Another Neat Thing I Found

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Thing #23 Summary

Yes!! I made it! This has been a very interesting journey for me and I've learned many, many new aspects about what Web 2.0 is all about.

Some of my favorite discoveries were Bloglines, LibraryThing and GoodReads, too. The mashups were fun and I do like my Pandora radio station---so, lots of fantastic things!

I would definitely participate in any future programs and look forward to it. Thank you to the people responsible for putting this program together for us. It is a very good way to learn about these Things!

Thing #22 Podcasts

Well, I checked out both Podcast.net and Podcastalley.com and I must say that I found the second easier to navagate. My interest was in book reviews or book discussions of some sort.
After spending some time looking through these sources, I ended up subscribing to NPR:Books through iTunes.

Thing #21 Online Video

Yes, I've been chomping at the bit on this exercise since the very beginning. Maybe it marks me as an absolute newbie, but I've had lots of fun with the YouTube videos. My family probably thinks I should get a second job for all the videos I've been sending them.
This is one of my favorite commercials. Love the song.
Here's one Just For Fun--for you:

Thing #20 Special Treat

This was a good time in this 23 Things program to present this video. It is a special treat, but would have had less meaning if presented first. The changes are are absolutely amazing. How far we have come!! How far will we go........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

Thing #19 Digital Music

Storeshttp://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online_music_stores

Wow, I was happy to see all the online music stores, and the comparison is very interesting. Over a year ago I started to download music to an mp3 player, but I have let that project slide. The AARP guide is very helpful:

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/lifestyle/beginners_guide_to_digital_music_part_i.html

Now, with all this new knowledge, my second New Year's Resolution is to get going on this project again and get all my favorite tunes in one place. No need to buy cds that only have one or two good songs on them. I'm very willing to pay for the songs I like.

As I am typing this I am letting the music of Jim Brickman sooth my soul on my own Pandora station. It was very easy to do and the quality of music is surprisingly good.

Thing #18 Social Networks

There is certainly a lot of information to digest on social networks and their place in the library. Meredith Farkas' blog article contained much to think about and so many links that it was somewhat mind boggling. She wrote an entire book on social network software in our libraries, so we know she must be a great advocate of using this technology as a source of education that libraries can offer to the public.

However, there was one part of her blog that really caught my attention. Yes, all of these technologies are considered "cool." But that is not the reason to use them in our libraries if they don't serve a specific function. She also mentioned that each library needs to determine what their patrons (customers) know and feel about these social networks. She said, "We can’t pretend that what works at one library will work at all of them." But I think we already know that.

She also made a good point in suggesting that libraries need to educate parents on exactly what these social networks are and what the library is wanting to do with them. Do we just want to attract teens? Or do we want to attract teens for the right reasons? And I am not excluding fun as a right reason.

I read so much on this subject that I forgot exactly where I saw it, but it was suggested that one of the qualities a library candidate must have is a sense of humor. Goodness knows we need one during a very busy day when we are stretching ourselves as best we can to help everyone, and a patron (customer) tells us to "quit frogging around" and help him. I think that's a good one for RefGrunt - http://refgrunt.blogspot.com/

Thing #17 Wikis

O.K., this morning as calmer minds prevail, I must say that I do like wikis. The Book Lovers Wiki from Princeton Public Library is just fantastic and I would love to see something like that here on our website. Although a blog is a useful way to clarify ideas and concepts and share information, kind of like a therapeutic journal in which you may allow people to add comments and suggestions, wikis are a collaborative effort for people to work together toward a common goal.

With wikis we do need to be careful with content, but when using it for book reviews or contributors' opinions we don't have to worry quite so much about authority. So I think the wiki has its place, even if it is a just a starting point to find more information.

Thing #16 Technorati & Blog Tagging

It took a bit of effort to try to find interesting bits of information in Technorati and I tried all the different ways possible in the advanced search area. Like other KDL bloggers I found some KDL entries and the Let It Snow bingo game card. I was also interested in the positive comments I found about our Book Club In A Bag. But even more so I wanted to find something as inspiring as the video Cheryl was able to find - "A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto" which was incorporated into scenes from Burning Man--very cool!
However, I am somewhat mindboggled that there are over 50 million blogs tracked on this site and I am still at this after midnight. I came across this video that kind of summed up many of the sites we have been researching. Maybe not inspiring, but consider it a playful review -- for you:

http://www.technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DV6Kki_WJJRA

Thing #15 Tagging

I actually had to visit the del.icio.us site a few times before I could fully appreciate what it had to offer. Using some keywords to find sites was fun, but I ended up spending a lot of time looking into some of the tagged sites. After making an account, I did tag some favorites, but I also bookmarked some favorites the "old-fashioned way" to my browser. For me personally, I just take my laptop with me if I will be needing my bookmarks or I also have favorites in my Google email site so that they can be tapped into from any computer just as my gmail can.

But for informational use in libraries and sharing of opinions and views on websites, I can definitely see this becoming very popular.

