Creating a Catalog using WordPress

I want to create a catalog.

I want to learn what it takes to be able to search a collection based on things like creator name and format or the language of the resource.

I want to create a thesaurus of terms with lists of preferred terms and broader terms and I want to see how to bend technology that is accessible to all to create this hierarchical list so that a person can browse through the thesaurus.

In short, I'd like to see if WordPress can actually make a catalog. There are some hints along the way such as the plugins WebLibrarian and Custom Post Type UI. But I'm wondering if I can use the plugin to add the content (in my case, a list of resources with their associated metadata that is searchable) and I'm wondering if I can create the thesaurus, let people search/browse through the thesaurus to find the term they are looking for, or to discover all the terms that could mean more or less the same thing and then find everything in the collection based on that term. How do the two interact with each other technology wise... in WordPress?

I submitted a proposal... just waiting to hear back if the non-profit I want to do this for will allow me to mad genius up their website.

wish me luck.

Cataloging vs. Indexing

I'm putting together my website (finally!) and there's tons of opportunities to provide more information about some of the things I'm talking about. But rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm going to use all the wonderful content already present out in the world.

If you are new to the concepts of Cataloging and Indexing and need a quick description in layman's terms, Spencer Jardin, Coordinator of Library Instruction at Eli M. Oboler Library at Idaho State University, put together this simple yet informative slideshare:

Catalog vs Index from Spencer Jardine

If you are further into your information professional role and need reminders of professional points, the American Library Association has a wiki entry titled Cataloging and Classification and a fact sheet on Cataloging Tools.

Making More Maps

So yesterday my boss says to me, "Necesito cuadrar cuantas millas y cuanto tiempo para hacer una excursion en bici:

1. saliendo de la Ceiba, 
2. para la Laguna Kiani, 
3. dando la vuelta por los bunkers, 
4. bajando a las ruinas del central Playa Grande, 
5. regresando a la costa norte, 
6. pasando por Rompeolas 
7. y terminando en la Ceiba."

So I swapped in my clipless pedals, put fresh batteries in my Garmin GPSmap 62 unit and went for a ride. As it turns out, for a 14 mile ride that was totally fun, hit all the great spots and was fairly moderate with only one toughie hill that was toward the end. Two hours later I plug my Garmin into my computer, spend some time puzzling through the instructions at GPSVisualizer (not because they are hard, just because it was my first time and I was learning some new terminology) and at the end of the day, I created this: 

After all that work, I deserve a treat. Like chocolate! Next step is to add pictures! But I'm going to do that tomorrow.

The Higüera of Puerto Rico is called "Totumo" in Other Countries

So I've been doing a personal search of info on how to craft with the higüera, a fruit that looks and behaves kinda like a gourd that grows on trees in Puerto Rico. But all searches for "higüera" online kept bringing me to higuera, which is a fig. (Note the little snake bite above the "u" in higuera.) After some creative word combinations I found a video that referred to the higüera as a totumo in Colombia, and the rest is arts and crafts online searching history. A whole door opened up to videos and images of people making things with the higüera and their final creative projects.

The first step was to find out how to prep the fruit for crafting. Because it is not technically a gourd, I couldn't follow all the amazing tips by all the gourd crafters out there. In PR, you cut the higüera in half (or in whatever shape you want), scoop out the guts and set it out to dry. But then it ends up drying really dark brown and I've seen samples with a cream base.

I found one video that followed an artisan through the steps of prepping the totumo and she said that you have to boil it.

But the video continues without an explanation of how long to boil it. I went back to Google and this time typed in "hervir totumo" and found a great Prezi, which I've embedded below for your viewing and instructional pleasure. Spending time on youtube, I've found loads of different ways to prep the higüera. I've also found out that it's also called "jicaro" in Mexico.