Library 2.0 was scary for me. But this experience has given me the opportuntiy to explore freely and to try things I would not have found on my own. 23 Things has inspired me to continue exploring, not to get stuck on what I already know how to do.
I really enjoyed creating pages on Flickr and Ning and acutally getting friends! I watched my kids create and develop their sites, but did not think these sites held anything for me...anything that I would find useful. What a surprise! I have used the online image gernerators for library promotional materials and had a great time doing it. I love the RSS feeds and getting my morning dose of online information that I find interesting. It has changed my morning routine. I have had the most fun, though, playing with my blog. Who woulda thunk?
I really enjoy reading other participants blogs and leaving coments. it was great meeting 23 Things folks on Ning and Flickr and some of the other sites. How cool to find 23 Thingers everywhere!
I really hope there will be another 23 Things at some point. I would love to do this again!
It was so much fun to e-explore...a really great e-experience!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Thing 22. What Did I Learn Today
Almost done is an exciting thing, but I don't want it to end. I have enjoyed pushing myself to learn these Things... and, bonus, my kids think I'm cool!
A promise to myself:
I will keep up with the social networking sites I signed on to...Flickr and Ning, especially because on those sites, I found it easier to connect with other people than on some of the other sites I joined. I will go back and explore the challanges that I did not give myself time to do. I will give myself time to learn and see it as a vaulable use of my time. I will learn by podcast and webinar. I will find more on youtube than just things that make me laugh.
I loved this learning experience. I know I will have to continue exploring these Things to maintain what I've learned. The internet grows and canges every minute...I've learned so much...I don't want to lag behind again.
A promise to myself:
I will keep up with the social networking sites I signed on to...Flickr and Ning, especially because on those sites, I found it easier to connect with other people than on some of the other sites I joined. I will go back and explore the challanges that I did not give myself time to do. I will give myself time to learn and see it as a vaulable use of my time. I will learn by podcast and webinar. I will find more on youtube than just things that make me laugh.
I loved this learning experience. I know I will have to continue exploring these Things to maintain what I've learned. The internet grows and canges every minute...I've learned so much...I don't want to lag behind again.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Thing 21. Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks
I created a NING page and joined te 23 Tings on a Stick group. I found a friend there with whom I had the great good fortune of attending ALA in Washington DC! It was fun to see her page and it felt great to get re-conected. I left a comment for her and we've been commenting back and forth - FUN!!
Ning is fun, but it can be kind of confusing to navigate around. I like things that are "so easy your grandmother can do it"! When I tried to add a widget, it totally screwed up my page. BUT, looking at the beauty of my friend's page makes me want to keep trying.
View my page on 23 Things on a Stick
Ning is fun, but it can be kind of confusing to navigate around. I like things that are "so easy your grandmother can do it"! When I tried to add a widget, it totally screwed up my page. BUT, looking at the beauty of my friend's page makes me want to keep trying.
View my page on 23 Things on a Stick
Thing 20. Libraries and Social Networks
I created a Facebook page. I joined the Librarians and Facebook group. This group has more than 4,700 members. That's a lot of folks. It was fun looking through the Discussion Board and the wall postings. It was fun looking for "friends"to add to my list.
Facebook was easy to use and fun to do. I can see why people like to use this site. Many of our patrons like to visit Facebook and MySpace. It seemed to be a younger-peoples site, but more and more I see more folks my age on Facebook.
Facebook was easy to use and fun to do. I can see why people like to use this site. Many of our patrons like to visit Facebook and MySpace. It seemed to be a younger-peoples site, but more and more I see more folks my age on Facebook.
Thing 19. Podcasts
I love car talk on PR, so I searched each site for Click and Clack...
Podcast.com - came up with what I was looking for...worked well.
Podcast.net - could not get it to load :-(
Podcastalley.com -came up with far too many options - must be pretty specific.
Yahoo Podcasts - this seemed like it was all music - I was not interested in paying for a song to see how it worked.
Educational Podcast Directory - of course Click and Clack did not show up here. But, very cool, this has podcasts for younger kids...check out the SG Show under Student & Class Podcasts - elementary grades.
I made a Gcast! It was very easy - the hardest part was deciding what to say. Check it out on the link to the right.
Podcast.com - came up with what I was looking for...worked well.
Podcast.net - could not get it to load :-(
Podcastalley.com -came up with far too many options - must be pretty specific.
Yahoo Podcasts - this seemed like it was all music - I was not interested in paying for a song to see how it worked.
Educational Podcast Directory - of course Click and Clack did not show up here. But, very cool, this has podcasts for younger kids...check out the SG Show under Student & Class Podcasts - elementary grades.
