Alright!!! I'm at the next step after Thing 23. I'm now signed up to the feed for Library 2.1. Also, I'm listed on the Library 2.1 wiki. This wiki uses Front Page for editing--little different look, but more dressed up, too.
I even joined Explore Discover Play Ning site. Here's my page:
http://explorediscoverplay.ning.com/profile/fantasybooklover
Well, I've got 10 steps to complete to catch up with everyone else here. Looking forward to starting them at some point. I'm going to review the first 23 things some more first. I am glad that we can move on to learn more though.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Thing 23
I am so happy to have successfully reached this point. I love computers and usually have no trouble learning new computer applications, but I must admit that some things stumped me a bit--took looking at help pages and sometimes searching the internet for answers to problems I encountered. Just yesterday, I was helping a co-worker with her blog, and I could not get blogger to accept a photo into her profile--something that I do have on my blog and did all the 'supposedly' correct steps to put on her blog. Just like many things in life, computers & their applications sometimes have annoying bugs or other unknown problems. Of course, I may have missed some step or the problem may have been because our computer server was going up and down most of the day.
Let's see, my favorite discoveries/exercises, hmmm. Wiki would be one of my favorite discoveries. Playing with image generators would probably be my favorite exercise.
This program has definitely assisted my lifelong learning goals. I want to keep learning new things, and this certainly taught me a lot. I look forward to keeping up my learning by re-looking at many of the lessons. I hope to pick up more new Web 2.0 learning in the future.
The only thing that really took away some of the fun and made things harder at times were that some of the lessons were dated in their tutorials. They showed how to do something one way, which no longer exists today. I think that those need to be updated if anyone is available to do that.
I definitely would participate in another discovery program like this in the future. It's so helpful to have something set up that takes you from one step and application on the web to another, even with the problems of dated tutorials. It helped learn what I didn't know and should work on learning.
Well, that's all for now. I'm heading to Beyond Thing 23 now.
Let's see, my favorite discoveries/exercises, hmmm. Wiki would be one of my favorite discoveries. Playing with image generators would probably be my favorite exercise.
This program has definitely assisted my lifelong learning goals. I want to keep learning new things, and this certainly taught me a lot. I look forward to keeping up my learning by re-looking at many of the lessons. I hope to pick up more new Web 2.0 learning in the future.
The only thing that really took away some of the fun and made things harder at times were that some of the lessons were dated in their tutorials. They showed how to do something one way, which no longer exists today. I think that those need to be updated if anyone is available to do that.
I definitely would participate in another discovery program like this in the future. It's so helpful to have something set up that takes you from one step and application on the web to another, even with the problems of dated tutorials. It helped learn what I didn't know and should work on learning.
Well, that's all for now. I'm heading to Beyond Thing 23 now.
Thing 22
I found the most information about both NetLibrary and YPL's Digital Books by going to the Help pages. NetLibrary has a really great Demo from www.oclc.org.--nicely paced and very informative. Digital Books also has a good easy to read Quick Start Guide.
Both have so many thing to see. NetLibrary has many ebooks--from the Demo, other subscriptions to NetLibrary also have audiobooks and ejournals. There are quite a few language options. The books cover any topic I could think of. It's very easy to use and has a nice format. You can read the books right on your computer.
Digital Books also has wide variety of books and audiobooks to choose. Their books must be downloaded--you cannot just open them up on the screen like NetLibrary.
The advance search options on both are very versatile. I like all the different options you have for searching.
I can definitely see the uses for ebooks and audiobooks. It's great to have something you can access anywhere in the world as long as you can get to a computer and have the necessary devices for reading/listening to the material. With ebooks, particularly, it's nice to be able to search within a book for certain keywords if you can't remember where you read something before and the index isn't helping you. I don't know if I will ever actually use audiobooks for myself, though, as they tend to put me to sleep. I'll use the MP3 player mostly for music.
I'm including a link to the original PLCMC lesson, mainly because I like have a link to each of their lessons in my blog.
Both have so many thing to see. NetLibrary has many ebooks--from the Demo, other subscriptions to NetLibrary also have audiobooks and ejournals. There are quite a few language options. The books cover any topic I could think of. It's very easy to use and has a nice format. You can read the books right on your computer.
