Thing #15: Find a Similar Reader on Library Thing

Description:

LibraryThing may be the most relevant-to-libraries Web 2.0 service out there. It is a service that lets you catalogue (yes, with Library of Congress headings!) your own collection of books. Once you have a collection yourself, there are lots of things you can do, the most fun (I think) is use the Suggestions button to find people with similar reading interests. Or if you want to be even more social, you can look at your profile and see who has the same books that you have.

Hints:

• You will need to create an account with LibraryThing and this will require an email address.
  
• You will need to figure out how to add some books (say about 3) to your library to do this.
• Similar readers will be shown on your profile page.
  
• You do not have to put in books that actually exist in your real library. Put in whatever you want.
• On things #15-20, I am willing to accept "I tried and failed" as a successful completion of the thing. No need to spend hours on these if you get stuck.
  
• I am "Greebie" if you want to see my collection.

Resources:

• Tag Your Books with Library Thing
  
• Library Thing the Best Website Ever!
  

Noticed by Kevin Wong.

An email I received recently, redirected from the wiki.

How are you? I hope you are well. My name is Kevin Wong, and I am the author of the book Heroes of Destiny. I just saw on the front page of the hpllearning wiki that someone rated my Heroes of Destiny book as being the 10th best book of all time, which I found truly humbling and amusing all at once. Who was it that rated my book so immeasurably (and probably undeservingly) highly, and what criteria did he or she use to create the list? In any event, I wanted to thank whoever it was (and if it was you, the wiki's owner, then "thank you") who thought so highly of my book, and to say that it brought a smile (and a great, humble laugh) to my face. :-)

Sincerely,

Kevin Wong
Author of the Heroes of Destiny Trilogy of Books
www.kevinwong.ca
www.heroesofdestiny.ca

This is one thing I've discovered about the blogosphere (the world of blogs out there). Writers are very interested in hearing what people say (positive or negative) about their books and often respond to blogs about their works.

In short, our tongue-in-cheek resource has become a resource, just like that! And now it's noticed by a local resource. Lots of big projects, probably even Wikipedia, started off just like that.

The 4 o'clock final top-ten list!

Ok. Here is what the top 10 book list looked like at just before 4pm. Sorry for people who missed the deadline by just a bit -- I had to go by the clock on pbwiki to be fair.
Now, just because your book is on the list, does not mean that you win chocolate. I have to find out if you actually followed the rules.

Oh, and for readers-advisors, there is a whole list of books still on the wiki -- take a look!

The Top 10 Chocolate Books Ever

#1Pride and Prejudice (and chocolate) by Jane Austen

#2 The Polar Express (full of chocolate) by Chris Van Allsburg

#3 Tale of Despereaux (and the chocolate) by Kate diCamillo

#4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (full of non-unionised workers making chocolate) by Roald Dahl

#5 The Secret Garden (no chocolate allowed, it's bad for the teeth) by Frances Hodgson Burnett

#6 The Terrible Horrible Smelly Pirate (and the chocolate that loved him) by Carrie Muller and Jacqueline Halsey, illustrated by Eric Orchard available from Nimbus Spring 2008

#7 A Great Deliverance (of chocolate) by Elizabeth George

#8 Little Women (who eat chocolate) by Louisa May Alcott

#9 The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

#10 The Very Hungry Caterpillar (is looking for chocolate) by Eric Carle

UPDATE:

I had 2 extra shirts, so I included 3 more people in the chocolate list. Doug Wournell just did the draw for the shirts. If you are a prize winner, you will be notified by email.

Thing #6: Change the Learning 2.0 "top ten titles" Wiki

Description:

I created a Wiki at http://hpllearning.pbwiki.com with an arbitrary list of the top ten books of all time. I want you to change that list to your liking, including a favorite book or two of yours.

Hints:

• The password is "Learning20" "learning20" (no quotes) UPDATE: I originally had the "L" capitalized. If you tried the password and it didn't work, please try again.
• UPDATE: Please remember that the email and name you enter on the password screen will be visible to others.
  
• Look for the word "edit" on the wiki page.
  
• You are going to find editing the wiki very similar to writing a post on your blog.
• The interesting thing about wikis is the collaborative part -- that's why I have the "Wiki War" mini challenge for chocolate.
• Yes, you can change anything you want on the wiki.

Resources:

• What is Wiki?
• Commoncraft -- Wikis in Plain English
• New Media: Who are the real winners now we've all gone wiki-crazy? --
  Ana Kronschnabel and Thomas Rawlings