Thing 23 Final Thoughts

Wow. I raced through these exercises and completed the online survey today. I haven't been able to experience the online game yet, but am still working on that pesky log in problem.

This has been a great learning experience. I've never blogged before and I will try to convert what I've done into something that will help my library. I love the idea of customizing a web page for my library, so I'm going to look into creating my own web page through iseek.

I had lots of fun creating my avator. I'd like to do more exploring with flickr to create fun cards, posters, puzzles, etc.

I'm vowing to continue to check into those RSS feeds to help me keep up to date with sites I regularly check for new books and reviews.

I've also signed up and sent my registration fee in for the MN Voluntary Library Certification program.

I had several issues with technology. My computer at work doesn't have the current adobe flash. I couldn't get quicktime to work. I ran into blocked sites at both my job sites. My home computer is dial-up and very slow and frustrating.

I think it is great to learn about new technologies, but just because they are new doesn't mean they are better. I'm not sure teens want to have the library text messaging them.

Overall, I consider my experience awesome and wonderful. Thanks to everyone who worked to set this up. And thanks to all my fellow participants for sharing their experience with me along the way.

Thing 22 What Did I Learn Today

I really learned a lot exploring these Things! I resolve to first of all learn more about my library system and its technology. Then I will continue to investigate the resources found throughout these Things. Thanks for everything!

Thing 21 Beyond MySpace:Other Social Networks

I searched around on Gather a bit. Figured out how to find book reviews. Since anyone can post them, I'll probably get a lot of different opinions on books. I also looked at WebJunction but don't see its use for me right now.

I was successful creating an account in 23thingsonastick.ning. Here is my Ning badge. I'd like to put it along the side in my element layout, but on this computer I can't get the "add" feature to work. I'll try again from a different location.


View my page on 23 Things on a Stick

4/13/08 I was able to add to my layout from my home computer and added my Ning badge to the side of my blog also.

Thing 20 Libraries and Social Networks

Both Facebook and MySpace are blocked on my computer at a local high school. I'm sure the rationale is that students tend to spend too much computer time at these sites instead of assignments, and/or monopolizing the limited computers when others need them to complete assignments. I will explore these sites from another place.

4/13/08 - Was able to view the YouTube explanation of social networking. Pretty much knew this stuff going in. YouTube is pretty painful with a dial-up...slow and disjointed! Logged on to MySpace and looked around. Visited the Denver Library site. It took a long time to load. Most of the posts seemed to be from book authors. Not really impressed with the HCL site. Guess I'm just not into it. I think a good website would be able to handle these links and posts. Is this just an easier way to set it up?

Thing 19 Podcasts

I was able to get on the St. Cloud podcast site. I listened to Episode 9 with Emily Hope-Hofher & Allison Eikenberry live from MEMO. So...I got to listen to their interview instead of reading a transcript. No big deal to me. The MPR podcast was blocked at my location. I tried MPR again this morning and downloaded a Quicktime file that I can't read on this machine. This Thing will take more exploring.

Thing 18 YouTube

I got watched several of the YouTube links: Library dominos, Conan the Librarian, Grend March of the Librarians and the one about "how to read a book." I also logged on to YouTube and scanned through many subjects: libraries, librarians, books, beaches, comedy, etc. I chose a short video called I love the library. I tried to embed a link but got several errors. I chose a different video, Dr. Duck @ your library, with a much longer code and it seems to work. -- Well it worked last night. Today I don't see it, but I am at a different computer.

Thing 17 ELM Productivity Tools

I love ELM - it is a great resource for us, but these activities didn't impress me. I could not get the RSS feed into Bloglines. I tried pasting the RSS code. I tried pasting the URL. This would be a great thing, it just didn't work for me. The exercises for EBSCO page composer and ProQuest create a page wanted you to created yet another account/login, and then what do you do with all these web pages you create??? NetLibrary, another account, let you put notes in books. How often would one go back and use/find these? These videos were in Quicktime and I didn't get any to work for me - not unusual with my computer.

OK - I read some tips in one of the newsletters and tried again with the RSS feed. SUCCESS! After removing .proxy.elm4you.org the feed was added in Bloglines.

Thing 16 Student 2.0 Tools

I really love the Assignment Calculator and the Research Project Calculator. I've put the links to both on my high school library web page. I see it especially useful to those procrastinators! I will use it next time I have a project come up.

