Thursday, August 30, 2007

Week 9 Thing 23 !!!!!

Yeah!!

I am very impressed with myself for finishing these 23 things. At times it felt like I was traveling in a foreign country without knowing the language. Now at least I can say RSS feed, podcast or tagging without my eyes glazing over. It was definitely a process and the more I played with "things" the more confident I became in exploring and adapting the new things for my own uses.

LibraryThing was one of my favorites. I also liked playing with the online image generators, especially the "generator blog."

The program was challenging for me and as such it has encouraged me to take more risks in my choices for lifelong learning. What other "fun" stuff is out there?


I would chose to participate another discovery program. However, I would need some time to assimilate all the information and ideas from 23 things before trying another one.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Week 9 Thing 22

I accessed Overdrive through the library website and found lots of titles I would be interested in downloading. I don't listen to many books generally. But it is certainly nice to have the option, especially for titles that are not readily available. Project Gutenberg is definitely one to share with patrons as well.
Week 9 Thing 21

I explored Yahoo Podcasts and found "Authors on Tour-Live",a weekly podcast of authors and their books. It will be fun to see how my favorite authors look and sound!
I think podcasts in general can be useful especially when you want a visual of something such as a yoga posture or just how to whip up that favorite recipe.
Week 9 Thing 20

Imagine my excitement when I clicked publish post and my video of choice appeared on my blog!
I was looking for something silly, so I choose this talking dog video. I was ready for a laugh or two as I am working to finish up these 23 things.

Week 8 Thing 19

I explored Oogle, which is a classified site similar to Craigslist.
I found it easier to search than Craiglist, especially when searching the used car classifieds.
I also checked out the real estate site Zillow. A street address search returns an aerial map with all the available properties mapped out. My husband, who is always looking at real estate will love this one.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Week 8 Thing 18

As I already registered in google I choose it to explore. Now I have to figure out how to get this on the blog....

Well that went well. I was able to find what I needed to publish my mini document from google docs on my blog without too much trouble. I am finding it easier to move around the various sites we are exploring and experiment with some confidence to produce the result I want( or something close at least)
Week 7 Thing 17

I am exploring the Learning 2.0 Sandbox Wiki and was able to register. Although I was able to add a comment to one of the pages, I think I will need to come back to this and spend more time playing before I can benefit from using it.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Week 7 Thing 16

I was impressed with the Subject guide wiki created by St. Josephs County Public Library. You are able to choose from a catagorized list of subjects. This wiki provided a central place to learn about a subject, discover library resources and programs and the option of making a comment. I looked at "Health" and found information about the library databases, a list of local hospitals, spas, local classes and highlight books from the library collection. It was certainly a good resource for customers and a good marketing tool for library programs and materials.

I also liked the Book Lovers Wiki from the Princeton Library. It seems like it could be an additional way to engage patrons in book discussions.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Week 6 Thing 15

Dr. Wendy Schultz's "To a temporary place in time..." offered some important ideas.
She states, "What are libraries? Libraries are not just collections of documents and books, they are conversations, they are convocations of people, ideas, and artifacts in dynamic exchange. Libraries are not merely in communities, they are communities: they preserve and promote community memories; they provide mentors not only for the exploration of stored memory, but also for the creation of new artifacts of memory.

"Her definition of libraries is something that we need to keep in mind as we introduce new technologies and be mindful that it is a "dynamic exchange." We should remember to keep the conversations going, especially with those library visitors who are timid about new technology.

I also liked her comment on the library as "a WiFREE space, a retreat from technohustle, with comfortable chairs, quiet, good light, coffee and single malt. You know, the library." I think people will need a retreat from the "technohustle."

Monday, August 20, 2007

Week 6 Thing 14

I did a keyword search for "learning 2.0" and got different results in each place.
The blog posts resulted in 6,700 as compared to 550 in the blog directory.
I checked out some of the WTF's. Apparently there is a video called "Web is Us(ing)us", which proports to show Web 2.0 to its core and questions," are we using the web or is the web using us." Unfortunately I will have to wait to get the answer, as I am using a dial-up connection that does not like video.
There appears to be an enormous number of blogs. Using them in organizations for sharing information and learning such as we are doing with 23 things makes sense. However, I am not sure we need to know what everyone thinks about just about everything. You could certainly find a blog about any topic using technorati and there seems to be many that are of value. It's just that I came away from exploring technorati with an uneasy feeling, more so than from other sites we explored. So much of it seemed like so much useless babble and it seems that alot of people are spending alot of time on it.