Week 10: #23 (!!!)

Finalmente finito!
(finally finished)

My thoughts?

* Many of us have learned much from our "23 Things" tour, even if reluctant or complaining at times; i.e., whether we wanted to learn these "things" or not!

* Like with all learning processes, even if I do not remember all the material covered, I definitely know more than I did before we started. I view the 23 things in three categories.
(Let me use college study as metaphor.)
1) sailed through - " A"
2) kind of grasping but needing review or assistance to really get it - "C"
3) lost, needing to drop the class and take again - "drop" (no "F"s here)
=)

* Most beneficial:
-increased awareness for benefit of patrons. How much better it is to have some inkling of what's being talked about when patrons speak of RSS's, "podcasts", etc. !
-staff morale - mutual support, the "23 Things" became frequent topic of conversation and sharing ("Hey, look at my avatar!", etc), and, even when whining (usually about the time taken away from our jobs), we were doing it together!

* Kudos for:
the coverage, layout & design, explanations (for the most part), links, videos from admin (light hearted approach)

* Room for improvement:
-labs - more of them and more convenient (in terms of location)
-one level (track?) for those already computer savvy (like AP classes); another level for those of us who never have had an affinity for technology (like remedial classes) - unless that is, I'm the only one who needs it!
-learning process which builds on previous info;
i.e., continually repeating, incorporating into, lessons already learned.
(An example of not doing this: when I began the exercises for Week 9, I hadn't made use of an RSS since we did that particular lesson.)

to be continued....

Week 9: #22 Downloadable Media

I can appreciate that for those who enjoy electronics, being mobile and carrying MP3 players with them wherever they go, our digital website would be a useful resource. We seem to have a pretty broad and varied collection of items to choose from. If I were to use this type of resource at all, it would most likely be for the music selections. Also, no offence to anyone at HCPL, but I did notice that the other websites' homepages were more pleasing to the eye (user-friendly).

Week 9 #21 Podcasting

Enlightening. Good to have on-hands experience with yet another term that previously was modern day mumbo-jumbo to me. Not much to tell here except that I did notice differences between the different podcasting websites; was able to find material in one that I could not find in another. Also gave me the incentive to add Bloglines to my favorites, my growing "repertoire", so to speak.

Week 9 #20 You Tube

Someone had sent me an attachment for the now famous Kruger Park (lions attacking baby water buffalo) video some time ago but I had never searched "You Tube" directly, so I chose that video to watch again. But it was also great to be able to do individual searches (my alma mater's (FSU) Film School, for one), but also to discover that I could review others' responses or other versions of the same video. There's a "remix" of the Kruger video with added music, another with poitical commentary. Sooo, thanks again for getting me up to speed with the rest of the world. Ok, "up to speed" may be an exagerration, but at least another small step out of my "I'm not living in the real world"* phase.
=)

*Blondie / Debbie Harry

Untitled

Week 8: #19  Zoho Writer

 

I can see where this tool could be useful, allowing broader range of accessibility and flexibility.  Thanks for the extra time after our system crash; it may give at least some of us time to review and practice some of our "things" without feeling so rushed.

 

 

Week 8: #18 Social Networking

I'm really glad for this introduction to the world of social networking (including the Newseek article). Thanks.

It was interesting to discover the variety of options available... "Facebook" was much more appealing to me because of its uncluttered, less gimmicky approach. "Ning" was an eye-opener because I could see very quickly the vast array of interests. "My Space" and others were much too "busy" in terms of homepage-layout. I couldn't get past "go".

Week 3: #7 Photo Editing Tools

Abby & Michelle

Summer 2006

Week 6: #15 Library 2.0

A response to the "icebergs" perepctive:
1) Someone needs to send the author HCPL's circ stats
2) I agree with his point about user education; i.e., eliminating barriers between patrons and info.
3) Cathy Park brought HCPL out of the "come to us" model some time ago. Yet, I do wonder about these expensive Reference collections that we house which are rarely used (with some exceptions, of course). That's where we do seem to have a tendency to fall into the "just in case" model.

Week 6: #14 Technorati

Jeesh!

The variety of links for Learning 2.0 confuses...

Looked up some of the "Top 100" favorite blogs. Somewhat surprised by the top choices. Again, same feel as channel-surfing. One can start perusing sites and lose time better spent...

