Guess what I'm doing with my Month

THE FINAL THING

I think that there was a lot that was really valuable about this. It gave a good overview of a lot of newer technologies that librarians are using, which helps in understanding what other libraries are doing and what we CAN do.

It was hard finding the time to do these activities as the library never got its anticipated post-Christmas slow-down. I thank everyone for extending the ending dates; that was EXTREMELY helpful. I really liked having the blogs to read how someone else took an activity, but also as a sounding board for my own thoughts. I would never have used a blog otherwise, but seeing how easy, I'll probably use one again.

There's a lot to explore and I would like to ask that we keep these activities and resources up and open past the due date to let everyone go back to the things that they never really finished to their own satisfaction.

Net Library Audibooks

I think the selection of audiobooks is amazing. The sheer numbers make it awesome. I thought it might be only a few, but there were a lot of really new and popular titles AND a lot of older classics.

Podcasts

So, I added the DC Comics podcast to my bloglines account. It gives a good idea of what is coming out soon and what writers are contributing to what. I like it. I had no idea there was such a convenient way to find podcasts.

You Tube

So, since I have already posted a youtube video about podcasts in one of my earlier blogs, I will post that one again.

I found it very interesting that a search for Library 2.0 or Web 2.0 links to some very intense videos. I guess the descriptions and tags on the videos are of the author's (or poster's) own choice. They tend to confuse me as to content, however. I look at the tags, not the descriptions.

Web 2.0 Tools

I looked at Blogniscient which was in the same vein as Bloglines, which I already use. It seems like a good place to go to find new and interesting stuff. Not necessarily a good place if you are looking for something specific. I very much enjoyed that they have their own icons (or are they avatars?) for different catergories of blogs. For the political blogs they have them as red or blue for left or right wing content.

Web-Based Apps

I officially have NO idea what I would use this for. Ok, so in the workplace it is a pretty good idea. I grant that. I don't choose to publish mine here as it has no relevance toward anything I would ever use at work. And I kinda turned it into something funny...

PB WIKI

I like that they give you tips on how to make things look more stylish. All of my efforts with this sort of thing never have the polished look that makes it appear that I know what I'm doing. This will help. I added myself to the list and now feel accomplished enough to add my own information to Lostpedia, my favorite wiki site.

Wiki, wiki, wiki

So, I've used Wikipedia a lot and feel I have a firm understanding of what wikis can achieve. That said I think that there are times when wikis are bad (ie when trying to do a reserch paper because they can give you wrong information). I agree that book reviews are a good idea because they are so subjective.

Library 2.0

While I truly like the idea of a Library 2.0, what I like most about it is that it makes you step back and reevaluate. We get to see how things can change to see what we might like to change. I do not see out circulation numbers dropping off like one of the writers was suggesting as a reason to change their collection. However, every new thing that we add here has a lot of patrons excited (and some completely befuddled).

Technorati

I feel much more connected to other libraries now that I did a technorati search about Learning 2.0. Everyone is doing it!

Del.icio.us

So, I was using the tags when I tried out Flikr and added tags to books on Librarything. I felt that I already understood these concepts and how to use them. But del.icio.us, seems to have a laserpoint focus on this. I found a lot more resources for a few more hard to locate sources for rarer media, like comic books, simply through tags. Very good, easy to use, and fun. I will probably continue to use my account when this project is done.

Rollyo

I created a searchroll for the Washington Capitals (you know, the hockey team {you know, the sport played with sticks on ice}). I can see the potential for this in researching something where there is a big potential of "distracting" information. For instance, since I used so many general sites in my searchroll as well as specific sites, searching for something as general as trades brought up all kinds of news and not just things pertaining to hockey. Whereas, searching for the Stanley Cup brought up all kinds of very current stories on the race for the cup, rather than a bunch of sites about the history of the cup. So, the more specific the better, I'd say

LibraryThing

Ok. My first thought about LibraryThing was, I have no idea what this is, but I like it. I have my account and have begun to add, but there are so many books (sounds of salavating). Will blog more as I figure more out...

Imagen

This is my test of the Alpha Pic. i like it a lot!!!!!

Thing 9- Finding Feeds

I tried out the same search on all of the search tools. I liked Topix best. I liked Syndic8 the least. The same search brought absolutely nothing on syndic8. And I was really looking. I find that for most of what I am looking for, adding an RSS feed is so simple that I really haven't needed to use any but the bloglines search for most of what I am seeking. I am not sure about confusing, but I didn't really "get" what syndic8 was trying to do for me. Whatever it was, it failed miserably. I am floored by the number of sites that I visit on a regular basis that have an RSS feed.

Bloglines

Well, to be honest I thought I knew a lot more about RSS feeds than I actually did. My bloglines account is up and running. I just need to link you to it...here. That should take you to my bloglines blog.

Grant Morrison

IMG_7005
Originally uploaded by amster_girl.

This is Grant Morrison. He is one of my heroes. Loudoun County Public Library owns one title by this extremely prolific comic book writer. It is JLA: One Million. Pretty cool futuristic stuff.

This photo came from Flickr.

Technology

It seems that the purpose of this entire project is to get us to play with all of the different options for technology that are out there. None of these are too difficult if you have the time and some good directions. I might have gotten to a site like Flickr, but I don't think I would have messed around with it to find other things like Bubblr or Mappr unless I was given the task. Technology is just hard to keep up with.

I would like to add something that I think will help everyone better understand the term podcasting.

Bubblr

Grant Morrison by Batcave o Solitude

This is a pretty cool web app. Bubblr lets you add cartoon bubbles to images so that you can make your own funny little comments. Check out the link to see what I've done...

Hardest Habit- Thing 3

Out of the 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learners, I'd say I have more problems with #3. I don't view problems as challenges. Instead they frustrate me and provide a good excuse to give up. Viewing these problems as challenges and using that for motivation sounds like a good idea.