#23 All Done!

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

It's kind of sad that this is ending for me. . . I looked forward to trying new things with this program! I think the most unexpected outcome is I really was motivated to learn about technology! As I said in one of my early blog entries, I don't really like technology. Now I can say that I welcome learning about technology that can be useful in my personal time and at work.

The things that I have been using the most are:

Ta Da List- to tracks all my lists of stuff to do. It is so satisfying to click a check mark for the items that I have completed- there is a sense of accomplishment.

Library Thing- I have added more books.

Blogger- I have started a blog that will share all my sewing and creative projects- I added craft books that I tagged on Library Thing to my blog!

And of course- slide.com, imagechef.com, bighugelabs.com, to make fun pictures at work and at home!

#22 What Did I Learn Today?

bloggy blog, I am going to miss working on you! I will keep adding to the blog when I have found useful ways to incorporate 23 Things in my work at the library. My supervisor has tasked me with a project for the summer: Figuring out how to use 23 things for work related projects! Perfect! Now I can continue my knowledge of Web 2.0 tools.

#21 Those Other Social Networking sites. . .

Social Networking is an amazing thing. I hunted around on WebJunction and was pleased to find this resource. I found an article on how some libraries have dealt with difficult patrons and ways to document the activities. I think the article will be very useful at the library I work at. It's great to have a place to share and have dialogue about issues with other libraries - Instead of what I have done in the past: Searching for articles and documentation via the web. Unfortunately, most libraries keep their documentation private, when it would be really helpful to share! One example is I have been working on creating a handbook for training student workers. I can find very little on the web,but at least in webjunction if I can't find information, I could ask for input.

I joined the 23 Things On a Stick Ning,but I have not fully set up my account yet.

As far as Social Networking for FUN. . . I joined www.craftster.org, which a networking site that individuals can post pictures of completed craft projects and communicate with other members. I also joined www.filmcrave.com because well. . .I'm a Movie Monster (and by the way, that's my member name on the site).

just because

#20 MySpace and Facebook

Ohh Facebook. You are what college students love. You are what the student workers at our Circulation Desk spend hours staring at with their faces brightly shining.

The appeal is there and it is a very useful social networking site. Due to nagging from my college age sister, I created a facebook account. Setting it up was fun - editing my profile and adding things I liked. I was able to locate high school classmates, which was great because I haven't had contact with many of those people. However, I do use a different name so it is not easy to find me, to protect my identity. I don't check it very often now, but I know a lot of college age students who spend several hours checking facebook, looking at pictures, etc.

Last summer, after observing our student workers, I looked into using facebook to create an account about the Circulation Desk and training, updates, etc. It is still something I will continue to investigate for work purposes.

#19 Podcasts

Yeah for Podcasts! Podcasts are something that I discovered this past summer and have really enjoyed a diverse selection of topics. I use iTunes because I have an account that I use with my iPod. Go to iTunes store, and click on Podcasts.

I have been attempting to learn Spanish, so I downloaded Coffee Break Spanish- for FREE!! Each session is about 15 minutes and teaches you a few phrases as you progress. The most fun is that the teachers featured in the Podcast are Scottish. It's interesting to hear their accents while teaching you a Spanish accent.

I have dabbled in the self-help section, yoga, book author interviews, and my personal favorite The Onion.

Mostly I download NPR Podcasts- they are so many, This American Life, All Things Considered, All Songs Considered, etc. It's nice to be able to access these programs even though my radio does not. I love to do some sewing and listen to NPR.

The great thing about iTunes Podcasts is you can subscribe to a certain Podcast like This American Life, and each time a new podcast is uploaded it will show up in your music library, you just have to click Get and you have it. I then download Podcasts to my iPod and take them everywhere I go!

#18 YOU TUBE Cookie Monster & Count Dracula

I choose this clip because I love Sesame Street and I love cookies. Personally, I would be eating the cookies instead of counting them like Count Dracula.

The drawbacks of YouTube= You never know when inappropriate things are going to pop-up. When I first searched Count Dracula I got a bunch of videos with profanity in them, and voice overs. You just have to be careful, especially if you are looking for a video clip to use in your job.

