This is jolly good fun!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
23 Things - Completed!
I really liked the way the program was set up - self-discovery at your own pace. That is how I learn best. I also found that the more people that finished (before me) the more I was able to do - they gave encouragement and advise on details, both in person and online through blog advise. Generally I found it a bit rough getting started - it took doing 6-7 things before I figured out how to handle it all efficiently. The middle several things were the most time intensive for me - the "meat" of the experience. And it was very nicely planned that the last few things were more fun - not as time intensive. There were times when the whole thing was frustrating - mostly related to computer speed and lack of time - and there were times when I really played and found very useful stuff.
Thanks for the memories!!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
eBooks
Squirrel Inc.: A Fable About Leadership Through Storytelling by Stephen Denning is about the use of story telling in the business world. Unusual at best, boring at worst. The sound quality is great and user interface very good - windows media player is familiar and has fun graphics that move with the sound.
Podcasts
Mugglecast - seems to be an ongoing conversation with news flashes about everything Potter related. The cool thing about this one is the visuals - I downloaded it to RealPlayer and was able to watch the cosmic, funky light show moving to the music & words!
Helping Kids Get Smart About Money - I selected this one because it has recently come to my attention that kids don't learn how to establish and maintain their personal assets in school. Now that my kids are older, I wnat to make sure they get this information when it will still make a difference in their lives!
Libvib - is a news podcast about libraries and books. I will listen to this to keep up with news about libraries and how they do things around the world. Right now I am listening to a podcast about the children's book " And Tango Makes Three" why it was challenged and why it is an acceptable subject for children. Hot topic!!
YouTube
Indigo Love of Reading Fund video
I wonder if anything like this ever really happens in a classroom??!!
Web 2.0 Awards List
I played around with Colorblender - see my colors at http://colorblender.com/?preloadblend=6531AB9448F78D76ABCCABF7545454ABABAB> Fun and useful for decorating a room.
I also looked at facebook, and decided to create an account. My son has one, and I think it might be a good way to contact him. I think he checks that more frequently than his email!
Lulu looks like a good site for publishing - I am working on a yearbook and a calendar for Harford Friends School. I will have to compare prices with other online publishing sites and local stores - staples and office depot both offer these services.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Online Productivity is Collaborative !!!!
Well, I've been hearing about this web based application idea & here I am. I can see using this in many ways - at work and with various groups I am involved with - mostly Quaker. The list of templates is a great source for how all this new technology can be used. WOW!!! I wonder if it works well for people who have dial up connections (me!). I think the theme word here is...collabrative!!!!
I have already sent out links to friends who will find them useful! One is called 30boxes http://www.30boxes.com/welcome.php and supports creation of collaborative calendars. I sent the link to the office staff at my daughters school. I can also see myself using it to merge all the crazy aspects of my life....2 kids school schedules, volunteer commitments, social stuff and work. Even if it does take a while to set it up, it will be better that trying to make sure I have everything in all 3 hard copy calendars (purse, office desk & home kitchen).
I also created documents in both Google Docs https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F<mpl=homepage&nui=1 & Zoho http://writer.zoho.com . Google Docs was very easy to use & access since it is connected to google & I already use a gmail account regularly. It only offers basic documents and spreadsheets. But Zoho...wow!!! It offers many more options - basic documents, spreadsheets, slide shows, wikis, notebook, planner, creator, chat & meeting!!! I can see this becoming the "go to" place for everything.
2.0 Sandbox
I can see that this would be a good tool for people not living near each other who are working on a project, or doing committee work together. I am a member of several such groups and am having to constantly check my email - theen sometines have to search back through messages to find older info. This format is nice because everything added to the conversation is in one place - a long conversation. Clearly, it would also be a good format for a class - it would help students and teacher collaborate. Cool!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Wiki's
Monday, September 10, 2007
2.0 and the future in libraries
Technorati
I have been playing around with Technorati for, let's see...2 hours now. There is a lot so look at. Here is what I found out when I searched for "learning 2.0" in different places....