Digital Books also has wide variety of books and audiobooks to choose. Their books must be downloaded--you cannot just open them up on the screen like NetLibrary.
The advance search options on both are very versatile. I like all the different options you have for searching.
I can definitely see the uses for ebooks and audiobooks. It's great to have something you can access anywhere in the world as long as you can get to a computer and have the necessary devices for reading/listening to the material. With ebooks, particularly, it's nice to be able to search within a book for certain keywords if you can't remember where you read something before and the index isn't helping you. I don't know if I will ever actually use audiobooks for myself, though, as they tend to put me to sleep. I'll use the MP3 player mostly for music.
I'm including a link to the original PLCMC lesson, mainly because I like have a link to each of their lessons in my blog.
Thing 21
Podcasts are interesting. I searched on the 3 podcast directories listed in the lesson:
Podcast.net
Podcastalley.com
Yahoo Podcasts
I found them fairly easy to search. I didn't like that you have to download software to subscribe to anything on Yahoo Podcasts--ended up not subscribing to anything from them. The assignment said that Yahoo wouldn't require downloading--maybe Yahoo changed since the lesson was written.
There looked to be some really useful Library podcasts. I subscribed to 2 different ones, but there were many to choose from.
There certainly are tons of podcasts out there, and many of the ones I found on topics I liked were really long.
I don't know if I will ever make my own podcast, but I did change my blog itself into a podcast. I signed up for Odiogo.
Podcast.net
Podcastalley.com
Yahoo Podcasts
I found them fairly easy to search. I didn't like that you have to download software to subscribe to anything on Yahoo Podcasts--ended up not subscribing to anything from them. The assignment said that Yahoo wouldn't require downloading--maybe Yahoo changed since the lesson was written.
There looked to be some really useful Library podcasts. I subscribed to 2 different ones, but there were many to choose from.
There certainly are tons of podcasts out there, and many of the ones I found on topics I liked were really long.
I don't know if I will ever make my own podcast, but I did change my blog itself into a podcast. I signed up for Odiogo.
Thing 20
There are a lot of fun videos to watch here. There are also educational videos. One thing I discovered was I didn't need to copy the embedded player code as shown in the lesson. When I clicked Share This--it only brought up the option to email the video. I went ahead and signed up for a Free YouTube Account, and then was able to use the Post Video link to directly post the video to my blog. When I looked at the edit of my post, all the coding for the embedded player is right there. Apparently, YouTube, like Flickr, now offers one step direct posting to blogs.
I like the searchability by keywords, tags, or category. I wish there was a way to search by length of video--mainly because it took a while to find a really short video to post to my blog. It does sort videos by relevance, date added, view count, and rating, though. All of which are helpful. When you find a video, you can click on its category or tags to find similar videos; you can browse related videos, see more from this user, and see playlists.
Oh, just realized the embedded code is listed on the right side--below tags & URL--just missed seeing it. Well, Post Video was just as easy to do anyways.
One of these days, I'll check out the other video sites as well:
Yahoo Videos
Google Videos
And many more sites to try at the Web's Top Video Sites review.
There are just so very many sites to watch videos on, and they include all kinds of videos, instructional to just plain fun.
I like the searchability by keywords, tags, or category. I wish there was a way to search by length of video--mainly because it took a while to find a really short video to post to my blog. It does sort videos by relevance, date added, view count, and rating, though. All of which are helpful. When you find a video, you can click on its category or tags to find similar videos; you can browse related videos, see more from this user, and see playlists.
Oh, just realized the embedded code is listed on the right side--below tags & URL--just missed seeing it. Well, Post Video was just as easy to do anyways.
One of these days, I'll check out the other video sites as well:
Yahoo Videos
Google Videos
And many more sites to try at the Web's Top Video Sites review.
There are just so very many sites to watch videos on, and they include all kinds of videos, instructional to just plain fun.
Library Olypmics, Part 3
Well, we've all heard about "Pimp" your Bookcart; now, here's another use for bookcarts.
Thing 19
For this assignment, I looked at the top winner for maps: Google Maps.
