Thing #19: Explore CML's Tool Box of Web 2.0 Tools

I took a look at stumbleupon.com. It looks okay. I did a search for felting and found a lot of sites that sell felted objects. I searched further for felting advice and found a couple of sites that had interesting information that I can use. I did find a free pattern for a felted bowl, so that was successful.

I'll keep this site in mind in the future if I need to browse around and find interesting websites.

Thing #16: Add an entry to the Learn & Play wiki sandbox

I did it! With the help of a co-worker, I added my blog to the list of staff blogs, added my favorite restaurant (China Dynasty), and then also corrected a mistake I made!

It is simpler than it sounded from the instructions.

I like wikis, and I hope to learn much more about them in the future.

Thing #23: Summarize your thoughts about the program

I'm very glad I participated in this program! It has been useful, interesting, enlightening. I am happy to know more about some of the exciting and new tools that are available for using all the web's many resoures.

At times, it also has been frustrating and overwhelming. Since I work only on Sundays, I had to do a lot in a small amount of time. I would have liked to have had more time to explore the "things" to get a better idea of how they work and how to use them. Sometimes the tools had me scratching my head to wonder why they are so popular (e.g., twitter). Sometimes I felt overwhelmed by all the links that were provided to explain the things, because I didn't have the time to look at these, and I just needed to plow ahead and look at the things themselves.

But I am happy to be doing Thing #23. I didn't know if I'd make it or not!

Thanks for providing this program.

Thing #22: Look at MOLDI

I appreciated the motivation to take another look at MOLDI. I looked at it when it was first launched, so checking it out again was helpful.

I saw a couple of my favorite authors with some of their books on audio. One is Ann Ross, who writes the Miss Julia series. I don't listen to audiobooks, but this series is one that I could try. I love the colorful language and the southern setting and the comical situations. I've often felt I could reread the books, so listening to the audiobooks may be fun.

I see that you can now download if you've got an Ipod, so I'm sure that is a feature that many are happy about.

Thing #21: Tools for locating podcasts

I looked around at podcastalley.com and podfeed.net. I checked several topics of interest to me, and was really NOT surprised at how many podcasts were found.

I don't have the time to listen to any of them, however. Just like a lot of things on the web, it takes time and effort to separate the quality from the quantity. So, I must admit that I haven't added any RSS feeds for podcasts to my bloglines account.

It is helpful to know that these directories exist. That's about all I can commit to at this time!

I can see that the library could use these. The first idea that comes to mind is for book discussion groups. It would be nice to finish a book, and then find that the library has a podcast of a discussion about that very book.

Thing #20: Discover YouTube

I love YouTube. I have used it to search for long lost videos and songs, and of course those funny videos that take off in popularity on the web and through email. I have also viewed videos that are embedded in websites such as Entertainment Weekly that discuss the content of the videos.

I heard an enjoyable Christmas song last year that I'd never heard before--a pleasant surprise given the 24-hour playing of Christmas songs on some stations starting before Thanksgiving. Of course, even still I don't hear it very often. I don't understand how you can have two (or more) radio stations playing 24-hour Christmas music for two months, and it seems like you hear the same 30 or so songs over and over! Anyway, I checked on YouTube with the song title that I thought it might have, and ta-da, there it was!

P.S. It is Boney M singing "Mary's Boy Child." (had a problem trying to cut and paste the link)

Thing # 18: Explore a site from the Web 2.0 Awards

I explored the cooking video site www.imcooked.com. It features videos that people everywhere have uploaded, and allows users to rate and comment on the videos. I enjoyed browsing through the different categories, such as vegetables and vegetarian, soups, casseroles, etc. You can see the most viewed, recently added, most popular, top rated, etc.

It seems to be a good way to browse and find new recipes, and it certainly is helpful to see the cooking demonstrations. It also appears to have lots of different style videos--lots to look at!

Thing #17: Look at Online Productivity Tools

I played around with Google Docs a little bit. I used the word processing program. We just upgraded our Microsoft Office to the new version, so I have been playing around with some new features on both of these word processing programs. The Google Docs seems nice enough, as far as I can see.

One of the main advantages I can see is that you can access your documents anywhere, from any computer. I do like to backup my documents, though, so I don't know think I would feel secure enough just having my files stored online only. I'd have to have backup copies--this way if our computer crashed, I'd have my online copies, and if there is a problem with the Internet, then I'd have my computer copies.

Thing #10: Online Image Generators

I played around with Letter James (www.letterjames.com) and the ALA's create your own mini read posters (http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/hqops/publishing/graphics/READ_Mini_Posters.cfm).

Both were cool. Here is the ALA poster:

Thing #6: Discover Mashups

These are cool. I created a couple of trading cards on Big Huge Labs' Trading Card maker. The first card has one of my daughter's paintings featured, and the other has a photo of one of my son's soccer games.

These were done very quickly. As usual with all of these Things, there are so many possibilities--this will require revisiting when I have time!

Thing #15: Learn about Wikis

This topic really appealed to me. The idea of collaborating within a group to create and edit a website of shared information is great. The possibilities seem endless, and I enjoyed looking at the wikis that were linked in the Discovery Exercise. There was one that was created to help attendees at an ALA conference with all kinds of information about the conference but also restaurants and other tips that looked especially helpful.

I think having users add and edit content (in the right environment and for the right purposes) would work wonderfully to create a richer and more varied website.

Also, I think that a wiki used within a library for collaborative projects sounds very helpful and interesting. Passing emails around and sharing copies of documents via email would be eliminated, and, it seems to me, would make the committee work much more productive and transparent.

