Week 9 Thing 23 The End

For a while I was so behind, I thought I'd never reach THE END, but here I am! I started out not terribly enthusiastic about doing this project, but I'm glad I did. I learned many new things about different services on the Internet that I never knew existed. Some were useful, some were fun, some were a little of both. And sometimes I felt like my brain was on "overload". I'm definitely not a techno-geek and was unfamiliar with alot of the techie lingo. Thankfully, I had a few coworkers who were willing to take my hand and lead me during some of those confusing parts. But most of it, I did "all by myself"! Being a part-time employee with lots of duties, plus being out on vacation for 2 weeks left me with little extra time to do this assignment. I know other colleagues who feel the same way -- they'd like to do this, but where do you find the time? But I got thru it, and I hope to have more time to spend reviewing some of the things I learned. I liked having the freedom to be able to do some of this at home, and if another program of this type were offered, I'd be interested in participating.

Week 9 Thing 22

AUDIOBOOKS I browsed the titles in Overdrive (available thru CCPL on the library website). There were a few things I may be interested in. I occasionally like to listen to books while driving, or while I'm working out. Although we don't have access to all titles in Overdrive, there are many authors I like that are available. I also briefly took a look at Gutenberg. Treasure Island is on that -- we can let patrons know, since it's the next "Carroll County Reads Together" book.

Week 9 Thing 21

Podcasts I looked at some of the sites that display podcasts. I found a news talk radio podcast on Podcast.net and subscribed to it on my Bloglines account using the RSS feed.

Week 9 Thing 20

YouTube Fun! I downloaded a video that my son and some of his friends made -- a project for his science class. Yes, it has serious information in it, but it's also very funny! I think there is a use for YouTube and other video sites at the library. Lots of local groups and individuals post videos of their activities, and so there would be an interest in the community. We could use it to show some of our activities (programs, etc.) or to highlight things we're doing (such as upcoming Cultural Awareness).

Week 8 Thing 19

I played with 2 of the sites listed. My son had told me about StumbleUpon and that was fun. After signing up for an account and listing your "interests", StumbleUpon will link you to sites it thinks you'll like, according to your listings. You can give it a thumbs-up if you like it, or a thumbs-down if you don't. It will continue to link you to other things if you want it to. Cool! Also, I really like Yelp. It is a site where you can add your own input about local businesses. So, if you loved the meal you just had at a local restaurant, you can give them a little plug. Not thrilled about the service you received somewhere? You can note that, too. You can use it the other way as well -- if you're considering using a business, look at the ratings it received. They may help you to decide. A valid community service! Both sites I looked at were social sites, and you can add your profile, photo, etc. and talk to other members.

Week 8 Thing 18

I tried out Zoho Writer and was very impressed. Easy to use as Word, but you can save your work and access it from any computer. I liked the features that enable you to share documents with friends and publish them. I also tried Zoho Show, which is like Powerpoint. Many times patrons will want to use a word processing program or a power point-like program but haven't a disk to save it. This will be a great help to them!

Addendum to Week 7 Thing 17

Yay, it worked! I'm at work and now successfully added my blog to "Favorite Blogs" on Sandbox.

Week 7 Thing 17

I created a "Favorite" list for Sandbox, which was fun! Tried to add my blog on "Favorite blogs" list, but having technical difficulties. I'm doing this from home, so I'll have to try again when I'm at work. I have the title on, but can't get it to link. Keep getting an "error on this page" message, even though I know I'm following directions.....

Week 7 Thing 16

Wikis I read many of the articles that explain wikis and their use. Libraries have used wikis for many things, including helping to locate resource information (lists,links to interesting resources), conference information, reader's advisory (lists of genres of books, with reviews posted by users), and intranet. Wikis are interesting, but the "worst" thing about them is the lack of security and openness to possible vandalism.

Week 6 Thing 15

Library 2.0 Okay, now my head is reeling and I'm dizzy! Since I've been a librarian, my job has gone from using lots of reference books, to rarely picking one up. I finally got the hang of "googling" and now there's all of these new more "interactive" tools to learn! I read the Wendy Schultz article about how the real techies aren't thinking Library 2.0, but instead Library 3D and Library 4.0, a "Knowledge spa". Sounds good, but I see a future of non-stop education for the library world!

Week 6 Thing 14

Technorati This is a blog directory. I did a search of Learning 2.0 and saw some entries -- some seemed to be from the 23 Things assignments, others just had the terms "learning" or "2.0" in the text. I looked at the top favorites, top searches, top blogs. Many seem to be linked -- stuff in the news (politics, celebrities), some were techie blogs about the latest. I searched for my own blog and found a couple of entries. I signed up for an account and you can add your favorite blogs to it. At this time, I can't really think of a reason I'd really use this feature.

