Wow! I did it! I completed the program! Some of the parts were more complete than others, but I think that is Okay. This program has assisted my lifelong learning in that it has given me confidence in myself - enough to be able to evaluate what is most important and relevant for me in a learning experience.
My favorite Things were blogs and Wikis, again, because I see them as most key to my own job in the very near future. Also high on my list were the 2.0 award winning sites - I feel more comfortable in myself because I understand more what people are on about, even if I don't want to join in everything. My most fun thing was discovering Pandora.
My next lifelong learning goals include taking further what I have learned in this training. I discovered a few gaps in my knowledge of basic computing skills that I can close in short order. More importantly, and long-term, I am planning two Web 2.0 projects.
I am going to use what I have learned about tagging and blogging to make BlogaBook more visible and searchable by the outside world. I am going to use more links, feeds, and visuals to make the blog more attractive and interactive.
I am going to use what I have learned about Wikis to create collaboratively at least one training aid or reader's advisory pathfinder.
I would do another similar training program again any time. One comment would be that it took longer than advertized - everyone said they needed to spend more time than they had bargained on each Thing. Another comment - the Participants' blog was confusing at first and the method for signing up. I worked it out; but, I didn't have a very good feeling about the start, and others I spoke to felt the same.
One unexpected outcome is that I realized I am not so technically unsavvy as I thought. Outside of work I spoke to my children who are in the late 20s and to friends who are in their teens and who all have IPods, Blackberries, DVRs, etc. and who had no clue about half the things I have been learning about. It seems to me people in general now feel free to pick and choose from consumer technology to suit their own needs. I got several converts to Pandora!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Thing #22, Learn about audiobooks
I signed up for a NetLibray account on the HCPL home page. I searched for an audiobook and checked one out and downloaded it. If I had not seen the NetLibrary Web 2.0 tutorial I would have been stumped on how to get a license as there were no instructions I could see. I did as suggested and closed down and signed on again directly to NetLibrary.
It is hard to choose between NetLibrary and Overdrive. From the tutorials Overdrive looks simpler to use. Overdrive includes DVDs. The main difference is in the content: Netlibrary is Recorded Books recordings, Overdrive has other publishers, including Brilliance, which recently has started to acquire rights to more of the bestsellers. I believe from a libary subscription point of view both offer different advantages - I think Recorded Books don't make limitations on the number of simultaneous downloads. Overdrive is provided by SAILOR and the number of titles our library has available depends on the level of our financial participation (am I remembering correctly?)
Project Gutenberg is a common good, but disappointing in that it is old books (out of copyright). I was surprised to see some of the recordings are abridged. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
It is hard to choose between NetLibrary and Overdrive. From the tutorials Overdrive looks simpler to use. Overdrive includes DVDs. The main difference is in the content: Netlibrary is Recorded Books recordings, Overdrive has other publishers, including Brilliance, which recently has started to acquire rights to more of the bestsellers. I believe from a libary subscription point of view both offer different advantages - I think Recorded Books don't make limitations on the number of simultaneous downloads. Overdrive is provided by SAILOR and the number of titles our library has available depends on the level of our financial participation (am I remembering correctly?)
Project Gutenberg is a common good, but disappointing in that it is old books (out of copyright). I was surprised to see some of the recordings are abridged. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
Thing # 21 Discover some useful tools for locating podcasts
http://www.firstadopter.com/podcast.xml
I pasted this URL into my Bloglines account so that I get regular updates of this podcast on emerging technology.
I like Podcast.net better than Yahoo Podcasts. I think it is because Podcasts seems to have more podcasts that could be used by libraries - reviews, news, how-tos, subject guides to things like business and investing.
I looked at Merlin for examples of what libraries are doing. I liked the storytimes especially.
I had some technical problems viewing some of the vodcasts I found on Yahoo because they wanted me to download software I did not have.
I have a question for our trainers on the difference between pasting a podcast URL into our Bloglines account and subscribing to a feed.
I pasted this URL into my Bloglines account so that I get regular updates of this podcast on emerging technology.
I like Podcast.net better than Yahoo Podcasts. I think it is because Podcasts seems to have more podcasts that could be used by libraries - reviews, news, how-tos, subject guides to things like business and investing.
I looked at Merlin for examples of what libraries are doing. I liked the storytimes especially.
I had some technical problems viewing some of the vodcasts I found on Yahoo because they wanted me to download software I did not have.
I have a question for our trainers on the difference between pasting a podcast URL into our Bloglines account and subscribing to a feed.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thing #20 Discover YouTube
This is a link to a Monty Python sketch I liked. I couldn't find the "embeddable player" in the time I allowed myself (quite a long time!) I chose this video purely by serendipity.
