On to Something New!

The 23 Things has gotten me into a learning mode. I hurried to finish them before Wednesday's deadline because I signed up for an 8-week Spanish class. The class starts tomorrow night. I don't have a particular reason for taking the class and don't have a strong interest in learning Spanish, but the class was available at the right time and I feel like doing something new!

Thing #23

I just finished the 23 Things survey and sent my completion e-mail to Metronet.

I have been so impressed with this program! I did it at home, because I don't have a lot of extra time at work.

One of the best features of the Things are the participants' blogs. I enjoyed reading my coworkers' blogs and I used them as a resource when I found myself getting stuck on an activity.

I liked the exposure to so many different topics. The Things are a great introduction to Library 2.0. We covered a lot of ground very quickly. I think we have to do that to stay even remotely up-to-date in this ever-changing web environment.

I would love to see more trainings like this one. Thank you, Metronet and Ann!

Reblogging Thing #22

I wrote a post for Thing #22 and lost it. This is the first time it has happened to me since I started the 23 Things. Every other time my posts have been autosaved and I've found them by going to Edit Posts, but I couldn't find by Thing #22 post.

So, I'm going to continue to use Google Reader. I like it and check it once or twice each day. I want to do more with del.icio.us and get better acquainted with LibraryThing and Flickr. I'm still not confident about the photo sites and image generators.

I'm completely surprised by how many people have friended me on Facebook. I contacted three people to complete the exercise, but nine others have contacted me in the past day. I'll definitely stay with Facebook for a while.

I feel more confident about using these technologies overall. There has been a lot of conversation around the 23 Things in my library and people have been supportive of each other. I hope the group learning continues.

Moving Through Thing #21

Gather looked less youth-oriented than Facebook and MySpace. It looked like it could be rewarding if you put time into it. I don't get the Gather Points--the gift cards and cash thing though. I've looked at WebJunction in the past, but I haven't used it much.

I registered for Ning, joined a Ning group, and left a comment.

I really like last.fm. I bookmarked it months ago. I looked at Bake Space, What's on my Bookshelf, and Good Reads.

Thing #20 Again

Wow! I was right in thinking that Facebook could take up large amounts of time. I set up my account last night and have already gotten 17 Facebook-related e-mails. Way more than I expected! It is kind of fun though. I have nine Friends now, have written on a couple of walls, have been poked again (still dumb!), and have been sent more photos.

Working on Thing #20

I watched the Common Craft video and set up a Facebook account. I sent requests to be friends to my husband, daughter, and a coworker. Then, I left the house for three hours. When I returned, I found e-mails from my husband and daughter--they accepted my friend invitation and wrote on my wall. I also found friend invitations from my nephew and one of my kids' friends.

As I've been writing this, I've been poked and poked back (pretty dumb!) and I wrote on a wall. I've also been tagged in a photo on a my husband's Facebook account! I can see that if you add a lot of friends, you could spend way too much time on this!

I joined the group Librarians and Facebook and the American Library Association group.

I looked at MySpace and then viewed the Denver and Hennepin County MySpace pages. Both were very impressive!

Getting Current with Thing #19

I listened to podcasts from MPR and ended up adding The Current Song of the Day from 89.3 to my Google Reader account. I looked at most of the directories. I'm not sure which one I prefer. I'm hearing more and more about podcasts, so I'm sure I'll be using the directories again.

The YouTube Thing--Thing #18

I never go to YouTube and just browse, but I'll look at videos that people recommend to me. My husband showed me the one embedded in this exercise just last night--someone had recommended it to him.

For Thing #18, I watched the librarian Grand Marches, I did a few subject searches, and followed the link to embed a YouTube video in a blog. However, I didn't sign up for an account. The embedding instructions seemed easy to follow, so it feels like something I could do without too many snags.

One of the questions I have as I work my way through these Things is how to identify copyrighted graphics and what is the appropriate level of citing when you import graphical material into a blog.

On to Thing #17

I've used the ELM databases for years without realizing that you could get podcasts and radio broadcasts. I did a general keyword search in the student edition of Infotrac using the words "audio file" and was surprised by the results.

