Susan's Blog

Week 9 - Thing 23 - Summary

2007-06-14T17:25:00.001-07:00

Well...I've reached the end of "23 Things"!! and I feel like I've really learned quite a bit about technology on the internet. I think some of my favorite exercises included: creating a blog (now I get it!!) and learning about podcasts. I had actually already participated in a podcast with a page at Eldersburg, but never realized how she was going to use my voice and our discussion to create a "podcast". Somewhere...I might be "famous". I can see the benefits of blogging just by reading other peoples blogs and learning what they're thinking about the very same things I'm doing... I think this program has helped me realize just how much you can do with a computer and on the internet and now I feel that I can actually use some of the things I learned here in both my everyday life and my work life. Growing up without the benefit of the internet I think limited my idea of learning to just books, lectures, etc. this program made me realize just how much you can learn just by trying new things....
If something like this was offered again I would certainly try it. I was trying to think of ways to improve on the program, but nothing comes immediately to mind because we had plenty of time to do the 23 things and everything was well described. I guess I'd describe my learning experience with this program as "expanding my potential and my abilities."

2007-06-14T15:16:00.001-07:00

Week 9 - Thing 22- Audiobooks

2007-06-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

I looked at Overdrive and Project Gutenberg. Because I've had training in Overdrive, it was fairly easy for me to find the titles I was interested in. I am going to go home and try checking out a title and downloading it to my laptop. Actually I was hoping to use the MP3 player we will receive after finishing 23 things to download a book or two also. I usually don't enjoy "listening" to books because I get distracted more easily but I'll give it a try.
Project Gutenberg was really interesting to me. I picked a favorite author, Jane Austen and proceeded to find A Memoir of Jane Austen (written by her nephew) as well as Lady Susan....This is something I think I would use quite often. It just amazed me what was ontained in this website.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17797

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/lsusn11.txt

Week 9 - Thing 21 - Podcasts

2007-06-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

For this exercise I chose two podcast sites to add to my bloglines account. The first was Book Voyages http://feeds.feedburner.com/BookVoyages. I found this podcast interesting because it contained author interviews, book reviews and reading ideas for children's books. I thought it would be good to keep in touch with children's literature as I now work in the adult department. I guess I just needed a "children's literature fix".
The second podcast I subscribed to was Collected Comics Library. I chose this one because my son is a comic book collector and enthusiast and I thought it would help him with this collecting.
http://collectedcomicslibrary.com/rss/podcast_ccl.xml. I also looked at some podcasts that had video w/them and these were the ones I enjoyed the most.... The voice only podcasts held almost no interest for me at all.
In general, I found podcasts to be "somewhat" boring. I guess it has to do with the sites being strictly audio and sometimes I found the podcasts to be "droning". I actually have participated in a podcast with a fellow staff member, Natalie Tier. She had to creat a podcast for an assignment in school about libraries and she asked me to participate. It was basically an interview about my job, etc.

Week 9 - Thing 20 - YouTube

2007-06-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=library+dancing

I started exploring Youtube with the search "library fun". Needless to say I was a bit naive about this one....SO....I moved on to library dancing!!.. It was kind of funny to watch the videos and see just what some people think other people are interested in!! (does that make any sense?).... anyway....right now I'm looking for my daughter's videos on Youtube. When I find them (or at least one of them), I'll hook you up so you can see them. I found one!! See it below.....

Week 8 - Thing 19 - Web 2.0 Awards List

2007-06-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

First I looked at Cocktail Builder (strictly for research purposes!! and fun!!). It was kind of cool to find all the different cocktails you could make with what you had in the house. Alright...you might have to jet out for some more ingredients but...who cares!!
Then I looked at Library Thing....again the research thing. I really liked the area where you could put in what you enjoyed reading and up popped a list of other titles you might enjoy. (Book Suggestions).
I also enjoyed searching around the Groups section. That was really neat. I intend to go back there and search some more about YA Literature and what everyone is reading.....

http://www.librarything.com/groups/readyalit

Week 8 - Thing 18 - Online Productivity Tools

2007-06-05T12:41:00.001-07:00

Hello!! I'm here at writer.zoho.com!! I'm going to play with it for awhile and try to learn something about it's features.

