10.23 End/Beginning

I enjoyed this learning experience and want to play around with some of the items some more, especially LibraryThing. That was probably my favorite. I did not ask for much help because I am really bad with this kind of stuff and wanted to try to figure as much out on my own as possible. I think that is fairly obvious because my blog is pretty sad looking.

I would like to particiapte in more of these activities but timing is an issue. Summer is not a quiet time for every section of the building. I think it would be better to plan an activity like this over a longer period of time. I know this was a work activity and we were encouraged to take part but I felt like I was neglecting my other work when I spent more than 15 minutes on this.

I guess I am also old school. I cannot see myself posting a lot of personal type items on the web i.e. photos. Although I do thing that it is an inexpensive way to share with family and friends.

It did give me the urge for a better computer at home and for it to be a laptop. When I did work on this at home, I always borrowed Andrew's laptop instead of using our old computer. Sitting in the recliner was a lot more fun.

10.22 Social Networking

I think the word addicting is a good way to describe social networks. I know my son spends a lot of time on them. He has an account on Facebook and MySpace. I think contact with your peers is important and this seems to be the preferred method. But I wonder sometimes if it is just a competition - I have more contacts then you do, etc.

I am a lot more private then people may think so I don't believe I am not real comfortable with these sites. I am also concerned with how safe they are.

Like several of the other items we have looked at, there are probably uses for the library. However are we on information overload? Are there so may formats, we are not providing information in the best manner?

9.21 Podcasts

I found several podcasts I would like to listen to, including ones on literature, and history. I think the ones I would listen to the most right now would be news related, especially the political ones.

I think podcasts could be used as an instructional tool by the reference librarians to reach more students, especially incoming freshmen, in various classrooms. However, I still think face-to-face instruction would be better. But a podcast that could be refered back to may be helpful.
Personally I am a visual learner and would prefer some kind of videocast over an audiocast.

I do think all these different tools could be helpful in aiding students, like myuself, with different learning styles.

9.19 YouTube

How long could you watch YouTube before you hade seen everything? Needless to say I searched for video that had to do with Ocracoke and got 76 hits. I have only looked at a couple. I am going to try and post the one about dolphins to my blog but I have not been too successful with adding items to it.

I suppose most things could be used as an educational tool if you worked at it, including YouTube. We already have a video about Alden. Anything that would make the library fun would be good. The more welocming we can be, the more we will be used - not just as a place for research but as the place to hang out and study.

8.19 Other Web 2.0s

Well I had to check out the book category. I selected the Reader2 site, which had received an honorable mention. I didn't like the site. Compared to LibraryThing, I thought it was rather dull in appearance and not as easy to explore.

I am not sure how the site could be used in a college library setting. Maybe someone could enter the books they have used while researching a paper and see what suggestions they could get for similar material. i am not sure if they would find a lot of new resources that way or not.

I am going to have to put more of the books I have read into Library Thing to see what kind of responses I get to see how I feel about the possibilty of a similar site being a research aid.

8.18 Online Working Documents

I was a little disappointed with the online planners/calendars. I am going to play with them some more and look for others to see if I can find one I like. I am on a search for the perfect pen, the perfect bag and the perfect calendar. Well maybe..

I do not think I will use the online documnets and spread sheets myself but I think they are a great idea. I think they are a great planning tool for events, class projects, meetings, etc. I think it would make it a lot easier to work on a paper together. I wonder if the writing tutors are using this tool with the students.

7.17 Sandbox Wiki

Well I added my blog to the Favortie Blog page - the Library Learning Wiki. This was one of the easiest projects so far. But I still have mixed feelings about wikis.

7.16 Wikis

I think I would like to have more time to explore the Library Success wiki. It look likes it has a lot of great information. The Princeton Public Library Wiki does not appear to have been updated recently.

I still have mixed feelings about wikis. I noticed on the Library Success wiki, you now have to authenticate with your email address due to the amount of vanalism on the site. I understand the beauty of a wiki is that anyone can put information on the site which makes it a great way to share information, thoughts, ideas, etc. However, not everyone is the expert they think they are and maybe should not be posting.

There could be uses for an Alden wiki. However are we going to have information in so many different places and formats, people will become confused on wher to look? Or it will become to time consuming?

Maybe we could develop a wiki from the UC classes which the students could added to - what did they find helpful, tips they have for other students, etc. We could have a wiki for our student works - not accessible through the staff wiki - with information for them, where they could add tips for each other. I think authenication for that one would be the best.

6.15 Library 2.0

All we have to do is look around to see things are changing at Alden. I can still remember the card catalogues. Now we can view the table of contents without even touching the book. Good-bye browsing in the stacks.

The easier it is for students to obtain information the better but they still need to know the importance of good research techniques. Some people seem to forget everything is not a click away.

The more colloboration the better though. I read that OCLC now has an office in Bejing.

The biggest drawback I see is having the money to facilitate dreams into reality.

