Atheist Rock Climbing

Yeah!I managed to post this to my blog!

Learning 2.0 Reflective Exercise

As many times as I may have grumbled and felt like these lessons were too long and too much, I am glad I had the opportunity to be exposed to all of these different web based "things". Most were fanscinating (Flikr, YouTube). Some were obscure and useless (mashups), but cool. Some were useful (LibraryThing, Deli.ci.ous, Wikis, online software). Many could be used to make the library a more up to date and interactive place (wikis, blogs, podcasts, custom search engines). Some were a little creepy (created worlds for social networking, MySpace).

Social networking was definitely something that understanding the psychology of it a little more would make that lesson a more meaningful one. Maybe having some teens do a podcast about MySpace and Facebook and why they are so into it could be a starting place. One lesson a week would have been a little easier to keep up with (podcasting one week, YouTube the next). I think a lot of people dropped out when they got behind becasue they felt like they just couldn't keep up.

Val, one of our Learning 2.0 Advocates, was always very helpful. Sometimes it still wasn't that easy to figure out (why did some of the pictures I put in my blog get cutoff, how do you attach, embed or othewise connect to things).

All of this was surprising. Spending time on the web is just not a prioiity and it was great to be gently prodded into the opportunity to take a look at these fascinating things.

Tagging, more work on tagging, spending more time with LibraryThing, figuring out a way to use Deli.cio.us, using Wikis to plan a family get together. My kids and husband thought it was so cool that I had a MySpace account. That creeped me out and was my least favorite excersize. While these things may not have changed my life, but they sure opened up a lot of areas I had never gone and should continue to explore.

I would definitely do this again and recommend it to others. There is just so much out there! A continuing ed version of 27 things/2.0 would be a great thing. Since I didn't know about any of this stuff in the first place, I really don't know of anything else you could have covered. But, thanks for asking.

The "Right" Way to Embed a YouTube Video

Martha and Helen and Valerie helped figure out how to embed a YouTube video so that you get the fancy arrow button. I went back and put in my "Atheist Rock Climbing" video and put it in the "right" way. I also embedded "Ninja Librarians" in this post as a practice.

That's a load off my mind.

Podcasts

I went to PodcastAlley to look around. I first clicked on "Environment" under "Pick a Podcast Genre". There are a lot of people interested in that topic. Then I put in "Non Verbal Learning Disorder" under "Search for a Podcast" and was pleased to find a plethora of podcasts which I will have to spend more time with at a future date. My daughter has this problem and it could be a new source of information. Finally I entered "Library" in the "Search for a Podcast". A nice long list appeared. It is just like any search list where some of the podcasts have more to do with libraries than others. It appears to be in order of relatedness. Before I figured this out, I went to the description of a podcast called "The Art of Drink" wondering what than had to do with libraries. Well, you can add to your personal "library" of mixed drink recipes by downloading there weekly drink recipes and instructions. The library could certainly give step by step directions on how to do something downloaded onto an MP3 player in the form of a podcast. Here's an idea - each week there could be a podcast made available on the website for people to download and use at the libary for using the data bases, searching on the net, using government documents, searching for relatives, using self checkout, etc. Next, I investigated "Dublin Castle". This was a tour of an Irish castle on a podcast that included a look in the castle's library. A library tour could certainly be a downloadable podcast. Then I finally landed on "Library Geeks" where "librarians, geeks and geek librarian geek out about libraries." They haven't posted since January. I listened to parts of a couple of posts. Not very interesting or informative. I moved on to "LibVibe". Much more up-to-date and interesting, newscast format covering a variety of topics. None of these had RSS feeds. So off I went to Podcast.net. This was much easier to use than PodcastAlley.com. I went to "Hennepin County Library - Teenlinks Podcasts" because I used to live in Hennepin County. The RSS feed connection was easy to find and use. It was also easier to listen to the podcasts. What a great way to get teens involved in the library. The teens actually did the podcasts.

