Thing 16. Student 2.0 Tools

I took a look at the Research Project Calculator (RPC) and the Assignment Calculator and put in an imaginary assignment just to see how it works. The assignment was broken down into 12 steps. I can see that this resource would be very helpful to students, and I am going to recommend it to my son who is a PSEO University student. It would also be good to promote the awareness of this resource within our libraries, to students and parents of students in particular. Our homeschooling community, both teachers and students, will appreciate this helpful educational aid, not only for projects and reports, but also for planning field trips, etc. I'm wondering if it would work for my own personal life projects and events, like planning and preparing for Christmas or for my son's graduation. It might work for those who plan library events as well.

Thing 15. Online Games and Libraries

Second Life is an amazing creation, a 3-D virtual world that includes library services online in game format. I joined Second Life first, rather than Puzzle Pirates, because it appeared to be the more "adult" choice. I was able to take the tour of Info Island, and as we passed by the beach, I had like a deja vu experience. I am quite sure that the Info Island beach is the location of my avatar! No kidding! Really. Needless to say, I felt quite at home. I was intrigued with the concept of the virtual community and wanted to proceed further into Second Life but was unable to fully download it. Second Life seems like a very fun and inviting way to explore library resources.

Next, I decided to try Puzzle Pirates and set up an account there. I started the game at the Bilge Duty Station and although I successfully completed the mission three times, I remained at the "learning" stage. Even so, I presumptiously assumed myself to be ready for the Navigation Duty Station and was told that, as a novice, I didn't belong there. Embarrassing! OK, so I went on over to the Carpentry Duty Station and did manage to complete one "masterpiece" work. Alas, I never did get past the "learning" stage there either. Someday I'll give it another try, but probably stick to the bilge duty until I get good at that. I was surprised to see that there were over 3700 Puzzle Pirate players online at the same time as I was.

Spring Thoughts

It's time to update my template and Avatar. Winter is past...I hope, anyway.

My calendar/to do list is working out pretty well, but I'm not sure that I'll ever get as much satisfaction out of deleting an item as I do by crossing through it on a paper list. I like to see what is DONE, not only what's left to do! I am being tempted to compromise and print out a copy. Sort of a crutch until I am fully reprogrammed! The goal, though, is to hopefully eliminate most or all of the scrappy lists I have scattered throughout the house. Spring IS a great time to sort, sift and organize STUFF, so I'll try hard to apply what I am learning in Library 2.0.

Thing 14. Library Thing

I now have an account in Library Thing and have 33 books in my library. The account is free for up to 200 books. I don't actually own all of the books, of course, but it is a quick list of books that I am either currently reading or that I would recommend to others. Some are more recent and/or popular while others are not. I did link my catalog to my blog, but haven't done any tagging or reviews yet.

Library Thing for Libraries allows libraries to socially browse and share data by adding tag clouds, recommendations, ratings and reviews to their catalogs. I think our library users would welcome those features.

My Library Thing book list keeps on growing! I've added more since I started this post. I had vaguely hoped to find something like this when I started 23 Things so that's good, and Library Thing is so much more sophisticated than I could have imagined possible.

Thing 13. Online Productivity Tools

I decided to use iGoogle for my start page and spent A LOT of time selecting various gadgets to add to it. It took awhile to get it all downloaded on the page, and then I had to rearrange them of course. I have cat photos, dog photos, weather, lots of news and polical stuff, a Bible verse for the day, DVD releases, a language translator, a currency converter, and an Eiffel Tower Mini Cam. Note that the last three may be part of a plan, or at least a dream. And in case you missed it, my birthday Countdown gidget is right here on my blog! I haven't made my iGoogle page my permanent home page since I share this computer with other family members, but I have my list of Favorites and that works just fine.

I took a look at the calendars on "The Web's Best Calendar" and also 30 Boxes. Some were easier to get to than others, and the Backpack calendar wasn't free. All together I have signed up for a lot of sites, especially in this Thing. Will there be any reason that I may regret that? I can see where this type of calendar would be good for sharing in a work or even family situation, however I was looking for something that would simply combine my personal calendar and To Do list. I don't need time slots since most of my tasks are just needing to get done during that day (or occasionally put off until tomorrow!). I signed up for a Ta-da list account but wasn't crazy about it. I also found that iGoogle has a Todo Gadget, but it only has room for a few items. So..., I googled calendars and found that Brown Bear software at www.calendars.net was more appropriate for my needs. Unlike the others, the days on the monthly calendar in Brown Bear expand to include as many items as necessary, so they are always visible. No need to click to look behind the scenes. They are right in my face! No excuses. I may find something even better later, but for now I think it will work.

