Week 10, #23

I'm done, wow! Overall, this was a good experience. I did learn about a few things I had not heard about, like Zoho. It made me spend more time on a few things that I had started before but never got back to, like flickr. I think the one thing that I may continue to use from all of this, is rss feeds, whether through Bloglines or my Google account (which gets checked more often). As I noted in the post about rss feeds, I already had a Bloglines account because I thought it would be a great way to keep up with information; however, I found that I stopped logging into it and then kind of forgot about it. Luckily, this training got me back into it and, hopefully, now I'll keep up with it. I would like to because I subscribed to one feed that I really like that lets me know about a lot freeware and stuff that I may find very useful for home, fun, etc.

Some of the picture editing sites were pretty cool, too. I think these and the the online document programs will be used a lot in the libraries once we make more patrons aware of them. They can do things now on the computer that used to require additional software not available to them or save without needing some external disc to save to.

As I said, overall this was a good experience. I was aware of much of these technologies; however, was not using them much. I think a lot of staff, including myself, learned about things that may be helpful to patrons who are just getting into these technologies. At least we will have an idea of what they're talking about.

Week 9, #22

I like our Overdrive site. I have checked out an e-book before and would check out more if I had more time to read from my computer. I would prefer to do the audio and video downloads from home, but I have an iMac. I like the overdrive collection better than the two asked to look at, but I realize this will have more because libraries pay to have this access. The others aren't bad though. They're easy to use and download stuff from.

Week 9, #21

I don't normally listen to podcasts. I have iTunes on my home computer and could listen to them, but I hardly listen to other things with my computer. Mostly I use it to download my cd's to my iPod. I could put podcasts on my iPod, but don't really have time to look for something I would want to hear. For instance, I searched for an hour on the three directories listed for this exercise and only came across a podcast from The Onion, that really interested me. So I put that on my Bloglines. Nothing else really jumped out at me, except perhaps trying some of the musical ones. It may be a way to hear new stuff that won't get regular airplay. I probably won't get into these too much, though.

Week 9, #20

You Tube - I discovered this site a few years ago from one of my sisters. She used to go here to watch Anime episodes that people would upload. Back then you could watch entire shows. Not sure about now, but I've occasionally gone on to look for something I heard about on TV or somewhere and can usually find it. For the video posted below I did a search for "library" and eventually came across this sketch from Sesame Street. I actually vaguely remember this skit. Before coming across this, though, I found an "ad" from a library for research assistance. They made it look like the opening credits to the "A-Team," but called it the "L-Team." It was funny. Something like this could be fun to post to the library's website and might be a more interesting way to inform people of our available services.

No Cookies in the Library

If you can't see this video click here.

Blog post, Week 8, #19

The online applications are really cool. I like that you don't have to have the software and can use this to work on documents. I suppose the documents will be safe as long as you don't make them public. I don't know that I would put anything really personal on these, but it's good to know that these exist, especially for people who may be working on something in the library and their time runs out. They can save this to the site if they didn't bring a disc or jump drive and not have to worry about losing it when the computer logs them off. We just have to let them know about it. Really cool. I knew Google had a documents program but haven't played with it at all. Perhaps I'll look into it now. Now to see if I can get this to post to my blog. If you're reading this, it worked!

Week 8, #18

I already have accounts with a couple of networking sites, myspace and facebook. I hardly ever get on either of them. Truthfully, the only reason I created the accounts was to be able to see someone else's page or because I was getting something for free out of it. The myspace page I have is so I can get into my two sisters pages, but a few of my other relatives have discovered that I have the page and have friended me, but the person who actually uses my space the most is my fiancee. He's the reason I created it. My sister kept having to unlock her page so he could see whatever knew thing she wanted him to see on her page. I created the account to make it easier for me to see her page and he uses my login to get in. So I guess we have a joint page.

The facebook was created because I wanted to see something that I read on Unshelved, can't remember what it was. But never logged back in after the intial creation. Then I forgot I had it until I tried to create another one and was using same the login. My second reason for logging in was to join the Ticketmaster group for free iTunes songs.

So, I find that I don't have time for the networking sites either. I did look through the ones on the list and found none that really appealed except for the Rate My Space site. But the only reason I am interested in this site is that I am now in the process of buying a new home and this site is giving me ideas for decorating.

