confessions of a southside catatonic chataholic

Ning - is a social networking site where you can 'create your own social network for anything.' Had a quick squiz through the site before thinking about joining and noticed that there's all types of groups here. The front page alone gives you some clue to the eclectic nature of interests: FireFighter Nation (network for firefighers, rescue, EMS & responders, The Urban Prankster Network (Global Agents of Stealth Comedy), ASPCA Online Community (fellow animal lovers), Nerdfighters (they fight against suck, they fight for awesome - that's not my spiel, that's theirs) and many others just like (or maybe not like) these.

Very briefly, Ning was founded in October of 2004 as an opportunity to provide a place for people to create their own social networks. If you'd like to read more about it (which means I hafta type less - always a bonus for you) you can read about them here. The Ning Platform allows users to 'create, extend and customize their application to meet their particular needs'. Because I'm highly curious (aka 'nosey') I decided not to sign up and make my own network so much as check out a social networking group already registered with Ning.

Am still making my way through infodoodads' 'Top 13' list, which led me to Bill Drew's Library 2.0 Ning group - since its inception it has attracted some 2,000 plus members. Drew's network is for librarians/library staff interested in Library 2.0 (much like us). Within this network are other groups of different types of libraries from all over the world (Science Librarians, Public Libraries, Business etc.). Like Topsy it growed and growed. So, I signed up, created a profile (picture, interests etc.) and have been poking around generally being nosey and seeing what others are doing/interested in. Oh my goshness (as the 4 yr old nephew says lately) you can add music either from your own computer or from a website (hmm, wonder if it'll let me add radioblog) although you do have to have the right to upload them. Makes sense - copyright issues so hmm won't be adding anything of mine. Am hardly gonna write to Barenaked Ladies and ask them for the rights to upload their music! Eep! I guess you could pimp out yer page, too, as they have a heap of Gadgets that you can browse through and use for yer own. So I have added 'Beer Pong' to my profile LOL and you can view that here. Only hmm, can't figure out how it works so off to find something else instead.

Am currently reading Jack Kerley's 'Blood brother' with the ever conflicted Carson Ryder and his seriously brilliant yet twisted serial-killer brother Jeremy (family reunions are few and far between and always a minefield of emotion). I often get bored with series crime fiction partway through (like Cornwell, Grisham, Evanovich etc.) and keep up with them mostly out of habit/duty. I feel that the storylines become too formulaic. There aren't many crime writers whose book I continue to follow after the first few, and Jack Kerley and PJ Tracy are among those few.

Have just finished Sarah Addison Allen's 'Sugar queen' and 'Garden spells' and enjoyed them both very much. Her writing reminds me of Alice Hoffman, whose work I also enjoy. What else have I read lately? Err Dorothy Koomson 'My best friend's girl' (and oohh it's a tear jerker, dammit), R.D. Wingfield 'A killing Frost', Louis Theroux 'The call of the weird: travels in American subcultures', Cassandra Clare 'City of bones', Jules Holland 'Barefaced lies and boogie-woogie boasts', Ngahuia Te Awekotuku 'Ruahine: mythic women', Chris Trotter 'No left turn: the distortion of New Zealand's history by greed, bigotry and right-wing politics', Dee Brown 'Bury my heart at wounded knee' (which I read once a year and always makes me sad and NO it's not a mills & boon novel). Umm think that's all I've read this month. It's a blur!

tags: learning2.0, libraries, Manukau, ning, web2.0, networking