YouTube has just concluded its first political debate. It looks as though it was a success. Lots of people watched. You can see lots of the video clips on the favorites page today - nearly all from the debate. There are 67 comments about it on the YouTube blog. That looks like one use libraries might make their own in some way for programming.
I saw welcome videos from colleges - libraries could do welcome to our library services and put the URL on their web page to share it, or e-mail it to a mailing list.
There were video competitions running - libraries could encourage creativity with teen groups, perhaps, just as they do with poetry competitions.
I liked some features of the site. I disliked the clutter. It is hard to search and get anything meaningful - maybe it is cluttered with junk. One person's junk is another's treasure; but...
I can see that it is a site for alternative social and political viewpoints. It seems to be wasting its potential, but it might be a vehicle for social change.
You can sort out your search results by looking at the ratings stars.
YouTube has just concluded its first political debate. It looks as though it was a success. Lots of people watched. You can see lots of the video clips on the favorites page today - nearly all from the debate. There are 67 comments about it on the YouTube blog. That looks like one use libraries might make their own in some way for programming.
I saw welcome videos from colleges - libraries could do welcome to our library services and put the URL on their web page to share it, or e-mail it to a mailing list.
There were video competitions running - libraries could encourage creativity with teen groups, perhaps, just as they do with poetry competitions.
I liked some features of the site. I disliked the clutter. It is hard to search and get anything meaningful - maybe it is cluttered with junk. One person's junk is another's treasure; but...
I can see that it is a site for alternative social and political viewpoints. It seems to be wasting its potential, but it might be a vehicle for social change.
You can sort out your search results by looking at the ratings stars.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thing #19 Discover any site from Web 2.0 awards list
I chose Pandora because I was hoping to find music clips for my blog. I quickly discovered that Pandora is not like that, but I liked it a lot anyway.
It is a site that simulates a radio station, but it plays only the music you like. You type in a song title or artist you would like to hear and from their archive, "The Music Genome Project" they create a playlist of other songs that have the same characteristics. They guarantee not to play the same tune over again in 4 hours of music. You can have multiple playlists, which are called "radio station."
Pandora is free. If you subscribe for pay you get enhanced content. Because of licencing agreements you can't do certain things to the songs, like rewind or fast forward, but you can erase songs from the list, mark them as ones you really like, skip forward or back through the list, stop in mid-song. It's not obvious to the text-oriented among us at first, what to do, but a little exploration quickly shows you. It's hard to backtrack through the different pages. The navigation is a bit rudimentary, but adequate.
You can customize your radio station by adding other songs and artists. You can tell them never to play a certain tune again!
You can bookmark songs you like as you hear them. This is a good aide-memoir for making future playlists.
You can makes links to your radio stations on your blog. You can link from your web page to your Pandora profile. You can fill in personal stuff about you and make notes on the music.
Uses in libraries: suggested listening lists on web pages or blogs. Uses for the info in the Music Genome Project.
I can see that the analyses of the music and the categories would be very useful to musicologists. The database is not infinite but very large and growing all the time. New musicians can add themselves. This could be a wonderful resource for anyone researching emerging music.
Meanwhile, I am having great fun!
I am creating a link to my radio stations on my blog sidebar.
It is a site that simulates a radio station, but it plays only the music you like. You type in a song title or artist you would like to hear and from their archive, "The Music Genome Project" they create a playlist of other songs that have the same characteristics. They guarantee not to play the same tune over again in 4 hours of music. You can have multiple playlists, which are called "radio station."
Pandora is free. If you subscribe for pay you get enhanced content. Because of licencing agreements you can't do certain things to the songs, like rewind or fast forward, but you can erase songs from the list, mark them as ones you really like, skip forward or back through the list, stop in mid-song. It's not obvious to the text-oriented among us at first, what to do, but a little exploration quickly shows you. It's hard to backtrack through the different pages. The navigation is a bit rudimentary, but adequate.
You can customize your radio station by adding other songs and artists. You can tell them never to play a certain tune again!
You can bookmark songs you like as you hear them. This is a good aide-memoir for making future playlists.
You can makes links to your radio stations on your blog. You can link from your web page to your Pandora profile. You can fill in personal stuff about you and make notes on the music.
Uses in libraries: suggested listening lists on web pages or blogs. Uses for the info in the Music Genome Project.
I can see that the analyses of the music and the categories would be very useful to musicologists. The database is not infinite but very large and growing all the time. New musicians can add themselves. This could be a wonderful resource for anyone researching emerging music.
Meanwhile, I am having great fun!
I am creating a link to my radio stations on my blog sidebar.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Making my blog look more interesting
When I started this blog, it was just very plain, because I viewed it as a place to simply record my progress and do my assignments. I did, however spend some time on deciding which template to use. I wish there were more to choose from, but in the end chose one that I thought looked bookish.
