Thing #23 (Final Thoughts)

I have experienced both joys and frustrations completing this program but managed to learn something from all of the "things". Before starting 23 Things on a Stick, I wasn't aware that many of the Web 2.0 tools even existed. My favorite lessons were setting up my RSS feeds, the social media sites and LibraryThing. These are features that I continue to use.

Thing #22 (Staying Current)

To blog or not to blog... I might not actually maintain my blog, but I do plan to keep learning. I Iooked at a few of the Web 2.0 blogs. The list was quite impressive. I added Information Wants to be Free to my RSS aggregator. My RSS aggregator is one the the "things" that I really liked, and will keep using. Another is LibraryThing. Both of these are tools that I have since recommended to other people.

Thing #21 (Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks)

I spent quite a bit of time looking at the various social networks. Although I did not join any, there were several that I thought were interesting, and will probably look at them again later. I really liked the two Minnesota Public Radio Groups: Minnesota Readers and Minnesota Life--perhaps because my husband and I are MPR members. I also looked at the two networks dealing with food, and the three dealing with books. Of those three I liked GoodReads best. WhatsOnMyBooksShelf was interesting in that it's a book trading site, but I really don't want to mail my books to other people. GoodReads seems like a good way to keep track of what I've read, as well as, see what people whose interests are similar to mine are reading.

Thing #20 (Libraries and Social Networks)

I registered for a facebook account and joined one of the library groups. I entered very limited information, and have a very high privacy setting, so I could be hard to find. Both of my kids use facebook to keep in touch with their friends. The first time my son told me that he wrote on someones wall, I said "YOU DID WHAT?!" I do see the value of social networking sights as a means of keeping in touch especially when it's not convenient to call, but this is another one of those things that I'm not particulary comfortable with.

Thing #19 (Podcasts)

I listened to both the St. Cloud State University Memoirs for School Library Media Episode 10 - interview with Wanda Erickson and the MPR Electionwise podcast, What Would the Presidential Candidates do for the Environment. I thought all of the podcast directories were fairly easy to use, although I didn't find anything in Yahoo that really appealed to me. I don't think I'll be creating my own podcast, but I will most likely listen to them in the future.

Thing #18 (YouTube & Other Online Video)

Thing #17 (ELM Productivity Tools)

The ELM databases are great research tools. I remember a young patron who was disappointed at not being able to find a book on his favorite sports figure. Using InfoTrac and Ebsco databases, he was able to find several articles written about his hero. He was also happy to learn that he could access these databases through the library website on his home computer. In my students days, we used the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, and were limited to the periodicals to which the library subscribed.

I was not able to watch the videos for the EBSCO Page Composer or ProQuest. When I clicked on links, I got the message "The requested file was not found". I did, however, do the InfoTrac search, and also added the NPR News Feed to my RSS feeds.

Thing #16 (Student 2.0 Tools)

Where were these tools when I was in school? I have a daughter in college, and will recommend them to her. Research projects can be a little overwhelming for some students. The assignment calculators break things down into manageable steps. Students who have trouble with organizing their work could certainly benefit from using these tools. I can also see using the calculators for projects in the work world.

Thing #15 (Online Games and Libraries)

I watched the Second Life video. It reminded me of the Sims games that my kids played when they were younger, only much more interactive. I ended up downloading Pirate Puzzles. The puzzles were similar to online games that I had played before, but found to be somewhat addicting. The time can go by much quicker than you realize while playing some of these games. I have since given up playing them. It seemed like the other pirates and I were all just trying to learn the game so we didn't interact very much. I did accept a challenge to a sword fight and also issued one.

Thing #14 (Library Thing)

I took the LibraryThing Tour, and created an account. It took several tries before I found a user name that wasn't already in use. Adding titles to my library and making the standard blog widget were both very easy. Here is the link to my catalog: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mygr8books. This is a great way to keep track of what you have read, as well as, get recommendations and ideas for further reading. I have no reservations about recommending LibraryThing to patrons.

Thing #13 (Online Productivity Tools)

I created home pages in both Yahoo and iGoogle. I liked iGoogle best. It was easy to customize my page, and not as limited as Yahoo. I added a "books" tab in iGoogle, and it brought up several interesting book review lists. I looked at Backpack, but did not actually try it. It appears to be a great organizational tool for business travelers that allows you to upload your files, set reminders, post messages, etc. As for the other productivity tools, I really liked TinyURL. It's fun, cute and helpful.

Thing #12 (Do you Digg?)

I spent some time exploring Digg, Reddit, Newsvine and Mixx. The amount of information out there is mind boggling. I found an article in BBC News and and shared it on Reddit. The article tools at the end of the article made this very easy to do. Of course, I now have another username and password. I probably won't be a frequent visitor to these sites, but I can definitely see the attraction for students and for those who want to keep up on certain topics.

