Time to Play/Learn

The End ... and a Beginning

2009-01-22T09:46:00.002-06:00

This maybe the end of 23 Things, but it is definitely a beginning for me. Using these new tools has jump started my brain. Some of these things, I'll use for myself, others I'll see about using here at the library. I think that we will need a small committee to decide how best to use these tools and add value for our patrons.

My favorite discovery was flickr. It makes it easy for me to share photos with my family and coworkers. I also loved the Round Rock Summer Reading Club videos. We'd been talking about doing a video so that the schools could show it in addition to handing out the materials

As for the unexpected, I had started to use Del.ici.ous as a bookmarking tool, but I never realized just how powerful a tool it really is. Searching a tag of interest brings back a lot of sites on that specific topic that might be buried somewhere in a general google search.

If other programs were offered this way, I would definitely look in to them. I enjoyed the self-paced activities and ability to share my discoveries. As far as I know, I'm the only one that participated at my library, but I know that my coworkers have learned too, because I've shared some of my finds with them.

Kam,

Thanks for the work you've done! :D

Librivox explored

2009-01-22T09:18:00.003-06:00

I've meant to read the Scarlet Pimpernel but just could never quite get into it. I found an audio version of it on Librivox, so I'll give that a shot. It was fairly easy to download the book to my iTunes and then to my iPod. After looking at the catalog, I think that it would be a good resource for students. We have a hard time getting audios of the older classics and they want an audio when they have to read it. Since a lot of the classics are in the public domain, it is a good way for them to get access to novels by Austen, Dickens, etc. I also liked the fact that it had some of the works of important philosphers and thinkers like Adam Smith etc. It even has the Bible on there.

Podcasting/Streaming video

2009-01-21T10:19:00.003-06:00

I own an ipod, so I went to the iTunes store and searched for podcasts. I found one that is produced by the SLIS at San Jose State University. It is call Cool Tools for Library 2.0. In it they discuss how to use the Web 2.0 tools. I also found the podcast on podcast.com. I also listened to a podcast Activated Stories where the podcasters tell you about their travels and then tell you a story from the area they are in. I listened to one that involved Jack Sparrow and Brer Rabbit. It was pretty fun, because the Jack Sparrow was done in Captain Jack Sparrow's voice. I also found this one listed on podcast.com.

Also, we were very interested in seeing the Inaugration so we streamed it on several of the staff pcs yesterday.

Youtube - Library Instruction

2009-01-16T12:04:00.001-06:00

I'll admit that I'm finding more uses for Youtube all the time. My first use was for finding anime series episodes (the kind that aren't supposed to be on there). Over Christmas I used it to watch a clip on how to wrap something using a gift bag and to watch someone do a weight lifting exercise. Oh so much better than reading a description! I have to admit that I've even though of a way for the library to use youtube. Our youth service librarians usually go to the schools to promote the summer reading club which eats into their time for actually preparing for it. I thought they could actually have their presentation videotaped and copied or put on youtube for the schools to show. So I was very interested to see that Round Rock has already done this.

The video I chose is one of a series that UCLA puts out to teach the students how to use the library. It's entertaining yet at the same time teaches them a little bit about using the library.

Web 2.0 - Pandora

2009-01-14T11:53:00.002-06:00

A friend of my had recommended Pandora an internet radio site, so when I ran across it on the list, I decided to try it. It is great. After you register, you can create your own radio station based on a song or artist and then the site will play create a station that plays the music and music that the music genome project thinks is similiar. You have some control over what gets played on that station. If you don't like a song, just mark it and it won't ever play on your station again. You can also share stations with friends, get an app for your iphone etc. I'm not sure there's much application for the library, but I'm listening to it as I write this post and enjoying the ability to listen to music.

Tax Volunteers

2009-01-12T14:27:00.004-06:00

Zoho created the second paragraph and let me easily post it in my blog. It is interesting to see how many different ways people are trying to free themselves from the older ideas about software and operating systems. Microsoft may really lose the fight to be relevant someday as more free operating systems and web apps become available.

AARP Tax Volunteers will be available from February 2 through April 15. They will be located in the group study rooms. Exact days and hours of operation have yet to be determined. We will post that information when it becomes available.

pbwiki

2009-01-12T14:02:00.004-06:00

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to edit and add information to the wiki page and a few more minutes to find an older version of the page when I inadvertently erased some of the information :) At least there is a way to get at the information, so you don't look like an idiot who erases other people's stuff.