I made a Gcast! It was very easy - the hardest part was deciding what to say. Check it out on the link to the right.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Thing 18. YouTube & Other Online Video
I love youtube! This is irreverently funny. We've talked about doing a promo video for our library and posting it on youtube. We could also record folks reading children's books and post those.
Thing 17. ELM Productivity Tools
How cool that you can create a feed from a search. How uncool that it does not work when patrons access ELM through our region's website. We've been training our folks to go in through our website and will have to re-train them - how confusing.
I did not know there was a web-page creator in ELM. This would be a wonderful tool to show our Home School kids to help with their research projects. I'm hoping to use it to keep track of information publised about the Park Rapids Area Library.
Sharing artilces happens quite often between our library staff and our regional staff. Recently we sared around the story of the mom jailed for non-payment of library fines. You can check it out here:http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2008/03/01/news/news02.txt
I use NetLibrary frequently...'though I'm not fond of reading books online. Cool that you can mark researched pages. SO, as long as you had proper citations, students could use this tool for projects and read books that we can not lay hands on easily. I'm feeling smarter already.
I'm definitely going to have the staff at our library do this Thing. ELM doesn not always feel user-friendly, but I know none of us realized these services were burried in here. Thank you for this Thing. Although I found it to be one of the most frustrating, I think it will be one of the most useful for our patrons.
Now I get to go help dig our car out of the foot of snow in the driveway. We tried to get to church this a.m. and got stuck in the middle of the road. We got the car pushed back off the road and back into our drive (it took an hour and a half - glad everyone else was wise enough to stay home!). But now we need to get it all the way back into the garage so the plow can come by and release us. The snow is quite beautiful, but can it PLEASE be Spring already?!?
I did not know there was a web-page creator in ELM. This would be a wonderful tool to show our Home School kids to help with their research projects. I'm hoping to use it to keep track of information publised about the Park Rapids Area Library.
Sharing artilces happens quite often between our library staff and our regional staff. Recently we sared around the story of the mom jailed for non-payment of library fines. You can check it out here:http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2008/03/01/news/news02.txt
I use NetLibrary frequently...'though I'm not fond of reading books online. Cool that you can mark researched pages. SO, as long as you had proper citations, students could use this tool for projects and read books that we can not lay hands on easily. I'm feeling smarter already.
I'm definitely going to have the staff at our library do this Thing. ELM doesn not always feel user-friendly, but I know none of us realized these services were burried in here. Thank you for this Thing. Although I found it to be one of the most frustrating, I think it will be one of the most useful for our patrons.
Now I get to go help dig our car out of the foot of snow in the driveway. We tried to get to church this a.m. and got stuck in the middle of the road. We got the car pushed back off the road and back into our drive (it took an hour and a half - glad everyone else was wise enough to stay home!). But now we need to get it all the way back into the garage so the plow can come by and release us. The snow is quite beautiful, but can it PLEASE be Spring already?!?
Thing 16. Student 2.0 Tools
The Research Project Calculator will be a great tool for our Hig School and Home School students. I like that it is easy to use and thorough without being overwhelming. It can help get you organized even on a very tight schedule. I wish I had had something like this when I was in school!
I think the assignment calculator is going to be less helpful for use at the library, but it is still a very cool tool.
Either tool would work to help me with library projects like grant writing or setting up and design curriculum for a series of training worksops about our library offerings, databases, etc. I've been wanting to get them organized for a long time, but the task seems a bit daunting and keeps getting pushed back it make room for things that need to be done now. This could really help.
I think the assignment calculator is going to be less helpful for use at the library, but it is still a very cool tool.
Either tool would work to help me with library projects like grant writing or setting up and design curriculum for a series of training worksops about our library offerings, databases, etc. I've been wanting to get them organized for a long time, but the task seems a bit daunting and keeps getting pushed back it make room for things that need to be done now. This could really help.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Thing 15. Online Games and Libraries
I had set up a Second Life account last Fall to see what it was like. I found it hard to navigate, but I did learn to fly. I had a hard time finding my way off the learning island. Having said that, I went to a workshop at PLA that showed how another library uses Second Life with their teens to teach history and develop community. It looked great, but I think it would take a lot of training on my part - I learn best with a teacher and don't learn especially easily with online tutorials.
SO, I tried Puzzle Pirates. I learned how to Bilge and Sail. I enjoy playing games online. It's fun to talk to other players. I talked to several players and learned what kind of food they like and someone's favorite rap group (I checked out their lyrics -OH MY!) I was not invited to join a crew yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time, me being an excellent pirate and all.