Week 7, #17

Any technology, ok. I actually had a chance to check Bloglines and while reading some of the topics from Friedbeef's Tech, I decided to go to the actual website and look around. I came across a couple of postings about Wikipedia and it's sister sites. Of the 40 items from the lists of unconventional ways to use Wikipedia, the most intersting to me was a link to a person who has turned some of the Wikipedia entries into comics for more interesting reading. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Greg_Williams

Another one I found fun to play with lets you put in subjects and the site creates a mindmap for you to explore Wikipedia. http://www.wikimindmap.org/

Week 7, #16

I was somewhat familiar with wikis, for instance, I had come across Library Success once while trying to find programming that other libraries had held. I had heard about people "fighting" over entries on Wikipedia. I still don't know how one can really trust information posted on a wiki, though. At some point, you would hope that the person who reads the information would also consult some other more authoritative sources. As for use in the library, it could be a way for staff and patrons to add reviews for items. There are probably many uses, but I'm a little wary of allowing just anyone to add stuff to a site, unless the the site was constantly monitored just to make sure no one was posting misinformation or anything that could be obscene or offensive. Ideally the "community" would monitor this, but what happens when one person puts up something that offends another person and then the library gets blamed? It's sort of like the filters on the computers, it doesn't catch everything, so then we get the complaint and have to figure out how to explain this and calm the patron down. Don't get me wrong I like finding information posted on a wiki, sometimes I get some good tech info. this way, but not sure how far to go with it in the library.

Week 6, #15

I like the idea of Library 2.0 and how technology plays a role in it, however, I sometimes wonder if the general public really understands how the libraries are trying to change. Everyone still seems to have that stereotypical image of the old libraries and they seem to be shocked when we tell them that the library doesn't have something in the print format. Or, for example, the card catalog no longer exists. I was amazed to discover that schools or maybe it's just the area homeschoolers are teaching their children how to use the library the way it was back when I was a kid. In the past 2 weeks I have helped children with an assignment about learning about the library. The questions in the workbook the child had (and it did look to be new) related to libraries when we used card catalogs and the Reader's Guide to Periodicals. I had to explain to the young man that we no longer used the Reader's Guide to Periodicals, but have journal and magazine databases in order to search for articles. I also explained that we no longer have a card catalog but one that can be found via computer. Then, we had a homeschooling family come in and the mom was trying to explain the library to her children. She knew about the catalog, but didn't know about the Reader's Guide and databases. One of the other librarians spent almost an hour with her and the children showing them all kinds of stuff on the HCPL website. So, even though we are making the library more user friendly, if we don't tell people, or instruct them about it, the services may not get used or discovered.

Week 6, #14

I looked at Technorati before. I guess I would find this fun if I had time to sit and explore or read others blogs. I really don't spend time doing this sort of thing (same reason, the blogs I have created in the past don't get updated much). I just don't have time for sites like this. It looked a bit interesting from what I came across. However, doing the different types of searches for "learning 2.0" did bring back some different results. I just kind of browsed around on the site, but really didn't come across anything I found really interesting. I did click on a blog about the new Nokia tablet phone? (I think that's what it was). I guess I didn't find it as "sexy" as the author. Granted I didn't read the specs on it so maybe it has some really fabulous features that I would never use. My current phone is an mp3 player, but I hardly ever use that feature. This is probably not a site I'll keep up with. I may look at it every now and then, whenever I remember that it exists.

Week 6, #13

I like del.icio.us. I have everything whenever I want or need to bookmark something this is where I keep track of them. On my home computer, I use Firefox and Firefox has a widget that you can add that lets you stay longed in to del.icio.us all of the time and have all of your bookmarks displayed in the side panel, if you want. Here at work I have the buttons added to Explorer so that I can quickly add bookmarks or go to my del.icio.us page, but I prefer firefox's set up. Since I don't use Explorer at home (have a mac), I don't really know if del.icio.us can be set up that way. Possibly it can, and I just am not aware of it.

I mainly use the site to keep track of bookmarks. I don't use the social part of it, although I do find it interesting at times to see how many others have bookmarked the sites that I have bookmarked. I started using the site a couple of years ago when a co-worker learned about it and was using it to keep track of her bookmarks. It's useful to be able to access your bookmarks from any computer. I think it could be a great reference tool.

Week 5, #12

Library Elf seems like a nice tool. I like how it displays everything in a calendar, good for those of us who are visual, and provides all of your information in one screen without having to click around. This might be even more useful for those with multiple accounts, through a variety of libraries, or families. I have to wait and see how the emails work, since most of my items aren't actually due yet and I don't have any holds about to come in. So far though it appears to be a good library tool.

Week 5, #11

LibraryThing is cool! It's addictive, too. I spent too much time just changing out the covers on my books. I don't know if I'll add reviews to them,though. Mainly, because I know I read these books, but some were so long ago and I don't really remember the stories so I couldn't do a decent review. I did rate them, to the best of my memory. It's still fun to play with. Haven't tried the UnSuggester yet, that might be fun. So, I have a widget off to the left hand side of my blog, and here is a link

Week 5, #10

I kind of already had an avatar posted to my site. I Simponized myself a while back using the Burger King Simpsonize me program, http://simpsonizeme.com/# You have to upload a picture of yourself to do it, though. I even already had a Yahoo avatar, back when Yahoo started that. I just changed her clothes, but everything else is still the same. So she's who I posted below. The Meez avatar is the knew one I played around with. I liked this one, and could play around with it all day if I'm not careful. I kept changing stuff on her and finally settled on the picture that's below. Too many choices = lots of time spent.

