Monday, August 27, 2007

Thing #23 Summary

I have learned several new things while completing this program. I've set up a blog, posted pictures on Flickr, viewed youtube for the first time, learned what a permalink was, learned about RSS feeds and wikis and in the process come to a much better understanding of what kinds of things can be done online. My understanding and skills with the internet have greatly increased. I still have more to learn but I definitely made strides this summer.

Thing #21 & #22 podcasting and audiobooks

It's nice to know there are places you can go to locate podcasts. It didn't seem to hard to do. I checked out podcast.net and serached around for several podcasts.

I also looked at the information about downloading audiobooks. Customers at our library can download books from our library's website using Overdrive and NetLibrary. I haven't actually done this yet since I don't have a device to load it onto. Maybe one of these days I'll get an MP3 player. I think this is a nice service to have for our customers and just one more way to enjoy stories and books. I also looked at the Project Gutenburg.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Thing #20 - YouTube

I explored YouTube. Though I had heard a lot about it, I had never actually checked it out until today. You could spend a lot of time watching video clips on You Tube. I think you could find a video clip on almost anything. I found videos on tarantulas molting and hermit crabs changing their shells. There was one of a baby laughing that had me laughing too. I found it helpful to look at how folks had rated the videos and how many had viewed it as a guide for if I should watch it. It could be another source of information. For example, if you wanted to show someone who had never seen a game of Lacrosse played before, you could find a video clip of it real easy and show them so they could get an idea about how the game is played.

Thing #19 - Web 2.0 Awards

I checked out the Web 2.0 Awards. Looked at several different tools, some could be fun to use though not real useful such as writing one-word sentences and playing games. Others I could see as being more useful such some of the Mapping tools, or biblio.com, if you wanted to find out-of-print books. I checked out pipl.com which searches the web find information about people you're looking for. It would be a great tool if you were trying to find a long lost friend like a high school buddy but I also had some concerns with this tool because it could pull up information about yourself that due to privacy reasons and identity theft, you may not want just anyone being able to get while surfing the web. There were other interesting tools which I didn't have time to explore but may go back to them when I have more time. I was in the mood to play when I was looking over the Web 2.0 awards so I ended up at arcaply.com which has lots of different games to play. In fact I ended up attaching the game "Match the Bugs" to my blog - it's found at the bottom of the blog. Now I can go play this addictive game whenever I'm visiting my blog.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Document from Google Doc

My practive document:

My first day at Federalsburg! I've learned several things today. Rose is nice. Michelle is cool. I haven't made a fool of myself yet! Yeah!

I'm trying out "Google Doc" for the first time. I could see myself using this internet tool. I don't have to worry about having a disk to save my work to to transport it from computer to computer.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Thing #17

I posted my my favorite things in the sandbox wiki. I had a bit of a difficult time adding it to the list but with help from Amanda W., ( Thanks! ) I was able to figure it out.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

wikis

visit "my favorite things" wiki

Thing #17 - Wikis

I looked at several wiki's today. I was already a little familiar with them. I liked the Book Lovers wiki. Always good to have places to find out about books you might want to read.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Week 6

I checked out Del.icio.us, Technorati as well as reading several articles regarding Library 2.0 and the future of libraries. Lots to think about. In my lifetime, I'm already starting to see some small changes in how libraries do business. After all, we can now renew library materaisl online and place items on hold. However, I do believe more change is needed and will come as technology advances and younger generations gradually take over. It's hard to believe we will ever do away with books completely but I do believe there will come a time when people do all their research on the computer without bothering to open a research book.

Personnally, I found Technorati interesting. If I spent much time reading blogs, then I could see this being a really handy website.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Rock on!


Rock on!
Originally uploaded by Tigerlily Suz
I had to try uploading my own picture from my digital camara to my Flickr account then adding it to my blog. This picture was taken of my daughters in Cleveland Ohio by the "Jungle" guitar. Notice "Sneaks the Cat" is in the picture next to my daughter Jessica on the right.

My kids think I'm cool!

Over the weekend, I showed my blog to my daughters. My 9 year old was particularly impressed that I had a blog ( I didn't even know she knew what one was.). My 6 year old liked that avatar I made at Meez. She was ready to make her own! Anyway, my kids were impressed.

