Thing 23 - Ending Contemplations

My favorite site from this collection of exercises was wordle. I had seen it used before but had never tried my own hand at it. But I really love how easy it is and how fun it is to mess around with the fonts and organization to totally change the feel of the collection of words. But beyond the fun parts, I think this collection of 23ish things to know about has been a little eye-opening for me. Usually I stay with the websites I am comfortable with. And the applications and options I don't know about stay that way until I need some random things like a trading card of myself for a project. To learn about all the different options of ways to organize or socially interact with information has showed me just how diverse the options really are. I am glad to be able to file away many of these different tools, or at least the ideas of the tools, for opportunities in the future. And this knowledge will go well with all the other ideas and concepts I pull out in my learning environments in the classroom and my practical life out in the library environment and beyond.

I think the format of this workshop was well laid out. Anyone could easily follow the instructions or links to complete the assignments and all the different concepts were well explained. One big thing infiltrating all different aspects of life is social networking so an inclusion of some type of technology relating to that might be a useful addition to other workshops in the future, possibly?

Oh, and thanks to whoever organized, put-together, discovered, correlated, worked through, experimented with, and decided upon all the 23 things to do with this exercise!

Thing 22 - Tumblebooks

I looked through Tumblebooks on our own OPL kids page and was surprised by what the ebooks really entailed. I was expecting the click through the pages of the picture books just like I click through the pages of regular adult ebooks I read online. However here, they slide and flash and move the pictures all around, almost like a movie. It reminded me of the stories read on Reading Rainbow when I was a kid, where they showed the actual pictures but made them more animated and full of motion instead of static pictures. Quite entertaining. And quite a find that I had no idea OPL had!

One frustration I had with it was the slower loading time without notes to the reader that the loading is still taking place. When the first picture came up, I automatically assumed the whole book was loaded. However I found that the title page really was supposed to give you something to look at while the book loaded. A small "loading" bar would help with this small misunderstanding I would think.

Thing 21- Podcasts

I've listened and downloaded hundreds of different types of podcasts in the past, so for this thing, I opted to not actually download the software in order to access a new podcast for this exercise. However, I did go and look through the podcastalley directory and found it to be pretty useful. I'll post a link here to a podcast I would like to access from a different computer when I have time. So for ease of access: http://www.dakineguild.net/hgp/hgppca.xml.

There are many obvious ways that the library could be using the concept of podcasts. Letting users upload their own to promote or talk about their recent reads or favorite books would be one way. Or the podcast technology could be useful for promoting different community activities or library events to more technologically-active users; or even to work in conjunction with nearby school environments of learning and interaction with information and technology. A very useful tool.

Thing 20- Youtube. The ever present video viewing medium of my generation

What I would like from YouTube is some sort of tagging system. They have similar movies along the side which might possibly lead to the movie you are looking for, or might not. But unless you know a very similar title to search for the exact clip you are looking for, you might not be able to find it.

I'll post a video a couple of my friends put together in what is most entertaining part of Youtube, all the people I know who are on there.

Let's stir up some friendly competition - Thing 19

I looked through the site NowPublic.com. It is a site which is comprised of world news, reports, pictures, facts, opinions and breaking stories of anyone who wants to post on the site. I read through the ranking system and was intrigued by what the site is actually out to achieve. It states that "the more you contribute and get involved, the more you’ll move up". Anyone can post and move up in getting points to move their stories higher up in the leader board and onto the front page. I liked how this work as any person is given the chance to tell the rest of the reading world whatever they have found out or think the others need to know. However, I do know that because of how the information is submitted, it would be harder for me to take what I read there and believe it fully. It would take more research on top of it to gain the authority needed for the information read.

I'm not sure how this concept would fit into the library world. There are many libraries which already do many wonderful interactive pages for book reviews or to facilitate community involvement. Maybe people like to work for points, though. And for bragging rights. And if we assigned points or stars to each person who posted reviews or made comments, it would spark more competition and therefore more interaction?? I like that idea...

Thing 18 - Googledocs

As I looked through Google-docs I was struck with how much more it resembled an email creation screen reather than a Word docuement interface. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, I'm still not sure since I was expecting a little more intense interface to write in. But regardless, I still see this as having great potential for use in the future. I especially like the option it gives you to always have access to the document no matter what computer you are working at instead of worrying where it is saved or not. A good tool which seems very useful for real life needs.

Thing 17

Not sure if we are supposed to blog about Thing 17 but I will anyway. I posted on the favorite blog page and then tried posting on the favorite vacation page. Interesting way to gather information or ideas...

