Thing no. 23

This is my final post for the course.  I’ve really enjoyed exploring all of the tools that are available out there now.  I also am amazed at how easy it was to create a blog.  That was probably one of my favorite aspects of the course.  Taking the time to experiment and practice using these tools in a safe environment.  While I had “poked around” before, the course really gave me the push that I needed to closely examine and experiment.

I also liked learning about becoming a LifeLong Learner.  That is a lesson that I hope to carry with me always.

One of the biggest surprises for me was realizing that I actually know a lot more than I thought I did.  I am not a big user of a lot of these tools for various reasons, the biggest reason probably being that for the most part, they really do require you to put yourself “out there.”  This is something that has never come naturally to me and that I am still somewhat reluctant to do.  Writing this blog has been a big challenge for me, but I think it’s good to push myself outside of my comfort zone sometimes.  How else would I learn… and grow?

The only problem that I had with the class was that it was difficult for me to keep up with it.  That is more my learning style and I think that I work best with deadlines.  Leaving things open was hard for me and I tend to let things go until they absolutely need to be done.  Having some sort of deadline works best for me.  Despite that, I think that I would try something like this again.  Like I said before, it was a good, safe way for me to experiment and I learned a lot.

Social Networking

This week’s “thing” is to explore what libraries are doing on social networking sites and to blog my thoughts. 

I think it’s great that libraries have a presence in these spaces.  For me it’s all about marketing the library and being present wherever their patrons are,.  These are, as Martha would say, ”good things.” 

Social networking tools, however (like many of the tools we’ve looked at in this course aren’t very helpful to me or my library given the type of library that I work in (special).   But for public and academic libraries, I believe that it is important to know about, and be a part of, social networks.

Microblogging & Mashups

I just spent way too much time exploring all of this weeks “things.”  Of particular interest was FriendFeed.   I like that there are “Rooms” for specific topics or that you can  share with certain people if you are communicating about something in particular (like planning a party or trip with friends).  Of particular interest was LSW – Library Society of the World.  Maybe if I really do decide to put myself out there and participate in this online world, I will join the room.  For now it’s nice just to know that there are things like that out there.

Twitter

I confess, I just don’t “get” Twitter.  I checked it out when I was at CIL2009 a couple of weeks ago, as that was all that the presenters were talking about. Apparently #CIL2009 was a “trending topic”.   One night after the sessions were done, I signed up for an account so that I could see what all of the fuss was about. I poked around and did some searches, but it really didn’t interest me. 

I came across a video that sort of conveyed my thoughts on Twitter. 

Poking through the readings, (great NYT article btw) I came across a link to an article in the LA Times.  It closes with:

“So I guess Twitter, along with my dog, will remain part of my daily routine. The only daunting downside — as so often happens with new media: You only get back as much as you put in.”

That is something that I never really thought about. All of these social networking/media tools require some investment on my part  to make them worthwhile.  Maybe that is part of the reason that I have yet to get really interested in some of these tools – like Twitter…

Exploring eBooks and AudioBooks

I thought the Gutenberg Project site was great.  Although they do really push for donations.  I can understand as digitizing all of this material and making Audio recordings is a huge undertaking.  I’m really surprised that so much of this is available for free. 

These are some great resources that I plan to visit again and again:

World eBook Fair
LibriVox
British Library
Makeuseof.com’s list of best resources for free eBooks 

Are eBooks as valuable as traditional print books?  I think so.  When it comes down to it, it’s all about the story or information that is being shared.  Prior to the time of printing, stories and information were shared by word of mouth.  It’s all the same thing – just different mediums. 

I think that as e-book readers improve and become less expensive, they will become more common and printing will die off for the most part.  I wonder if it will die off completely though.  I have kept books that have held special meaning to me for ages, some were handed down.  That practice doesn’t translate easily to the digital format.  You can’t include an inscription on an eBook, although  maybe some day.

Podcasts

For some reason, I’ve never really been very interested in podcasts.  Probably because I’ve never had an opportunity to explore them before.  I never knew that there were so many on such diverse topics.  Recently, I added …As a matter of Fact to my blog reader account and they highlight NPR’s Playback and I occasionally listen to that.

