long and interesting conversation. She's over 90, and she speaks very slowly (drives Janet nuts) but she is all there. She and Janet talk weekly. Joan lives in Brisbane, and I don't think I've ever met her (and she doesn't think she's met me.) She has always been depressive and has been hospitalized multiple times. She now has ECT every few months. She says she only does it because her doctor thinks it helps her; she doesn't agree. Janet's claim that it helped Joan was instrumental in Geoffrey's decision to try it. Sadly, when I brought it up to Joan, I sensed that I had sort of invaded her privacy. She said she doesn't tell many people about her depression; she evidently finds it somehow shameful. 

According to Joan, she and Helen and Janet and Geoffrey were very close growing up.

Her son (or Helen's son?) David was a doctor and an addict. (Geoffrey said he drank himself to death.)

Lost. Again. Thanks, Google.

Go home Google, You're Drunk 

 I am so f--ing sick of being lost. Google Maps is an absolute shitshow. Thursday I tried to do a practice run to the Great Synagogue, which as far as I could tell was about a 15-minute walk. I followed Google's instructions even when they seemed to be taking me out of my way. I knew I was was backtracking but I figured I had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Google's measurements were all off--they would say that a certain cross street was 60 meters ahead when I was actually a few steps from the corner. Finally Google said I was almost at the synagogue. Five minutes away. Then three minutes. Then...eight minutes? ...10 minutes? A giant synagogue isn't the kind of thing you could walk past without noticing. Especially if you were looking for it. I eventually gave up and went home. 

Today I looked at the simple map they had you at the front desk and walked straight there. Fifteen minutes. Two turns.

I did manage to get slightly lost again on the way home, since I had gone in the front door but left by the back door after kiddush. 

More absolute insanity from Google:

This morning I thought I'd check again for straightforward directions to the synagogue. The route twisted around and doubled back on itself and made no sense. Estimated time was over half an hour. I almost wonder if they're trying to make sure no terrorists ever find the place.

Then I started over and managed to get "Your Location" in the From field and "ParkRoyal Hotel" in the To field. I was sitting in the restaurant of the hotel. Google said I could drive to the hotel in seven minutes. Or walk there in 20 minutes, if I preferred

Even more absolute insanity from Google:

On a cruise around Sydney Harbor, with a little pop-up map in the tour company app that offers to give you directions to the thing you're looking at. Apparently I could either walk or bike to Clark Island. From the boat to the island. Across the water. Jesus Christ!
Oh yeah, I could get him to take me.

Day 1

 Sydney Beaches are closed because there have been four shark attacks in 48 hours; the chyron on the news is telling West Australians which way to flee from the wildfires; there was a record high temperature in the NW: 120.5 F

And I'm really glad to be here!

I got up enough courage to ask for preboarding privileges on both flights, and the answer was "of course." I guess I actually qualify under two criteria: "old person" and "need extra time." Violin in overhead locker--no problems at all.

I slept so heavily on the plane that I missed the midnight snack and missed breakfast. That's really weird--I have to attribute it to the Zyrtec and the eye mask. 

I paid extra for bulkhead seats for more legroom. That turned out to be a very mixed blessing. On the plus side: There's more legroom. On the minus side: (1)There's no place to store your carry-on so it has to go in the overhead locker. I can't really reach the overhead lockers, so I had to ask the airline staff for help. More than once, because I kept discovering something else I needed. (2) There's no window. Flying is surreal enough as is, but it's even more so if you can't see the takeoff and landing or look down at the tiny houses. (3) The armrests don't move. This was especially sad because the bulkhead seats weren't all filled, so they moved some people around, and I wound up with three seats to myself. But I couldn't take advantage of them!

Sydney

Getting There 

Getting started isn't easy. I'm in the airport, I've cleared security and I'm on my way to the gate, and I get a text notification from Qantas: the departure time for the PHL-DFW flight has changed to from 12:08 to 4:10. Heart-attack inducing--that means I'll miss the flight to Sydney and be stuck in Dallas overnight. 

 But wait! Now there's another text: departure time changed back to 12:08.

Nope, don't get too hopeful. Changed again: to 2:08. At least I can still make the connection.