I looked at Ebsco's folder feature, but I must have been looking at the wrong time. I couldn't get the sign-in page to load. The Proquest "create a web page" feature was fun and interesting and was also new to me.

I have not registered for a NetLibrary account at the library, so I can't access it remotely right now. This will be something to try later.

Pondering Thing #16

I don't see many public library applications for the assignment calculators. We don't get that heavily involved in homework assignments, but I would guess that they could be very useful in a school library. They seem like valuable resources for the right kind of student. I like the detailed breakdowns of each step in the project process. The calculators probably motivate some students and reassure others.

Ahoy Mateys! It's Thing #15

Okay, I have to confess that I tried Puzzle Pirates very early on in my foray through the Things. I created a cute pirate girl and played the game. I was much more interested in the Puzzle Quest game I was playing on my DS, so I didn't save my character and never revisited Puzzle Pirates.

I've played a range of video games on the Wii, Playstation, and older Nintendo systems. My favorites are puzzle games like Puzzle Quest or the Tetris version where you rescue the professor. I've tried a couple of versions of Final Fantasy and similar games and find them a little frustrating, so I'm guessing that Second Life is not the game for me. I don't quite get the appeal of virtual reality games. I was given a copy of Nintendogs as a gift. Boring! I have enough to do without adding virtual chores to my list!

My favorite online game right now is Zoo Keeper. It's addictive!

I think gaming definitely has a place in the public library. We've done a few gaming programs for teens and will be doing more of them this spring. I suspect that games like Wii bowling would be a hit with seniors.

The LibraryThing Thing (#14)

I've been hearing a lot about LibraryThing over the past six months and haven't done more than glance at it. So, I set up an account and made a list of some of my favorite classic picture books. I copied the list into my blog.

I don't have any urge to catalog my books or to keep a reading list, so I'm having a hard time understanding the attraction of LibraryThing. I do like to read about books and authors. Usually when I want information, I look for websites. Most recently, I've been reading up on Margery Allingham after listening to some of her books on CD. Maybe I didn't go far enough into LibraryThing, but it doesn't seem to have the kind of information I want.

Return to Thing #13

I looked at calendars, but decided not to sign up for any. I use Outlook's shared calendar at work, iCal at home, a Franklin planner for work and home combined, a Palm calendar and a cute calendar on my refrigerator.

My Franklin planner is still my most reliable calendar, but I don't necessarily record all of my personal events on it. I tend to update my shared calendar at work once or twice a month--whenever I think of it. And, I'm always in trouble with the people at home for not recording events in the shared family calendar on iCal.

I signed up for a Ta Da List account, but don't really see why it's any more useful than typing a list in Word. I looked at Remember the Milk and wished I had gone there first. It looks like fun! But, I don't want to sign up for another list, so I'm going to let it go.

Backpack looked interesting. I have a large family and have been thinking that it would be nice to have an online interactive method of group communication.

I believe I'll stay with my paper Post-It notes. They are quick and easy; multi-colored, sized, and shaped; and very portable. They can reside by my terminal (don't have to think about for a while) or my phone (deal with this soon) or the edge of my desk (take care of this today) or the edge of my planner (urgent!). What more do I need?

More on Thing #13

I looked at the iGoogle, PageFlakes, and My Yahoo options for customizing a home page and changed the page on my home computer to My Yahoo. I liked the combination of national and local news, weather, and TV listings.

I'm getting too tired to go on to part 2 of this Thing, but I am curious about the Post-It notes. I keep organized at work by a combination of weekly to-do lists and Post-It notes. Tomorrow, maybe!

Ready for Thing #13

I've read the introduction to Thing #13 and am already wondering if I'll find anything I can use at work. I already use a shared calendar on Outlook. Since I'm used to Microsoft Office, I'm not sure why I'd want to switch to online office tools.

I'll forge on...

