23 things #23!

I'm done! Woo Hoo! There were many times in the last month or so that I didn't think I was going to make it. I really enjoyed this project. It forced me to challenge myself, to step out of the non-technological zone that I'd stumbled into sometime in the last 10 years. While I am by no means an expert in any of this, I feel like I can now hold my own. Or I can at least recognize the service without responding to the customers with a blank smile. (You want to know about what?)

I thought that the hands one approach to this project was really helpful to me. If I had just read about this, I wouldn't have gotten nearly as much out of it. The exercises were just enough to give you an introduction and were not too overwhelming.

I found, to my surprise, that I actually kind of like the whole blog process. I have started another one which details a personal reader's advisory project I'm working on. It's called "Fallston and Abingdon's Adventures in Reading". You can check it out if you like at: http://fallstonreads.blogspot.com/.

I also happy to say that a cousin of mine was so impressed with what we were learning that it inspired her to try to learn some of it as well.

So, anyway, I guess this is the end for now. I hope to continue investigating web 2.0 technologies in an effort to keep myself more up-to-date. Thanks so much for giving us this opportunity to play and learn!

23 Things #22

I am familiar with downloadable audiobooks from helping customers access them in the library. Since the library no longer subscribes to Netlibrary, I investigated Overdrive. I logged in and looked for and found a number of titles.

I'm always listening to audiobooks, but as yet, do not have an MP3 player. But wait, I only have one more thing to go and then I'll have one. I will try downloading once I get my MP3 player!

23 things #21

I looked at a number of podcast directories and added a link to the Denver Public Library Podcast to my bloglines pages. This podcast has staff members reading children's books. I thought that my kids might like it. I will admit that I wasn't very intersted in this topic. Like with bloglines in gereal, I don't feel like I need to have information sent me me everyday. I check for it when I can. And now I'll feel kind of obligated to look at the account for one more thing I don't really need.

23 things #20

I'm pretty familiar with YouTube, so the great challenge was figuring out how to embed the videos into my blog. Thanks Annette for the help!

The first one is a timelaspe video of my cousin, Ken, tattooing his wife's leg. Ken is a professional tattoo artist who was featured in the December 2004 issue of National Geographic magazine. Tawnia's tattoo is of the well known ice mummy baby featured on the cover of the magazine.




The second one is Led Zeppelin performing Dazed and Confused (how could I resist). Most of the clips of this song were really long, so I chose the shortest one I could find.

23 things # 19

Glancing down the list of winners, I was pleased to see how many of them I now recognized (as opposed to hardly knowing any at the Tech Fair a mere 3 months ago). Obviously this project is working to broaden my awareness of these new technologies.

For this exercise, I looked at Zillow - 1st place winner for the Real Estate Category. I have a neighbor who will soon be relocating to Texas due to a work transfer. This site is perfect to help them on both the selling and buying ends. It gives an estimated market value for your home as well as other info including assessed values, property taxes, and historical trends for the house and the area. It also helps see other houses for sale in the area and comperable listings.

This site could definitely be used in the library. We often have customers researching potential areas for relocation.

23 things #18

I set up a Zoho writer account and created a few test documents. I found it easy to use. The layout and toolbars were very similar to MS Word, so it was an almost effortless transition to make use of them.

I really like the idea of these tools. Especially the fact that they are stored in a web environment and are therefore accessible from any machine with web access. I've been trying to get some work done at home and am forever trying to load the documents to my USB drive at 1 minute to 5 (always, it seems, on a weekend when we are closing) . I never seem to have all the documents I need. If they were done with Zoho writer, I'd have everything right there in front of me.

This is definitely worth investigating further.

23 things #17

I created an account and added a small list of my kids' favorite songs. I've been trying to add the link to my blog to the Favorites List, for quite some time, but someone else is working on this task, as well. That means that I'm locked out and cannot complete at this time. Hmmm, one of the drawbacks, I see. No simultaneous editing. That makes sense, but can be frustrating when it happens to you.

I'll update this post when I have a change to complete the exercise . . . Well, the page had been idle for over 30 minutes so I stole the editing privileges. Hope I didn't mess anyone up. So now my blog is on the page.

23 things #16

Wikis, wikis everywhere. I think that one of the best applications for a wiki is the collaborative project aspect. Committees and work teams always have assignments that would benefit from easier sharing and communication. Not to mention having access to the actual material for collaborative editing, etc. The branch managers have discussed using a wiki to update our handbook and I think that is a really good project to choose to experiment with using wikis.

23 things #15

Now I feel like I'm back in library school. While I love working in this profession, and feel that I am fairly progressive in accepting the changes it is experiencing, I'm much more interested in the hands on than in the theory. I think that this has been a great experience so far because it has forced us to actually do the things as opposed to just reading about them.

Having said that, I think that Away from the "Icebergs" was especially relevant. We need to be responsive to the changing expectations of the customers we serve. This is something, I think, that libraries have always strived to accomplish. I remember, a number of years ago, when the library system I worked for re-cataloged all of the Samuel Clemens' books to Mark Twain. Why? Because that's were the customers look for them. They also stopped spelling out all the names of the initial authors (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, T.S. Eliot, etc.). Library 2.0 demonstrates the same thing on a new level. If we continue to stick to the old adages of the profession we risk losing our relevance in the world.

23 things #14

I just investigated Technorati. It's fun to be able to (sometimes) find my own blogs on the site. Sometimes they come up easily and other times they're hard to find. I have not claimed my blog or done anything to bring it to the sites attention. It seems to me that there's something a little dishonest (no that's not quite the right word, but I can't think of another one) about having to bring it to their attention before it gets easier to find.

Anyway, I searched for Learning 2.0 in a variety of ways, but had much more relevant results when I searched for 23 things. I got lots of library related hits with that tag.

The 100 top blogs list was intersting to glance at. Although nothing really made me want to quick click and look at them. How do you such awareness of your blog to get to be the top one? (Other than bringing it to the sites attention). I guess word of mouth, advertising, etc.

Okay, I think that's it for this thing.

23 Things #13

Okay, I seem to have taken a long, long break from this project. Some little things like collection work, vacations, and impending transfers got in the way. Now I have to get back on track so I can finish on time.

I took a look at del.icio.us today. It took me awhile to understand the concept. I don't seem to bookmark too terribly many sites, so I'm not sure how applicable this would be to my daily workings. I think that the research applications would be endless. To be able to springboard from concepts you felt were important to see what others had found, would be extremely helpful. I may have to look at this one again when I have a little more time to see if becomes more relevant to me.