Monday, March 17, 2008

Ninjas in the library?

Here are a few interesting clips I found on YouTube. A series called "Library Ninja".



Sunday, March 16, 2008

Thing 23. Final Thoughts











Well, I made it!

Probably my favorite thing I learned about was RSS feeds, I had always heard stuff about them, but never actually used them before now. Because of this project I now have them on our libraries blog, as well as my own blog that I created. Plus, now I have my own blog I can write stuff about. Hopefully it will be interesting enough that someone will actually read it!

I would definitely participate again, as long as the Things were different enough that I could still learn something from them. That would probably be the only change I could suggest, but since technology is changing at such a fast rate, I'm sure it would be easy to come up with a completely different set of 23 Things for next year. Hears hoping!

If I had to describe my experience in one word, it would be: Experimenting.

I think my only regret in this program is that I didn't come up with a more original name for my blog than "My 23 Things on a Stick"!

Thing 22. What Did I Learn Today?

I make a resolution, to maintain my blog, and keep it up to date. To try new types of technology, and not be left behind! I will keep up with RSS feeds, YouTube videos, with Flickr photos, and many other of the new things I learned about while doing these Things.

I think the best way to keep up with the new technology, and the blog, is to just do it. No excuses, just do it. Just set aside 15 minutes a day to try and do something or learn something new about technology. We are all busy I know, but I work two jobs, plus am going to graduate school, so if I made time, so can you!

Thing 21. Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

Here is a badge I picked out from the 23 Things on a Stick Ning,
Visit 23 Things on a Stick


I also added a few videos I have taken of various things. Here is a video of a truck "burning out" at the 2007 Grand Rapids Car Show. Not library related, but its the only video I have.
Find more videos like this on 23 Things on a Stick

I'm now a member of MySpace, but I probably won't have time until the summer to keep up with it. We will see. As far as finding a new social network with this Thing, I looked at the Gather page. It looks promising, I will also start using the WebJunction page too. I liked how easy it was to share photos and movies, sort of like Flikr.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Thing 20. Libraries and Social Networks

I tried out using MySpace as I know a few people who have sites on there. I never knew libraries were using them, but I guess that is part of the reason I'm doing the 23 Things on a Stick project, in order to learn more information about technology.

Anyway, creating your own page for your library would allow you to share the different types of music, movies, and books your library has. Or even new materials your library has just gotten in the last month. It shows people that you are still concentrating on being up to date on technology. It also allows you to post events to your page, the otherwise patrons might miss if they weren't in the library that much, or didn't look at your libraries homepage or blog.

Even ALA, has their own MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/atyourlibrary.

Thing 19. Podcasts

I listened to two podcasts, both from the Library Survival Guide. One was about Google Scholar, and the other was about EndNote. I will try out this EndNote software the next time I write a paper for school, it sounds like it would save me a lot of time and hassle. Going around trying to remember which facts came from what sources sure takes up a lot of time, but this would probably help. Episode 4: EndNote and Citation Managers. Unfortunately, it sounds like you can only download this for free at the specific university they are talking about, but I looked it up and you can download a free trial version. But, as mentioned there is another one called Zotero, for the web browser Firefox. So, I will try both.

I liked the Podcastalley site the best, as it seemed to work fine. As far as making my own podcast, maybe someday I will, when I feel I have something relevant to contribute to society, but not right now.

iTunes itself is a great tool itself, even if you don't want to buy any music. It can organize all of your video clips, and music. It also allows you to listen to the radio online, as well as podcasts. So, with all the podcasting tools I just looked at, this is probably the best one for me, as I use iTunes all the time, so its just easy to have all of your multimedia access in one place.

Thing 18. YouTube & Other Online Video



Poor Cookie Monster! He just wants cookies! You have to love the innocence that this show has shown over the years. I loved watching it while growing up, and when I saw this clip about a library I had to post it!

If we had the proper equipment, our library could make a short video about our library and how to use it. Sort of like a commercial that promotes our library. It would be a good way to show the community what we are all about, as well as show them that we are interested in technology, and know how to use it.