If you want to have some fun, search Library Enforcer. There is a clip with a fake scenario of a person enforcing food policy in a library. It's called "No Food Allowed."

More about Second Life

I figured out how to fly!!! Here's some help for those thinking that Second Life is to daunting to try:

You will begin on tutorial island. They teach you to chat, gesture, etc. You can alter your appearance by going to file or edit, and then Appearance. You can actually make your avatar look like you!

You have to complete 4 tasks on the tutorial island to get the key to go to help island where you can get free things like clothes, vehicles, houses, etc. Then find the green beam that shoots into the sky. This is where you "teleport" to another island. When you get there do file, search, for "Info Island." That will teleport you straight there!

On Info Island I began in a garden devoted to Religious Resources, where I read about Buddhism. I also went inside an Islamic temple. There are also other libraries where you can do research and an area called Reference where there is a librarian on duty. You can ask the librarian questions and they will help you.

I found an area for Reading Groups. This was really cool. There was a circle of places to sit and a sign for the book that the group was reading and the next time they would meet there. No book clubs in your area- this is where you can interact! There was also an area with a bunch of magazines to download and areas just to sit on comfy pillows, pick out a book, and read!

Overall, I found my experience in Second Life to be eye opening. It's not just a video game, there are links to real websites, etc. And the most fun is talking to people. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a lot of them around when I was on Info Island.

I flew to a beach area where there were tutorials about surfing and I walked on the floor of the ocean just because I could. Then, the sun began to set so I logged off.

#17 ELM Productivity Tools

I didn't know anything about this thing. Our library has access to EBSCO, etc. I just assumed access was for academic use, so its great to hear that everyone can use these tools.

I have used the databases when I was going to college and finding the full text resources was what I was after. Lately, I have used Ebsco, etc. to research topics about Electronic Reserves and for ideas concerning training student workers in libraries. It is a very helpful resource to have handy.

I was excited about NetLibrary. Our library has access to this, but I have never personally used the service, just helped patrons access it. So, I created an account and added a few books to my favorites. This is nice when you are researching a narrow topic and just want to take a look at a chapter or so without having to buy or checkout the entire book. The only negative thing is reading it on a computer, but I suppose I could snuggle up in my computer chair at home and give it a shot!

# 16 Assignment Calculator

When I first heard about the Assignment Calculator a few years ago I was really interested in the program and wished that I would have been able to use it while I was going to college. It is a great program even for students who are mostly organized because it really pin points the details of the project you are working on and does the work for you as far as setting up deadlines.

#15 Online Games in Libraries

First, I tried Puzzle Pirates. I guess I became bored right away and decided not to pursue reading through everything to figure out how the game worked. I have never really been into video games, except when I had a nintendo in 5th grade. That didn't last long as I soon became frustrated that I couldn't get past certain levels in Mario Brothers and it was only fun to shoot the ducks on the second game that came with the unit a few times.

Anyway, I tried Second Life. At first, I'm like, "Why?" So I read a few articles related to online learning and specifically articles related to libraries and teen Second Life. I was surprised to learn that you can purchase things, talk to people with similar interests, attend concerts, go to libraries to research. Then, I thought, "This is cool!" So. . I created my avatar- if anyone sees me- I am Hotcakes Hamm. I figured out how to alter my appearance and then navigate around info island. When I was driving a segway someone named Leonard Finch jumped on my segway for awhile but didn't chat with me, finally he went away. My favorite thing that I learned was how to fly!!!

I have not made it to Info Island yet, but that is where I am headed!!

