I DID IT!! I DID IT!!

When I started these exercises, I said that I had always thought of learning in the "classroom" sense. This sure got me out of the classroom and into reality. It has turned out to be a fun and exciting way for me to learn. I found that I loved some of these exercises and learned a lot from "doing."


Some of my favorites were : Flickr, Bloglines, Wikis, YouTube (I had such a good time embedding that video on my blog!!), and Technorati. When I did my assignment for Technorati, I didn't realize just how much you could do on it. Later, one of our student employees mentioned Cowboy Curtis from PeeWee's Playhouse. He said that the guy who played Cowboy Curtis was a famous movie star now. Well, I could remember PeeWee and Chairy, but Cowboy Curtis escaped me. So, I looked him up on Technorati and, by golly, Cowboy Curtis was played by Laurence Fishburne!! I even saw a few clips of PeeWee's Playhouse with him singing, etc. It was a hoot! That's when I realized that we are just touching the tip of the iceberg in these exercises. It is up to us to explore the various tools to get maximum potential from them.

One problem with this 23Things project is that you can easily become addicted to some of the tools. I am getting fairly proficient at loading my photos on to Flickr and manipulating them. In free moments, I am looking at all the library videos I can on YouTube. Last, but certainly not least, I have found that I enjoying blogging!

Several times during the course of this exercise, I felt pressured. I guess it is because there is so much going on in our branch this summer. We are busy! We could have had a little longer to complete these exercises, too. But, I enjoyed the format and the challenge, every step of the way.

If you offered another discovery program like this in the future, would I participate? As they say in Fargo: YOU BETCHA!!

Audiobooks and Digital Collection

I watched the Overdrive videos on how to sign up for and download audiobooks. It took me over a half and hour to do it. I realized, then, that you could actually watch these videos in "installments" instead. I listened to Part 1 of Fahrenheir 451. It was just like listening to a book on CD, complete with atmospheric music. I wish I had an MP-3 player to take full advantage of this digital media library. One can download certain titles and burn them to a CD. I think that, MP-3-less as I am, I will try this in the future. If I had a blank CD, I would try doing this. Unfortunately, not all of the titles give you permission to do this.

Our library system has a really nice collection of books on Overdrive and I hope that others are taking advantage of this collection.

Podcasting

I went to the Denver Public Library podcasts and listened to someone read Red Fox and the Baby Bunnies. It was a picture book. The problem with podcasting someone reading a picture book is that nobody can see the pictures and, excuse me, isn't that what picture books are all about? I know that lots of libraries have similar podcasts on their websites. A long time ago, Broward County had a telephone number that you could call and hear a story. I feel that is a gimmick and a child isn't going to get much out of a picture book story read to them over the phone. Anyway, it was interesting to see how many libraries are into podcasting. (We have some catching up to do!)

I subscribed to CBC Radio: Editor's Choice podcasts on Bloglines, mainly because it was very easy to do and I wanted to get subscribed to something so that I could get on to the next part of my 23things. It turns out that CBC is Canadian, for crying out loud, and I really don't care about Canadian news. I will ditch that subscription and get one to something else now that I know how easy it is to do. I do have to say that while I was listening to my CBC subscription podcasts, I heard one about a Lucy Maude Montgomery conference and she is one of my favorite authors. So, that was the upside to the downer of having subscribed to a Canadian podcast on Bloglines.

Fun on YouTube

I checked out "library" videos on YouTube and found one I thought the folks who work at our library should see.



See, you really can get some exercise at the library! All it takes is an enthusiastic leader!

I think YouTube is wild. There is so much to see and enjoy. I think that we can use YouTube on the library website just like we did for the summer reading program. It is a real eyecatching way to advertise programs.

Web 2.0 Award Winners

I had a great time with this assignment. I looked at almost everything on that chart. I checked out Google Docs. The video "Google Docs in Plain English" was helpful. There should be one of those for every tool in Web 2.0! Commmoncraft videos are the best. I think Google Docs is easier to use than Zoho Writer, but I didn't see that you could post what you write to a blog. In that way, Zoho Writer is better to use. I took the tour of Lulu which is basically for self-publishing and digital publishing. You can publish photo albums... like of your wedding or other special event. It would be handy for someone who does genealogical research to make "books" for members of a family. Lulu will also sell what you publish on their site and you can make 80% of the profits from what sells. They also have a blog site and a newsletter. Perhaps libraries celebrating a 50th anniversary could publish a book that could be sold to raise funds for the Friends organization.

I checked out all of the food related winners and enjoyed a video of how to make grilled clams and mussels. I am just so impressed with the videos I am seeing on these sites! You could spend all day watching videos.