Thing 17. ELM Productivity Tools

As far as these tools go, the entire ELM web page is kind of an unknown source for information. We as librarians must be charged with telling people about it, especially students. Anyway, I really liked the RSS feed option for Student Infotrac, because if you are given an assignment early enough in the semester/quarter you can go to the search page, search for your topic, then subscribe to the RSS feed and get updates whenever a new article is posted about your topic. The information will be very current, and fresh. Thus eliminating the need to use very old sources, with very old statistics.

I also liked the ability to be able to share documents with other peers and co-workers. It makes online collaboration a simple possibility for most people. This way you don't have to rely on a single aspect of the digital age all the time, like e-mail, or chat. Its good to use all parts of the Internet, not just a few of them.

Thing 16. Student 2.0 Tools

First of all since it is electronic in nature, I think most students today would enjoy using it, just for the fact that they could be online while they are filing it out, and looking over the steps they need to complete in order to finish their assignment.

The RPC breaks down into 5 different areas, with each area even being broken down further. It really helps the student understand what they have to do, and really defines each area for them. It even has a sense of humor. I told the calculator that my assignment was due the next day, and it states that "You have 0 days to finish. You have less than one day to get this done. I hope you're just playing with this thing." Pretty funny!

I suppose you could use it for a project you are working at in the library, especially if it was for a presentation you were giving to a group of people. There are options for a slide presentation, essay, and video. But, for the "slide presentation", I'm sure that they mean powerpoint, as I don't think a lot of people still use actual slides anymore.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Thing 15. Online Games and Libraries

I tried out puzzle pirates, since I had heard of Second Life before, I wanted to try out this new game.

It sure takes a long time to load, about 5 - 10 minutes, and I was using high speed Internet!

As for the game itself it was okay, definitely for kids. But it seemed like a safe environment for them to play in, and learn puzzle solving skills. It also involves chatting with other players, and this helps kids with their conversation skills as well. It was hard to get used to playing at first, but I asked a few questions, and the other players helped me. The kids playing generally like it when you ask them questions, it makes them feel part of something, and it makes them happy to help you.

Some other good games in this MMORPG genre include Diablo (classic, but still great), RuneScape (if you work in a library I'm sure you have seen/heard the kids playing it), and World of Warcraft (probably the most popular game in the world right now, it is good, but they charge you to play it, so...).

Thing 14. LibraryThing

Here is my link to my library at LibraryThing:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=knightsoftheround&shelf=list

Most of my books were pretty popular, but all I have added so far are all of the books in the Redwall series. They are pretty popular among all ages, I have lots of people asking about them, even in the small library that I work at.

This would work well with sharing book lists, and series with patrons who are interested in the same types of materials. All you would have to do is add some books, and either print them off, or give the person the link to your library collection so that they could see some of the titles you liked, as you may enjoy the same genre, or even the author of the books.

Right now we just share print outs of book lists with our patrons, this would offer an electronic format for those who are interested in trying out new types of technology.

Thing 13. Online Productivity Tools

I chose the MyYahoo! as my start page. I already have a yahoo mail account, so I figured I could use this in conjunction with my web mail. I really like the PDF converter, as it makes sending large file documents very easy, as it compresses space. So if you are sending a document with a lot of pictures, this makes it handy to send to someone who has a slow Internet connection. FYI, OpenOffice is a office suite similar to Microsoft Office, and one of their tools in their document program is a PDF converter! Very handy!

But, I also liked the calendar and the countdown tool. Now I know how much time I have left to finish my 23 things on a stick blog. Since I have two jobs, and go to school, the online calendar is essential of keeping track of when I work, as well as when my assignments are due.

Thing 12. Do You Digg?

I "digged" this article http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/technology/22library.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

This would be a good way to share information with other people that have the same interests as you do.

As far as it being a detractor or enhancer for productivity, it all depends on what is shared. Although, in this day and age I find that more and more people are goofing off when they are supposed to be working, and one of the biggest culprits is the Internet. So, once again we are back to the debate about whether the Internet helps or hurts libraries. It seems like a little bit of both to me.

I have read a few stories because of these sharing tools, so they are useful if they are used properly.

Thing 11. Tagging and Del.icio.us

I could see this as a tool for research. If a patron needed some links, you could search for some, tag them, and then the patron could have access to them. But, it is also a good way to have access to your bookmarks wherever you go.