At 1:30 the gate is mobbed, the clock is ticking, and there's another change (the fourth change, for those of you keeping score at home). Technical problems with the airplane. Boarding delayed for 20 minutes, then another 20 minutes. I join a long line for customer service to find out what happens if I miss my connection.

All's well that ends well? Eventually the plane actually departed, and I still had three hours to make the transfer in Dallas. 

 

ParkRoyal Hotel

Full of tourists and showing signs of wear, but really a lovely place to stay. The room is spacious and comfortable. No kitchen stuff, but apparently that's normal for Australia. There's a free breakfast that has something for everyone. East Asian (steamed dumplings, fried rice); English (baked beans, cold toast); European (cold cuts). Scrambled eggs, friend eggs, omelettes. Whole fruit, cut fruit, canned fruit.

There's a surfeit of front desk staff, but the excess of manpower is cancelled out by a deficit of competence. Part of the problem (but by no means all) is that more than half of them are not native speakers of English. TBF that's also true of the hotel's guests, so I hope there's enough language competency to go around at least.

Sydney 

Looks like NYC only cleaner. Or maybe looks like NYC had a baby. All the skyscrapers look like they were just built yesterday. And they are trying to outdo one another with exotic shapes and patterns.

It certainly is a lot less White that it was 30 years ago. Around the tourist areas it's actually very rare to hear an Australian accent. Lots of South Asians and East Asians. Even AAPI--that acronym I always have to do a double take to remember what it means. I met two Tonganese in one day: one a limo driver and the other an attendee at synagogue services (what???)

 

 

Why Literature?

 Looking through publishers' websites, trying to find appropriate places to submit the translation of Vladimir Frumkin's book Singers and Rulers, I noticed on the YUP site an interview with Carla Baricz, the translator of Exiled Shadow by Norman Manea (which I edited). And found this:

I still ended up choosing literature [as a career] because, to paraphrase William Carlos Williams, it was the best place to get the news. Literature was where, I felt, all the important conversations were taking place. It was where all the science, art, music, and philosophy filtered down to be argued about and perpetually be made new. It was also where the unremarkable and the quotidian found meaningful representation. In fact, I felt that given its power to speak to such a broad range of human experiences, all literature could be seen as wisdom literature, a universal corpus crisscrossing geographies, temporalities, and traditions to engage us in the conversations that truly mattered. 

Since the internet is forever, we can begin anew

Since this blog already exists, I am repurposing it as a kind of journal. 

So many emotions and so many changes, which I'm sure I'll forget if I don't write them down.

It's so touching, yet so sad, to see the recognition Geoffrey is getting when it's all "too late." The Strad article was such a surprise, so soon after his death. I have no idea who could have notified them, as only close personal friends even knew at that point. It wasn't even on the funeral home website, since they were having technical difficulties.

I also have no idea who updated his Wikipedia page. That too, was practically immediate. Are there bots that can do that? 

Giora Schmidt's tribute on the Slipped Disc website was amazing. And sad, because Geoffrey thought Giora had left him behind and didn't appreciate him.

The Inquirer obituary was remarkable in so many ways. I simply sent links to the Strad and Slipped Disc announcements, and Inquirer obituary writer Gary Miles ran with it, with a true journalist's commitment and thoroughness. He asked me for an interview, but it proved almost superfluous. By the time he called me, he already knew things about Geoffrey that I didn't know/had forgotten. He had really done his research, in both contemporary online sources and journalism archives. Then he put that all together with my remarks and the materials I sent him: emailed testimonials and the eulogies given by Phil and Annika.

The best thing that obituary is that it gave me a new perspective on Geoffrey's life. Living the story, I saw it as a tragedy. A blazing talent who never found room at the top. A brilliant artist who didn't know how to "people" and "was his own worse enemy" (per his sister Janet, Tricia Walmsley, and others). But the story in the obituary isn't a tragedy. It's a celebration of all the beauty and musical insight he brought to the world. 

Update

I wonder whether google eventually "disappears" inactive blogs??

Anyway, a quick update. My MP3 player died almost immediately. I guess you get what you pay for. I never replaced it, because I didn't really have a space in my life for "listening to MP3s", either audiobooks or music.