You could recommed Club Penguin at www.miniclip.com to introduce younger kids to the onlien social gaming thing. There was an online fantasy social gaming site that was all the rage about a year and a half ago, but the (mostly) boys who played it are now into myspace and a new crop of useres never materialized. We had to reconfigure the computer settings to allow the game to play properly. We also recently invested in two of the plush pets that come with online codes so the (mostly) girls who bought them could feed and play with the toys online. Te site even has a chat room so easy a 4-year-old can use it.
SO, I tried Puzzle Pirates. I learned how to Bilge and Sail. I enjoy playing games online. It's fun to talk to other players. I talked to several players and learned what kind of food they like and someone's favorite rap group (I checked out their lyrics -OH MY!) I was not invited to join a crew yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time, me being an excellent pirate and all.
You could recommed Club Penguin at www.miniclip.com to introduce younger kids to the onlien social gaming thing. There was an online fantasy social gaming site that was all the rage about a year and a half ago, but the (mostly) boys who played it are now into myspace and a new crop of useres never materialized. We had to reconfigure the computer settings to allow the game to play properly. We also recently invested in two of the plush pets that come with online codes so the (mostly) girls who bought them could feed and play with the toys online. Te site even has a chat room so easy a 4-year-old can use it.
Thing 14: Library Thing
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bejowa
I had heard about Library Thing and had even visited - I'm glad this was a Thing and forced me to sign up and use it. This site is very easy to use and manage. It would be easy to teach the staff at the library how to set up an account and to set up pages in their expert areas. Then, if a patron needed a read-alike, it would be a place to go - with pictures of the covers! We have If you liked...bookmarks, author's titles bookmarks, NoveList and staff reader's advisory. This will be a great tool to use with those. It will also give our patrons who use the internet (not all of them do, after all) a new way to be conected to their library.
I signed up for one of the groups - childeren's books. I was not surprised that I had read most of the top listed books, but was happy to play around in the site and discover new titles and new folks that like the books I do.
I will definitely spend more time on Library Thing later - I want to get to Thing 23.
I had heard about Library Thing and had even visited - I'm glad this was a Thing and forced me to sign up and use it. This site is very easy to use and manage. It would be easy to teach the staff at the library how to set up an account and to set up pages in their expert areas. Then, if a patron needed a read-alike, it would be a place to go - with pictures of the covers! We have If you liked...bookmarks, author's titles bookmarks, NoveList and staff reader's advisory. This will be a great tool to use with those. It will also give our patrons who use the internet (not all of them do, after all) a new way to be conected to their library.
I signed up for one of the groups - childeren's books. I was not surprised that I had read most of the top listed books, but was happy to play around in the site and discover new titles and new folks that like the books I do.
I will definitely spend more time on Library Thing later - I want to get to Thing 23.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Thing 13. Online Productivity Tools
As someone wo can't remember to charge er palm-pilot and has had to re-enter calendar info twice, I love the idea of online organization that I can access anywhere.
I chose IGoogle to use as my homepage. I like having my RSS links, weather, clock, etc. right there, but it does take a bit longer to load at first. I won't go back to my other home page.
I really like Remember the Milk. The title was what grabbed me, but te tool was easy to use and fun to work with. It seems like a great way to stay on top of deadlines, and I liked that it has personal and professional tracts, so I can separate them, but keep up with both.
I used the calendar with IGoogle. It's right there on my home page and I can get right to it. I like that.
Backpack turned me off with the way it looked, but after I watched the video on how it worked, I was hooked. I made a page for our trip to Maui in June. It might even be worth the subscription fee.
I did not try any of the other stuff yet (yep, Bad Becky). I want to get to the end of the 23 Things if I can. I'll go back and try them after the 16th.
I chose IGoogle to use as my homepage. I like having my RSS links, weather, clock, etc. right there, but it does take a bit longer to load at first. I won't go back to my other home page.
I really like Remember the Milk. The title was what grabbed me, but te tool was easy to use and fun to work with. It seems like a great way to stay on top of deadlines, and I liked that it has personal and professional tracts, so I can separate them, but keep up with both.
I used the calendar with IGoogle. It's right there on my home page and I can get right to it. I like that.
Backpack turned me off with the way it looked, but after I watched the video on how it worked, I was hooked. I made a page for our trip to Maui in June. It might even be worth the subscription fee.
I did not try any of the other stuff yet (yep, Bad Becky). I want to get to the end of the 23 Things if I can. I'll go back and try them after the 16th.
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