Wikilandia

2009-01-12T13:41:00.005-06:00

This thing forced me to reevaluate an already famaliar tool. I remember the day I found that Wikipedia had articles on authors, and more importantly listed their series and the order of the books in them. It is so much easier to look up this information on Wikipedia, then wrestle with our catalog to find the information. To me wikis are Wikipedia, so I was interested to see other applications for this tool. At one point, I ran across a library that was using a wiki to gather information on community organizations and groups and make it available to their patrons. Since this information is hard to capture, it was an interesting use of a wiki. I can also see how a business group might use a wiki to work on a project. However, some of the wikis I looked at didn't seem to be anything more than a link page, which could have been done with html.

Library and Web 2.0 Thoughts

2009-01-07T10:07:00.007-06:00

	Reading the Technology Trends for a 2.0 World from the Library Technology Reports made me think about the history of the library and librarians. In the past, librarians were viewed as gatekeeper to information and had closed stacks. The only way to get to the information was through a gatekeeper hence the fortress of knowledge picture.
	Then came a time when the library became a more open accessible place. We let people into the stacks and assisted them in their knowledge search.
	In this new Web 2.0 world, it is almost like we have become the gatekeepers again. Most libraries are still using the current model that works for us, but not necessarily for our patrons. They are out there in the social net and their expectations of what the library should provide is changing. I know that I certainly am more aware of some of the web 2.0 tools from doing these things, but I'm still struggling with how best to deploy and use these tools to our advantage. It doesn't do any good to put up a facebook page unless you have a plan for it and keep it active. It certainly will be interesting to see how Web 2.0 plays out and its impact on how we interact with our patrons.

Technorati - Not so much party

2009-01-05T14:24:00.004-06:00

I will admit that Technorati is not my favorite tool. I still find it confusing to use and of course they have changed the site so trying to just do a search on the directory doesn't appear to be possible. I did learn that putting quotations around you search term will make it find things with those terms together which is good. Ah! adjacency how we love it when we search. When I searched learning 2.0 I pretty much noticed the same results. I actually like the look of the site that the link on discover lead to, but it seems as with all things they decided to "improve" the site and its not the same. After a little search, I find that I'm not the only one that thinks Technorati has problems.

Del.icio.us is well delicious

2009-01-02T11:55:00.002-06:00

I had started a Del.icio.us bookmark list, but it was only when I listened to the podcast that I realized the true power of Del.icio.us and how to use it. My first use was to create a list of bookmarks that I could access from anywhere, but now I see how I can use it find links to information on things like Web 2.0 and other topics of interest like Windows 7. This is a great tool to show others who need to do some research or follow a topic. All I can say is WOW!

Is Your Cat trying to Kill You?

2008-12-19T19:24:00.002-06:00

http://www.catswhothrowupgrass.com/kill.php

Online Gaming

2008-12-18T16:42:00.002-06:00

This is the avatar I created in Gaia Online. I tried to do some of the interactive games on there, but there's a bit of a learning curve. So I still haven't quite figured out what all I can do there. Once I discovered Bejeweled on my cell phone, I was hooked on it. I have played it online and had to download it to my new cell phone. I sometimes even use it pass they time while waiting for the Doctor to show up. I tried Lexulous it was fun and easy to use. I also played checkers on Myspace. Boy it's hard to do well when you don't remember the rules. Again, I can see how people could spend all day doing some of this.

MySpace

2008-12-16T14:04:00.004-06:00

I'll admit I'm not the most social person, but I did create a MySpace profile around this time last year to see what all the teens were so interested in. I find that I like MySpace for the band pages mostly, because I can visit my favorites and hear the whole song instead of a snippet. It also lets me try some other bands and get a feel for their kind of music. Here's the link to my profile, but I set it up so only my friends can view it. http://www.myspace.com/blinn_820. Here is the link to my blog post. I did add an app that lets me post an anime poster to myspace page. I also tried the new profile editor. It's actually really nice, and lets you set what modules are on your page and who can view what parts of your profile.

Chat and Instant Messaging

2008-12-16T13:52:00.003-06:00

Trying to figure out how to add someone to your chat list in Google Talk was a little bit difficult, but once my coworker and I figured out how to do that, the chat part was easy to use.

#9 Finding Feeds

2008-12-12T14:04:00.002-06:00

I discovered that I prefer to go to a site of a journal to pick up a feed. Most of the discovery tools bring back way to many feeds unless your topic is very narrowly defined. Sydic8 is a very slow site. Of the listed tools, I liked Technorati best, because it gave some kind of description of what the blog was about. After playing around with Google Reader some more, I still find that I like bloglines better.