♥ I guess I just learned I can insert characters.

This is an easy way to create posts and publish them in your blog as well as create docuements when Word might not be available.

Week 7 - Thing 17 - SandBox wiki

2007-06-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

This was fun!! I added my blog to the favorite blogs section and added a comment on some recently read books to the favorite books section and the currently reading section, I even linked them with our catalog!! Since I'm always looking for good young adult books to read, I figured I'd share some with others. :)

http://marylandlibrariessandbox.pbwiki.com/Favorite%20Books

Week 7 - Thing 16 - Wikis

2007-06-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

Wow!! I really liked this exercise. I could see so many applications for wikis. Libraries could have wikis that patrons could add to expressing their opinions on books they read recently. (this reminds me of Amazon's patron critiques of books). I liked the idea of being able to look up a book and finding other books that are similiar (easily) and in the case of crafts or health care, finding local businesses that can help you. For instance, if you're looking for information on massage, not only could you find a book (or two) that would be relevant but also businesses that offer massages!! What a great community building tool!! Patrons could add to the wiki with opinions on the businesses and the books. I could see this being very interesting and possibly helpful in getting more people (and maybe younger people) to keep using the library. It would be more relevant.

Week 6 - Thing 15 - Web 2.0/Library 2.0

2007-06-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0

http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/6.htm

Both of these perspectives focus on the need to "build" our libraries for the future. They look at libraries not just as "buildings with books", but as active parts of the community. Places for people to get information and network with others, but not necessarily just while they're in the library! As our world is changing constantly with the advent of new and more pervasive technology, the libraries of the future will too have to change to be relevant to the communities they serve.
Library 2.0 to me is a learning and growing experience, both for the library and the people who choose to work in them in the future. Information, community building and relevancy are all a part.

Week 6 - Thing 14 - Technorati and Tags

2007-06-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Once again an interesting site and I knew nothing about it!! (I'm guessing it's a generational thing). I did the keyword searches using blog posts, tags and the blog directory. I got different results for each one. Using the blog posts I got a bunch of blog sites only. When I used the tags option I got alot less blog posts but I got some video and photo options as well. The blog directory when searching for Learning 2.0 got me nothing.
It was interesting to search around in the favorite blog, top searches and top blogs sections too. You kept seeing the same things over and over again....but..it was fun to click on the entries and see what came up. I got some laughs out of this but I think it could be fun to play with some more.....maybe later?

Week 6 - Thing 13 - Del.icio.us

2007-06-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

This site was actually alot of fun. I created my own account and was able to bookmark things that interested me as "favorites". I could see using this quite a bit for research purposes and just general interest items. I created a favorites list with articles about "stress" (not a surprise) and then another one that had information on television and "fun", just to counteract the "stress" one. I think it would be interesting to try this for reader's advisory and critical analysis of works also.

Week 5 - Thing 12 - Rollyo

2007-05-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

This site was really cool. I created a rollyo for Vampire Fiction. This could be really useful in reader's advisory of all kinds as well as creating rollyo's for the reference desk regarding government issues and local issues. I could see this particular site being very useful in general. Sort of like taking all your "favorites" that are saved on individual computers and putting them all together.

Week 5 - Thing 11 - Library Thing

2007-05-29T11:57:00.001-07:00

What fun!! and how easy...... I added 5 interesting books to my list in Library Thing.....I tried to find books that I had read as well as some that I've been wanting to read. It's easy to use and fun.... it was interesting to see how many other people are looking at the same titles too.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/stevie821

Week 5 - Thing 10 - Online Image Generator

2007-05-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is my Yahoo Avatar....I really had fun with this. It's interesting to get in there and find the different avatars, etc. Now I understand why my son and daughter get into this.

http://avatars.yahoo.com/

Week 4 - Thing 9

2007-05-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

This exercise took a little while. I particularly enjoyed working with Feedster. I liked the way the feeds were organized in categories. The feeds were easy to download to my bloglines account. I also liked Topix.net. Again it was easy to use and I like searching around this site for feeds and news information.
I did not enjoy working with Syndic8.com or Technorati. Maybe it's just me but I found these sites harder to use as far as navigating them. I think it had something to do with the layouts of the pages. Technorati may appeal to a younger audience. I found it annoying.
I subscribed to several "gossipy" feeds as well as a Sykesville News feed using the two above search tools I found easiest to use.