Thing 16 - wikis

For me the most interesting ways to use a wiki is in the more creative ways that are interesting to many different types of people. I especially loved the concept of the booklovers wiki found at http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library because of how it got a large variety of people involved in editing and adding content in the forms of books reviews and analysis points. The wikis concerning AlA conference and ones on library success are useful as well, but they don't have the same excitement as the booklovers wiki. They only focus on getting already involved librarians involved in the posting and editing in the wiki and therefore are less outreach oriented. Helpful and useful in their own right but definitely not as fun or as interesting to most library patrons to be using.

And looking at this wiki in particular really made me want one for "my" library. How sweet would that be to be able to read comments on books and magazines from my own fellow Omahaian books lovers?!

Thing 15 - Library 2.0

The term Library 2.0 DOES mean many things to many people. However, for me it elicits images of a higher tech library than the one we all work in now. Library 2.0 would seem to be the information portal which is not held down by the four red brick walls but is much more interactive with other nontraditional forms of retrieving or using information. Like this whole series of web 2.0 options. I have seen many different forms of technology which could be very useful in marketing or building the usability of the current library for our patrons and for ourselves as well. Now to get that ball rolling towards making library 2.0 a reality....

Thing 14 - technorati again

In looking at technorati again, I still am not totally impressed with this technology option. I tried the different searches as we were told to do, and did not return many different results. The tagging in technorati also seemed normal to all other tagging options I have been in contact with. Overall, still not impressed with this tool.

Maybe my apathy to this web tool is tied to my disinterest in most blogs. A select few interest me for their content or scope or for the authority of the author(s), but I do not spend enough time online reading blogs or trying to find blogs to read, that technorati would be of much use to me. However, if one was into reading different blogs or into working on keeping up with that kind of news, this would be a good tool to use.

Not yummy but at least it's useful: Delicious, Thing 13

I browsed through Delicious and was intrigued by the capabilities of such a tool. I especially was drawn in by the beelerspace comment about how similar delicious was to gmail with its flat hierarchy. I love how flat hierarchy works as well, as I am able to quickly move from idea to idea, from piece of information to piece of information without continually switching folders or frames or whatever might be organizing all the little pieces. And with clouds of tags to quickly glance over, I see many different similar topics which I hadn't thought of before, kind of like the search tactic used by library patrons to look for similar books on the shelf around the book they found in the catalog. Overall, a useful tool to remember for the future!

Originally skeptical -- Thing 12

Originally I was skeptical of what use rollyo would be to me or to others I know. So I put together a quick compilation of the searches I do online every once in a while. And after I put together the rollyo of searches I was surprised at how convient the search engine really was. Instead of searching each recipe site individually, I can now search them all together for whatever elusive random recipe I might need. So I will concede, this IS quite a resource!


http://rollyo.com/svan3/definitive_recipes/

Shelving on librarything - Thing 11

First off I should say that I was quite disappointed with the searching capabilities on librarything. I guess I have turned into too much of an information professional and love too much the ability to refine searches and hone in on what I actually want. With librarything all I can search is title or author separately, definitely not in conjunction with each other, a quite annoying way for me to try to find the obscure or random or even popular titles I wanted to add to my library shelf. If anyone found a better way to search the sight, please do share!

Other than that aspect, I found librarything a really fun tool and program to play around with. I can see how others call it addicting, once I started adding the obligatory five books to my shelf, I kept thinking of other favorite books I really wanted to add and tag, and of some books I recently read or want to read in the future. I think I have heard people talking of using their librarything account as the resource to help keep track of books they want to read next?

I searched for a way to link my catalog to my blog. But I couldn't find anything in the time length I had. So I'll just paste in the html code and see what shows up in the post....

Thing 10 - Wordle

I love the way that Wordle looks. Huge words and different colors all randomly placed together in a haphazard but understandable way. Here I did a poem called The Roads by C. S. Lewis. The wordle picture doesn't quite do the poem justice in my opinion - not enough feeling and emotion - just the blunt words. But it still does evoke some of the artistry of the poem.

Thing 9

I decided to compare and contrast the three listed blog search engines for the Thing 9 assignment. I did a very basic search of the term "cataloging". What I found:

Technorati -- Any results I got from this search engine were more "popular" or in effect, useless posts which had the word cataloging randomly in them. None seemed to relate to the library. which is not totally surprising given the general keyword I used for searching, but still, I expected something at least remotely resembling a useful blog. This also has a very busy layout and set of advertisements. However, the descriptions or first lines were very helpful to telling what would or would not be useful to me.