YouTube

Wow, ok. So I tried looking around on YouTube. I went to the "Categories" tab and then to "Travel and Places" selection. "Atheist Rock Clombing" popped out as something that looked interesting. CapnOAwesome and his buddy were rock climbing somewhere out near Grand Coulee. A little geography lesson, a little rock climbing and a little discussion on Atheism thrown in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IDESu74qUQ

The possiblities here are endless. The library could certainly make use of this for teaching people (staff and patrons) how to do various things like searching the catalog, logging on to a computer, using data bases and so on.

I can't get rid of the video clip I posted the wrong way. I think I have figured out how to post it the right way, but we will have to wait and see. If you click on the red x above, it will take you to the video, but it doesn't look very pretty or professional.

Webware Stuff

I went into Webware under "Social Network & Groups". I liked the idea of Domystuff (domystuff.com). People can be so dishonest on the web I would worry about people's motives. Still I sure would like help moving dirt in my new garden. . . 30 Boxes (30boxes.com) looks a lot like our room reserve software. Could we just have made use of something on the net like this? I suppose this might not be possible since we are an institution, but perhaps we could even use it withing the branch. Then I found Mii Editor (miieditor.com) brought to us by Nintendo Wii people. I had fun making an Avatar (see results above). I still have a hard time navigating and finding things like the female hair. When I find a site/software that makes perfect sense to me I will trumpet it to the world. Probably not very useful in the library world except for fun.

Google Labs

I looked into Google Trends, Mars, Sets and Transit. Trends - if I was a business it could be useful. Transit - Seattle is one of the cities served so that is a nice feature that makes it a little easier to find the bus you need. Mars - lots of psychadelic colors and very interesting pictures. Sets - a good party game (put in a series of things and it comes up with other things that would be in that group). I also noticed that Google Maps came out of this process. That is a very useful tool.

Online Software

I have tried both the Google and the Zoho software. I found Zoho a little easier to use. I had a very hard time finding how to get into the various software offerings and then how to save once I had. I didn't have the same trouble with Zoho. We actually used Writely, which I think has become the Google word processing, when we were moving last summer. We were living in a house that had neither telephone or internet service. My girls started school without the benefit of a computer. So we would go to the local library (Kitsap Co. - much, much slower internet based service than we have here by the way). They would do their work on Writely/Google and were able to keep up. It was great.

Library 2.0 - What If You Just Want a Book?

I have to confess that this reading was the best thing for insomnia I have found in a long time. I'm not proud of this fact. They are trying to find ways to make the library more exciting and relevant. At least the way they describe it was as boring and intimidating as it could be. Way too much jargon. I even had to go ask what OCLC was. I worry that while the powers that direct the changes in our library are busy trying to turn on a segement of the population they will be turning off and leaving behind another section of the population.

One of the pieces talked about how libraries needed to become teaching places. If by that he meant that it would need to be a place that could teach and model how to use all this new technology, I say amen. Yes, libraries should use technology and teach others how to use it. But don't give up on the library in the classic sense - yet. Keep it a place where people can interact in a real world with real people (story time, author readings, puppet shows, ESL classes). Do add the virtual community through Wikis, blogs, mashups, etc.

My Very Own Search Engine

I created my very own search engine! I used the Google Custom Search Engine since I already had the account there. Unfortunately I couldn't think of anything better to call it than "Wendy Search" http://www.google.com/coop/manage/cse?cx=013351726181681466838:ndiij1ylgge. My problem is I don't usually spend a lot of time on the web so I don't have many sites I go to very often. I am caught in the public radio rut. This means I really must spend more time looking into using the web as a resource. It's a question of how you want to use your time. Or maybe I could be better informed in less time if I would put some time into finding resources.

There definitely could be some uses for the reference staff. Search engines about books, fun facts, word derivations, homework resources - all could be a little more pointed than the blunt tool of an all encompassing search engine.

Image and Text Generators

Ta da! Here is what happened when I put the picture of myself and my daughters through the "Warholizer". Pretty cool. I recently saw a picture in the PI in their collection of seasonal "Peep" pictures and there was one of a bunny peep just like this and I bet they did it with this "Warholizer". Is that cheating?

