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Tag: tagging

Tagaroo vs Zemanta

Tag and image suggestions

When Zemanta first came out, I fell instantly in love.  I had been blogging about a year and I found it really, really useful to have it suggest links and images as I wrote.  It even helpfully suggested posts of my own to list as “similar posts”.

Why I fell out of love with Zemanta

But Zemanta became ‘luggable’.  It did strange things while I was writing, scribbling my posts.  It was immensely difficult to turn off when it played up.  It also lost its tremendously helpful Community Manager.  Sadly, I unsubscribed and, as is the wont of the net, forgot about it.

Is Tagaroo a good alternative?

Today, I found a similar service, Tagaroo.

Tagaroo is downloaded as WordPress plugin where Zemanta is a Firefox extension.  This is the first time I am using it.  It is slowing down my typing.  So check luggable.

Tagaroo sits below the post, rather than next to it.  And it has moved my tag box below the post.  Let’s see what it has done. It has suggested Zemanta as a tag but not Tagaroo(!) or semantic web or anything intelligent.

It has listed 2000+ images which tend to be ‘literal’ rather conceptual.

I picked one and it took me a while to figure out how to insert it.  The choices were staring me in the face.  There are four choices of size but they are all positioned on the left. I suppose that could be adjusted with a bit of editing.  It also inserts far less code into a post than Zemanta – one of the reasons that Zemanta played up as it got tangled up during edits.

Evaluation of Tagaroo

No. I am not totally convinced.  I’ll use it once or twice again.  But so far, I’d say it is quicker to check out Flickr myself.

P.S.  And one more thing.  Tagaroo highlights any sentence containing a tag.  Not very useful for blogging but fantastic if you were doing research and wanted to skim a document.

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25 things about me – you’re tagged!

The 25 random things meme sweeping the globe

Chris Hambly (@audio) tagged me and I am going to tag you!  Here are 25 things you may not know about me.  If your name is underneath, you need to list 25 things I don’t know about you!  And of course mention me in your post and link back to this post!

Then you tag 25 more – just like a Ponzi scheme – except we get something out of this. We learn about each other and do a little SEO – strengthen the network between our blogs.

So how many of these did you know?

Start counting and tell me in the comments!

  1. My first dog was a bulldog. I loved her dearly even though she lived up to her nickname ‘snot projectile’.
  2. I was fond of my other dogs and feel guilty that I didn’t love them as deeply. Everyone likes to feel equally loved.
  3. I liked very few of my chickens.  Kabila was an exception. He stood guard over his flock, called them to order from 50 yards, and would take on any threat.  And he never, ever, ‘hen pecked’ his own subjects!
  4. My dogs were badly trained which is an embarrassment for a psychologist.  I put my failure down to laziness on my part but the truth is that I like to see some character – in people too.
  5. I was a Brownie in junior school and was geekishly good at knots and flags.
  6. I also liked the ‘be prepared’ part.  I like thinking things out.
  7. I was 10 before I got my ‘ball throwing’ and ‘skipping’ badges and I think the Brown Owl cheated.
  8. In the same year, I took it into my head to play basketball.  It was the best thing I ever did. I learned more from learning something hard than I did from  at been dazzling good at other things.  I quite liked the buzz of a fast break too.
  9. I learned to swim by copying the family labrador in the swimming pool.
  10. I liked climbing trees and my favourite veld fruit was the ‘snot apple’.  Funny how snot comes up a second time.
  11. I had terrible stammer till my early adulthood.   In this decade, I spent three years lecturing to classes of 400 and being filmed for immediate transmission to the intranet.
  12. I learned to cook as a student and it shows. I’ll turn a fridge of leftovers into a reasonable meal but don’t ask me to boil an egg.
  13. I like stylish things but haven’t a clue. I like to be told.
  14. I like Japanese cuisine and delicate dim sum.  I admire expertise.
  15. I did computing science when I was a post-grad but I am happy to delegate to those keener than me.  Consequently, I have good understanding but strange gaps.
  16. I like biltong and boerewors and worked in my grandmother’s butchery as a teenager.
  17. I learned how to judge line of fire and take cover at the age of 6 but do not know how to use a gun and refuse to learn.
  18. I’ve told off rioting students whose missiles came to close and lamented loudly that we will never win a Test match with such feeble throwing.
  19. I’ve travelled all over but only to north America twice – both times in transit.
  20. One of the best things I ever did was to fly off the map. The world suddenly felt very small.
  21. I like freshly made coffee in the morning and plenty of fruit.  Congee is good for a jet lagged stomach.
  22. A cold beer on a hot day does no harm.
  23. I hate sitting in rows. Cinemas, theatres, churches & lecture halls don’t do it for me.
  24. I like flat fields and bustling pavement life and spend a lot of time commuting between the two.
  25. I talk to people on trains – whenever they will let me.

