Thing #12

I finally got around to this one and actually enjoyed commenting on other's blogs once I got over my trepidation about it. I think that "don't be afraid to comment" and "have something meaningful to say" were the two suggestions that rang true to me. I enjoyed giving encouragement to others struggling with the same things that I did since I so appreciated the comments on my blog. I really enjoy following Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson and have discovered Buffy Hamilton. Just wish I had their energy and creativity.

Thing #21 Take 2

This was an interesting project. I made a voicethread and an imovie and then this file on garageband. Not too bad for a first effort and I know how to improve the second try, I think. I found the wiggly borders and images hard to navigate, as you can see from the cover that keeps popping up in between the photos. I plan to use all of these on the library webpage next (this) year.

Thing #23

This has been an incredible summer. Thanks for the help and encouragement. It has been great to do this when I had time to play with it and not when I felt pressed for time and now I can use the tools I have used to improve our libraries in the coming year. 1. I had the most fun with the avatar and as my mother said about me, it was my first so would always be special. 2. Participating in this program opened my eyes to how much I have missed and how hard I need to work (or play?) to keep up with the library field. 3. I plan to redo my library webpage this year and use as many of these tools as I can, from wordle to podcasts. 4. I liked the self-paced part, and taking responsibility for my own learning, but sometimes wished there were more in person help. 5. I would love to participate in learning more "things." 6. I feel like Rip Van Winkle who woke up in an whole new world. 7. Just did!

Thing #22

This is easier. I joined Joyce Valenza's ning over a year ago after she talked about it during a visit to her school. And we have a new ning at school for teachers to talk about tech training classes and other school issues, but I will have to find out what other uses it may be open to.

Thing #21

I may have to put this one on hold until I can get some coaching on the recording and editing software. Audacity looks very intimidating and I think Photostory is PC based. Is IPhoto comparable for macs? I will take a vacation and then try again when I return.

Thing #20

I love the creative things that some librarians have done with videos, especially the funny ones that are also educational.

Got lost on this one since it wouldn't allow me to upload from YouTube and zamzar wouldn't convert since the file didn't have an extension. Tried one from TeacherTube thinking that maybe the other one was blocked, but it says contact support and zamzar wouldn't convert that one either.

Does anyone know where to go from here?

Thing #19

I signed up for Twitter and am following some news sites. It might be good for sending out notices to classes. Don't think I want to follow any stars.

I looked at the widget tool and think that is beyond me at this point at least although I do want to learn how to post some on my webpage for databases. I am hoping that the vendors have done most of the work for me and I can figure the rest out.

Thing #18

I think Google Docs is a great application. I have used it in the past year for collaborative work with committees and once you get over not wanting to edit someone else's work(or not wanting someone to edit yours), it really works well. I was impressed with the number of templates available and plan to use some of them in the coming year, starting with the trip planning checklist.

Thing #17

I think this is a great tool to put together a list of good websites for an assignment. I made one called "News Search" of trusted and local news sources for checking on current events.

Thing #16

I like the idea of wikis to put together resource pages for research assignments. Starting with my suggestions and the teachers and then the students can add their ideas. We are definitely dropping one of our online encyclopedias. I am still uncomfortable posting on wikis and blogs.

Thing #15

I have always said that the thing that I like best about my job is that I don't get bored because I can always find ways of improving what we do. Library 2.0 is going to be a huge challenge, particularly for those of us who don't like change. In addition to the coffee bar at the circulation desk and changing "rules" about talking and eating and drinking to make the space itself more welcoming, these tools make it possible to make the entire research process more available and help available outside the library walls. While I have long been a proponent of ebooks and online databases, I am rethinking how to make them easier to use rather than trying to convince students that the trouble is worth it.

Thing #14

Searches in different parts do yield different results. I was surprised to see how quickly the top searches change and how interested people apparently are in pop culture. I think the tag clouds are fascinating and another term for keywords. I can't come up with any uses for this right now, but I am glad I know what it is.

Thing #13

This is an interesting way to keep bookmarks. I had tried them with folders before and just gave up organizing them and found it was easier to do a new search each time. I imported all the old ones into delicious and it was not a good idea since all the ones the browser selected went too and I spend a lot of time deleting ones I didn't want. I did put some tags on the others and can see setting up accounts and a social network for classes. Not sure how it would work with the passwords required for subscription databases but would be a great way for students to share websites with each other.

Thing #11

I actually set up an account and kept track of my own reading on this last year. I liked it very much and did not even notice the local events which I think is a great resource. We have a faculty book group at school and when we decided to try to stay in touch over the summer, we made a group on goodreads which is similar and everyone else seemed to like better. I can't figure out how to import the librarything widget to this page, but hope that is something what will be covered later or that someone can point me to instructions for doing.

Thing #10

This was fun. I do lots of signs around the library and used to use a PC program that is not on Macs so these tools will give me lots more things to play with. I made this with Movie Poster Maker from BigHugeLabs.
Some wouldn't load from home, so maybe I do need the fastest internet for these big graphics programs or maybe do them from school. I was most impressed with Glogster, but need a little more help with that one.

Thing #9

I really liked the award winner site and found a number of useful blogs that I added. The news topics and local new searches are less interesting to me right now, but I can see how I might have a topic in the future that I would want to follow or suggest that students do. Some of these posts have already given me good ideas of where I want to go with the library next year...one bite of the elephant at a time.

Thing #8

This technology really scares me. I can see it really getting out of hand and taking more time than I want to devote to it (like email and cell phones which I love, but sure do take up a lot of time). A number of the websites I do have to check regularly apparently don't have the feeds, like the ABA bestsellers' lists. I can use it to keep up with current trends, but don't really want to go public until I figure out what I want to share. I will give it a try for a while and see if I warm up to it.

Thing #7

Playing in the sandbox was nice to get to meet people, but google is pretty self explanatory. Most of these web tools are easier to figure out than other programs like PhotoShop have been. That is encouraging. I set up an igoogle page and will do a calendar when I can put in school things. I set up a couple of alerts, one for school and one for a personal interest, so am interested in seeing how much mail I have to deal with. lm-net is already tmi much of the time.

Thing #6

One of our teachers had students do playing cards of historical figures and they had a great time with it. I can see using the posters from this site for various library events. I like the creative side of these projects and may even be able to speak tech soon.

Thing #5

This was fun. I enjoyed looking at other people's photos. I know people who post and share vacation photos with friends and now that I have taken time to see how it works, I could do that. It would be fun to take a photo a day in the library to document the year. Sure would make the annual report easier.

Thing #3

I was doing fine until the avatar didn't export as expected. I will try to view this problem as a challenge...tomorrow. This sure does take up a lot of time!

Thing #2

I have trouble viewing problems as challenges but find it easy to begin when I have a goal in mind. Playing with technology in the summer is a great way to become more familiar with tools that I will then be able to use during the year.