Thing 23: Blog about experience

Ah.. my final post.

It was been a very good experience. I really had to push myself at the end to finish, but I did. I was glad to have gone through everything and really learned a lot. It came at an excellent time as I am reviewing our library website and our library instruction program. This has given me some many excellent ideas and really sent me on my way on my learning curve. I feel much more empowered to continue to learn and advance. It was a great way to get up to speed. It was nice to know that others were in my same position and also learning along with me. This was an excellent experience. Thank you.

Thing 22: Staying Current

Ways to keep up-

I was finally able to find a few blogs that I might be glancing through. This entire project has helped me get up to speed in general. I have some good ideas about where to go from here. I will need to reorganize my RSS feeds and make them into a daily read.

I do try to take advantage of as many Mintex webinars as possible. These have been a big help. And also, it seems to be a good topic that is discussed more frequently as conferences and meeting now.

Thing 21: other social networks

I am not a member of any online communities. I looked through almost all of the these and can say that nothing really grabbed me. Even the groups on libraryland. It seemed like just the kind of stuff that I don't enjoy about conferences. I am not a networked. I definitely need information on various things, but querying people or reading their various comments is just not the way that I prefer to gather information. It seems like a big waste of thing and I rarely find anything of value or that is actually informing. I am warming a little to blogs as opinion pieces or even wikis as collections of information. But the social networking seems mostly like water cooler talk to me.

Thing 20: Facebook and Myspace

I have been trying myspace and facebook prior to this thing. It was good, I suppose, to have a little more guidance in these networks. I have a facebook account, but really it is too much for me. All this "transparency" is too much. I feel shy and stupid. I suppose I am an introvert by nature, and not even the distance of a medium using computers, typing and transmission lines is enough to make this feel isn't unnecessary exposure. I hated high school and never wish to return. This feels like the worst of it.

As to how this could work for my library...
I have been looking into how other libraries use myspace and facebook in my request to redo our website and bi program. I haven't found anything too earth-shaking in other libraries that are similar to mine. I agree that having a presence where student reside is a benefit, but I think that our first step should be moving into a presence in our institutions course management software. This is were students are centered for coursework and scholarship- let's exist there. not necessarily where students are socializing. This will also advantage us in terms of consistency when young people move onto the next social network or mind-meld-physic network.

I am not opposed to a limited presence in one of those networks, as a pointer. perhaps this will be down the road. I must prioritize.

Thing 19: Podcasts

I found podcasts difficult to use. I didn't want to need to subscribe to podcasts before listening to them. I found podcastalley.com needed login and downloading. Podcast.net wouldn't load. Education Podcast Directory wouldn't run the script one the first try, but I finally had better luck. I ended up listening to some new podcasts, interviews, and science information. It was interesting, but overwhelming. There is just too much information available. Versus text-based information sources, I like the control of browsing and starting and stopping that text allows me over video or audio files.


As far as providing the content of podcasts to my patrons, I don't feel prepared to give 'readers advisory" on that.
Providing this content via our website is a possibility for the future. I think this would be a good thing to come back to and try for more provision of resources thru this media. But perhaps the students at my college are already finding everything they need.

I do wonder how libraries (or indexers, etc) will provide access to this non-textual content. Is anyone "tagging" podcasts, etc for feeds that are comprised of a variety of parts and content. How will the specific information in podcasts be accessed.

This has not inspired me to podcast myself. Also, personally, I actually enjoy the small amounts of silence I am privileged to have!

Thing 18: Youtube and other sites

I am not a big fan of youtube personally. but at least it was interesting to watch videos on Second Life on it instead of actually registering

I think the library tours and tutorials are okay. I think in my BI and website redo, I will link to some tutorials that have been created by other libraries or database vendors. Again, a really good use of Creating those for our libraries is more time intensive than I have time for now. Perhaps that will be phase 6 or 7.

I didn't really care for the videos I tried. It felt like a waste of time in general. Some were kind of funny or interesting. I would rather watch a webinar to learn. I always had high hopes when choosing a clip, but my interest quickly fell.

