Beyond Method #2: Customize Your Window to the Internet

Discovery Exercise:

1. Read this article comparing the different homepages. Done. Useful and interesting article. They suggest that Netvibes is the winner in their comparison, but I will start with iGoogle since I already have Google mail, Google calendar, and Google reader.
2. Read this article on using customizable homepages in a staff environment. Looks interesting, but a colleague has already created and shared a very useful homepage for our local staff that we have been using for years. It's basically a classified collection of links, but it is incredibly useful for our daily work. I might experiment with a public page for another group to which I belong.
3. Take a look at how some libraries are using Netvibes:
• Cranbury Public Library
• Dublin City Public Libraries 
• We have had to bypass our heavily loaded homepage because it took too long to load and put too much burden on the network. Now we basically come up to a bare, blah skeleton that loads quickly. I wonder how Netvibes would react in this situation.
4. Take a look at this SlideShare presentation describing how some libraries are utilizing iGoogle. This was too technical for my taste, as it focused too much on the mechanics of creating your own gadgets.
5. Log on to  iGoogle and play around. This was a little disappointing. The page was not as intuitive to construct as I had hoped. It was more spread out than I wanted. Lots of the gadgets were "broken."  My Google features populated just fine, but I could not get Facebook to show up as anything but a blank box. Log on to Netvibes and play around. I registered for a free account and found it easier to get started. It also pulled up all my Google features, once I provided my login info. Facebook also popped up just fine.
6. Which customizable homepage looks to be the best option for librarians? I think the two options I looked at still need work. Many of the gadgets are "homebrew" and I am not convinced of their security.  Explain what you think you could do with a customizable home page. Ideally a customizable home page would allow you to make all your local resources (library and community) pop up front and center on one page. It could be a great timesaver for personal use, and a marketing force for a library or a cause. With our large multibranch system, to capture the best features, you would almost need a separate page for each branch. This would increase, rather than save, work. It would have to be implemented by someone in a different job than mine.