I waste inordinate amounts of time on Facebook these days, but I'm somewhat disenchanted with it. The people who spend the most time posting are by no means the people I'm most interested in hearing about.

But the good news from the Facebook front is that Carolyn "friended" me for Mother's Day. Best Mom's Day gift evar!

Facebook

Well, I finally did it. I set up a Facebook page. I've been putting it off because it feels vaguely creepy to be trespassing in my children's online territory. I told them that I wouldn't be offended if they didn't accept my friend request...

Anyway, I'm having fun exploring my friends' pages. There are some people on Facebook that I never expected to find here. I can see that it would be easy to waste many hours this way!

Beyond 23

I have a cute little red MP3 player! I love the way it looks; I've been less than delighted at its functioning so far.

I charged it up as instructed, then I had to reset it (using a pin, in the little reset hole) before I could even get it to turn on. When I was trying to get the player to start up, I went to the Coby website, and the pdf manual online had significant differences from the paper manual that came with the player, which didn't exactly clarify things!

Windows XP (on both computers I've used) recognizes the player and allows me to transfer files, but then there is no trace of it in the task bar, so I can't "eject" or "safely remove" it via the operating system before physically disconnecting it. I wonder whether anyone else has had this problem?

Anyway, I now have some music and an eAudiobook on my player, so I'm off to enter the Grand Prize drawing!

CCLS 23 Things #23: Is this really the end?

I'm going to go ahead and write this post before completing the previous exercise, to make sure I finish by the January 16 deadline.

I am sure that this project is not the end for me, because I have been fascinated by online resources since my early journeys on the text-based "information highway," and I will continue to try to keep on top of new developments. I doubt I'll ever become a fan of, say, Twitter, or podcasts, because they just don't seem to fit in with the way I think or the way I learn. On the other hand, I can see great potential in some other online resources, e.g., wikis and virtual computers.

Some of the resources we explored were really fun but potentially toxic time-wasters. YouTube could occupy me for hours, and I could likewise waste all kinds of time with image generators. I'm not convinced it would be time well-spent. I think I should go read a book instead...

Some of the social networking activities seem to represent a generational divide. It would seem all wrong for someone my age to have a MySpace or Livejournal. I also feel that there's something inauthentic about a library trying to establish an institutional presence in one of these communities. A young librarian, acting as an individual (though in a professional capacity) would be another matter. I can see that kind of connection working to raise the library's profile among teens.

I'm still on the fence with regard to Facebook. I don't want to feel as though I'm spying on my kids by trying to hang out in their online circles.

With a new library director at Tredyffrin, all of us have been asked to think about how our job duties fit with our personal strengths, and how those duties might evolve to create a better fit. I would love to include more technology-related responsibilities in my work, and the "23 Things" project just might provide some of the knowledge and inspiration I need to set off on this path.

CCLS 23 Things #22: E-Audiobooks

I had forgotten that you have to install the Overdrive Media Console in order to download. I definitely don't want this on my home computer, so will wait until I have time at work...

Update: Wednesday, January 14
I've successfully downloaded an audiobook onto my PC at work, and listened to the first chapter. The process of installing the software went smoothly and quickly. The process of choosing a title to download was not so simple.

I decided to try a children's book, and searched for a few of my favorite authors: Gordon Korman, Donna Jo Napoli, Jordan Sonnenblick. Nothing.

Eventually I chose one of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, The Ersatz Elevator, because I had heard that the reader, Tim Curry, was fantastic. It's true, but I still don't like being read to.

I discovered that the Overdrive media player allows you to speed up or slow down the playback of the file. That makes for some really weird effects. I felt really anxious and unsettled listening to the speeded-up playback. It was difficult to understand, too. Even for informational text, I can't imagine using this option.

But the good news is, I've completed all the projects! So, mission accomplished!

CCLS 23 Things #21: Podcasts

I can't imagine I'll ever be a fan of podcasts, because I'm not a good listener. I hate being read to, and given the choice of listening to an audio file or reading a transcript, I'll take the transcript any day.

I think what bothers me the most is that I have no control over the timing. I can't "skim" an audio file or skip over parts of it.

