Relax and Reflect

I am kind of sad to end this program. I learned a lot and had fun doing it. I also liked having permission and time given to explore these new tools. I doubt if I would have done half of this on my own. My favorite excercises were Pandora, Flickr, You Tube, Avatars, and Gaming. All the "fun" ones of course. Of the "useful" ones I will definately use Search Engines, Maps, I.M., and Online Applications. I think this will affect how I use the internet in that I will not automatically go for the "old school" way of doing things when I now know new tools online for accomplishing my tasks. I think the program was set up very well with each excercise building on the last. The only thing to change might be the amount of time to complete the program and each excercise. I did get a taste of what each tool can do but I would have enjoyed having more time exploring and becoming more proficient at each one before moving on. I would sign up for similar programs in the future without question. Sno-Isle needs to continue offering training like this no matter what the budget concerns. We are moving into a technological future (and present) and the library work place needs to reflect what is going on outside. That is the only way to keep the connection with patrons and be a source for learning and communication. As Buzz Lightyear says, "To infinity and beyond!"
Irish Girl out... for now...

Gaming

I can see where gaming can become addictive. I can also see where young people are learning skills as they game. Even with the simplest game there is some kind of decision making and moving of pieces or words or whatever. I do have a funny anecdote from my babysitting days. I was babysitting a four year old boy who was already an expert on the computer. Most of his games were learning games so he already knew letters and numbers and even some words. He also had a workbook his parents wanted him to work on that night. I helped him as he wrote down the answers to each of the number questions on the page and when he was done I said "Good Job!" He then looked at me and said "what happens now?" I realized he was waiting for the bells and whistles to tell him he had finished. After the interactive world of gaming the written page wasn't so stimulating. Oh well, I guess that is why we, as library professionals, need to learn along with the young people and know what their expectations are.

Maps and Geotagging

I definately found what I was looking for and more. After struggling a little, once again, with installing the program (Thanks Walter for your help), I entered my parent's address. Apparently I entered it in the wrong search field and it got me to Google Maps. That was o.k. because I quickly found out that, besides a map and directions to their house, I could also get a 360 degree image of their house and the surrounding streets. I could navigate up and down the street as if I were walking back and forth. It was cool and kind of creepy at the same time. It felt like my family's privacy was being violated and I am sure, as more people find out about this, there will be a backlash. Anyway, I got back to Google Earth and put in the same address. I got a pretty good arial view of their house but there were trees blocking most of it. I think this would be a great tool for finding a place you have not been to before or are about to visit and explore, in detail, what is there. I guess just getting directions to a place is not enough anymore in this high tech world.

Avatars and Second Life

Here is my Avatar! I used tek tek and had way too much fun. I chose the hair, eyes, and mouth and the rest is from a template. I also tried the other site but it wasn't as satisfying. Nothing looked like me at all. Maybe next time I'll try something completely different, like purple hair and wings...

Online Applications and Tools

I created a short word processing document in both Google Docs and Zoho. I think either would work great for this application but Zoho does seem to have more applications to use. With both sites Libraries could easily share documents between branches or systems. Also, like Wikis, the documents can be edited by multiple people. Once again, something I didn't even know existed. All this time I thought you still had to buy and download programs for each computer.

Search Engines

I tried all three alternate search engines plus Google with the search "library cats". I had just read the book "Dewey" and wanted to find out more on cats in residence at libraries. All four came up with most of the same results in slightly different orders. Most of the first sites that came up were selling something but Google gave more pages of results with better sites as I went deeper. I think all four search engines would work but Google will still be my first choice.

Podcast

Well, I succesfully subscribed to several podcasts with rss feed and it looks like the possibilities for podcasting are endless. It can be used for news, learning new things, and entertainment. The library podcast I visited was the Denver Public Library and it offered stories read out loud for children. I also found lectures from Oxford University on Old English and travel podcasts from Rick Steves. He has put together an incredible series of podcasts that can be downloaded to an mp3, taken on your trip, and used as tour guides. Imagine standing in St. Mark's in Venice and listening to Rick Steves while looking at all the wonderful architecture and art. I did have some difficulty, once again, with listening to some of these because of the computer specifications but I got a real good idea of what is possible with this tool.

Online Image Generators

I didn't spend too much time with this right now but I will come back to this. Here is my Monopoly card image.

Overdrive

I had difficulty downloading anything from Overdrive until Walter helped me. The problem was the computer didn't have a current edition of streaming audio and it wouldn't accept the download. I was then able to download Alice in Wonderland from the always available list and listened for a few minutes while playing with the buttons. I liked the tour of Overdrive. It was very complete and I felt comfortable with the whole idea after watching most of the subjects. For a library Overdrdive is wonderful because it connects technologically savvy people with books. Anything to get someone to read is great. For someone like me who loves lounging with a book I wouldn't use this as my main source of reading. Give me a hard copy of a book any day and I am happy. I would use this if the title could be downloaded to my mp3 though. Then I could take it on trips or just for walking.