I now have got a bit ahead of myself with the Things, so have given myself some time to explore and edit the blog template a bit. I like this template because the editor is quick and easy to use. It seems to me that on my other blog I have to go into the html to change things, add links, etc.
Is anyone out there who can tell me (1) if you can go online and import templates to Blogger, and (2) if there is any way to easily edit the standard blog template without going into the html.
I liked the way in my 2.0 blog I could just add links by pasting them into an editing box. In my other blog I have to find the place in the html that deals with the sidebars and then edit the code. My inaccurate typing and poor eyesight make that such a chore!
I now have got a bit ahead of myself with the Things, so have given myself some time to explore and edit the blog template a bit. I like this template because the editor is quick and easy to use. It seems to me that on my other blog I have to go into the html to change things, add links, etc.
Is anyone out there who can tell me (1) if you can go online and import templates to Blogger, and (2) if there is any way to easily edit the standard blog template without going into the html.
I liked the way in my 2.0 blog I could just add links by pasting them into an editing box. In my other blog I have to find the place in the html that deals with the sidebars and then edit the code. My inaccurate typing and poor eyesight make that such a chore!
Thing #18 Take a look at some online productivity tools
Things I found out about ZohoWriter:
I found out that it appears very simple to use, and if you are encountering problems there is a FAQ tab right there at the top. It has most of the features of Microsoft, plus some really quick ways of doing extra things, like publish the document as a web page, or post any selected content from any web page to your account in Zoho Writer.
Again, I can see that the key words when thinking about the advantages of Zoho are "shared" and "collaboration." I was intrigued by the feature that lets you collaboratively create a document and then send it round for digital signatures.
Another advantage is the portability. It really opens up possibilities for people who don't have their own computer or expensive software, like many public library computer users.
Along those lines of public library use - I liked the templates, which included sample resumes. Could perhaps use a few more to choose from.
I shared this document by e-mailing it to myself. I used the option that allowed me to both read and edit it when I got it.
Then I published this document to my blog.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thing #17 Add an entry to the Sandbox Wiki
I created a login account - that wasn't so clear, but I think I did it OK.
I added my blog and also my reader's advisory blog, BlogaBook.
I created a Wiki. There is nothing in it yet, but I plan to use it to make a draft proposal for a training document with resources, or "pathfinder" on how to start and conduct a book group. I plan to ask for collaboration from the Book Moderators group.
I added a book review to the What I'm Reading Wiki. I also added the URL to BlogaBook as part of my initiative to publicise the blog.
I added my blog and also my reader's advisory blog, BlogaBook.
I created a Wiki. There is nothing in it yet, but I plan to use it to make a draft proposal for a training document with resources, or "pathfinder" on how to start and conduct a book group. I plan to ask for collaboration from the Book Moderators group.
I added a book review to the What I'm Reading Wiki. I also added the URL to BlogaBook as part of my initiative to publicise the blog.
Week 7, Thing # 16 Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them
Hurrah! This week's Things have brought back my enthusiasm for Web 2.0 after it faltered a bit over Del.icio.us etc. I admit to not being able to see much point in the tagging and blogrolls. Of course, the key word is "sharing," which I had lost sight of for a moment. I have been brought back to the idea of collaboration by doing the discovery exercises in Thing 16.
The extra bonus is that I can see straight away several potential uses for Wikis in my personal life and in my job. Creating a Wiki seems so easy using something like PB Wiki. I am the state president of the Maryland branch of a women's charitable organization. A Wiki would seem to be the way to go instead of creating our own web page, which we have been struggling with.
Library uses for Wiki that I liked the most were: for the public - "directories" of community services; subject guides; reader's advisory. The most controversial and innovative uses are a content management system and a public-annotated catalog. The content management system I looked at looked like an integrated search system. They still had an OPAC (South Carolina at Aiken). An annotated catalog has the possibility of some of the drawbacks of Wikis (authority of content, messy, crowded organization, spam, etc.)
Uses within the library staff seemed more exciting to me in that I could probably implement them very soon myself: collaborative editing of documents, planning space, like an Intranet, sharing of knowledge. I have a plan to collaborate with the members of a committee I am on whose task it is to create system training materials on reader's advisory (gentle reads, specifically). I am also going to suggest we work together on the Book Moderators Committee to create a Wiki on how to start and run a book group. I have already blogged a bit about this and sent out some e-mails, and started to compile a pathfinder. Wikis seem to be a synthesis and improvement on all these activities. This would be a great way to get committee input and also engage the public.
Some key points I took from the podcast: Wikis must have a clear, stated purpose. The Bull Run Library Wiki I looked at had a purpose statement.