Week 6: #13 Tagging/Del.icio.us

This is my second attempt at this "delicious" (...) exercise.
Am catching on to the general idea, but cannot imagine myself making much use of this tool, as I use few bookmarks. My favorite links/icons at the top of my screen are about all I need.

But thanks for the memories nonetheless.

Week 7: #16 Wikis

One more "thing" good to know about (just in case).

You know, one could get carried away with perusing and adding info to these wikis, almost like the time lost when channel-surfing.

as in ...
Hey, where did the time go?

So, cutting this short. Still needing to catch up on some "things"...

Week 7: #17 Blog about Technology

Hmmm, two things immediately came to mind for this assignment

1) a 60's culture book entitled "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

2) a workshop I attended several years ago about living simply

...

The book helped me to soften my prejudicial attitudes toward technology, even if it didn't have the power to change my natural bent. (Just give me a quill, ink, and paper and I'm content.)

The presenter of the workshop made the following point:

We in modern society now have all these devices to supposedly make our lives better by increasing speed of access to information and each other, but instead, communication devices such as cell phones, palm pilots, Internet, e-mail, etc, have made our lives increasingly complex and we have less "down" time than we did before. And our lives are definitely not simpler. And we assume that the more quantity of contacts and information the more quality our lives possess. She challenged that notion.
So do I.

***

As far as others' blogs go, see Dragon Lady's more lengthy commentary.
(Perhaps she was reading my mind... )

Week 5: #12 Library Elf

I actually like this little addition to our "things" so far...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who could use a little assistance keeping track!

Week 6: #13 Tagging

So far not too good.

Opened up "Del.icio.us" tutorial but it won't play all the way through. So, the eight minute tutorial at this point lasts only about 1 minute.

(Aargh.... to be continued...!)

Week 5: #11 Library Thing

Library Thing...

You make my heart sing...

You make everything...

(Groovy)...

My Library Thing


(Carol Lee, can you sing it?)

Week 5: #10 Image Generators

"And now for something completely different..."

I've just completed creating my first "avatar". What fun!
I must admit, rather tempting to play with some more, but determined to catch up and complete assignments for this week.

Hmmm, maybe I could designate more "practice" as reward...

(to be continued...)

Week 5: # 10 Avatar

Week 4: #8 & #9 RSS

#8
Done!
Also, glad to now have some of my co-workers blogs.

Btw, these exercises do take alot of time but there is (at least) one extra positive side effect which Ive noticed ... Since much assistance is needed along the way, its increasing the sense of teamwork and comraderie among the staff here.

#9

Looking up and adding more feeds, going back into "Bloglines" and simply using a keyword search was the easiest.

I must admit though, that even when I found blogs that matched my interests, the blog/RSS format was so unfamiliar to me that I felt discouraged rather than inspired. But then, I can still recall the days when I was first learning how to manuever a mouse, so who knows, maybe one of these days much of these "23things" will be old hat for me.

Week 4: Interlude

Well, here I am, back again, after a week of time away from ihcpl, preparing for Jeff Coyle's departure (wah) ... and, much catching up to do!

But, the good news is, at least I was able to figure out how to get back into my own blog! (Will wonders never cease?)

Sooo, onwards and upwards.

Cheerio!

Week 3: #6 More Flickr Fun

Explored the three "mashup" links mentioned and I think learning Russian might be easier (for me). (I'm not even sure if I'm using the vocabulary correctly.)

I have a pc at home that I used for awhile and discovered that I lost so much time with just e-mail alone that I had it disconnected. So, even though I can appreciate that there are many for whom this world of "23things" is entered into "with the greatest of ease", I am obviously not one of them!

I.e., sorry to disappoint, but none of them intrigued me at all...

Week 3: #5 Discover Flickr - posting uploaded photo

ER with Oskar and 1
Originally uploaded by Galatian5

Two exceptional teen volunteers, Serafim and Oskar, exchange students from Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.

Week 3: #5 Discover Flickr

Not as easy as I thought it would be.

But the hard part was just the set up! Uploading the photo was a piece of cake.

Week 2: #4 Online Safety cont

Most of us working in libraries cannot help but be conscious of confidentiality and internet safety, but the links you provided added some new and enlightening info. Great resource for future reference.

My thoughts? I'm already rather skeptical about sharing info online; the links you provided only proved to reinforce my usual cautiousness.

Week 2: #4 Online Safety

Thanks for additional info on safety.



Looking forward to our next assignment!

Week 2: #3 "Grab yourself a Blog...

So far so good!