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking was something I didn't even know existed. I am learning so many new things it is getting challenging to let anything sink in. Anyway, I can see the advantages to making what is, essentially, a personal tool like bookmarking and making it public. If someone else in your field has already gone through the work of finding great sites why should you have to do the same work when you could benefit from their suggestions and visa versa. This is a natural advantage for Librarians who do research on a daily basis. On a personal level, I like being able to go from one computer to the next and keep my own bookmarks intact. Thanks Web 2.0 for introducing me to this.

You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TchjHQM40jM

This is a link to my dad's You Tube song. My mom is the soloist.



I think I could become addicted to watching You Tube. I don't have the desire to post anything but the possibilities are endless for seeing new and interesting things. While searching for library related posts I came across a Japanese game show set in a library where everything was silent and in the background was what looked like real library patrons and staff going about their business. The point I think was not to make any noise while the loser of each round had to endure certain tasks like getting a nose hair plucked or eating a wasabi filled sushi roll. I couldn't decide if this was funny or cruel.



Here is another library related post I came across:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3808figJoBM

P.S. Check out my dad's other You Tube postings. Search for Mike Lynch and find the ones posted by Music Teacher2009.

Facebook

Well, I am officially on Facebook now. I have four friends already and I don't know what to do with them yet. But really, this is going to be great as a tool to keep up with people I already know, get in touch with friends from the past, and maybe meet new people. I looked up one friend from high school who I had lost contact with. She accepted my invitation and I can't wait to catch up with her. I also invited one cousin who is going to school in Chicago. I know I won't be able to keep up with the high speed of her site but at least I can still feel connected to her now. As far as library use of Facebook, there are many advantages to having a presence online. First of all, as online social networking replaces traditional networking methods, libraries will be able to keep in the loop as a resource for information and connecting to other people and resources. Also, library employees can connect with other employees both in their own system and outside to compare notes and combine forces. I found Facebook pretty easy to set up but kind of intimidating to navigate. I'm sure once I spend more time with it I will get used to how it works.

Flickr

Flicker was a little frustrating to set up. First you have to set up a whole new e-mail account with Yahoo and then you get to set up with Flickr. Once I got set up, though, I found downloading my pictures to be quite easy.
The use for libraries would be to post pictures of events and programs to help advertise what is going on in the libraries. Personally, the fact that the pictures are now backed up online is great in case anything happens to the hard copies.
Here is the picture I posted on Flickr. It was taken on my trip to Italy with my choir in 2005. This is the "Bridge of Sighs" in Venice. Convicts would walk across the bridge from the left side (court house) to the right side (prison) after their sentence. The view of Venice from the windows was usually their last and they were reported to sigh as they went across. I got to walk across the bridge later that day during a tour of both buildings!

Pandora

I really like Pandora as a cool music listening tool. I like the fact that once you type in your favorite artist it gives you other music you might like. I tend to get stuck listening to one artist and forget there are others out there. I used the mix feature to combine my stations and I got a great eclectic mix to listen to. One funny anecdote: When I started to tell my dad what I was about to learn in this project and couldn't remember the name of the web site he immediately said "Oh, you mean Pandora?". He then brought up his playlist and told me all about it. I should have known. He is a music teacher and a musicophile. Anyway, one more reason I should be online, right?

RSS Feeds

I wasn't as impressed with RSS feeds as I thought I would be. Personally, I am so new to blogging and following blogs that the relevance of this whole new world hasn't quite sunk in. I do plan to visit this again when I have more time and maybe I'll understand it better.
I do think it is a great idea to be able to have information come to you rather than search all your favorite blogs etc. each time you go on-line. I just don't have any favorite blogs yet.
For librarians, this might be useful for organizing incoming information to save time. I do think, though, that to remain fresh, the user would still have to visit new blog sites and weed out old sites that don't apply anymore.

Instant Messaging

Hey, this is pretty cool.

I think this is similar to how the 24/7 librarians do their work with patrons online. The real time communication makes asking and answering questions easier than e-mail. It would also be a good way for hard of hearing people to communicate with anyone without using a phone service with an operator. Not everyone has access to TTY but most people (myself excluded) have a computer. I haven't tried instant messaging with multiple people but I have visited a few chat rooms before. It can get confusing and the conversation becomes pretty shallow so everyone can follow and contribute but it is fun. There are lot's of abbreviations and common phrases like "LOL" for "laugh out loud". Anyway, It is good to know more about this and I plan to use instant messaging in the future.

Testing 123...

I can't figure out how to transfer the URL for blogs to the tracking log. Let's see if I can get this one to work.

It worked! Now on to instant messaging.

Getting Started

This is my first blog ever. It was actually pretty easy to set up with the pre-set templates. I am excited to start this project and hope to use most of the features that I discover here. Maybe I'll even get a computer of my own at home to use after this is over!