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The 23 Things

Above all, this was a FUN learning experience. I appreciated the opportunity to have a structured learning plan - it was the best way to learn about some of these things, which I never could have explored on my own. Personally, the most useful was Flickr, which I have already used to share my daughter's graduation photos with family. From a professional standpoint, the most useful would be Wikis (probably will be used in HCPL alot in the future) and the podcast and downloadable audio exercises, as this is something I can help patrons with.

I do intend to continue learning about technology, and would definitely take advantage of any future opportunities for discovery programs. I think the learn-at-your-own pace structure worked well, and the collaboration with co-workers made it fun. The format was fine with me, since I just completed LATI, which had a similar format. Thank you for this chance to learn.

Digital Media

I explored Project Gutenberg (more useful for reference desk than personally), Netlibrary and Overdrive. Netlibrary seems a bit more restrictive - I like the idea of being able to burn my audio books to a CD, which can be done on Overdrive. I also like that books can be downloaded by the chapter. I do not currently have an MP3 player, so I can't really try this out yet, but I am very much looking forward to completing the 23 things and receiving an MP3 player! I have never listened to an audio book before, but intend to try it out.

Podcasting

Listening to podcasts seems easy and fun - I had no problem subscribing (via bloglines) to 2 from NPR (including book reviews) and one Harry Potter related podcast. I listened to something from all 3 - although the Harry Potter one seems to contain alot of commercials. It really could take a great deal of time to explore this resource. I am familiar with podcasts as they have been part of the 23 Things training, and also LATI training.

Youtube, part deux

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8kd4fC1bwo

Horay! I was finally able to post the link to my chosen Youtube video - I believe, since I was working from home, that it had something to do with my home computer - it worked very well here at work.

As an interestng coincidence, I got the newsletter from my alma mater the other day, and on the cover, was one of the founders of Youtube, Chad Hurley, who turned out to also be a graduate of my alma mater (Indiana University of Pennsylvania). It was a very interesting article, and very informative concerning how innovative and focused many of these online pioneers are.

Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8kd4fC1bwo

This is a link to a video which is the trailer for a movie called "Hollywood Librarian". It appealed to me because of the humor, and setting a movie about libraries to rap music underscores that we CAN keep up with popular culture. As far as Youtube in general, to me it seems more like a toy, an amusement to pass the time. However, it can be fun, and a real time waster.http://">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8kd4fC1bwo

Well, somehow I managed NOT to make a link, but to embed the video - which I was going to try next. I don't know why I couldn't link to the video, but here it is.

Feeling silly

I just wanted to play around a bit on a Tuesday evening. We are a FUN bunch.

Web 2.0 Awards List

I chose Craigslist as my site to explore, because I had heard quite a bit about it, and had never used it. I was surprised at the breadth of offerings - even job postings. It was also interesting to see how many different cities have Craigslist - I even found it for my hometown of Erie, PA. Craigslist seems to be a very useful online want-ads tool.

Zoho Writer and Google Docs.

This is an application I could get really excited about - I think it would be wonderful to recommend to patrons in the library - students who are working together on projects, and patrons who are working on resumes, and have lost or broken the CD to save it to. This may be a keeper!

Untitled

This is a sample document - to see how web based applications really work.  What is interesting is the tool bars - I think this will take some getting used to.

MD Sandbox Wiki

This was an interesting exercise - I actually got some book ideas from someone's favorite books. Adding my blog to the list didn't go entirely smoothly - I hope I really am in there.

Wiki, wiki, wiki

It's just fun to say. I do think that wikis are the way of the future in terms of workplace collaboration. Each group needs to work out their own rules for ownership and ultimate decision making as to the final product, however I think wikis are a very valuable tool at work. I don't necessarily envision using them for any other purpose, however.

