#23 Synopsis

Well, I had my doubts as to whether or not I would finish this challenge. I was so completely overwhelmed when I started this project, that I didn't even want to finish it and regretted starting it. But now that I am at the end, I can honestly say I am glad I did it. I DO feel more comfortable with all the different web 2.0 resources, and want to challenge myself to use them on a regular basis so I can get comfortable with them. It is a true challenge, but one I think I can meet.

Where to go from here? Using one of these resources/tools every day will be my goal. Just ONE of them, so I can retain the information and gain from them. I will check my bloglines account and keep up with those, while downloading books and saving documents to Zoho. There is so much to do, but it is more fun to do now that I have a bit of confidence. Thanks to Diane, Jackie, Allyn and Annette for all your help and encouragement!

#22 Audio Books

I have discovered the joy of audio books this summer while taking my oldest son to college. they helped the nine hour drive go much faster and kept me awake, which is always a good thing!

Since the library is not going to be using netlibrary, I focused just on Overdrive. This will help me most when assisting patrons who want to download books and listen at home. I will be downloading one tonight onto my computer at home, so I will then be able to transfer the data to the new MP3 player I will be getting next week! I think I will be using it a lot in the future. I like the idea that you don't have to sign up in the library first to get started. I watched the video clip on how to proceed with the checkout process, and I am ready to go! I think I will choose James Patterson's book, 1st to Die, as my first book, just because so many patrons read this series and this will get me started. I read one of his other books last summer and enjoyed it, so this will be a good way to start.

#21 Podcasts

Well, because I already have a Yahoo account, I went to check out Yahoo podcasts. There, on the header of the site, is an announcement that they will be closing the site on Oct 31, 2007. That means I needed to move on to another directory to get familiarized with that one--I am in this for the long haul and don't want to bother with something that short term.

My next stop was Podcastalley--because I just liked the name!--shallow, but that is the way the net works sometimes! I found a site that sends out podcasts on homeschooling, which should be kind of fun to experience. There I found a site for homeschoolers and one for history, so I subscribed to both on my bloglines account. I look forward to hearing the information from both podcasts!

The url's are here.
http://www.summahistorica.com/podcast/rss.xml for History According to Bob
http://feeds.feedburner.com/HomeschoolPodcastNetwork for Homeschool Podcast Network

#20 You Tube

I must admit that this site is the one that I am most familiar with. My 16 year old son watches old cartoons on the site all the time. There are even segments of the recently released "Transformers" movie on the site, and it hasn't been released on video yet. You can tell it was done with a cam-corder in a theater. Copywrite issues abound, but all told the site is great!

I have already posted a YouTube site that shows my kids in Africa--so scroll down and see what they have to say--it is great ( of course, I am completely objective!)

#19 Web 2.0 awards

I went through the list and had a great time playing on the arcade games at http://arcaplay.com/. I felt guilty playing arcade games at work, but this is the 23 Things, right!!

I also went to the social mapping at Frapper (http://www.frappr.com/). That particular site kind of gave me the creeps--stalkers would have no problems with this site--pick a target and find them in the area. One of the groups had to do with adoption and even had first and last names of some adoptee families--once again, a little too much information. I am finding that some of the social sites are too personal for me to feel comfortable with. When I watched the Sandra Bullock movie, "The Net", I developed a healthy fear of how the internet could be used against you. Safeguards are in place, but the hackers can tear it apart. That makes it a bit much for me, personally.

Having the list helps you find even more organizational tools that would help in the library. Desktop2 didn't load very well, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good site. I looked at Backpack, and thought it would be great for those who want a PDA but can't afford one,or if they have a laptop they can use like a PDA--too cumbersome for me personally.

So much of this technology just requires hours to sit and play on and decide which one will meet your needs. So far, even with time here at work, I don't personally have the time to access all of them. It will be fun to try though!

# 18 Online Productivity

I must admit that Zoho has been the one feature that I have heard about and really wanted to play with. I have set up an account and will use it often to back up my homeschool information from home, so I can access it anywhere. That will save a lot of time and free up storage space on my home PC.

I think this is probably the resource I will use the most--I can't wait to transfer more info to my account!

http://writer.zoho.com/index.do

#17 Sandbox Wiki

This is a great site, much more like a community blog. I liked posting things to several sites-favorite vacations (http://marylandlibrariessandbox.pbwiki.com/Favorite-vacation-spot) and favorite childhood book (http://marylandlibrariessandbox.pbwiki.com/Favorite+Childhood+Books).

I did enter a wiki-page under homeschool resources, but couldn't add it to the favorites page because there was an unusual message about a edit lock on that page. If I had continued, I would have erased someone else's work, and I didn't want to do that. Check out the wiki entry at http://marylandlibrariessandbox.pbwiki.com/Homeschool%20resources

#16 Wikis

I had a chance to work with a wiki while doing LATI in the spring, and found that they are really great resources and a true part of library 2.0. I enjoyed seeing the wiki from St Joe County in Indiana (Bull Run Library wiki)and it made me proud to be a Hoosier! I think that format makes it much more likely to use some of the online resources, by getting to them though a subject heading. Featuring all types of resources through the subject headings is great.