- In Blog Posts - I found individuals reactions to using web 2.0 technology. Some positive, some negative....lots of rambling! Not something I would want to read everyday.
- In Blogs - I found links to complete blogs and websites focused on web 2.0 technology. This was much more interesting to me. I really found a lot to read, listen to and watch on www.librarybytes.com . I especially enjoyed the gmail video and Helene Blowers comentary on it! Also, the post about 10 Unlearning Items were very interesting - in light of all things "back to school " going on right now. Finally, her test run with animoto makes me want to find time to explore that site!
- In Tag Search - I found lots of nasty links when I clicked on bbw. So I backed out & tried clicking on facebook. Its cool that you can choose a tab to narrow your search to blogs, posts, videos & photos OR have an overview. I finally found how to search for "learning 2.0" as a tag! You have to go into advanced search, and scroll down to Tag Search.
- In Top Favorited Blog, Top Searches & Top Blogs - I found that boing boing, engadget & telecrunch were all on the top favorited blogs and top blogs lists. There is obviously a relationship between the 2 lists.
I can see how using technorati would be useful, if someone needed to search blogs. Maybe in the future this will become more of a need, but right now - its just extra.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Del.icio.us!!!
Rollyo
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Library Thing!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Avitar
Merlin
I took some time to read some blogs linked from the Merlin page and found an accurate way to describe how I am feeling about the experience of Web 2.0 at this point in time. In Do we need a translator here? by Meredith Farkas on her August 30, 2007 blog "Information Wants To Be Free" the phrase 'maintenance burden these tools have' caught my eye. In her blog, she is referring to what it really takes to implement web 2.0 technologies for users in the library, as part of our customer service. But for me, the phrase sums up how it feels to dip into so many new web based things in rapid fire. These web tools have a high maintenance burden - it's difficult to keep up with it all! For example, now that I have a bloglines account and have chosen several interesting looking RSS feeds to subscribe to ...when will I read them?? At home...I try to spend less time looking at screens with my family nearby. And with dial up service....well you can guess how long it would take! At work...I have a lot of other things I am responsible for ....with no added time for accomplishing them. Honestly, I am not very interested in spending MORE time at a desk, reading a screen. A lot of these things are really interesting, but it serves to suck me into staring at a screen for long periods of time. When I think about how I want to spend my time, my preference is to be interacting with people, animlas & nature. Having real, instead of virtiual experiences.
I will keep exploring web 2.0. But, honestly I don't think I will continue using these technologies into the future unless they are integrated into my daily work at the library.
Monday, August 27, 2007
bloglines
mosaica & blurb!
Blurb - making books out of flicker photos looks really amazing! I have seen a couple of the finished products, but never thought how cool it would be to make one myself. Actually what came to mind is my brother. Scottt travels the world & takes loads of pix. I am always telling him he needs to publish his photos along with the travel logs he writes. This looks like a perfect way to get him motivated to work on a book, or 5!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Glass Amoebae
Glass Amoebae
Originally uploaded by kafka doodle
This is incredible. Little known fact about me.....I worked with glass while in college. It is amazing to work with a material that you can not touch while creating with it. I think I am drawn to glass because of how it reacts and refracts light. So beautiful!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
I'm Baaaack!
After exploring flickr, I am feeling more motivated to move into the realm of digital photos. What a great way to store & share photos!!! I think I will still get hard copies made to give away to customers, but hopefully this will save our friends group some $$! I think you can find my photos by searching for Aberdeen Library.
Monday, June 25, 2007
6/25/07 - Hey, this works!
Why Can't Maurice find it?
Later....
Maurice is so smart - he found it!
Everyone please notice that the URL for this blog has 2 l's in the word life! Use one l and you will go to a different blog.
6/21/07 - Pokey Puppy
The Puppy Pokey!
You put your right paw in,
You put your right paw out,
You put your right paw in,
andYou shake it all about!
You do the puppy pokey and
You chase your tail around.
That's what its all about!
more verses...
You put your left paw in...
You put your right ear in...
You put your left ear in....
You put your nose in...
You put your tail in....