Thing #23

Thank God I am finally finished!!!!! My favorites....hmm.....probably GoogleReader (I'm a celebrity news fanatic) and YouTube. I'm not sure if I'll ever use a lot of the other sites, but these were definitely fun.

I learned a lot of new things with this program, but I also realized that it was very difficult for me to learn all of this on my own. I know we were all supposed to help each other, but we're all so busy when we're here that that wasn't always an option.

I would like to participate in something like this again, but I don't really know if I would have the time to really learn everything thoroughly.

Thing #22

NetLibrary looks like it's going to be awesome! You can download language books!!! I would definitely be interested in learning Italian this way. You can browse by subject too, which is great. Basically, you can search or browse just about any topic or book, and then click on the Download link, and then transfer it to your mp3 player. I watched a video that demonstrated how to download a file onto an mp3 player. It seemed doable. I really need to get the internet at home again!

Of course, copyright questions come into play here too, but there's still a lot of options to choose from.

I'm not sure how our patrons would like this-I know some of them would think this is great, since our audio- and cdbooks are really popular. But I also think that they get these to listen to in the car for the most part, and it wouldn't be safe to listen to your mp3 player while you drive. But I'm sure people will still do it!

Thing #21

I found Podcasts extremely boring. I did find some wonderfully horrible "original thematic library music." Here's the link (I think): http://podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=49817

I didn't find anything really useful here, and I don't think I will use this again.

Thing #20

YouTube is a lot of fun! I watched about ten movies before I found the one I posted on my blog. It's about cats...big surprise!

YouTube is very easy to use. It seems like a fun site to browse through if you have a few spare moments. I can't really see how it could be used in a library setting though.

Thing #19

I explored the site threadless.com. You can design your own t-shirts, hoodies, etc., which is wonderful for me because I'm always coming up with silly ideas or quotes to put on a t-shirt. (Two of my all-time favorites are "I am a recessive gene." and "Word Nerd of the Librarians.") This was really neat to explore, but unless I get into a conversation with an aspiring fashion designer at the library, I sadly cannot see this being useful at work.

Thing #18

So...Google Documents....this is a really good idea. You would be able to access your files wherever you happen to be, without having to remember to bring your jump drive along with you. This will be helpful for anyone...library staff working on a presentation, students working on a group project, etc. It seems like a great way to get everyone's ideas and input in the same place.

Thing #17

Whew! That was hard on my brain! I've never really messed around with webpages again, so I felt guilty, even though I knew I was supposed to change things!

It was neat reading about other people's favorites. I was most interested in the hikes that other people really enjoy. I added my own favorite hike (which was Wayah Bald and Wayah Crest). But I'm not sure if it's really the hike that makes it my favorite, or just the memories connected with it. It's probably both.

Wikis are definitely not my favorite. I hope that a patron never asks me anything about them!!

booknerd

Thing #16

Wikis are definitely not for me. I am a control freak (a nice one, of course, but a twitchy one!), and the very thought of someone being able to change things on a website that I had been working on makes me very twitchy. And when you think that they might use the wrong tense, or misspell a word.....horror of horrors! I can't even think about it anymore.

However, using other people's wikis (and changing them) is perfectly acceptable. I liked St. Joseph's Public Library's wiki. It was very informative and user-friendly. I can see how it would benefit our library to have a similar page for our own patrons.

Thing #15

Library 2.0.....This concept confuses me a little bit. It's basically just using the technology of the internet in different ways than it was originally intended. Doesn't that happen with any type of technology? Someone comes up with a new idea, it's implemented in a particular area, and then suddenly it can be applied to multiple areas.

I think Library 2.0 is an interesting idea. I don't think it will really be relevant for our library though. Most of the residents in our area are older, and if they can use a computer to check their e-mail then that is all they want to do!

Thing #14

Google Books seems like it could be interesting-I looked up a few authors and read the reviews about their books. It's a neat way to find out more about a book before you buy it. It could be used in our library to find poems or stories that are out of print. This would make a lot of books more accessible-again, if it's out of print and you just can't find a copy.

I think that the books on the site under "Full View" should be older than 50 or 100 years-otherwise, it really isn't fair to the authors that are still trying to sell their books.