It is a very good tool. I like that you can change the route it offers by clicking on the route on the map and dragging to the highway you want to use. I've always used Mapquest.com before, but I think I'll switch to Google Maps now, and I would recommend it to others for travel directions. You can add all sorts of tools to your map search, too. I think this would be very good for use with library patrons needing travel directions.
There are so many other tools to look at--I know there are others that are also useful. We've already used some of them in previous lessons for Library 2.0, like: Technorati, Bloglines, Library Thing, Flickr, Rollyo, and Del.icio.us. That's just the awardwinners!!! Lots to see and try whenever I find the time.
It is a very good tool. I like that you can change the route it offers by clicking on the route on the map and dragging to the highway you want to use. I've always used Mapquest.com before, but I think I'll switch to Google Maps now, and I would recommend it to others for travel directions. You can add all sorts of tools to your map search, too. I think this would be very good for use with library patrons needing travel directions.
There are so many other tools to look at--I know there are others that are also useful. We've already used some of them in previous lessons for Library 2.0, like: Technorati, Bloglines, Library Thing, Flickr, Rollyo, and Del.icio.us. That's just the awardwinners!!! Lots to see and try whenever I find the time.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thing 18
Well, I found this assignment interesting. I liked seeing all the templates for documents on ZohoWriter. I didn't like that it would not let me really resize images! Also, after publishing to my blog, I discovered that the cute emoticons do not work in blogger--oh well.
The features for ZohoWriter look pretty much like all the features you would find in Microsoft Word, and work pretty much the same way. There were just a few extras--like inserting "layer" and "anchor"--things that are obviously related to web publishing (I think). I do wish it had better Help information--All I could find was FAQ and the Forums or Contacting Zoho directly. I guess if you can't figure out something in Zoho on your own you have to post to the forum or email Zoho your problem and wait for someone to answer it.
Still, I can see how it makes good documents to share everywhere--travelling from computer to computer. And, like I said before, there are so many templates for any kind of document imaginable--much more than MS Word offers.
I really need to look at some of the other online tools out there that PLCMC pointed out on their Zoho Document.
The features for ZohoWriter look pretty much like all the features you would find in Microsoft Word, and work pretty much the same way. There were just a few extras--like inserting "layer" and "anchor"--things that are obviously related to web publishing (I think). I do wish it had better Help information--All I could find was FAQ and the Forums or Contacting Zoho directly. I guess if you can't figure out something in Zoho on your own you have to post to the forum or email Zoho your problem and wait for someone to answer it.
Still, I can see how it makes good documents to share everywhere--travelling from computer to computer. And, like I said before, there are so many templates for any kind of document imaginable--much more than MS Word offers.
I really need to look at some of the other online tools out there that PLCMC pointed out on their Zoho Document.
Fantasybooklover uses ZohoWriter
Fantasybooklover--that's me. Do you see me at the Librarian's Desk?--Hint: I'm the cat! My alternate name is: Hey Diddle Diddle.
This ZohoWriter is fun to use. It's so easy!
Here's another picture:
Isn't it beautiful? 
This tree is in my yard, and I took the picture this spring.
I'm working on the 23 things for Learning 2.0. This is step #18--Web-based apps.
I have blog, called Fantasy Booklover's Interests, where I have all my completed steps listed.
Thing 17
Great Discovery Resources--easy to follow, easy to use. Really showed why it is so easy to set up and use a wiki. I had no problem adding my blog--especially once I realized that part 2 of the exercise told me exactly what to type. I look forward to seeing other YPL blogs added to the Library 2.0 Wiki Sandbox.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Thing 16
I read all the discovery resources and what I found most interesting was that wiki comes from the Hawaiian language, meaning quick. I wonder why or how Ward Cunningham came up with picking a word from the Hawaiian language when he created the first wiki.
I looked at quite a few of the library wikis. For one stop looking to really see all the kinds out there, Library Success: A Best Practices wiki was the best. It was really interesting to see how many libraries have already made wikis. I didn’t realize that some sites I’ve gone to in the past, like the Mid-Hudson Library System’s EZ Library Program Database was a wiki. Seeing all the successful ones listed shows that almost everything a librarian does can be organized into a wiki.
