This Thing Called Life

The Pirate Song (colour) George Harrison

2007-09-19T14:26:00.001-04:00

This is jolly good fun!

23 Things - Completed!

2007-09-17T14:32:00.000-04:00

My favorite things out of the 23 were flickr, online productivity tools, youtube and mosaica screensaver. As you can guess - these are the things I believe that I will use in the future. I am anticipating that they will make several areas of my life smoother, things like.... sharing photos, keeping the family calendar up to date, and helping volunteer work be more productive and streamlined. Some things are just for pleasure, things like...mosaica (LOVE the variety!!), and youtube is a hoot (nice, quick laughs to lighten my day!!). I am sure there are many applications that are work related, things like...online productivity & wikis. Also, just knowing about these things (actually much more than 23!) will help me help customers.

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!!

eBooks

2007-09-15T16:03:00.000-04:00

I love audio books! My kids & I listen to them all the time - in the car, in our bedrooms, in the kitchen. I have never looked at ebooks to seriously because we still have dial up service at home, and until the web2.0 inititive, my understanding was that we should not be downloading books on our computers at work. I have created a netlibrary account and downloaded one book to use as a test run to seee if I like it enough to use it on a regular basis. I do not think I will use it after this test at work - because I am generally engaging my mind when working at my desk & would find an ebook distracting! As it should be.

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

2007-09-15T15:07:00.000-04:00

Alright, I have listened to a few podcasts - and subscribed to 3 on bloglines. It strikes me as simular to listening to a radio talk show - but...you get to choose your topics. Cool if you like to listen. I find that I miss the visual of the screen. here is what I added to bloglones....

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

2007-09-15T13:32:00.000-04:00

Youtube is always fun! I've been surfing it off and on ever since HCPL Staff Day 2006 when some of the wacky decade skits were added for viewing. To find the one below I searched for "early literacy"...only 43 hits. I the looked at the 2 renners up from the 2.0 awards list - daliymotion and metacafe. Both were also easy to use, but had a lot fewer videos to offer.

Indigo Love of Reading Fund video

2007-09-15T13:23:00.001-04:00

I wonder if anything like this ever really happens in a classroom??!!

Web 2.0 Awards List

2007-09-15T11:39:00.000-04:00

I love this list! What a great way to narrow down and pinpoint the best web 2.0 sites to use - its all organized for us. Its a nice, concise way to compare what's out there and the categories help tremendously. What a great time saver!

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.

Online Productivity is Collaborative !!!!

2007-09-13T14:57:00.001-04:00

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

2007-09-13T14:09:00.000-04:00

I like this sandbox better than the ones I played in as a kid...not even virtual sand in the pants! I added to several wiki's - favorite books, pets, jokes. I added this blog to the list of favorite blogs. And I created a new wiki page "This Thing Called Life" that lists some of my favorite ways to spend time.
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!

Wiki's

2007-09-12T16:07:00.000-04:00

Is seems that wiki's could be used for many applications! WOW! I really enjoyed the book lovers wiki from Princeton. It is very user friendly, and the fact that it is written by "people like us" (NOT professional reviewers) gives the reviews a more genuine feel - like having a conversation with someone who read a book. The SJCPL subject guides wiki was also set up very well - easy to use. These ideas are great ways of linking into library catalogs. Are we going to do thid type of thing at HCPL???

2.0 and the future in libraries

2007-09-10T17:55:00.000-04:00

These posts were very interesting. They make it clear that libraries have to keep up with the times. Many of the specifics of their vision are easy to recognize as issues that HCPL is already working towards. for instance, HCPL has a myspace page, and we just added aquabrowser to our homepage. Also cataloging e-books and the availablilty of libraryDV is very progressive. I have mentioned these innovations to friends and family in other states, and they are amazed that we offer such new technology.

Technorati

2007-09-10T17:00:00.000-04:00

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.

Del.icio.us!!!

2007-09-07T16:49:00.000-04:00

I have been scanning through del.icio.us and think that it will be very useful....with some more time put into it. It is very easy to use and edit. The bundleing feature makes it almost as easy to use as the links bar that I am used to having available. Jackie Cassidy put a link to del.icio.us on onr reference computers, so I will definatly be playing with it more frequently!

Rollyo

2007-09-07T15:03:00.000-04:00

Yo - I have a rollyo search...just scrollyo down to have a goyo at it!! Well, I like the rollyo search - it is cool to have a specialized search tool. I added in all the reference links from my favorites folder, and now can search them all at the same time. I think I will need some more time to refine and create more specific searchrolls - "reference" is very broad. I will play with this some more - I can see how it could be very useful!

Library Thing!

2007-09-05T12:40:00.000-04:00

I have now added random titles that came into my head as I thought about books that were memorable to me. You can see that my taste in books is rather eclectic. It took asking for assistance to figure out how to link library thing to my blog - but I got it on there! I think this will be a nice tool to list books that I like - better than the scraps of paper flooding my desk at the moment!

Avitar

2007-09-01T15:45:00.000-04:00

Here I am ... at my dream vacation spot! I've played around with Yahoo! avitar generator. It is a fun thing to do - I want to share this with my daughter. She loves the web based "paper doll" sites. Again, I don't know how much I'll use this, but it is fun to play around!

I have found that while doing these 23 things at work it is difficult to accomplish when we are busy...that is when all the public computers are in use....and in ABD that is almost always. Often the sound is scrambled on video feeds, and the downloading time is way too long to be enjoyable (yes - I do multitask!...but the momentum is lost while waiting soooo long!). Hummmm.

I am waiting for the generator blog to load "My Posh Twin" as I write. I'll give it 5 more minutes before giving up on this one! Next on I'll try is Pattern Generator - wow - way to techie for me! Next up is rocketship generator - hope its easier! Sure is...here's Moon Child.....

Merlin

2007-09-01T14:43:00.000-04:00

Alright, I've strolled through Merlin and begun the process to set up an account. I am waiting for my password to be sent to me so that I can explore more fully. Seems an odd way to do things. Usually the account holder sets the password these days. The information on web seminars looks interesting as a way to learn new stuff.

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.

bloglines

2007-08-27T17:35:00.000-04:00

And now I'm so hip - I have a bloglines account! This is nice - to have things I want to read about at my fingertips, without having to search the web. It's just like the video described. As I have time I will play with it more and fine tune the items I want to keep. This could cause me to spend a lot more time on the computer!

mosaica & blurb!

2007-08-27T16:43:00.000-04:00

I just explored a cool flickr 3rd party site called mosaica. It brings mosaics of flicker pix to the computer as a screensaver. The samples look really cool. I am hoping this works on my computer! The mash-ups were also interesting - but not something I want to persue.

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!

Glass Amoebae

2007-08-23T19:41:00.001-04:00

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!

I'm Baaaack!

2007-08-21T17:10:00.000-04:00

Now that the Summer Reading Program is over and done with, I find that I have a bit O free tiem to get back to my 23 Things. So today I played around with Flickr. I have been taking photos at the Aberdeen Library for 2 years now. Thanks to the generous donations of or Friends group, I have purchased throw away cameras. I have had double prints made - one for our branch pooto album and one for the public display. Customers really enjoy finding photos of themselves at Aberdeen Library events. The kids are especially thrilled to take the photos home with them!
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.

6/25/07 - Hey, this works!

2007-06-25T17:43:00.001-04:00

Hey, this really 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

2007-06-25T17:38:00.000-04:00

Welcome one & all to my first blog! I want to share a song with you that my daughter and I created for Drop In Story Time at the Aberdeen library. Feel free to use it with kids everywhere! Remember, always have fun!

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....