Week 6 Thing 13

Del.icio.us I explored the delicious way to store favorites with tags that I can create. It's an interesting tool -- useful because you can bookmark some favorite sites, put some notes or remarks about the site, and it's accessible on any computer. Others can look at your tags as well, and you can look at theirs. It would be helpful to use delicious when researching any topic. So many times when you research something, the amount of hits you get is overwhelming. Many times the same article or information is repeated. If this is a topic you'll continually go back to, Delicious can help you eliminate all the duplication. You'll find the things that are helpful, assisted by your trusty notes and tags. I set up an account to have an easy access list to the videos my teenage son has on the Internet. I think it will be helpful when searching for a vacation spot in the future.

Week 5 Thing 12

I set up a Rollyo searchroll. I can see where this would be helpful in my job -- putting in favorite websites that I consistently use to answer reference questions. I would also be able to use this in my personal life -- often my husband and I search for places to stay on vacation. We have a few favorite websites that we use for our trips to Hilton Head Island and Florida. I'd be able to keep track of all of them with Rollyo. My site is at http://www.rollyo.com/stackdancer/.

Week 5 Number 11

Library Thing is a really cool tool! Since I am always forgetting titles of things I read, it's fun to have a list (including the picture of the cover) to refer to. It took me a while to figure out how to get it on my blog, but finally added it.

Week 5 Thing 10

Play Week I had lots of fun making my avatar on Meez.com. I had a little trouble posting it (I kept getting two images instead of just one), but I deleted some of the text and somehow edited it down to only one image. Can't wait to show my daughter this feature!

Week 4 Thing 9

I signed up for a Merlin account and explored some of their linked sites. Feedster was fascinating because you could plug a name or topic in and find lots of pictures, etc. I found blogs and articles posted just minutes ago by folks in Taneytown on the Topix link. Located my blog in Technorati.

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I signed up for a Bloglines account. It's cool that you can "tailor-make" your own site. I have everything from news to weather to jokes on my site.

I was playing with some of the Flickr features. I really enjoyed the Flickr Postcard Browser -- you could view postcards and photos from whatever location you typed in (ex. "Maryland", or "Cypress Gardens", etc.). Really cool. I took a look at the API site that you can register for so you can make your own mashups. Wow, does that seem complicated! My head is spinning -- hard to get used to the technical jargon when you're not used to it.

Hey I'm a covergirl!

My creation
Originally uploaded by stackdancer

Playing with this flickr toy was fun. I created my own magazine cover. It was tricky finding a photo that was a workable size, etc. and then you had to find a layout that would work with the photo.

reading road trip 060

reading road trip 060
Originally uploaded by stackdancer

I took this photo at our branch. This year's Summer Reading Club theme is "Take a Reading Road Trip". This box and literature advertises the Adult program. The pretty flowers are from our local garden club!

Posting pictures to my blog seems so complicated. I'm trying. Just finding the time to do this entire exercise is difficult as a part-timer with other duties, but am determined to work it in!

Flickr fun!

I set up a Flickr account and uploaded some pictures. Out of all of our assignments so far, this is my favorite! I can see how I'd use this to store and classify my photos. Maybe I'll have better luck with this than my non-existent half-hearted attempt to put photos in albums!

My husband recently got a new "Chocolate" phone and I'm totally jealous! It's sleek, small, takes great pictures and has many other cool features. For Father's Day he requested a "music kit" which will now enable the phone to act as an iPod. I bought the music kit from the Verizon store at BJ's and it was only $29. So now he has a cool, pocket-size device that will do a little of everything. And I thought I was so cool with my Razr phone!

Week 3
Flickr was fun to play with. I set up an account and posted some photos. Wish I had more free time 'cause there were so many interesting features. To be continued....

Week 2 Thing 4
Downloaded the Tracking Log, which was easy. Not sure what Blog Post Permalink URL is on Thing 3.

Week 2, Thing 3
Setting up the blog and posting was pretty easy. I added a little information on the "profile" screen. This could be fun if you have the time to be creative.

Week 1, Thing 2
The easiest Lifelong Learning Habit for me would be playing. There simply isn't enough time in life for play and it will be nice to have an "excuse" to play!

I feel the most difficult Lifelong Learning Habit is to view problems as challenges. I think that's an excellent way to look at problems, so I'll make an effort to put this positive 'spin' on my outlook.