On Biblio, I searched for an old Uncle Wiggly book that I had read as a child. There were lots of hits. If you are looking for an old book, this is the place to go. I can see why it is a winner.

Zoho Writer

I composed my last blog entry on Zoho Writer. I really prefer using Microsoft Word, but Zoho Writer works OK in a pinch. I like it that you can access it from any computer. My home computer came without Microsoft products on it, so Zoho Writer is an tool I can use. I checked out Google Docs, though, as part of the next exercise and found that it is a little more user friendly. I didn't see that you could upload your doc to your blog, though, and you can do that with Zoho Writer, which is what I did! I will play around with Zoho Writer some more. I have found that the more you use these Web 2.0 tools, the more you find you can do and the better you get doing it! It's like learning to play a musical instrument, I guess.

Using Zoho Writer

 

This was created on Zoho Writer.  I prefer Word but, in a pinch, could use this to create a document.  

PBCLSWiki

I had added my blog to the favorite blogs page and was trying to add a link to my favorite restaurant on the favorite restaurants list(without much success) when I heard this loud buzz start. I thought to myself, OMG! I broke the Wiki!! Then, I realized that it was the fire alarm. While standing out in front of the library waiting for the fire trucks to come, I mentioned to my co-horts that I was having difficulty figuring out how to link the name of my favorite restaurant to its corresponding website. Several people said, "Oh, I'll show you how." But, I was determined to do this on my own! As soon as we were able to get back into the library again ( false alarm), I got back on my computer. I looked again at my blog link and saw that it was the URL that linked the name of my blog to the blog itself. I just copied the restaurant's URL into the proper space and voila! y'all can now click on my restaurant's name and go to the website. I am so proud of myself that my head just might explode!

Wikis

The Wiki in plain English video was great. It explained what a wiki is in a way anyone could understand. I looked at the ALA Wiki and if I were lucky enough to attend ALA 2008, it would be indispensible to the planning of my trip. I particularly liked the Dine-Around Program part where people could sign up to go to various restaurants, assuring an attendee of dinner companionship. There is something called "Twitter" that I keep seeing in my travels around while I've been doing my 23things. From what I gather it is something that you do with your cell phone. I am going to check that out after I complete this assignment.
I think that a Youth Services Program Wiki would be an idea that could work for youth services staff. It could be so helpful when planning programs. Our youth services staff is constantly looking for new and creative ideas that work. I would love to get something like that started because we all have had very successful programs that we want to talk about. A wiki is a fine forum for sharing.

Web 2.0

I am excited about what I'm learning of Web 2.0. The other day I noticed that Amazon.com now has a tag key. Some of the other sites I have visited do too. Everyone is updating and so should we as librarians. I just read an article by Michael Garrett Farrelly in my new issue of Public Libraries. He says that the crassness of reality television is caused by the dissolution of old media. I think we are seeing the dissolution of old technology, but are blessed with the birth of new. It's our duty as librarians to keep up with the new. We can't hang on to the old, as Anderson says in "Away from the Icebergs," "just in case."
I don't see, as Anderson observes in his own library, a decrease in circulation rates in our library system; however, I do believe that we must keep up with patrons demands for more access to everything.
Back in the early 1960's (uh-oh, nowI'm dating myself!), my grandfather heard that there was going to be something called "cable TV" and you could pay to get better reception on your television set. He was scandalized. That one would have to pay for something that everyone could get free just seemed "un-American" to him. He died before the advent of cable, but had he lived, he would have been dragged kicking and screaming into the era of cable subscription. Poor Grandpa!
How lucky I am to live through all these technological advances and work a in a field where I can put them to work for myself and my patrons!! Web 2.0? Bring it on!

Technorati

While this search engine is not my cup of tea, I can see that if you are into reading blogs every day you might want to use Technorati to catch up on your favorites. I happened to explore Technorati the day George Carlin died and got caught up in reading all the blogs about him and his passing. So, it was easy to see that one could find Technorati useful.
I did an advanced search on the library's website and found some references to our computer classes like Mousing Around. I did a tag search for Web 2.0 and got thousands of hits. I looked at videos and photos, blogs, etc. I checked out a blog by John Blyberg from Ann Arbor Library and several nonlibrarian blogs like Techcrunch and Boingboing. I suddenly realized that I had spent over an hour on Technorati. It was an amusing diversion but I can't see me using this tool unless I had time to kill or nothing else more worthwhile to do. There is an awful lot of what I would consided "junk" on there. You have to narrow your tag to get to the good stuff.
I think that if you follow authoritative librarian blogs, you would be better off getting a feeds on Bloglines.