I know the InfoLine has a new wiki, but I haven't seen it yet, since I work only on Sundays. But that is definitely on my list of things to discover soon!

I think the library will be able to employ wikis for many purposes, perhaps including a wiki for posting and discovering activities and happenings all around the community.

Thing #14: Perspectives on Library 2.0

I read the articles in the OCLC newsletter about Web 2.0 and where it will take libraries. I was especially interested in the one about the Librarian 2.0 and the traits necessary for the librarian in this changing world.

I appreciated the points about meeting the customers using the technology they are using, such as blogs, myspace, im's, wikis, etc. The writer also makes the point that technology is not added to libraries just for the sake of technology but because it helps the customers and removes barriers to accessing the library's resources.

Changes come quickly, and the old model of slow change and long periods spent developing new services can't be the new model.

I think our library is on the right track, and I'm glad to see that we are implementing these kinds of changes already!

Thing # 13: Learning about Tagging and Discovering Delicious.com

I used Delicious.com and found it very interesting. I checked out HFAR's bookmarks on readers' advisory and found them useful.

I also searched for graphing calculator sites and found several that I can use.

I like having my own account here so that I can save these bookmarks. I haven't had time yet to transfer these to my computer at home so I can access them and save them automatically there.

I feel that it's a good way to find sites that are recommended by others, and anything that leads you on to different and hopefully better and new information is great!

More about Twitter (Thing #12)

I did some searching on Twitter, and found some conversations about knitting, just for a start. Some of the conversations took me to some new websites with project ideas, so that was interesting.

I must admit that I have found it disconcerting that people I do not know are following me on Twitter. I am not comfortable with posting tweets knowing that anyone can see them. I guess I don't understand why a stranger would want to follow me, since I haven't put any detailed profile up on my twitter page. But maybe they are following those who follow others that they are interested in? It's certainly something new.

I do see how those who want to "advertise" like libraries and other organizations could us twitter to their advantage.

Now, on to my next "thing"!

Thing #12: Explore Twitter

I have a Twitter account, and have signed up to follow a few people (a couple of library co-workers and a few famous people).

I have enjoyed getting to know what this is all about. As I have read, I can see that I will need some time to learn more about Twitter and tweets.

But I've made a start!

Thing # 11: Starting an account on Library Thing

I started a catalog of some of the books I have read and enjoyed recently. I like looking at other people's comments about them--it's like your own quick, online book discussion group.

I also like the fact that you can discover read-alikes this way.

My theme for a lot of my posts recently has been and continues to be: I will do more in-depth investigation of these resources later.

On to the next Thing!

Thing #9: Finding blogs

I have used Technorati so far to find some blogs relating to teaching math with the SMARTboard. I found one that looks good so far. (Again with the so far, because I am finding things that I want to investigate further, but I want to move on with the 23 things!)

I am excited to add this one blog (it features podcasts about using the SMARTboard) to my bloglines account.

I am feeling much more comfortable with RSS feeds and bloglines. I unsubscribed to some of my original feeds, so my list is more manageable!

My plan is to go back to this Thing and search for some library blogs!

Thing #8: RSS Feeds

I had a little trouble with the idea of adding 10 RSS feeds to my bloglines account. I felt overwhelmed at that much information coming in for me to look at. I generally like to check just a few websites to see updates.

So, even though I have too many posts to read right now because of our library assignment, I do see that if I select my RSS feeds wisely, it can be helpful to get the updates to sites I really want to follow.

I see that it is especially nice if you can't check your websites as often as you normally do. All the posts/stories you would have missed are waiting there for you.

Just like with any technology or anything really, if you make it work for you, then you've really got something. Luckily, these technologies are flexible enough to do this!

Thing #7--blog about technology

Our assignment for Thing #7 is to blog about any technology.



I will comment about my use of a Smart Board at the school where I teach 8th grade algebra. One of things I like to do is to introduce the students to some famous mathematicians--I never remember learning anything about the actual people involved with mathematics when I was in middle/high school.



So far, I have created two (what I like to think of as) neat pages that have pictures of the mathematicians from the web. I have added facts to the pictures in the form of "statements" from the subjects in speech bubbles. ("Hi, I'm...." "In the year 830 I wrote a book called.....") They are colorful and informative, I hope. In fact, I did have one other teacher comment that the one on Al-Khwarismi (the "father" of algebra) was interesting!



I display my creations on the Smart Board--these also can be called interactive white boards. I am only just beginning to use all their potential. I have created games for the students, and we will be using the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives for class this coming week.



It's really made a difference in the class, I think!



That's about it for now.



So long.

P.S. I have skipped Thing #6 for now. The things I have tried haven't worked out (one link was not working). I think I need to put a digital photo of my own on my work computer so I can work with the mashups.

Lego Beatle image from Flickr!

This combines my favorite Beatles, with my son's and husband's favorite Legos! Please note that since all Lego people do not wear shoes, all the Beatles are shoeless, not just Paul. :)

Easiest and Hardest Habits (of Lifelong Learners)

The easiest habit for me is to accept responsibility for my own learning. I know that I've got to be the one to decide if I'm going to learn. No one else can do it for me, and no one can talk me into it.

The hardest habit for me is to view problems as challenges. In the abstract, I can say, "If a problem comes up, just take a deep breath, and view it as an opportunity to learn." Ha! If a real problem comes up, it's not good. I'll think "why did this have to happen?"