#16 Learn about wikis

Most of the links on this "thing" are dead links. One that is still active is the Bull Run Library wiki and there is a YouTube link on this site entitled "Wikis in Plain English". It is a clear description of the functionality of wikis. A children's librarian programming wiki is in the beginning stages which will be posted on our intranet. This will be very useful because J staff will be able to add all sorts of ideas and resources for programs. It will be a great time saving device when it gets up and running. It will be a wonderful place to compile all the great ideas and resources our staff has to share.

Thing #9

I am now subscribing to librarian.net, Resource Shelf, and the Shifted Librarian on my bloglines account.

Thing #23 - A Long Journey

I've reached the end and it's been quite a journey. I've learned about many new technologies and that has been great because we certainly need to keep up as best we can. The frustrating piece were the dead links, but this program has been operating since 2007 so that is to be expected I suppose. Now when I see the little icons on web pages and internet providers home pages, I will have some idea of other services they provide. It will be fun to keep up with the rss feeds, to make use of the downlaodable audiobooks, and to continue exploring the Web 2.0 awards page.I imagine the best way to provide training in new technologies like this is the "discovery process" because the possiblities are so limitless. I have registered with Library 2.0 and Merlin so hopefully that will help me to keep up with some of the many new techologies out there.

#21 Podcasts

I enjoyed listening to a couple of podcasts that I located on podcast.com. They were postings from Nancy Pearl's "Book Lust" program. I listened to interviews with Tracy Kidder where he talked about his favorite children's books which were baseball titles by John Tunis. The period of history he would like to travel to was Cuba during Hemingway's stay there. I listened to Nancy Pearl's interview with Paul Zelinsky where he talked about his art career and travels in Italy http://podcast.com/show/31762/Book-Lust-with-Nancy-Pearl/. I tried some other links to podcast directories but they were dead links.

#20 YouTube

YouTube is a great site. When I was helping to search for my daughter's wedding music, I used it frequently to help select the music and how it would be performed. I could check for the song and then check type of instrument (trumpet, harp, organ, etc.). It was very useful in selecting the type of performance we wanted. The students who performed a duet at the wedding even posted their performance on YouTube. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah6mwmToDG8

#17 Sandbox Wiki

I tried to get into the Sandbox Wiki and e-mailed the administrator but I never got a response. I did google "sandbox wiki" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tutorial_(Wikipedia_links)/sandbox) and discovered that a sandbox wiki is an experiment with using a wiki, without the contents being posted.

Overdrive/Gutenberg/Thing #22

Reading the introductory information to Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page was very interesting. I had no idea you could volunteer to be a reader or digitize books for this project. I was also interested to see that the vast majority of the top 100 books and authors downloaded were classic authors and titles. This is probably because of school assignments, but it's good to see that the classics are still being read and listened to. I also created an account in NetLibrary and explored the Overdrive site. I downloaded children's books from both of these sites and listened to parts of them with my grandson.

Thing 19 - 2.0 Awards List

I checked out SEOmoz.org Web 2.0 "Awards Zeitgeist" and focused in on their recommended travel site "farecast" and that sent me to Bing.com. It has some interesting features like the ability to give price predictions for travel within a certain window. It can maneuver dates, locations, and length of stay to give the best price for a vacation. But the destinations for this calculation are limited. There is a blog attached and it searches multiple discounters for best prices. The second ranked site is Kayak which I have used occasionally. I still think I like Trip Advisor the best because it gives number rankings of hotels and lots of cutomer comments and evaluations. This was not mentioned on SEOmoz.

Google Docs/Online Productivity Tools Thing #18

I loaded a file on Google Docs and here is the link http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AUGGkeCBdD-pZGZkeHhmMjJfMmM5YmoyemQ0&hl=en. This will be very useful with our computer users especially since we no longer can use floppy discs. I will certainly remember to suggest this. Zoho was a little problematic. It seems to kick me out--but the introduction sounds useful.