Thing #12

Checked out Rollyo. I'm sure some folks will use this but for me right now, I didn't see much use in it.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Thing #11

Library Thing is cool. I've already signed up and started adding books to my list. Thanks to Sharon I was able to connect it to my blog : ). Thanks.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Thing #10

I managed to create an avatar on Meez.com. It was fun. Nothing fancy. I could spend all day playing with it!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Thing #9 Merlin

I checked out Merlin and several other library blogs. Added one or two to my bloglines account.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Thing #8 RSS feeds

I've gotten my blogline account set up and have subscribed to several feeds. I could see where RSS feeds could be valuable particularly if you like to get news or other information on the computer. It's much easier than traveling from site to site plus you get the current information and don't waste time looking at the old stuff.
I have also added several of my coworker's blogs for 23Things to my blogline. This way I can see what others are saying as they do activites. It helps me know what to expect when I get around to doing the activity.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Thing #7 Using technology - Digital cameras

I've slowly been learning to use technology. Probably the type of technology I use the most at this moment is my digital camera. I love being able to see my pictures before I order prints and it comes in handy to be able to email photos of my children to aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends who live far away. After exploring Flickr and the other mash-ups, I'm beginning to think about ways I can use these tools with my digital photos. My only concern is being careful about pictures of my young children being posted in public places.

Thing #6 Mash-ups

Thing #6
I've checked out several of the mash-ups and and tools at Flickr. Some of FD toy's applications were fun to use. It was amusing to look at the trading cards that other librarians have created. Perhaps I'll create a librarian trading card sometime.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Tufted Titmouse


Tufted Titmouse
Originally uploaded by The Nature Nook
I decided I had to add a picture of the Tufted Titmouse to my blog. It's been my favorite bird ever since I was a child when I saw one bird plucking hair from my dogs back while the dog slept. It may not be as colorful as some other birds, but they are bold little creatures.

By the way, I think I've pretty much manged to learn how to post pictures to my blog from Flickr. Time to move on to the next skill.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

pretty colours


pretty colours
Originally uploaded by twoHands
Yummy cupcakes! I want one! Oh the calories!

Bees? What bees?


Bees? What bees?
Originally uploaded by Giorgos V.
This bug looks so cool! I like the perspective.

I posted a picture on my Blog!

I feel so proud of myself. With the help of Amanda W., I figured out how to get a picture from Flickr on to my library blog. I still need a little more practice before I feel confident but I think I can figure it out. I've been looking at some of the Toys you can use to manipulate photos. Looks like you could do some fun things with them - just need the time to play around with it.

Flickr

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

Monday, June 25, 2007

First impressions about Flickr

I've been looking at Flickr today and learning about it. There are some really cool pictures in the "interestingness" section. I could see where you could use Flcikr to share photos with family and friends particularly if you've got friends and family living in different parts of the world who want to keep in touch with each other. Of course they have to have computers and be willing to get online.
It's been a bit of hassle getting set up with flicker. I had to get a Yahoo account. I've gotten a Flickr account. Hopefully next time I'll manage to import a picture from Flickr on to my blog.

It would really be helpful if I had a person assigned as a "coach" here locally to ask questions when I get stuck. For example in the tracking log it mentions "Blog Post Permalink URL". I had no idea what that was and its not mentioned in any of the instructions on 23 Things.
I'm moving through this gradually. I'm figuring it out, but it takes awhile.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Habits of Lifelong learners

Of the habits for successful learners the last habit, "play", is probably the habit I do best. When given the time, I'll fiddle around with something until I figure it out. That's how I've learned most of what I know about arts and crafts, gardening and computers. Actually trying to do it is how I learn best. The habit I'm probably weakest at is viewing problems as challange. Sometimes if I get stuck on something, I just give up. If something doesn't force me to keep going, I not return to it for a long time. For example, many years ago I was learning to do cross stitch. I had completed all the cross stitch except for a few French knots that needed to be done. I didn't know how t0 do the French knots and the directions were confusing me. So I just stopped. That project sat uncompleted for years until one day when I came across it. In the meantime because of some other experiences, I had learned how to do French knots. I finally completed the project. Of course part of the the issue may really be I didn't have the tools or resources to help me when I came to the problem.

My first post

I did it. I've now set up my blog. It wasn't too hard, I just needed the time to sit and figure it out. I'm not sure what I'm gonna type about, I'll figure it out as I go along.