Week 4 - Thing 8 - RSS feeds

2007-05-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

This was a little more complicated for me than I thought it would be...I'm not sure I fully understood what I was doing until I kept doing it!! I added several feeds such as Unshelved and the Shifted Librarian and when I get some time...I'll add more.... still learning....

http://www.bloglines.com/public/stevie821

Week 3 - Thing 7

2007-05-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

Technology related?? That's a hard one for me. I have to confess that my husband and I had the opportunity to buy a digital camera recently and we backed off!! Now I'm kind of sorry we did. I think having a digital camera would be neat!! Now that I feel more comfortable with the technology and I see what can be done with the photos with sites like Flickr.com, I wish we had opted for the digital camera....maybe next time?
Oh...and I posted a comment on Nadine's blog too!!

Week 3 - Thing 6 - Pink Hydrangea Trio

2007-05-24T09:02:00.001-07:00

Pink Hydrangea Trio
Originally uploaded by Gankaku.

I played around with Flickr and I thought this was a pretty photo....and I could get really close to these flowers without sneezing!! I really like the color pink too and it just seems to come alive in this picture. So pretty and spring like.

I especially liked playing with Montagr. It was really interesting to see the different montages that were created from photos on Flickr and how each individual "part of the puzzle" was a beautiful picture in and of itself. Really neat!!

Week 3 - Thing 5 (Mad Dog)

2007-05-24T08:49:00.001-07:00

Mad Dog
Originally uploaded by XI*Erica Simone*XI.

I don't know, but this dog doesn't look that mad!! Either mad in the "angry" sense or mad in the "rabies" sense. What do you think? I think he looks perfectly content.....maybe a little scared if anything...I welcome your input on this dog's condition....

Week 2 - Thing 4

2007-05-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

Registered my blog....and downloaded the form to track my progress. Am still learning alot about this whole process. I guess it's never to late to teach an "old dog", "new tricks".

I found the 7 1/2 Habits tutorial very interesting. I learned some lessons from it. One of the most important things I learned and which will probably require a change in how I look at things was the "view problems as challenges" section. All too often I view problems as problems. I can see how viewing them as challenges could really get someone motivated!! I also found the have confidence in your own abilities as a competent, effective learner part interesting. I think if we remain confident in ourselves while tackling a "challenge", it can only help us achieve our goals. I will make an effort to remember to use technology to my advantage. Coming from a non-technology background....this may be difficult, but not impossible.

Susan Miller - Library Associate Adult
Eldersburg Branch
Carroll County Public Library

"Your children will become what you are so be what you want them to be" - David Bly

Week 2 - Thing 3

2007-05-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Setting up the blog was fun!! and not as difficult as I thought it might be...(it was a challenge, not a problem). Of course I had my "team mate" helping me through the things I wasn't sure about...so far...I think I'm on track.

Week 1 - Thing 2

2007-05-24T07:28:00.001-07:00

Viewed online tutorial on 7 1/2 Habits. I really liked the way they delineated each habit for learning. Particularly useful for me was the idea of beginning with a "clear" end in mind. It was also useful to learn how to view "problems" as challenges. Without this idea in mind I think I probably would have viewed problems as just that.... "problems". Using the idea of problems as challenges will definitely help me conquer my hesitations about the technology part of this exercise.

Week 1: Thing 1

2007-05-24T07:24:00.001-07:00

Started off fairly easy. Listened to the podcast and got introduced to the program...

7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

2007-05-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners - The hardest thing for me will probably be just dealing with the technology aspect and the idea of the "toolbox". The easiest will be accepting responsibility for my own learning. I am fairly sure that if I set my mind to doing this, I can accomplish it.

Started 23 Things

2007-05-24T07:15:00.001-07:00

I have finally started 23 things and so far....I've already learned something. I created my own blog.....