Our library is gearing up for our cities 100th birthday this summer. We could post links to other cities that have had their centennial celebrations, and what they have done to celebrate them. We could also have a page for reference links, or even political links for the upcoming presidential election this fall in order to get people interested in voting again.

Thing 10. Wikis

Probably the best thing I learned about wiki's is that they are so easy to use. I never knew much about them, except for using Wikipedia almost daily to find random facts I had questions about, I never had too much exposure to wiki's until now.

However, wikipedia should not be used as a scholarly source for a paper. It can however be used to look up quick questions you have about something, like how many books are in the Redwall series, and what order should they be read in, or which survivor was voted off last night. You know, trivial, stupid stuff like that, because if its wrong, it doesn't really matter that much.

Wikis might work good in the classroom, a teacher could set up a wiki where students could ask questions about homework and the teacher could answer them.

I edited the 23 Things On a Stick, and posted a few of my haiku's I have been writing lately.

Thing 9. Online Collaboration Tools

This was a good exercise, as I got to learn about online document editing a little bit more. I have used Google Docs lately, mainly for my graduate courses I'm taking to earn my MLIS degree. We have a group of 5 people, so we enter into a chat, and then one person makes all the changes to the document, just so there aren't 5 different people making changes all at the same time. Then after the chat we add our parts to the paper, and make a final edit, and then post it so our professor and other fellow students can view it. Google Docs is a very valuable tool for online collaboration.

I guess I would stick with Google Docs over Zoho, but that is just because I had used Google Docs before this exercise, they both have good features. As far as the founding fathers, I think that they would probably be excited about the opportunity to share information globally, but they might be scared of the technology! I guess it's hard to say for sure.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Thing 8. Share Your Creations

View slideshow

This was interesting making a slideshow, although I did have problems with it. If you use Flickr make sure you post your pictures as public NOT private, otherwise the slideshow creating software can't find the pictures, and thus can't make your slideshow.

These tools could be used to market the library mainly on their website, as people could click on the links and see a neat show of pictures, or a poster of a bunch of different pictures, etc. For personal use they could be used to show pictures of a newly born baby, your trip to Hawaii, or even a tribute to someone who has just passed away.

Right now Flickr seems to be the easiest to use, but as time goes by other companies/websites will probably come out with better designs.

Thing 7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

Our entire library system has email setup through our library headquarters. We use it mainly to talk about upcoming programs at the headquarters, and library related events happening around the region or the state. One of my biggest problems is trying NOT to check it while at home! I have too much other stuff going on to be checking and responding to email when I'm not at work. I figure, if it's an emergency or something important my bosses/supervisors have my phone number so they can contact me that way if they need to.

As far as reference goes with the 2.0 technology, the instant messaging tool seems interesting. You could have a real time talk with a librarian and get some good ideas about how to start searching for a topic you need to write a paper about. At the same time you could ask the librarian where to find the material you need before you get to the library to save time, if you are in a hurry. Email and SMS have to have people present for them to have fast communication time, when you are instant messaging, someone has to be there when you are messaging, in order for it to work anyway. Emails an SMS's can be retrieved and responded to when the receiver has time to do so.

SMS seems to be the 2.0 tool that I know the least about. I have recently been using text messaging to keep tabs on people, as I just got a new cell phone. It's an interesting tool of technology, but it sure takes me a lot longer to get a message out, rather if I called someone or sent someone an email. I see teens in the library using SMS sometimes, and they usually don't even have to look at the keypad to send a message, they just know where all of the letters are by memory, just as if they were using a standard keyboard on a computer.

I attended the OPAL web conference Virtual Worlds, Interactive Games, and Libraries. It seemed pretty interesting, they mainly focused on Second Life, an online virtual interactive game. They also mentioned a Teen Second Life, that only Teens can use, whereas the only way an adult can attend is if it is for research opportunities, and they even have to go thru a background check. This could make for a good interactive and learning opportunity for the teens to get together and discuss things even if they are thousands of miles apart. There are even different Islands in the community, with each Island having its own unique and different purpose. This could be a great way to get teens into the library, and expose them to the different ways libraries are changing, and how we are incorporating new and different forms of technology into the library all the time.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Thing 6. Online Image Generators















This is a CADD drawing picture that I found a few years ago, so I thought it would be neat to make into a stamp design using one of the online image generators. For bonus points, can anyone tell me what TDI stands for?




