Thing #9

I have now subscribed to the MERLIN site. This is a great way to keep up with what is going on in the state and I love the links to possible training sites. This will be invaluable to me in the future. Also, all the Maryland county public library social networking sites are linked on Merlin as well. I have been investigating Technorati and the others mentioned. I think I prefer Technorati. It's easy with the search box and I was quickly able to find subjects of interest not to mention other fascinating topics on the sidebars. Check out my posting in Thing #14. Their "Top 100" is very intriguing.

Thing #15

I read several posts about Library 2.0 which were fasciniating. Beginning with Wikipedia which gave the definition as "a modernized form of library service" whose focus is "on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community" with "the need to adopt a strategy for constant change while promoting a participatory role for the library user." They quoted an LJ article which said Library 2.0 was a "more efficient way of delivering services to achieve greater returns on financial investments." The biggest concerns around Library 2.0 are technology, privacy, and security. According to Michael Stevens, the Librarian 2.0 plans for all users, embraces Web 2.0 tools, controls technolust, makes good, yet fast decisions, is a trendspotter, and gets content. Rick Anderson says we have to row our library boat into the Web 2.0 environment and avoid three icebergs. They are the "just in case collection", reliance on user education (we need to eliminate all barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need), and the "come to us" model of library service (we need to integrate our services into our patrons daily patterns of living). Finally Dr. Wendy Schultz defines everything from Library 1.0 to Library 4.0. She defines Library 4.0 as the neo-library experience which absorbs everything in Library 1.0 through 3.0 and "will add a new mode, knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thoughts." We are certainly part of a dynamic profession!

Technorati

I investigated Technorati and was amazed at all the blogging that's going on out there. This is a helpful site in that it organizes a huge number of blogs. It includes things like videos, the "top 100", and a variety of subjects are posted like "lifestyle, entertainment, etc." I used the search box to find "Web 2.0" posts. There were 19 and one that was quite interesting entitled "3 X 5 Learning" discussed the effectiveness of individualized learning/instruction using Web 2.0. After spending the alloted time, I realized it's possible to spend an endless amount of time searching blogs of personal interest. This would be a good tool to recommend to some of our customers.

Del.icio.us

I have just begun to use this valuable tool. The great thing is it's portable. I can access it anywhere. I will have to begin to load my bookmarks from home and then I can use this wherever I go. I have just started with a few useful websites, but I will definitely have to add to this later. http://delicious.com/muriwrites

Rollyo

I have created my own search tool with Rollyo and added a couple interesting topics. It's amazing all the resources available on this site.http://rollyo.com/murigill/ I will certainly continue to add things to this dashboard when I complete my training, but for now I try the next"thing".

Library Thing

This will be an efficient way to keep track of the books I am reading and to see what others are reading as well. http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mjgill

Online Image Generator

After trying other sites, I found Yahoo the easiest to create my avatar. I look a few years younger, so that's great! Here's the result.

Trading Card

I've been having fun with some Flickr fun and mashups. This is the result of my experimenting with trading cards at http://bighugelabs.com/deck.php.

Flickr experience

I have downloaded some beach pictures from a previous vacation and experimented with layout options and titles for my photos. Check this out http://www.flickr.com/photos/muriwrites/
There are many options for creating interesting things with family photos by uploading them directly from my home computer to my new Flickr account.

Facebook is fun!

I've really enjoyed my new Facebook account. I get automatic e-mails to remind me to wish my friends "happy birthday". The best part is seeing video clips of my grandsons as they travel. The most exciting one was watching my 9 month old grandson pull up for the first time. I didn't even miss this big event thanks to Facebook.

Pointers from Lifelong Learners

There were some good tips on this site. I liked the the emphasis on putting the learner first and that we are in control of our outcome. One of my challenges in the 7 steps is to view problems as challenges. I like step 7 1/2 - "play" also be curious and read.

Bloglines Account Established

Now I set up a bloglines account and subscribed to two RSS feeds. Can't wait to check out all the info that pours in. It should be interesting. I'll be looking at Library Stuff and USA Today.com Nation - top stories. I've added more to my bloglines account and published it now. Check it out. http://www.bloglines.com/public/Muri