Week 9, Thing 23: Summary

I can't believe I managed to finish by the deadline! This experience has taught me that my time management skills have not improved much since my college days (I pulled many "all nighters" to finish papers on time). Despite my desire to follow the weekly outline of the 23 Things program, I have completed most of the program in the past two days, just in time for the deadline. I seem to work best under pressure, although I wish I had been able to spend more time over the past couple of months on some specific parts of the program. It has been a very worthwhile experience, and I feel more comfortable now with some of the new technologies. Although there are some that may not be useful to me personally, it is good to know what exists. I don't know that I had a favorite discovery or exercise, but the concept of tagging and the various ways it can be used was very enlightening. I also enjoyed the techical aspects of linking various accounts and uploading photos and videos to my blog.

It has been interesing reading about the debate over use of some of these technologies. We have a disclaimer to send to customers when we send something from Wikipedia in a chat session. Yet wikis can be an excellent method for conveying and updating information within a professional organization, for example. Blogs can also be a valuable collaborative tooI or a method of keeping a chronological record of a process. However, they can easily be misused by those who want to force their opinions on others. I think the important thing is to pick the correct tool for the correct purpose.

Although some of these new technologies are fascinating and enable anyone to easily have a wealth of information available in blogs, RSS feeds, etc., I wonder how many people actually have time to read all of the information they acquire. I have enough trouble keeping up with my email. There are some tools that I will definitely use, such as Del.icio.us, and others that may be useful for helping AskUsNow customers needing information that might be contained in blogs or best found with tags. I don't foresee any use for avatars or Rollyo, however.

It has been enjoyable to read about the variety of ways that libraries are adapting the Web 2.0 technologies. Now that I am more aware of the available tools, I will be considering how they might be applied to improve our library services. I am glad that I was able to complete this program and would like to participate in any future discovery programs like this. My only recommendation would be that a realistic time estimate be associated with each item. If I had realized how long each thing would take, I might have made a greater effort to start sooner and pace myself better.

Week 9, Thing 22: Downloadable audiobooks

I explored Project Gutenberg and was surprised to find so many audiobooks available for download. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to download anything to my Mac, nor could I find any help or explanation of whether it is even possible. This site should be a valuable source for students who have required reading for school assignments if they can download audiobooks from home.

Week 9, Thing 21: Podcasts

I looked at Podcast Alley. It seemed useful for browsing by genre or by keyword but not for searching for a specific podcast. I found it very confusing at first, although I was able to add it to my Bloglines account. I did a keyword search on "library" in Podcast Alley and got 126 podcasts. I added the RSS feed for "The Library Survival Guide" to my Bloglines Account. I also have iTunes and have already subscribed to many podcasts in the past. I did a search for one that I had found in Podcast Alley, and it was very simple to subscribe from within iTunes. It is now listed with my other podcasts. I find this easier than using Podcast Alley and copying to Bloglines.

Week 9, Thing 20: YouTube

I found this interesting video on YouTube, and after some searching, I figured out how to add the video to this blog.
It is a great example of morphing, and it must have been very complicated and time consuming to produce. The music accompaniment is a nice touch.

Week 8, Thing 19: Web 2.0 awards list

For this exercise, I explored Farecast, the 1st place winner in the Travel category. While similar to sites like Expedia and Priceline, which show you what flights are available for specific times and destinations and the associated prices, Farecast has additional features to help interpret these results. It allows you to compare results with Expedia, Hotwire, and Priceline. It shows the price range of all available flights and has a graph showing the recent history of price changes. It also includes a prediction of what will happen with the fares and advises whether to buy now or wait. It seems like a handy site which I intend to use for personal trip planning. I don't know how this site would be useful to libraries specifically except for finding the best prices for employee trips to library conferences.

Week8, Thing 18: Online productivity tools

The text below is a document I created with Zoho Writer. I wasn't impressed, but maybe I'll like it better when I learn more about it. I might also try Google Docs. I tried using the Publish feature to add the document to this blog, but nothing happened after I clicked on the Publish button, so I used Export instead and saved it as a text file on my desktop. Then I cut and pasted here -- not to elegant but it worked.

This is my first time using a web-based word processor. It seems that the font choices are somewhat limited, but myfavorite, Comic Sans, is here. I am going to try to publish this document to my blog as my blog post. I will try out some of the features first, like changing the font color. Well, that didn't work, and I don't see any Help to figure out how to do it . I was able to paste an emoticon though. However, I lost the font in the process and can't get it back. I was also able to add a tag. That's a nice feature. I will reserve judgment until I can find out more about how this word processor is supposed to function. For now I will just try posting to my blog.

Week 7, Thing 17: Add an entry to Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki

I logged into the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki. Unfortunately the "point and click" method for adding my blog to the Favorite Blogs does not work with my browser (Safari), so I just added my blog by editing the page source code, enclosing the URL and name in brackets like the other entries.

