Blogging to productivity?

Diigo has some work to do on its blog post feature (with which it offers to help one post about a page to one's blog).

First problem:
By providing the link to bookmarked page at the top of the post, to insert my own comments before the link I went through a fiddly process of copying in some non-hypertext. Perhaps they could provide some default plain text preceding the link.

Second problem:
When creating the post at Diigo, while the difference between my annotations (sticky notes) and quotes (highlights) appears relatively clear, I don't see a differentiation between my post and the quoted (highlighted) components from the bookmarked page. Unless this gets fixed, I guess I could just continue to send as a draft ... which is probably a wise and elsewhere-advised move anyway. Having done so and looking at it later, I've tried using Blogger's quote style but it just looks messy now.

Third problem:
In forming this post, snippets I have sticky-noted have jumped ahead of snippets I only highlighted. I think I'll leave that as created so it can hopefully be witnessed.

However, that wasn't why I began blogging today.

Jumping between research for a current assignment, and feed-reading, Library Voice pointed me to Leo Babauta's post at Web Worker. I'm curious how it is going to appear.

10 Ways to be Productive with Your Blog Annotated

Leverage the power of a blog and an online audience — even if it’s just an audience of your friends and family — and become more productive.

• such hopeful promise - post by moonflowerdragon

1. Post goals.

• potential conflict with # 3 below: one would need to consider whether a stated goal 'looks good' - post by moonflowerdragon

Once you’ve committed to a goal on your blog, you should also use the blog to report your progress.

• I see how this might be useful... although there is a risk for procrastinators - what if career-related future readers lack compassion for the value of procrastination? - post by moonflowerdragon

2. Log progress.

3. Networking. The more people who read your blog, of course, the better it can be for networking.

If you’re ever short of ideas, post a question to your readers, asking them for ideas.

• of course, for success in this you do *need* readers in the first place. - post by moonflowerdragon

4. Ideas.

5. Get help

• I've certainly seen bloggers express gratitude for help they've received from their readers. Wouldn't I just love to have someone show me exactly how to prepare a consultation plan? - post by moonflowerdragon

7. Crystallize your ideas.

• I've certainly found this to be the case. Unfortunately (for my posting rate) many times I also crystallize a realisation that I don't really want to reveal my discoveries so publicly. - post by moonflowerdragon

citing a widget?

Another quick post before bed...

According to MyBlogLog someone was googling for___ apa reference widget ___ which somehow turned up one of my posts. I wonder whether they were looking for a widget that somehow creates APA references, or wondering how to cite a widget (though I don't know why one would)?

If you ever stumble by again please let me know which, and what you've discovered?

Social Bookmarking Hack

I began today's diversion thanks to my +del.icio.us +Blogger google alert (hoping to learn when if ever it becomes possible to daily post from delicious to Blogger). Today's alert included Palin Ningthoujam's post Automatic daily posting bookmarks to Blogger blogs. Apparently Palin's been waiting for the same feature to be made usable with Blogger. Palin has discovered that a daily posting can be done from Diigo. I've signed up but haven't set up a daily post yet, because my first or second act was to import my delicious bookmarks - I don't know what - maybe just to see what Diigo would do with them (My delicious notes became diigo comments)... but it was a lot of bookmarks and I didn't want them all posted just because they were all new to my Diigo account.

Diigo looks neat, focussing more on shared annotation than just bookmarking offering highlighting and stickies to whatever you select on the page. It even looks at first glance like it might help do what I was wanting between Notebook and blogging.

Somehow I went from that discovery to taking another look at adding social bookmarking buttons to my posts.

I'm very grateful to Hans of Beautiful Beta for his Social Bookmarking Hack

I'd love it if I could put the diigo add tool in line with the rest, but to work that out would steal more time from the assignment I'm supposed to be working on.

Ellipsis for me

Unlike Jennifer (Parenthesis) "Life as I Know It", I *can* often resist these online quizzes, however tonight I appear to have been in the mood. I almost quit right near the beginning because none of the optional answers appeared precisely relevant... I might do it again using other answers and see what happens.

On first go around I am apparently an:

ellipsis

I scored 46% Sociability and 64% Sophistication!

Your life can be difficult because of your insecurities, but you should know that it isn't your fault. YOU didn't ask to be thrown in around thirty times per page in every bodice-ripper on the shelf! Those who overuse you can kiss your . . . you know. You need to learn to hold your head high and glory in your solitude. You really do have excellent, scholarly tastes. You must never forget that your friend, the period, will be there to support you at the end of every sentence where you truly belong, and, if what is left out is as important as what is said, why, then you are as vital as the alphabet!

Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

?Dodge Chrysler 318 v8 poppet valve clearances

I have a search challenge to play with. There was a patron in at the SMB library today who had been very well helped by the staff to find within the library what information was there.

He had been hoping to find the workshop manual for a Dodge Chrysler 318 v8 from which he might learn what clearance is recommended for the input and exhaust valves - he is fixing up the motor of such a car himself. Unfortunately we don't have a copy of that manual. I wondered to myself whether I might find the information he needs online.

I couldn't see anything immediately useful among the websites recommended by the TAFE for automotive students. The Yahoo autos directory mentions a Charger Club in WA catering to all Chrysler vehicles.

Hm, I've been googling with interest, but I'm not turning up anything that I can see being useful. There is a Chrysler owners club in Queensland, and an Australian Chryslers webring... Ah Chrysler restorers clubs... South Australia, Victoria.

LibraryLink responds to search for Dodge Chrysler manuals that there are manuals at Goldfields and Maribyrnong library services - only I have to check the details for each - and none appear to refer to the Dodge Chrysler 318. Actually there is only one that mentions a "Dodge Chrysler"again no 318 specified... how can I tell whether it would be useful?

I guess unless someone works out how to find online the specific information he wants, he might email one of the clubs.

Scribd - fantastic

I've just been helping Graham Bates with his blog over at Are we the Clever Country? His blog traces progress since he published his idea and rationale to colocate a thermal desalination plant at Portland Aluminium Smelter. After trying a variety of online document services we were able to publish a pdf version at Scribd and embed the document within the blog - so curious people did not have to leave the blog.

Today we wanted to check some of the references and couldn't read the embedded (ie relatively small text) version too well, so popped in to the Dying of Thirst document at Scribd. We discovered some of the features we hadn't noticed first time around:

• Where people are who view the document, list and map
  
• how they were referred to it (eg which searches / link sources), chart and list
  
• comments
• "Like it"
• favourites
• bookmarlets (people could digg it or del.icio.us tag it) (something we haven't been able to do with the pdfs Graham has cited).
  

I've just discovered that more people have viewed Graham's other document "Hot Topic or just Hot Air", yet they don't appear to have also viewed the otherone. I think we need to link from one to the other through description and/or comment.

Procrastination

Tammy Takahashi contends that Procrastination Is a Great Tool for getting things done. However what her explanation really reveals is that a valued large goal, broken into manageable chunks can actually be achieved if one is sufficiently motivated to complete the chunks and not procrastinate them.

I made sure to read the post because my day began with me wondering whether I might discover my own procrastination to have any value. Perhaps I'll examine the idea more thoroughly another time but for now I'll back to whatever I choose to do next: a task early; an overdue task; fun-easy or fun-challenging or not-fun... I won't know till I stop this one and move into the next moment.