Wikis

First, I had no idea that wiki was anything other than quick in Hawaiian and a part of the pervasive Wikipedia. I can see these would be very useful for sharing procedures and materials that coworkers find work well and are useful. It doesn't seem terribly different than a blog. While content cannot be changed, you can comment and elaborate. I find the aspect of anyone being able to change an entry a bit unnerving.

Technorati and LibraryThing

I really enjoyed both of these sites. I am understaning the social networking thing a bit better. I enjoyed thinking about my book collection. The Technorati site will take more time to understand. I noticed Leaning 2.0 was showing up in the popular list. That means there must be a lot of us attempting to educate ourselves to the new technology.

Just as an aside, it is taking way more than 20 minutes every week!

There is a separate blog entry for the Del.ico.us.

Del.icio.us - but no chocolate

Well, I looked at the Del.icio.us site. I think I get it. Although I was not able to navigate as I think I should have. One of the articles on it mentioned the site was gaining use by people in academic fields. This would be a way to keep "files" of web based information that could be very handy. If the public could have access to a libary Del.icio.us account, it would be a way of keeping suggested reading lists of web based materials. I think - if I am understanding this correctly.

Why don't we all just pretend to live?

I have a bit of an issue making everything from friendships to the world virtual. That said, especially the Second Life social network are very intriguing. I agree that these are tools that can be used to attract the younger generation. Who woudln't love to interact with Cerulean Vesperia the virtual librarian?

My Space - I just never thought I would be there. I have called myself Hazel Halprin and made myself 10 years younger. I wonder what percentage of people using My Space do not tell the truth about themselves. Strangely enough when I went to register my name as Hazel H it was already taken so I had to make my address Willowmanx after my cat. I posted a message to 27 things. I hope that's what they wanted us to do.

OK. I am signing off.

RSS - Not so simple

I have been struggling with RSS all week. It looks like it could be a useful thing if I got a lot of information from the internet. I tend to read the paper and listen to NPR. However, maybe this is a way to work in a few more sources without having to spend as much time. I found that some of the sites I wanted to include didn't have the RSS feeds (Car Talk, gardening sites). I'm not sure why this was so difficult. There was a little issue when subscribing to certain feeds. If it brought up choices when you clicked the intial subscibe button, you have to check one of the boxes before clicking on the second subscribe button or it doesn't attach.

The library could set up a Bloglines account with library related sources they would like us to keep up with.

OK. I tried some of the searching tools for the RSS feeds. I liked the Blogline search tool. It will give you sites that offer feeds while the others seemed to mostly be an RSS for the RSS feeds. Which, of course, could be useful. I was having trouble finding sites that had the feeds in the first place so I thought Blogline's angle was the best for what I was trying to do. The others may do the same thing and I just didn't have it set for it.

TTFN

Mashups

That was interesting! "Montagr" crashed the computer. Someone else said that happened with them too. My favorite was "Spell with Flickr". I wasn't sure what you could do with it besides admire the results. So many ways to spend you time! Got to go.

Flickr-grrrr

The "Flickr" site seems a bit overwhelming. I clicked on their "Brouse interesting photos shared over the last 7 days". Wow! Seems like you need to be a professional to participate in this site. I loved all the pictures of the lunar eclipse. Here is a link to one that showed all phases http://www.flickr.com/photos/legless2007/409719783/

I am not too crazy about opening a Flickr account because I will then have a Yahoo email address and I really don't like the idea of another email address. Maybe I will warm to the idea and then can actually use it more. We will see. I am going to learn how to use my own pictures without having to go through Flickr - I hope.

I have checked my blog name on the list and it is good. Now I need to go do # 6.

My husband wants to know how you make your blog searchable in Google. I wonder if you have to have content with a searchable word or if you have to register the blog somehow. Even if you did say plant a word that someone might want to search like "fly fishing on the Hoh River", how would you know if your blog showed up in a Google search if your entry is # 10,457?

I also need to figure out how to make this blog look better.

New Post

Wow! I just figured out how to put a "new post" on my blog. I also figured out how to get here from home. I am blogging now.

In the beginning. . .

In the beginning there was - a blog. A blank page. Nothing. On the other hand, there is a blank page and potential. No telling where it will all go. Change is one of life's certainties.