I also enjoyed the BookLovers wiki and see it as being a more interactive version of Readers Place from our home page. I think that would be a good way to have book clubs select books and then enter their opinions of the books as a group or individuals. Imagine holding a book club discussion in the computer room, looking up other reviews and discussions of the book, and then logging your opinions too. That would be a great way to get our patrons more comfortable with technology also.

#15 library 2.0 and me/us

I can see that having more responsive websearch capabilities will truly change the future of libraries and how we provide services to people. I see the nature of the services changing the most, with there being a need for more computer training and processing going on. I sometimes don't feel as much like a librarian as I do a computer specialist. People ask us all the time how to do things on line, some times more than the typical reference questions. While some of the youngest patrons are growing up with this technology and it is as easy as breathing to them, the older folks who may or may not have access to computers on a regular basis, are falling farther and farther behind.

This will be the great divide between generations, cultures and economies--access to and freedom to access the web. For thousands of years, it was a need to provide for life-food, water and protection. As words became books, access to the books and the thoughts behind them were also worth fighting for. People fight for freedom of speech and religion and that fight will move into the hyper-link dimension. Access to thoughts of people all over the world will impact cultures and governments, not just the services given by a library. We will be the small cog on the wheel of progress, and protecting the privacy and freedoms of people is going to be a huge issue. I agree with what Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology said, that it will effect ethics as much as anything else. What a time we live in!

#14 Technorati

I finally get the idea behind Technorati, and I can see the need for this type of search for information. With the prevalence of blogging, it becomes more necessary to "manage" the flow of information. By showing the authority level, and then the alternate tags that go with a posting, it can help you get a better handle on the information needed. However, it would still be time consuming to go through so many entries, and see how it relates to what you are doing. I am not sure I would use this very much, but I know my kids will because it is the wave of the future. It will become more important as blogs expand daily.

#13 Del.icio.us

Now this is one of the resources I think I will really use. I have a large number of webpages bookmarked at my pc at home, and sometimes want to retrieve the info from the library. Now I will be able to do that. I will be able to bundle the sites and organize them. This will be a much better way to handle the great resources I have found out on the web.

My Delicious account is set up and ready to utilize! When I get some set up tomorrow, I will post the site.

Thank you Annette!

I got to spend some time with Annette today, and what a wonder she is! She really helped me understand how to configure items on this blog, how to move link info, navigate around--I know I will be able to get this done now! Thanks Annette!

#12 Rollyo

I really like the idea of restricting my searches to sites that I know will give me what I want, but I don't want to look at all of them seperately. This could really help if I want a particular book, or want info on a specific site. I will have to use my list of favorites at home and make a second list for buying books--it took me at least an hour this fall when I was looking for a particular book for my son's class work.

My first list is at my profile at http://www.rollyo.com/profile.html?uid=53889.

#11 Library Thing

I really like the idea of keeping a list of the books in my library at home, or the ones that I love that I have read. I have set a goal of reading one new book a month in each of the following categories: adult fiction, J fiction, Y fiction, YA fiction, mystery, and romance. This will be a great place to keep track of the progress I am making. Check it out at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/stimaxhomeschool.

#10 Avatars

I have now set up an avatar for my home Yahoo account, but can't seem to get it transfered to this format. I went in and made an M&M avatar, but they were hving issues with their server and couldn't save it (http://www.becomeanmm.com/). so much for productivity here, but they are fun to play around with.

Merlin #9

I have signed up for an account with Merlin and looked through the site. I like the fact that you can find out quickly about state events and training opportunities. It helps to integrate the state and utilize one another's resources. I have signed up for an account, and will be checking Merlin to see what news there is state wide.

As a part-time employee, I know that the library invests a huge amount of time to training for all aspects of this job--and now with the 23 things, it is really all encompassing. I have had a difficult time really understanding how to accomplish these tasks, but it is finally coming together and I think I will be able to tap into it in the future. It certainly raises the level of professional attitude in the workplace!

I used the link from Merlin to set up a facebook account--let's see if my college son will answer me and let me be a "friend"! Somehow I doubt it!

rss feeds and newsreader

I went to Syndic8 to find a blog I could subscribe to. I found Teen Reads at http://www.ccrls.org/woodburn/rss/teens.rss so I could find out what teens think about books they have read. It looks like a new blog, but it will be interesting to see how it develops over time.

I then went to the Reader's Club site and I found what I thought would be useful sites for reader's advisory and personal reading lists. I think I will really be able to utilize this input from the 10 sites I subscribed to, and will expand rss as I find new and interesting sites.

Mashups

Mashups are very unique ways to find information on the net. I went to the mashup awards site and found a virtual video map to find videos that have been posted on youtube based on location on a map. The tags on the videos determine if they are pulled onto the mashup. The url is http://mashupawards.com/virtualvideomap/ and I think it could be very helpful in planning vacations or any trips that you would want to research.

Family in Africa

While my kids Were in Zambia, they made a video titled,"What NOT to do in Africa", along with the other teens that went with them. My son, Garrett, is the moderator, and my daughter, Ellie, is one of the blonde girls in the skits. She has a striped shirt on, so you know which one she is. Check it out at