Wikis are better than blogs for many things because they are not chronological. I looked at the Book Lovers Blog. That was all readers' comments, but they had been organized into genres.
Don't start with a blank slate because that prevents many people from contributing. The SJCPL Subject Guides were organized so that it had the look of a web page. The structure made looking for things more friendly too.
The extra bonus is that I can see straight away several potential uses for Wikis in my personal life and in my job. Creating a Wiki seems so easy using something like PB Wiki. I am the state president of the Maryland branch of a women's charitable organization. A Wiki would seem to be the way to go instead of creating our own web page, which we have been struggling with.
Library uses for Wiki that I liked the most were: for the public - "directories" of community services; subject guides; reader's advisory. The most controversial and innovative uses are a content management system and a public-annotated catalog. The content management system I looked at looked like an integrated search system. They still had an OPAC (South Carolina at Aiken). An annotated catalog has the possibility of some of the drawbacks of Wikis (authority of content, messy, crowded organization, spam, etc.)
Uses within the library staff seemed more exciting to me in that I could probably implement them very soon myself: collaborative editing of documents, planning space, like an Intranet, sharing of knowledge. I have a plan to collaborate with the members of a committee I am on whose task it is to create system training materials on reader's advisory (gentle reads, specifically). I am also going to suggest we work together on the Book Moderators Committee to create a Wiki on how to start and run a book group. I have already blogged a bit about this and sent out some e-mails, and started to compile a pathfinder. Wikis seem to be a synthesis and improvement on all these activities. This would be a great way to get committee input and also engage the public.
Some key points I took from the podcast: Wikis must have a clear, stated purpose. The Bull Run Library Wiki I looked at had a purpose statement.
Wikis are better than blogs for many things because they are not chronological. I looked at the Book Lovers Blog. That was all readers' comments, but they had been organized into genres.
Don't start with a blank slate because that prevents many people from contributing. The SJCPL Subject Guides were organized so that it had the look of a web page. The structure made looking for things more friendly too.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Thing #15 Perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the future of libraries
I read all the five perspectives and they opened up for me so many ideas to explore! My mind is spinning after reading "To a temporary place in time." What I get from that is that the library is not going anywhere - it has always been a place that has added to the quality of life and will continue to be valued for that in whatever form it takes.
Michael Stephens' "Into a new world of librarianship" says that "the library is human" because 2.0 makes "the library as socially and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience." I have to side with the many people who think that this is always what libraries have at least tried to be. That they have always been communities and user-centered and foster the individual and able to be personalized. I concede that with social computing, libraries are nearer than they ever have been before to the ideal.
I scimmed the articles on powerful ways to cooperate and better bibliographic services. I was relieved to see that there are people who are concerned with the quality of the shared content we will have access to.
I liked one author's admonition to avoid technolust.
I was worried about "Away from Icebergs" and the recommendation to get away from "just in case" collections. I agree with this in most public library settings, but was worried, about literature in particular, that some things would be lost forever.
Michael Stephens' "Into a new world of librarianship" says that "the library is human" because 2.0 makes "the library as socially and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience." I have to side with the many people who think that this is always what libraries have at least tried to be. That they have always been communities and user-centered and foster the individual and able to be personalized. I concede that with social computing, libraries are nearer than they ever have been before to the ideal.
I scimmed the articles on powerful ways to cooperate and better bibliographic services. I was relieved to see that there are people who are concerned with the quality of the shared content we will have access to.
I liked one author's admonition to avoid technolust.
I was worried about "Away from Icebergs" and the recommendation to get away from "just in case" collections. I agree with this in most public library settings, but was worried, about literature in particular, that some things would be lost forever.
ALA Read T-Shirt
Read an e-mail this morning about a new free ALA Read T-shirt for Yahoo avatars. Decided to clothe my world traveler in it ready for my August trip to London.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Thing # 13 Tagging and discovering Del.icio.us
I don't quite know what to say about this. I forgot to post about this until some time after I created my account and did the discovery exercises, so my impressions are getting a bit blurry. I'm trying to be positive about the 23 things, but am left with a feeling of being underwhelmed by this one.
Underwhelmed and also frazzled - I did not like the "ubergeek slashdot unfriendly look," to quote Us.ef.ul ... I was confused by all the visual business. I think I would be more able to sort out the site if I had a task to do, but I couldn't think of one.
I can see the utility of the popular bookmarks. As the tutorial says, they must be great if you want to keep up on the cutting edge of the culture.
I can see how it might be wildly successful for people working on the same or similar projects to share good sites, blogs, etc.