Google Reader

2008-12-11T11:41:00.006-06:00

I must admit that I've got a bloglines account and at the moment I prefer it over Google Reader. I'm still trying to figure out Google Reader. It seems to always try to pull back all the posts instead of only showing you the stuff you haven't seen. Bloglines just pulls the new stuff and provides a way for you to pull back more stuff if you want. My only grump about Bloglines is that they need more servers (which I think they got), because sometimes I can't get in. Help on Google also isn't very informative.

Final image generation

2008-12-06T16:21:00.002-06:00

So I told you I got carried away with the image generators. http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heromachine2/heroMachine2.asp

More image generator fun

2008-12-06T16:20:00.002-06:00

LOLCat image generator

2008-12-06T16:12:00.003-06:00

My creation,
originally uploaded by blinn_820.

For Kam, who thinks my brothers should be lolcats. http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/lolcat.php

Fun with image generators Christmas Ornament

2008-12-06T16:10:00.002-06:00

Christmas Ornament,
originally uploaded by blinn_820.

So I got carried away with the image generators, but it sure is a fun way to waste some time. Now I know where some of those funny pictures in my email come from. Being the season I found this image generator on Dumpr and used one of my flickr photos.
http://www.dumpr.net/christmas-ornament.php

More fun with Flickr/Thoughts

2008-12-03T14:51:00.002-06:00

More fun with Flickr,
originally uploaded by blinn_820.

I found a caption toy on fd's toys and made this picture. I found that a lot of things you can do with the mashups, apps, don't seem to be very useful for libraries. They do however provide some amusement value. Granted I didn't look at a lot of them. I'll probably try the trading card toy on fd's later.

As for Flickr, its fun to post the pics for others to see, but I still haven't been able to find my photos in search. Apparently, they review them before your account is allowed to be searchable by everyone and they are very behind in review. I found that a lot of people were also having the same problem.

Flickr 1.1 Toby and Willy

2008-11-23T16:08:00.003-06:00

Toby and Willy,
originally uploaded by blinn_820.

These are my "brothers". You can see more photos of them on Flickr.

Flickr 1

2008-11-23T16:00:00.002-06:00

circdesk,
originally uploaded by blinn_820.

Flickr makes it very easy to create and add/edit photos. It was a little harder to figure out how to use it to create this post, but in the end I figured it out. This is a pic I took of the reference desk for a pc hardware class. The monitor at the first checkout station has been very tricky to get started in the morning so I worked with it and finally had IT order us a new one.

Rock that Mangatar look

2008-11-22T18:58:00.001-06:00

Mangatar was fun, but it still doesn't let you get as wild a look as some of the manga characters. I love my yahoo avatar except that I can't see it in my email anymore, so I haven't messed with it in a long time. I wish that they would let you pick pants and shoes separately though.

Google Who Knew?

2008-11-21T15:25:00.005-06:00

Who knew that all those interesting apps hide behind that simple screen. Google maps was something I was interested in playing with since I read an article in LJ about a library that used it to do a location map, a road construction map, and a landmarks/historical interest map. Its fairly easy to use, so I am going to make one to map our system's locations.

I am also interested in downloading Google Earth so I can check out the new Ancient Rome 3d model.

There are still somethings, I wouldn't do. Its nice to see a health care tracker, but even when they claim its secure, I wouldn't trust it.

Igoogle is also a really neat feature I hadn't seen before.

I am still going to have to play with some more of the apps.

71/2 Life Long Learning Habits

2008-11-20T10:47:00.000-06:00

The hardest habits for me are teaching/mentoring others and have confidence in yourself as a comptent, effective learner. I find teaching others difficult because I tend to become impatient with slow learners. And while I have confidence in my ability to learn most of the time, I sometimes have problems having a positive confident attitude about what I know when I am out of my comfort zone.

The easiest thing probably is viewing problems as challenges. I like to know how things work, so if something doesn't work I try to find out how to fix it or if it is something that really needs an expert then I know, but I try to learn from them as they fix it.

Life Long Learning

2008-11-19T15:02:00.000-06:00

"... we can say that Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It is shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson."

"The Humanity of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan from Dune

I included part of this quote in my yearbook. It spoke to me then and it still does today. Part of the fun of being a librarian is learning new things as I respond to patrons' requests.

For a wannabe geek, this is a great chance for me to learn about using the Web 2.0 tools, I normally wouldn't use on my own. I am looking forward to learning about these tools and seeing how I can use them at our library.