I think our website could easily be converted to a wiki with its organization of information about the library, electronic resources available and directory of internet resources, and more. Staff are already encouraged to contribute to it. The difference would be that staff and everyone “on the street” would be able to directly update links, and delete or add others. From what I saw that could be very good for the library, because as one of the wiki articles noted it can be difficult for librarians or the ‘webmaster’ to keep up with checking that all links are still current.
Further, to stop constantly re-inventing the wheel, if all of us librarians contributed to a programming wiki, we would have our own online database of Baby Brilliant (baby, toddler, & preschool), School age, Teen, even Adult programs to share with all of our branches and all the internet. Particularly for children’s programs, where we type a sheet to give parents/caregivers, this could save time and make our job easier.
Really the discovery resources about wiki listed many of the uses for them: subject guides, community guides, conference guide, education tool, etc. The Libsuccess wiki lists any that the resources missed. I think that wiki really ties in with the previous Thing 15 on Library 2.0—it broadens the library to everyone—other librarians & other libraries all the way to the entire world.
I looked at quite a few of the library wikis. For one stop looking to really see all the kinds out there, Library Success: A Best Practices wiki was the best. It was really interesting to see how many libraries have already made wikis. I didn’t realize that some sites I’ve gone to in the past, like the Mid-Hudson Library System’s EZ Library Program Database was a wiki. Seeing all the successful ones listed shows that almost everything a librarian does can be organized into a wiki.
I think our website could easily be converted to a wiki with its organization of information about the library, electronic resources available and directory of internet resources, and more. Staff are already encouraged to contribute to it. The difference would be that staff and everyone “on the street” would be able to directly update links, and delete or add others. From what I saw that could be very good for the library, because as one of the wiki articles noted it can be difficult for librarians or the ‘webmaster’ to keep up with checking that all links are still current.
Further, to stop constantly re-inventing the wheel, if all of us librarians contributed to a programming wiki, we would have our own online database of Baby Brilliant (baby, toddler, & preschool), School age, Teen, even Adult programs to share with all of our branches and all the internet. Particularly for children’s programs, where we type a sheet to give parents/caregivers, this could save time and make our job easier.
Really the discovery resources about wiki listed many of the uses for them: subject guides, community guides, conference guide, education tool, etc. The Libsuccess wiki lists any that the resources missed. I think that wiki really ties in with the previous Thing 15 on Library 2.0—it broadens the library to everyone—other librarians & other libraries all the way to the entire world.
Thing 15
I read all five of the different pespectives on the Library 2.0 assignment. When I read them, they mostly all seemed to agree with each other, actually.
Into a New World of Librarianship seemed to point out the ideal Librarian 2.0--really what I think all of us as librarians strive to be now and hope to become in the future. Trying to offer the best of ourselves to the library profession. Answering all questions with the best resources, print or tech related. Teamwork beyond your library system, worldwide teamwork. Trying to keep up with information and new resources—again print & tech.
To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate seemed to move the previous perspective from that of the librarian to that of the entire organization/library. OCLC as an organization is implementing all the ideals the New World of Librarianship seemed to talk about--just look at OCLC's Worldcat. OCLC’s Web 2.0 is Librarian 2.0.
To Better Bibliographic Services talked of using metadata with Web 2.0 and Libraries, expanding beyond the traditional library building or system to include other library systems, even bookstores. Greater cooperation among all such entities. Allowing contributions from all users—staff and patrons, not limiting to just the cataloging professionals. Points out OCLC’s Worldcat as just one example that is working on doing this.
To a Temporary Place in Time is an essay showing what the library is today and what it will be. I like the look of the future library.
The only perspective I didn't completely agree with was the first perspective: Away from Icebergs. The author seemed to go very radically to pro-tech/all-tech. When I read it, it seemed to say that libraries should do away with all print resources. Maybe that's not what he meant, but that was how I read it. I can't see the library surviving on tech only--what do you do in a power outage or server crash? or when all the computers are in use and more people arrive looking for answers? or the people arrive who, no matter how easy you make something, will NOT touch a computer? I just felt you still need to balance Tech with Print, and the other perspectives seemed to agree on this.