I tried subscribing to one site that I found, using the URL given in PodcastAlley, but got an error message "No feeds were found. Please verify that the website publishes an RSS feed." This may be because the site isn't adding new content at this point.

I did find two sites that I thought would interest my son, Basscast
and Prog'opolis

CCLS 23 Things #20: YouTube

It's a no-brainer for me to choose a YouTube video for my blog. Here's one that has my son walking on stilts and playing bass guitar in a performance by OCircus (at Oberlin College). He wrote the music, too!



I also love being able to find old clips of famous (classical) musicians.


As for YouTube and the library, I would think that embedding video of, say, last year's summer reading club on the library website might be a good way to promote this year's program.

CCLS 23 Things #19: Social Networking Tools

Social networking sites can be amazing tools. I know my kids carry out a huge portion of their social lives on Facebook and Livejournal. I liked the little Common Craft videos explaining how social networking works.

I'm still not convinced that they're a good way for libraries to connect with patrons. I started by checking out a couple of the library MySpace pages linked from the best practices wiki. I clicked on one at random—Peabody Institute Library—and was told "Invalid Friend ID. This user has either cancelled their membership, or their account has been deleted." The second one I clicked on had such a weird color scheme and such tiny font that I literally couldn't read it. Not exactly an auspicious start.

The WCPL MySpace looks fantastic by comparison, attractive and well organized. The slide show of new books is a great feature. But I found it weird that almost all of the Friends comments are from authors plugging their own books. Do any actual library patrons visit the site??

As for Twitter, I personally can't imagine using it. I don't even like blogging, because I don't see why anyone should be interested in what I'm thinking. What I'm doing—hour to hour or minute to minute—is even more boring!

CCLS 23 Things #18: Discovering Web 2.0 tools

Maybe we're getting a little too "cutting edge" with this exercise...

After looking through the SEOmoz categories, I decided to explore the online desktops/operating systems. At my previous job I used a program called Citrix to access my employer's network from home, which meant I could sometimes telecommute. So I really like the idea of having a virtual desktop and online file storage, and I was all set to choose among the four winners in this category.

The link for the winner, zimdesk, displayed a page that says "zimdesk v2 will be available here soon." But right now there's nothing there.

At the second place site, G.ho.st, my computer displayed warnings that a script on the page might cause my PC to crash. I braved my way through part of the demo but decided against creating an account. I noticed that they use Zoho for their their online apps, and after having to adapt to both Word 2007 and Google docs, I really don't want to take time to learn another word processing program.

The third place winner, called Zoowy, returned a 404 error (this page cannot be found).

Fourth place went to a site called Glide, and I watched their demo video, but by then I had decided to wait a while before jumping in to these apparently untested waters.

CCLS 23 Things #17: Web-based Apps

I've been using Google docs for about a year now. I used to use my Yahoo online "briefcase" for documents that I wanted to share (or to work on from different computers), but when Yahoo decided to eliminate sharing of briefcase folders on free accounts, I defected to Google. (Don't ask me how anyone is supposed to make money providing online services if I'm never willing to pay for anything...)

Google docs has given me a lot of grief with documents that were originally created in MSWord. And putting a google doc back into Word (e.g. to format it for printing a presentable hard copy) is similarly problematic. The text gets transferred OK, but the formatting often gets scrambled. The internal links in my library circulation manual got lost entirely when I uploaded the file. It took me hours to reformat that document. I gather from the user forums that I'm not the only who has experienced these problems.

That said, online applications are great for documents that are basically just going to stay online. When my younger daughter went away to college with a new laptop last fall, I suggested that she take all her class notes in Google docs. Knowing her, I was sure she would never back up her files (she thinks her external hard drive is solely for storing Dr. Who episodes), and I had heard horror stories of students' laptops crashing (or being stolen) just before the final exam. But with Google docs, she can access her notes from any computer. No worries.

CCLS 23 Things #16: Playing around with PBWiki

If you're used to blogger software, there's no problem at all transferring to wiki software.

But to my surprise, it does somehow feel different to contribute to a page created by many users. It's more "communal" in every sense of the word, good and bad.

I added my blog, then added a favorite restaurant.