Thing #14 Best Of Web 2.0

Wow! There's so many good things to choose from. But I have been delighted to hear about Pandora through a friend who always has lovely soothing background music coming from her computer as she is busy working on her projects. I have it on my laptop so
that I can enjoy the music I have pre-selected wherever I take my computer.
http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0

Thing #13 Online Productivity

Zoho Writer seems to have a lot of potential for any kind of team projects with the capabilities to share information or provide a community effort to plan or organize data. I did create an account so that I can keep on checking into the possibilities with this web based word processing tool.

I have already encountered students using Google Docs in the library and since I already have a Google account with my email I think I would be more inclined to use this resource. The site also has an excellent instructional video and tutorial.

Thing #12 Customized Search Engines

Rollyo was a bit more confusing for me than I care to admit, but I guess I just did. Usually I tend to make these things more complicated than they actually are.
If you would like to check out my Nature Friendly Site the link is below:

http://rollyo.com/cinrollef/nature_friendly_site/

Thing #11 LibraryThing

This is a fun site. Don't have a lot to say about it and I probably should spend more time on it, but I did create my "favorites" list and will probably return to it later at my leisure.

Here is my Library Thing site:


http://www.librarything.com/catalog/CindysLibrary

INTERMISSION - Happy New Year!

Thing #10 Web 2.0 and Libraries

Change can be very hard even though change is usually necessary to keep up with our rapidly evolving world. The library is no different. We are trying to create a rather cozy world with our living room atmosphere and warm drinks for what could be impersonal technology. But we add to the mix social and shared network spaces and we learn from each other. The Wikipedia article on Library 2.0 states that "rigidity breeds failure" and "beta is forever." I get it and can appreciate it. I believe I can even do it. Just don't want to trample over anyone along the way.....

Thing #9 Library Blogs

Of the feed search tools presented, I like Topix.net the best because of its ability to roundup the news in different ways. It can be local, world, U.S, offbeat, most popular(somehow always important to people), politics, etc. I appreciate getting the most reliable form of news and am just not that into reading too many blogs. Guess that's why I chose Topix.net.

In fairness to Feedster, the site is currently down, so I didn't see it.

Thing #8 RSS Feeds

This seems to be pretty straight forward and not too hard to understand. I created my Bloglines and will now see if I can attach the list to this blog.

O.K., that took me more time than I care to admit. Funny how these things seem so simple after you figure out how to do it, but so hard to grasp in the beginning.

My feeling on RSS feeds in general is that this is a good way to organize your informational resources. As more people become familiar with RSS feeds, it would be a bonus if they subscribed to library feeds to stay up-to-date with what's happening at the library and therefore would be more involved and connected to the library. Info at the public's fingertips!

Image Generator 2

Between amazing historical buildings and a spectacular castle in Bratislava, I found this sculpture of Andy Warhol. His ancestors lived in this part of the world.


I couldn't leave any of my favorite little people out, so I decided to Warholize this picture of our littlest family member. Full credit for the pictures of the children goes to Karyn May.

Thing #7 The Image Generator

Our Little TreeHugger

Guess who just turned

five?!?

Make your own cake at: http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp

Thing #6 Mash-ups

This was fun to do in Spell with Flickr but it took me a while to figure out that I needed to hit the "edit html" tab on the edit posts page before I sent the html. So I got it to load but it is too big for the page. Any suggestions?
http://metaatem.net/words/

Making a trading card was fun. This time I was able to make the picture bigger. Click on picture for even a bigger picture. http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php















Another site I thought was a lot of fun was the memory game. It would be neat to be able to put your own pictures in this game: http://www.pimpampum.net/memry/enter.php

Flickr

Flickr provides lots of opportunities to organize, share and tag photos. It seems to be a little more user friendly than Photobucket, but maybe I just haven't had that much experience with well, either of them.

Photobucket

Photobucket Album

Yes, I know, not another kitty photo. But this is a good example of some of the many fun pictures on Photobucket. There are also many items that sparkle and shine or flash to use on different types of posts and sharing.

The Mean Kitty Song

Mean Kitty or just misunderstood?

Thing #5 Photo Sharing

Good kitty.

Thing #4 Registration

Register Blog

O.K., I registered my blog, but I put my Wet Paint account address in instead of the blogspot one. I'm not sure how critical this is, but if creating this blog is playing then it just can't be too critical.

(There goes my mp3 player. :-( )

I'm looking forward to doing some fun things with pictures and mash-ups.

Thing #3 The Blog

Create a Blog

This was actually very easy using Blogger.com. However I did take the extra step of creating a Wet Paint account first and I'm wondering exactly why I did that. Didn't really seem to help anything.

Thing #2 - The Habits

7 1/2 Habits of Successful Lifelong Learners

Habit 1

"To begin with the end in mind" has been the easiest for me to do. This gives me a focus and helps to keep me on task. It gives me a good reason to skip the ironing, cleaning and cooking until I finish this blog for example.

Habit 3

"To view problems as challenges" has been a harder habit for me to get into, especially when it comes to technology.