#14 Library Thing

Library Thing or as I customized it "meganthing," has been the most exciting thing that I have done so far. (Maybe I have said that before with another thing, but this one is it!!!!) Currently, I have a notebook that I keep track of my recreational reading in (when I remembered to do it) The criteria:

Books I have completely read
Not including books I have read for any high school or college courses

Now I have somewhere to keep track of them! I often discuss books with people and am asked for some of my recommendations and I draw a blank. My head holds very little information for small amounts of time apparently when lists of anything are involved. Anyway, what a fabulous resource! The only bummer is you can add up to 200 books, then they ask for a paying membership, so I had to delete some and only keep books I highly recommended. My list went back to when I was about 15, so some I did leave off the list for embarrasment purposes but will list some here for humor:

Love Story (awful book)
X-Files fiction (great show, but extra stories not in episodes?)
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (I often claim not to have read any of his books but this was an early mistake)

I utilized my recent learning of tagging for Library Thing and included the following categories:

JFK (assassination research)
Food (great cookbooks)
Fiction
Classics
Health (Mental, Physical, and good for the mind)
Non-Fiction
Knit
Crochet
Sew (sewing lots of stuffs)

I included a random selection of my books on the left side of my blog a little further down.

Does anyone know if something like this exists for tracking or listing movies you have watched?

#13 Online Productivity TOOLS

Here are the productivity tools that I tried:

My Yahoo: I have had a customized homepage on my personal computer for some time. It is nice to have that pop up and I can see the latest news headlines, weather, and check my email.

Countdown widget: I had one loaded on my blog, but it wouldn't start counting down, so I removed it. Too bad, because i was going to count down until my birthday this summer!

Ta-da List: My favorite. Okay, I am an organized person and I love lists. So much that I have small lists all over my house with dozens of topics, like: Things to Do for Spring, The Dog, The Cats, Sewing projects, Quilting projects. Ta-da is incredible for me!!! Yeah! I made a bunch of lists on the site and now I can have all my lists together in one place. This is a helpful tool for work to, for projects that have many steps and take a extended amount of time to complete.

Backpack: This looked really cool, except the free version does not include all the features. Oh well . . .

just bloggin. . .

please click on the picture to fully appreciate the work that I put into this (smile)!

#12 Do You Digg?

Actually no, I don't digg. But, I do like Mixx. The format is easier to sift through to find what I want to read about. (Entertainment news anyone?) I like the popular pictures at the top of the page, and most important=I like the logo of what I imagine is a cup of coffee being mixed. As one of my student workers quotes , "Yum Yum in the Tum Tum." If any of you folks have seen Night at the Museum you'll get the reference. If you haven't seen that film its definitely worth checkin out.

While I was Mixxing, guess what I found? A link for a mash-up/photo effect site: http://jpgfun.com/


As far as being useful relating to my position. . .Nothing comes to mind right now, these sites I would use just to check in with the news for my own personal benefit. I don't think it would be worth it for me to join just to rate newsworthy items to read.

just bloggin. . . about more generators

Hello

I just used http://www.slide.com/ to create this sweet slide show:

http://www.slide.com/r/Pqj155AH7D_q7HYA8FhNAhRQSwkzfM3m?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Our Circulation area participated in a decorating contest this fall to show our school spirit. The homecoming theme was "Escape to Paradise." We volunteered to decorate our work area with this theme, and we fully participated. Namely, myself when I fell head over heels crazy person into helping the supervisors and student workers decorate. You will see lots of husky dogs- which is the school mascot.

And guess what. . . We Won!

Slide.com is cool- I especially like the prism and movie reel slide shows. They are a great way to show case your accomplishments!

#11 Del.icio.us

At first, I didn't get the tagging thing. Why not just use bookmarks? Well, was I wrong about thinking its not useful. And, you can see all your categories a lot easier than bookmarking and then putting them into folders. I also thought, this is great for when my computer crashes as it often has happened in the past! It's so easy!
I set up many categories including blog, mashups, craft, movies, etc. Now I'm excited about tagging and Del.icio.us too.

#10. Wikis

Wiki's are cool. I appreciate the link to the video by Common Craft. I kind of knew what Wikis were, however I had never tried editing one. It's really easy to do. I edited the 23 Things on a Stick Wiki by adding a picture from our Media Section that includes vhs tapes.

One of our service desks in the library uses a wiki to train and to update student workers on information at the desk. The Circ group has been considering creating a D2L account for this, but I can also see using a wiki as easy and most of the student workers would already know how it works.

I would like to create a PB Wiki ( a la peanut butter sandwiches) but I haven't decided on my topic yet!