As far as organizing bookmarks go, I would have to devote more time to trying out the different options. At the moment, in the cause of sanity I try to limit my bookmarks to a smallish number. I can see if you had a lot of different interests the rebundling feature is wonderful, as you can make sort of bibliographies for special projects you might be working on or for sharing with a particular person. I understood that feature of Del.icio.us straight away when described in the Otter Group tutorial. It has got a bit fuzzy since.
I wish I had some tips for other 2.0 ers. My only one this time might be, "Come back later and explore some more when you have time."
Underwhelmed and also frazzled - I did not like the "ubergeek slashdot unfriendly look," to quote Us.ef.ul ... I was confused by all the visual business. I think I would be more able to sort out the site if I had a task to do, but I couldn't think of one.
I can see the utility of the popular bookmarks. As the tutorial says, they must be great if you want to keep up on the cutting edge of the culture.
I can see how it might be wildly successful for people working on the same or similar projects to share good sites, blogs, etc.
As far as organizing bookmarks go, I would have to devote more time to trying out the different options. At the moment, in the cause of sanity I try to limit my bookmarks to a smallish number. I can see if you had a lot of different interests the rebundling feature is wonderful, as you can make sort of bibliographies for special projects you might be working on or for sharing with a particular person. I understood that feature of Del.icio.us straight away when described in the Otter Group tutorial. It has got a bit fuzzy since.
I wish I had some tips for other 2.0 ers. My only one this time might be, "Come back later and explore some more when you have time."
Monday, July 9, 2007
#14 Discover Technorati
I was surprised "A Hipper Crowd of Shushers," an article in the NY Times about a new stereotype for librarians, was one of the top most visited news stories. Could it be that librarians as a whole are more prone than anyone to check out suggested articles? News of this one has been going the rounds of e-mail today. Maybe librarians do have time after all to read books and eat bon bons all day at work, just add, "and surf the net."
Searching on "Learning 2.0" - yes, the results were different.
When I explored, Top Favorited Blog was Boing Boing, Top Search was Youtube and Top Blog was Engadget. No surprises there, really. It was interesting but not surprising to note the favorited and top blogs overlapped a bit. They were mostly the same ones as the other day when I looked, just the ranking order had changed slightly. "Paris Hilton" is still in the top searches. I liked the array of top tags that explained each blog. Was troubled that many of them are very general or non-specific. I think you still have to be very skilled when searching Technorati to get what you want - need a librarian with sharper skills than mine to cut through the clutter.
Three of the top blogs pertained to technology and gadgetry. I have no doubt reading these extremely current posts is essential to people in these fields.
Searching on "Learning 2.0" - yes, the results were different.
When I explored, Top Favorited Blog was Boing Boing, Top Search was Youtube and Top Blog was Engadget. No surprises there, really. It was interesting but not surprising to note the favorited and top blogs overlapped a bit. They were mostly the same ones as the other day when I looked, just the ranking order had changed slightly. "Paris Hilton" is still in the top searches. I liked the array of top tags that explained each blog. Was troubled that many of them are very general or non-specific. I think you still have to be very skilled when searching Technorati to get what you want - need a librarian with sharper skills than mine to cut through the clutter.
Three of the top blogs pertained to technology and gadgetry. I have no doubt reading these extremely current posts is essential to people in these fields.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
#12 Roll out your own search tool with Rollyo
I put this in here because I couldn't work out where to paste the html in the template so that it displays permanently in a sidebar.
This enables a search of my blog (or it would if I put in more tags. Note to self, check if it searches all text or justs tags)
This shows my Searchroll called Audiobooks. The roll gathers all the library vendors of audiobooks that I use so that I only have to check one place if I don't know the publisher. One drawback to a searchroll- I don't think you can add sites that need a user name and password to log in. That rules out a single search of all my paid vendor databases.
This is a link to the Audiobooks Searchroll
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Week 4, Thing 11, Take a look at Library Thing
I exported the html for the above posting from Library Thing
I also did a review for Savage Garden on my reader's advisory blog, BlogaBook, and so in Library Thing, when I did a review I pasted in the URL to that blog posting. My reader's advisory blog might get some exposure that way!
I am also putting a link to my Library Thing account on both my blogs so that people can search my library.
Here is the link: Library Thing Catalog
I have to work later on changing my template so that the link displays permanently in a sidebar
Friday, June 22, 2007
Week 4, Thing 10, Play around with an online image generator
This is a sketch I made from my staff directory picture using The Generator Blog.
This is a picture I recaptioned. I did this using an image generator: http://www.imagegenerator.net/browse/dumbledore/date/60010/
I discovered that not all of it worked with Windows Explorer. I also discovered that most of it is not tasteful!