I was sent this comic by my father a few years ago, while he is a mechanic, he also enjoys libraries. I have my parents to thank for introducing me to the library at such a young age, who know what I would be doing now if it wasn't for them! Anyway, these trading cards would be great to hand out to teens, especially those who collect Pokemon cards, as well as those who play Magic the Gathering, and other CCG types of games.

These applications in this "thing" have limitless possibilities. These are great for doing graphic design, and other related concepts in the design world. This could really help to market the library to the community, and draw in more patrons.

Thing 5. More Flickr Fun

I have always liked this word since I learned what it meant back in 8th grade English. Just like "pow", "bam", "crunch", and all those other words you read in comic books, they all help define the word:
A U coloured card disc letter t Pastry Cutter O M O t O is there no P in da house? plain card disc letter i A















I figured I would try out the jigsaw puzzle maker, this is a picture of the ALS Bookmobile that I took even before it arrived at ALS Headquarters, about a year ago.

Just as one of the blog prompts mentions, it would be neat to make all kinds of library related media types out of these applications, like bookmarks, posters, brochures, flyers, etc.

Thing 4. Photosharing with Flickr


This was an intersting exercise for me, as I love to take photos. I did a search for a funeral and this was one of the search results. My grandmother just recently passed away, and while I was at the memorial service I took a lot of digital pictures. So, I was looking for a way to share them with family, and Flickr might be a way to do it. Uploading them to Flickr would make it much easier than burning them to a CD, and them shipping them to my family all over the country. This looks like a great tool for sharing photos online. The tag function also makes it easier to search for other photos that you are interested in viewing.

This particular picture was of someon'e iPod that had been used so much it "died", so they decided to give it a funeral. It was uploaded on 9/6/06 by Flickr user sabellachan.
Here is a link to it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabellachan/237798172/

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Thing 3. Set Up an RSS Account & Add Feeds

http://www.unshelved.com/rss.aspx - Hilariously funny! I don't think I've read one of these cartoons yet, that didn't make me crack up. I like the ones that spoof the Mac vs. PC ads, they start off as "Hi, I'm a library" and "I'm the internet." Too funny!

http://www.loc.gov/blog/?feed=rss2 - Some really interesting facts and articles on this page. Good photos too. Way to go LOC.

http://www.loc.gov/blog/?feed=rss2 - Go green, or go home! If you have ever met me, you know that one of my strongest passions away from libraries, is sustainability.

Thing 2. What is Library 2.0?

Abram talks about a lot of topics in his video, but probably the most interesting is one of his first statements. He says that in order to really understand some of this new technology he must use it. For example, to understand blogs, you must have your own, and be able to use it and post on it. Hands on experience is the most important tool in your arsenal, in my opinion.

In the blog posting I read, I found that the statement "libraries need to work together" to be only a half truth. Realistically, librarians, more specifically staff members need to work together. During my 7 years of work in several different library settings, I have found that lots of staff members don't always get along, and end up trying to play power games with each other. This really helps no one, and in the end, the patron is the one who suffers. If we don't work together to understand this new, and exciting, but also challenging technology, it will be very hard to succeed in making libraries stand out in this new technology age.

Lastly is the article about the "Ongoing Web Revolution", I really thought the equation given was interesting. It is: Library 2.0 = (books 'n stuff + people + radical trust) x participation . That really takes you back to your days of high school algebra, doesn't it! Anyway, I like the whole idea of multiplying it by participation. Trying to get the patron involved in these new aspects of technology really makes them more comfortable in trying to find the information that they need. I try to live by that old quote about giving a man a fish vs. teaching him to fish. Teaching always seems better than giving.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Thing 1. Set Up Your Blog

Yahoo! Avatars

While I've been playing games for nearly all my life, this is probably the most I've been able to create something that looks even remotely similar to myself. The Mii's that you can make for the new Nintendo Wii system, is also pretty close. Anyway, I guess this guy will be looking at me from now on while I view my email! Maybe he will keep me on track, and on schedule, here's hoping!