Week 7, Thing 16: Wikis

Wikis seem to be a good choice for any project requiring collaboration, especially if the members of the group are not all in one place. Committee projects and library workplans could probably make use of wikis. In exploring the SJCPL Subject Guides wiki, it seemed quite similar to BCPL's InfoCenters. A wiki might be an easier-to-update method of providing this information. To deal with the problem of security and authority, the SJCPL wiki restricts editing to librarians. I liked the additional features of having links to other services such as Ask a Librarian and the On Our Shelves component, with pathfinders to the catalog. I liked the idea of Princeton's Book Lovers ' wiki. Creating a place for people to supply book reviews is a good application for a wiki. Posting requires a subscription and password, which may reduce the potential for vandalism. The Library 2.0 in 15 Minutes a Day wiki has some good content, but it is a bit difficult to follow. The tutorials are listed twice on the same page, and there is no apparent sequence of activities. I find the 23 Things blog more useful for keeping track of what I have done and what remains. On the other hand, the wiki puts related topics together, and it is easy to link directly to any item of interest. I think this wiki is a good reference and review tool.

A particularly useful feature of wikis is the history tab, which automatically tracks all changes that have been made

Week6, Thing 15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries

Although the exercise was to read 2 or 3 of the perspectives, I read all of them, as well as several of the discussions listed. This is a fascinating subject, with many aspects to consider. I agreed with most of the points mentioned in Into a new world of librarianship. Michael Stephens' strategy guide for librarians to help users find information makes sense, and most of these strategies are probably being used by well informed and conscientious librarians already. I also agreed with the suggestions for improvements in metadata in To better bibliographic services. I was more critical of the Away from the "icebergs" article, however. In listing impediments to serving patrons in a changing world, Rick Anderson seems to ignore the importance of collections to those who are not comfortable with accessing materials online or who still want a book to read in bed or at the beach. Although librarians should make it easier for patrons to access the information they need, part of that process is teaching research skills and how too use the new technologies available to access information. I tink his concern about libraries not recognizing the need to serve patrons outside of the library building is unfounded. The problem is not recognition of the need but lack of resources.

After all of the positive articles about Web 2.0 and Library 2.0, I also read the article by Walt Crawford in Cites and Insights, Library 2.0 and "Library 2.0", in which the author cautions against getting caught up in the hype of "Library 2.0" and abandoning current services in order to implement new technologies. He stressed the importance using Library 2.0 principles and associated technologies to improve and enhance current services.

Week 6, Thing 14: Technorati and tags

I explored Technorati, including the videocast, and I searched for "Learning 2.0" in Blog posts, tags, and the Blog Directory. The results were quite different -- 1100 blog posts about "Learning 2.0, 275 posts tagged with "Learning 2.0", and 389 blogs about "Learning 2.0". As blogs become more popular, I can see that Technorati may be a useful tool for keeping up with the latest information and current discussions on various topics.

Week 6, Thing 13: Tagging and Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us addresses a constant problem I have with bookmarks. I have trouble remembering in which folder I have filed them, and whether I bookmarked sites on my home computer or office computer. Maybe Del.icio.us will solve this dilemma. I viewed the 12 minute tutoriaI, read the articles about it and created an account. After I complete the rest of the 23 Things, I intend to go through all of my bookmarks and tag them in Del.icio.us.

Week 5, Thing 12: Rollyo

I created a Rollyo account and made a search roll, which I have added to this blog. This tool may have some benefit for people who frequently search a group of web sites that deal with a particular topic (I included recipe sites in my search roll). However, bookmarks seem to be sufficient for most searches, so the usefulness of Rollyo is somewhat limited.

Week 5, Thing 11: Library Thing

I registered on Library Thing and cataloged some books. I also added a widget to my blog to show recent books I have read. Library Thing would be a good site to recommend to library customers who are disappointed to learn that we cannot provide them with a list of all the books they have checked out in the last year.

Week 5, Thing 10: Online image generators

I looked at a number of online image generators. There seems to be a generator for almost anything. I like the calendar generators and the Sudoku and Rubik's cube generators. I created an avatar using Yahoo Avatars, but I couldn't figure out how to export it or download it to add to my blog, so I created another one using Meez. This is the result:



I spent way too much time on this process, but it is interesting. I enjoyed the Wikipedia article about avatars -- the history of avatars, how they are used, and what appeals to different age groups in creating them.