I also looked through some of the teacher guides and will incorporate some of the search strategies into my presentations for students.

Thing 15 Online Games & Libraries

I was able to watch the UTube video of the Second Life Library. Nice graphics but not really sure how it works. Or why it would be so fun and interesting!

I downloaded the Puzzle Pirates game to my home computer. The download took 55 minutes over the phone line. The execution was scheduled for 100 minutes - I went to bed and let it run!

4/13/08 I tried to log in to Puzzle Pirates. It said I needed to confirm my registration by replying to an email. I asked for a new email - it's being slow. I'll try again tomorrow.

4/14/08 Still couldn't log in. I sent another request for an email. Hopefully it will show up soon.

Thing 14 LibraryThing

I belong to the LibaryThing through a chiropractic college. I logged on last night and probed around the site. Our professional collection is catalogued there.

Today I created my own account and added 5 new titles from my school library. The process was simple and I pasted the html so you can see the list below. I've seen some blogs where a bookshelf is located on the side of the blog instead of in a message. I'd like to learn how to do that.
It will be interesting to see if LibraryThing takes off.

Thing 13 Online Productivity Tools

I have a customized home page through MSN on my home computer. I love gettng a home page with my weather up front. My husband added his company's stock to keep track of. I looked at the iGoogle, PageFlakes and My Yahoo samples.

I couldn't see the countdown widget, but it's nice to know what they are called because I see them on lots of web pages.

I used an online calendar (MS Outlook) in my former office position. It was a huge changed from the paper to computer, but really worked out well. We simply used it to make appointments, meetings, block off lunches, color code non-school days, etc.

I checked out some of the suggested sites, some had a few tour slides, most wanted you to sign in. I went to my MSN e-mail and looked at my calendar there. Looks like reminders and notes are easy to set up. But I wanted to post a birthday in one of the dates and couldn't figure it out. I'll try again from home.

Not sure I have an interest in the online lists or Backpack features right now. They look interesting and once you get in the habit of setting things up, they'll probably be great. I'd like to try one on a project with one partner to test it out.

I looked at Stikkit but couldn't get any of the screencasts to go. I know that MS Word has a PDF converter, but it doesn't always work smoothly. At my last school, the tech had a great process set up to "print" our document as a PDF and them post it up to the web page.

Thing 12 - Do you Digg?

I looked at the home pages of Mixx, Newsvine and Reddit. Digg was down. Interesting, but I'm not really interested in voting on top stories. Too much like American Idol.

I did not register for a site.

When I scanned the home pages of NY Times, BBC & StarTribune, I didn't see buttons for Share tools. I did notice the RSS feeds!

Thing 11 Tagging and Del.icio.us

The tagging was easy.

I could not view the 8 minute video. I created an account in Del.icio.us and added a few bookmarks. I was able to download the 2 buttons to my screen - really amazing since most things I try to see or do are blocked or my limited technology just won't let me do it. I will check it from an offsite computer tonight.

4/8/08 I easily got to the my bookmarks from a different computer last night. This may turn into a really great tool!

Thing 10 Wikis

Thing 10 went well. I was able to open all the links to wikis. The 1st one - SJCPL Subject Guides looked just like a regular web page. I bookmarked Library Success for future reference.

I know that many ban Wikipedia. I've used the site myself several times. I remind students to verify their information from several sources. I didn't realize that changes are tracked on it. I wonder if they get corrected routinely.

I posted on the 23 Things On a Stick site.

Thing 9 Online Collaboration Tools

Well, I could look at the documents in Google docs and Zoho Writer but not practice with the tools.

I have seen something like this work with WORD in my schools. The Special Ed secretary and case managers often send things back and forth. I've also see a few teachers use it with students.

Thing 8 Share your creations

I've created a database list in Lazybase.com of summer reads for my school. I pasted the html code and the list just appeared.



Pretty cool! I'd actually like to move it to a side column on my blog page instead of in the text. If anyone has an idea on how to do this, let me know!

I also created a 3 slide show on Thumbstacks. It was similar to a PowerPoint, but not as many options. I couldn't figure out how to link it here. Something for me to work on. I couldn't get the Web 2.0 Tools in Your Classroom to run for me.

I looked through the Picture Trail site and eFolio MN. I've seen a demonstration of efolio MN and have recommended it to others looking for ways to create their own website.