#9. Online Collaboration Tools

I can see how useful this would be- We use shared folders at my workplace so we can all view and edit documents that we need to. This was especially helpful when a co-worker of mine and I were created Emergency Procedures for our workers. We work at different times during the week and don't overlap a whole lot.

I read user testimonials on the Google Docs and one used the shared file for planning a trip. It could also be useful if students were working on a group project together and needed to edit and collaboratively work on a project.

just bloggin'

I know I mentioned in an earlier blog that I have been developing student training, so let me go further. Our Circulation area employs between 40-50 student workers in any given semester. There are about 9 different positions that the student worker can fill. The challenge is training our new workers in the fall when, 1. they are brand new 2. overwhelmed with new classes 3. when the Circ Supervisors are busiest with their special work assignments.

I have been working on creating training especially for our desk workers because they need to adjust to the job quickly and learn the multitude of tasks they will be carrying out. (If anyone out there has ideas, please help ???)

Okay, my point. . . learning about all these new web tools has given me inspiration to knowledge to develop the training to be more interactive and to incorporate the online tools. To make learning about the Circulation area like a game I think is the ultimate goal for me now. It's fun to play games on the computer=I am learning about my job=Supervisor very happy!

Here are some ideas incorporating web 2.0 tools:

Create a blog for student workers to learn tutorials, and help have discussions about "what to do when at the Circ Desk."
Create a Flickr account to organize all the keepsake pictures of our student workers & activities we participate in during the year.

That's what I have so far and I'm sure it will be added to!

# 8. Share Your Creations

I used PictureTrail to create my scanner bling for E-Reserves. I also read a lot about the Minnesota E-Folio which I think is a great tool. You can share not only your resume, but upload pictures of achievements, etc. It can be used for enhancing job applications, but there are also links for educators and students. I signed up for an account and will be adding my resume and making a really comprehensive portfolio!

# 6. Online Image Generators

Okay, really really addicting like Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. I especially have enjoyed the hair mixer site which is listed in my links. You can of course see a wonderful picture of me with J.Lo's luscious hair. You just have to have fun once in awhile! Image Chef is a extensive site too with videos that you can add text too- Check it out Now!

#5. More Flickr Fun

Well, I think its pretty obvious that I have been playing around with all the cool photo- enhancing tools on the web!

I think that photosharing online is a really sweet tool to be able to view other libraries and work that they have done. It makes me want to take lots and lots of pictures! One way to encorporate pictures into work is to make a tutorial for a process that is completed. I should have done the following last summer when our student workers helped to shift the entire reference collection:
Taken pictures of the preparation= measuring, counting, preparing to clean.
Shifting in progress=student workers/supervisors trying to be really quiet moving reference books around.
Our sub party to celebrate the completion=the reward of a collaboration between supervisors and students!
Keeping a record of achievements with projects is a great way to boost student & supervisor moral!!!

#7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

I am taking a Blog prompt to start this entry:

Describe how your library uses email. Has it improved productivity?

In our library everyone uses email. I have found it immensely useful when tracking faculty requests for my position involving E-Reserves. It is easy to locate the original e-mail and how I replied in case a problem occurs.

My position entails that I work weekends (when no other staff is around) and evenings (when only one other co-worker is present). You may have guessed that I correspond with my other co-workers through lots and lots of email!! So much easier than leaving a co-worker with a note that they cannot read or will get lost, instead it is right on their email.

Besides email, the other communication tools are not highly uses, besides webinars for updates for Aleph. I set up a Twitter account and will try to get other co-workers to attempt this new technology.

I do know that our Reference team uses Meebo and it is a slick tool for answering reference questions.

#4 Photosharing and Editing

I started a Flickr account and briefly explored Big Huge Labs site- that one is sweet. See my movie poster for a new Star Wars!!!

I have been experimenting more with Flickr and mash-ups on the web and they are FUN! I uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr and would like to add an album to my blog that has library related pix in them.

By far my favorite mash-up is hairmixer.com. You can see they lovely photo of me to the left that makes me think hair extensions are in my future!