I might try Jumpcut in the future.

Grade C-

Thing 17: ELM productivity tools

It was a stroke of luck for me to relook at the elm offerings. I had no idea that ebooks were offered! We were looking for some for our library and were thinking about purchasing a set from CPERS, but the price was a big chunk for our budget. Perhaps this will suffice.

I was unable to view the quicktime movies. We do not really consistenly do enough scholarly research in our library to warrant the need for SDI and folders.

I might be able to make use of the SDI and folders for my own research into library instruction. I will need to have more impetus before I devote the time to managing this. Currently, these things are productivity dehancers.

Thing 16: Student 2.0 tools

The assignment calculators are great. I will definitely be implementing these at my library. I am reviewing both our website and our library instruction program. This a great way for me to kill two birds with one stone.

This is a great way for libraries to cooperate. I love it. I wonder what the response has been from students. I am sure that the faculty would think that it is a great advantage for assisting their classes

I will be back. A definite summer time project!

Thing 15: Libraries and Games

Gaming. I am not opposed to this in libraries. I think that part of the place of libraries is to provide a democratic opportunity for access to computer technology. I think this perfectly acceptible and also necessary to try to close access gaps. If people chose to spend their allotted time on games or emailing or job searching or facebook that is their chose.

Puzzle Pirates is not of that much interest to me.

Second Life
the first video made it seem worse than I thought!!


I don't think that I would participate in either of these. Our library staff is very small and I don't think the payoff for staff investment of time would benefit us at all.

Thing 14: Library Thing

Ahh... back to what brought us to working in a library in the first place. a love of reading. this was not necessarily a productivity enhancer! It is easy to get caught up in looking for recommendations.

My concern is the replication of energy in creating a second catalog of books (from a library's standpoint). I understand from a reader's point of view this could be great and helpful and exciting.

I think about Library Things place a promotion tool. We are looking for a way to enhance our promotion of new materials. Is Library Thing that best way to go about it. I am thinking that a flickr badge would be do-able. The Library Thing is nice that is promotes the notion of libraries as being a good and valuable and still relevant

Good Read seems like a great sight. but again, I don't like the pressure of self-exposure. Maybe I am too square to be 2.0

Thing 13: Online Productivity

1) customized homepage
very fun and helpful. I have used this thru igoogle for quite some time, I really like it

2) Calendar
I don't do a lot of sharing of my calendar, so this is not so handy. I have a personal organizational method that I cannot mess with.

3) To do lists
I am more of scrape of paper kinda person. I don't always have access to the web all the time. This might be helpful if managing group projects. I don't do much of that at work so it wouldn't really help me much.

$) Backpack.
seems pretty cool, especially for business people, frequent travelers, or people who frequently work out of the office.

I don't really work in a manner that would allow me to make use of these apps. I do appreciate igoogle, but mostly as a personal space at work, for the separation of life and work at work. I don't really work in coordination with a large group or across institutions. It is good to have exposure to these things.

Perhaps when I morph into a robot, this will all seem easy and most natural. I will update my downloads when I am plugged into my docking station.

Thing 12: Social media sites

I haven't been so excited about these sites for myself. But the introduction of this thing makes a good point that when working the reference desk, one should be up to date. (though I would much rather be required to read the daily NYT, etc)

Mixx,
hmm. not so great. I have seen other sites that seem more relevant have a larger audience. disaapointing

Digg,
I like this one a lot more. I have used it before. It is nice to be reminded of it. Also, I thought that this sight actually h

Newswire
I like that is has the AP newswire. that is hard to find.

Reddit
hate the layout


Concerns:

without an "editor" and letting the group decide what is important, one is left to the taste of the masses. One needs to determine what "mass" of users one wants to be assoicated with or which one wants to spend time enjoying the tastes of. Who is spending their time voting for these things. lowest common denominator. is that the best? I'm not convinced (or entertained by or educated by...) I guess I need to find a network of like minded people or at least a group that I think is worth paying (and I mean paying -- with my time, energy, attention, care) attention to.

what does the "best" mean in this context. it becomes worthless. "the best of the web" "the best of the ..."