You are tagged!

  1. Paul Imre (@paul_i) Web Solutions and bridge between businesses in High Wycombe and social media mafia
  2. C J Lyons (@pcmcreative) creating believable, engaging social media environments from this theatre manager in Nottingham
  3. Asha Treacy (@asha2) bringing elegance and style into social media mafia
  4. Ian Jeanes (@ijeanes) the [New Me]dia specialist writing on life, love and living in London
  5. Julius Solaris (@tojulius) networking maestro, events manager extraordinaire and articulate commentator on using social media in public relations
  6. Dan Thornton (@badgergravling) professional social media manager for Bauer and motor sports enthusiast with a keen sociological eye for the societal changes ushered in by new media
  7. Suzy Miller (@suzymiller) who is arranging the first divorce fair in the UK
  8. Omar Ha Redeye (@omarharedeye) is doing his JD in Canada and hides his blogs for now
  9. Ned Lawrence (offshore) Writing Coach and Zen Poet
  10. Elaine Sturgess of The Kitchen Store (@mykitchenstore) near Oxford and founder member of Olney100
  11. Stewart Mercer (@stewbagz) Brummie Nerd, occasional blogger and frequent user of London Midlands
  12. Gary Day (@garyjday) educatational technologist and inadvertent weekend productivity coach
  13. Shelley Fagence-Tryanor (@shelleyftr) whose First Time Response keeps the phones of the south-east answered
  14. Sylwia Presley (@sylwiapresley) social media strategist and artist in Oxford
  15. Jackie Cameron (@jayseetoo) pulic speaking trainer from the other side of Hadrian’s wall
  16. Scott MacArthur (@scott_macarthur) writing a manifesto for HR
  17. Jon Ingham (@joningham) inveterate traveller and public face of strategic human capital management
  18. Ken Thompson (@kenthompsonbio) protagonist of Bio Teams and Swarm micro-messaging
  19. Bay Jordan (up north!) Chartered Accountant who will value your human assets to reflect the human capital of your company (good when you are raising money, selling, or working out a mutual ownership system)
  20. Kim Thonger (@icetwice) of IceTwice intriguing art gallery and book shop in Olney and artistic nudge for Olney100.  Here are some photos of Olney from one of his clients.
  21. Matt Prosky (@muchadocafe) Brooklyn-born proprietor of Much Ado, the bustling deli in Olney and a cool example of social media working for you
  22. Deborah Collet (offline) proprieter of Lily T and supplier of fine, branded accessories in Olney (check out this jade!)
  23. Jim Benson (@ourfounder) reformed town planner and social media consultant to big corporates working out of Seattle
  24. Jon Husband (offshore) originator of Wirearchy, the organizational structure of our  connected age
  25. Dorenda Britten (offshore) driving force behind DesignIndustry in Christchurch, New Zealand
  26. Steve Jackson (@ourman) VSO volunteer bringing us daily life in Cameroon
  27. Trudy (@trudyYS) psychology student in Brisbane on hot bricks to venture into the world yonder
  28. Fritz Raffensperger (offshore) deviser of water markets and other efficient systems
  29. Daryl Tay (@uniquefrequency) graduating student and founder of Social Media Breadfast in Singapore
  30. Anjali Ramachandran (@anjali28) social media specialist and blogger
  31. Barbara Sliter (offshore) blogger on co-creatership

You’ll find each other interesting.  Do mosey around and check each other out (and remember to leave a comment!).  Do have a look at Olney100 – people of Olney and the Bedford – Northampton – Milton Keynes triangle are joining up steadily.  (We welcome Oxford and Hemel Hampstead too!)

And do remember to mention me in your 25 things and to come back over here to leave a comment!

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