Library 2.0

I read all of the suggested articles, and many of the blog comments, with a great deal of interest. That is not to say that I agree with many of the assertions - however, I recognize in myself a certain scepticism and reluctance to jump into new things (especially only because they are new). I wholeheartedly agree that as librarians we need to be conversant in popular culture - however I think the immersion in the tech world has been overstated by those who gleefully embrace the new for it's own sake. One article argued that as their circulation had dropped by 55% over the past several years, the whole model of libraries (and owning of books and reference sources) should be changed. I do not believe HCPL has experienced such a drop in circulation, and from my own (admittedly unscientific) vantage point on the reference desk, I see that many patrons want what we are offering (books and access to subscription reference materials). That is not to say that we cannot continue to improve and "keep up" with technology - we absolutely should. I just do not see the clamoring for collaborative collections that Library 2.0 presupposes. As the parent of 2 college-aged children (son and daughter) I also do not observe among them or their friends the intense obsession with using the web for continuous self expression. They know how to use, but it is a tool for schoolwork, or a toy to spend a bit (not huge chunks) of time. They do assume that nearly anything should be online in some form.

I guess the viewpoint closest to my own is the article by Dr. Wendy Schultz "To a Temporary Place in Time". As in my earlier posting, I believe people are looking for community, a connection, and the "experience" of a library. I don't believe I am unique in enjoying the experience of actually holding a book in my hand - and I also don't think that is entirely a function of my age, although it may certainly be a factor. There is a blog posting under the article "11 Reasons Why Library 2.0 Exists and Matters" by tangognat which perfectly sums up my thoughts thus far. Essentially, it states that the average library patron is more concerned with mundane matters like library hours and book collections (and alas, DVDs) than with social software.

Technorati

When learning about the vast (unknown to me until now) world of blogging, and those who care passionately about it, I am mostly struck by one thing. People are LONGING to connect with others, to form a community, as their parents generation did with bowling leagues, social organizations like the Elks, and Church affiliations. To me it seems a shame, however, that face-to-face contact, and community involvement, have been cast aside for the lure of sitting alone in front of a computer screen, and reading the very often boring and banal opinions of others. I know I am, by far, not the first to observe this - but I can sense the very real desire for personal connection in many people I know, including myself. I do not denigrate the possibilities of Technorati and other sources for good, useful applications - and I do not intend to be negative - but a whole lot of wading through "stuff" is necessary to find anything useful. People long to matter, and to see their names and opinions in print, and certainly Web 2.0 at least gives them the latter.

del.icio.us

I don't quite know what I think about del.icio.us - although I find the name annoying, and just a little too pre.ci.ous. I certainly can see the utility of online bookmarking, for research, for personal use, for reference desk use. I think that Web 2.0 has become vast and overwhelming - and this may help to make some sense of all that's out there. Properly exploring this site could take a long time - as with so many of the tools we have been presented with in our 23 Things journey. I might try to use it for recipes, since I used Rollyo for travel.

Rollyo - again and again

Swampsong and I have done a whole lot of experimenting in an attempt to insert a hyperlink into our blogs. The steps seem to be as follows:

1. Make sure you are in "Compose".

2. Right Click on the Insert Link Icon on the toolbar - (it looks odd).

3. Paste the URL into the small searchbox, and say O.K.

4. Go into the body of the blog posting, and PASTE the URL in again.

Here it is: http://rollyo.com/beachylibrarian/travel_search/

Rollyo Part 2

http://www.rollyo.com/share.html

Swampsong and I are trying this again.

Rollyo

I have explored Rollyo a bit - it seems a bit of a nice toy - something I enjoy exploring, but not offering much that I can't do another way. I will continue to explore the suggested web sites that come up under the standard Searches - they seem to be quite useful. A link to my Travel search under Rollyo:

http://rollyo.com/beachylibrarian/travel_search/

Link to Library Thing

After a bit of trial and error (which definitely seems to be the rule, rather than the exception for me) I was able to post a link to Library Thing. I originally thought the link would be in a blog entry, rather than on the main page, which confused me for a bit. Once again, a CAREFUL reading of the instructions was in order - I'm glad I was successful in this.
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Library Thing

I can see where Library Thing will take a great deal of exploring. I just put a few books in without tags to see how it works - and then tried pasting the HTML code into this blog. At first, I thought only code would come through (as it has with Avatars and pictures) but was very pleased to see that the Random Books came through as promised. I especially enjoy the recommendations of other readers, and for one of my favorites "Peace Like a River" I was pleased to see that not only was this book enjoyed by many others, they had a great many suggestions of additional reading.