Thing #11 (Tagging and del.icio.us)

I tagged a couple of my posts. It was very easy to do. Del.icio.us is a really useful tool . Storing bookmarks on the web allows you to access them anywhere you have Internet access. I can see where being able to see what others have bookmarked could be very useful in terms of gathering information, but having the choice to mark some bookmarks as private is also a nice feature.

Thing #10 (Learn about wikis)

Editing the 23 Things Wiki was fun and very easy to do. Our library has a staff wiki. One of the many things it is used for is posting sign-up sheets. We can now volunteer for library events without leaving our desks.

While I have used Wikipedia to look things up for my own use, I would encourage students to verify information they find there with other sources.

Thing #9 (Collaboration)

This was not an easy exercise for me. I received invitations to edit in both Zoho Writer and Google Docs. In both of these collaboration tools, I could find the document, but after logging in, I could not get back to the document to edit it. After several tries, and much wasted time, I gave up.

I think the founding fathers would have found that being able to collaborate online would have saved them a lot of time--if they could get it to work.

Thing #8 - part 2

I spoke too soon. I went into layout and simply rearranged the page element layout. I'm much happier with my slideshow now.

Thing #8 (Share Your Creations)

I uploaded some old vacation photos to Picturetrail. After experimenting with different formats, I decided to display my pictures on an acrobatic picture cube. It was surprisingly easy to do. However on my blog, the edge of my picture cube has been cut off. It looks like a margin problem, but I don't know how to fix it.

Thing #7 (Communication)

E-mail is such a fast and easy way to send messages. I use it both in my personal life and at work. It really facilitates group communication, and is a huge improvement over the old interoffice memos and routing slips.

Patrons can IM the Reference desk at our library. I have used IM at home, but not at work. Since it requires both parties to be using their computers at the same time, I prefer to communicate via e-mail. A few years ago, my children were IMing whenever they were using the computer. They have both switched to Facebook as their primary means of online communication.

Although I have texted, I'm really not a fan of text messaging. If I'm going to be using my phone anyway, why not just call?

Web Conferencing is a great way to provide information. It allows people who may not have the funds or the time to travel to participate.

Thing #6 (Online Image Generator)

This was another fairly simple exercise. I loved the Carleton College librarian trading cards. Author trading cards might be fun for kids. They love to collect things.

Thing #5 (More Flickr Fun)

This was a fun and easy exercise. I found a picture on Flickr and made a puzzle. Rather than upload the puzzle to Flickr, I saved it in a file on my computer, and uploaded it to my blog. I just felt uncomfortable manipulating someone else's picture, and then putting it back on Flickr. While I'm reluctant to put my own personal photos on Flickr, even though they can be marked private, mash-ups are still a great way to create posters and promotional materials for libraries.

Thing #4 (Flickr)

Lake Charlevoix Sunset 2
Originally uploaded by Andrew Morrell Photography

I tried several times to upload a picture from Flicker by pasting in the web address, and couldn't get it to work. Consequently, I'm quite good at deleting postings. I ended up going to the Flickr help page, registered my blog with Flickr and clicked the blog this button. I don't think this is a tool that I will use a lot. Putting my photos on the web just seems like a strange thing to do. I do think this is a wonderful tool for libraries.

Thing #3 (RSS)

I set up an account with Google Reader and added several feeds. It was surprisingly easy to do. This is a very convenient way to stay updated on news and areas of interest.

Thing #2

I watched the video and read several articles. What a lot of information to process! John Blyberg’s blog post was a little reminiscent of the Opposing Viewpoints Series. Libraries do need to keep up with technology. Web 2.0 tools are a way to promote library programs and services and to provide computer savvy people with information in a way that is relevant and useful to them. At the same time, we can’t forget about the many people who did not grow up with computers and are not comfortable using them.

I'm finding learning the 23 things to be exciting, but at the same time, I'm a little apprehensive. It reminds me of jumping off a diving board for the first time as a child. I wasn't sure I wanted to do it, but finally I held my nose, closed my eyes and jumped. I'm taking the plunge again. This time I'll keep my eyes open.

Thing #1

Setting up my blog was not too difficult. The directions were very clear. The avatar took a little longer. I spent quite a bit of time trying different outfits and backgrounds, and Yahoo froze up a few times as I was trying to check out different options. Blogging does seem like an easy and useful way to share information. However, being a rather private person, I'm not sure that it's for me.

My first post

I have to admit to being somewhat hesitant, even reluctant, to do 23 Things on a Stick. After listening to my coworkers talk about things like avatars, rss and flickr, I felt a little left behind. Now that I actually have a blog set up, I'm looking forward to the rest of the project.