A Tool I Can Actually Use!

I am so impressed with del.icio.us and what I can do with the account I signed up for. (Yep... I got another account!) I really didn't understand what del.icio.us was all about until I watched the youtube demonstration which was informative and helpful.

I do a monthly program for school-aged kids and am constantly looking for science experiments and projects for this program. I have had lots of sites bookmarked as favorites, but there was no way to tag the pages as to the subjects of the experiments, i.e. gravity, solutions, magnets, etc. With del.icio.us, I can tag the pages and go back to see the projects from any computer, not just my desk computer. This is exactly what I've been needing and it has been there all the time, but until I did this Web 2.0 project, I never knew about it. Wow! I am pleased with this week's assignment. Thanks for including del.icio.us in the 23things!

Webfeat

I searched my hometown (a tiny little rural one) in ALL databases. Big mistake. It sent Webfeat into a long grind and it came to a halt. It did that several times. Maybe it was because we had just had an electrical storm and, I heard later, the phones went out. After several tries, it finally came up with several hundred hits. Webfeat searches deeply and thoroughly! There were several hits from magazines to which children had sent handmade pictures and listed their residence as that little rural town. It was interesting to see how many articles there were that mentioned that little town. When I was growing up there, I didn't think anyone even knew it existed!
I find that you get better and narrower results when you don't search in too many databases at one time. Webfeat is handy for looking in more than one, though.

It's a LibraryThing

I took a look around Library Thing and created an account. (At this point, I think I have created at least 5 various accounts to complete my 23 Things. I have a feeling that I will be creating some more, too.) Into my Library Thing catalog I have put titles of books that I plan to read in the future. Some are just recently published and some will be published in the coming months. As I eventually read these books, I will remove titles. As I hear of new books that are coming up, I will add titles. This list will replace the myriad of paper scraps I have in my desk drawer with book titles written on them. (This list is a step in the direction of organization, I guess.)

Now, going back to the thing about the various accounts.... I know that I am supposed to put a link here to my LibraryThing catalog; however, since I wish to remain as anonymous as possible on this blog, I cannot link to my LibraryThing catalog because I used my actual name as my user name. I tried to change my user name and the function is not working. So, please trust that I have a catalog on LibraryThing and it contains at least 5 titles.

Next, I will address how I feel about all of those accounts I've had to create.........

Puzzling Granddoggie!

My creation
Originally uploaded by wearyone

I had a good time with the puzzlemaker in FD Toys. If you want to try it out, the link is:

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/jigsaw.php

Bloglines is the Best!

I am having such a good time with my Bloglines account. I have seven feeds and can check the weather in several cities of my choice. The best thing about it is that there are no distracting adverts and annoying pop-ups. I think RSS is perfect for the busy librarian. One of my feeds has up-to-the-minute reviews of new children's books. While I read the required journals for selection committee meetings, it is handy to know what another review source thinks of a book. There is one book in particular that we will be discussing at this week's meeting and I will mention that PW thinks pretty highly of it (and I know because I read it on Bloglines!).

granddoggie

granddoggie
Originally uploaded by wearyone

Meet Miyagi My Granddoggie!
This is the first photo I uploaded to my Flikr account. I am proud that I figured this all out by myself!!! Go me!!!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Photo Angst

My son sent me an email with a link to Snapfish where he keeps his photos. In order to look at them, I had to join. (At least, they told me I had to join.) It was free. It was simple. (I am used to signing up for free and not-so-free things on the Internet. )I looked at his pictures and enjoyed them. Now, I am a member of Snapfish. Cool, eh? Not really, because, you see, I don't know the first thing about getting those great shots I've taken with my digital camera into my computer and then on to Shapfish... or any other place on the web, for that matter. Sure, as a member, I can go on to Snapfish any time now and look at my kid's pictures, but that's it. (Technology is great if you know how to use it.)

Blogging Is Great For Librarians

Blogs are a super way for librarians to share their program ideas. I receive email from a YA listserv and many of the librarians posting there refer to their blogs to share photos and information about successful programs they have conducted. I have gotten plenty of wonderful ideas from these librarians.

Seven and a half Habits

The 7 and 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners brought up some points that I had not considered before. In the past, I think that my view of learning has been somewhat "in the box." We are learning new things every day and not even realizing that we are actually "learning." I have always thought of learning in the "classroom" sense of the word. My first inclination is to think: I am too old to learn this or this is too difficult. Thinking of the end result will help to get me though this particular learning experience. I plan to use what I learn here and build on it.