Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Thing 23- The end :(

I CAN'T QUITE BELIEVE THIS IS THE LAST THING. I'M KINDA SAD ITS ALL OVER AND WOULD DEFINITLY PARTICIPATE IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN IF CML COMES UP WITH ANOTHER ONE. BECAUSE I'M STILL A STUDENT AND BECAUSE COMPUTERS HAVE BEEN A PART OF MY GENERATION FOR QUITE AWHILE NOW, I CONSIDER MYSELF PRETTY KNOWLEDGABLE ON ALL THE TECH STUFF OUT THERE. LEARN AND PLAY GAVE ME A HUGE OPPORTUNITY THOUGH TO EXPLORE SOME THINGS THAT I HAD NOT REALLY HEARD OF OR THAT I HAD HEARD OF BUT HAD NOT TAKEN THE TIME TO WORK WITH YET.

I FOUND IT HARD TO GET STARTED WITH LEARN AND PLAY AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IT WAS THAT WE WERE TRACKING. ONCE I STOPPED THINKING SO MUCH ABOUT IT AND UNDERSTOOD THAT WE WERE JUST TRACKING OUR BLOG POSTS I GOT INTO THE FLOW OF IT AND IT WAS MUCH EASIER.

I REALLY LIKED EXPLORING FLICKR AND SOME OF THE OTHER PHOTO AND IMAGING SITES. I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY IN ALL FORMS SO THIS DID NOT SURPRISE ME.

I'VE SEEN THE RSS BUTTONS ON SOME WEBSITES AND ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT THAT WAS ALL ABOUT. I WAS HAPPY TO EXPLORE THE RSS READERS IN WEEK 4, BUT I ALSO FOUND THIS TO BE THE MOST CHALLENGING WEEK FOR ME.

I LIKED LIBRARYTHING, BUT BECAUSE OF ITS LIMIT ON ADDING BOOKS I SIGNED UP FOR A GOODREADS ACCOUNT INSTEAD. I WOULD NEVER HAVE REALIZED I COULD DO THIS THOUGH WITHOUT HAVING EXPLORED LIBRARYTHING. TWITTER IS STILL PROBABLY MY LEAST FAVORITE. IT WAS EASY TO WORK WITH BUT I STILL NEED TO FIND IT MORE APPLICABLE FOR MYSELF.

IN GENERAL I LIKED HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN ABOUT SOME OF THE NEW THINGS OUT THERE. MOST OF THESE SITES WERE ACTUALLY FUN TO EXPLORE. IT REALLY WAS A LEARN AND PLAY EXPERIENCE!

Thing 22

MOLDI IS PRETTY COOL, EVEN WITH THE AWFUL NAME. I COULD SEE THIS AS USEFUL FOR STUDENTS ESPECIALLY WHEN THE BOOK OR MOVIE THEY NEED IS NOT AVAILABLE. IN MY EXPLORING I FOUND A VERY OLD MOVIE THAT I HAD TO WATCH FOR A FILM CLASS YEARS AGO. AT THE TIME THE OTHER 50+ STUDENTS IN MY CLASS ALSO HAD TO WATCH IT SO EVEN THOUGH I RESERVED IT RIGHT AWAY, IT DID STILL TAKE AWHILE. MOLDI WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT RESOURCE TOOL THEN.

I THINK ITS GREAT FOR THE CLASSIC BOOKS TOO. WE HAVE MANY COPIES BUT WHEN EVERY STUDENT IN THE 8TH GRADE IS READING A PARTICULAR BOOK, IT MIGHT BE HARD TO FIND AN AVAILABLE COPY AT THE LAST MINUTE. USING THIS EXCELLENT SOURCE, STUDENTS COULD STILL HAVE ACCESS TO THE BOOK.

I'M GLAD TO KNOW THAT I HAVE ACCESS TO THIS TOOL JUST BY HAVING A LIBRARY CARD!