I'm thinking that one of the advantages of these slideshow sites would be for anyone to view them on their computer without the extra software. It is definitely something I will come back to check out after I finish all my "things."

Thing 7 Communcation Tools

Very difficult to complete this with dial-up. Most of the links didn't work.

I mostly use e-mail for communication. I've worked with offices who use the calendar function.

During a summer class (2003), an instructor "dialed" in to the UMN libraries and we chatted via computer. The library took control of the class computer, answered our questions and directed us to several URLs. I thought it worked great. I know special software was involved on the library end.

I used to IM my sister quite extensively when I was gone for a summer. Less expensive than long-distance phoning.

I do not text message. Not sure how this would work in a library setting. While some consider it convenient to quietly text during meetings, movies, etc. I think it is rude.

I have attended 2 webinars. Both were interesting and went smoothly. I was not involved in the set up. I will be attending another on April 8, the 2nd in a series by Linworth on Graphic Novels for Teens.

Thing 6 Online Image Generators

I was able to create a trading card and save it to my computer. Kind of a slow process using dial-up.

I also created a motivator poster and saved it to my computer. Here it is:

Thing 6 successfully completed!

Thing 5 More Flickr Fun

I could click on the links and get to the web sites, but from home I have dial-up and the process was slow with incomplete loadings.

I saw the pictures on Clockr. Flickr Color Pickr showed up with a color chart but nothing else.

I created a poster on Big Huge Labs and downloaded it to my home computer. I also spelled my name with Spell with Flickr - but didn't see instructions on how to upload it to my blog.

Thing 4 Photosharing with Flickr

I couldn't watch the video from my machine at work - only a blank space came up and there was an error on the page.

I did go to flickr and browse the site and images. I've tried to upload a picture several times. What I get is a blank box with an x in it. When you click the box it opens to the picture on the Flickr site. Is this how it works? Or should the picture show up in my blog? The note said to credit the photographer and add the link to the image - it's not working that way for me.

For another attempt, I saved the picture from flickr to my desktop and then did the upload. Nothing came.

Another attempt, I uploaded a picture from googleimages with a .jpeg extention. You can see the ladyslipper at the top of this post. I don't know how to add the photographer's name as a tag (Showy Lady's SlipperPhoto credit:U of MN Extension Service ) or the link (http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/YGLNews/images/ladyslipper.jpg) It was at the very top and I was able to drag it down.

My husband's family belongs to a Yahoo Group where they can post pictures to that site and go it and look at them. The process is kind of clunky and the size of the images is sometimes a problem.

We get photo slide shows over the internet from a niece. We can view the pictures and purchase them. I know several grandmas who really like this service.

I don't think I'll join flickr. I don't want my pictures made public.

I often see links to pictures on school and library web pages. Do they store the pictures on their server or use a site like flickr?

On to #5

Thing 3 - RSS

For Thing 3 I was able to read about RSS. I could not access the video with my current machine at work. I set up my "Really Simple Syndication" thru Bloglines. I added 4 sites. I guess the next step would be to check my RSS frequently and see what kind of updates I receive.

I'm not really a web surfer, so I'm not sure how useful these will be. I do belong to a "chat list" and find that I have to surf through a lot of e-mails to find relevant items. Seems like some people like to post just to get their name out there. Or maybe they really have a long term relationship with others in the group so their comments may be more meaningful to each other.

On to #4!

Thing 2 What is Library 2.0

Well, it's been a while, but I'm really starting this time. I still don't have my avatar completed. I couldn't watch the video - don't have the current Adobe Flash or something and can't download it with some administrative permission. I will try both the avatar and video from my home computer.

Did read through the blog of 2.0 and the article. No problem getting to these technologically speaking.

Overall, I agree that libraries need to be technologically up to date for the public. I guess I agree with some posters that game playing and game playing parties shouldn't be a huge priority. I just personnally feel that real person to person interaction is better and more fun.

I hope to learn more about the different technologies out there through these 23 things.

Thing 1 - Getting Started

I've created my blog for 23 Things on a Stick. I couldn't get an avatar because my machine doesn't have Macromedia Flash. I will try again from another place and see if the export works.

4/8/08 - I created my avatar and attached it to my home page set up. Pretty easy once you can get the program up!