I decided to add LIS News Newscasts to my reader.

YouTube

This weeks assignment was to explore YouTube and select a video worth including in my blog.  For some reason I had a very difficult time selecting a video.  I’ve used YouTube before, but usually to search for a song (“Baby Girl do you want to hear Oscar sing ‘I love trash?’  That was my favorite song as a little girl.”).  I’ve never really “explored” the site.  So, I scrolled through the subject areas, browsed, did some searches, but nothing jumped out at me.  I wish that there was more indexing and that searches could be more focused. 

I finally settled on doing a search on “newspapers.”  For some reason I’ve been thinking a lot about the newspaper industry lately.  Perhaps because a favorite local paper is in dire strights right now. I’m probably one of the few people left that still gets a paper delivered (weekends only though) and I’m a little worried about the future of journalism -  the future of information. How will news look 20 years from now? 

I was talking to someone today about how people who grew up with computers think differently, use their minds differently (probably part of the reason for the fall of the newspaper industry), and she asked “Is that bad?” My response was, “No, it’s just different.”  That sentence probably applies here too.

Anyway, I came across this video in my search and thought that a retrospective look was worth considering.     These  people had no idea what they were getting into…

As for library applications. I think that using videos are a great way to communicate with and educate patrons. Particularly for those that are visual learners.

Exploring The Web 2.0 Awards nominees

I chose to explore the Food Category in the “short list” ( which was still very long!).  The first site is Im Cooked, which is a very cool concept.  The tag line is Cook it.  Film it. Share it.  People share their receipes on film.  It’s kind of like a personal Food Network where anyone can have their own show.    I liked it and came across some good videos, but wish that the videos were accompanied by written recipes and instructions so that they could be easily printed out and saved in a book.  Yes,  I’m old school and all of my recipes have been written, printed,  or clipped, and put into a binder.   This site’s going to be added to my Delicious account.

 

The other item in the Food category site that I explored was Urbanspoon.  It’s a restaurant review site that provides reviews “from critics, food bloggers, and friends.”  The “friends” are the site users.  Great site, easy to search by restaurant, location (neighborhood), or food type.  This link’s going to be referred to often and added to my Delicious account as well.

 

Learning about this Seomoz’s Web 2.0 Awards nominees could lead to trouble.  I already spend far too much time on my computer…  I’ve been thinking about this gentleman the past few days and thinking that I need to spend a little less time online and a little more IRL.

  

Oh no!  I just reread the assignment and realized that it asks about using this in a library setting.  I probably should have read it a little closer prior to choosing the sites!  I could see using this an a public library setting if someone came in looking for recipes or information on restaurants in the area.

Online Productivity Tools

I know there are all of these wonderful tools out there, but for some reason I rarely use them. Funnily enough, I added the Lifehacker blog to my Bloglines account just a few weeks ago. Around that same time, one of my colleagues in St. Louis (I’m in Boston) suggested that we use Google Docs to work on a project.

Some of the other tools listed to experiment with aren’t really very useful to me at the moment.  I stopped making lists (with the exception of shopping and packing) a long time ago as I always ended up with lists everywhere that were only partially complete.  They just ended up leaving me feeling overwhelmed or like a failure, as opposed to leaving me with a sense of accomplishment. And while I think the stickies apps are very cool, I just don’t see myself using it.

I am really amazed by all of the productivity applications that are available out there. I did not realize there were so many.  And not only are they all out there for us to use, but they are out there for us to use FREE of charge!

Alos, I tried to post this from Google.docs, but for some reason I couldn’t get it to work.  I wonder what I did wrong.  I ended up just copying and pasting the text .

Wiki’s cont.

Just had an opportunity to try out the Wiki tool that was set up for the class.  I entered my favorite vacation spot and added my blog to the blog list.  The  tool is very easy to use.

Oh, and if you are wondering what I entered for my favorite vacation spot,  it was being on a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands.   That’s different from my favorite vacation though.  That was at the Atlantis in the Bahamas, but had more to do with who I was vacationing with (my soon to be husband), than the actual location.