Week 3, Thing # 9, Exploring MERLIN and then locate a few other useful library-related blogs and/or news feeds
Well, I explored MERLIN and I found it to be needlessly complicated. The sign-up process was clunky and did not work as it was supposed to according to the confirmation e-mail I got - when I logged on using the user-name and password they gave me it did not take me to another place to change my password. I did not bother to follow up, because by then I was really irritated with the site: while I was waiting for the confirming e-mail I started to browse the site without signing on - turns out you don't need to - I found a note buried somewhere that said you don't. I was not too thrilled with the content, either, though more will no doubt be added. A lot is duplication of stuff already done elsewhere or links to stuff. I am tired of duplication! I am also tired of having to sign up and then remember user names etc. for endless accounts. How do people manage? I suppose they write them down on bits of paper!!!!!
Apologies to any reader for my foul mood! However (also apologies to the grammar purists who might read this blog for starting a sentence with a conjunction), some of my doubts about the value of some of the things we have been exploring seem to have validity even when I am in a good mood. I have just read an article from PC Magazine saying MySpace, Second Life and Twitter are doomed by their own futility. I have also just read an article in today's Aegis by a twenty-four year old regretting the fact if all your news is online you no longer have the pleasure of saving as mementos newspaper clippings of important things in your life.
Anyway, to get back to the discovery exercises. I looked at Feedster and Topix and Syndic8. I think none of them have very good search engines: I had enormous hit lists and even when I ordered them by relevance they did not seem to be at all relevant. The trouble with all of them except Syndic8 is even if you put in the name of a feed you get a list of articles rather than a feed you can subsribe to. Syndic8 was the only one that showed the feed link for the arts section of the Telegraph when I asked for it. I think the organization of top blogs by topic in Bloglines is most helpful for the beginner, though limiting. Topix is probably best if you want everything on a subject. Good luck matching your search to their tags!
Despite all my reservations about RSS feeds I find I have signed up for a lot! I have to keep up with my husband who keeps confounding me with improbable stories from the Daily Telegraph (it must be true because it's in print!). He has lots of time to check his feeds because he is retired. Now I can check his veracity and maybe cap his stories!
Apologies to any reader for my foul mood! However (also apologies to the grammar purists who might read this blog for starting a sentence with a conjunction), some of my doubts about the value of some of the things we have been exploring seem to have validity even when I am in a good mood. I have just read an article from PC Magazine saying MySpace, Second Life and Twitter are doomed by their own futility. I have also just read an article in today's Aegis by a twenty-four year old regretting the fact if all your news is online you no longer have the pleasure of saving as mementos newspaper clippings of important things in your life.
Anyway, to get back to the discovery exercises. I looked at Feedster and Topix and Syndic8. I think none of them have very good search engines: I had enormous hit lists and even when I ordered them by relevance they did not seem to be at all relevant. The trouble with all of them except Syndic8 is even if you put in the name of a feed you get a list of articles rather than a feed you can subsribe to. Syndic8 was the only one that showed the feed link for the arts section of the Telegraph when I asked for it. I think the organization of top blogs by topic in Bloglines is most helpful for the beginner, though limiting. Topix is probably best if you want everything on a subject. Good luck matching your search to their tags!
Despite all my reservations about RSS feeds I find I have signed up for a lot! I have to keep up with my husband who keeps confounding me with improbable stories from the Daily Telegraph (it must be true because it's in print!). He has lots of time to check his feeds because he is retired. Now I can check his veracity and maybe cap his stories!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Week 3, Thing 8, Make Life Really Simple with RSS and a News Reader
Hi!
Here is the URL to my public Bloglines account:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/lizsnewthings
What did I think about RSS? I think if you do indeed find you need to check multiple news sources etc., then it is an excellent tool and should save a lot of time and angst. Beware of being sucked in by it and finding a need where there was not one before! I do know from conversations I have had and things that I have read that checking these news feeds can become addictive and eat up your time, even with Bloglines, etc.
Used judiciously, feed readers could help you be very selective about what you view. I note, for instance, that Library Journal has different feeds for different topics in the Journal (though some overlap).
RSS might save me from having to check multiple e-mails about book news, etc. I will have to test it and see! Having stuff e-mailed to one might be just as convenient. Ironically, I have already signed up for several things I don't get e-mailed and have been ignoring with little or no consequence for 2 years at least! So already with RSS I have one more place to click (refer to para 1)!
It would be nice if our new books on order list on ReadersPlace could have and RSS feed link on it so people could have it sent to their computers when it was updated. I am now also updating the Recommended Booklists page at least once a week, so it might be nice if an alert went out when new booklists appeared there.
Some tips for people coming after me with the discovery exercises:
1. The screens in Blogline.com now appear slightly different from how they are shown in the tutorial. Do not worry, it is soon easy to see what to do.
2. Adding feeds is easy; however, not all sites call the feed link the same thing. It is not always easy to see where to click - persevere and look round the whole screen.