Thing #13

I tried to find my way around the del.icio.us site. (I am lost. I will never find my way out!!!) It would be useful to have your favorite sites saved to a website instead of to your computer, but I never mark a site as a favorite anyway. I don't really see how this can be used as a tool in the library, but it seems like it could be used for personal use.

When you click on a heading, it takes you to the article so you can read it to see if you want to bookmark it. If you click on the number of people who have also tagged it, then you can see what subject they tagged it under, and also any comments that they wrote about it.

Thing #12

This week I read an article in "Popular Science" about a new technology to destroy brain tumors. It was invented by John Kanzius, a man with no medical degree but with leukemia. Basically what he came up with was inserting metal into the tumor and then blasting it with radio waves. The radio waves heat up the metal, which kills the tumor. It's worked so far in studies on animals (poor little bunnies!). It's still a few years away for humans, but it's amazing how anyone can come up with an invention like that.

I've decided to choose the mp3 player as my incentive.

Thing #11

I just wandered around on the Digg website. I found the best sand sculpture ever: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2018/2411400635_f6da20ca11_o.jpg.

Other than that, it doesn't seem any different from the other sites where you read the headlines.

Thing #10

I already had a GoodReads account, so I just played with it a little bit. I love the idea of more book shelves-now if only the books magically appeared on my doorstep. This is a great way to keep up with what everyone else is reading, and what they thought about it. Here's a link:http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1144638 .

Thing #9

Now this was a fun task! I will definitely use this site to make silly movie posters and inspirational posters for people. (Special thanks to "Shorty" for all of her technical help.)

Thing #8

Mashups....I never even knew they existed! I went to a site called webmashup.com, and then chose "Earthalbum"-it's so neat. You can choose any country, click on it, and look at different pictures from it. I looked at Iceland and Finland. This would be awesome to use to decide where and when you want to go.

I also checked out the Delivr site. I like the idea of making your own postcard, but I wish they weren't just ecards!

Thing #7

I think I'll like Flickr. It seems like fun. When I got to the search page, I immediately searched for "cats." What can I say, I'm a catlady! My favorite picture was titled "Cat Conspiracy" and shows a cat surrounded by seven or more others. They're really just trying to get out of the sun (who doesn't want to sleep in the shade of an umbrella by the pool?), but it does look like the poor cat in the middle is surrounded by enemies. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjflex/233574885/

I also looked at the "Interestingness" tab, which was fun...I looked up my birthday, December 31, to see what happened on that day. Pictures of fireworks, which isn't really surprising.

There's also a lot of different groups that you can join so that you'll have friends on the internet with your interests. :) (By the way, I already checked, and there are lots of groups for catladies!!)

And I explored Flickr using tags too....I chose to look under architecture. So many awesome pictures!! Can't wait to explore more!

Thing #6

So I played around on Technorati and got completely lost. But I did add some feeds to my Google Reader account, from The Weather Channel and cnn.com. Now those I always look at in the morning-but I'm still not sure if I would look on Google Reader versus just going to the websites. We'll just have to see!

Thing #5

Okay, so I started experimenting with the Google Reader, and quickly realized it's going to take me longer than an hour to figure it out. Mainly because I started reading about celebrity silliness, which I should know better than to start. I like the idea of being able to keep up with everything on one page, and how you can pick whether to keep up with National Geographic or Finance news. However, it looks like it could get overwhelming quickly if you have very diverse interests. (Which I might.) I look forward to experimenting with this further.

7 1/2 Things

I just watched the tutorial for "7 1/2 Things," and I realized that I'm a lifelong learner without ever thinking of myself in those words. Growing up, I didn't have a TV, so I spent a lot of time reading, playing outside, and making up stories for myself. (I was not, however, a strange child.) The hardest part of lifetime learning for me is thinking of my problems as challenges. I tend to get a little upset at first when things don't go my way, but then I buckle down and figure out how to get around them. The easiest part of lifetime learning is probably play! It's always the easiest way to introduce yourself to something new. I would like to start tutoring students at some point also-I think that's a wonderful way to give back to others.

New Project

I'm actually excited about the 23 Things Project. I'm looking forward to learning more about the different resources available on the internet, like You Tube and Google Reader.