Syndic8 -- I found a couple blogs here which I actually may find useful in my cataloging class. The layout was very basic and I could see myself maybe even using this search screen when needing blogs. However, it would be more useful to have some sort of extra description or information to use to analyse the results instead of just the blog name or url.

Topix -- similar to technorati. It would be good for finding popular sites or blogs but not for searching for specific or specialized blogs.

Maybe I am just too used to indepth database searching which makes these search engines much lower key than I would find initially useful. However, they seem a good start to finding blogs online. And since I was unaware that they even existed, it's a good resource to store away for future use.

Accomplishment is a sweet victory: Thing 8

I finally got my bloglines account functional which was an encouraging accomplishment for my day. I like the ideas of the chance to look at only the information interesting to me. And I already use RSS feeds from various subjects I am researching for my classes and for different blogs I follow of friends and family. Both option save me a lot of time of clicking through various webpages to see if any changes have come up. It's kind of like our library hold system where I tell people multiple times not to keep coming it to see if their hold is in. "We'll CALL you when it comes in", I tell them. Of course this is a huge way for them to save time.

An attempt at Thing 8

I've spent the last half hour trying to get registered for bloglines but it won't let me get past the first page. A little bored with this "thing". So I picked out the feeds I WOULD register for if I could actually get an account but...

I am such an impatient person with slow computers and slow connections.

...

Checking for progress yet again ... Nope. Still nothing going on on the bloglines site...

Thing 7

I know I take my knowledge of technology, as limited as it might be, for granted. The ease with which I type, and use my laptop's touch pad, not to mention how I toggle easily through multiple screens and windows at the same time is actually a skill which not everyone has. It all seems effortless to me to be so comfortable with windows and powerpoint, even to understand how to set up this blog and not be intimidated by the concept of posting or commenting. But that's because I do it all the time and I have been doing it for many years by now. Each day I always find myself trying out some new concept of technology, or skimming through some new piece of information or engaging in a learning moment. My attitude has always been to jump into things and learn as I go and this obviously comes in handing in the world of rapidly changing mediums, options and updated technology. So is new technology good? Quite. And the attempt to help others understand how to use it as well? Crucial.

Thing 6 with a trading card

I decided to try the trading card mashup and was entertained by the process and the result. Since the template was already set up, it took me only a few minutes to acquaint myself with what the card should look like and how the process was done. Then a couple minutes contemplating a quick look at what I would look like on a trading card and there we go ...

I could see myself wasting many hours creating and playing around with mashups and their capabilities so I better move onto the next thing...

Thing 5 - A glimpse of a moment in my life from Flickr

I am very intrigued by the whole world of flickr. I love pictures and the beauty that can be found in each small glimpse of a bitty piece of the world. So here's a small piece of my world, or should I say a link to a small piece of my world. Check out the picture of the Criss Library at http://www.flickr.com/photos/overduebook/252470742/

And the explanation. Whenever I tell my friends I work at the library they automatically think I work at this one, the academic library on UNO campus. So I have to set them straight, "no, not THE library. the public library." But regardless of whether I work there or not, I still spend a large portion of my time sitting by this huge wall of glass picture windows, watching the students meander by, the leaves fall from the trees across the street, and the large amount of homework pile up around my laptop.

And I was excited to find a picture of the library (actually multiple ones) on flicker. It makes this network seem a lot more real to -- that there are real pictures on there by real people. Not just artistic and professional views of the world which are shown in vibrant colors and happy children in perfect poses. Here's my world. It's on flickr too.

Also as another side note. I loved how many tags one could attach to each picture. The vast number that each picture can be searched by really gets the searcher and the cataloger in me excited. :]

A blog is begun in Week 2

Not Just a Clerk Explained:
I was called out at the last staff day that I was NOT "just a clerk" but that each library employee was important and crucial in their own section of the library. So I decided that my blog will at least start out with a focus on that concept. Even if I am "just" a clerk in name, I definitely will not be so in all that I know and do around the library. So here's to Web 2.0 and all that I will interact with in my perusal and achievements as a library and information professional.

Week 1

I found this list of 7 ½ ways to be a life long learning to be very interesting and true. Without these mindsets, there is no way anyone would be able to grow and expand in their own personal lives. In my own life, I have especially learned the necessity of having a vision, or an end in mind, because without a vision, there is nothing to work towards, and therefore no arriving at the goal. And without any arriving, there is nothing to celebrate or feel accomplishment over. You will be continually stuck in the apprentice of yourself and never in a confident assessment and assurance of what you already know. Even if your end in mind is only a small little goal, it IS a goal to work towards and should be taken seriously. That being said, my goal for this web 2.0 learning session is to gain a greater confidence in the various areas presented and interacted with over the next couple weeks.