Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Summary 23 Things

Well here I am at the end of 23 Things. It has been interesting in some aspects, but what has struck me the most is the unbelievable amount of time that is used to get serious about any of the many and varied social networking types of sites. Where do people find this kind of time?? Of course, hanging out with young adults who still inhabit my house,these are the means by which social contact is maintained.

I do note that the teen-agers and young adults of the displaced family from New Orleans that live next door to Fallston live on MySpace as a way of staying reconnected with many, many friends and family members that ended up spread all over the United States. I am sure that contact made transition to life here somewhat easier.

I actually like the idea of Flikr and like spots as a way of picture sharing with my far-flung family. I think an internal SRP Wiki for those little much gnawed on details would be very useful.

The biggest improvement would be to never offer such a time intensive program in the summer. SRP is in itself such a huge time user, that it was impossible to even faintly keep up with the march of the weeks.

At least I am somewhat aware of what is happening out there in the world beyond walls in the land of Web 2.0. For once I knew something techie that my hubby has not experienced- but he has even less time than I. He however can learn from listening.

NetLibrary

I am a little confused why we listened to a audio from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Libraries when we have NetLibray on our own HCPL web page. The biggest problem with NetLibrary and related audio books is not being able to download to an iPod. When this hurdle is changed, we will have a lot of users for those who like to listen to books. Unfortunately, I have about zero ability to get any text or information from listening- literally in one ear and out the other. There are people who obviously really like listening and can learn in that mode. Probably in ten years time the schools will consider visual learners handicapped and auditory learners will be more successful.

Podcasts

Podcasts are the biggest time sucker of all. Who has time for this kind of listening. When I am in my car, I do not play the radio, music, or listen to books. I like the soothing quiet. When at home alone, I do not play anything that makes sound- no radio, music, or TV. I really have a hard time understanding this kind of thing which takes anywhere from 20 minutes to hours to listen to, meanwhile tied to a computer plus having to listen. Maybe I should put this on rant.com

Web 2.0 Awards

Anything that has 41 groups for awards and honorable mentions will be like the Grammys- Tons of categories, but how much does it really mean. There were some that I noted especially as possibly useful-Craigslist, Biblio.com,Medstory, and maps.google.com. If you have lots of time on your hands, and troll the web a lot, "Guess the Google" is the game for you. Wonder where this will all be three years from now. (Who even thinks in terms of 10 years ahead with something as fluid as this.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Downloading YouTube

Well first I couldn't get YouTube to work on my desk computer, then I couldn't figure out how to get it from YouTube to my blog. THANK YOU all the young adults that I know- they all pulled the "Oldie But Goodie" through this. Special thanks to my son, Andrea Rothrock,and Abby Ford at Fallston. Payback for all that homework help through the years- now they get to teach Mom the vagaries of Web2.0.

I picked this video because it looked so much like my Russian Blue kitty. I did notice how easy the tags made it to find. I am unclear whether there is any kind of "directory" to YouTube sites, or is it too fluid.

Russian Blue Cat

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Thursday, September 6, 2007

Zoho

After 45 frustrating minutes of being unable to use Google Docs, I tried out Zoho. It was a pretty straight forward Word format. Any advantage of this is unclear to me since any docs I want visible from anywhere simply go in my e-mail. For those who travel a lot on business might find this useful.

Web 2.0; Libraries 2.0

This was a very interesting part of the 23 Things to me. I was most interestested in Wendy Schultz " Infinite Futures" . Her mental model of libraries as they progressed from "special commodity" through Library 2.0 Product and possibly on to Library 3D. I liked best the library as "knowledge spa"- a retreat, a knowledge experience, a sanctuary, - in other words a LIBRARY.

Flickr mash-ups

Many of the links, such as Montagr and Mappr, would not load. The pesonalized calendars and trading cards were clever. Might have an chance to try some with pix at home.

MD Libraries Sandbox

I have always wanted to play in a really big sandbox. What an idea- a bunch of librarians all playing together.

This is my avatar

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Wiki 09/05/07

I can see the allure of a Wiki- easy to use and lots of information readily available from many sources. I can see the advantage of an intranet Wiki. I think a SRP Wiki would be really great instead of the flood of e-mails back and forth regarding any of the many details that help the program run smoothly. If an aspect or procedure needed changing, it would be easily visible to all simutaneously. A Readers Place might wiki-work. I don't like wikis taking the place of referenced information sources. They can get the ball rolling, but should not be source referenced. some persons have trouble with this distinction.

Technorati 09/05/07

Finding the Blog directory seemed pretty hard- never did find it. A regular search seemed straight forward enough if you really wanted a blog on something. Why would you want a blog anyway- not a particularly relaible, referenced sourced? It might get you going like a wiki, but it is a useless thing in terms of serving the public and their information needs.

Rollyo and Del.icio.us 09/05/07

I created a site and put on a Great Books for Kids searcher from NEA, but if I really wanted this, it is too tediious to go through this when I can get what I want in 3 seconds just by going to my regular favorites. Ditto a site like Del.icio.us- I do not use any "social" bookmarking- if I want to communicate a like or dislike, I like to do it individual to individual. I have no interest in any one else seeing, interacting, or commenting on my personal opinions. Whatever happened to private thoughts.

LibraryThing 08/17/07

I did this, but I can't see why I would want to. I thought the 50 Book challenge was interesting, but like everything else, this takes too much time that I need to be doing other things (Even at home!)

http://www.librarything.com/profile/susieq1

RSSS feeds 08/16/07

RSS feeds are for people with more time on their hands than I have. However, I explained it to my hubby and he added it to his work page. He likes it- must be an Y chromosone thing.

http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs

I added MERLIN to my RSS feeds. It was pretty simple, you just have to locate the little icon or feeds button.

Flickr blog 08/16/07

Flickr is actually something I might use. I started an account to post some pix that my kids could pick off wherever they are (school, home). I liked looking at some Russian Blue pix and comparing my cat to them. I really want to make my own Christmas/ grandchild pix stamps.

Originally 06/21/07

This got lost somehow, but I kept a hard copy( Thank goodness for print copies for those of us who can't read a screen well.)

I have always accepted responsibility for my own learning throughout my life. Many problems and challenges have later proved to be an opportunity for learning a life lesson that helps me have empathy with others.

Greatest obstacle lately is being 2 librarians short who did Children's Programs ; no such thing as off desk time- a constant series of programs, assessments, and planning to work through, weeding and etc.

SRP 2007 is over

SRP 2007 is over, I have muddled my way through Online Program Submissiion, I have completed all my Assessments and Title replacements. I have 3 days to finish 23 things. I have done almost everything, but no time to put on a blog. All 23 things are immense time suckers. Trying to be 2 1/2 persons all summer and having a very busy family life the instant I hit home leaves no time for blogging. I don't even have time to answer home e-mail. I can definitely see that these things are for folks with umcommitted time. However below are what I got when I tried the 23 things. I did talk with my sister-in- law from PLCMCL and it was interesting to hear what it was like working with these things at the beginning.