3. When viewing a public Bloglines account, one can see and copy if you wish the Blogroll of the person whose account it is. This is extremely easy - you click on the feed you want in the roll and another Bloglines window in your own account opens up and you follow the instructions to add. It's just a couple of clicks, no cutting and pasting.
Here is the URL to my public Bloglines account:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/lizsnewthings
What did I think about RSS? I think if you do indeed find you need to check multiple news sources etc., then it is an excellent tool and should save a lot of time and angst. Beware of being sucked in by it and finding a need where there was not one before! I do know from conversations I have had and things that I have read that checking these news feeds can become addictive and eat up your time, even with Bloglines, etc.
Used judiciously, feed readers could help you be very selective about what you view. I note, for instance, that Library Journal has different feeds for different topics in the Journal (though some overlap).
RSS might save me from having to check multiple e-mails about book news, etc. I will have to test it and see! Having stuff e-mailed to one might be just as convenient. Ironically, I have already signed up for several things I don't get e-mailed and have been ignoring with little or no consequence for 2 years at least! So already with RSS I have one more place to click (refer to para 1)!
It would be nice if our new books on order list on ReadersPlace could have and RSS feed link on it so people could have it sent to their computers when it was updated. I am now also updating the Recommended Booklists page at least once a week, so it might be nice if an alert went out when new booklists appeared there.
Some tips for people coming after me with the discovery exercises:
1. The screens in Blogline.com now appear slightly different from how they are shown in the tutorial. Do not worry, it is soon easy to see what to do.
2. Adding feeds is easy; however, not all sites call the feed link the same thing. It is not always easy to see where to click - persevere and look round the whole screen.
3. When viewing a public Bloglines account, one can see and copy if you wish the Blogroll of the person whose account it is. This is extremely easy - you click on the feed you want in the roll and another Bloglines window in your own account opens up and you follow the instructions to add. It's just a couple of clicks, no cutting and pasting.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Week 3, Thing # 7, Create a blog post about anything technology-related - Uses for Wikis
I am overjoyed because already after out Technology Fair I can see some possible uses for Wikis which I can use to my advantage as the current state President of the Daughters of the British Empire in Maryland, Inc.
DBE in Maryland is a nonprofit, charitable organization of women of British or Commonwealth descent who since 1909 have been supporting retirement homes throughout the United States and also local philanthropy. We need to keep renewing our chapters by recruiting new young women. In the last few years we have had some success from our National website. Individual states who can afford it have their own websites which are linked from National. Maryland has investigated having their own site, but for various reasons has decided not to right now. One reason is we cannot afford even the small costs some hosts would charge and we cannot afford a designer and have not been able to persuade a volunteer.
I have been looking into designing a site myself. Now I think we might jump right over website technology and go to a wiki as some libraries have. I am very interested in PB Wiki. Will have to look into all the pros and cons.
DBE in Maryland is a nonprofit, charitable organization of women of British or Commonwealth descent who since 1909 have been supporting retirement homes throughout the United States and also local philanthropy. We need to keep renewing our chapters by recruiting new young women. In the last few years we have had some success from our National website. Individual states who can afford it have their own websites which are linked from National. Maryland has investigated having their own site, but for various reasons has decided not to right now. One reason is we cannot afford even the small costs some hosts would charge and we cannot afford a designer and have not been able to persuade a volunteer.
I have been looking into designing a site myself. Now I think we might jump right over website technology and go to a wiki as some libraries have. I am very interested in PB Wiki. Will have to look into all the pros and cons.
Week 3, Thing #6, Mash-Ups and 3rd party sites
I particularly like Montagr which creates photo mosaics from photos found on Flickr. Flickr Montagr was created by Billy Fowks and makes use of the Flikr API and Macromedia Flash.
I would love to investigate making posters out of these montages. For the time being I have discovered that it is a grand way to scan a lot of pictures on a theme very quickly without too many clicks: you just run your mouse across. You can select individual images in the mosaic. You can e-mail individual images.
I notice that at the bottom of the page you can find links to commercial sites who will do montages or posters for you out of your own pictures.
I would love to investigate making posters out of these montages. For the time being I have discovered that it is a grand way to scan a lot of pictures on a theme very quickly without too many clicks: you just run your mouse across. You can select individual images in the mosaic. You can e-mail individual images.
I notice that at the bottom of the page you can find links to commercial sites who will do montages or posters for you out of your own pictures.
Week 3, Thing 5, Explore Flickr
I first of all had one of my own photos of my parents in this blog, but I removed it after reading the notes about asking permission before publishing people's pictures. I am sure the risk is very low, but I would hate to see my parents' faces attached to apes' bodies, for instance, and published all over the internet!