Thing 21

SO PODCASTS... KINDA INTERESTING TO EXPLORE. I HAVE LONG BEEN A USER OF ITUNES BUT NEVER REALLY EXPLORED TOO MANY OTHER PODCASTS. IT WAS COOL TO LOOK AROUND THE SITES AND SEE WHAT I COULD FIND. I FOUND A FEW BOOK REVIEW PODCASTS AND I SUBSCRIBED TO ONE ON MY BLOGLINES ACCOUNT. I'LL HAVE TO KEEP CHECKING BACK WITH IT TO SEE IF ANYTHING INTERESTING POPS UP TO WATCH OR LISTEN TO.

I COULD DEFINITLY SEE THE LIBRARY HAVING OUR OWN PODCAST AND BROADCASTING ABOUT OUR EVENTS. IF FANS OF CML SIGNED UP FOR OUR PODCAST WE COULD EVEN GIVE THEM NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THE LIBRARY THROUGH THE PODCAST. THERE WOULD BE MANY WAYS TO USE THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Thing 20

MY FRIENDS AND I HAVE BEEN USING YOU TUBE FOR QUITE AWHILE. I HAVE TO SAY THOUGH, I WAS QUITE IMPRESSED A FEW MONTHS AGO WHEN MY DAD SENT ME A YOU TUBE VIDEO IN AN E MAIL. SINCE MY PARENTS ARE ALWAYS CALLING ME WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INTERNET OR THEIR COMPUTERS, I AM ALWAYS IMPRESSED WHEN THEY FIND A NEW TECHNOLOGY ALL ON THEIR OWN.

I FINISHED LISTENING TO THE LAST LECTURE BY RANDY PAUSCH LAST WEEKEND AND SO THAT CAME TO MIND TO SEARCH FOR TODAY WHEN EXPLORING YOU TUBE. I LOVED THE BOOK. HOPEFULLY THIS CLIP WILL WORK.

I DO NOTICE SOME OF OUR YOUNGER PATRONS USING YOU TUBE ON OUR COMPUTERS. I THINK THOUGH THAT THERE ARE MANY OTHER USES. WE COULD USE YOU TUBE FOR INSTANCE TO ADD VIDEO OF COMPUTER TRAINING AND JUST HAVE OUR CUSTOMERS WATCH THE VIDEO INSTEAD OF NEEDING SOMEONE TO WALK THEM THROUGH IT. WE MIGHT ALSO USE IT FOR STAFF TRAINING. WE COULD ALSO ADD STAFF VIDEO OF BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS OR VIDEOS ON HOW TO USE THE LIBRARY. IMAGINE A PATRON WATCHING A VIDEO AT HOME OF HOW TO SIGN UP FOR A LIBRARY CARD AND JUST COMING IN TO THE LIBRARY AND KNOWING WHAT TO DO. I GUESS MY ONLY POINT IS THAT THERE ARE MANY MANY THINGS THE LIBRARY COULD DO WITH YOU TUBE.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Thing 19

I'M SO OFTEN ON CMLSI OR ONLY SHOWING PEOPLE THE ABOUT YOU FEATURE ON OUR CATALOG, I SOMETIMES FORGET WHAT A COOL RESOURCE IT CAN BE. I HAD NO IDEA WE HAD A POWER TOOLS SECTION. SOME OF IT WE HAVE ALREADY EXPLORED WITH LEARN AND PLAY, AND SOME OF IT I KNOW ABOUT ON MY OWN. SO I DECIDED I WOULD TAKE A LOOK AT A FEW OF THE TOOLS I HAD NEVER HEARD OF.

BOING BOING IS SO RANDOM THAT I REALLY ENJOYED EXPLORING THE SITE. I DIDN'T SPEND MUCH TIME ON BOOK BURRO BUT IT LOOKS LIKE A GREAT SITE FOR JUST ABOUT ANYTHING RELATED TO BOOKS. I DIDN'T REALLY FIND CREATIVE COMMONS THAT USEFUL AT FIRST GLANCE. I READ THE ABOUT SECTION THOUGH AND COULD SEE HOW THIS WOULD BE A REALLY USEFUL SITE. I'M SURE FOR SOME OF OUR PATRONS IT WOULD BE A GREAT RESOURCE. DIGG IS A WEBSITE I WOULD PROBABLY USE AGAIN. THE FORMAT IS EASY ENOUGH AND IT SEEMED TO HAVE SOME COOL INFORMATION. MAKE SEEMED REALLY INTERESTING AND VERY SPECIFIC TO ITS USERS NEEDS. IT WAS ANOTHER SITE I COULD SEE MYSELF REFERRING TO A CUSTOMER WITH AN INTERESTING QUESTION, MAYBE ONE OF THOSE SCIENCE FAIR QUESTIONS? STUMBLEUPON ALSO INTERESTED ME IN HOW UNIQUE IT IS. I EXPLORED MANY DIFFERENT FEATURES OF THIS WEBSITE AND CAN SEE MYSELF BOOKMARKING IT FOR FUTURE USE.