Thing #12

I looked at Reddit, Digg, Mixx, and Newsvine, but didn't want an account with any of them. The Reddit concept of filtered content based on my likes and dislikes does not appeal to me at all. Of the four, Newsvine looked the most interesting. It looked like a site I might enjoy.

I get most of my news online now. I've bookmarked the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, CNN, BBC, Kare 11, Star Tribune, and Pioneer Press websites and try to cruise through them in the morning while I drink my coffee. I enjoy comparing the headline news and feature stories--they can be very different from website to website.

I'm not sure how any of the four (Reddit, Digg, Mixx, and Newsvine) could be used in my library.

Revisiting Thing #8

I hated to give up on the Flickr badges exercise, so I went back to it this morning. My husband directed me to the Layout feature on the dashboard and I was able to import my hastily-made badge into my blog.

Thing #11 Is Done!

I spent an hour working my way through Thing #11 yesterday, but decided not to register for an account. I rethought that decision overnight and went back to Thing #11 tonight. I can't believe the number of typos and stupid mistakes I made trying to register for an account. I finally got it right though and linked and tagged a couple of websites.

I'm not sure how much I'll actually use del.icio.us. I have bookmarked very different sites at home and at work. I don't need my home bookmarks at work and usually don't need my work bookmarks at home. So, I don't really care if all my bookmarks are in one place.

I try to keep bookmarked sites to a minimum on my desktop--I've mainly bookmarked news sites at home and library-related sites at work. Del.icio.us might be a way for me to keep track of interesting sites. I'll have to think about it.

Thing #11

Tracy Arm Fjord
Originally uploaded by manofwywbt

I feel like I climbed a mountain with Thing #11! It took me forever to get it right when I registered for a del.icio.us account.

Thing #10

I viewed the Common Craft video on wikis. One of my co-workers uses a wiki for a team trivia activity, but I've never considered using one for travel planning. A wiki might work well for coordinating big family get-togethers, especially the ones where everyone brings food. I'll have to think about it.

We're using wikis in limited ways at work. Some of the librarians have piloted a reference wiki for staff use.

I added a comment to the 23 Things on a Stick wiki.

In Pursuit of Thing #9

I've been caught up in an online game called Zoo Keeper. I've been spending my free time trying to get past level 8 instead of working on the 23 Things.

I looked at Google Docs and Zoho and at the edited Declaration of Independence. After reading several comments on the difficulties people experienced trying to edit the document I decided that I would not send an e-mail requesting permission to edit.

I'm going to move on...

Reluctant Return to Thing #8

I went to the Twins game after work last night and avoided Thing #8, but I'm determined to make some progress tonight. I've been fooling around with Flickr badges. Since I only have three photos on Flickr, I tried using the Everyone's option, but didn't want to take the time to find photos I really liked. I went back to my cat photos and made a badge. I copied and pasted the html code into this post, but the photos did not show up. I asked my son for help and this is the first time that he was not able to solve the problem for me with a couple of mouse clicks. So, I'm moving on!

I tried to look at the Award Winning Fiction database on Lazybase, but the page was taking so long to load that I gave up. I looked at eFolio and hmmm....it didn't really resonate with me. I followed the link to 50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story--since I can barely cope with one or two ways, 50 was way more than I could even browse.

Thing #8 reinforced the Flickr lesson and did demonstrate the seemingly endless possibilities for photo sharing and photo editing.

I Have to Stop Avoiding Thing #8

I've been sidetracked by Easter (38 for dinner at my house) and by the PLA Conference, but it's time to tackle Thing #8. I've read the description several times, but find the many parts of this one rather daunting. I'm just not that interested in photos and design tools. So, I decided to approach this piece by piece, even if it takes me a week to get through it all.

I viewed the slideshow "Web 2.o Tools in Your Classroom" and the Thumbstacks presentation and I looked briefly at the other two presentation sites. I'm not sure why I would use a web-based presentation tool--PowerPoint works well for me right now.

I looked at Picture Trail and thought about signing up for an account so I could do a Bling Maker photo of my cats. But, I decided not to sign up for an account I would not use again. Picture Trail did have some fun options.