6.14 Technorati

As with other search engines, etc, where you search in the Technorati site effects you number of immediate results. I think I would use this site mostly to look for other blogs for information on a variety of topics. The site was easy to navigate which I liked.

As with the other exercises though, I could spend all day on these sites and still have a lot more to learn and explore. I don't think I have a good handle on the best way to use all these things to make them work most effectively for me.

I am still not comfortable with posting a lot of information on the web. I am a lot more private than many may guess.

6.13 delicious

I have finally made it to number 13. I am still not comfortable with tagging but I want to work with delicious more. I would like to have all my bookmarks in one place as I may want to look up something at home from work but do not remember the url or my exact search term. I think I could use my computer a lot wiser if I just took the time to play with it and the internet more. I just get frustrated if something goes wrong or th computer goes down.

5.12 Rollyo

Okay, I am really out of date. I use Yahoo when I search the internet. Once in awhile, I try Google. But I think if you could use Rollyo to build your own search engines for specific needs, it would be an aid in research, even in your entertainment. I would guess subject bibliographers would want to create a search engine for their subject area for students to use for papers, discussion groups, etc. This would also apply to professors.

5.11 The Library Thing

I like the LibraryThing website. My husband will tell you though that the last thing I need is a recommendation on another book to read. It would take me awhile to put all the books we have at home into my catalogue. I have not read them all yet but I am working on it. It was neat to be able to list my sister-in-law's (Chuck"s sister) book. It was a dream come true for her to publish a novel. It is an excellent book. I am hoping for the sequel soon.

I am not sure how many of the sites we are looking at I will go back to in the future after we finish the 23 Things but LibraryThing will be one I do check out once in awhile.

5.10 Image Generators

I looked at a couple of the image generators. I thought this was time consuming but fun. I guess I am old fashion because I still use Yahoo as my search engine. I found this on http://www.fodey.com/generators/animated/wizard.asp. You could pick talking flowers or tomatoes too but I thought I would try the owl. A couple of the sites were too technical for me and one looked like it had a lot of useful tools but it hadn't been updated since 2002.

4.9 Finding Feeds

To be quite honest, I am not sure if I liked any of the feed finders. Maybe it is because I just am not comfortable with them. They seemed to take a lot of time. They generated several items but it is difficult to decide which ones to try. Topix was neat beccause you could get local information. But I guess I would question the accuracy of some of the items since numerous people can post to the sight. I think I want to explore the Technorati site further - when I have more time. I am looking forward to reading the LibraryThing blogs.

4.8 RSS feeds and bloglines

I already had a Blogline account. I am still trying to learn options on it and how to do different things. I am not sure if I have everything set up correctly but I like the idea of being able to go to the site and then picking which news source I want to look at or which book review feed I want to check. I still need to experiment with setting up folders. I need to put in some more library related blogs and pick a couple of co-worker feeds to add.

3.7 Technology

There are some parts of my job that I cannot even begin to imagine doing without some basic technology - like a barcode reader. Trying to inventory and even be half way accurate would probably be impossible. But I also wonder if we do not reply on it too much sometimes. A couple of months ago we were just finishing dinner at Bob Evans when the power went out - it took the young lady at the register forever to make change for people paying their bills. I can still remember being taught to count back change in second or third grade math.

I am still trying to figure out all the settings on my digital camera. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for all this other stuff - wikis, RSS, tagging etc. etc. I am sure you can hear me screaming now.

But I must say I think it is very cool that the average person can ask the presidential candidates a question during the debates this month via YouTube. I am interested in watching that to see how it works.

3.6 Flickr Fun

Okay - I am really behind on this stuff - work and stuff and life seem to happen along the way. However one of the flickr items which I thought might be fun is the Flickr Flash Puzzle Zone - you can turn pictures into jogsaw puzzles. Even though I have not worked a jigsaw puzzle in a long time, I have several of them and have enjoyed them since I was a child. I also thing their map features would be pretty cool, especially if you could get really detailed.

But I am not sure how comfortable I feel with pictures or other items being up on a website even though you can mark it private. Maybe I shouldn't have read 1984.

What a Way to Weed

Yes, we need to weed in the stacks but this is not the way to do it. There was a rag in the roof drain and this was just part of the damage it did.

Shade Winery

This has nothing to do with Alden Library - maybe it should. Has anyone heard of the Shade Winery? When we ate breakfast had Casa yesterday, I noticed it was one of the local businesses uspported by them. I had never heard of it. Does anyone know where it is located or owns it? It was started a couple of years ago. Their website is www.shadewinery.com. There are some great pictures on the site - check them out, especially you Jack Russel fans.

Seven Habits

I have read over the 7 1/2 habits several times and still cannot decide which habit I think is the easiest for me. I think the hardest is probably using technology to my advantage. Technology is okay as long as it is working and is easy but if it is difficult or not working - well let's not even go there. I cannot believe I am even trying to figure out this blog stuff but I will admit so far it has been fairly easy.

I think I did it

I am trying to create my first blog. Thanks to MD for help with this. Little does she know this is the first of numerous questions.