Without a doubt I have spent more time on this Thing than any other, but I am quite certain that it will be a great help to me. There is just so much potential here to organize, organize, organize, and I love my iGoogle page!

Thing 12. Do You Digg?

Well, well, well! I am already busy sticking things (no pun intended!) into my Del.icio.us account. Really slick. Now I'll have to decide how or if I need to organize them.

For Thing 12, I started comparing the four recommended social media sites and thought I would sign up for one or two. Newsvine didn't appeal to me at all. Digg is a popular one and, I liked the tour they give. Also, it brings back the old saying from the 60's , "dig it", and I can relate to that! I like the idea that you can "dig and bury" an article too, but not completely of course. My first impression of Mixx was that it is very well organized, so I joined that one too. Reddit's recommended links become more specific according to your selections, but maybe they are all that way, I don't know. StumbleUpon does indicate that it becomes more personalized as you go along. I joined those two also, and I like the Stumble icon on the toolbar with the thumbs up and down.

I did select a couple of articles to share. Both had already been submitted, but it's interesting to see when that was, the number of votes it has received, and then read the comments.

This capability can be very helpful, but, as in so many things, it has both ups and downs. Too much of a good thing is just too much! I know that it is easy to start out with one article and then go from link to link to the point where I can hardly remember what I was doing in the first place! But now we're talking about time and discipline, since there is just no end to what we can read, even if it's narrowed down to our own preferred interests.

In my personal life I don't necessarily place a lot of importance on what is considered popular by the masses, yet I think it's fun to imagine that my "diggs" may give my perspective a better chance to be heard. In our library work setting I can see where it's good to know what's being talked about. We can especially zero in on those library related news items to share and generate discussion.

Thing 11. Tagging and Del.icio.us

I started out Thing 11 by adding tags to two of my posts. It was hard to know what words to use when I don't know yet what I may be using them for. But they can be changed later. Also, Del.icio.us has suggested tags.

I watched the video podcast and also read through the "Seven Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking", which I thought was very helpful. Comparing the methods of the two professors makes it easy to see the benefits of tagging and book marking. It is so much more efficient than just starting from scratch and googling, but it will take awhile to break the old habits.

I thought the San Mateo Library Del.icio.us site was interesting because it had its bookmarks organized by the dewey system. That would be great for library users doing research but will require a lot of new thinking for everyone.

I did set up a Del.icio.us account along with the bookmarklets. Now I will try to get the habit of using it. Like with a lot of things, in order to be more efficient, it takes more time at first.

Thing 10. Wikis

Wikis are amazing, something that we couldn't have dreamed of years ago. It is a fantastic new way to have a collection of information, on any subject imaginable, that can be continually expanded, revised, and updated. The most revolutionary aspect of a wiki is the concept that most anyone can have free access to add or edit the content. Actually, that is a little unnerving. Kinda tough for control freaks to know that somebody can change what they've written! And then there is the question of accuracy. For that reason, I can understand why teachers may not allow students to use Wikipedia as a research source. But then, can we believe everything we hear and read anyway? Maybe Wikis will teach us all to be a bit more skeptical of all our sources and resources!

I watched the Common Craft video, "Wikis in Plain English" and "got it". The other recommended resources were interesting and helpful too, more with regard to how wikis can be used in library situations. Within libraries, wikis can be used for sharing staff information, for keeping policies up to date, or as a subject guide. The Library Success Wiki is more of an example of how libraries can share ideas, successes and innovations with each other through the wiki format. I found a list of librarians who IM on that site. A library wiki can also be set up to function as a community resource finder that can be added to or edited by community members. The SJCPL wiki was a great example of that. A wiki would be a great site for book summaries, book reviews, and recommendations similar to what Amazon has. All of this would, of course, have to be set up and monitored to some degree, but since the input is from whoever and wherever a wiki can take on a life of its own perhaps.

I, Miss Turrey, visited the 23 Things wiki and left my stiki wiki footprint!

Thing 9. Online Collaboration Tools

My first attempts at editing in Google Docs were unsuccessful, so I assumed that I needed to get permission. I'm not sure though, since it could have just been that I had misspelled my password. Duh! Anyway, I got permission whether I needed it or not, and then was able to edit the document, the Declaration of Independence. Wow. Another cool tool from Library 2.0! For a group this would work so much better than trying to do it through email.

I think that the Founding Fathers would be pleased to know that after almost 232 years we still consider their document to be important and that the country that was formed still exists. I can imagine that they would appreciate our taking the time to try to comprehend the issues of freedom they were declaring and would encourage us to look at current circumstances in that same light. In other words, if they were here now, what would they think of the country they formed? And how would they try change it?