I didn't really play around with any of the other image generators, but I had known about a few of them from a workshop I went to about a year or so ago.

Yahoo avatar

Meez avatar

Mom's Overture by Anita Renfroe

This is a very funny song about all of the things a mom would say in a 24 hour period. If you can't see the video, click here
Or go to YouTube and search for "Mom's Overture" or "anita renfroe"

Week 4, #9

Ok, looked at the sites listed to find feeds. They're all interesting in what they find, but the easiest one for me to use was Syndic8. If I was looking for something specific, like Dilbert comics, this one found it really fast. The others, found lots of other stuff that may have been related, but I just wanted the actual comic strip. I had it once on Bloglines and then it disappeared, so I just wanted to know if it was still around. If I just wanted to browse topics, the others would be alright. Technorati found some interesting blogs when I searched for mac software. I'll probably just stick to adding feeds when I come across them, though.

Week 4, #8

I already had a Bloglines account with 10 feeds. I just made them public, I think. I heard about it at a TLA workshop, I think. And all the feeds I subscribe to came from various workshops I've attended and was told about. I don't really look at it much though. I don't seem to have time to open it up and read anything. I probably should, though, because when I logged in for this assignment. I came across one of my feeds which I don't remember how I learned of it, but discovered it has some pretty cool new tech information. For instance, I discovered how to make block posters from a smaller picture. Some of the examples on the site that others have made with the online software are wall sized. I like Bloglines just wish I could remember to log in and read the feeds.

Nod of Approval

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Listening to: The Kinks - Living On A Thin Line
via FoxyTunes

Week 3, Exercise 7, Part 2

This photo was edited using Pixer. This version was edited with Snipshot.

Out of the two, I like how Pixer lets you "play" a bit with the picture. I don't like how the software would mess up and make the picture "disappear" every so often and then you have to Undo to get your picture back. Snipshot would be alright if I just wanted to improve the photo a bit. Truthfully it works similar to the software that my first digital camera came with. The software built into my computer and the one my printer and recent camera came with work better than both. Truthfully, though, I'd stick with something like Photoshop to truly edit photos. But if you just need something free and quick and don't have access to anything else, these work fine.

Week 3, Exercise 7

Amaryllis, originally uploaded by figgy85.

This is the original version of the picture I chose to edit.

Week 3, #6

There's too many out there! I started looking at one list of tools and spent half an hour just reading the descriptions and clicking on a couple to see what they looked like. I then played with the Trip planner thing from Yahoo. I thought this was kind of cool. Saw the spelling tool and that was fun. Might try the trading card next. I could spend hours on these, but I'm assuming I should be getting back to work now. TTFN

Week 3, Exercise #5

100_0292, originally uploaded by figgy85.

Finally figured this out. Not sure why it has to be so complicated to get the picture to show up.

Wyoming Libraries Bumper Sticker

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Listening to: Travis - Why Does it Always Rain on Me
via FoxyTunes

Wyoming Libraries Billboard

Liked this billboard ad from the Wyoming Libraries ad campaign.

Day 2

Finally found time to continue the next part of this week's exercises. My thoughts on online safety and sharing. Well, I don't really like sharing my thoughts online, at least not personal ones. Even if you have a blog that isn't open to anyone but those you allow, if you post something on it and others read it, what's to stop them from posting your info for others to see? Basically, don't post anything you don't want shared.

As for keeping financial information private, I only purchase through trusted stores. Or if it's a new place, I check to make sure they use encryption when I go into making the transaction. I also like to see something like "VeriSign Secured" where you can click on it and see their certificate. I even will go to the BBB website and see if I can find their store and what complaints, if any, they have received. Even though I try to be cautious, I know there is that chance that someone can hack the company and try to get my information. This is why I frequently check my accounts to see the purchases that have gone through and make sure they are purchases that I made.

Okay done for today.

Day 1

Learning styles - easiest - laughing. Guess I remember stuff better if I'm happy when I hear it.
All the others tend to be difficult for me, I can set goals for myself. The follow through doesn't always happen, unless it's something that I really want to learn. Organizing tasks never seems to work out, because I always want to do everything all at once. So I end up working a little on this and a little on that and it takes a while to finish stuff. The most difficult is probably giving myself credit. I always see my weaknesses and don't tend to see if I do things better than others. I always want to get someone else's opinion or get someone else to help if I'm showing someone how to do something. I tend to tell the person I'm instructing that there's another person that could probably be of help if not better.

So, this was my first post on Blogger. Kind of depressing isn't it.