YouTube Nation

I always wondered how people found the "good stuff" on YouTube. Yes, there's a search function, but I think a lot comes from word of mouth, too. This marketing question gets to the heart of how to use YouTube professionally--in my project's case, as an outreach tool to help people learn more about healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease. I searched "Alzheimer's disease" and found much more than I had time to watch. I was impressed with the quality and range of videos on the topic. I was not sure according to what criteria the videos were listed (ranked?).

Here are links to two of the videos I watched:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=76P6Xm3WsEM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwE8643SAVO

I think there is potential to use YouTube as a marketing tool for the ADEAR Center. The key question is: What could we add that's not out there already?

Ciao and happy holidays!

Sharing Online

One of the first lessons we learn as children is to share. Through the 13 Things class, I've learned about a way for adults to share. In my case, tools such as Zoho and Google Docs could be a valuable way for editorial staff here to work collaboratively on projects, either with our client or just in-house. It could also help with proposal writing, a large project that has many moving parts. I'm going to mention this to my project director.

Flickr

The latest lesson in 13 Things, about the photosharing website Flickr, at first did not seem too relevant. But by the end, I thought it could help us editors here at JBS find photos. Most of our publications needs photos of elderly people. Normally we search online stock-photo shops such as Corbis, fotosearch and shutterstock. Flickr could be another option. We'd have to contact the photographers directly, but who knows...we may get the elusive shot we're looking for.

The wonderful world of RSS

OK, so I'm a little late to the game--everyone but me seems to know about RSS feeds. What a great tool! But I was surprised to find how many web sites do NOT have RSS feeds available yet. Are government and nonprofits behind the times? (I write and edit materials about Alzheimer's disease and healthy aging, so I searched some of my favorite sites on those topics.) I ended up subscribing to feeds from Medlineplus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Communications Office, and the wonderful New York Times blog called "NewOld Age." I wonder, though, how RSS feeds differ in function from many websites' e-mail alert services. It seems like the end result is the same.

del.icio.us

The next "13 Things" lesson about del.icio.us introduced me to social bookmarking. I like the concept of organizing bookmarks. For some people (like the librarians taking this course), I can see the value; personally, I don't see using it much as I don't have an overwhelming number of bookmarks. I am signed up with LinkedIn and, as time permits, have used that as a professional networking tool. Anyway, at least now I know what social bookmarking is--so I've learned something!

lifelong learning

I'm embarking on a new adventure in lifelong learning: An old writer learns new online tricks, such as how to blog and I'm not sure what else. Thanks to my colleague Jill Chance for alerting me to the National Network of Libraries of Medicine's "13 Things" online class (also a new experience, to take a class on my computer). I am a health writer and editor at a government contractor who hopes to learn about this brave new world of online stuff and to apply what's useful to my work for years to come. I didn't grow up with this stuff, so it's a little scary. But I vow to step out of my comfort zone. Wish me luck!