Thing 8. Share Your Creations

I chose to use Picture trail to share pictures from our son's wedding in CA. They were already on our computer, so that made it easier for me. I tried several of the Flicks formats and think they are really fun, but since I had to choose one, I went with the Zoom and Fade. I don't know why the right side is cut off, but, oh well, there's a lot that I don't know!

I took a look at EFolio and think it would be a useful tool to maintain a resume or just keep track of a person's life history. Something to recommend to my graduating senior.

Lazybase could be useful to record books I've read or want to read. Also, it might be a good place to keep up a membership directory for our local homeschool group.

More Thing 7. Web Conferencing

The WebJunction Into to Web Conferencing was informational. What's great about online learning is that it is brought to us and doesn't require travel time or cost. I would think that technical hurdles would be the biggest problem. I checked out both the MINITEX Webinars and the OPAL programs and found the OPAL presentation to be more inviting and the Master Schedule easier to navigate.

I chose to "attend" the program "Batter Up! Baseball at the Library of Congress" and accessed it at the announced time. I was surprised to hear Tom Peters welcome ME to the program! That was spooky. I didn't answer him, but I wondered if he could hear me breathing! Unfortunately, the program had been canceled due to a lack of interest, so there were just the three presenters, Tom, Judy and Peter, and one participant, me. Weird. I listened in live while they discussed the reasons for the poor response and the possibility of rescheduling the program closer to baseball's opening day, March 31. They also contemplated various ways to advertise the program, including message boards and Facebook.

Next, I located a program in the OPAL Archives that interested me, "Censorship: How It Affects Libraries & Library Patrons in a Democracy". It was given in Sept 2006 by Melora Norman, the Outreach/Special Services Coordinator for the Maine State Library. Not being a live program I couldn't interact if I had wanted to, however, I was able to follow the dialogue on the left side of the screen and hear the question and answer session at the end. Doing a program from the Archives had the advantage of being able to replay anything that I wanted repeated. Her presentation was very interesting and covered selection vs. censorship, the history of censorship, individual and parental responsibility, and in general the challenge of maintaining freedom of expression while considering possible needs for protection.

Thing 7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

Our library uses email as an alternative choice for our users to be notified of their holds. It would seem to be more productive in that it communicates to those patrons in their preferred manner. We assume that they get the message faster since they likely check their email more often than an answering machine. It certainly is a step up from having to send a card in the mail because a phone number is no longer in service. Also, our reference librarian does receive and respond to a fair amount of email.

I didn't find any Instant Messaging going on in our library, but hopefully that will change soon! For now, I got set up with Google Talk to chat with my son and a couple of his friends. I added my sister-in-law also, but she likely doesn't recognize my username. I will have to call or email her to clue her in to accept me as a Google Talk friend. I had trouble getting started by using the Google Talk link. It's not obvious what to do next. A faster way to go is to go to http://google.com/talk and then the Launch Google Talk Gadget. There is no download required. It took me awhile to locate the place to type a message since it is at the very bottom of the page.

By the way, yesterday my feeds on Bloglines were GONE, and I can't understand why that would be. Are they lost forever or just hiding somewhere? I added them all, again, plus a few more, and am hoping that it doesn't continue to happen.

Doing the "Things"

In response to a co-worker's comment after my Spelling With Flickr post, I guess I need to offer a more balanced account of my experiences in doing the "Things". According to her, I am making it look too easy. This is all very challenging, but if I can do it, she can do it much better! I begin each "Thing" with optimism, plunging right in, but soon become overwhelmed and bottom out thinking "this is too hard". I try this, and that, over and over, and eventually manage to accomplish something. If anyone has my blog on their RSS feed I wonder if they see all of my posts that are unsuccessful and have to be deleted! Like when I get the title of a picture and no picture. Again and again! By the time I write my post reflections I have surfaced and am relieved to have had some success, so then of course I sound quite positive. It is not an easy process, however. I've had a lot of trouble trying to copy the URLs and had more success saving a picture to my computer and then uploading.

Thing 6. Online Image Generators

A new twist on Grandma's Brag Book! Yes, I know my trading card creation is personal and not library related, but just knowing that such a thing exists can generate some creative thinking in that setting as well. I used to think that Clip Art was wonderful, but look at what we can do now! The job that I have doesn't really require much or any creativity, but I can imagine that these tools could be very useful in the children's library especially. That is, if the time and resources are available.

More Thing 6. ImageChef Sign & Button

More Thing 5. Spelling With Flickr

Thing 5. More Flickr Fun

As you can see, I did the mosaic and think it is a very fun tool. I realize that the "flower" tag is not a very imaginative one, but, hey, I had to start somewhere! I did try some of the other recommended mashups and had trouble getting them onto my blog. I hope to conquer the technicalities, however, because I think this is great stuff and the possibilities are endless.