Having a Flickr account goes a long way to solve one of my few objections to digital cameras - that you can't easily share the pictures with friends and family.
Having a Flickr account goes a long way to solve one of my few objections to digital cameras - that you can't easily share the pictures with friends and family.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Week 2 Thing #4 Register your blog and track your progress
The moral for this week is stay with the program! I registered my blog last week from the participants' page link and did not have a blog address to put in because I had not done the tutorial. Thus my blog did not get put up on the wall and I had to backtrack and then e-mail my address to Maurice. Must learn to have patience and trust. Am slowly learning to have confidence in my ability to do the training in the allotted time.
I have not yet done my learning contract. Here it is:
Goal: to become generally familiar with the 23 things. To use this training experience and knowledge as a springboard to embracing future technologies as they come along.
Obstacles: Fear, lack of time, unfamiliarity with vocabulary, preferred personal lifestyle, need for perfection, reluctance to play when it is important stuff, fear of being labelled as past it.
Toolbox: I am going to need IPod, or MP3player or both, for work I need a personal planner of some sort. For my work PC I need a pair of headphones - I am using my own. I may need more software on my work PC. I need a binder for the paper memos I am keeping!
Resources: Liaisons: Maurice and Irmgarde and Annette. Note to self: ask one of the liaisons if they can post their names and e-mails somewhere a bit more prominent on the participants' page, or ask them where to find the list - I am probably missing it. More may be revealed at the Tech Fair on 13th.
Path to Goal: 15-30 mins a week until October.
Check-in frequency: Weekly updates of log. Weekly scan of other blogs and Tips link. Continue to keep aware afterwards.
Signed: Elizabeth
I have not yet done my learning contract. Here it is:
Goal: to become generally familiar with the 23 things. To use this training experience and knowledge as a springboard to embracing future technologies as they come along.
Obstacles: Fear, lack of time, unfamiliarity with vocabulary, preferred personal lifestyle, need for perfection, reluctance to play when it is important stuff, fear of being labelled as past it.
Toolbox: I am going to need IPod, or MP3player or both, for work I need a personal planner of some sort. For my work PC I need a pair of headphones - I am using my own. I may need more software on my work PC. I need a binder for the paper memos I am keeping!
Resources: Liaisons: Maurice and Irmgarde and Annette. Note to self: ask one of the liaisons if they can post their names and e-mails somewhere a bit more prominent on the participants' page, or ask them where to find the list - I am probably missing it. More may be revealed at the Tech Fair on 13th.
Path to Goal: 15-30 mins a week until October.
Check-in frequency: Weekly updates of log. Weekly scan of other blogs and Tips link. Continue to keep aware afterwards.
Signed: Elizabeth
Friday, June 8, 2007
Week 1, Thing #2 - 71/2 Hbits of Lifelong Learning
Well, the Easiest Habit for me is accepting responsibility for my own learning. I have always wanted to participate actively in any class I have taken. The best way to remember anything you learn is to find ways to make it your own as you go along.
The hardest for me is Habit 4, having confidence in my own ability as an effective learner. This is not entirely due to my own diffidence. It seems to me that with distance learning the effectiveness of technology or the ability of the user to use the interface can sometimes put an added strain on the ability of the learner to learn.
The hardest for me is Habit 4, having confidence in my own ability as an effective learner. This is not entirely due to my own diffidence. It seems to me that with distance learning the effectiveness of technology or the ability of the user to use the interface can sometimes put an added strain on the ability of the learner to learn.
Week 1, Thing #1
I read the blog and found out about the program. I was quite excited to think that I could take advantage of this opportunity to lay the specter of being left behind in the technology rush. I saw that the 23 things were things I would enjoy learning about, but I was calmed by the realisation that I already am at least aware of the existence of these various technologies!
Week 2, Thing #3 Creating Blog
Welcome to my new blog, created after several false starts. I found the invitation to register a blog that I found when doing the first "thing" to be confusing. I have already partially registered a blog - will have to make sure I do all the right steps and don't confuse everyone by registering 2 blogs! I see now that registering is Thing 4 - should have done it in the right order. To begin with I found the plethora of links to click confusing, but am calming down now.
This leads me to giving a heartfelt "thankyou" to the person who left a Tip for participants in Web 2.0 training recommending keeping some sort of binder with a record of all your passwords, user names, URLs, etc. Mine will be on paper. No doubt others will keep electronic address books, just remeber to keep one somewhere!
This leads me to giving a heartfelt "thankyou" to the person who left a Tip for participants in Web 2.0 training recommending keeping some sort of binder with a record of all your passwords, user names, URLs, etc. Mine will be on paper. No doubt others will keep electronic address books, just remeber to keep one somewhere!
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