I think these mash-ups are a great way of incorporating some fun into library activities, I don't know exactly how to implement them in our academic library yet,but I have a feeling I will find a way. I do like Flickr for the simplicity in adding albums and it would be great for the student workers in the Circ area to have a site perhaps to highlight projects that they have created throughout the year!

#3. Set Up an RSS Account & Add Feeds

I am brand new to this RSS & feed things. It is incredible after reading about RSS, the thought of how much information can be just delivered to you! I added a bunch of different sites: some including library news, movie reviews, vegetarian issues, etc. It's really nice to have all the topics I am interested in placed in one area so I don't have to hunt around to find what I am looking for!

Just hope that I did it right. I'm not exactly sure if they are emailed to me or if I have to log into Bloglines to view them. Bloglines was very easy to use and they have a lot of good information on their site and a way to get started choosing feeds if you don't have any sites in mind to begin with.

**********update***** I figured out how to add RSS feeds to my email! Cool! So now I don't even have to sign into Bloglines to view the feeds that I have subscribed to.

just bloggin'

I was reading through someone's blog, I can't remember whose, and the following things were mentioned:
Twitter
Meebo
Ning
Scriblio
Social Opac

I have taken it upon myself to find out what these mean!!

# 2. What is Web 2.0 and Why Should I Care?

Why do I care?

I care because I don't want to see libraries disappear. Growing up, I was always reading. Now, as I grow older I am reading. When I was younger, I would scavenge yard sales, 2nd hand stores for library books, because my family moved so often they never bothered to get library cards in the cities we lived in. Now though, most of what I read I borry from libraries-Public and now Academic and through inter-library loan.

But, libraries can't just be about reading anymore. The world is so much more multi-faceted and younger people are much more focused on technological devices than previous generations. When I was reading John Blyberg's blog titled, "11 reasons why Library 2.0 exitsts. ." I was amazed when he mentioned that libraries have begun adding coffee shops. Wow! That's great! And I even have a good idea- the coffee drink names should be literary works or authors. Would you like a biscotti with your medium Jane Eyre breakfast tea?

just bloggin'

Hello

So . . . since I have this newly created blog I thought that I should you know, blog. I found a list of prompts on the 23 things on a stick site. So . . . Here it goes!

Why are you participating in 23 Things On a Stick? What do you hope to learn?

Well, I'm so glad that you asked me that question. As a person who not long ago had absolutely no interest in using computers for anything, I am looking forward to learning more about opportunities in cyberspace, such as this blog. Back when I was in college, 2003, I was reluctant to try and down right resistant to using the computer in my studies, save but for writing papers and researching on the internet. Yes, I am a relavity younger person in my late 20's, however I did not grow up with computers. Only through teaching myself how to type and eventually use the internet during early college did I even become interested in this new technology.

Through job experiences, and now through my current position as a Library Technician that coordinates Electronic Reserve items, I have become more comfortable with a variety of programs and tools on computers.

I think a lot to do with my new found excitement with online "things" is the fact that I am confident in learning. Just learning! You know how before you try something new, you may be nervous about attempting the "new" thing? Before, that's exactly how I felt. Now, I think of all learning experiences as a challenge. And, knowing that Everything is centered around how computer profiecient you are, it is a neccessity.

All right, back to the question. Mostly, I am participating to widen my range of skills in online tools. I am working on developing training for the student workers that are employed at the Circulation Desk at the library I work at. Having between 40-50 student workers in various job roles is a challenge is figure out how to train new workers and to keep returning workers updated on and happenings in the area. I think that many of the areas I will be exploring through this program will help in developing the way in the which the training is delivered to our student workers!

I am most looking forward to using Flickr for photos. I would like to develop training tutorials for the student workers showing step by step instructions with pictures.

That's it for now!
Megan

#1 Getting Started. Creating Your Very Own Blog

Wow! This is fun! I have never created a blog before and I thought it would be complicated, but it wasn't! The instructions on the 23 Things on a Stick site for creating the blog were great. I enjoyed creating my cyberspace Avatar too.
I have gotten off to a good start and can't wait to continue on the other "challenges."