Week 4, Thing 9: Explore MERLIN & other library-related blogs

I explored the MERLIN web site. It seems to contain links to lots of useful information on new technologies. I looked briefly at the Gaming, Avatars and Virtual Worlds link, and I intend to come back to that again. Although I have heard of Second Life, I am unfamiliar with how it works. I will explore it further through the MERLIN site. I subscribed to MERLIN's RSS feed in my Bloglines account. I also explored search tools such as Topix and Technorati (Feedster is not currently available). I came across a specialized RSS feed directory for Colleges and Universities produced by Peterson's: http://directory.edufeeds.com/

Week 4, Thing 8: RSS and News Reader

I listened to the podcast and watched the RSS in Plain English video and the Using Bloglines Tutorial, as well as the YouTube video. Then I set up a Bloglines account and subscribed to several feeds. I like the concept of RSS and having items from various sources stored in one place. For important sites, blogs, etc. that must be checked regularly, RSS is a real time saver. However, I can see how it could become overwhelming trying to keep up with all of the material that appears in the bloglines account (I have similar problems with email).

Here is the URL to my public Bloglines account: http://www.bloglines.com/public/bibliotechie

Week 3, Thing 7: Technology-Related Blog Post

It is about time to replace my cell phone. In reviewing a list of current offerings, I realized that I have much to learn about the new features available since I purchased my last phone. I was impressed by how much can be done on a cell phone these days. I discovered that a GPS application called VZ Navigator is now available for the cell phone, which eliminates the need for a separate GPS device. There are many other applications available, such as Consumer Reports, Wine Spectator, SuperPages, Music, and even a Spanish application with dictionary, translation, and verb conjugation capabilities. Additional monthly or transaction charges are associated with most of these new features, and many of them are specific to certain phones. Many seem rather impractical for such a small device, but it is interesting to learn what is possible. Unfortunately, it will be very time comsuming to figure out which phone will best meet my needs for the next 2 years until I am eligible for another new phone.

Week 3, Thing 6: Flickr Mash-ups & Third Party Sites

I have spent an inordinate amount of time looking at Flickr mashups and tools. The number of different applications is amazing! I didn't find many that would have any practical value for me, but some are just fun. I was most interested in the apps related to maps and travel: Mappr, Trip Planner, Geowalk, and Travelr. This last is a free photo gallery for Flickr, which can be put on one's own web site to display Flickr photos geographically on a world map. It requires coordinates of only 1 photo in each set and will group all photos with the same geotag together. There is even a bookmarklet available to get the coordinates.

Thing 5 Discovery Exercise: posting an image from Flickr

Holiday Light Ball,
originally uploaded by catlady9.

I took this photo with my Palm PDA. I uploaded it to Flickr from my computer and then blogged it from Flickr. Blogger's photo upload feature did not work.
The instructions for making the holiday light ball can be found at: How to Make a Holiday Light Ball

Week 3, Thing 5: Explore Flickr

Well, I'm finally back after a very long hiatus. I want to finish the 23 Things before the deadline. I have been exploring Flickr, and I am beginning to appreciate how it differs from sites such as Kodak Gallery and ShutterFly. The concept of tags is interesting. It addresses a problem I have encountered in filing photos (and documents as well) in folders. I either have to choose a single category to file under or store multiple copies in the appropriate folders for future access by category. Tagging solves this problem by attaching the relevant categories to the photo itself and eliminating the need for storing multiple copies of the photo. Maybe Outlook will introduce tagging for email messages someday. Geotagging seems like a great idea for people who take lots of photos on their travels or who would like to look at photos of a particular location. I was also amused by the use of tags for photos of collections such as "mynecktie" and "1000somethings". Some people have way too much free time.

Week 2, Thing 4: Register Blog

I registered my blog, so I'm up-to-date. Looking forward to exploring Flickr next.

Week 2, Thing 3: Set up Blog

Setting up a blog was much easier than I expected, although accessing it later proved challenging (see earlier post). When I have more time, I plan to experiment with the templates and settings available to change the look of the blog and add images and other page elements.

Week 1, Thing 2: Lifelong Learning

I viewed the tutorial and listened to the podcast. I enjoy learning new things, but I have never felt compelled to create a learning plan or follow a specific procedure. Perhaps if I did, I would be more successful. I tend to be a dabbler and don't consider myself an expert in anything. I am a gadget freak and love new electronic devices, but I never seem to master all of the features available with any of them.

As for the 7 1/2 Habits , I would say that the easiest for me is #2. I am aware that the degree of my learning is directly proportional to the effort I put into it. The hardest is probably #3. Although I enjoy the challenge of solving puzzles and mysteries, I tend to view problems in the real world as difficulties to overcome or avoid but not as learning experiences. I should try to put that positive spin on problems in the future.

Sign-in Problems

At last I'm back into my blog after much time and frustration trying to sign in. I was able to sign in to my Google account but then nothing happened, and I couldn't get to the blogger site. Apparently I have an IE security setting that is incompatible. I haven't determined what the faulty setting is, but Fred Rappa solved the problem by adding Google.com as a trusted site, and now I'm back in business. Thanks, Fred.

Week 1, Thing 1: About This Program

I am happy to participate in the 23 Things program. I have been interested in learning more about many of these new technologies but have not taken the time to experiment. This program provides a structured environment that will encourage me to set aside the time to try some new things and have fun while still feeling productive.