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!

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.

Thing 6: Online Image Generators

This actitivity was fun. Again I am limited by the fact that I don't have any images to play around with. Amusing, but it might be difficult to use at my art library. Images (and design) can great weight around here and are not taken lightly. I am not sure that I have the expertise to be creating and promoting images within my institution. I will see where I might use these.

I thought Image Chef had the most possibilities

Thing 5: More with Flickr

post notes:

I still don't exactly see how mashups would benefit my library.
Some sites were nice and interesting (color picker, flickr graph) But it seems like these people have a lot of time on their hands! Big Huge Labs had a lot of fun ideas, but I haven't uploaded any picture, so I can't mess around with them much. Seriously, some of this seems like the biggest waste of time. I find it annoying.

I am still waiting to see how these could be used for education or promotion in my academic library. I will withhold judgement for 18 more things

Thing 4: Flickr

It was good to play around in Flickr. (Again, I enjoyed the common craft video) I was already signed up for Flickr, but I didn't know how to run it very well.

I also enjoyed looking at how St Jons/Bens was using Flickr and other web2.0 opportunities. But again, it calls into question, the cost/benefit of investing the time and enegy in doing things like this. What if we threw a party and nobody comes? Our staff is so small, we can't spend alot of time on R and D.

Moving around in Flickr, (I also tried webshots and photobucket, and while I was at it Twitter) I was again struck by what a waste of time this can be. Did I really accomplish much in the time I spent doing this?

I am still not sure how this can fit in my library's limited control of our web presence, but I will withhold judgement till my 23 things are done.


Any way, here's my first first photo saved into my blog.

Thing 3: RSS Feeds

I've been signed up with some RSS feeds in a separate reader and wasn't so hot on them. I used the Google reader which was very easy to sign up since i already had a google account. Finding the feeds and adding them was very simple.

The thing I find difficult about RSS feeds is trying to find some thing worth reading. I guess it shows me that I like the news feeds better than the blog feeds. The blogs can be helpful at times, but they also veer (I wish bloglines had a spell check!) into personal thoughts or their next presentation, etc. I find it annoying, like having to overhear co-workers conversations because their desk is nearby. I think I will stick to the news feeds. I am just not convinced that blogs are worth it. Can 50 million people have that many interesting things to say?

I think the news feeds can be especially helpful in small libraries to stay up to date (or even get caught up) on things that are going on in the large spheres of education, technology, and culture.

Thing 2: Library 2.0

I didn't especially enjoy this thing. Library 2.0 is something I have been thinking of a lot, hence my even doing this 23 things. Reading things on this topic always makes me think of the students in library school now. I can only wonder what the curriculum involves.


I did like the following quotation from Sarah Houghton:
“Library 2.0 simply means making your library’s space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs" I thought this was a good general description of this amorphous, slippery thing. It makes it seem like any attempt will be a good starting point. Lowering and widening the bar.

I also like John Bylberg's mention that library2.0 requires the new skills and a new focus for libraries. more push and participation. and thus the usefulness of a program such as this.

I was struck by a giant block in the path for mmy particular library. We have no coders, no programmers. We have no access to harnessing instutional IT support for our projects. It is all on our backs. For small libraries, this "digital divide" seems giantic. At times, I feel like I can't even begin to info seek on this topic. I don't know the lingo, the brands, or even the journal, etc covering this topic. I hope to be better informed by the end of this project.

Thing 1: Creating a Blog

The process.
I found the process of creating a blog both very simple and with a few hiccups that threaten to dampen any enthusiasm the ease of creation might have generated. After creating and registering my blog, I returned and tried to add some additional feature. The blogger software to add elements was very easy, but the actual processing of my requests was very slow and seemed unsuccessful.

I had a lot of negative feelings about doing this. It seemed like one more waste of digits and energy. It felt like I gave in to peer pressure to do what the cool kids were doing. Perhaps my feelings will evolve as I go along.