Wednesday, April 2, 2008

thing 11: Tagging and Delicious

This one is easy. I am totally on board with delicious. though I refuse to add those periods in the name. (Again it strikes me as curious that I don't use this tool as a "social networking" tool but to an increase to my productivity, convenience, etc. I don't use any of these tools really as social networking!)

Playing around with delicious takes a lot of time. But I liked what that woman from the 8 minute tutorial said about getting filter or authorities to filter for you. It is finding out those authorities and filters that take so much time.

Thing 10: Wikis

I have been thinking about wikis lately and was glad to learn more about them. I am especially interested in using them for reference subject guides and as a way to expand our library website without involving our campus IT staff. pbwiki wetpaint.com wikispaces.com

I find it difficult to find an interesting wiki. Certainly I love wikipedia and use it regularly. It certainly has its place in the library. I used to be more disposed against it especially in regards to reference. But now, clearly, it must be included in instruction and student need to learn when it is an appropriate source and the pitfalls of it. It is nice that there is so much critical mass for the wikipedia.

I will be working on utilizing this in the future as a tool for myself. But I don't really see how the colloboration aspects will help among our staff or institution. Perhaps it will reveal itself down the road as I use other tools first.

Thing 9: Collaboratino tools

I think this idea is pretty cool. In some ways, we have been waiting for this for a long time. since we jumped on the computer band wagon and realized the deal we had made with the devil. aka microsoft. always purchasing updates, trouble moving to a new computer, etc. It seems nice to have the data stored and manipulated outside the hands of one giant monster. It seems practically equalitarian.

But I wonder, again, about giving up control of my information. I place my documents out on the web, in the hands of some unknown entity, trusting that it will remain private, trusting that it will it will continue to remain accessible to me. I wonder what The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood would hold it she wrote it today...

With that said, I think that I will look to Google for more, especially when updating my home computer!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Thing 8: Share your creations

Presentation Software
At first, I thought that this won't speak to me because I don't even use power point right now. Then it occured to me that not only should I be enlarging the scope of technological activities, but I can also use this as an oppurtunity to evaluate and supplantment what I am currently doing. And as Martha would say, "that's a good thing"

Picture Sharing,
I have a real problem with this. All this (and previous uses of this in our 23 things) assume/require that we have access to a digital camera. Well, our library doesn't. Hence, I left pretty much out in the cold on this one. We especially would like to do something with scanned images of new books.
Picture trail would be fun for my personal spare time, but I am not a young personal with lots of time and no responsibilities

Database sharing. can't really see a good use for us with this one.

I would like to spend more time playing around with this. maybe this summer...

Things 7: communication tools -- Return to This

My report"

Email: using it already successfully. But it was good to be reminded about the waste of time with checking for new mail so often. It can be a real waste of time.

IM: I would like to try using this for reference. Stumbling blocks - learning to use it and getting the IT people to approve some kind of use of it on our library homepage which is quite restricted. A good summer project.

Webconference: we have used this extensively (as a viewer) for software training and various professional development sessions. It is easy to use. I wonder if this could be used along with Skype to eliminate the long distance phone call


Additional things: I looked into Twitter and found it to be quite a disappointment. boring, insipid, like a fire work a big bang and then nothing. not for me.