Library 2.0 for me means integreting more technology into the library. Networking with everyone from library professional to the person on the street. Doing our best to incorporate all that—technology and networking—into an enviroment that is user friendly and relevant to all needs. It really means doing my best to keep up with learning about and using the new web-based technologies/programs/applications as they come into being. It means my future as a librarian.
Into a New World of Librarianship seemed to point out the ideal Librarian 2.0--really what I think all of us as librarians strive to be now and hope to become in the future. Trying to offer the best of ourselves to the library profession. Answering all questions with the best resources, print or tech related. Teamwork beyond your library system, worldwide teamwork. Trying to keep up with information and new resources—again print & tech.
To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate seemed to move the previous perspective from that of the librarian to that of the entire organization/library. OCLC as an organization is implementing all the ideals the New World of Librarianship seemed to talk about--just look at OCLC's Worldcat. OCLC’s Web 2.0 is Librarian 2.0.
To Better Bibliographic Services talked of using metadata with Web 2.0 and Libraries, expanding beyond the traditional library building or system to include other library systems, even bookstores. Greater cooperation among all such entities. Allowing contributions from all users—staff and patrons, not limiting to just the cataloging professionals. Points out OCLC’s Worldcat as just one example that is working on doing this.
To a Temporary Place in Time is an essay showing what the library is today and what it will be. I like the look of the future library.
The only perspective I didn't completely agree with was the first perspective: Away from Icebergs. The author seemed to go very radically to pro-tech/all-tech. When I read it, it seemed to say that libraries should do away with all print resources. Maybe that's not what he meant, but that was how I read it. I can't see the library surviving on tech only--what do you do in a power outage or server crash? or when all the computers are in use and more people arrive looking for answers? or the people arrive who, no matter how easy you make something, will NOT touch a computer? I just felt you still need to balance Tech with Print, and the other perspectives seemed to agree on this.
Library 2.0 for me means integreting more technology into the library. Networking with everyone from library professional to the person on the street. Doing our best to incorporate all that—technology and networking—into an enviroment that is user friendly and relevant to all needs. It really means doing my best to keep up with learning about and using the new web-based technologies/programs/applications as they come into being. It means my future as a librarian.
Thing 14
Technorati certainly looks like a fun site. I tried the "Library 2.0" searches:
Blog Posts search found 1196 blog posts
Blog Directory search found 205 blogs
Tag Search found 6620 blog posts, 206 blogs, 4 videos, over 7 pages of photos.
It is really interesting how much you can find! I like the organization of the site which makes finding topics very easy. I have "claimed" my blog as mentioned in the assignment and am working on a Watchlist and Favorites. This blog is tagged with a Technorati tag.
plcmcl2
Blog Posts search found 1196 blog posts
Blog Directory search found 205 blogs
Tag Search found 6620 blog posts, 206 blogs, 4 videos, over 7 pages of photos.
It is really interesting how much you can find! I like the organization of the site which makes finding topics very easy. I have "claimed" my blog as mentioned in the assignment and am working on a Watchlist and Favorites. This blog is tagged with a Technorati tag.
plcmcl2
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Very humorous video
www.technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dz4vDClhnJjs
It was one of the most popular on Technorati
It was one of the most popular on Technorati
Thing 13
Del.icio.us seems to be a great way to really organize bookmarks. I can see that it is useful for connecting to many sites. Like Flickr, you create tags, but instead of tags to photos, it is tags to web sites. I think for reference purposes it would be most useful to just bookmark the del.icio.us web site and search tags for a topic/answer to a question. Trying to create bookmarks for every single useful site for each single possible subject would just become a major amount of work, otherwise.
I must admit that I skipped creating Buttons on the toolbar as I cannot do this project on my home computer--dial-up access only at home and would take hours to do any downloading and installation. I did add a button to my blog's sidebar, though. I'll have to re-visit the assignment page for reminders and tutorials on how to use Del.icio.us.
I must admit that I skipped creating Buttons on the toolbar as I cannot do this project on my home computer--dial-up access only at home and would take hours to do any downloading and installation. I did add a button to my blog's sidebar, though. I'll have to re-visit the assignment page for reminders and tutorials on how to use Del.icio.us.
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