I TEND TO STICK TO THE SAME SEVERAL WEBSITES. IF I LIKE A WEBSITE, THOUGH, IT CAN BE ADDED TO THAT SMALL LIST. IT'S GOOD SOMETIMES TO EXPLORE OTHER OPTIONS AND FIND SITES YOU MIGHT LIKE MORE THAN ONES YOU HAD ALREADY BEEN USING FOR THE SAME PURPOSE.

Thing 18

I TOOK SOME TIME TO EXPLORE MANY OF THE SITES LISTED. AS I SCROLLED THROUGH I NOTICED I USE SEVERAL OF THE AWARD WINNING SITES ALREADY. ONE OF MY FAVORITES ON THE LIST IS IGOOGLE.

I WANTED TO EXPLORE A SITE I HADN'T USED BEFORE SO I EXPLORED NOWPUBLIC.COM I FOUND IT INTERESTING BECAUSE IT'S DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER NEWS SITE I HAVE SEEN. I LIKE THE SIMPLE LAYOUT AND USER FRIENDLY DESIGN. I LIKE THAT IT ALLOWS YOU TO ADD YOUR OWN NEWS. THE PHOTOS AND VIDEO SECTION IS ALSO UNIQUE AND I FOUND SOME COOL PHOTOS THERE THAT I DON'T KNOW WOULD BE ON ANOTHER SITE.

I THINK IT MIGHT BE A COOL SITE TO SHARE WITH LIBRARY USERS WHO ARE LOOKING FOR NEWS WEBSITES. IT MIGHT ALSO BE HELPFUL IN FINDING OBSCURE NEWS ARTICLES. IN GENERAL IT MIGHT BE COOL TO OFFER OUR CUSTOMERS THIS LIST OF WINNERS SO THAT THEY TOO CAN EXPLORE SOME COOL WEB 2.0 AWARD WINNERS.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thing 17

AS A SIDE NOTE, ANYONE ELSE NOTICE HOW OFF BLOGGER'S TIME ALWAYS IS?

I WISH I HAD KNOWN ABOUT GOOGLE DOCUMENTS A LONG TIME AGO. I HAVE TO SAY I WOULDNT BE SAD TO LOSE MICROSOFT OFFICE. IT IS SO EXPENSIVE, MY FAMILY HAS ONE COPY THAT WE ALL USE. I HAVE BEEN WITHOUT MICROSOFT WORD AT MANY TIMES DURING MY COLLEGE CAREER. I ALWAYS HAD TO USE MY ROOMMATES COMPUTERS OR HEAD TO THE LIBRARY. WHEN I STARTED WORKING FOR THE LIBRARY I COULD SPEND LUNCH HOURS TYPING UP PAPERS. I CAN SEE HOW IT WOULD BE USEFUL IF YOUR COMPUTER CRASHES OR IF YOU DON'T HAVE A DISC OR FLASHDRIVE WITH YOU TO SAVE A DOCUMENT. HAVING THEM SAVED ON THE WEBSITE ALLOWS YOU TO LATER PUT THEM ON YOUR COMPUTER OR TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THEM ON ANY COMPUTER WITH INTERNET ACCESS. ITS A GREAT BACKUP. I WAS SURPRISED TOO THAT IT WASN'T JUST DOCUMENTS, THERE IS A PROGRAM SIMILAR TO POWER POINT AND OTHER USEFUL TOOLS. DEFINITLY WISH I HAD KNOWN ABOUT THIS ONE SOONER.